Ritual Magic
Truly powerful magic comes in the form of rituals. Though anyone can pick up a few spells here and there, rituals are restricted by background. Holy rituals can only be cast by priests of the correct faith, while arcane rituals can be usually cast by any mage. It’s up to the GM whether a background qualifies to cast a particular ritual.
Rituals come in the form of bulky tomes and scrolls. They always take at least 10 minutes to cast, and cost 1d6 ivory pieces in occult ingredients and paraphernalia. Depending on the power and complexity of the ritual, the GM may add one or more conditions:
- Anchored rituals can only be cast in a place of power, or even a specific locale.
- Choral rituals cannot be cast alone. You’ll need help from one or more other spellcasters to perform them.
- Contingent rituals require you to complete a special task or undertake very specific preparations in order to perform them.
- Costly rituals require expensive or valuable components to perform.
- Dangerous rituals are risky. Performing them will place you and your allies in peril.
- Dramatic rituals are flashy and ostentatious. Performing them is sure to draw attention.
- Extended rituals can take hours, days, or even weeks to perform.
- Imperfect rituals are flawed or incomplete. Their effects are unreliable or limited in some way.
- Sacrificial rituals require you to give up something of yourself, or to make a sacrifice of another.
- Temporal rituals can only be cast when the stars are right, during a conjunction of the spheres, on a specific solstice, etc.
You don’t necessarily need to make a roll to cast a ritual. Any rolls you need to make will be included in the ritual’s description.
Rituals
Far Dreaming
The mage sends their own dreaming soul to walk freely in the moonlight. It can pass through solid objects as if they were made of smoke, but it cannot cross running water. While dreaming, you may not enter an inhabited place unless an invitation has been extended to you at some point.
Contingent. To perform this ritual, you must fall asleep after preparing your mind with a special regimen of breathing exercises and meditation.
Dangerous. If your dreaming shade is waylaid, your body will slowly waste away. If the sun shines upon you before you can return to your body, your naked spirit will burn to ashes on the wind.
Runes of Power
The mage draws or carves numerous delicate magical runes into some surface. The process is painstaking and error prone, and the mage must roll at the risk of inscribing them incorrectly.
When the trigger spell is spoken in their presence, elemental energy is conjured from the runes: flame, frost, wind, light, or lightning. The mage specifies exactly what form the energy should take when they inscribe the runes: for example “produce light for 1 hour” or “release a powerful explosion”.
Extended. Inscribing the runes always takes at least 1 hour. The more ambitious the working is in terms of power and precision, the more time it will take. An extremely elaborate composition could take as long as 8 hours to prepare.
Star Writing
The mage leaves a message amongst the friendly “witch stars”, also known as the “wandering stars”. It must be a fairly short message, no more than a sentence. It will remain written in the stars for a few days, or until the stars tire of staying in one place and resume their wandering.
The stars are more like a bulletin board than a letter; they change for everyone who can see them. Only those familiar with this ritual can interpret the patterns and twinkling of the stars and discern the messages hidden in them, however.
Temporal. This spell can only be cast outdoors on a clear night. If the local stars already hold a message, you cannot use this ritual until they resume their movements.
Weatherworking
Armed with a special silver net woven in an intricate and elaborate pattern, the mage works the wind and changes the weather over a long period of time. As long as you’re patient and careful, working the weather is usually safe. Storms are another matter, though.
Extended. When the ritual is performed properly, each “stage” of weatherworking takes 1 hour. For example, it would take an hour to call up a light breeze on a calm day. It would take another hour to turn it into a strong headwind, and another to build up a powerful gale. This version of the ritual doesn’t work on storms.
Dangerous. In order to summon or soothe a storm, a more potent form of the ritual must be used. This “stormcalling” ritual only takes about 10 minutes, and can change the weather dramatically. However, the weatherworker must roll against the risk of drawing the anger of the elementals. They usually express that anger by trying to smash your ship to bits.