Ritual Magic

Ritual magic is the second most important kind of magic in New Dunston (after knacks). In order to use a magical ritual, a person must have been trained in the philosophy and techniques underlying the ritual. There are eight different styles in use by the citizens of New Dunston, and each has a skill associated with it.

In addition to knowing the general skill, a person must learn the individual rituals they want to use. Most rituals are private, known by a single house or passed down from master to apprentice. Players are encouraged to work with the STs to come up with new rituals. Note that, with rare exceptions, ritual magic takes a long time to perform, and is done during downtime, not at games.

Unlike a normal task, a ritual has two difficulties, and neither of are exactly known by the ritualist. The main number is the difficult of succeeding at the ritual. Instead of being listed exactly, terms are given which represent a range of difficulties.

Term	Difficulty
Simple	10-20
Elementary	21-30
Challenging	31-50
Arduous	51-75
Extraordinary	76-150

A skilled ritualist may be able to find more exact numbers for a given ritual with effort.

The second number is lower than the first, and represents how difficult it is to activate any magical effect at all. If a ritualist scores above the higher difficulty, the ritual succeeds; if they score below the lower difficulty, nothing happens. But if they score in between, some uncontrolled magical effect happens. This is almost invariably bad, although how bad it is depends on the nature of the ritual itself. Again, these are given by terms which give an approximate percentage of the main difficulty. For instance, a Challenging/Capricious spell has a main difficulty of roughly 31-50 and a second difficulty of roughly 16-25.

Term	Percentage
Safe	90%
Reliable	80%
Risky	70%
Capricious	60%
Treacherous	50%

Ritual magic skills cost more than ordinary skills. The costs are:

Level	Cost	Spec. Cost
0	0	5
1	10	6
2	15	8
3	20	11
4	30	25
5	75	50

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Alchemy

Alchemists believe that magic is the art of distilling the inherent mystical properties of ordinary materials into substances capable of enacting magical effects. To an alchemist, the world is filled with untapped magical potential waiting to be extracted by their methods. Unique among the forms of magic, alchemy never produces a direct effect, but always a Prestige, which must then be activated in some way to obtain the desired effect. These need the stereotypical potions--although they sometimes are--but may be gasses contained in glass balls, perfumes, or enchanted foods.

Flash-Bang

Difficulty: Elementary/Reliable
Requirements: Thin fist size glass ball, carnelian
Working Time: 2 hours
Start to Finish Time: 3 hours
Description of Ritual: A fine white powder of mixed herbs and crushed carnelian is heated on an open fire. At the right moment, it is poured into a glass ball which is then left in the fire until it dies naturally.
Effect: When the ball shatters, there is a flash of light and a loud noise. Anyone in a room where one is used (except the person using it, but including any allies) must make a quickness test at difficulty 10, or else cannot move or make ranged attacks for the rest of the round.

Oil of the Ghost

Difficulty: Challenging/Capricious
Requirements: Burnt ash from a tree grown in a cemetery, oil of mugwort
Working Time: 1 hour/day
Start to Finish Time: 2 weeks
Description of Ritual: The ash is ground with oil of mugwort at the right temperature. It is carefully mixed into a fine paste which is alternately heated and cooled for two weeks. It progressively thins into a pitch black oil.
Effect: When rubbed over the entire body, a person becomes insubstantial and can simply pass through objects. They are unable to carry anything, but they can walk on surfaces normally, and even on surfaces that couldn't normally support the user's weight. The person using this is visible normally. The effect lasts for about an hour.

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Summoning

Summoning is the technique of performing magic by summoning otherworldly beings to perform tasks for the summoner. A summoner is often steeped in obscure knowledge of this world and others, and sees more clearly than most the interlocking agendas that shape it. Summoning rituals are typically very dangerous, since a failure usually results in bringing an irate otherworldly being to the location without giving the ritualist any control over it. Within New Dunston, an entire faction is liable for the mistaken summonings of any member, on the assumption that the individual ritualist will not be around to face punishment.

The names of summoning rituals vary dramatically; the names below are just examples. Different ritualists have different views of the nature of the beings summoned, and name their rituals accordingly.

Summon Minor Demon

Difficulty: Challenging/Capricious
Requirements: The name of a specific demon, an offering appropriate to the specific demon
Working Time: Noon to midnight
Start to Finish Time: Noon to midnight
Description of Ritual: A closed figure is drawn on the ground with salt. The summoner chants for hours. At midnight, the summoner burns the offering and invokes the demon by name. The demon appears within the figure and the summoner may demand a single service of it.
Effect: Once summoned and bound, the demon will perform the service requested of it and then immediately return to wherever it came from. The demon will perform the service to the best of its ability. Typical uses include asking it to fetch a rare or hard to find (but generally not unique) object or to perform some magical effect within its power--some demons can grant temporary stat bonuses or the temporary ability to fly.

