Treacher's Quill

This ritual is part of Urizen lore rather than Imperial lore.

Interdiction
While Agramant is subject to the enmity of the Imperial Conclave, it is illegal to perform this ritual.

Rules

Urizen Lore

This ritual is part of Urizen lore rather than Imperial Lore. Any Urizen character with the appropriate lore can master or perform this ritual. A character from another nation who mastered the ritual before it became part of Urizen lore may still perform it, but does so under the usual rules for performing a ritual learned from a ritual text.

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. While performing this ritual the ritualist must write a message on a piece of parchment using their own blood. The message can be up to thirty-one words long but must include three different names of the eternal Agramant as part of that count. At the completion, the reverse of the message must be marked with a bloody handprint using the caster's own blood.

Bloody handprint
The requirement for the caster to cover the palm of one hand in their own freshly drawn blood means that performing the ritual will require the use of red paint or fake blood. The palm and fingers should be notable reddened by the performance, and the hand pressed against the parchment while still wet. Obviously the "blood" can be washed off after the completion of the ritual, but as part of the casting it should be obvious that one of your hands is covered in blood.

When performing the ritual the caster must cut themselves with an edged weapon, sufficient to cause the loss of 1 hit. They must cover the palm of one hand in their own freshly drawn blood (represented with red paint or fake blood). If there is more than one contributor, each must cut themselves, cover their hand in blood, and mark a handprint on the reverse of the message.

Effects

Assuming the message is prepared correctly, the message disappears and is received by the Winter eternal Agramant; the paper should be given to the referee.

This ritual does not transfer pictures or items.

The eternal knows exactly who cast this ritual; they are under no obligation to respond but may do so if they wish.

"It's Blood-on-the-Snow isn't it?"

Description

Treacher's Quill entered Urizen lore three days before the Autumn Equinox 384YE, as part of a book entitled Ceremonies of the Black Drop Society. The Childer of the Black Drop was a sorcerous cabal of magicians well-versed in Winter lore who were committed to collecting every scrap of lore they could find about the eternal Agramant. While they claimed to be seeking some kind of weakness that could be exploited to protect the Empire completely from his depredations, all thirteen members were - perhaps inevitably - declared sorcerers by the Imperial Conclave in Summer 354YE. In pursuit of their quest they had apparently used magic in very unwise ways - mastering rituals that drew on the power of Blood-on-the-Snow to "better understand his dark temptations". They were unrepentant, and eight of their members were killed in the resulting fracas. Five of them - Johann Perivale von Sarvos, Wilhelm Ecaso di Temeschwar, Padik Tarvin of Tassato Mestra, Tomazi duPain de Holberg, and Jodeya Watiker di Tassato Mestra - were unaccounted for. Shortly before the Summer Solstice 384YE, the bodies of four of the remaining members were discovered in a cottage in the Vardstein Vale. The final surviving Child of the Black Drop - Jodeya Watiker di Tassato Mestra - remains at large and there is speculation that she was responsible for using Gift of Knowledge to place this wicked ritual into Urizen lore.

The ritual sends a message to the wicked eternal Agramant, but the malevolent eternal is under no obligation to respond. They do, however, know exactly who performed it and this fact alone might give wise magicians pause. Obviously, while Agramant is subject to the enmity of the Imperial Conclave it is illegal to perform the ritual - although it is not illegal to master the ritual (nor to possess a ritual text containing the named ritual although that is irrelevant in this case as ritual texts cannot be created from Urizen lore).

Performing the ritual requires the magicians to injure themselves with an edged weapon, and use the blood that flows from the wound to write their missive. The ritual must contain at least three of the names of the eternal. Given that it cannot be more than thirty-one words long anyone performing it is likely to favour one-word names - which the ritual text is at pains to point out includes Blood-on-the-Snow. The ritual is completed by marking the rear of the message with a handprint made using the contributors' blood. Magical scholars who have cautiously examined the ritual in the weeks since the Autumn Equinox are of the opinion that the relative complexity of the ritual is - to quote Diogenes the Frugal - "probably an indication that Agramant is messing with the magicians who want to talk to him." The requirement to coat one's hand in blood in particular makes performing the ritual secretly more difficult - Diogenes the Frugal comments that this seems almost intended to foster suspicion among Urizen magicians because it implies that "anyone with blood under their fingernails might be a secret correspondent of the Wastewalker."

Common Elements

The most important elements of the ritual are the blood of the one performing it, and the need to put a bloody handprint on the reverse of the parchment. It's notable that the ritual requires the blood of the casters - it will not work with blood taken from anyone else even if they are willing. It already involves principles of goetia in that it requires an invocation of Agramant - albeit in written form. The ritual text suggests that the casters may wish to be veiled, cowled, or masked when they perform the ritual especially if they wish to try and conceal their identity from the eternal. Unfortunately, however, the blood magic intrinsic to the performance means that Agramant cannot fail to know who sent the message - while the face can be hidden blood cannot be masked.