Merciless Wrath of the Reaver

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. The target character who controls the military unit must be present throughout.

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

Effects

The military unit gains a significant boost to its effective rank, provided it engages in raiding. The enchantment increases the effective rank of the unit by three.

When the ritual is complete, the character who controls the target resource experiences a roleplaying effect; they feel aggressive and ready to solve any problem with violence; they have little patience for anything that gets in the way of their immediate gratification. The effect persists for at least ten minuets..

The effect lasts until the start of the next Profound Decisions Empire event. If the owner of the resource does not attend the next event, then the additional production provided by the resource is still added to that character's inventory. If the military unit does not engage in raiding during the next downtime, the ritual has no effect.

Additional Targets

This ritual can affect additional military units belonging to characters in the same banner. Each additional military unit increases the magnitude by 6. The character who controls each military unit must be present throughout the ritual.

Description

This ritual is sometimes called Across the Boundary, especially in The Marches, where they have a well-developed sense of 'their' land as opposed to barbarian lands. In The League and Highguard it is commonly called Bloodthirsty Blades because of the way it encourages soldiers to fight mercilessly against their opponents. The enchantment grants a military unit vigour and primitive strength, and heightens their aggression. The more bloodthirsty they are, the more the magic of Spring encourages them and strengthens them; if they operate in the more restrained activity of fighting alongside a campaign army, the enchantment quickly fades.

The Merciless Wrath of the Reaver can be a little risky. The soldiers in a military unit are unlikely to fall on each other unless they are already on the verge of mutiny, but there are stories of bloodthirsty warriors who lost the last vestiges of humanity under the influence of this enchantment. When they engage in battle they are much more likely to attack ferociously to kill or cripple their opponents as quickly as they can and show little mercy. This effect is especially pronounced if the enchantment is placed on a unit of Imperial Orcs, who are often already in danger of giving in to violent urges

It is common for those who receive the benefit of the spell to offer a portion of any plunder they gain in the coming season to the ritualists, although this is by no means mandatory - not least because some ritualists prefer to be paid in advance rather than trust to the short memories of raiders.

Common Elements

The ritual fills a fighting force with both vigour and bloodlust. Ritual performances often include the evocation of the rune of storms or the constellation of The Claw. Blood is often shed during this ritual, often mixed with a cup or bowl of water or spirits and shared by the targets. Sometimes the ritual involves the targets cutting themselves with a blade and swearing oaths to be merciless in pursuit of their prey. There are often invocations of wolves or other predatory animals, especially dire beasts and occasionally manticores during the performance of Merciless Wrath of the Reaver.