Summon Guardian Spirit

Difficulty: Elementary/Capricious
Requirements: The name of a specific guardian spirit, an offering appropriate to the specific spirit
Working Time: Six hours
Start to Finish: Six hours
Description of Ritual: The space to be guarded is surrounded with a chalk circle and a symbol is drawn in goat's blood on all entrances. The offering is placed in a central location in the space and smaller chalk circle drawn around it. The summoner then calls for the spirit by name.
Effect: The guardian will watch over the space and attempt to prevent any but those designated by the summoner from entering. Anyone attempting to enter the space without permission must win a contested willpower test against the spirit.

Once inside, the spirit will attempt to persuade intruders to leave to the best of its ability. It can report on events it witnesses but can only be in one place at a time. (It can resist people entering no matter where it is.) The spirit remains for one month.

Banish Spirit

Difficulty: Variable (based on the power of the spirit to be banished)/Safe
Requirements: None
Working Time: 10 minutes
Start to Finish: 10 minutes
Description of Ritual: The ritualist chants.
Effect: The spirit resists the effect with a contested willpower test. If the ritualist does not know the name of the spirit, this provides it with a significant bonus. If the ritualist succeeds, the spirit immediately leaves, and generally will not be able to return to the area. (This makes summoning the spirit harder in the local area.)

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Necromancy

Necromancers recognize that the notion of life is a thin veneer painted over the never changing constant of death. To move a body as if it were alive or to bring back the soul--these are merely matters of recognizing how minor the changes that need to be made are.

Vitality of the Dead Flesh

Difficulty: Elementary/Reliable
Requirements: A small specially grown willow tree
Working Time: 2 hours
Start to Finish time: Six hours
Description: The ritualist takes a sample of the injured flesh and a small amount of blood. The blood is sprinkled onto the tree, which is then killed and mixed with the flesh. The result is spread on the injured area.
Effect: Dead flesh grows to cover the area in minutes. This has the effect of healing up to seven wounds, but the resulting areas are permanently covered in dead flesh. While the area will not become diseased if cleaned regularly, it is quite unsightly.

Walking Dead

Difficulty: Arduous/Reliable
Requirements: A humanoid body to be raised and a strip of parchment
Working Time: 2 weeks
Start to Finish Time: 1 month
Description of Ritual: The ritualist writes an incantation in blood on the parchment and places it on the tongue of the body to be raised. Then he or she chants the words of animation while standing in an unbroken circle of salt. This process must continue for 10 hours a day for 2 weeks over the course of the month.
Effect: At the completion of the ritual, the body is reanimated as a zombie under the control of the ritualist. The zombie will follow the commands of its master to the best of its ability, but it lacks complex mental faculties so basic and clear commands are best.

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Divination

Scry

Difficulty: Challenging/Capricious
Requirements: A cut cerulean diamond about the size of a fist (worth about 500 obols)
Working Time: 3 hours
Start to Finish Time: 5 hours
Description of Ritual: The ritualist focuses on the location to be scried and peers into the facets of the cerulean diamond. His or her focus must be unbroken for the first 3 hours or the ritual is wasted.
Effect: After the first 3 hours of concentration, the ritualist can see via the diamond through any reflective surface at the target location at least the size of a human face (a mirror would suffice, a shard of glass would not). Note that the ritualist is visible as a variety of small images in the same reflective surface (as though the observer was looking up from inside of the diamond). The ritualist can view this location for a total of 2 hours, but must remain in a state of unbroken concentration for the duration, as soon as his or her concentration is broken, the ritual is broken and must be restarted altogether if the ritualist wishes to view the same location again.

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Geomancy

Lines of power cross the world in haphazard fashion, connecting sites of power. The geomancer merely observes these lay lines and uses them as guides. Where others work against the world to achieve their goals, the geomancer seeks the manner in which their goal is most natural and brings it about with as little effort as possible.

Release the Laden Clouds

Difficulty: Simple/Reliable
Requirements: A small pouch filled with fresh plants and at least slightly overcast weather
Working Time: 1 hour
Start to Finish Time: 2 hours
Description of Ritual: The ritualist squeezes the water out of the fresh plants onto the ground and chants for an hour.
Effect: An hour after the ritualist finishes chanting, it begins to rain in a 2 mile radius and will continue for at least the next 3 hours. The amount of rain and exact duration is based on the climate before the ritual; more overcast areas will rain harder and for longer.

