Look in the mirror: what do you see? Yourself?

Are you sure?

Who you see in the mirror isn’t what others see when they look at you. Compare your mirror image with a photograph of yourself. They’re different, of course, but which is your real face? The one you see, or the one others see? Since you can really only see yourself in a mirror, just going by the majority, your reflection is not an accurate depiction. Contrary to popular belief, mirrors lie.

There’s a classic test of cognitive self-awareness: an animal is marked in a spot they can’t normally see, and then confronted with a mirror. If they react to seeing the mark on their reflection by touching the mark on their body, it’s an indication of self-recognition; that is, they perceive their reflection as themself, rather than a separate entity. Babies pass this test, as do the other great apes and cetaceans; the vast majority of animals do not. You may think that’s because humans, apes and dolphins have bigger, better brains, but in this regard, the other animals are the smarter ones.

In the modern age, as CGI improves to the point that it’s almost indistinguishable from reality, credible depictions of humans still pose problems. Oh, they look convincing, but there’s always something just a bit… off about them. We’re actually more likely to accept cartoonishly distorted images than those which look almost perfectly like us. The colloquial term for this is the uncanny valley, the relation between an image’s degree of resemblance to a human and the attendant emotional response.

Why would that be? It’s probably an evolved trait, but why would we need to detect entities which look human but aren’t? Because those dumb animals have it right; that thing in the mirror isn’t you.

You may scoff, but it’s easy to prove. Watch yourself in a mirror; keep staring, and you’ll see your reflection move, distort or even disappear. It’s most apparent when the mirror isn’t brightly lit; the mirror-things need light maintain the illusion. Skeptics and scientists dismiss this phenomenon with a variety of explanations: self-hypnosis, apophenia, Troxler’s fading, dissociative identity effect; the list goes on. But once you’ve seen it, you know that there’s only a thin pane of glass between us, and the things that want to be us.

In times past, it wasn’t possible to make a surface smooth enough to produce an accurate reflection. No matter how tranquil the pool of water, a surface reflection will be transparent and marred by ripples. Polished bronze and silver didn’t do the trick; imperfections in the polishing produces subtle distortions. We haven’t even had perfectly smooth and clear glass until relatively recently. Look at a Victorian-era mirror and you’ll see tiny bubbles, shifting color tints and cloudy spots in the glass. If something came through one of those old mirrors, we’d quickly spot it with our evolutionarily honed uncanny-valley sense, and kill it with fire. All those legends of changelings, fetches and doppelgängers are cautionary tales, not fairy stories.

These days, technology allows us to manufacture mirrors that are practically perfect. Perfect reflections. Perfect portals for the things behind the glass. They’ve got the look, all they need is practice of how to move and behave. Why do they want your life? Who knows. The question is: do you want your life? Because if your double is on this side of the mirror, you’re surplus to requirements. What do you think is going to happen to you? Shallow grave out in the desert. Fish bait. Maybe you’ll end up on the other side of that silvered glass, the side that doesn’t reflect.

But there are some who know what’s going on, and who have the power and will to fight back. You’ve studied mirrors, their secrets, optics and effects; you’ve created them, broken them, and used them to gaze into infinity. You know that guy ranting about his family being replaced by identical imposters isn’t suffering from Capgras delusion; he’s sounding the alarm. You’ve honed your knowledge of the enemy’s tools to a fine edge, and you’re ready to use that to fight for humanity’s existence.

For the purposes of charging, taboo and spells, a “mirror” is something reflective enough to resolve sufficient detail that you can recognize the thing. An imperfect mirror will inflict a 10 – 30% penalty when casting a spell, depending on the degree of distortion.

Ω: 0

Domain: Contemplation, reversal, distortion and insight. You can reflect people, objects and events, copy things, and change how they appear.

Generate a Minor Charge: You can create a minor charge by contemplating your reflection in a mirror for two hours, watching yourself closely without looking away, drawing power from the inevitable distortions of your imperfect reflection. You must be able to see your entire face in the mirror.

Generate a Significant Charge: Get the word out and save the world. Stem the tide of invasion from the other side by destroy any mirrors that are large enough for a human being to climb through (remember, children can be replaced too). You’ll also want to destroy any obvious product of the mirror world. In most cases, these will be obvious; anything that has reverse script or is a transposed copy of something else. Of course, there are things in the world that are symmetrical and can’t be easily determined to be unique, necessitating careful examination. In such cases, it’s safest to err on the side of caution and destroy them until there’s only one left.

