Since I went already and did the rituals thing for the Hallifax guardian archetype, while I'm thinking of how their cosmic/axioma thing would work, I'm going to go ahead and try and do something with Gaudiguch. Comments appreciated, as before.

The way I'm seeing it, an identical physics skillset (called Faith, and with different names), used by Dervishes, and then specialising into either a physical self-perfection skillset or dreamweaving, would be a great counterpart to the Hallifax physics and Time/Space mastery, both from a skills viewpoint as it compares well with the Celestialism/Nihilism and Sacraments/Necromancy business and from a sort of abstract viewpoint, as Hallifax manipulates reality while Gaudiguch, what with all these ideas for monks being thrown around about it, focuses on self perfection. Thus, I bring you (probably originally shoddy, your help IS NEEDED) dreamwalking and soulshaping.

Faith:

Softstep - Lighten the soul's load.

A dervish is much more assured of his step than any other, protecting her from landbound traps such as briars and caltrops, albeit at a constant drain in endurance.

Sensing - No soul can hide from yours.

The spiritual presence of those in a room can be sensed by a dervish, as neither hiding one's body nor pulling a soul out of phase can camouflage the spirit's residue, although the art of sensing them is not accurate enough to identify individual souls, merely their number.

Mindflare - Blind the inner eye.

The mind's eye can be blinded with a mind flare, blinding the target.

Spiritshout - Deafen the inner ear.

The dervish's spirit can emit a soul-piercing cry, deafening the inner ear.

Soulsight - There's less than meets the eye.

A sudden burst of clarity grants the dervish a temporary resistance to local illusions, though it will not protect against such subtle effects as an illusionary phantom.

Aetherblast - The basic combattive force of the spirit.

Blasting the dervish's foes with pure energy causes intense pain and physical damage.

Silence - Partially void your material presence.

The skilled dervish can step with perfect precision, making no noise whatsoever as she moves.

Shockwaves - Blast concentrated aetherwaves at opponents.

Ripples in the aether can knock the dervish's foes prone, causing slight damage as the waves roll over the soul.

Wavetread - Resist the material world's influences.

Focusing the dervish's will can wreathe her body in minor spiritual energies, diverting material interference and immunising her against water currents, gusts of wind, and even minor earthquakes.

Relocation - Hop briefly through the aetherwaves.

The dervish can use a pinch in the aether to shift her location one room in a random direction, providing an ideal opportunity to escape in a crisis.

Courage - Inspire courage in an ally.

The dervish can inspire confidence and courage in an ally, restoring his self esteem.

Reveal - Uncover what lies beneath.
*0-8 power*
To prevent a burrowing foe from fleeing, the dervish may send her spirit deep into the earth, bringing up deeply buried beings and objects to the surface. This is a straining task, however, and power is needed for digging any below immediately underground.

Elementseal - Protect the land's spirit from outside intrusions.
*1 power*
By concentrating on the infused magics in an area caused by a mages demesne, a dervish can distill the energies, causing them to resist corruption and require an extra attempt to alter with foresting, flooding, sanding, tainting, or breezing.

Soulfunnel - Purify a channeled area around you.

Funneling air away from the dervish while keeping a supply pocketed allows free breathing while the manifestation lasts, in addition to diluting the effects of harmful gases.

Focus - Use your spiritual power to compress magic.
*1 power*
With intense meditation, it is possible to concentrate a vial of health, mana or bromide elixir, so that the next sip from it has an increased effectiveness.

Master
At this point in your training of Faith, you have progressed where you must specialise in an aspect of this skill to continue learning. If you have not yet selected a specialisation, see SKILLCHOICE LIST to see what is available. There may be a choice between two specialisations.

Dreamless - The masters of sleep are no slaves to it.
The dreamweaver has completely mastered her resting patterns, immunising her against attempts to force her into sleep.

Trance - The sign of a true dreamwalker.


Forcing the soul out of the body without harm is the mark of a dreamwalker dervish, representing her control over both mind and spirit. While the body falls uselessly to the ground, the dreamwalker's soul can emerge and take shape. While the spirit is immune to physical damage, it is also incapable of attacking, cannot leave the area where its body is stored (which is cocooned in an impenetrable coccoon of dreamstuff) and incurs a steep drain in mana, endurance, and willpower. Awakening can end the trance prematurely, should it become necessary.

Cocoon - Sleep in heavenly peace.

A deceptive web of soothing dreams encapsulates a target, numbing them briefly from damage before evaporating as the full force of the blows land at once.

Delusion - Force the truth of dreams into a hostile mind.
*1 power*
>
Bringing an opponent's dreams into surface thoughts requires special power to infuse, bringing to them recurring nightmares. For a short period of time, the nightmares, alterable at the whim of a trancebound dreamwalker after the first, will flash before their eyes occasionally.

Somnambulence - The subconscious mind holds enough sway to move the body.

Dreamwalkers no longer require rest while sleeping - though their subconscious mind is too uncoordinated to attack, the dreamwalker is so in tune with it that they may move and speak while sleeping.

Narcolepsy - Sleep can be forced into foes as well as drained.

Inflicting the curse of narcolepsy on a foe causes periodical bouts of sleepiness, knocking them down as they stand, though a spell of condensed sleep such as this requires a trance to enact.

Somnite - The stuff of dreams condensed into small globules.
*1 power*
The combination of mystic power with sleepstuff crafted by a dreamwalker gives rise to the strange element known as somnite. Often used as pills on long guard shifts by the Gaudiguch wyvernrider divisions, somnite, when ingested, does not induce the urge to sleep, but instead partially alleviates the need for it.

Dreamchannel - Mystic power can sustain a dreamtrance.

For as long as a dreamcraft channel remains open, power is drained from a dreamwalker's immediate reserves in lieu of mental and physical endurance.

Wander - Allow your thoughts to roam.
The spirit of a trancebound dreamwalker may now leave the immediate area of its body and explore the world at will.

Vision - Imbue a soul with a mystic aura of sight.


A trancebound dreamweaver can simultaneously open a spirit's inner eye, granting them visions of both a foes approximate and exact locations.

Nightterrors - Unearthly dreams of horrific creatures.

Weaving disturbing nightmares into the fabric of the victim's soul, the next time he sleeps will instantly wake him from terror, actually damaging his physical health from psychosomatic shock.

Dreamcatcher - Absorb the restful energies of sleepers.

Crafting an invisible mesh of soulthreads in a room will allow through corporeal beings, but prevent access for those in a spirit, ghost or otherwise incorporeal state. Additionally, sleeping in a dreamwebbed location will not provide any benefits, as the sustenance of sleep will be drawn into the dreamcatcher's weaver.

Nightmare - A steed of ebony dreamstuff can carry you through earth and heaven.



Those who dabble in sleep and dreams often attract the presence of a symbiotic nightmare, which in exchange for excess dream energies can be summoned at night for use as a mount both physical and incorporeal. In its corporeal, six-legged horse form, a nightmare can be ridden as a mount - however, in a dreamstate it is able to both fly and burrow through the earth, carrying its rider with it. A nightmare cannot abide sunlight and will vanish with the dawn, snapping its rider back to awakening.

Daydream - A mount of shimmering white dreamstuff weaves through corporeal barriers.


Physical barriers often guard the path to enlightenment, but with the aide of a daydream a skilled dreamwalker can discard the corporeal and fade through. During the daylight hours, summoning the six-legged horse dreams can be ridden as a mount in its corporeal form, though in a dreamstate its passage ignores most temporary blockades. A daymare relies on sunlight for sustenance, returning its rider to a waking state when Mother Night emerges.

Lucidity - The somnulent arts hold no sway over a relaxed mind.

Attuning herself more closely to her subconscious mind, a dreamwalker becomes adept at recognising intrusions into it, allowing her a chance to discern and ignore malignant dreamstates and targetted illusionary techniques.

Portents - Open the inner eye to surface thoughts.
*3 power (Eternal Flame)*
Forcing a direct link between an opponent's surface thoughts and your own, though difficult, will allow you to read incoming and outgoing tells from them for a short while.

Soothe - Dreams of loved ones heal the psyche.

