Sacred Architecture

Dr. Raymond Stantz: Cold-riveted girders, with cores of pure selenium.

Dr. Peter Venkman: [to everyone who's not a Ghostbuster] Everyone getting this so far? ...So what? I guess they just don't make them like they used to.

Dr. Raymond Stantz No! Nobody ever made them like this! The architect was either a certified genius or an authentic wacko!

— Ghostbusters (1984)

The shape, construction, and decoration of a given building can give it an aura of power that can be channeled into spells or supernatural events. Perhaps this involves specific mathematical ratios, thematic decorations, esoteric patterns or specialized materials. Perhaps it's just really excellent feng shui that gives the place a certain je ne sais quoi. At any rate, buildings like this tend to have a strange vibe to them, especially when someone's leveraging their power.

In Practice

Designing a building with sacred architecture requires keen skill in thaumatology and architecture, typically up to the GM, along with any logistical plot hooks (e.g. "the gateway needs to be made with a five-carat chunk of Alexandrite, which means we're heading to the Ural mountains...").

Any spell or spell-like effect may be boosted within or around a building with sacred architecture, although this boost is usually specialized for a specific purpose, such as summoning gates, or raising/consecrating the dead.

In the Multiverse

Sacred architectural structures are excellent for travelling across worlds, and are a reliable (if somewhat obvious) way for magic-oriented factions, such as the Cabal. Nothing quite says wizardry like a house of magic doors, or a portal between standing stones.

Notable Examples

• Samuel Luke Station is claimed to have some kind of sacred architecture. Or perhaps cursed...
• The Hieropolis (Cabal, p.19), sacred city of the Early Cabal.
  • Most great temples have some level of sacred architecture, although busted-down ruins aren't likely to be as powerful as they used to be.

Cursed Architecture

• Many cases of "cursed architecture" may be red herrings — sometimes a building feels awful to be in due to its acoustics, bad insulation, poor ventilation and so on. This is related to the real-world phenomenon of people feeling unwell in a building, called Sick Building Syndrome.
  • Not to be confused with Klein Rr Disease, wherein a building made of living plants becomes literally sick!

Variant Rules

• Alternative Ritual Path Magic, p.7 — Sacred Architecture gives a +1 to any energy gathering attempts, +2 if aspected to specific magic. Critical successes in construction give double!

References

• Thaumatology, p.89
• Urban Magics, p.21