Dreadful Ending

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 10 minutes of roleplaying. This ritual targets a Druj miasma pillar which must be present throughout.

Effects

This ritual draws on the unstoppable power of Winter to permanently destroy a Druj miasma pillar. The physical item is left unharmed, but the essential nature of it is ended. The item ceases to be magical or to have any other spiritual properties and becomes a mundane item.

Any other miasma pillars in the area are unaffected, but they can no longer draw on this pillar for support.

While usually invisible the Druj miasma is sometimes visible as a heavy, cloying fog that brings with it near overwhelming feelings of dread and despair.

Description

This ritual was codified in Autumn 384YE at the Icy Crag of the Eternal Sun, under the guidance of Ceinwen of the Eternal Family, the Master of Ice and Darkness. The ritual was the first to be formulated at the Icy Crag of the Eternal Sun under the patronage of the Silver Prince – the eternal Jaheris just having become patron of the college following the grand tourney at the Summer Solstice. It was based on work originally performed by Palaphon Ankarien of Urizen, drawing inspiration from Chimes of Annulment, and placed into Imperial Lore by the Conclave in Spring 385YE.

The ritual is relatively straightforward in principle. It uses the Winter resonance of ending to simply unravel whatever esoteric power it is that allows a miasma pillar to exert its malign influence over the people of a region. It is a significantly higher magnitude than Chimes of Annulment, and takes longer to cast, but has the crucial benefit that it does not “care” about any other pillars in the vicinity. In the past there have been circumstances where multiple pillars are tied together in a way that means they must all be “depowered” at the same time. Through brute force application of one of the core principles of Winter magic, this circumstance is negated. The pillar is simply ended by a power that cares naught for interconnected webs or mystical chains.

The ritual destroys the power of something that Imperial scholars still do not entirely understand. The miasma is not formed by ritual magic, and seems more like a great consecration woven from dread and despair. All that is sure is that the misshapen monoliths that anchor the effect are vulnerable to destruction by both spiritual and magical means. Yet understanding is not required; just like Words of Ending can destroy any magical item regardless of how much the magician knows about it, so Dreadful Ending simply unravels whatever it is that holds the power of the miasma pillar in place.

Common Elements

This ritual needs to be performed in the presence of a miasma pillar– which almost certainly means the ritualists will require a source of spiritual strength if they are to be capable of working magic while under the influence of the Druj miasma. The pillar itself is the target – it might be struck with weapons or symbolically “purified” with water or fire. Some covens may trace runes on the surface – Yoorn and Mawrig have obvious resonances with the ritual, but surprisingly Tykonus and Feresh have also been discovered to have resonance. The former most likely represents triumph over the power of the Druj, while the latter appears to amplify the defiance of the ritualists and use it as a weapon against the targeted pillar.

For astronomancers, the Drowned Man has a clear resonance with Dreadful Ending. A dramaturgemight favour the Doctor, the Prince, and the Garden. A blood mage will find that freely given changeling blood, or the blood of those who have defiantly resisted the Druj before, both have potence with regard to this ritual. Evocations of the name of Kaela, or of courageous Korl may also provide inspiration.