Ritual of Tevolia
Description: Long ago, Mayan astrologers foretold that the end of the world would occur shortly after the end of a thousand-year period. The recent return of the Ravnos Antediluvian has re-enforced in Pochtli a belief that the Mayans were right. He believes that the foretold end of the world is, in fact, the inevitable Gehenna. In an effort to survive the end of the age, Pochtli and his lieutenants developed a means of tearing out the hearts of Kindred and preserving within them the heart's blood, or teyolia, of the Kindred so sacrificed. When Gehenna comes, Pochtli intends to offer the hearts of his victims to the terrible blood gods in an effort to have them spare himself and his undead family. This terrible rite is unknown to Pisanob Kindred beyond Pochtli and his most trusted lieutenants. If any Giovanni from apart from the Pisanob get wind of this practice, it's entirely possible the entire Pisanob branch of the clan would be extinguished.
To perform this ritual, the Necromancer must force a captured vampire to the summit of the temple of Pochtli. there, lying face-up on the temple's altar, the Kindred to be sacrificed has her limbs held by four camozotz ghouls. The Necromancer then cuts open the victim's chest with an obsidian dagger, reaches inside and tears out the heart, visiting Final Death upon the sacrifice. The heart is then preserved in a specially prepared vessel, referred to as a chac mol. No roll is required. The process is successful unless interrupted.
It is possible to diablerize the sacrificed Kindred at a later date by drinking the heart's blood, with all the practice's concomitant benefits and drawbacks. It's also possible that the elder Pisanob might use the power inherent in the hearts to fuel even more potent necromantic castings... such as the strange but persistent rumors of South American Kindred claiming to be one person but looking wholly like another.
Typically a player's character won't know this ritual. The rite is best used as a specifically gruesome end to a character in story terms - a heart stolen by this rite is unlikely to ever return to play (since Pochtli and company need the hearts for other things) and so essentially it's just a nasty, nasty way to finish off a character.
Reference: CGR 73