Simple destruction isn’t the point, though, you need to do it in a way that alerts others to the danger. After all, you’ll need allies in the struggle to save humanity. For that reason, you only get the charge if the destruction is witnessed by others, or you get the chance to explain why it’s necessary to someone who hasn’t heard your spiel before. They need to be sufficiently outraged or interested to take you seriously enough that social consequences ensue; whether for you (because you’re arrested for vandalism) or because you start a social trend (like a teenage fad for avoiding or breaking mirrors). The important thing is that the message is heard.

Generate a Major Charge: No-one has yet succeeded in generating a major charge. There are theories that it may involve exposing a prominent, influential figure as a mirror entity but, so far, all attempts to find one have only revealed mundane flawed humans.

Taboo: First, if a mirror in which your eyes are currently reflected breaks, you taboo. That’s how the magick gets in – through your eyes.

Second, just as you can charge by looking into a mirror, mirrors will leach away charges over time if your eyes are not reflected in them. For each full hour in which you are reflected but not actively looking at the reflection, you lose a minor charge, with significant charges breaking down into minors. If you stay in a hotel room, better cover the mirrors, TV and windows before you go to sleep. Hiding completely under the covers to the point where no part of your body reflects will work (and hopefully the mirror beings won’t replace your friends while you’re asleep…)

Starting Charges: 8 Minor

Minor Spells

Back-To-Front
Cost: 1+ minor
Most people thinks that mirrors just flip things left-to-right; actually, they flip them back-to-front, which is why you don’t see the back of your head in the mirror. This spell does the same, causing the target (which may be you) to Flip-Flop their next roll, for good or bad. If you spend an extra charge, it can be cast reflexively in response to a roll that has just been made.

In You, Me
Cost: 1 minor
Catch yourself and another person in the same reflection while casting this spell, and they’ll feel as through they see something of themselves in you, evoking a feeling of kinship. You have no control over what kind of connection they’ll feel, and the spell doesn’t compel them to act in any particular way, but they’ll be inclined to treat you favorably for a number of minutes equal to the casting result.

The Mirror Never Lies
Cost: 1 minor
They say that, but you know better, and once you know what to look for, those lies are easy to spot. Cast this while looking at someone in a mirror, and they suffer a -20 penalty to Lie to you while they’re reflected. If you manage a Matched Success or Critical, you also divine their true motivation at the time. However, if the target succeeds in a Notice check, their eyes meet yours in the reflection, and they know that you know they lied.

Rearview Mirror
Cost: 1 minor
Light continues to fall into a mirror, even if no-one is there to witness it. Cast this spell on a mirror, and you can replay anything that has previously reflected in the mirror, for a number of hours in the past equal to the tens digit of your Catroptromancy Identity. The playback is silent, and visible to anyone who can see the mirror (and may provoke an Unnatural check).

Vexierspiegel
Cost: 1 minor
Does anyone actually find funhouse mirrors funny? Cast this on a target, and when next they see their reflection it’ll be warped in some disturbing way, enough to cause them a rank 3 check to a random Stress Meter.

It’s Done With Mirrors
Cost: 2 minor
Magicians (the boring kind) use mirrors all the time in their art; you can do it better. While reflected, cast this as you pass a common item (one small enough to be held in one hand) from one hand to the other. The item will duplicate and you’ll now have one in each hand. The duplicated item will be mirror-reversed, including any text, image or audio associated with it. If it’s edible, it won’t provide any nourishment, due to chiral inversion, and may be toxic. The mirrored item endures for a number of minutes equal to the casting result, then quietly vanishes while no-one is looking at it.

Left-To-Right
Cost: 2 minor
Unless you’re a dentist, doing stuff while looking in a mirror is hard. Cast this on a target and they’ll suffer that same awkward disconnect, as they overcompensate or confuse left for right. For a number of minutes equal to the higher die of the casting result, they’ll suffer a -20% penalty on any task that requires fine motor control or hand-eye co-ordination, such as driving, needlepoint, or using a firearm.

