LeviathanTempest:RitualsDevelopmentPage

Rituals[edit]

The Wicked Tribe's reputation is forever stained by tails of horrific rituals, orgies of bloodshed and excess. To Leviathans and their Cults these are no mere stories but facts of life, baring certain Vestiges the divine power of Tiamat's blood flowing through the Tribe is unfocused and directionless. Only by using a Cult as a focusing lens can a Leviathan call upon their true birthright. To defy the limits of the post primordial world and wield the power of a god.

Sidebar: Know Your Limits[edit]

The rules described below depict human sacrifice, torture and abusive authority figures within a religious framework. Although Leviathan: The Tempest casts players as members of “Earth's most Wicked Tribe” it is not a race to the bottom of monstrous depravity. A game where players try to construct a moral framework and social identity they can live with out of a monstrous heritage is as valid an interpretation of the themes as trying to become the tyrannical God-King of Innsmouth.

Players who are uncomfortable with human sacrifice, torture or outright evil portrayals of religion, whether or not a given Leviathan models his cult on, or disguises his cult as, a popular real world religion are not “playing the wrong game”. The gaming group should discuss what they are comfortable with. It's ok to drop out of character for the duration of a horrific ritual and just roll dice without narrative, you can impose a rule that Cults cannot resemble any religion still practised today, or just remove the immoral requirements from rituals.

Know your limits and don't break them.

Eldritch Lore (O to OOOOO)[edit]

All Leviathans can lead their Cults in rituals which unleash great and terrible effects on the world. The least of this power, directing the Cult to perform rituals that replenish Ichor is known to all Leviathans, it comes as naturally as breathing. To do more requires study, dedication and understanding of Eldritch Lore.

A Leviathan can learn as many rituals as they have time and Experience points for but they cannot learn a Ritual with more dots than their dots in Eldrich Lore.

Vestiges[edit]

A Ritual focuses the Leviathan's immense psychic potential into practical effects, and Eldrich Lore provides the necessary knowledge to design a Ritual. Yet no ritual can focus potential that isn't there, a Leviathan must have one Channel in the appropriate Vestige for each dot of the Ritual they wish to perform.

Awareness[edit]

Rituals that incorporate the Vestige of Awareness can pear across time and space to answer questions. A Leviathan can predict the future, unearth the past, or just watch that Atoll from afar. The curse of Awareness is that it can only uncover facts, not answers. The Tribe can gain any knowledge they wish, but they cannot answer the questions that truly matter.

Elements[edit]

Rituals that incorporate the Vestige of Elements can warp the world itself. The sea and sky, the Earth end even the sun's light all bend before a master of Elements. Rituals can raise terrible storms, or quell them and even twist the fabric of space and time. The curse of Elements is that every place touched by it's power is unnatural and tinged with the nature of the Tempest. Even when the Ritual ends a storm the result is not calm but an oppressive silence that can cause madness to those within.

Fecundity[edit]

Rituals that incorporate the Vestige of Fecundity can bestow the Tribe's life giving elements upon others. They can gift, or curse, other's with strange biological mutations. Reproduction, both physically and as a concept, fall under the purview of Fecundity. The curse of Fecundity is that no life but the Tribe can safely hold divine Ichor. The Tribe's gifts are cancerous corrupting things.

Might[edit]

Rituals that incorporate the Vestige of might can control physical forces. They can bestow strength and move mountains, sending crushing forces at the Leviathan's enemies. The curse of might is that the Tribe's power is to large for this world, it cannot be restrained to delicate tasks or distinguish between friend or foe.

Predation[edit]

Predation is the most vicious of the Vestiges. Poisons, toxins and diseases - the fruits of life turned toxic - are the tools of a master of Predation. The curse of Predation is that it is an imprecise weapon at best, a Leviathan can pick his targets one by one but she cannot blanket the land with toxins tailored to her enemies.

