Ritae

The Sabbat values its bonds of loyalty and fraternity above all else. To this end, the Sect has established many rituals, which reinforce pack and Sect solidarity. The entire Sect observes the same auctoritas ritae, while the ignoblis ritae vary greatly in number, subject, and observation from pack to pack.
Packs observe the auctoritas ritae at common times — at esbats (Sabbat gatherings), before sieges, or when bringing a new member into the pack, for example. The ignoblis ritae may occur at any time, usually when the Pack Priest believes them to be most appropriate. Some packs observe greeting or parting ritae, feeding ritae, ritae of diablerie, and any number of variations. Basically, any event of import, common or otherwise, might have an associated ignoblis ritus in a given pack.
System: Ritae may be conducted by anyone, in theory, though their mechanical effects only occur when presided over by a vampire with the Rituals Background. You can’t just mix a bunch of vitae in a paper cup and have a Vaulderie.
== Auctoricas Ritae ==
The entire Sect practices auctoritas ritae, due to both tradition and their significance in Sabbat beliefs. They strengthen the Sect’s bonds of loyalty and fraternity, by providing emotional power through familiarity with the ritae and the sorcery that accompanies them. These are some of the auctoritas ritae practiced by the Sect (including the Vaulderie, which can be found on p. 288).
=== The Binding ===
Held on Winter Solstice each year, and usually near water, this rite constitutes a formal renewal of the oath of allegiance to the Sabbat. All True Sabbat are expected to attend this holiday, reaffirming their dedication in a public rite of loyalty. Vampires renew their Vinculum to their brothers and sisters of the Sect, and as part of the ritual, the local hierophant – Bishop, Archbishop, or Cardinal – must hear all grievances brought before them on this night. Grievances brought out during the night of Binding are traditionally forgiven, though vampires are petty creatures and may twist the expiation to include only one specific instance of an offense.
The Oath of the Sabbat (which is recited both during the Binding and during a vampire’s Creation Rites) is as follows:
“Of my own free will and accord, I, (name), son/daughter of Caine, reject the Antediluvians and dedicate myself to their destruction. I swear my soul to the Sabbat, and damn all those who stand against us. Hear me, brothers and sisters! Your enemies are my enemies. Your victories, my victories. Your blood, my blood. So shall it be, until the end of all things.”
System: For one month following the Binding, vampires who participate in this rite gain one additional die to all Virtue rolls when in the company of vampires who participated in the Binding ritus at that same time and place.
=== The Blood Bath ===
This ritus is performed whenever Sect leaders wish to recognize a Sabbat vampire’s claim to a title, such as Bishop or Cardinal. The Blood Bath formalizes the vampire’s new status in the Sect. As many Sabbat as possible who will serve under this new leader must attend the ceremony, for failing to do so without an adequate reason is a grave slight to the leader in question. Starting with the priest conducting the ritus, attendant Sect leaders and other Sabbat take turns coming forward, kneeling in front of and expressing their endorsement of or allegiance to the Cainite, and contributing a quantity of blood into a large vessel. The newly titled vampire gives praise and/or advice to each of the vampires present, emphasizing the benefits the Sabbat stands to gain through the sharing of her wisdom. She then bathes in the blood donated to the pool. Following the ceremony, all vampires present drink from the bathing vessel (the blood in which is sometimes consecrated as a Vaulderie), symbolizing that they willingly partake of everything the new leader has to offer.
System: Most Sabbat refuse to acknowledge a leader who has not been confirmed through a proper Blood Bath ceremony, if they have reason to suspect such. 
=== The Blood Feast ===
No formal Sabbat gathering would be complete without a Blood Feast. It serves both as sustenance and as a vehicle to express the Sabbat’s lust to exist as the ultimate predator. The Blood Feast is a ritual “meal,” in which captured vessels are suspended from the ceiling, bound to sculptures, or otherwise immobilized and fed from at the leisure of all vampires present. The feast itself is as much social gathering as it is a structured ritus, and many Sabbat make grand entrances, wearing the best of their finery.
In preparation for a Blood Feast, a specially created pack or hunting party will have collected humans or even a rogue vampire or two the night before the feast. Much shouting, cheering, and baring of fangs occurs as the hunting party makes a formal presentation of the night’s feast to the highest-ranking Sabbat present. The official receives each victim and thanks the giver by kissing her forehead. He then hands the victims over to assistants, chosen to prepare the victims for the feast. They bind the victims’ hands and feet together and hoist them up on chains to hang at head level, or they tie (or nail) the victims to objects that prevent movement. 