Mirror Image
Cost: 2 minor
Co-opting the enemy’s magick is distasteful, but sometimes needs must. Cast this while looking at someone’s full-length reflection, and your appearance will change to mirror their body, though oddly not their clothes or possessions. Only your appearance is affected; your voice, scent, skills, mannerisms, etc. all remain your own. The effect lasts for a number of minutes equal to the casting result, but all reflective surfaces will still show your true form, so avoid any security devices that incorporate mirrors.

Mirrorscript
Cost: 2 minor
Of course, you never have any problem reading (or writing) in mirror script, and neither do 1 in 6,500 of the general population. Cast this spell on a victim, though, and they’ll perceive all text and symbols as reversed for a number of hours equal to the tens of the casting result. Aside from the resultant dyslexia, they’ll also suffer a Helplessness-4 check, due to the frustration and the fear that they’re having a stroke.

Vanity Glass
Cost: 3 minor
People like mirrors; they like to see themselves. So much so, that dopamine reward pathways activate when they see their face in a mirror. It’s all part of that self-awareness delusion we spoke of. They’re so wrong, but doesn’t mean you can’t use it to your advantage. Cast this on someone while they can see a reflection of their face, and the spell kicks that dopamine rush into overdrive, reaffirming their self-image and bolstering their confidence. For a number of minutes equal to the casting result, they can ignore any Difficulty or Penalty on tasks, and the rank of their next Self stress check is lowered by 2. It also tends to make them reckless, aggressive, euphoric, and cranks up the dial on their sex drive; not unlike being on cocaine.

Significant Spells

Dark Glass
Cost: 1 significant
Mirror-things may be your primary concern, but they’re not the only malevolent entities out there. With this spell, you can pull a demon out of its host and trap it in a mirror. First, cast the spell to enchant a mirror, then get the demon to see its reflection in it. If your Catoptromancy rank is higher than the demon’s Urge, it’ll appear in the mirror as an independent reflection of its former host, who loses their reflection until the demon leaves the mirror. The spell doesn’t give you any leverage over the demon, other than that you have the option to release it back into the world. The mirror remains enchanted for a number of hours equal to the units of the casting result, whether a demon is trapped within or not. Only one demon can occupy the mirror, and when the spell ends or the mirror is broken, the demon is flung back across the Veil.

A Distant Mirror
Cost: 1+ significant
All reflective surfaces are portals to the mirror realm, and all are connected. If you know of a reflective surface near something you want to observe, cast this while looking into a mirror. You’ll be able to see through your mirror as if you were looking out of the remote one. There’s no sound, and your reflection appears in the remote mirror, which may be awkward. Apart from being a useful way to spy on someone, it can be an effective mode of communication, if you can get by without sound. The link can remain open for hours equal to the units of the casting result, and has a maximum range in miles equal to your Catoptromancy rank (you can extend this by the same amount per extra charge spent). If you have a symbolic connection to the place or person you are viewing, then the range is unlimited.

Due Reflection
Cost: 1 significant
Mirrors are all about magick, that’s how they actually work; not through optics and shit. This spell may be cast reflexively in response to a magickal effect targeted at you, if you have a mirror in your hand and at the cost of your next action. If your Catoptromancy Identity is higher than the instigator’s result, you catch the spell in the mirror and reflect it back towards them. The spell is then resolved, as if they’d just cast the it on themselves.

Fearful Symmetry
Cost: 1 significant
It’s dangerous to pull reflections into the real world, but it can be useful if done in a controlled manner. Cast this on a target while looking at their reflection, and the next damage they take is mirrored on their body in perfect symmetry. That is, if they get shot in the right arm for 23 damage, they simultaneously get shot in the left arm for 32 damage. There are a few caveats: First, only those portions of the target’s body that were visible in the reflection at the time of casting are affected; if you only saw their face and they get shot in the leg, the spell does nothing. Second, if either damage, whether original or symmetrical, exceeds your Catoptromancy Identity rank, then the spell overloads and compensates by splitting your Catoptromancy rank between the two wounds. That is, if your Catoptromancy rank is 63, and the victim suffers an 18-point wound to his left shoulder, then the inversive would be an 81-point wound to his right shoulder, which is higher than your 63 Catoptromancy rank; so instead the victim suffers a 31-point wound to each shoulder (the remaining 1 point is lost; mirrors dislike fractions).

