Haematophagy of Mnemosyne and Her Daughters
Description: Haematophagy of Mnemosyne and Her Daughters is a sacred rite Greco-Roman mysticism. The ritual is based on the chthonian rites of the Orphic mysteries. Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory in Greek mythology, but also a Titanide, or Titaness and the daughter of the Titans Uranus and Gaia. Mnemosyne was the mother of the nine Muses, fathered by her nephew, Zeus. The nine muses were listed as follows: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Euterpe (music), Erato (lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (hymns), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), Urania (astronomy).
Zeus, in a form of a mortal shepherd, and Mnemosyne slept together for nine consecutive nights, thus conceiving the nine Muses. Mnemosyne also presided over a pool in Hades, counterpart to the river Lethe, according to a series of 4th-century BC Greek funerary inscriptions in dactylic hexameter. Dead souls drank from the Lethe so they would not remember their past lives when reincarnated. In Orphism, the initiated were taught to instead drink from the Mnemosyne, the river of memory, which would stop the transmigration of the soul.
In Hesiod’s Theogony, kings and poets receive their powers of authoritative speech from their possession of Mnemosyne and their special relationship with the Muses. Thus the Haematophagy of Mnemosyne and Her Daughters calls upon these myths and the funerary customs of the Orphic mysteries which speak of the descent of the deceased's soul to the underworld where it must face the challenges of the three underworld judges: Aeacus, Rhadamanthus and Minos. If the soul could pass each of the judges' tests, then he or she could enter a sacred cavern deep within the underworld and drink of Mnemosyne's pool.
The essence of this ritual is that the necromancer-priest proceeds through the sacred mysteries and through the invocation of Mnemosyne and her nine daughters the Muses, so he or she may consume key memories of the dead, undead or Restless (wraiths) associated with a single ability (talents, skills and knowledge) for which the deceased was known and retain that ability permanently thereafter. The power of the ritual calls upon not only the three judges of the dead, but upon the titaness and her nine daughters to make possible the permanent passing of abilities (talents, skills and knowledges) from the dead to the caster of this sacred rite. Powerful mythological and religious powers are invoked throughout this chthonic ritual and the influence of the Orphic mysteries allows the necromancer-priest to consume dead memories and thus move towards virtual omniscience.
An Admonition: There are two specific dangers for the participants who undertakes to cast this chthonian rite. The first lies in the performance of sacred magic, for the invocation of powerful mythological figures and gods can place the actors' souls in a perilous place should they profane these mysteries for impure reasons or worse still should they offend the deities with an imperfect performance. Secondly, the consumption of another person's memories can be quite addictive, especially so when the recipient of that ability awakens to discover that they can display that ability with unerring precision and in the very words and style of the deceased. It is a godlike power to be gifted with a deceased person's abilities, but in consuming the deceased individual's memories, the recipient has made of their soul a reliquary for another person's essence and enshrining that person's experiences within themselves until oblivion.
Origin: Benesj the Black -- While the necromancer known as Benesj the Black produced the latest versions of Greco-Roman rituals, the pale rites underwent three separate evolution beginning with the Cappadocian style and proceeding through an Egyptian style and finally the Greco-Roman style. All such rituals are based on the principle of Authority rather than that of Taboo.
Ingredients: The required ingredients for this ritual are somewhat strenuous. The caster needs a subterranean structure or natural cave in which to cast the ritual. He or she will require the aid of three other supernaturals (vampires, werewolves, mages, changelings and of course, wraiths) who will be give a basic idea of how the ritual is cast and will serve as the three judges of the underworld: Aeacus, Rhadamanthus and Minos (the actors need not be male). In addition, the place of casting needs to be the location of a natural pool of water. Lesser ingredients are as follows: enough sea salt to define a simple labyrinth (the area wherein the judges will set their challenges for the caster), 13 silver coins, a fire and a metal pot in which to melt the silver coins, incense made from rosemary (for remembrance), a solid silver syringe (for purity) and the recently opened cranium of the victim in which to mix the ingredients.
Casting: The ritual begins an hour after sunset and concludes in the hour before sunrise. Key to this ritual's success are preparations: the subterranean structure or cave must be purified with incense of rosemary and an invocation to all the chthonian deities. Thereafter the participants lay out the labyrinth with salt, the underground pool must lay at its center, and it need not be an overly complex pattern. Each participant must dress in solemn robes and masks are suggested. The silver coins must be melted down and ready for the start of the ritual and the specified skull must be sawed open and the skull-cup wiped clean of gore. When all these things have been done, the ritual actually begins.
The caster solemnly invokes Mnemosyne in Greek as he or she descends into the ritual space. At the beginning, middle and end of the labyrinth the three judges of the underworld confront and challenge the caster in his or her quest to reach and drink from the pool of Mnemosyne. Provided the caster passes all the tests, they need not be impossible, but they should be reasonably difficult, then the caster enters the central area around the pool. Here a small fire is burning next to the pool to keep the silver molten. The caster kneels and with a ladle coats the interior of the skull cup with molten silver. Like wise with an invocation to Hades, forms a perfect circle around the pool and delineates a nine pointed star in droplets of molten silver. While the silver is still warm, he must inscribe the names of the muses at each point of the nine-pointed star with a ritual dagger. Chanting his invocation to Mnemosyne, the caster kneels by the pool and empties his silver syringe into the pool. Stirring the pool with his ritual dagger nine times, he declares his or her desire for sacred knowledge and expends a point of permanent willpower. In the final step, the caster dips his or her skull-cup in the bloody pool and drinks nine times. If the ritual was successful, the caster falls unconscious overcome with the memories of the deceased as they overtake and replace his own. The caster's day-long slumber will be filled with dreams and memories of the deceased related to the ability endowed.
System: The expenditure of a permanent point of Willpower and a roll of Intelligence + Rituals = difficulty of (8). Successes scale up to towards the rating of the given ability (just one ability) and if the successes equal or exceed the rating, the caster receives the ability in total. Should the caster get fewer success than the total rating in the specified ability, the the caster's character receives the ability rating equal to the successes rolled. A failure in the casting is a horrific waste of time and botching the ritual is an invitation for the storyteller to use his or her fiendish imagination to illuminate the character's unwholesome fate. This ritual takes one full night to cast.
Reference: http://maierstorm.org/Vampire/index.php?title=Extract_of_Mnemosyne / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemosyne
