Rituels

With the presence and power of her own Vitae, a ritualist can observe what happens in the vicinity of blood she leaves behind during the performance of this ritual. The performer must spend the standard one Vitae to complete the ritual, plus another Vitae (or possibly more) to bear witness at the site to be watched. The Vitae left behind must come from the performer, whether it’s vomited up, spilled from the wrists or via some other means. The blood may be dribbled on a floor, soaked into a rug, painted onto a wall or otherwise applied as the performer sees fit. However the blood is left behind, it remains as detectable as any ordinary blood. If it’s scrubbed away, the power of this ritual is broken.

For one full night per Vitae spent, the character invoking the ritual gains the ability to witness events at the location as though she were present and standing in whatever spot she had marked with her Vitae. If the character creates a trail of blood around a room, for example, she may later observe the room from any point on that “circuit.” Because the seer isn’t actually present at the location, she may even observe events that occur during the day — the images come to her in an achingly vivid dream while she sleeps. Some Acolytes use this ritual just to gain a glimpse of their own gardens in the sunshine. Seers are still subject to the Rötschreck, however, as the Beast panics in the light of the sun. Observers who succumb to the fear frenzy do not actually lose control of themselves, but do lose their connection to the Vitae they’ve used in this ritual. While the seer is watching through her blood connection, she is unable to see or hear through her own body.

The boundaries of this power are limited. Only one arcane connection can be employed by any single character at one time, even if multiple Vitae are spent on that connection. Multiple Vitae can be used to widen the area of observance, at one Vitae per room included. Vitae may be deposited in a vehicle, so the observer becomes a clairvoyant passenger. If the distance between the character and the Vitae exceeds 10 times the sorcerer’s Blood Potency in miles, the mystic connection breaks.

The observer’s perception is limited through the mystical connection, but not by physical barriers the character can see around. If a rug is laid down over the blood she leaves behind, she sees as if she stood on that rug. If a door is closed between her Vitae and another room, she doesn’t gain any power to see through it, but may hear sounds that come through it. Her powers of perception depend on her supernatural prowess. The number of successes on the Crúac roll becomes the number of successes she scores on all attempted actions to perceive the world through her arcane connection (such as Wits + Composure or Wits + a certain Skill; see p. 46 of the World of Darkness rulebook for details).

The testimony of the blood witness is affected by environmental impediments like darkness and smoke just as ordinary vision is affected. No other Disciplines may be used through the blood connection, so a character may not employ Heightened Senses, for example.

This defensive ritual is used to mark an Acolyte’s territory and prevent entry by unwanted Kindred. To perform this ritual, the character draws lines of his Vitae across doorways, underneath windows or anywhere else she wishes to ward. One Vitae is necessary for each portal to be protected, in addition to the Vitae spent to complete the ritual itself. Multiple barriers may be created with a single activation roll, provided all barriers protect a single room or space and are linked by solid walls. The character can also define areas to be protected by painting circles or other shapes on a floor using Vitae. For this purpose, one Vitae is sufficient to create standing room for two average-sized people. The Vitae to be used can be donated by any willing or unwilling vampires.

Vampires with Blood Potency less than that of the Vitae used in the creation of the sanguine perimeter cannot voluntarily cross without making a Resolve + Composure roll and scoring more successes than were scored on the initial roll to create the barrier. Regardless, any Kindred crossing the barrier suffers bashing damage equal to the successes scored on the Crúac roll, minus his Defense.

The performer of this ritual must touch any Kindred permitted to pass the barrier before the barrier has been completely drawn. Kindred with permission ignore all effects of the Barrier of Blood, as does the sorcerer who cast it. The Barrier of Blood lasts for 24 hours.

Knowledge of this ritual has been passed down from the most ancient vampires, according to those Acolytes who use and teach this horticultural rite. With it, a character grows a unique species of red lily said to have been brought back from Hades by Persephone. The flower grows only in mortal blood — which must be supplied in total at the start of ritual — but is traditionally grown from a human corpse. To raise a Flower of Demeter, the sorcerer’s player must make a successful invocation roll once per week until the three successes necessary to satisfy the roll have been accumulated. (In this case, the extended action happens over the course of a week or weeks, not turns as is normally specified by Crúac rituals.) Over this time, the stalk of the plant grows slowly taller and taller from the ground or corpse that supplies its blood, up to a height of about six feet. Once the three successes have been garnered, the Vitae of the Acolyte brings the flowers to bloom. One bud on the stalk blooms per dot of the character’s Blood Potency, less one per week it took to cultivate the stalk, with a minimum of one.

The plant itself is inspiring to Kindred in an intangible, mystical way for as long as at least a single blossom remains on its stalk. All Craft and Expression rolls made in the presence of the flower gain two extra dice. This inspirational power is said to be an echo of Demeter’s springtime joy.

A vampire who swallows a Flower of Demeter experiences the blush of life until the next sunrise, with no expenditure of her own Vitae. She is capable of keeping down food, keeping up sexual activity and mimicking respiration and blood flow almost without thought. When the sunrise comes, however, the vampire undergoes an awful purge, vomiting up all food and drink consumed and experiencing tremendous but harmless anguish described by those who’ve experienced it as a “mourning of the flesh.”

An Acolyte cannot raise a new Flower of Demeter until her current specimen has been fully deflowered or allowed to die. The plant suffers all the anathema of the Kindred, and is destroyed in seconds by fire or sunlight. Blossoms clipped from the plant lose all mystical properties at the next sunrise, when they flake away in sheets of ash like burnt paper.

This rite is a boon for the conscience and well-being of the Damned who must sin in the service of the covenant. This rite relieves the subject of guilt for some action he is soon to perform. The ash from the offering must be used to mark the head or face of the subject. Each success on the invocation roll grants the subject a bonus die on the Humanity roll to see if a derangement manifests when provoked by degeneration loss for a specific action, provided the act is performed after this rite is performed and before the next sunrise. “The murder of Elizabeth Parson,” is specific enough, but “murder” is not.

Offering: An icon or image of the person or people affected by the vampire’s actions. By extension, this ritual does not aid actions that do not harm people (including the vampire herself).