Sanctity[edit]

Rituals that incorporate the Vestige of Sanctity cover the very concepts of religion and godhood. With Sanctity a Leviathan can force others to recognise his divinity or bind people's social identities to religious faith. The curse of Sanctity forever links the Tribe to ancient ideas, the god who demands worship and punishes heresy. The Tribe can only force others to kneel, they cannot ask.

Vitality[edit]

Rituals that incorporate the Vestige of Vitality can protect. A Leviathan can bestow strange armours upon their subjects, bar intruders from their domains and protect against even stranger threats. The curse of Vitality is that it forms barrier between the world and the "blessed". People touched by Vitality become lethargic and unmotivated, and ever more dependent upon the Leviathan's protection.

Codified and Improvised Rituals[edit]

Rituals come naturally to Leviathans. Both the act of leading the faithful in ceremony and steps of the Ritual seem intuitive, it feels right. With a few rehearsals a Leviathan can direct it's Cult through a new ritual.

That's not to say there aren't advantages of codifying a ritual, writing a script rather than ad-libbing. The Cult's practice at a ritual allows it to be performed in half the usual number of Task Points.

Codifying a ritual simply requires sitting down and designing it: An extended Sheol + Occult roll requiring (Dots squared) Successes in addition Dots * 2 experience points. Each roll takes one hour. An easier method is to adapt a pre-existing Ritual. This is significantly easier and only requires the roll, as well as a teacher or written instructions. The exp cost is waived. Not all Leviathans write down their Rituals but most do: Nothing says “Important” about a religion like stone tablets. Rituals can't be used as is, or rather they usually can but from a personal perspective they're unsatisfying. All Rituals incorporate elements of their creators personal theories on tribal history, their place in the world and a wider mythology or cosmology. When you're devout your religion is an important part of your self identity and for a Leviathan that's no different. Using another's Ritual without adaptation is like a devout believer attending a another faith's service. It can be enjoyable, it can be interesting to see another culture but it's not your beliefs and it never will be.

Step One: Ritual[edit]

Before the Ritual can begin the player must define it's effects, including the application of any spell factors.

Area of Effect[edit]

Area of Effect is used for spells that have power over a specific loction, or a defined area.

Number of Targets[edit]

Number of Targets is used for spell's effect that must be applied equally to separate individuals.

Each additional success beyond doubles the previous Sheol Multiplier.

Duration[edit]

Duration is used for ritual effects that must persist longer than a single turn. Note that wounds, biological mutations and other lingering consequences of the ritual persist even after the Duration ends.

Indefinite Rituals can still be undone with counter magic, though Rituals usually cannot do so. Leviathans can often undo rituals cast upon themselves using Channels.

Range[edit]

Range applies to rituals that occur outside of the Leviathan's immediate presence. Range can only be used to target things that will remain stationary for the entire duration of the ritual; it is not enough for the Leviathan to see the target, the actions of the ritual itself are designed with the precise location in mind.

Each success past 4 doubles the reach of the spell or adds another seven years of temporal distance.

Knowledge[edit]

The Tribe's biology is truly transdimensional, and Transformation is not the only manifestation of this fact. The tiniest fragment of a Leviathan exists in every image of itself, every written description, even every mind who simply knows about it. A Leviathan can make use of this fact for Rituals, spreading the Ritual's effects not from his own body but from anywhere it's name is spoken.

Dice Penalty | Knowledge of the Leviathan
- | Unknown: The target knows nothing of the Leviathan, and cannot be the direct target of a ritual.
-10 | Described: The target has never met or seen the Leviathan, but knows enough to describe it. The target is a written text about the Leviathan.
-8 | Encountered: The target has briefly seen or spoken to the Leviathan. The target is a photo or an idol of the Leviathan.
-6 | Acquainted: The target casually knows the Leviathan, they may meet frequently but rarely interact.
-4 | Known: The target knows the Leviathan personally, and has had at least a few serious interactions.
-2 | Intimate: The target is Beloved or the target knows the Leviathan very well, and probably has first hand knowledge of it's supernatural nature or cult doctrine.
-0 | The Leviathan itself.

