Unbreakable Behemoth's Strength

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. This ritual targets a character, who must be present throughout.

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

Effects

The target gains five additional ranks of endurance.

In addition, the target experiences a powerful roleplaying effect; they feel physically invincible and capable of facing down any foe, even a colossal beast. They feel larger than life, and while they are no more likely to become angry if they are roused, their wrath becomes terrible to behold and is likely to persist until the source of their anger is removed one way or another. They may respond to any roleplaying effect that creates fear or doubt by becoming angry instead and assaulting the source of the effect.

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.

Additional Targets

This ritual can affect additional characters from the same banner. Each additional character increases the magnitude by 20. Additional characters must be present throughout.

Description

This ritual calls on the immense strength of the vast leviathan beasts that wallow in the oceans of the Summer Realm. The incantation pours this primal essence into the recipient, filling them with a tide of power that can be quite overwhelming. The behemoths named in the ritual are immense whale-like or dragon-like creatures that rarely, if ever, come to the surface - if any exist in the mortal realm, they have yet to be encountered.

Some Freeborn ritualists refer to this ritual as Unbreachable Shell of the World-Turtle after the mythological sea-creatures said to resemble turtle-sized islands. In some accounts it is called The Kraken Rises and draws on the images of the immense squid that dwell in the deepest oceans. In Sermersuaq the ritual is often called Might of the Horned Leviathan and invoke the spirit of the narwhal when they perform it. There is also an older version of this ritual in the collections of Navarr and Urizen libraries called The Mountain Stands which has very similar effects but is connected with majestic mountains and slumbering giants rather than deep-dwelling behemoths.

Some recipients of this ritual claim that they have also felt a very strong urge to swim or otherwise surround themselves with water, perhaps overwhelmed with a little too much of the behemoth's essence. There are fanciful stories that some warriors who receive the spell on multiple occasions eventually feel the urge to travel to the Summer Realm, and that this ritual is actually a tool for turning mighty warriors into worthy prey for Summer Eternals to challenge themselves against. If this bizarre tale is to be believed, the mighty whale-serpents of the Summer oceans were all once mortals who spent too long under the effects of this enchantment and were somehow collected when they finally gave in to the desire to submerge themselves beneath the sea.

Common Elements

This ritual often includes the use of the rune Verys or Feresh and invocations of whales, narwhals and other great beasts of the ocean depths.