The Flower is Withered on the Stalk

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 10 minutes of roleplaying. If the ritual is cast using the Imperial Regio it requires at least 5 minutes of roleplaying instead.

During the ritual the casters must be in a strong Winter regio.

This ritual targets a specific region. During the performance of the ritual the casters must name a region within the target territory.

The ritual may target a region in a territory which is under Imperial control (that is, which is eligible to appoint a Senator) when cast from the Imperial regio. To affect a region in a territory that is not under Imperial control, the ritual must be performed at a regio within the target territory.

This effect is a curse. A target may be under more than one curse at a time.

Like Chimes of Annulment, this ritual was originally created to deal with a specific problem - the unique fortification created by the eternal Llofir in Tamarbode. Its game effect reflects this, but it also means that the ritual has limited effects except in very specific situations. It won't harm a ward created by Forge the Wooden Fastness, it doesn't affect personal resources, and will not harm the vallorn except under very specific circumstances that will be called out in an appropriate wind of fortune.

Effects

This ritual calls down a curse over the target region. If the region contains a fortification composed of living plant matter, such as that created by the eternal Llofir in Tamarbode, it will inflict 500 casualties on that structure over the coming months.

The ritual desiccates plant and fungal life in the region. Many such plants will be killed by the curse, drained of moisture and residual heat and nutrients, so that all that remains are dried withered husks. It also affects living creatures in the region, causing their skin to dry and crack, and their joints to ache. While these effects are notable, they are not sufficient to have an effect on personal resources.

The effects of the ritual are obvious to anyone living in or passing through the territory. As with any effect that targets an entire territory, there may be unanticipated consequences to this ritual. The nature of the area and the current situation there may prompt additional unpredictable effects, often resulting in an entry into the following seasons Winds of Fortune. It is not powerful enough to harm a vallorn (the entity recovers faster than the ritual can harm it), but might possibly have an effect on a vallorn force that could be harmed by Imperial armies.

The effect lasts until the start of the next Profound Decisions Empire event.

Description

This ritual was codified in Winter 384YE at the Lyceum under the auspices of the Dean of the Lyceum, of Simargl the Empty One (who also put forward the declaration of Imperial lore). The codification was actually interrupted by the Dean's sudden need to complete a different ritual. Once that more pressing magic had been formulated, the scholars returned to working on this potent curse. The original work on this ritual was undertaken by Ahzrukhal, Son of Night, a Highborn Magister of the secretive Suns of Couros chapter. The ritual was originally entitled Desiccation of the Wasteland but with their characteristic whimsy, the Dean renamed it during their declaration. Some magicians may know it by its earlier name.

Rumour around the Lyceum during the codification has it that the magic was originally intended to be part of a strike against the eternal Llofir, who at the time the initial work was completed was in possession of the Sign of Tamar and the region of Tamarbode. Obviously, in the end, the threat of Llofir was dealt with by the Wolves of War and the Towerjacks, meaning that the magic Ahzrukhal had prepared went unused. The potential for a similar incident, however, cannot be overlooked.

The ritual destroys living plant matter, and would be particularly damaging to any fortification composed of plants or fungus. The magic is not potent enough, however, to destroy an entire forest or woodland, which is perhaps just as well. There was some discussion about a less constrained curse that would harm the plant-life across an entire territory, perhaps to the detriment of those who relied on farms, forests, or herb gardens for sustenance or prosperity, but such a ritual would need to be created separately. Scope and power have, to a degree, been sacrificed for greater focus.

Those unfamiliar with the magic of the Wasteland sometimes make the mistake of assuming that Winter is cold, a realm of ice and snow. While those elements are part of the make-up of the realm, they are only one small part of it. The realm is called the Wasteland because it is a place of want, and hunger, and desperation. There are forests of dead trees, and endless ash wastes, and deserts of black sand where nothing lives or moves. The counterpart of hunger is thirst, and the power of this curse invokes the bottomless thirst of the Wasteland.

This ritual draws a little on the essence of those endless deserts, allowing it to seep into the mortal world and feast on the water flowing through living things.

Either by itself, or in conjunction with the Fountain, the Drowned Man resonates strongly with this destructive curse.

Common Elements

The ritual draws on the power of thirst and desiccation, and so using salt, dust, sand, or ash as part of the performance resonates with the imagery of the parched deserts. Effigies of trees, or a small diorama in the shape of a forest made of twigs, that is withered or destroyed as part of the performance can also help to focus the magic.

The rune of Weakness is a natural counterpart to the magic of the ritual, as is invocation of the Drowned Man. Some astronomancers might combine the Drowned Man with the Fountain, subverting the meaning of the latter through the power of the former, especially if the Wanderer is invoked alongside them. Heraldic magic looks to the manticore for inspiration; a foul beast of hatred and corruption whose venomous fluids kill plant-life and poisons water. The Doctor as Couros might be called on by a dramaturge, given the ritual deals with cursing healthy things, or [[the Mountebank] as Gancio, with the Garden serving as a fitting Throne, especially when combined with the Blade, the Coin, or the subverted Cup.

As to goetia; Sorin is often said to rule over a bone-dry wasteland; Kaela ends all things; and both Surut and Skathe of the Thrice-cursed Court might be named as sources of the blight the ritual calls into being.

Regardless of symbols, the ritual is above all things a curse that brings ruin and death. Whispered invocations that spill forth hate or spite, while they might risk damaging the spirit of the magician, can also make this magic more powerful and easier to wield.