Rituals are semi-magical ceremonies passed down through tradition. They are intended to beseech the unseen powers for relief from the troubles that plague the common man. To water the crops with rain, to ward harmful spirits from the home, to grant good fortune, to ease a child’s night-terrors: all these and more may be asked for by a supplicant with the right knowledge and a token sacrifice.
The results are not as spectacular as true magic, nor does the supplicant risk Doom like the magician does. But the unseen powers are fickle and their aid notoriously unreliable.
Rituals have up to 3 Ranks, which each take up 1 mental slot. Each Rank represents a specific level of familiarity with and understanding of the Ritual.
| Rank 1 | Basic familiarity. Go through the motions, say the words. |
| Rank 2 | Deep understanding. Let the ritual move you, feel its words in your bones. |
| Rank 3 | Full enlightenment. Your movement is the echo of history, your words are the song of the universe. |
Ritual Dice
Anyone with knowledge of a Ritual can perform it, which takes 10 minutes. Each additional supplicant with knowledge of the Ritual increases its power, but demands a more significant sacrifice.
Each supplicant participating in a Ritual contributes a d6 Ritual Dice (RD) for each Rank they have. The players all roll their RD, and discard any dice that show a value 3-6. If 0 RD remain, the Ritual has failed. Otherwise, of the remaining dice, the highest 4 RD are used to determine the Ritual’s power.
A Ritual requires a burnt offering worth at least 5d per participant. Specially prepared bundles of herbs, incense, and grain are sold for this purpose, and take up 1 inventory slot each. In principle though, anything that can be burnt can be sacrificed, as long as it is worth enough.
Veneration
A Ritual can optionally be performed in veneration of a particular power. Doing so requires at least one supplicant to be Blessed in the name of that power, either directly by a priest or indirectly by worshipping at a shrine. Each supplicant Blessed by the invoked power contributes +1 RD to the Ritual. Blessings take up 1 social slot and require the blessed to follow their strictures. If a stricture is broken, the Blessing is replaced by Disgrace, which cannot be removed until the character has Atoned for their transgression.
Advancement
To learn a Ritual at Rank 1, a neophyte must be iniated into its mysteries by a skilled practitioner and succeed on a Discipline Test. At the end of a session where character performed a Ritual, the player may Test Discipline once to attempt to deepen their understanding, gaining a point of Progress on success. A number of Progress points equal to the next Rank are required to advance their understanding, which then resets Progress to zero. Only one successful Test is needed to learn a new Ritual at Rank 1. Two additional Progress points are needed to improve it to Rank 2, and three more after that are needed to advance to Rank 3.
Each additional Ritual Rank fills another mental slot. If there are not enough mental slots for a new Ritual Rank, the character may choose to forget something else, replacing its slot.