Through the Gate of Ivory

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Description: The Gates of Horn and Ivory were first mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey, circa 800 B.C.E. The gates are a literary allusion to the two kinds of dreams. Dreams that came through the gate of horn were shadows of things to come. While the dreams that came through the gate of ivory were just the deceptions of the spirits of the dead. Interestingly enough, both gates were said to lie in the kingdom of Hades and for the last three thousand years the term has captured the imagination of western writers.

This necromantic ritual takes advantage of that three millennia old idea by invoking the god Hades to open the ‘Gate of Ivory’ to the necromancer and allowing him to dream the false dreams of the Underworld. The ritual is more than a simple invocation though, for the necromancer must wear an ivory miniature of the gate on his chest over his heart while he sleeps.

Essentially, this ritual allows the necromancer to create a microscopic hole in the Shroud through which the ephemera of the Underworld flows into him. This fracture in the Shroud is possible based on the three thousand year old idea of a gate through which dreams can arrive in the living world from the realm of the dead. It allows the necromancer to dream on a constant and regular basis while under the auspices of this ritual.

The downside to this ritual is that the necromancer gains little actual rest while dreaming and has opened himself to a dangerous degree to the influences of dream adept wraiths.

Origin: Darzalas (633 C.E.)
Ingredients: A miniature circular gate, carved from ivory by the caster, a bit of grave soil and some funerary incense.

Casting: This ritual takes one hour to cast and must be cast in the hour before he sleeps. The ritual begins when the caster invokes the Greek chthonic deity Hades and makes an offering of incense. The caster then lays down a circle of graveyard soil around his place of rest and dons the ivory gate amulet over his heart as he lays down to sleep. His last words are a request to Hades to open the “Gate of Ivory” for him, so that he can dream.

System: The player rolls: Intelligence + Rituals at a difficulty of four (4). The number of successes gained by the caster of the ritual is the number of dreams he will experience while under the influence of this ritual. Unfortunately, the caster pays a price for being able to dream so often, for each dream he experiences, he must subtract one hour from his normal period of rest. Equally, he is now open to the Arcanoi of Phantasm and the wraith that uses it on the necromancer, does so at a minus one difficulty (-1).

References: None found so far in canon.