Revelatory Light of the Empyrean Spheres

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. This ritual targets a character, who must be present throughout. The target character must be a contributor participating in the performance of the ritual.

This ritual is an enchantment. A target may only be under one enchantment effect at a time.

Effects

This enchantment allows the target to call MASS PARALYSE once during the duration. The character must be able to cast spells to make this call - it explicitly will not work if they are wearing armour.

While under the effect of the enchantment, the target experiences a powerful role-playing effect: they feel detached from their emotions, and their passions are muted. They are conscious of their emotions, but not moved by them. This effect is especially pronounced for those with the merrow lineage, and they may find they have additional difficulty understanding the emotional states of others, perhaps even going so far as to be mildly irritated by emotional displays.

The character who unleashes the power of the ritual is blinded for thirty seconds; they cannot see anything for the duration.

The effect lasts until the end of the next battle, skirmish or quest the character participates in; or until the end of the current event, whichever is sooner. The power of the ritual can be invoked only once during this time.

Additional Targets

The ritual can affect additional characters from the same coven. Each additional character increases the magnitude of the spell by 100. Additional characters must be present throughout, and each must contribute to the performance of the ritual.

Option

Any caster who has mastered the ritual may choose to substitute weltsilver for crystal mana when contributing to it. Every 2 ingots of weltsilver spent counts as 1 crystal mana when contributing to the ritual.

OOC Note

If you enter a battle, skirmish or quest with one of these enchantments active on you, you must let a referee with a radio know about it shortly before or after your passage through the Sentinel Gate.

If you are expecting to deploy one of these effects, you are invited to bring this to the attention of any nearby referee or marshal shortly before you do so; they will then be able to assist the targets in taking the call correctly

Description

This battlefield ritual allows a powerful magical attack to be unleashed against a group of enemies, freezing them in place for a dozen heartbeats allowing them to be easily butchered. As with Inescapable Chains of Bitter Glass, the effectiveness of the magic depends almost entirely on the discipline and decisive action of those accompanying the magician, but the ten seconds that all the targets are completely incapable of action it should be possible to defeat practically any opponent.

The ritualist who unleashes the power of this magnitude is stuck temporarily blind, and may suffer other side effects. For a few moments, they perceive a limitless expanse of knowledge and cosmic awareness. The experience rarely lasts more than a second or so, but it can leave them mentally scarred and unstable, their sanity blasted and their mental stability crumbing. Very rarely, if they survive this experience, they may recall a momentary fragment of useful information but usually they are simply blasted by the powers unleashed.

The ritual is rarely used in the Empire due to the difficulty of finding the best moment to unleash it, where it will provide sufficient tactical advantage to make up for the ruinous cost and the devastation it can wreak on the ritualist who unleashes it.

Common Elements

It is difficult to speak of common elements due to the comparatively small number of covens who have mastered this ritual. They would include mirrors; bright lights; geometric shapes (especially spheres, cones and pyramids) and mathematical formulae; tomes of lore; carefully scored music with stringed instruments such as harps; careful movement and invocations of raw knowledge and dangerous power. Completion of the ritual is usually signalled by a great cry of triumph or the sounding of many horns.

Other common elements in this ritual might include the rune of revelation, the rune of destruction or the rune of dominion. Mawrig is used when the ritualists seek to wreak devastation on the battlefield; some magicians believe that it is likely to leave the contributor who releases the effect more damaged than the use of Hirmok, which seeks to constrain and challenge the raw power of this spell.

Needless to say, the constellations are often evoked during this ritual, especially The Great Wyrm, The Door, The Key and The Lock.

"Have you ever seen someone die of perfection? Have you ever experienced the light of a million dancing spheres as it seared your soul with beauty? Heard the laughter of dragons echoing in your skull like golden thunder, on and on, until insanity seemed like a blessing and death a sweet release? Have you ever tasted a truth so profound that it felt like a bucket of live coals rattling around inside your head? Ever felt yourself struck dumb with insights so terrible your tongue simply refuses to utter them?"

The old woman with glared down at the young boy, poking him with one bony finger to punctuate each question.

"Well, apprentice, have you?

"No, mistress", he kept his eyes downcast.

"No.", she said with finality, "Pray that you never do."

She took the book of rituals from his hands and placed it back in its place upon the high shelf by memory, for her milky eyes saw nothing, "Pray that you never do..."