Old Skool Sorcey Rituals

[Phsycodelic]

Old Skool Sorcery Rituals

Anarchs

Blood magic of any sort has been incredibly rare among the Anarchs for most of the Movement's existence. In the early nights of the Revolt, a scant few Tzimisce and Assamite Anarchs taught some elements of their hereditary arts to fellow revolutionaries. Both Koldunic Sorcery and Assamite Sorcery had religious components that made their practitioners reluctant to share their lore with non-believers (and made pre-Enlightenment Christian vampires reluctant to study them in the first place). A few very rare Anarchs from other Clans had learned some blood magic from their own sires, hoary elder occultists who studied those arts before the birth of Clan Tremere, who then unwisely passed their lore on to rebellious childer who then used it against them.

After Thorns, the surviving kolduns took their knowledge to the Sabbat (if they didn't flee from Kindred society entirely), many Assamite sorcerers returned to their own independent Clan, and Clan Tremere initiated a quiet pogrom of every Anarch who displayed knowledge of anything even resembling Thaumaturgy. Despite all that, a handful of occult scholars among the Anarchs avoided destruction, hiding from the Tremere and concealing their occult knowledge against the night when the fires of the Anarch Revolution would burn anew.

Over time, the Anarch Movement largely relocated to the New World to escape the control of their Camarilla elders. There, Anarch mystics who still practiced "the Old Ways" had more freedom to use and pass on their arts. More importantly, Anarchs who were interested in the acquisition of occult knowledge found new possibilities among the Native Americans, among Africans forcibly relocated to the Americas as part of the slave trade, and among indigenous peoples from every corner of the world. After decades of research gleaned from such sources, these Anarch occultists were able to piece together workable equivalents to several Thaumaturgy and Necromancy paths. The modern name of their school, "Old Skool," was originally an insult levied by Punk Tremere in the 1970s, but the venerable occultists adopted it as an ironic marker of their multicultural pedigree. And that pedigree was real - there are a number of Old Skool sorcerers who possess a body of knowledge of spirit magic in many ways superior to that of Clan Tremere, which remains largely ignorant of the potential to be found in the practices it would likely define as "primitive."

What distinguishes the Old Skool from its peers is a sense of reverence lacking in mainstream Kindred occultism (both among the Anarchs and the larger Kindred community). The Anarchs grouped under this umbrella practice a multitude of techniques, ranging from paganism to Wicca to Voudoun to Native American shamanism, but in every case, the Anarch treats his magic not as a path to power (or at least, not just as a path to power), but as a lifestyle choice to treat some higher power - gods, loa, Orishas, totems, whatever - as worthy of respect.

Accordingly, the Old Skooler performs her magical rituals with an intensity similar to that of a Sabbat priest conducting a ritus. Because like that priest, the Anarch is not just an occultist but a religionist, and for all religionists, fervor is the ultimate source of power.

Nearly any Clan can belong to the Old Skool movement, from a hoary Malkavian elder who was once priest of Apollo to a vodouoissant Embraced off of an antebellum Louisiana plantation by an abolitionist Toreador, from a Lakota medicine man brought into the night by a roaming Brujah to a Ravnos who found Asatru while head-banging to Scandinavian black metal. Unfortunately, diversity is not always strength, and there is frequently tension within this school between traditional pagans of all stripes and their neopagan inheritors, particularly when the traditional pagan is a vampire old enough to have actually been a priest or shaman in a pre-Christian culture and he takes offense at modern "best guess" reenactments of nearly extinct practices.

The paths pursued by Old Skoolers are typically those paths which can be inteeted within the framework of non-Christian religions and Christian offshoots (such as Voudoun). In many cases, the Anarch was already a practitioner of the relevant religious group or folk magic tradition prior to the Embrace and simply adapted his beliefs to his unlife along with the new power of his vitae. Just as often, however, the Anarch finds religion post-mortem in the form of an Anarch cult.

Old Skool Sorcery botches cause the sorcerer to acquire a psychosomatic aversion to the holy symbols in a manner similar to the Flaw Repelled by Crosses. Thedifficulty to resist Rötschreck is equal to (4 + the user's sorcery rating). [Rites Of The Blood - Page 132]

[ 1 ] Sanctify The Temple ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 62 )

The Old Skool Anarchs are usually the most religious of all Anarch blood magicians, although the gods they worship are more obscure than those of most contemporary religions. Regardless, like all religionists, the Old Skoolers prefer to have a place of worship sanctified to their beliefs. The precise form of this ritual varies according to whichever god, spirit, or loa the Anarch serves, but if it's inside a building, the entire space must be decorated to reflect the iconography of the entities worshiped as well as the ritual sacrifice of some kind of animal. Outside spaces such as those used by Kindred Wiccan groups or Voudoun cults require less in the way of decoration but have a greater risk of discovery and desecration by outsiders. Regardless of who or what is worshiped, the results from this ritual are the same - a safe space in which magic can be performed more easily.

System: The ritual lasts for one lunar month but it can be renewed indefinitely. While the ritual is active, the difficulty of all rolls to activate Old Skool paths or rituals performed within the temple space is reduced by -1. The number of successes determines the maximum size of the space which can be sanctified. One success represents a five-by-five foot/two-by-two meter area, such as a large walk-in closet, a secret room, or a tiny grove. Three successes represent a twenty-by-twenty foot/six-by-six meter area, such as the sanctuary of a small church or a large grove. Five successes represents an area of 100 square feet/30 square meters or so, such as a medium-sized church or a small wood.

