by: Bjorn Townsend for Sanguinus Curae
Despite their foreboding and serious reputation, some Tremere still cling to notions of both style and romance. However, as the saying goes, romance needs candlelight, and no Chantry is complete without hundreds of dripping candles. The problems with having sources of open flame burning constantly in an area filled with vampires, however, are obvious. Therefore this ritual was created. Once cast upon a candle or other source of flame, the object will burn until the casting thaumaturge wills it to stop. However, the flame will produce no heat whatsoever. Otherwise, it appears to be a perfectly ordinary candle. This ritual can also be cast on the logs in a fireplace, but requires more power to fuel it and therefore greater expenditure of blood. Kindred will still suffer the effects of Rotschreck if they are in close proximity to the flame, unless they are aware of its nature. For instance, a member of an invading Sabbat war party will still shy away from a torch lit with Frigus Incendium, but one of the resident Tremere will not.
This simple ritual requires little preparation and can be cast quickly. The materials required are one candle, torch or fireplace log, seven ice cubes, and a length of silver wire. The ritual requires three minutes to cast, and involves wrapping the wire around the ice cubes and placing the object upon which the ritual is being cast in the center while repeating a phrase invoking spirits of light and cold. The caster must spend one blood point to light a candle or torch, and two to light a fireplace log. The caster's player must roll the standard Thaumaturgy roll, difficulty six (regardless of the size of the object to be lit).
The same as above, though the caster must instead bid one mental trait in a static mental challenge.
by: Bjorn Townsend for Sanguinus Curae
In a group as secretive and political as Clan Tremere, discretion truly is the better part of valor. Since private conversations must often take place in public, neutral areas - such as Elysium -- the Tremere find it handy to have a means of preventing casual eavesdroppers from picking up any juicy tidbits.
The Cone of Silence ritual creates a bubble ten feet in diameter that is nearly impervious to sound. Only the loudest, lowest-frequency sound can penetrate (such as the pounding bass of a noisy nightclub). Conversation taking place within this bubble will be nearly impossible to listen in on, and will also remain undisturbed by the surrounding noise -- allowing the parties involved to speak normally, no matter how loud the surrounding area may be.
This ritual can be a grave breach of the Masquerade, however, if used in a public area. It is most often employed in private Elysium gatherings.
The caster makes the standard Thaumaturgy roll. A single success allows the bubble to be created. It lasts for one hour, or until dispelled by its creator. Any being attempting to listen in on the conversation using supernatural abilities or sophisticated electronic listening devices is at a +3 difficulty. Persons inside the Cone of Silence will have equal difficulty in perceiving sounds outside of the Cone's area of effect. Neither is possible if the Cone is being used in an area where loud noise is already present.
Note that the Cone of Silence does not present a visual or tangible barrier -- it simply insulates against sound. Anyone can simply step into the Cone's area of effect, and will be able to hear the conversation inside. A talented lip-reader might also be able to discern the conversation, unless suitable precautions (like covering one's mouth while speaking) are taken. Furthermore, the Cone of Silence does not guard against electronic or magical surveillance devices hidden within its area of effect, though such devices hidden outside its effective area will not pick up any sound.
The standard ritual-casting challenge is used to invoke the Cone. An individual attempting to use supernatural or technological means to overhear the conversation must bid his or her perception based traits (intelligence or wits-based traits are not applicable to this challenge) against a difficulty of five traits.
All those within the Cone gain the negative trait Oblivious that can be invoked in challenges to hear sounds from outside the Cone.
by: Butcher of Nod for Sanguinus Curae
This 2nd level ritual allows the caster to temporarily impair the vision of or even blind a foe outright. Casting time is only about 15min. During the casting of this ritual, a blind mortal is bound and both of it's eyes are sucked from it's skull by the Thaumaturge (Str roll - Diff equals Stamina) The pupils are then removed and kept under the tongue or in the cheek of the Thaumaturge. Until sunrise, the Thaumaturge's breath becomes a potent means of defense. By exhaling in the face of an opponent (Strength + Occult to hit - Diff. 6), the Thaumaturge can temporarily reduce all of the targets Perception or Dexterity based dice-pools by the number of successes he/she gained on the Ritual roll. For example, 1 success subtracts 1 from the targets dice pool. 2 successes subtracts 2 and so on and so forth. If the Thaumaturge scored more successes than the target has in Stamina, he/she is blinded and has a max. dice pool of 2 for Per. and Dex. based actions. The duration for this impairment is 10 (minus target's Stamina) turns. This is not meant to be a missile weapon, only a means of defense. A botched attack roll results in the Thaumaturge being affected by the full force of his/her rancid breath.
by: Benedira for Sanguinus Curae
With this ritual, the Thaumaturge stands a greater chance of beguiling an individual into believing them. Once under this enchantment, the subject will accept almost anything the Thaumaturge says as reasonable truth, even if prior to the enchantment she knew the truth to be otherwise.
To perform this ritual, the caster must have an image or effigy of the target. This ritual requires three hours to cast, reduced by 15 minutes for each success on the roll. The Thaumaturge must bite off the end of their own tongue, doing one level of aggravated damage that cannot be soaked. The tongue is spit on the image of the target, and the ritual lasts for one night or until the tongue is removed from the image.
To disbelieve anything the caster says, the target must score more successes on a Willpower roll (difficulty is caster's Thaumaturgy rating +3) than the caster scored for the ritual. This roll must be made for each statement or suggestion the target might wish to disbelieve. The target will continue to believe the things said by the caster after the ritual has worn off, until circumstance or evidence convinces them otherwise.
by: Bjorn Townsend for Sanguinus Curae
Every once in a while a ritual is created, and every Tremere in the Tellurian wonders why he or she didn't think of it first. The Flame-Sealed Letter is one such ritual -- fairly simple, and exceedingly useful. With this ritual, a magus can insure that his or her written communications will remain reasonably secure -- if the Letter is stolen, it will burst into flames once it leaves a predetermined distance from its owner.