While trancebound, a dreamwalker can craft vague, soothing memories in her own or a target's mind, allowing internal self-healing of many mental neuroses and maladies.

Reveries - Project an enemy's focus inwards.
*3 power*
Distracting reveries can cause an opponent to lose concentration, causing pacification, dizziness, and loss of equilibrium, though only a trancebound dreamwalker may weave such dreams.

Veil - The spirit of the dreamweaver is invisible to both sight and magic.
*5 power (Eternal Flame)*
The trancebound soul, normally visible to the naked eye and magical scrying as a translucent image of its body, can be briefly cloaked in a veil of misty dreams, completely erasing them from vision and blurring scrying so that only the general region can be perceived.

Dreamleech - Feed on the essence of rest.

A parasitic nightmare infests a foe, devouring an opponent's sleep and feeding health back tho the dreamwalker in exchange.

Sleepsnap - Break the trance in such a way that the body travels to the spirit.
*8 power*
Though it takes immense focus, the body can be forced to travel the aether to reunite with the spirit, as opposed to the less-attuned spirit to the soul, when the dreamtrance is broken.

Waking - The true dreamwalker sleeps even as she wakes.
*8 power (Eternal Flame)*
Though it is draining, a dreamwalker can exercise such control over her subconscious that for a short while her trance powers can be used even while fully active.

Reading - Record the dream identity of a spirit.

*3 power*

A skilled dreamwalker can perceive visitors in the land of Vestera, and by memorising imprints of the dream-identity of a sleeping, revery-bound or dreamleeched foe, they can instantly relocate to them from anywhere.

Soulsurge - Shock an opponent's soul to the core.
*10 power (Eternal Flame)*
A dreamwalker may, in time of direst need, induce a nightmare so vivid the mind cannot withstand the shock and ceases to function, slaying a foe. To prepare a victim for this horrific dream, they must bear two of the curses of sleep - narcolepsy, dreamleeching, delusions, or reveries.

Yes, the last one is from Itachi just for you, Cuber. (That and they needed a kill power. )

EDIT: Soulread added, since Blue Chakra needs to stop sucking, and it's more appropriate here than anywhere else I can think of.
EDIT: Dreamreading, Veil, Sleepsnap added. Cocoon, Visions downgraded. Wander upgraded.

You are forgetting the core principals of the Illuminati. Firstly they are a VERY secretive group, their plane is the Vortex plane, a living embodyment of chaos, writhing with all manner of vortex creatures. They deal in issues of chance and probability, and have a very open mind regarding physical transformations. Also of legendary note are the rumors of the Dracnari beastmasters of old.

Likely Skillsets-
Cosmic
-Illuminus (most likely eerily reminiscent of Occultism, with various skills to pact with Vortex creatures included)
Rituals
-Shapeshifting (Reminiscent of the Goddess Tzaraziko, whom both they and the Lucidians claim as their own, through extensive research they have trained themselves in the sorceric alteration of their physical forms to provide unique advantages.)
Tarot or Hexes

Actually, dreamweaving is partly shapeshifting. The other specialisation of Faith, which I'm still writing up now, is Soulshaping (I need a better name), which is basically self transmutation, and the other skillset I was thinking up for them was transmutation of other things anyway, which is what you were really saying with "illuminus" there.

Also, dreamweaving has to come from somewhere, and I can't think of any better place than Gaudiguch. And it doesn't really work with Wyvern Riders or Pyromancers, so having this as a potential specialisation along with the shapeshifting you described seems perfectly logical to me.

Also, dreamweaving is fairly secretive. Having your body holed up somewhere while your soul goes wandering, infecting people's minds as it so chooses, sounds like a perfect means of spying to me. Especially with soulreading.

Here are a few rudimentary sketches of possible skills for the ILLUMINUS skillset

AB ILLUMINUS AGLA
CYPHER AGLA
The chanting of this cryptic rite is used to dispell spirits and beasts present in the room, causing them to either flee the room, or be banished to their home plane.

AB ILLUMINUS VORTEXRAYS
COST: 8 Power
CYPHER VORTEXRAYS
The rays of the vortex burst within a room striking one with anywhere from one to three rays of energy, each with a specific ailment.

