In reference to age-old Terran ideas fitting to this arcane art, the act of attempting to use an Omega Sphere is known as Ritual. Once you have located an Omega Sphere, if you wish to perform a ritual, you should speak to the Sphere Watchers. They can be found observing the sphere from nearby, and will be able give you advice and tell you when the sphere will be available and stable enough for use. Powers and items granted by ritual are seldom permanent, unless the sacrifice is great. As such they will expire in time, the exact date being indicated on the lammie that will be given once an item or power is acquired.
The normal rules for lammies apply; if you obtain a ritual item lammie, it must be attached to an appropriate physrep to be used, and if you obtain a power or ability, then you must wear it alongside your character card.
Items and powers can be renewed via ritual before they expire. During a ritual, one person must lead the process, however any number of people may contribute to it. Rituals must last at least 5 minutes. Generally speaking, more intricate and impressive rituals stand to have more potent outcomes. See the Performing Rituals section below for more information.
In order to gain what you wish from the Sphere, you must sacrifice things in return. What you
choose to sacrifice can be almost anything, including but not limited to FP; money; memories; or even your life essence. What is your wish worth?
Remember to be very clear when explaining to the Omega what you want and what you wish to sacrifice. One wrong word can change the meaning of a ritual significantly.
Foci
Foci are incredibly important for Omega users. They allow for the performance of Thaumaturgy (with the relevant skill), and Rituals. Human Adepts, Mascen Shamans, and Myr’na Healers are the only classes who may create a Focus.
To create your first Focus, you need to perform a Focus ritual. The first of these is a small and easy ritual that will give you a taste of what to do in other rituals – they have a very low threshold for success, and tend to be forgiving for most first time mistakes. Please note that you do not need to already have a Focus in order to perform a Focus ritual.
You can create two more Foci after the first, for a total of three Foci per character. Your second and third Foci will require significantly more complex and difficult rituals to create, and much greater sacrifices in return for the Foci.
A Focus can be anything the Omega user wants, whether it be a book, a staff, an amulet, or any portable object of significance to the person. Please note, you must keep your Foci on you, as they contain a portion of your spirit and in the hands of others can be used against you. If your Focus is stolen, you have an urge that you must recover it which increases in intensity the longer it is missing.
The Focus ritual is the start of the journey the Omega user is taking and the sacrifice should have an effect that represents that journey. The second Focus ritual should show a greater commitment to that journey and have harsher restrictions. The final Focus ritual is highly difficult and carries severe risk; many choose not to make this level of commitment to their path through the Omega.
How Foci Work
Each Focus has 6 empty slots. You can fill these with ritual slots and/or Thaumaturgy spaces. Ritual slots are used to help power the user while they conduct a ritual, helping to unlock the sphere and accomplish particularly powerful rituals. The slot remains filled for the duration of the effect of the ritual, and ends once the ritual’s effect expires.
A Focus may hold the following types of ritual effects (up to its 6 slot limit):
- 1 bound improvement ritual
- 1 bound item ritual
- 1 unbound improvement ritual
- 1 unbound item ritual
- 2 temporary rituals
- Unlimited miscellaneous rituals
Any empty Focus slot may also be used to store Thaumaturgy abilities.
All Foci must be refreshed every year at an Omega Sphere. If not refreshed then all powers attached to them will become dormant and cannot be used. This includes items and powers on other people. Performing Rituals
A ritual is a performance, taking place inside an Omega Sphere to get an in-game result for the betterment of yourself or your allies, or to the detriment of your enemies. It usually requires a sacrifice, and though the performance can be varied and creative, it should follow the same basic procedure each time.
Rituals can be used to initiate conversations with strange beings from the Omega plane, grant personal power, give you information, create strange items of your design, or even make small temporary changes to yourself.
How to Prepare
If you wish to perform a ritual, please inform the Sphere Watcher. Some types of rituals must be booked before an event, which includes anything that has a permanent effect or is world-impacting. In these cases, you must submit a completed ritual form to ritual@greencloaks.co.uk at least one week prior to an event, to allow the ritual referees to discuss the outcome in advance. Please make it clear to the referee exactly what you wish to achieve in your ritual.
Performing the Ritual
Before you begin your ritual, you will want to decide what kind of performance it will be. Rituals are as diverse in the ways they can be performed as they are in outcome. For example, some may call upon Omega beings directly and ask them for guidance through their ritual, while others may bring in an engineer and some tech and try to talk to the Omega via radio.
You can do almost anything in the ritual, but it is recommended that you choose themes that are important to your character, or to those the ritual is intended for.
There is a structure to rituals that one is suggested to adhere to when performing:
- Open the Sphere by lowering the wards
- Call forth the power or entity you wish to communicate with from the Omega
- Raise the wards
- Perform your ritual – the method of this is the most flexible
- Lower the wards
- Dismiss whatever power or entity was summoned
- Cleanse the ritual Sphere
- Leave the Sphere
- Close the Sphere by raising the wards once more
Missing out or mixing up these steps will not automatically cause your ritual to fail, and in some cases unusual circumstances may lead to you choosing not to follow the usual method. Remember, however, that doing so may have interesting consequences. Also remember, Rituals must last at least 5 minutes.
Be very clear when explaining to the power or entity you have summoned what it is you want, and what you wish to sacrifice, else you may receive some very unexpected results!