The story behind the Flame-Sealed Letter is an interesting one. It was invented in August of 1999, in the city of Bellingham in the American Pacific Northwest. The Tremere Regent, one Kesper Ravenswood-North, had been recently reassigned from London and charged with maintaining order in the city, establishing a new Chantry, and keeping a particularly close eye out for threats from far Cathay. Mystified at receiving this poor assignment -- as Bellingham was a minor city at that time, pleasant but lacking in truly worthwhile industry or culture -- since his record was so very sterling, Kesper arrived in the city with his wife, Elspeth, and set up shop, as it were. It took them only a few weeks to begin pulling the strings of the Toreador Prince Solomon, and Kesper decided to make the best of things as a big fish in a very small pond, quietly maintaining order in the city through the cipher of Prince Solomon.
Unfortunately, Solomon made a poor tool. He had a childish unwillingness to take good advice, and soon found himself shamed, in danger of having his Princeship taken away either by the Camarilla or suffering a revolt of the Kindred in his own city. His weak rulership and lack of consistent enforcement made the local Kindred contemptuous of authority, and as bands of anarchs hunted for Solomon, he along with the rest of the Primogen Council came to Kesper and actually begged him -- a Tremere! -- to assume rulership of the city.
Kesper was reluctant to expose himself and his 'family', reluctant to wield power so visibly, but if he did not do so, the city would fall quickly to the anarchs, or to the Sabbat, or the ravening Lupines. He required a means to enforce a very precise set of laws in the city governing territory, Elysium, proper hunting, and maintenance of the Masquerade, one that would leave no room for doubt or misinterpretation.
The simplest solution would be a detailed, written copy -- yet this in and of itself is a dire breach of the Masquerade, should it ever fall into the wrong hands. So Kesper created the Ritual of the Flame-Sealed Letter and cast it upon copies of the Seven Laws of the City that he wrote, and their detailed sub-paragraphs and footnotes. Thanks to the ritual, copies of the Laws could not fall into unauthorized hands, and Kesper was able to consolidate his rule of the city and enforce strict order within a week. No one could question his instructions, as his document left no room for doubt. Kesper's Laws, as well as this ritual, have become required reading for Tremere involved in the rule of cities throughout the world.
The Flame-Sealed Letter is a variation of standard Thaumaturgical warding, and magi who are familiar with those rituals will find this ritual similar (and, optionally, easier to learn).
To cast the Flame-Sealed Letter upon a sheet of paper, a magical sigil must be drawn in the casting thaumaturge's blood on the lower left-hand corner. The same sigil must be inscribed in the center of the paper in a mixture of ash and water. The ritual can be cast on up to five sheets of paper at a time, provided the sheets are stacked one on top of another -- the ink of the sigils will bleed through the sheets, marking each.
After the ritual has been cast, the sheet or sheets that have been warded in this manner will burst into flame if they leave a three-foot radius around the casting thaumaturge's body. However, if the thaumaturge should voluntarily give the warded paper to another individual, the paper will 'remember' this person as being authorized to hold it, until the paper is returned to the thaumaturge. If this person tries to give the paper to anyone other than the casting thaumaturge, the paper will burst into flame.
This ritual requires a standard Thaumaturgy role, difficulty 6 for one sheet of paper, 7 for two, and so on up to ten. With a botch, the paper will immediately burst into flames, and will have to be rewritten or reprinted.
The same as above, requiring a static mental challenge bidding as many traits as there are sheets to be cast upon, up to 5.
by: Benedira for Sanguinus Curae
This ritual grants the caster the ability to change one cosmetic physical aspect of self permanently. These changes may include permanently healing abrasions or removing telling birthmarks or scars, changing hair color or length, changing eye color or shape, etc.
This ritual will not allow major wounds such as broken bones or internal damage to be healed, nor can it change things such as overall height, weight or sex.
Because of the unchanging tendency of the body vampiric, this ritual may only be enacted once every two months. Over time however, this ritual could be used to completely remake the Thaumaturge's appearance.
The Thaumaturge must create a likeness of self from red clay, imbuing it with one blood point as they fashion it. While the effigy need not be precise or artistic, the feature to be changed must be clearly depicted. Once this likeness is formed the next hour must be spent remaking the feature to be changed, and again the final goal must be clearly depicted on the effigy as well as clearly visualized. This ritual takes at least one hour to perform, plus the time it takes the Thaumaturge to create the clay likeness.
The likeness may be stored for later use, as a side effect of this ritual is the creation of a "voodoo doll" perfectly attuned to the caster. Those who do not wish to leave such a powerful item in existence must place the doll somewhere that it can be struck by the noonday sun, which will effectively burn the Thaumaturge's blood away and leave the effigy with no power over them.
by: Benedira for Sanguinus Curae
The primary purpose of this ritual is to prevent the caster from being blood bound, though a few other uses have been discovered for it as well.
A small amount of ash from burnt holly must be mixed with the caster's blood to create a paste. After the proper words are spoken, the caster coats the underside of her tongue with this paste. For each success on the roll, thirty minutes of protection is provided to the Thaumaturge. The effects of this ritual are negated if the caster imbibes anything between the time that the ritual is performed and the time they swallow the vitae they wish to be protected from. This means human blood, their own blood, or any other liquid. This ritual requires one hour to perform.
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