Overview

Rituals are a powerful form of magic that can have many wide-reaching and unique effects. Usually taking longer to perform than spells, rituals are most often done as a group activity out of combat. Rituals can effect resources, divine the future, buff a character or place, etc.

Mechanics of Rituals

After a character takes their first character point in Mana, they can participate in rituals because they gain the Quantum Channeling attribute, which will be discussed later. But rituals need to be led, and only a character that has put a character point into the first level of Ritualist can lead a ritual. If you have the Ritualist ability, you also gain the Ritual Fatigue attribute, which is the number of rituals you can lead in a day. Anyone with the Quantum Channeling attribute can participate in as many rituals as they want, but each ritual needs a leader and thus use their limited Ritual Fatigue.

To complete a ritual you must meet the required ritual cost associated with that ritual. To do this, you must use Quantum Crystals a resource unique to rituals. Your Quantum Channeling attribute will tell you the maximum number of Quantum Crystals you can contribute to a ritual to meet its requirements. For example, if your Quantum Channeling attribute is 2, then you can spend up to 2 Quantum Crystals and contribute up to 2 ritual power to the ritual being performed. There are ways to increase both your Quantum Channeling attribute as well as increase the ritual power you are contributing per Quantum Crystal for a ritual.

Rituals also require several minutes of appropriate roleplaying to perform. The exact amount of time will be listed in the description of each ritual. Characters can use a number of difference sources, symbols, methods, theories, and techniques to represent their magical performance of a ritual, but it should be obvious to everyone nearby that you are performing a ritual. Staff does not mark how a ritual is performed, but they do log every ritual so that effects can be recorded and applied. If in doubt, find a member of staff to observe or announce to one nearby that a ritual is being performed.

Schools of Ritual Magic

When a Ritualist puts another character point into Ritualist, they gain mastery of a School of Ritual Magic. There are four different types of Schools: Divination, Enhancement, Weaving, and Transmutation. Each ritual will list which school of ritual magic that ritual is a part of. When you choose your School, you can double your Quantum Channeling contribution for that particular type of ritual. For example, if your Quantum Channeling attribute is 3 and you have mastered the Divination School of Ritual Magic, when you use 3 Quantum Crystals to contribute to a divination ritual, instead of contributing only 3 ritual power to the ritual, you actually contribute 6 ritual power. You do not need to be leading the ritual to be able to do this.

Overcharging Rituals

Many rituals can be "overcharged", that is, performed with enough Quantum Channeling to exceed the required ritual cost by a certain magnitude. Overcharging rituals can grant certain additional effects--most often letting the ritual affect additional targets or increasing its bonuses or penalties. If a ritual can be overcharged, the requirements and added benefits for doing so will be noted in the description of that ritual.

Marks and Curses

Some rituals will have a [Mark] or [Curse] tag in their description. Rituals with the Mark tag are usually persistent magical effects and typically beneficial. A given target-- whether it is a character, a region, realm, unit, or item-- can only ever be under the effects of one Mark at a time. Should a new Mark be placed on a target, it removes and replaces the existing Mark on the target. Unless otherwise specified, Marks cannot be "ended" at will; they can only be replaced by a new Mark or fade at the end of their duration (detailed in the Mark's description).

Curses are similar to Marks but usually bestows negatives effects on the target. A given target can have any number of Curses on them. A new Curse does not replace existing Curses unless other specified. Curses also cannot be ended at will and either last their specified duration (usually a day, the length of an event, or until the start of the next event) or until removed by a spell or ritual that specifically allows it such as Words of Ending. Furthermore, many Curses will conceal information about their nature or how to remove them. Discovering such information may require the use of other spells, rituals, items, or abilities like Aurasense. Most often, removing Curses via a ritual requires performing such a ritual at a cost that equals or exceeds the strength of the Curse.

Battlefield Rituals

Some rituals are specifically meant to be cast on the battlefield or out on adventures. These rituals are marked with a [Battlefield] tag in their description. Leading these rituals does not count against a character's Ritual Fatigue. All other rules for rituals still apply.

When performing a [Battlefield] ritual, it is important for the leader and any contributors to correctly calculate the cost, perform at least the minimum required amount of roleplay, and brief any targets on the effects of the ritual upon completion. Once the battle or quest is over, please report the performance of these rituals to a member of staff so they can be logged and turn in any Quantum Crystals used.

Do note that the rituals labelled with this tag are not the only ones that can be cast on the battlefield; they are merely the ones that will not count against a character's Ritual Fatigue if performed. All other rituals that are cast in the field will still count against the leader's Ritual Fatigue. If your character intends to perform a ritual in the field without the [Battlefield] tag and that isn't specifically called for in a quest or battle briefing, please inform the Combat Marshal or other members of staff observing the battle or adventure as soon as possible.

The Gods' Role in Rituals and Developing New Rituals

Each god has their own set of rituals, special to them. If you can participate in a ritual, you know from books and records all of the currently known rituals. However, new rituals can be created and dedicated to a certain god, and this may happen frequently if there are enough ritualists in Liminalis. The third ability in the Ritualist tree, Sage, allows for the creation of new rituals. To create a new ritual, a character must come up with a novel ritual idea, figure out what School of Ritual Magic it should fall under, determine a ritual cost and time it takes to perform such a ritual, and then present the ritual idea to the god to which you are dedicating this ritual. This god will assess the ritual to see if it is truly worthy to become a ritual in their name and let the character know if it is accepted or not in due time. If the ritual is accepted, it gets added to the compendium of known rituals so that others may learn and perform this ritual.

A Practical Example

A group of 3 ritualists wish to perform To Know Your Enemy, a Divination ritual of Zetar (see below) with a ritual cost of 14. The leader of the ritual has a taken two levels of the Ritualist Skill Tree and chosen the Divination School of Magic. Because this character leading the ritual has a Quantum Channeling attribute of 3, they can spend up to 3 Quantum Crystals to contribute to the ritual. Because they have the Divination specialization and they are performing a Divination ritual, their contribution is doubled to 6 ritual power.

The other ritualists participating in this ritual need to contribute at least 8 more ritual power to meet the necessary cost of the ritual. One of the other ritualists is also a Divination specialist who has taken two levels in the Ritual Skill Tree. They can therefore also contribute up to 6 ritual power by spending up to 3 Quantum Crystals, just as the leader of the ritual has done.

The third ritualist contributing to this performance likewise has taken two levels in the Ritualist Skill Tree, but chose a different specialization. While this third character can also contribute up to 3 Quantum Crystals, those contributions will not be doubled since they do not have the Divination specialization. Still this third participant spends 2 Quantum Crystals to contribute 2 ritual power, thus allowing the group to meet the required cost of To Know Your Enemy. Only the leader of the ritual--the first character mentioned in this example-- marks down the use of their Ritual Fatigue.