The Culter Mithras, new blood sorcery for Vampire: the Requiem
Forgotten Lore - Issue 2
The ‘Knife of Mithras’ is the dark gift practiced by those who form the Cult of Mithras, and is the gift bestowed upon them by their god, and rival to Ahura Mazda, Ahriman. The Cult of Mithras, and their blood sorcery, was introduced in ‘Mythologies’, on page 16. Here we shall revisit their blood magic and reexamine the rules for this magic, but through the new rules introduced in ‘Blood Sorcery: Sacrements and Blasphemies’.In order to begin this revision we must first review the Cult of Mithras, their beliefs and rites.
The Cult of Mithras is a cult of Mithras that see themselves as beings in rebellion to God and the Sun. Mithras may indeed have been the first vampire, and have committed a terrible sin in rebellion against God. The character, Mithras, was seduced by Ahriman, and committed a vile act by killing the Great Bull, and through this act he was able to steal the gift of life from the universe. the killing of the Bull involved a great feast of blood, and the sharing of blood is at the heart of the rites of Mithras. These rites are seen as a blasphemous twisting of the rites of the Lancea Sanctum, devised to create an army of demons. For the Cult of Mithras their rites are a sign of their ability to overcome the Sun, just as Mithras had done once before. Theirs is an existence of pleasure, not of servitude to a unforgiving God.
Ultimately the Cult of Mithras has shadowed the church of the Lancea Sanctum. The two are diametrically opposed concerning the origin of Vampires and their place in the world. But where the rituals of the Lancea Sanctum teach order, justice and the ability to focus the divine will of God, the rites of Mithras are instead the representation of rebellion, dominion and corruption.
The Motifs of the Cult of Mithras are thus.
The first is rebellion. The very path followed by Mithras and followed by his disciples is that of rebellion. They rebel against the world, against life, and against God. They must hide from the Sun yet seek to reap those who grow in its light. Mithras once dominated God and the Sun, and the Cult crave that power, and to laugh in the face of the one who would curse them to the darkness. The rituals represent this rebellion. Flames are a constant focus, in particular the extinguishing of flames or the use of burning coals. Ritual symbols of the Great Bull are used to signify their purpose, and while the ceremonies are act in a careful manner, the verses uttered are often done so in a manner that contains as much hate directed to God.
The next theme is that their power is chthonic. Their power comes from within the Earth, just as Mithras was born. But while the old legends speak of Mithras being fully born from a rock, for the Cult, Mithras travelled into the Earth and returned with the powers bestowed upon him by Ahriman. The powers of the Culter Mithras are of the darkness, and is vile and not of the world of mankind. The rituals of the Culter Mithras often take place deep in the Earth, in their ceremonial chambers, the Mithraeams. Here they sacrifice bull and man to empower their dark arts, mimicking the feast of Mithras and the Bull.
The last theme is that of dominion. The Cult of Mithras is not just concerned with their rebellion against God, they also want to command the heavens and the Earth, and to see all their banes crushed under foot. For this reason the arts of the Culter Mithras are concerned with the manipulation and control of the Vampiric banes, not unlike the Coils of the Dragon. There is even the chance that Dracula learnt his Coils from both the Crone and the Cult of Mithras.
The core themes of the Culter Mithras are destruction and transmutation.
Creation to the Cult of Mithras represents the will of God. But for the Cult this means that the theme of creation is animating the darkness and the things of the Earth. For this reason the things created by the Culter Mithras are formed from shadows, blood and earth. The creatures can often appear smoke like, and bovine features are common.
Destruction is central to the methods employed by the Cult of Mithras. Destruction of things considered pure or sacred are often the target of the Cult. Such acts are the greatest sign of defiance. Most acts of destruction take the form of the curses, the enchanting of weapons, and the summoning of flames.
Rituals
The casting of the rituals relies on a few steps. The first is the sacrifice. The Culter Mithras has it’s own requirements. In some respects the rituals are like the miracles of the Lancea Sanctum. The sacrifice is a willpower point during the casting. However, the vampire must make a pledge with Mithras (if Mithras is even a real god etc) to commit a sin. The sin must be for the Vampires Vice, and when performed must be a sin equal to their Humanity rating. The indulgence of the Vice will not bestow any willpower to the Vampire (this is the second cost of their ritual). The sin must be conducted before sunrise in a days time (so this means a vampire will get a whole evening to perform the sin within if they happened to perform the ritual towards the end of the night). Failure to do so will result in the loss of all willpower, and so make them even more inclined to sin.
Casting of the rituals relies on three parts.
Because of the manner in which themes work some powers have been altered to reflect the new rules while still retaining the basic concept of the power.
First of all we need to know what the dice pools are that we use for the Cult of Mithras.
- Improvised: Intelligence +Occult + Theme
- Creation: Composure +Crafts + Creation
- Destruction: Presence + Intimidation + Destruction
- Divination: Composure + Survival + Divination
- Protection: Presence + Subterfuge + Protection
- Transmutation: Presence + Science + Transmutation
● Coin of Betrayal (Transmutation ●)
Roll Presence + Science + Transmutation vs Resolve + Blood Potency. On success the caster takes a coin from the target (if he has none the spell automatically fails). As long as the caster has the coin then the target loses a point in Composure. The point returns on the caster losing the coin, or the caster’s True Death, or once the time limit of the spell is over. This means on casting the proximity counts as touching, and is further modified by the time duration.
(So now this weakens Composure, based upon the Potency of the spell, making a great setup for Glance of Weakness)
●● Fire of Lies (Transmutation ●● Destruction ●)
Roll Presence + Science + Transmutation to transform normal fire into balefire. A pre-existing flame is required. Balefire does not cause frenzy. It harms mortals as normal. For vampires it only causes lethal damage. Excess successes are used manipulate the size of the area of effect, of to change the intensity of the flame (see page 180 of the WoD core book). Therefore at least 2 successes are required for line of sight range.
●●● Sword of Slaughter (Destruction ●●●)
The bladed weapon is upgraded to do armour piercing attacks. Excess successes go into duration (this is a downgrade from the weapon doing aggravated attacks. But hey, doing more damage faster is better than just doing little amounts of aggravated).
●●●● Glance of Weakness (Transmutation ●●●●●)
Roll Presence + Science + Transmutation vs Composure + Blood Potency to trigger a target’s Vice. Given the next potential chance to indulge it, the character will follow their vice. Successes need to be spent to have the effect last for a scene. The effect ends when a degeneration roll is passed for a sin which has been brought on by pursuit of the Vice, or once the scene is over.
●●●●● Arrow of Thirst (Destruction ●●●●●)
Roll Presence + Intimidation + Destruction vs Stamina + Blood Potency. The target must already be bleeding. The target of the spell now loses points in his highest Discipline, in addition to losing Vitae due to bleeding. One dot is lost per turn, with the amount determined by excess successes. Successes spent into duration determine how long this loss lasts for, but only once the target feeds. So a loss for a day means that once the day is up and the Vampire feeds, his Discipline dots return.
●●●●●● Courier of the Sun (Protection ●●●●●, Transmutation ●●●●)
This power protects against sunlight. While in sunlight, the caster may not use any vampiric powers or Disciplines, including Culter Mithras. One point of Vitae is spent per dot of Blood Potency. She may not expend or drain Vitae. Finally, all her physical Attributes (though none of her Skills) function as if they were half their normal level. The loss of the Attributes is what partly fuels the protection. In total 17 successes are needed for total immunity for a day.
The author would like to express thanks to David Brookshaw, who provided invaluable feedback in the writing of this article.