AB ILLUMINUS ENCIPHER
CYPHER ENCIPHER
Uses a cryptic code to encipher a text.

AB ILLUMINUS SHROUD
CYPHER SHROUD
UNSHROUD
Calls forth a cloak of secrecy to wrap about the practitioner.

AB ILLUMINUS TRUENAME
CYPHER TRUENAME
One may derive the truename of a victim from a corpse, which can be used to inflict them with dementia, hallucinations, epilepsy, stupidity, confusion, and impatience simultaneously. Only two truenames can be memorized at once.

AB ILLUMINUS VORTEXSIGHT
CYPHER VORTEXSIGHT
The accustomement to the images of the vortex allows the practitioner the use of lifevision.

AB ILLUMINUS CHASHMAL
CYPHER CASHMAL
The gifts of the Cypher of Cashmal allows the creation of a 'speaking silence' a small prismatic orb which helps alleviate some mana drain by drawing it directly from the Chashmal.

AB ILLUMINUS AHDUTH
CYPHER AHDUTH
This union with the very nature of the vortex allows the practitioner to bring himself into a state in which he may meditate while continuing about his everyday business, at a cost of reducing the total mana by 1/4th.

AB ILLUMINUS BAT-KOL
CYPHER BAT-KOL
This "voice from heaven" can be used to listen in on any conversation occuring on a higher plane. If you are attempting to listen in on a conversation on ethereal, you must be on prime. (The only exception to this rule is on Astral, wherein you may call the "Voice of Heaven" to speak to you from any other plane.)

AB ILLUMINUS CHAYYOT
PACT WITH CHAYYOT
CYPHER CHAYYOT
The pact with Chayyot, comes only to those willing to spend 5 power to pact it. (a single pact allows it to be called 5-20 times depending on skill in Illuminus)The Chayyot is a beast formed of fire and light, its firey breath is a danger to angelic beings. It is rumored to be able to sense when mortal beings enter the same area.

AB ILLUMINUS TZADIK
COST: 3 POWER (5-20 summonings)
PACT TZADIK
CYPHER TZADIK
ORDER WANDERER RETURN
Tzadik the wanderer is a master of the pathways of chance. When TZADIK is called he sends one of his wanderers to always guide the Illuminati back home. When the wanderer is ordered to return, it takes the summoner back to the place where it was summoned, regardless of plane.

AB ILLUMINUS AETHERFORM
CYPHER AETHERFORM ON/OFF
Allows the user to take up a form of pure aether, unable to interact with the world around them, but able to move freely, out of phase with reality. This ability puts a constant strain on the willpower of the user.

AB CYPHER DYBBUK
COST: 5% from the reserves (drained after the rite is completed)
1500 mana
CYPHER DYBBUK
The transmigration of the soul. If an Illuminati falls to the forces of death, they may, while wandering as a soul, find a sentient being and perform the rite of Dybbuk, transmigrating into the living flesh, though the shape of the new flesh is changed to the mental resonance of the Illuminati. This can only be performed once every month, but maintains any unique traits of the Illuminati.

AB ILLUMINUS RAHAV
COST: 8 POWER (4-18 summonings)
PACT RAHAV
CYPHER RAHAV
This great beast of the living sea of the Vortex exudes such a foul stench from its body that it strips one of the desire to eat, thinking only of vomiting up their last meal.

AB ILLUMINUS SHEKHINA
COST: 10 POWER (1 summoning)
PACT SHEKHINA
CYPHER SHEKHINA
Known only as Shekhina, or the Consort of Ha-Shem, this great being of the vortex is insidious, unlike her mighty consort. She prepares the mind and body of one to recieve the full knowlege of Ha-Shem. Those who are gifted so by Shekhina gain greater intelligence and strength when she is nearby. (+1 each) and randomly are cured of their ailments. Shekhina affects all those in the room when she becomes aggressive.