[ 2 ] Haruspicy ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 62 )

Haruspicy was the name given by Romans to the practice of reading omens and portents from the entrails of sacrificed animals, usually sheep or poultry. However, the practice predates Rome by millennia and has been practiced by countless other occult societies since. The ritualist (or "haruspex") must perform the sacrifice in a space purified by the Sanctify the Temple ritual. After slaying the animal and slicing open its belly to let the entrails fall out, the haruspex must douse them with a quantity of her own vitae, cut from her wrists with a ritual dagger. Poultry sacrifices require one point of blood. Sheep or larger animals require two points of blood. If the haruspex is sufficiently ruthless, she can even sacrifice a mortal (almost certainly requiring a Degeneration roll). A haruspex may never perform a reading for herself. She can only do so on behalf of another who must provide some personal item to be incorated into the ritual sacrifice. Naturally, this also means that the ritual may also be performed on an unwilling and unknowing target through sympathetic magic (see pp. 133-135 the Rites of the Blood book). The Haruspicy ritual may only be performed for a single target, and only once every seven nights.

System: Each success allows the haruspex to ask one question about the subject's past or present, while two successes may be spent to ask one question about the subject's future. Using a larger sacrifice reduces the difficulty by 1. Using a human sacrifice reduces it by 3. These benefits stack with the -1 difficulty reduction from using a sanctified temple.

[ 3 ] Craft Dream Catcher ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 62 )

A dream catcher (well-known to Native American vendors in U.S. tourist traps) is a minor artifact which protects a sleeping person. The ritualist must craft the dream catcher by hand and incorate tiny bits of hair, blood (less than one point), and spittle from the individual for whom the item is crafted.

System: Once created, the dream catcher lasts for one week per success. As long as the owner has the dream catcher on his person or within five feet/three meters, he gains the following benefits: First, the difficulty for all attacks made against him by spirits increases by 2. Second, the difficulty for all attempts to influence his mind or his dreams while he sleeps increases by 2. Finally, if the owner is a vampire, the difficulty for him to awaken during the day in response to potential danger decreases by 2.

[ 4 ] Houngan's Doll ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 62 )

There is a well-known Necromancy ritual for creating an effigy doll, but that is not the only type of effigy that can be created. This ritual is performed just like the Baleful Doll ritual, but while Baleful Doll allows the vampire to inflict actual physical damage to the associated target, it is useless for more subtle effects. For that, the Houngan's Doll is needed. This effigy cannot be used to directly inflict damage on the target, but it will allow the sorcerer to see and hear through the target's eyes, to whisper things to the target that only he can hear, and to inflict physical sensations on him that are not harmful but certainly feel real. Sticking the doll with a pin still hurts the target even if it inflicts no damage. Holding a lit candle near the doll's head may cause the target to suffer Rötschreck. One impudent (and reckless) Anarch famously humiliated a prominent Tremere in front of his Prince and Primogen simply by tickling the doll with a feather during a council meeting. The thought of a powerful elder rolling on the floor and laughing hysterically was one the Anarch treasured... until her brutal murder a few weeks later.

System: The requirements for constructing a Houngan's Doll are identical to those for the Baleful Doll. However, the Baleful Doll is an instant-use item - the creator fashions the doll, enacts the ritual, and inflicts what damage she can. The Houngan's Doll, on the other hand, lasts until it is destroyed (which has no effect on the target). Once per week, the Anarch may cast the ritual, which begins when he lights a votive candle and sets it afloat in a cup containing one point of his vitae. If the ritual succeeds, then until the fire blows out (usually 30 minutes unless the ritual is disrupted somehow), any physical sensation imposed on the doll is sympathetically experienced by the target. For that duration, the sorcerer sees and hears only what the target does, so he must be careful to leave any tools or implements where they can be found by touch. The sorcerer is blind and deaf to his own surroundings while the ritual lasts.

[ 5 ] Skinwalker's Belt ( Rites Of The Blood - Page 63 )

Derived from the Navajo tales of the yee naaldlooshii, this ritual allows the sorcerer to craft an item of clothing from the pelt of a ritually sacrificed animal no smaller than a mouse and no larger than a bear. While the pelt endures, the sorcerer may don it and transform himself into a perfect copy of the animal which was sacrificed. Werewolves may still detect the animal as "unclean," and Kindred with Aura Perception may realize that it is somehow "undead," though Kindred are more likely to think that the animal is merely possessed via Subsume the Spirit (Animalism 4) rather than shapechanged. The animal must be killed and skinned at a place purified by the Sanctify the Temple ritual. After the pelt is removed, it must be cured for three nights in a mixture of brine and the ritualist's own blood. The ritual requires one point of blood for animals significantly smaller than human-sized, three points for animals which are roughly human-sized, and five points for animals significantly larger than human-sized. A black bear is the largest animal known to have been used for this ritual.

System: Each success means that the artifact will last for one week before degrading. It can be maintained for another equivalent duration by smearing it with a quantity of the ritualist's blood equal to that used in the ritual that created it.

After the ritual is complete, the player of the ritualist must roll Intelligence + Craft to fashion the pelt into a wearable item of clothing. A failure can be rerolled, but a botch destroys the pelt. However, only one success is needed to complete the process. More successes simply mean that the artifact is more aesthetically pleasing. To use the Skinwalker's Belt, the ritualist must remove all other clothing (including jewelry) before donning the artifact and mutter a brief incantation, whereupon he instantly transforms into a perfect copy of the animal used in the ritual. He cannot use Disciplines in this form (not even physical Disciplines such as Potence or Fortitude), and he cannot speak except to those who have the supernatural ability to speak to animals. He retains his human intelligence and is still subject to frenzy.

The effects of the magic last until he wills it to end or until daybreak. In either case, he instantly reverts to his true form, which can be very bad if he was in a small space wearing the size of a mouse or he is out in the open when he reverts back to a nude male who takes aggravated damage from sunlight. The artifact counts as the equivalent of a lock of hair or a fingernail if it falls into the hands of another blood magician.