If the target does not have any knowledge of the Leviathan's supernatural nature increase the penalty by 2, if the target is aware of the Leviathan's Apotheosis then decrease the penalty by 2, to a minimum of -2

Potency[edit]

Potency represents the strength of the ritual; it is used whenever the ritual has an incremental effect. Rituals that add or subtract dice from dice pools use Potency to determine the dice by which to modify the pools. Rituals that inflict damage use Potency to determine how severe the wounds are.

Add an additional success to the target number per die or wound.

Step Two: Worship[edit]

After the player has chosen the Ritual's effects and factors the next step is to determine what the ritual requires. What profane acts are necessary to perform the ritual, and what omens will predict it's success or failure.

Task Points[edit]

A ritual requires the time and effort of the Cult. Such resources are scarce, for cultists also have jobs and lives that demand their attention. Or at least they should, if the Leviathan wants to stay under the radar. The basic cost is one Task Point per dot of the Ritual. A codified ritual halves this number (round up).

Sacrileges[edit]

The rites and worship of the Tribe are terrible things. They incorporate bronze age ideals of power and dominance, life becomes the toxic fecundity of the Tribe. Performing a Ritual often requires the participants to betray their sense of self and their ethics. Mechanically speaking every Ritual is a Tranquillity disruption of seven minus the Rituals dots. Yet the Tribe don't have to perform horrific rites, with time and effort (or rather, the Cult's time and effort) it is possible to find "ethical alternatives". Virgin sacrifice, well there's virgins everywhere, but an black bull with pure unblemished skin, that's kind of rare. It would take time to find one. In practice what this means is that every additional Task Point spent upon a Ritual can increase the Tranquillity level by one. The Storyteller may allow the Leviathan to personally track down the supplies needed instead of spending Task Points.

Not all cultists are willing to kill for their god. Assume that a cult will happily perform anything with a Tranquillity rating above (5 - Zeal). Committing worse acts will require the Leviathan to bully their cult into compliance: Roll Presence + (Persuasion or Intimidation) + Zeal – (The Zeal required for the cult to agree). A Leviathan who frequently persuades his Cult to perform hideous rituals should expect to see his Cult's Zeal rise. When measuring if a cultist would be willing to sacrifice themself treat Zeal as two dots lower, however asking cultists to sacrifice each other incurs no penalty. Leviathan's rarely need the sacrafice to be willing, and anyway, with the wake no one is ever really agreeing of their own free will.

Portents[edit]

The fetters of geometry and time held the Progenitors lightly, their descendants may sometimes feel a connection to the movement heavens and earth. At no time is this expression stronger than when working the most abstract of their powers.

All rituals have portents, moments in time and space which aid or oppose the ritual. Most Leviathan's have a unique style to their Rituals, they find a core of genuine Eldrich Lore and transform it into the product of a Tribal culture that never was, and creating a custom system of portents is a good way to give a token mechanical difference to individual styles. When designing portent systems do not worry about trying to make each Leviathan's portents equally permissive, instead focus on creating systems that are true to the charachter and adjust the exp cost of rituals and eldrich lore to maintain balance.

Sidebar: Signs and Symbols[edit]

Here is a simple system for portents you can use. Every ritual consists of two auspicious and ominous portents, one from the sea and one from the stars. Each auspicious Portent that shines upon a Ritual gives +2 to the dicepool. However each ominous Portent gives a -2. If both auspicious Portents and neither ominous Portent are true then the dice pool also gets 9again however attempting a Ritual when both ominous Portents are true without the security of either auspicious Portent degrades a normal Failure into a Dramatic Failure.

High Tide: A High Tide is used whenever the Leviathan is directly using his powers or enhancing his own strength.
Flood Tide: A Flood Tide is favourable when the Leviathan is granting a blessing to others, most commonly her Beloved.
Ebb Tide: An Ebb Tide grants fortune when the Leviathan is placing a curse upon others, or granting a blessing saner individuals would consider a curse.
Low Tide: A Low Tide blesses any Ritual designed to weaken the Leviathan who performs it, it is rarely an Auspicious Portent

Mercury signifies social interaction.
Venus signifies love.
Mars signifies conflict and danger.
Jupiter signifies business and wealth.
Saturn signifies death and failure.
Uranus signifies change.
Neptune signifies mental disease.
Pluto signifies rebirth.