Cry of the Pained Earth

Difficulty: Elementary/Safe
Requirements: A variety of incense to be burned and blood root worth at least 50 obols
Working Time: 1 day
Start to Finish Time: 1 day
Description of Ritual: The ritualist must chant for the entire day, so others must feed him or her and provide water. The incense is lit at the start of the ritual and at the conclusion, the blood root is thrown on the fresh ground in front of the ritualist.
Effect: Once the blood root is cast out, it will show the ritualist any strong disturbances to nature (i.e. large rituals, social gatherings, etc.) within a 10 mile radius. It provides the locations of all such disturbances, but provides no clues as to their nature. The blood root turns to ash 48 hours after the completion of the ritual.

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Abjuration

Each day, a million small events shape our lives and determine what happens. These little events are the tool of the abjurer: a small change here, another there, and soon enough the whole world dances to the abjurer's whims, never noticing that anything at all is out of the ordinary.

Luck of the Fae

Difficulty: Challenging/Reliable
Requirements: A large piece of dragon glass (worth 100 obols)
Working Time: 2 hours
Start to Finish Time: 2 hours
Description of Ritual: The ritualist enchants the piece of dragon glass over the course of the 2 hour ritual in order to provide the carrier with good luck.
Effect: For the rest of the day, whoever is carrying the enchanted dragon glass is protected from the effects of accidents. No true accident will harm the bearer, but this ritual provides no protection against "accidents" set up by others with the intention of causing harm.

Hexer's Sabotage

Difficulty: Elementary/Risky
Requirements: The item to be cursed and powdered cerulean diamonds to be sprinkled over it (worth at least 50 obols)
Working Time: 1 hours
Start to Finish Time: 1 hours
Description of Ritual: The ritualist sprinkles the powder over the item to be cursed for 1 hour.
Effect: Once the ritual is complete, if the cursed item is used within the next 6 hours, it will break or malfunction at a time that is inconvenient for the user. Specific effects depend on the item, for example, a gun may jam while firing or a pen may suddenly run out of ink when the user is trying to sign an important contract.

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Metamorphosis

The metamorphosist sees the raw materials of the world, held in place by manipulation and force. By transmuting the shape of these raw materials, everything else in the world can be made to fall into line.

Convalescence

Difficulty: Elementary/Reliable
Requirements: A collection of oils mixed with crushed feathered onyx (worth about 20 obols)
Working Time: 2 hours
Start to Finish Time: Six hours
Description of Ritual: The oils are mixed with a powder of feathered onyx and gently poured over the wound over the course of 2 hours. Once the mixture has covered the wound, it is tied tightly in a bandage and left to sit for the remaining 4 hours.
Effect: The wounded flesh is transformed into the individual's previously healthy flesh at the end of the 6 hour period. This has the effect of healing 4 wound levels without any signs of scarring or previous tissue damage. Note that this cannot make large repairs to someone such as reattaching limbs.

Wings of Icarus

Difficulty: Challenging/Reliable
Requirements: Feathers from a griffin and a paste made of crushed serpentine (worth 50 obols)
Working Time: 3 hours
Start to Finish Time: 3 hours
Description of Ritual: The griffin feathers are molded into a set of wings using the paste of crushed serpentine as an adhesive. As the ritualist continues, the wings become more and more lifelike and slowly become attached to the arms of the ritualist.
Effect: After the ritual is complete, the ritualist gains the ability to fly slowly for the next half an hour.

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Genesis

Genesis is not, as many assume, the art of creating something from nothing. Rather, genesis is about creating perfect objects from imperfect ones. It does not turn one into the other--rather, by force of will, it creates a perfected object in place of the imperfect one, as if the old one did not exist. Its practitioners see the world as a pale shadow of a purer one, and their magic specializes in calling objects in from the pure world.

Blessing of the New Blade

Difficulty: Elementary/Safe
Requirements: The blade to be sharpened as well as a stone of dragon glass
Working Time: 21 hours
Start to Finish Time: 1 week
Description of Ritual: Each day for a week the ritualist spends 3 hours running the stone over the surface of the dull blade.
Effect: After the week, the dull blade is replaced by a brand new weapon of the same type. It functions as a well made and brand new weapon, but the exact quality is affected by the ritualist’s levels in the relevant crafting skill(s).

Hidden Cache

Difficulty: Challenging/Safe
Requirements: A slab of cut stone the size of the area to be sealed and a paste made of serpentine
Working Time: 2 days
Start to Finish Time: 1 month
Description of Ritual: The ritualist places the slab of stone over the door he or she wishes to seal and slowly fills in the spaces around the stone with the paste. As this is done, he or she paints the slab to match the surrounding walls and it gradually begins to sink into place.
Effect: After the month of work is over, the stone melds into the surrounding walls such that it is impossible to determine that a door was ever there by normal means. The space behind it stills exists, but the stone looks like a part of the wall, does not sound hollow when knocked on, etc. In order to access the space behind the wall, the ritualist must cut along the now invisible seam with a knife, at which point the stone crumbles to dust and the ritual is broken.