Combing the Beach
Rules
Day Magnitude 20
Performing the Ritual
Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. During the ritual the casters must be in a strong Day regio. A member of the coven must have prepared and delivered a suitable thesis to the eternal using the operate portal spell and a specially crafted effigy at a Day regio, no later than time out the previous night.
Effects
The ritual contacts the eternal Roshanwe and requests her aid in finding the answer to a question that vexes the casters. At the climax of the ritual they must verbally state their question aloud, ideally using the same wording they used at the end of their thesis.
Completing the ritual allows Roshanwe to respond. The eternal will not simply answer the question - the most common form the response will take is a document that offers guidance designed to help the ritualists find the answer to their puzzle. Very occasionally it may involve a short exchange with the eternal herself, or one of her heralds, but these kinds of responses are extremely rare.
Assurance
This ritual draws on the power of the eternal Roshanwe. As with any ritual that binds an eternal to respond in a certain way there is an agreement that certain behaviour will cause it to become nonfunctional. During the esoteric conjunction of the Key and the Lock during the Autumn Equinox 384YE the nature of the ritual became clear. Roshanwe agrees to continue responding to this ritual only so long as the Empire has a functional Department of Historical Research. If this clause of the agreement were to be transgressed the ritual would either become useless, or Roshanwe would be freed from the requirement to answer questions posed using to her. While it would certainly possible for the eternal to empower the ritual again, it would require a new set of negotiations and there is no guarantee that it would work the same way it did previously.
Preparing a Question
The coven wishes to ask Roshanwe for assistance must first submit a thesis to her. This takes the form of a written document laying out what they already know, or think they know. This might include things they believe are facts, speculation, conjecture, and conclusions, but should all be related to the matter they require assistance with. The thesis helps Roshanwe understand what the petitioners already know, and gives her time to consider how best to help them. The thesis must be no longer than 251 words in length, and conclude with the words "The named coven asks Roshanwe..." and a succinct statement of what they want assistance with. This final sentence is not counted as part of the 251 words limit, but attempts to exploit this will anger the eternal.
The thesis is then folded around a specially prepared tempest jade effigy which is then sent to Roshanwe. This requires a member of the coven planning to cast Combing the Beach to cast operate portal at a Day regio. The nature of the effigy means that Roshanwe knows who has sent the question; she will ignore anything that is not submitted by a member of the coven named in the thesis. When a coven that submitted a question next performs Combing the Beach they may ask the eternal for aid with the question raised in their thesis..
The ritual creates an implicit contract between the coven and the eternal. Roshanwe agrees to offer assistance to any coven who casts the ritual after providing her with a properly-submitted document and effigy. In turn the coven agrees to perform the ritual for each document they submit. Sending documents that are not then accompanied by a suitable casting of the ritual before the end of the summit will anger the eternal and risks retribution against those involved.
Description
This ritual was developed at the Halls of Knowledge in Zenith under the direction of Octavius of the Spire of the Auric Horizon, Provost of the Halls of Knowledge. The initial work was undertaken by the eternal Roshanwe, or one of her agents – she presented the arcane projection from which the ritual was developed as a gift to the Empire. It was initially subject of a declaration of Imperial lore, under the name “Unknown Unknown”. The Imperial Conclave agreed that the ritual would be entered into Imperial lore before it had been formulated at the Halls of Knowledge – a risky proposition as the ritual may have changed in any number of ways during the process of codification. The Civil Service have since updated and strengthened the rules on how a declaration of Imperial lore is made to prevent such a situation occurring again.
Rather than providing direct answers to questions, the eternal Roshanwe favours guiding seekers to find their own solutions. Unlike rituals such as Swim Leviathan's Depth and Clear Counsel of the Everflowing River, this ritual does not deliver answers to questions posed by the ritualists. Rather, it is a tool to help find a question that may have been overlooked, or to suggest an avenue of investigation that might not have occurred to the petitioners. In this way, Roshanwe can aid the magicians of the Empire to find their own answers to the mysteries that vex them.
