Rituals
Performing a Ritual
Rituals require several minutes of appropriate roleplaying. Imperial magicians use a number of different sources, symbols, methods and theories when designing their rituals. The most common magical techniques are; Rune magic, Dramaturgy, Astronomancy and the Music of the spheres. These represent bodies of magical lore and theory that can be used to add depth and significance to all magic, and have special resonance for ritual magic. In addition, the description of each ritual includes a Common Elements section that can be used as a starting point for developing the roleplaying required to perform a ritual.
It should be obvious to everyone nearby that you are performing a ritual. While it is possible to conceal precisely what your ritual is intended to achieve, it is against the spirit of ritual magic to intentionally perform a ritual that appears to have an opposite effect. For example, performing a ritual that looks as if it is intended to heal someone that is actually intended to destroy one of their magic items is inappropriate.
Covens
- Ritualists can cooperate to perform a ritual by creating a coven
- Any character can create a coven
- A coven must have a name and an oath
- Ritualists join the coven by bonding themselves to it
A ritualist can always perform a ritual by themselves. Most ritualists are also part of a coven, a mystical union that extends the hearth magic of oaths to allow participants to combine their strength.
Any character can create a coven, you can use the online character creation system to form a coven. A coven uses the hearth magic inherent in oaths to allow participants to work together, so every coven must have an oath of some kind, which must be set when the coven is created. Once created, the oath cannot be changed, a new coven must be formed if characters wish to change their oath.
Ritualists can join the coven using the create bond spell that all magicians know. There must be an existing member of the coven present for the spell to work. The caster must know the name of the coven and they must recite at least a few words of the oath when they cast the spell. Only characters that are members of the same nation can join a coven.
Members of a coven can work together to perform a ritual with each participant contributing mana to a ritual up to the limit of their ability.
Contributors
Some rituals refer to contributors. A contributor is a character who is a member of the coven performing the ritual and has at least one rank of the realm lore used by that ritual.