AB ILLUMINUS AMELEK
COST: 10 POWER (1 Summoning)
PACT AMELEK
CYPHER AMELEK
The only skill whose use is forbidden by the Illuminati, the summoning of Amelek the Nemesis. It is only used by the most desperate. This Vortex Lord, who stands in opposition to Ha-Shem and his Consort, represents order in chaos, bringing total stagnation to those in his presence. When called upon, Amelek appears and forms a deep gash within the earth. Those remaining in the room for too long slowly slip into the pit of stagnation. Inside the pit, nothing can be done. After about fifteen minutes the pit collapses in on itself. One cannot move, nor speak within the pit. Once one has been fallen into the pit, one can only wait until death comes. It is rumored that the disgust of the Illuminati for the Hallifaxi also is due to their understanding of the vile form of order that is Amelek.

AB ILLUMINUS HA-SHEM
COST: 10 power (1 summoning)
PACT HA-SHEM
CYPHER HA-SHEM
The vortex being referred to by the other residents of the vortex as the Father grants a brief glimpse at the Gross Manifestation of the Nonexistant All. Normally this randomly afflicts a victim with dementia, hallucinations and other mental diseases. When with his Consort, who has prepared a mind to recieve total understanding he is able to touch the mind in three steps, when finished, entirely destroying any semblance of sanity within the mind of the afflicted. Presented with such total knowlege the mind cannot cope with, victims then die shortly after in a fit of spasms and screaming. Ha-Shem effects all within the room when he becomes aggressive.

Okay, some of that looks good, so I'll steal little bits of it, even though for a specialisation it's got some awful bad things, like invisibility and the FIRST rituals skill. I'll just tie them in with some other things I guess. Thanks for the suggestions!

Cocoon - Sleep in heavenly peace.

A deceptive web of soothing dreams encapsulates a target, numbing them briefly from damage before evaporating as the full force of the blows land at once.

Is overpowered; it pretty much strips their ability to heal their HP.

It doesn't last long, but I see your point. Maybe it could just work for one attack or something. Yeah, I'll change that.

Shapeshifting

AB SHAPESHIFTING TRAITS
TRAITS
UNSHIFT
Lists any shapeshiftings that are currently active, and allows one to release specific shapeshiftings.

AB SHAPESHIFTING CHITIN
SHAPESHIFT CHITIN
Chitinous plates burst forth from the flesh, giving greater resistance to cutting damage. Decreases dexterity by a single point.

AB SHAPESHIFT COMPOUNDEYES
SHAPESHIFT COMPOUNDEYES
LOOK
Compound eyes, much like a dragonfly's allow one to assess the mental and physical condition of another when viewing their physical appearance. Decreases Charisma by a single point.

AB SHAPESHIFT RABBITLEGS
SHAPESHIFT RABBITLEGS
The legs of the rabbit allow for greater running speed, increasing the distance one may travel before incurring a warning against hastyness. Decreases size by a single point.

AB SHAPESHIFT SPINNERET
SHAPESHIFT SPINNERET
SPIN WEB
The spiders spinneret allows the preparation of a web which will entangle a victim immediately upon entering the room. Increases sensitivity to cutting damage.

AB SHAPESHIFT FUR
SHAPESHIFT FUR
Grants increased level 2 resistance to cold and lvl 1 magic damage. Increases sensitivity to fire (lvl 2) and lightning (lvl 1)

AB SHAPESHIFTING BULGINGBICEPS
SHAPESHIFT BULGINGBICEPS
Grants increased strength (+2) at the cost of (-2) intelligence

AB SHAPESHIFT PROTRUDINGFOREHEAD
SHAPESHIFT PROTRUDINGFOREHEAD
Grants +2 intelligence, -2 charisma

AB SHAPESHIFT BARBTAIL
SHAPESHIFT BARBTAIL
STING
A stinger emerges from the tail which paralyses the target. Decreases balance speed by 1 lvl.

AB SHAPESHIFTING FORKEDTONGUE
SHAPESHIFT FORKEDTONGUE
Increases equilibrium recovery (lvl 2), at a cost of -4 con.

Wow, that forked tongue can mean the difference between life and death.