Performing the ritual requires the creation of a thesis, a document laying out the things that the questioners already know. This will be challenging within the limited number of words – it encourages the questioners to be precise, as well as concise. There is generally little need to include information that is common knowledge across the Empire (OOC Note: that is included on the public wiki). Roshanwe knows as much about the Empire as any Imperial citizen and assumes that the wise among them know that much at least.
The response from Roshanwe comes at the climax of the ritual and almost always takes the form of a document created in answer to the ritualists' thesis. It commonly suggests questions that the petitioners should ask themselves about the information they have provided. It may also query things the petitioners have accepted as facts without solid evidence, or suggest methods that might be used to gain new evidence, or test what the coven thinks they know.
It is important to understand that while this ritual sends a message to Roshanwe, it is not a method of communication with the eternal per se. Roshanwe agrees to review the findings of the document they are sent, but nothing more. Attempts to use it for purposes other than this – to send a missive to the eternal for example, or to ask for their aid in a different manner – will prove disappointing. During codification, experiments along these lines resulted in Roshanwe responding with the question “Do you understand how this ritual works?”
Common Elements
This ritual involves a form of limited communication with an eternal. The focus of the magic is a thesis, no more than two hundred and fifty-one words long, that lays out as much as possible (within the limits) about a situation or problem. It makes sense to adorn the thesis itself the rune Sular, whose nature is Discovery. The Operate portal spell is first used at a Day regio to target the thesis, after which it vanishes. The ritual itself is then performed the following day.
During the ritual a copy of the thesis may be sprinkled with droplets of fresh or salt water, evoking the imagery of the eternal ocean of the realm of Day. Unsurprisingly, Roshanwe is evoked, but so might be the names of Paragons or Exemplars of Wisdom. Indeed, the ritual has several elements that seem to have been informed by the Imperial understanding of that Virtue – that brevity is a tool of the wise, that locating the correct questions are more important than the wrong answers. Invocations related to Wisdom are very appropriate elements even for magicians who do not normally employ the theurgic tradition.
OOC Elements
Preparing the Effigy
The ritual requires a special effigy to perform. Any character who has mastered Combing the Beach can craft such an effigy from 2 measures of tempest jade but only between summits. It takes too long to fashion a suitable effigy at a summit. Each effigy allows a single document to be submitted to Roshanwe, and consequently a single casting of Combing the Beach. Submitting a thesis and then not performing the ritual is likely to incur Roshanwe's displeasure.
It is not possible to craft an effigy during an event for use with this ritual during an event; it can only be done between events. Any character who has mastered Combing the Beach can craft an effigy provided they have 2 measures of tempest jade in their character inventory. The button to craft effigy appears on the right hand side of your character screen when you view your character, provided you have the ritual mastered and sufficient tempest jade in your inventory. A phys-rep for the effigy will be included in your pack at the next event; it does not expire. Each effigy allows a single question to be submitted to Roshanwe.
The thesis required to perform this ritual takes the form of a short document that lays out what the casters already know, and what steps they have already taken. It should conclude with an explicit statement of the question the casters want assistance with. Please make sure to write as legibly as possible, and remember that this is an in-character document. The completed thesis is then attached to the phys-rep for the effigy, and operate portal is cast on them at the regio. You should then hand the thesis and the effigy to a referee or to a member of the GOD team who can make a record of the message and who sent it.
We need time to prepare a response to your question, so you must submit it at least the night before the ritual is to be cast. Likewise you should perform the ritual at the same event that the question is submitted, otherwise the answer is likely to be discarded and considered not to have been followed up. We ask players to avoid submitting a thesis related to a question they do not intend to ask, as this will waste a lot of valuable time creating the answers. Roshanwe is likely to take in-character actions to punish any coven that submits a question that is not then raised with her during a casting of the ritual.