Scrying Glass
Cost: 1 significant
Unless they’re looking at themselves, people don’t pay much attention to mirrors, but mirrors still see everything. Cast this spell and ask a question while looking into a mirror. If the answer was caught in a mirror at some point, then the reflection in your mirror will change to show you something relevant to the question that a mirror witnessed. This plays out as though you were looking out of the mirror, though there is only image, no sound.

Seven Seconds of Bad Luck
Cost: 1 significant
Common superstition holds that breaking a mirror is bad luck, but you break mirrors all the time, and nothing bad ever happens to you, right? Catch someone’s eyes in a reflection, then break that mirror while you cast this spell. The mirror will break into seven pieces, cursing the target with bad luck, which causes their next seven actions to Flip-Flop to their disadvantage. Actions that would normally Flip-Flop for an advantage, such as Obsession checks, simply resolve as rolled, and Matched results don’t count against the seven (they’re already flipped, as far as the spell is concerned).

Wilderness of Mirrors
Cost: 1 significant
As noted before, reflections in a mirror can be distorted and confused, not what they seem. This spell takes that tangle of information and pulls it into the real world. Cast this while looking into a mirror along with some… let’s call them accomplices. You only need to see everyone’s eyes. Cast the spell and those reflected become proxies of each other, for a number of hours equal to the units of the casting result. The spell can affect a maximum number of reflected people equal to the tens of the casting result, and does so randomly, though you as the caster will always be among their number. The eyes of all those affected by the spell become the same light grey color for the duration of the spell and will fail any retinal scan attempt. In addition, when one of the proxied is reflected in a mirror, the appearance of a random other proxy appears instead, which may cause an Unnatural check in onlookers. When the effect ends, everyone reverts back to their usual solitary existence.

Man in the Mirror
Cost: 2 significant
This spell is playing with fire, as there isn’t any guarantee that you’ll get the original victim back. View someone’s full body in a reflective surface (if you have a small mirror, it helps if they’re further away) and you can trap them inside the mirror. The victim vanishes from the world and is only visible in the mirror used to catch them. They’re stuck in there for a number of hours equal to the units of the casting result, after which time they reappear in front of the mirror. However, if the casting result is a Matched Failure, something goes wrong, such as a Shatterfreak is released, the victim’s mirror-self returns instead, or they don’t come back at all, having vanished into Somnus.

The other side of the mirror is a pitch-black featureless realm where light only enters from reflective surfaces in the real world. Being captured in this way causes the victim an Isolation-5 check, while seeing them existing only in reflection provokes an Unnatural-5 check in onlookers. Breaking the mirror used to capture the target doesn’t harm them, and they’ll appear from the nearest whole mirror when the spell ends.

House of Mirrors
Cost: 2 significant
Ever been in a mirror maze or even just found yourself between two mirrors and reflected into infinity? Cast this spell on a room or structure that contains at least one reflective surface. Anyone inside the enchanted area and anyone who enters it becomes unable to leave. Exits lead right back into the area in an unending maze as space warps and folds. Those trapped within can see versions of themselves through doorways and windows, though no sound can be heard. Getting out of the maze requires either three successful Secrets checks (each representing an hour of confusion and escape attempts) or destroying every reflective surface in the structure. The maze enchantment endures for a number of hours equal to the units of the casting result. As the caster, the spell’s confusion and special distortion have no effect on you.

Through the Looking Glass
Cost: 2+ significant
Remember when we said that all mirrors are connected? For this spell, you’ll need a reflective surface in which you can see your entire body. Step into the mirror as if it were a doorway, while thinking of another mirror of sufficient size which you have personally seen before, and you’ll instantly walk out of that mirror. You can transport whatever inanimate matter you can carry, and may bring others with you if you spend an additional charge per person and you all keep hold of each other while traveling. The maximum range of the spell is equal to your Catoptromancy Identity in miles, though you can double that range for each additional charge you spend.

Major Effects

Permanently remove one person from the world, so that they never existed. Change a fact about yourself, for example becoming young or beautiful or Russian. Create a perfect replica of any object. Bring out your reflection as a true physical duplicate of yourself.