Armageddon Edict
Ritual 9
Rare; White;
Traditions Divine, Primal
Cast Time 8 hours
Primary Casters 1
Secondary Casters 4–10
Primary Check Religion (master) or Nature (master)
Secondary Checks Diplomacy, Occultism, Warfare Lore (or appropriate regional Lore)
Cost Consecrated relics and focuses dedicated to a White‑devotion ideal of order and purification, worth at least 1000Y × the ritual’s level, plus the permanent loss of ecosystems, infrastructure, and surface habitats in the target region.
Area Up to a 10‑mile radius emanation from the ritual site
Effect
You invoke the Logos Purification Protocol, a White‑devotion judgment originally devised to prepare the surface of Logos for perfectly ordered settlement.
At the moment of completion, a concentric lattice of blinding white light focuses on the chosen region—from orbital mirrors above and mana‑charged fissures below.
Total Scouring of Life: All living material, soil, loose stone, vegetation, and conventional structures within the area are annihilated or sublimated into mana‑dust; only dense bedrock and artifact‑grade or specifically warded structures can survive.
Alabaster Recrystallization: The upper 20 feet of the crust in the area melts and recrystallizes into a single, continuous slab of smooth, hardened alabaster‑like stone, faintly veined with White‑mana channels. From orbit, the zone appears as a stark white disc.
Creatures in the area take 18d10 bludgeoning and 18d10 fire or radiant damage (GM’s choice) with a basic Reflex save; on a failure, they are knocked prone and entombed in shallow alabaster “fossils,” requiring magic or heavy engineering to extract.
Unattended non‑artifact objects and conventional structures take 200 damage (same save).
The entire area becomes supernaturally slick and nearly featureless terrain:
Treat all squares as severe difficult terrain for movement that relies on friction (running, charging, sudden turns).
Acrobatics DCs to Balance or resist being knocked prone on the alabaster surface are very high (GM sets a DC appropriate to level 17–19 play).
Digging, tunneling, or reshaping the alabaster layer requires powerful magic or specialized industrial tools.
The edict respects no claims of ownership; it obliterates “All” within the radius, whether ally, enemy, or neutral.
Critical Success
The purification is exactly contained: no mana storms or Rift eddies bleed beyond the chosen radius. Creatures and structures on the precise edge gain a +2 circumstance bonus to their Reflex saves.
Success
The ritual works as described.
Failure
The Logos pattern destabilizes:
Halve all damage.
The alabaster layer forms unevenly—patches of glass, fractured shelves, and subsidence zones. Treat the area as a mix of severe difficult terrain and hazardous terrain (fall‑through plates, hidden fissures), and the GM may introduce short‑lived Rift‑charged weather (dust halos, static storms) in and around the zone.
Critical Failure
The judgment loses focus entirely:
Apply the Failure result in the chosen area.
In addition, 1d4 other regions on the same world (each a 5‑mile radius, chosen by the GM) suffer a degraded “war‑scar” version of the ritual: instead of alabaster, they are left as jagged glass, rubble, and ash (the earlier “glass and rubble” profile), with no smoothing or recrystallization.
All casters suffer a severe divine/Rift backlash—curses, corruption, or forced devotion shifts appropriate to White’s harsh “order at any cost” philosophy.