Advice on Rituals
- There is always a cost and a risk.
- Do your research, ask around for information. Someone may have already done what you are trying to do, and may offer advice.
- Focus Points, money and memories as a sacrifice are worth very little.
- Theme your rituals appropriately, both in how they are performed and the sacrifice required. Make sure it all ties together.
- If you want an in-game effect, you need an in-game sacrifice. Likewise, a roleplaying affect will need a roleplaying sacrifice, and a permanent effect will need a permanent sacrifice.
- The more complex your outcome, the harder it will be to achieve. Keep it simple.
- The more things you aim for in your ritual, the harder they will be to achieve. It is better to aim for one big thing than three smaller things.
- The more things you sacrifice in your ritual, the harder it will be to achieve your desired outcome. It is better to sacrifice one big thing than three smaller things.
- If you have any queries about ritual, please speak to a Sphere Watcher.
Types of Ritual
Focus Rituals
Limited to 3 per character
As stated above, this is the first ritual an Omega user must perform, before they can delve further into the power of ritual, or use the Thaumaturgy skill. The first of these rituals will typically be a simple, easy process, to ease a ritualist into the method of performing rituals.
Your first Focus ritual cannot totally fail, but it can still go wrong and have adverse outcomes. An Omega user can perform a total of three Focus rituals, and each successive ritual of this type will become progressively harder to complete.
The completed Focus is linked to its creator. The owner will be extremely attached to the object, and will not let it out of their sight or give it to others for an extended period of time, if at all. If your Focus is lost or stolen, please inform a referee after approximately 1 hour, if you have not located it.
If the owner of a Focus dies, the Focus will immediately lose all of its power. Any ritual or thaumaturgy slots attached to the Focus will also lose their effects.
Bound Improvement Ritual
Limited to 1 per Focus
This ritual has a direct impact on the skills or abilities of a single person. This improvement must be permanently bound to one person, either the ritualist or another participant of the ritual. Individuals without a Focus of their own may only have one ritual effect bound to them. Trying to bind two of this type of ritual to a person without a Focus will replace the original effect.
The effects of this ritual do not stack with any ‘Unbound Improvement’ rituals. The effects may be replaced or improved by performing another ritual that is more effective than the previous one. Renewing or improving this ritual type requires the presence of both the ritualist and the person the improvement has been bound to.
If the person this improvement is bound to dies, the improvement is lost immediately. If the Omega user that created this improvement dies, the improvement is lost at the end of the event they died at, regardless of whether or not it is bound to someone else.
Bound Item Ritual
Limited to 1 per Focus
This ritual creates or imbues an item with skills, abilities or effects. This item must be permanently bound to one person, either the ritualist or another participant of the ritual.
Individuals without a Focus of their own may only have one ritual effect bound to them. Trying to bind two of this type of ritual to a person without a Focus will replace the original effect.
The effects of this ritual do not stack with any ‘Unbound Item’ rituals. The effects may be replaced or improved by performing another ritual that is more effective than the previous one. Renewing or improving this ritual type requires the presence of both the ritualist and the person the item has been bound to.
As with Foci, the owner of the item will be extremely attached to the object, and will not let it out of their sight or give it to others for an extended period of time, if at all. If the item is lost or stolen, please inform a referee after approximately 1 hour, if it has not been located.
If the person this item is bound to dies, the item’s effect is lost immediately. If the Omega user that created this item dies, the item’s effect is lost at the end of the event they died at, regardless of whether or not it is bound to someone else.
Unbound Improvement Ritual
Limited to 1 per Focus
This ritual has a direct impact on the skills or abilities of a group of people. Due to the variable nature of these improvements, they are often less powerful than Bound improvements, but they can affect multiple individuals, and the ritualist has the opportunity to change which individuals are affected.
Please note that the ritualist who created this improvement cannot use it on themselves. The effects of this ritual do not stack with any ‘Bound Improvement’ rituals. The effects may be replaced or improved by performing another ritual that is more effective than the previous one. Renewing or improving this ritual type requires the presence of the ritualist who created the improvement. During renewal or improvement rituals, the ritualist may amend the people who fall under the influence of the improvement.
If the Omega user that created this improvement dies, the improvement is lost at the end of the event they died at.
Unbound Item Ritual
Limited to 1 per Focus
This ritual creates or imbues an item with skills, abilities or effects. This item does not need to be bound to a single person. Due to the variable nature of these items, they are often less powerful than Bound items, but can be used by anyone.
Please note that the ritualist who created this item cannot use it themselves. The effects of this ritual do not stack with any ‘Bound Item’ rituals. The effects may be replaced or improved by performing another ritual that is more effective than the previous one. Renewing or improving this ritual type requires the presence of the ritualist who created the item.
If the Omega user that created this item dies, the item’s effect is lost at the end of the event they died at.
Temporary Ritual
Limited to 2 per Focus, per event
This ritual allows a temporary effect or change in skills or abilities with a maximum duration of 1 event. The targets and effects of these rituals can vary greatly. These rituals are often low in cost, since they last so short a time, but their outcomes can be highly unstable.
Miscellaneous Ritual
Omega users can attempt this type of ritual as often as they wish. These rituals can have no benefit to skills or abilities. They are used to assist characters in discovering information, contacting people or entities over long distances, and furthering efforts towards plot objectives.