Step Three: Divinity[edit]

The final stage is to gather everyone in the temple and enact the Ritual. This requires an extended roll of Sheol + Zeal. Sheol represents the raw power of the Leviathan, while Zeal represents the enthusiasm and dedication of the cultists. When enough successes are acquired the Ritual's effect takes place. Players who create consistent and well thought out symbolism or theology behind their Rituals may get bonuses. In addition the following situational modifiers apply to the roll:

Time Per Interval
1 Minute | -6 dice
10 Minutes | -3 dice
1 Hour | -0 dice
1 Day | +3 dice

Modifiers

Temple Ritual Room: +Temple Amenities
The player created well thought out symbolism for their rituals: +1 to +3

A multi-day ritual will probably require rotating individuals, the Leviathan's presence is only required at a few key points.

Rituals Without Leviathans[edit]

A Ritual does not in fact require the physical presence of a Leviathan, a fact many of the Tribe take advantage of by teaching their Cult Rituals that can serve the Leviathan's interests while he is performing other matters. When a Leviathan is not present the rules for Rituals remain unchanged, except for two things. Firstly Sheol is not added to the roll, for the Leviathan is not taking part. Secondly, only Leviathan's can use improvised rituals. Without the Leviathan's presence the Cult must rely on rituals that have been codified.

A Leviathan is always aware when someone is using it as the focus of a Ritual but they aren't always aware of what precisely the ritual is intended to achieve. A reflexive Wits + Sheol roll can reveal the exact effect on a success, and who is performing the ritual on an exceptional success. If the Leviathan objects he may Reflexively subtract the lower of Composure and Tranquillity from all dicepools used to enact the Ritual. As always a point of Willpower can increase Composure by two. If this leads to a chance die, the ritual fails automatically.

Sidebar: Tribal Sorcery[edit]

If a cultist or an independent Lahmasu becomes an important NPC the Storyteller may wish to give her some small measure of independent power. The rules from World of Darkness: Second Sight can be adapted.

Tribal Sorcery is a form of basic magic that mortals and Hybrids can perform, theoretically even a mortal who never met a member of the a tribe could be a practitioner. It is named not because the power welded comes from the Tribe, it does not, but because it is a mortals own power accessed through methods designed to work well with what a Lahmasu gains from the Tribe, and because it is a mortals power as seen through the culture of the Tribe.

As a Thaumaturge Tradition Tribal Sorcery has the following traits:

Strength: A Tribal Sorcerer can spend one Ichor to gain 9again while performing a ritual. This only applies to one roll in an extended action, but multiple points of Ichor can be spent for multiple rolls
Weakness: A Tribal Sorcerer has a -1 penalty to resist (but not to gain) a Derangement.
Defining ritual: Weather Control.
Path Rituals: Astral Sight (this functions identically to See Spirits, but only detects projecting psychics or astral entities.) Curse of Ill-Fortune, Dream-Travel, Enchantment, Invocation (Rift Creatures), Luck Magic, Psychic Projection, Sacrifice (Rift Creates) Scrying, See Auras, Visionary Trances.

Tribal Sorcery is most commonly practised by the Heqen and the Mahhu. The Heqen often formalise and share their knowledge, while the Mahhu are secretive and intuitive but occasionally produce a genius who's sorcery is peerless. The Gugal are not naturally inclined to sorcery but occasionally gather in large enough numbers to support professional sorcerers; they favour formal techniques that can be passed to the next generation. Like the Mahhu the Hemitheos occasionally produce a genius at sorcery, but unlike the Mahhu sorcery is rarely practised by the rest of the strain. The Abuu, Gibborim and Pelopsids are the least likely to practice sorcery.

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