Custom Blood Magic: Ritual

SUMMARY
No one knows exactly how the Shadowlands is shaped, only that it is affected by the intense emotions of the mortal world. Talented necromancers harness this power to shape small pockets of the Shadowlands into Stygian Fortresses. These locations offer heightened privacy and security, even if they come with an added bit of danger.

OWBN MET MECHANICS
While in the Shadowlands, you must combine 1 point of your Blood with the ashes of white heather, gladiola, and churchyard dirt in a copper bowl, and then paint the exterior of a door with the mixture. As you do, the Shadowlands surrounding you ripple and shift, mutating and changing. This continues for 15 minutes at which time she can open a door directly into a Stygian Fortress; a structure that exists in the Shadowlands.

Although each Stygian Fortress differs aesthetically, they are nearly mechanically identical. Each Stygian Fortress Has the Following Backgrounds to it and is up to the Staff how potent each one is. (Lore of the Clans pg 221) Guardians, Library, Research, Sanctity and Stores. You may expand upon a Stygian Fortress through downtime actions for higher rating at ST discretion. It is also suggested that none of these background ratings may be higher than your current Background in Haven.

A necromancer may only have one Stygian Fortress in existence at any given time. The door to the Stygian Fortress can only be opened by the necromancer who cast this ritual, though others may attempt to gain access to the fortress through a difficult series of quests into the Shadowlands but it is advised that these should be regulated to normal Haven raid mechanics. Should anyone exit the fortress, rather than exiting to the Shadowlands, they will return to the last location this ritual was cast. The door and the fortress will retain its potency for 30 days, though the ritual may be refreshed once per month through a downtime action. If the ritual lapses, you may cast it again to gain access to the same fortress with all its previous belongings. Others may attempt to find a lapsed Stygian Fortress as described above.

Stygian Fortress The massive estate juts out of the twisting ephemera of the Shadowlands, offering a safe haven to those who dare enter the land of the dead. Though the aesthetics are always slightly different, the heart of the building is the same — a sprawling villa reminiscent of Ancient Rome. Ivy and turrets might be added by the necromancer, but the building is always recognizable.

Succubus’ Tendril (Basic - 1)

The Baharist found along time ago, that the ways they follow are a hard path and have caused them to have many enemies.  A lone Baharist developed this ritual to never be without her weapon, she sought answers, and used her Garden for guidance, seeking the wisdom of our Dark Mother.  She found a vine within the center of her Garden that seemed destined to grow.  This vine, she found, was to be a weapon forged by Lilith herself.  The Baharist grabbed ahold of the vine, and it came to life.  It quickly wrapped around her arm and seemed to have burned the marks of a thorny vine into her arm.  When she pulled away, she could feel the vine within her, pulsating with new found power. She extended her arm, and the weapon of the Bahari lashed out.  With this new weapon, she learned the way to teach other Bahari to never be without their weapon.

To gain the Succubus’ Tendril, one must enact this ritual and find a vine within the Garden of a Baharist.  Once found, this tendril will wrap around the dominant arm of the user.  If the user is a ambidextrous user, they will be able to have it placed upon both arms.  The result is a tattoo of a spiraled thorn tattoo along the arm(s) of the user.

Mechanics: The Baharist spends two blood traits and exudes a razor sharp tendril whip from her wrist. This weapon can not be disarmed. The whip can be from two feet to ten feet and shifts length at the command of the user. This power lasts until the end of the scene or hour.  Stats of the tendril are:

Succubus’ Tendril

Bonus Traits: 3

Negative Traits: Clumsy

Concealability: Jacket (wrapped around the forearm)

Damage: Two Lethal

Special Ability: Speed and/or Grappled:The whip has a hold of a limb. The next attack may be used to trip or pull the target three (3) steps towards the attacker. This requires an opposed Melee vs. Brawl test. Should the target win the test, she may escape the Grappled effect, or pull the attacker three(3) steps closer. The attacker may not relent the whip to the target to avoid the loss until her next action.

The demons called Asuras oppose the gods themselves. Indian blood magicians seldom deal with such powerful spirits. As asuras in flesh themselves, however, they sometimes — in fits of hubris — believe that they possess a right to treat with their powerful cousins. Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of divine beings or power-seeking deities related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hindu mythology.

Asuras are sometimes considered nature spirits. They battle constantly with the devas. Asuras are described in Indian texts as powerful superhuman demigods with good or bad qualities. The good Asuras are called Adityas and are led by Varuna, while the malevolent ones are called Danavas and are led by Vritra. In the earliest layer of Vedic texts Agni, Indra and other gods are also called Asuras, in the sense of them being "lords" of their respective domains, knowledge and abilities. In later Vedic and post-Vedic texts, the benevolent gods are called Devas, while malevolent Asuras compete against these Devas and are considered "enemy of the gods".