Sadly though, I've gone down rather a different route to that. The way I see it, the Gaudiguch people, who were very mysterious and spiritual, likely possessed arts to alter the body's form with the spirit, so I've actually combined that and the whole monk-tekura thing the villagers keep doing to use tenketsu, which are basically pores in the hands that can emit spirit energy. Focussing different spirit energy into the body can alter its shape (though I might pinch some of those things, spinneret for example looks nice), but is also primarily about distorting and destroying the body of an opponent by channeling different energies into the tenketsu and smashing an opponent with them - eg. the Southern Cross skill, when channeled, has a chance to paralyse or stun an opponent on a successful strike by pinning their shadow.

The next-to-trans ability is right out of Bleach, where if they're below half health the soul can be shoved out of the body entirely for a short period of time (which isn't as broken as you'd think, since there are other things involved.)

Why I posted all this I don't know, since I have it mostly written up anyway, and will most likely post it tomorrow, but I've got to get going to bed in about 4 hours ago, so I'd best hurry.

Dear Shiri:
You don't seem to have very many skills for when you're actually dreamwalking. I don't think that you'd really use your trance for afflicting someone as much as for the various spying things, which don't seem to be there really. Perhaps you could have a skill where you can call your body to your soul, as long as there are no monoliths of course. Or maybe you could seek out a certain person's dream aura or some such thing, and go straight to them.

Also, how does vision work? You have to be in your trance, although I don't know why, and then you find where someone is... but wait... do you protect that same person from summons? And is this an ongoing thing, so you watch as they move around? It seems a bit odd...

Will clarify this all tomorrow morning. Promise.

As a friend of mine said to me when they saw this "What the ...people are ALREADY designing dreamwalkers
dreamweavers are sooooo powerful
no mortals should be them"

Other then that, you should try and suggest ideas for balance, rather then what you'd like to see.. area attacks on a summon creature, for example, is bad.

15 Minutes then you die, unless you get out of the room fast enough, is bad (maybe make it like Golgotha, rather then just a "summon, die"). Other then that, shapeshifting and illumnius looked fairly cool. One thing, demonrays (or vortex rays) needs to die.

Taken Archthron's valid comments into account, altered Dreams slightly, now it's more spying based. To wit, Visions changed into two powers - Visions and Veil, Wandering improved, and Dreamreading and Sleepsnap added.

Oh, and I disagree that mortals shouldn't be dreamweavers. (Besides which, Kether likely references it for a reason.)

In another update, taking Akraasiel's suggestion into account and realising I'd got this soulcrafting thing wrong, I've instead transferred it to a potential unarmed-fighter type class they've had, having Faith specialise into Tenketsu usage, and am working on a Transmutation skill in replacement as a substitute specialisation for dreamweaving.

Continua and Anarchism being the cosmic specialisations.

I don't know why I am saying this and I hope I will never say it again.. Shiri, your very wise.

Thank ya. I didn't lift all this from other people either. (Which might explain why it's less popular than Time and Space. )

I'm loving these ideas. The Divine should hire you as a Skill Designer or something. But then, if you did get the chance to add these skills to the game, these posts would ruin the suprise.

I think I'd need to be a Divine for that, which is -obviously- out of the question. Having them added -would- be cool though. Main reason I'm doing these is for fun, though, and also to expend my creative juices, since I got all worked up over the builder competition even though I can't write. Thanks for the encouragement though!

EDIT: I'm being told that the ideas couldn't be used just from me posting them on the boards, so, um, I guess I have to say that if the Divine wanted these in the game I certainly wouldn't object?

-cry- That is what Serenwilde is -SUPPOSED- to be. A highly spiritual group of witches and druidic followers towards the Spirits. But oh well....

Anyways, I really like this, but I think I would be afraid of meeting one.

I would love to. They would be all dreamy and dozy and stuff. Like Professor...Trelawney, I think her name is, but not lame. (If you're referring to getting beaten up by one, yes, they were pretty strong, so I toned them down a bit. They're a bit more spy-y and less mindcrush-y.)

And yes, this is a different kind of spiritual, though. Serenwilde is meant to be a sort of...spiritual, worshipping spirits, nature spirits. These guys focus upon their OWN spirit and enhance it.

Glad you like it though!