Words of Ending

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. The ritual affects a single item which must be present and able to be touched throughout.

Effects

This ritual permanently destroys the properties of a magical item, leaving the physical item itself unharmed. The item ceases to be magical and becomes a mundane item.

The target must be small enough to be considered an 'item' rather than a piece of scenery, and it has no effect on living creatures or enchantments. Generally, an object must be easily lifted by a single character to count as a target for this ritual.

Additional Magnitude

This ritual can also be used to destroy the magic of an artefact. The magnitude of the ritual must equal or exceed the number of rings of ilium used to create the artefact. The magnitude of ritual required to destroy an artefact can be determined using the detect magic incantation if need be.

Description

This ritual is most often employed to destroy artefacts, rather than the more common crafted items. In the past it has been used to permanently dispose of certain malignant items whose bonds could not be severed more traditionally, as well as to deal conclusively with items such as Volodny hearts.

The ritual lacks the power to affect buildings or magical structures; a recent effort by ritualists associated with the Freedom Heresy to destroy the Sentinel Gate at Anvil failed disastrously. It has been used successfully to unravel the magic that motivates constructs such as animated statues or ushabti. In the former case, the ritual is complicated by the need to keep the construct within close range for the entire performance of the ritual; in the latter the ritual is complicated more by the ease with which most ushabti simply fall apart if dealt any damage at all.

The ritual does not remove enchantments or curses, even those placed on items rather than people.

Common Elements

This ritual, as the name implies, tends to involve a chanted invocation of destruction. Some ritualists focus on the idea of a magical item as a living thing, drawing parallels with the inevitability of death. Trappings associated with a forge are often used, especially when the ritualists are Marchers o Winterfolk runesmiths or when the target is made of metal. An anvil and a hammer may be employed, either with a single symbolic blow shattering the enchantment at the end of the ritual's performance or with the ritual performed as part of an extended process of physically destroying the item.

The rune Yoorn is a common element of this ritual, as are evocations of the names of Eternals such as Kaela or members of The Thrice-Cursed Court.