Your Fate Shall Be Known
The thaumaturge exchanges blood with a willing participant who may be either a Cainite or a ghoul. The thaumaturge then uses a small golden needle to penetrate one of the subject's eyes and withdraw a small amount of vitreous humor, the jelly-like substance that fills the eyeball. She takes an agate or other semi-precious stone and rubs the humor onto it. Over the course of a week, the gem is passed through a series of alchemical vapors. A human-like skin forms around the gem during this process. When it is complete, the skin splits in two, revealing that the gem has become an eye.
Paul Cordwood designed the ritual to keep track of his spy network. He keeps the eyes on a pendant which he wears beneath his tunic. Virstania also uses the ritual to know the fates of favored Gargoyles. She's attached the eyes to a silver crown, which she sometimes wears in her laboratories.
System: Performing the ritual (whether successful or not) causes one level of lethal damage to the concerned vampire or ghoul. A botch may result in additional levels of damage or blindness at the Storyteller's discretion, although the regenerative abilities of vampires means such an affliction is often temporary.
Assuming a successful ritual, the eye stays open so long as the subject avoids Final Death. If the subject goes into torpor, the lids of the eyes close shut. The open again when he awakens. If the subject meets Final Death, the eye crumbles into dust. The eye therefore serves as an indicator of the user's general fate.