A master Sadhu can prepare the proper materials and perform this ritual to summon one of the mighty Asuras to their service for an evening.  The Sadhu gather rituals components dedicated to the particular Asura they are looking to summon and command; he then sacrifices them into a dedicated fire along with some of his blood.  If done correctly the Asura will manifest and offer his service to the Sadhu for one task.

System: This ritual costs one blood trait to enact.  Once summoned the Asura will obey one command given to it by the caster before returning to its native realm.  This task must be able to be accomplished in one night or the Asura will simply vanish.  If they wish for the Asura to attack another creature the caster must also defeat the Asura in a contested Mental challenge retested with occult.  Asura are built using the stats for Pit Lords in Laws of the Night: Sabbat Guide page 108.  Note these creatures are not Demons.  Rather they are Spirit Like entities but also separate from them native to India and other places of Hindi, Buddhist, or Jani faith.

Summon Lamashtu (intermediate Abyss Mysticism Ritual)
In Mesopotamian mythology, Lamashtu was a female demon, monster, malevolent goddess or demigoddess who menaced women during childbirth and, if possible, kidnapped their children while they were breastfeeding. She would gnaw on their bones and suck their blood, as well as being charged with a number of other evil deeds. She was a daughter of the Sky God Anu.

Lamashtu is depicted as a mythological hybrid, with a hairy body, a lioness' head with donkey's teeth and ears, long fingers and fingernails, and the feet of a bird with sharp talons. She is often shown standing or kneeling on a donkey, nursing a pig and a dog, and holding snakes. She thus bears some functions and resemblance to the Mesopotamian demon Lilith.
Among the Abyss the Lamashtu are the servants of Ereshkigal.  They are her personal creatures of the Abyss.  The Priestesses of Ereshkigal learn to summon these creatures and command them for a time.  The Abyss Mystic speaks in the ancient forgotten Sumerian tongue and evokes their loyalty to Ereshkigal and using her name to command them. 

System: This ritual costs 1 Blood trait to cast.  Once summoned the Lamashtu will perform 1 task.  After either the task is performed the Lamashtu will depart.  Should stats for a Lamashtu be needed use the Demon creation rules from Laws of the Night Sabbat Guide page 108 using the stats for Fiends.  The Lamashtu are not demons. Rather they are Abyss Spirits entities but are not vulnerable to the power Spirit Manipulation.

Side Effect:  For a month after the Lamashtu has been summoned the caster must spend 1 additional blood trait to awaken for the evening.

Yakshas seem more like nature spirits. They generally look human, and several heroes married female yakshinis, but they too can change their form and cast illusions, as well as command natural phenomena such as trees and water.

A Yaksha is a nature spirit who are benevolent, sometimes mischievous custodians of treasures. Left: Yaksi, Right: Yaksa

Yaksha (Sanskrit: यक्ष yakṣa, Tamil: யகன் yakan, இயக்கன் iyakan, Odia: ଯକ୍ଷ jôkhyô, Pali: yakkha) are a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous and sexually aggressive or capricious caretakers of the natural treasures hidden in the earth and tree roots.[3] They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts, as well as ancient and medieval era temples of South Asia and Southeast Asia as guardian deities. The feminine form of the word is yakṣī or Yakshini (yakṣiṇī).

In Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist texts, the yakṣa has a dual personality. On the one hand, a yakṣa may be an inoffensive nature-fairy, associated with woods and mountains; but there is also a darker version of the yakṣa, which is a kind of ghost (bhuta) that haunts the wilderness and waylays and devours travelers, similar to the rakṣasas.

The Sadhu collects a rare collection of herbs and spices offering them in a sacrificial fire mixed with their own blood to summon a Yakshas.  Once summoned the creature will answer one question that it could reasonably know or play a trick one person they desire.

System: This ritual costs 1 Blood trait to cast.  Once summoned the Yakshas will either perform 1 trick on a target (in which case they will need a sympathetic link to the person) or answer 1 question the Sadhu desires.  The Yaksha may not know the answer to the desired question but will try its best to do so before departing.  Yaksha should only be able to answer a question hey would reasonably be able to know the answer to considering their spirit like status.  After either the trick is performed or the question answered the Yaksha will depart.  Should stats for a Yaksha be needed use the Demon creation rules from Laws of the Night Sabbat Guide page 108 using the stats for Fiends.  The Yaksha are not demons. Rather they are Spirit Like entities but also separate from them native to India and other places of Hindi, Buddhist, or Jani faith.