Swim Leviathan's Depth

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying.

Effects

This ritual allows the casters to divine a past cause or event that has led to a present-day state of affairs or consequence. It calls to the the Day Eternal known as Leviathan, threading through the weave of cause and effect to pick out the key fact that explains the current situation.

During the ritual, the casters must vocally indicate the target of the ritual in the form of a question about what has caused or led to a current state - for example, "Why are the Druj renewing their raids on the Barrens?; "Why is the Lord of the Five Winds moving her troops into position near our borders?"; Why are the merchants of the Sarcophan Delves so keen to purchase green iron?"; Why are the Feni attacking Kahraman?" and so on.

The answer to their question may come immediately after the ritual is concluded, or it may take several minutes. The answer usually comes in the form of a whispered sentence, or possibly a brief vision

OOC Elements

Letting a referee know at least an hour in advance that you plan to perform this ritual and what the question will be will make it easier to ensure that the information is ready and will prevent delays.

Description

This ritual is powerful, but problematic. It always provides a truthful response, and the magic is adept at sorting causes that are useful from random minor details, but it is not infallible. For example, in response to the question "Why are the Druj renewing their raids on the Barrens?" the answer is much more likely to be something like "Because they have agreed to supply the Thule with a thousand slaves before the end of the year" or "Because the Druj shaman wish to distract the Empire from their real interests in Reikos" than "Because the Druj warlord gave the order to attack the Barrens".

When phrasing the question the ritual attempts to divine the answer to, it is almost invariably best to ask a question that is phrased with a "Why?" rather than a "How?" Attempts to find out, for example, how the Druj raids might be stopped are likely to fail utterly. Likewise, questions phrased as"Who?" are likely to be misleading asking "Who is behind the Druj attacks on the Barrens?" might give the name of a Druj chieftan or shaman, but is much more likely to name an unknown figure who, at some point centuries in the past, set the Druj on the path to war with the Empire ... or even to suggest it is Atun, for bringing the Highborn to these shores centuries ago.

Another weakness of the ritual is that the more tied-up in the affairs they enquite about the casters are, the more general the response. For example, an attempt to divine the cause of "the Talbot senator being elected today" it is likely to name the First Empress as being behind it, or to simply return no useful answer.

All that aside, provided the events are large enough in scale, the ritual often provides useful information. Discovering an alliance between the Druk and the Thule to exchange prisoners, or that the Lord of the Five Winds has been hearing rumours of Freeborn intention to invade Faraden, or that the Feni are being driven out of their safe locations by a plague of vallornspawn can all be vital steps in preventing disaster or using the circumstances to the best advantage of the coven.

It should come as no surprise that this ritual is very popular in Urizen, where they call it Reading the Net of the Heavens.

Common Elements

This is a divination ritual, and often involves runestones or cards, and interpretting their outcome may form the core of the ritual. Reflective surfaces such as mirrors or - especially - silver or weltsilver bowls of fresh or salt water are often involved. The name of the Leviathan may be invoked, as may Paragons and Exemplars of Wisdom. A recitation of the details known about the event being scried, or recreation of the circumstances around it, may also serve as a useful focus.

The rune Ophis is often used with this ritual and is often combined with Queros which covers plots and the idea of events spreading from a single cause.