"The awful shadow of some unseen Power floats, tho' unseen, among us." - Percy Bysshe Shelley
Armor of the Mind:
By expending a temporary Blood Trait, the caster gains five additional Mental Traits for purposes of determining challenge totals and overbids. These Mental Traits may only be used for defense. The ritual's benefits expire at sunrise.
Blood Walk:
By expending a Blood Trait from a subject and winning a Simple Test, the caster learns the identity of the subject's Sire. The caster may continue on up the subject's bloodline by winning additional Simple Tests, but once a Test is failed, the ritual ends. Additional castings of the ritual by the same caster upon a given subject's blood will yield no additional information.
Communicate with Kindred Sire:
With this ritual, the caster may communicate telepathically with her Sire, her Regent, anyone who has consumed some of her blood within the last 24 hours, or anyone who is Blood Bound to her. This ritual takes only ten minutes to enact, and the link it establishes may be maintained at any range. Its power expires at sunset, unless canceled by the caster.
Deflection of Wooden Doom:
This ritual creates a magical ward that will destroy the first wooden weapon that pierces the caster's heart. One of the caster's Blood Traits must be expended in the casting. The ward can remain intact indefinitely until triggered, but once activated it must be cast again to regain its benefits. The recipient must keep a piece of splintered wood upon her person, prepared at the time the spell is cast; the ward will fail if this piece of wood leaves her person.
Donning the Mask of Shadows:
At a cost of one Blood Trait, the caster takes on the appearance of a living shadow. She becomes invisible in darkened and shadowy areas, much like the Obfuscate power of Unseen Presence, and even cameras cannot detect her except as a shifting of darkness. The ritual ends immediately if the caster enters a brightly-lit area or makes any sudden movements, or in one hour otherwise.
Dust to Dust:
By sprinkling a corpse with one of her Blood Traits, the caster may transform it into fine, powdery ash. Chemical analysis will indicate that the dust is the remains of burned human or animal flesh. This ritual will affect all corpses: animal, human and Kindred.
Engaging the Vessel of Transference:
At a cost of a temporary Mental Trait, the caster fills a container with blood and enchants it to exchange the blood it contains with the blood of whoever touches it, other than the caster and those she designates during the casting. Seven seconds are needed to complete the exchange of a Blood Trait, and the person who is affected feels a shivering sensation while the transfer is taking place. Once the last of the original blood has been replaced, the vessel's magic is exhausted and it ceases to function.
Eye for Kindred Vitae:
By anointing a chosen target's eyes with a salve composed of pure water, owl fat, and one Kindred Blood Trait, the caster grants the recipient the ability to see the presence of vitae within people and objects. This appears as a reddish nimbus around anyone or anything holding Kindred vitae, putting the recipient one bid down on all Aura Perception tests against such targets. This ritual does not distinguish between Kindred and ghouls, nor does it provide any information on the blood's quantity or Generation. Washing the salve away ends the effect; otherwise, it will expire at sunrise.
Open Passage:
By inscribing a rune of passage upon a wall or other barrier and expending a Blood Trait, the caster renders the barrier momentarily insubstantial, allowing all present to pass through it for the duration of the scene. The barrier continues to bear loads normally.
Principal Focus of Vitae Infusion:
By means of this spell, the caster may imbue a small object with one of her Blood Traits. The object, which may be as large as can fit in the caster's palm or as small as a pea, takes on a faint reddish tinge. The object is attuned to a single person, who must be present throughout the casting of the ritual. With a touch and a willed command, the person to whom the object is attuned may invoke its magic, dissolving the object into a single Blood Trait that may be consumed normally.
Rite of Introduction:
With this ritual, the caster bleeds upon a fire or hot coals, and addresses a message of up to 25 words into the rising steam. All Tremere within the city in which the ritual is cast will receive this message. Each Tremere, starting with the eldest, may choose to reply with a message of up to 25 words, or may remain silent and undetected by the caster.
Wake with Evening's Freshness:
With this ritual, before she goes to sleep for the day, the caster sprinkles her haven with burned goose feathers and spends a Blood Trait. She will then awaken instantly at the first hint of danger during the coming day, and will be able to act normally until the danger is past. If no danger arises, the caster awakens at the very moment of sunset.
