Custom Blood Magic: Path

Developed by a Victorian Ashipu the Dur-An-Ki path of Tasseography is developed from the lost divination art of Tea Reading. Once popular during the Victorian age, the art of Tasseogrpahy was used by mystics the world around to divine the future, past, and fate of a person. After a cup of tea has been poured, without using a tea strainer, the tea is drunk or poured away. The cup should then be shaken well and any remaining liquid drained off in the saucer. The diviner now looks at the pattern of tea leaves in the cup and allows the imagination to play around with the shapes suggested by them. They might look like a letter, a heart shape, or a ring. These shapes are then interpreted intuitively or by means of a fairly standard system of symbolism, such as: snake (enmity or falsehood), spade (good fortune through industry), mountain (journey of hindrance), or house (change, success). It is traditional to read a cup from the present to the future by starting along the rim at the handle of the cup and following the symbols downward in a spiral manner, until the bottom is reached, which symbolizes the far future. Most readers see images only in the dark tea leaves against a white or neutral background; some will also read the reverse images formed by seeing the symbols that form in the white negative spaces, with a clump of dark leaves forming the background. Tonight a few ashipu still practice this path of Dur-An-Ki as a means of true divination and fortune telling. Though rarely practice the insights and visions the path provides the ashipu are indeed very accurate, which can both be a blessing and curse.

•The Magician
The first step a mystic using Tasseogrpahy must master is the ability to read into one’s past. Only by learning of important events in their past can they hope to divine their future. First the ashipu must perform the appropriate tea ceremony to be able to read the leaves. Once they do they begin to look for patterns and symbols the leaves have made. After focusing on this for a time the ashipu will gain flashes of insight and visions in the most important events of a persons life. They appear almost as still images but come in great detail to the caster who can then start to unravel the past of the person he is performing the reading for.

System: Engage your target in a Mental Challenge retested with Enigmas. If you succeed you may gain one important detail about their lives. Traumatic events such as Embrace, Murder, etc are revealed to the caster. Each time the caster wishes to discern another important event on their target they must engage them in a new challenge and activation of this power. The details of these events are always given to the caster in the form of visions though they are rather clear and precise.

••The High Priestess
Having mastered the ability to read a person’s past in the leaves, the next step is the ashipu must learn how to divine the future for a person. Again the ritual tea reading is performed, however this time they focus instead of the patterns of leaves that determine a future instead of a past. Much like before these insights come in the form of visions. With these visions the ashipu can hope to guide the person to better and brighter future, or warn them of impending danger.

System: The caster must engage their target in a Mental Challenge retested with Enigmas. If they succeed they may discern one future event that will occur to the character. Again, this information comes in the form of visions to the caster which he must then relate. In addition, those effected by this power gain one Fate retest they may use in any single challenge for the remainder of the night.

•••The Lovers
Sometime a person seeking a Tea Reading is looking for a specific person or object they have lost. With this art the Ashipu can focus on the patterns of the tea leaves and help locate either a person or an object. To find a person is far more difficult than an object. The ashipu must either be intimately familiar with the person or have an object of theirs they held of some importance as a focus to locate them.

System: The caster engages in a Static Mental Challenge difficulty 9 retested with Enigmas. This spell allows you to determine the approximate location of a nearby object or person. This takes the form of a subconscious tug leading the caster to what they seek. In the case of a specific person, you must either know the subject intimately or have an item closely associated with them.

••••Death
Using the art of Tea Leaf reading the ashipu may now view entire past events as if he had been there. First he must travel to the desired location where the event occurred. After doing so he may perform the tea leaf reading. With any luck the ashipu can receive visions of the events he seeks as if he had been in the room itself when they occurred.

System: The caster engages in a Static Mental challenge difficulty 9 retested with Enigmas. Should they succeed the caster may view an event of the past as if they had actually been there. They must state what event they wish to view and cast the spell. Though they view the events they may not interact with them or use any other powers in the scene they are viewing.

•••••The Devil
The final mastery of Tasseogrpahy allows an Ashipu to call out specific events for wither the betterment of determent of the person receiving the reading. The ashipu must read aloud the fate they have foreseen in the leaves to the person getting the reading. Wither or not the fate is true or the ashipu is manipulating fate itself is unclear. Many practitioners believe they are simply reading out what has already been foretold. There after the person receiving the reading is either blessed or cursed until such time as the ashipu read otherwise in the leaves.

System: Engage your target in a contested Mental Challenge retested with Enigmas. If you succeed you must spend 1 permanent Willpower to use this power. Once enacted the user may choose either to curse the target giving them the Dark Fate flaw which may not be bought off until the caster ends the effect or bless the target allowing them to purchase the merit Destined for Greatness.