Burden of a Sleeping God
- L2 (Rituals of the Manus Nigrum)
- Level 2 - Storyline Rituals
Description: In Hurrian mythology, Upelluri was the "dreaming god". The gods placed the stone giant Ullikummi on Upelluri's shoulders to form the world. In his slumber, Upelluri was unaware of his burden and were he to awaken, the world would end. Upelluri has been described as a composite entity, a fusion of the Greek Titan Atlas and the god of dreams Morpheus.
The purpose of the ritual is to act as a dream oracle, allowing the sorcerer to watch another individual's dreams. It was used by Hurrian priests, oneiromancers and Babylonian witches to watch the dreams supplicants, customers and victims respectively. The ritual must be cast on the caster and the subject at the same time and requires an item of ritual sympathy in order to succeed. If the ritual succeeded, then the oneiromancer would see the last set of dreams that the subject had experienced. Because the ritual is always cast after the subject is already awake, the oneiromancer need not fear detection or direct reprisal.
Origin: The ancient spell known as the "Burden of a Sleeping God" is over forty centuries old and dates from the early years of the Middle Bronze Age. The ritual's exact history remains something of a mystery, but it is known that the ritual was already present in the Library of Brujah before the initial discovery of the City of Enoch in the Underworld.
Ingredients: A piece of polished, inscribed black obsidian and a relic of physical sympathy.
Casting: The caster begins the ritual by singing the "Song of Upelluri" in Hurrian and kneeling before the stone of Ullikummi, he spits a bit of his own blood up and traces the cuneiform inscription with his left hand and offers it as a sacrifice to the god Ea, the lord of waters. Then, he lays down and rests his head upon the obsidian, closes his eyes and declares that he is Upelluri the dreaming god and counts backwards from forty to one.
System: The player rolls Intelligence + Rituals at a difficulty of five (5). If the ritual is botched, the caster will sleep a number of twenty-four hour periods equal to the number of ones rolled. A failure, wastes ten minutes and a point of the caster's blood, but the ritual can be recast again at with additional difficulty for repetition. A successful casting of the ritual allows the caster to watch for the duration of one night; successes must equal or exceed the permanent willpower score of the subject in order to watch the subject's dreams. Successes above and beyond those necessary to watch the subject's first dream represent one additional dream per successes that the caster can watch.
Reference: Path of Morpheus and Path of Oneiromancy.
Notes: Because of the ritual's origin and how it is cast, it may be cast by either those who practice Dur-an-Ki (Assamite Sorcery) or Tremere thaumaturgy.
