One idea I had for a possible direction for the development of sorcerers in TROS runs as follows:

The aging effect of magic comes, so it's been explained, from the capacity of the raw energy flow to suck a bit of your own lifeforce away with it if not perfectly controlled, because human bodies are simply not designed to handle the massive energies of even comparatively weak magic. So... what if it was possible to gradually change yourself to become more attuned to magic, better able to conduct its energies?

In game terms, this would be reflected by a stat rather grandiosely called Apotheosis (because high levels of this stat would effectively make you godlike). Essentially, every level you have in Apotheosis grants a single automatic success to offset aging. It does not actually change the difficulty of the aging resistance roll -- if you're casting a CTN 12 Ritual you'd still better allocate a fair amount of dice to aging resistance -- but it does allow you to be more flexible with low-CTN spells. Apotheosis represents the degree to which you are literally becoming something other than an ordinary human -- something alien, powerful, and frightening.

I wanted to run this idea, and some variations, past the posters here to get commentary and reactions. In addition to this basic concept, you could also introduce the following ideas:

1) Single-Vagary Apotheosis. The Apotheosis applies only to Spells of One cast with one specific Vagary, and not to Spells of Three or Many. Perhaps people who are psychics have a high Apotheosis only for use of the Vision Vagary; they can't do anything but Vision spells, but they can do them with a flexibility and ease that normal sorcerers can only envy. Similarly, Fey might gain some Apotheosis for the Glamour Vagary only -- great sorceries of war or mind-twisting can age them, but illusions are natural and inborn.

2) Physical Mutation. The hardening of the body against the magical energies twists it and weakens it; gaining high Apotheosis levels inflicts a physical penalty on the sorcerer. This could take the form of Attribute loss, the gaining of Flaws like Ugly or Lame (from a withered leg), and so on. This represents the long tradition among mighty evil sorcerers of being hideously warped and twisted by their power and malice.

3) Spiritual Alienation. High levels of Apotheosis might permanently reduce the maximum possible score of SAs like Conscience, Faith or Passion, as the sorcerer becomes more and more removed from the concerns of normal life and people.

If one was going to introduce this kind of ability into TROS, what kind of SA point cost would one give for it? It would have to be very high, probably higher than anything else in the game, although Single-Vagary Apotheosis would cost less by definition. Starting PC sorcerers could not have any level of Apotheosis at all, save perhaps that granted by race (Fey Apotheosis for Glamour would be reasonable for this).

Very interesting concept, but not something I'd like to see become a core-rule. Maybe an optional footnote in SatF, with a warning that it could make Sorcery even more dangerous and unbalanced. It could be a really good way to add an additional bit of horror to your NPC Sorcerers, though, without having it be some item that can be taken and make one of the PCs even more nasty.

I was just thinking of something similar... someone mentioned in another thread about the essence of demons being unchanging, and therefore immune to the effects of aging from magic. It might be the goal of some sorcerors to have themselves infused with "demon essence" so as to become immune (at least paritally) to aging due to the use of magic. Kind of the TROS equivalent of a lich, I guess.

-Mark