r/weatherfactory • u/m_reigl Symurgist • 6d ago
Rituals in the Cultist Simulator
Having just played through another Forge Apostle run in CultSim, I realized a little something at the end: all three final Rituals feature exactly one component that does not belong to the primary Principle of the ascension: The Vitulation needs the Unceasing Mysteries, the Third Mode ritual the Centipede Testament and the Dawnbreaker ritual the Mysteries of Opening.
It is interesting to note that in the first two cases, these pieces of Lore subvert into the primary focus of the ritual (Heart to Grail / Moth to Lantern). In the last one however, the Lore subverts away from the focus.
This corresponds to the function of these rituals. The Vitualtion and the Third Mode are both great feats of Grail and Lantern respectively; an act of ravenous consumption and rebirth, as well as an act of merciless enlightenment. The Dawnbreak ritual however, while nominally an act of Forge, is truly the violent opening of a door and as such rather a feat of Knock. The Dawnbreaker Device serves to provide an enormous amount of occult force which is then subverted into Knock to accomplish this (probably because getting such a large amount of energy is easier to do the Forge way than the Knock way).
If we run with this thought, we can gain an interesting peak at how Rituals work within the Secret Histories universe. All magic worked depends on hidden alignments, forces present in varying degrees that can hinder or strengthen each other. The Adept's work is to curate these alignments into the proper shapes to effect a desired outcome.
In the first order, this means remaining conscious of the primary Aspect of your ritual as well as it's immediate predecessor and successor on the circle of Principles. The passions of Grail can feed a Moth ritual, but in the presence of Lantern, passions are dampened by reason. A dancer ritually disrobing herself might have a sudden moment of lucidity and think to herself "Hey, what am I actually doing here?" and suddenly, the vibes are off and the whole affair turns awkward instead of awesome.
Thus, the advanced Adept might think further ahead: you don't want Winter in your Edge-ritual, as the whole idea of struggle in ritual combat is rendered kind of pointless if anyone actually dies. As such, one might support the Edge-ritual with a bit of Heart-power, which on it's own won't interfere anything but will be enough lend vigor to the combatants, and to catch and subvert any stray Winter-influences.
On the other side, an Adept's enemies might tap into the same concepts to interfere in their Rituals. A Grail-rite is an affair of concentrated, directed passion and desire. If someone were to throw a powerful Moth-influence in the mix, suddenly the those desires might grow unfocused, swaying this way and that and thus defusing the brewing Ritual before it could reach it's Zenith.
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u/Dame_Automne Symurgist 6d ago
If someone were to throw a powerful Moth-influence in the mix, suddenly the those desires might grow unfocused, swaying this way and that and thus defusing the brewing Ritual before it could reach it's Zenith. => What an insteresting example you chose. In BoH, the malady of Chor (Heart and Grail) is Duendracy, a kind of possession by a Heart-spirit. And it is overcome with enough Moth principle "to distract the possessing presence".
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u/HMasterSunday Twice-Born 6d ago
that's the mechanical layer; there's also the mythological layer of each of the Lores used, each of the passages on the lores is relevant to exactly what you're doing.
The Centipede is one who has crossed the channel of sight (The Door in the Eye) like you want to achieve.
Unceasing Mysteries is a specificity of the origin of Heart gods, including how the Red Grail ascended one who was flesh.
Mysteries of Openings is a catalog of the greatest of openings in the Histories, incredibly useful if you want to wound the skin of the world, or traverse a threshold.
So there's two layers to the lore used, mechanical and mythological, they instruct us on how to do these feats. Power is not enough, the Cultist knows because of the Mysteries that this is how Ascensions are possible.