All the World in a Grain of Sand

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. At the end of the ritual one of the contributors is chosen to deliver the curse with a pronouncement of doom.

This effect is a curse. A target may be under more than one curse at a time.

Effects

This ritual creates a curse that is delivered to a target with a pronouncement of doom: one contributor is chosen to deliver the curse, and they must do so within fifteen minutes or it falls on their own head.

While under the curse, the target experiences a powerful roleplaying effect; their mind has been exposed to an enormous, revelatory and thoroughly terrifying truth that they cannot bear. They are plagued with madness; they may hallucinate, talk to themselves, become paranoid or obsessed with uncovering and recording trivial, confusing details. They may embrace their madness seeking more and more information, or flee from it and hide in their own minds.

While under the effect the target loses access to the ability to cast mastered rituals; they contribute to all rituals as if they had not mastered them (this includes losing the ability to employ any options that require you to have mastered the ritual).

The effect of the ritual lasts for a year (until the start of the Profound Decisions Empire event four events from now).

Removing the Curse

The curse can be removed by certain powerful creatures or items. It can also be alleviated by powerful rituals that remove curses of madness or personal disintegration such as Transmogrification of the Soul's Echo.

Description

This dreadful curse is sometimes embraced by its victims as if it were a blessing, but there is no real benefit to receiving it. The target loses the ability to perform rituals effectively, and often becomes obsessed with trivia. The vision they suffer is virtually impossible to articulate, and attempts to do so often leave them frustrated and confused.

Common Elements

As with many curses this ritual often involves a recitation of the grievances against the target; sometimes obscure formulae or invocations to reveal to the target the vast expanse of the cosmos are invoked. Lights or fires are often created, with more and more light focused on a single point to suggest the overwhelming power of the vision. Ashes, sand and dust are another common component. The rune of revelation is often evoked, suggesting that some revelations are damaging to the mind, and the runes Irremais or Aesh may be defaced or destroyed to represent the loss of wisdom and clarity.

"So let me get this straight," Eowyn pinched her brow and focused. The cold and her striding's flight were taking its toll on them all, and she was still nursing an injury from the skirmish which had left her without three of her strongest Thorns. She must have been desperate to even contemplate what her Vate was telling her. "Let me wrap my head around this. We can't hope to beat them in a fair fight. That's fine; once we meet up with the Third Way, we should have the advantage of numbers and that clever swine Leofric, who'll run rings around them. But you don't want us to run rings around them-"

"On the contrary, Eowyn. We'll need exactly that. We want to pull them as close together as possible."

"Won't they disperse if we surround them?"

"Not the Thule. The Thule will fall back to defend their Dragon if they feel he's truly threatened." Vate Olwyn demonstrated with a few of her rune-stones on the ground.

"Alright, so you want us to run rings around them. And then we engage them, and then what?"

"Pin them down," the vate said, taking a long sip from her drinking-horn, "and once we've convinced the Third Way's vates to swear to our coven-stone, we'll have the numbers we need to curse the Dragon."

"Curse him. Can't we just kill him?"

Off to one side, the Guide Daffyd's eyes widened for a moment, and he shook his head fervently. "Even they don't all die defending him, they'll fight to the death afterwards. Better to hurt him and retreat, my Brand."

Eowyn frowned as she took this in. "They say not even an archer can shoot a Thule Dragon, for the others will throw themselves before him to guard him. How do you hope to strike him?"

"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration, my Brand, but that's not what I'm aiming for. Just get me close enough that he can hear me - I'll stand right behind the line - and let me deliver a little poetry. You'll hear him scream, and his warriors won't have the first idea what to do about it. Without their Dragon's orders, they'll be lost. We can melt away, and I'll bet you all the mithril in the Bourse they'll retreat. If they don't, they'll wander round for a while, while the master they worship goes steadily more and more insane - and soon, all their rituals will fail, and you can attack them without their advantage of magic."

"If they hear their master screaming in pain, won't they just attack anyway?"

Olwyn's grin was feral. "Oh, but it won't be in pain. It'll be in delight. He'll know all the secrets of the universe. Just what a Dragon secretly hopes for, when he's not serving his people. He'll fight against any attempt to repair his shattered mind, and they'll be too frightened to disobey. And in the meantime, it won't hurt that he'll be trying to count the leaves on the trees, and capture the sunbeams in his drinking-horn, and anything else that might help him get back that omniscient feeling.

"If you can't turn that into a victory, my Brand, I'll be voting for another leader come the Solstice," Daffyd spoke with a broad grin, and Eowyn threw one of the runestones at him in irritation. The two of them had ganged up on her, but the plan sounded sensible. Cut the head off, and the monster would die flailing. Poison it, and it would die slowly. Just the trick.

"Alright, Olwyn, we'll do it your way. But if this doesn't go off, you owe me a pint in the next life..."