Ward versus Ghouls:
In this ritual, the caster draws an arcane sigil on a surface or object in an unbroken circle or loop, using one mortal Blood Trait as ink. The ward will inflict three aggravated wounds upon any ghoul to cross its boundaries. Alternatively, the ward may be inscribed upon a weapon, which will inflict an additional aggravated wound whenever it damages a ghoul. To create such a ward, the caster must invest a permanent Mental Trait; the ward remains potent until the invested Mental Trait is reclaimed.
Pavis of Foul Presence:
At the cost of a temporary Mental Trait, this ritual creates a magical ward to guard the caster against the effects of the Discipline of Presence. Any attempt to use Presence against the caster is met with a Mental Challenge. If the caster loses, the Presence effect is simply voided, while if the caster wins, the Presence effect is turned back upon its user, just as if the caster had been the one to invoke the Presence effect. The ward will affect a single use of Presence, at which point it must be recast to regain its benefit.
Shaft of Belated Quiescence:
In this ritual, the caster carves magical runes into a rowan wood stake, soaks it in her own vitae, blackens it in a fire, and expends a temporary Mental Trait. Thereafter, if the stake pierces the flesh of a target, its tip will break off inside the target's body and start to burrow toward the heart. The stake makes a Simple Test each day to inflict a Health Level of damage; if successful, it tests normally as per the staking rules to see whether it pierces the heart. (This will kill a mortal, while Kindred are staked normally.) The stake will actually attempt to burrow away from any attempt to remove it. A character with Medicine may attempt a Static Mental Challenge to extract the stake. Success means the stake is removed, but the victim suffers one Health Level of damage per attempt, regardless of success or failure. The stake has a number of Traits equal to the caster's permanent Mental Traits at the time of casting.
Splinter Servant:
In this ritual, the caster carves a stake from a graveyard tree, entwines it with nightshade, seals it in a coat of black wax, and expends one or more temporary Mental Traits to bind it with a deadly enchantment. When the waxen sheath is torn away and the stake is hurled at a target, it animates, splintering to form tiny arms and legs and leaping about in an attempt to stake the target. Note that if it is not thrown at a target when activated, it attacks the one who activated it instead! Its Physical Traits equal the number of Mental Traits expended in its creation plus two, and it can take two Health Levels of damage before being destroyed. The stake's enchantment fades once the stake has run out of Physical Traits, pierced the target's heart, or been destroyed. It continues to splinter even after staking the target; removing the splinters requires the Medicine ability, and will inflict one Health Level of damage on the victim.
Ward versus Kindred:
In this ritual, the caster draws an arcane sigil on a surface or object in an unbroken circle or loop, using a Kindred Blood Trait as ink. The ward will inflict three aggravated wounds upon any Kindred to cross its boundaries. Alternatively, the ward may be drawn upon a weapon, which will cause an additional aggravated wound whenever it damages a vampire. To make such a ward, the caster must invest a permanent Mental Trait; the ward remains potent until the invested Mental Trait is reclaimed.
Ward versus Lupines:
In this ritual, the caster draws an arcane sigil on a surface or object in an unbroken circle or loop, using an ink made from aconite and wolf blood. The ward inflicts three aggravated wounds upon any Lupine to cross its boundaries. Alternatively, the ward may be inscribed upon a weapon, which will inflict an additional aggravated wound whenever it damages a Lupine. To create such a ward, the caster must invest a permanent Mental Trait; the ward remains potent until the invested Mental Trait is reclaimed.
Ward versus Spirits:
In this ritual, the caster draws an arcane sigil on a surface or object in an unbroken circle or loop, using an ink made from rowan berries and peacock blood. While the ward is intact, no spirit or ghost may cross its boundaries. Alternatively, the ward may be drawn on a weapon, which may then be used to harm spirits, inflicting an aggravated wound with each strike. To create such a ward, the caster must invest a permanent Mental Trait; the ward remains potent until the invested Mental Trait is reclaimed.
Mirror Walk:
Once this ritual has been cast, the caster may step through any mirror of sufficient size, and emerge from the nearest other mirror large enough to exit through. The mirror seems to ripple as the caster passes through it, and stops rippling as soon as she has completed her transit. Once the caster steps through a mirror, she must cast the ritual again in order to use its power once more.
Stone Slumber:
At a cost of three Blood Traits, the caster of this ritual transforms herself into solid stone until after the next sunset. In this form, the caster is immune to fire and sunlight, and is not easily harmed by most physical attacks, although she is vulnerable to any force which would break ordinary stone. The caster's mind is dormant in this state, leaving her unable to use any mental Disciplines, but also rendering her immune to such effects for the duration of the ritual.