Furtive Integument
The thaumaturge creates one specimen of a quasi-Gargoyle called a valluma (see p. 127). The ritual takes place in two steps. First, the magician consecrates a series of glass flasks and beakers by seeking the blessing of a flesh elemental. Then she sends a swarm of the tiny, manufactured insects called skin eaters (see p. 127) out to dine on a victim. When they do, much of the victim's skin appears in the glass apparatus. The thaumaturge now has the raw materials to create a velluma. she flattens the skin with a hot iron, taking care not to scorch it. Then she stretches it out onto a wire frame whose shape mimics the outline of the human body. She summons spirits of illusion called phantasms and induces one to enter the flattened sheet of skin, which it then animates.
This ritual was devised by Virstania in a convoluted attempt to make further use of a previous creation, the skin eaters. She presented the first velluma as a gift to Paul Cordwood in a gesture of peace required when one of her favored Gargoyles broke the neck of one of his apprentices. Though at first skeptical of the things' utility, Cordwood now encourages her to create them for him. She doles them out generously, hoping to secure Cordwood's support when she one day petitions Etrius and Tremere to extend greater rights to her Gargoyles.
Historical Note: Virstania takes her notes on the manufacture of vellumae with her when she leaves Ceoris. Modern Tremere do not know the ritual.
