Rituals

Basic Rules

• Every ritual draws on one of the six realms
• Every ritual has a cost in crystalized mana to perform the ritual
• A ritualist may only expend mana up to their level of skill
• Crystalized mana expended by a character who has mastered the ritual counts double

There are six magical realms, which the Empire call Day, Night, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Every ritual draws its power from just one of these six realms. You must have a rank of the appropriate Realm lore to attempt a ritual of that realm.

All rituals require crystalized mana (from a mana site) to cast, they are too powerful to perform with personal mana. The magnitude of the ritual is the amount of crystal mana needed to perform it. The amount of crystalized mana that each ritualist can expend is limited by their level of skill with the appropriate realm lore.

Magicians can master a handful of formulaic rituals. Crystalized mana used by a character that has mastered the ritual counts double. Magicians may choose to master formulaic rituals when they purchase realm lore skills or the extra ritual skill.

E.g. A magician is performing the ritual, The Ascetic Star of Atun, a level 6 Day ritual. The ritualist has three levels of skill in day lore, allowing them to contribute three points of crystalized mana, however the caster has mastered the ritual, doubling their effective mana. This allows them to achieve the 6 points required for the ritual.

A regio is an area with a magical aura that makes it easier for ritualists to perform rituals while inside it. Ritualists performing a ritual in a regio can add the power of the regio to their realm lore to determine how many crystal mana they can contribute to the ritual. There is a powerful permanent regio of all six realms at Anvil.

Performing a Ritual

• Rituals require several minutes of appropriate roleplaying; it should be obvious to everyone nearby that you are performing a ritual
• You cannot perform rituals while wearing armour
• If possible, you should get a ref before performing your ritual'

Rituals require several minutes of appropriate roleplaying. Imperial magicians use a number of different sources, symbols, methods and theories when designing their rituals. The most common magical techniques are; Rune magic, Dramaturgy, Astronomancy and the Music of the spheres. These represent bodies of magical lore and theory that can be used to add depth and significance to all magic, and have special resonance for ritual magic. In addition, the description of each ritual includes a Common Elements section that can be used as a starting point for developing the roleplaying required to perform a ritual.

It should be obvious to everyone nearby that you are performing a ritual. While it is possible to conceal precisely what your ritual is intended to achieve, it is against the spirit of ritual magic to intentionally perform a ritual that appears to have an opposite effect. For example, performing a ritual that looks as if it is intended to heal someone that is actually intended to destroy one of their magic items is inappropriate.

We do not mark your performance in a ritual, but we do log every ritual, so that we can record and apply the effects. You should try and get a ref before you perform a ritual if possible, so that they can log the ritual.

Formulaic Rituals

• Ritualists can perform any formulaic ritual if they have the ranks to do so

The Imperial Conclave has helped to spread the knowledge of countless different magical rituals across the Empire. This list of formulaic rituals is referred to as the Imperial Lore. Any Imperial magician can perform a formulaic ritual that is in Imperial Lore if they have sufficient ranks in the appropriate realm. In addition a ritualist may choose to master a number of formulaic rituals - this makes those rituals much easier and cheaper to cast.

Spontaneous Rituals

• Ritualists can attempt to create spontaneous ritual effects

It is possible to create a ritual effect at an event that is not part of the existing library of known Imperial rituals. A spontaneous ritual is much more expensive and more difficult to perform than an equivalent formulaic ritual.

Battlefield rituals

• Battlefield rituals can be cast on the battlefield without a referee present

Many rituals do not require a referee to cast on the battlefield. This is a special exception which exists for a subset of rituals to make it as easy as possible for magicians to perform their rituals on battlefield without needing to find a referee first. Only battlefield rituals can be performed in this way and you must follow the additional rules when casting in this way.

Covens

• Ritualists can cooperate to perform a ritual by creating a coven
• Any character can create a coven
• A coven must have a name and an oath
• Ritualists join the coven by bonding themselves to it

A ritualist can always perform a ritual by themselves. Most ritualists are also part of a coven, a mystical union that extends the hearth magic of oaths to allow participants to combine their strength.

Any character can create a coven, you can use the online character creation system to form a coven. A coven uses the hearth magic inherent in oaths to allow participants to work together, so every coven must have an oath of some kind, which must be set when the coven is created. Once created, the oath cannot be changed, a new coven must be formed if characters wish to change their oath.

Ritualists can join the coven using the create bond spell that all magicians know. There must be an existing member of the coven present for the spell to work. The caster must know the name of the coven and they must recite at least a few words of the oath when they cast the spell. Only characters that are members of the same nation can join a coven.

Members of a coven can work together to perform a ritual with each participant contributing mana to a ritual up to the limit of their ability.

Contributors

Some rituals refer to contributors. A contributor is a character who is a member of the coven performing the ritual and has at least one rank of the realm lore used by that ritual.

Further Reading

• Overview
• Spellcasting
• Rituals
  • Formulaic Rituals
  • Spontaneous Magic
  • Battlefield Rituals
  • Enchantments
  • Curses
  • Ilium
  • Ritual Theory
• Magic Items
• Herbs & Potions
• Cosmology
  • Eternals
  • Realms
  • Regio

This selection of articles can be downloaded as a PDF book (or as html only)