The night after the preparation, ghouls or low-ranking Sabbat prepare the feast location by placing the vessels. After all the guests have arrived — it is considered grievously poor form to be fashionably late — the priest, Bishop, or Archbishop holding the service conducts the ritus, dedicating the vessels to the Sabbat. Cainites at the gathering then bite open the victims and feed on the fresh vitae, often licking the wounds closed so as not to waste. There is usually one victim for every three vampires present at the feast; the presiding priest, Bishop, or Archbishop gets first choice of the night’s treats, and he draws first blood.
Some Cainites of the Sabbat have been formally censured by higher-ranking Sabbat and even members of the Inquisition and Black Hand for relying too heavily on the Blood Feast. To be sure, mass-kidnappings and the blood-stained halls left behind can lead vampire hunters to the trail of careless vampires.
System: Each blood point a Blood Feast victim possesses mystically transforms into two as it leaves his body. By the third night after a Blood Feast, however, the blood once again condenses back down to its original amount (if it hasn't been used and remains in a vampire’s body).
=== Creation Rites ===
To hear vampires outside the Sect talk, all Sabbat are created on the fly, with recruits being drained, fed, bashed over the head with a shovel, buried, and left to claw their way to the surface in a starving frenzy. This is not always the case. Most Sabbat use the “shovelhead method” only in times of war. This infamous method consists of collecting a number of victims, Embracing them with the tiniest quantity of blood possible, bashing them over the head with a shovel (to knock them unconscious before they frenzy), and burying them in a mass grave. The newly Embraced Cainites rouse quickly, and they must dig themselves out of the grave to sate their frenzy, often at the expense of the weaker vampires entombed with them. This method is simple, relatively quick, and quite effective at stripping victims of their Humanity. In any event, vampires created this way have not actually received their Creation Rites. In fact, the Sabbat does not even consider them vampires yet, and it has little reservation against throwing legions of these frenzied horrors against their foes.
The Creation Rites themselves are much more serious, marking the passage from nonentity into True Sabbat. After the Embrace, the new vampire is eligible for the Creation Rites only after he has demonstrated his worth to the Sect — perhaps the very night of his Embrace, perhaps years afterward. The ritus itself is quite simple — the priest merely touches a flaming brand to the initiate’s head and leads him in an oath of allegiance. The ceremony that precedes the Creation Rites, however, varies widely, and it is wholly in the hands of the Cainite’s sire. Some Panders and Brujah antitribu have ceremonies not unlike gang initiations, which involve pummeling the vampire in question until the sire decides he’s had enough. Tzimisce ceremonies are much more civil and formal affairs, often involving recitations of one’s lineage and praise of one’s sire. Some vampires require no ceremony at all, deciding that they have all the proof that they need from a given vampire’s performance, while still others require Byzantine trials or bizarre acts like bestiality, kidnapping, murder, self-mutilation, or other depravity.
The Rites serve several purposes, both practical and symbolic. The flames help reduce the new Sabbat’s fear of fire, while the ceremony teaches him what is expected of a Sabbat member like himself. Immediately following the Creation Rites comes a Vaulderie, which binds the Cainite to the pack — his new, immortal family.
System: Without the Creation Rites, a vampire is not truly a vampire in the eyes of Sabbat. Such an unfortunate may not participate in Sabbat ritae or functions until he has received the Creation Rites, and is often kicked about, abused, and ordered around at any of the “real” vampires’ whims.
=== Fire Dance ===
To most vampires, fire is something to be feared and avoided, yet not to the Sabbat. While they still fear it, they are not above turning it loose on their enemies. To be fully Sabbat, one must face the Rötschreck and master it. To enact this ritus, the priest lights a large bonfire in a place secure from mortal eyes. Through the rhythmic beating of a drum, chanting, or both, participating Cainites enter a trance-like frenzy, whirling around the flames, writhing before them and even prostrating themselves in front of the blaze. As the ceremony reaches its peak, the vampires rave and chant, and encourage each other to jump through the flames. They make fantastic leaps, some even turning aerial somersaults over and over again to the point of exhaustion. The Fire Dance comes to a close when the last vampire present has jumped through the flames and collapsed from all the activity.
System: For a vampire to even approach the blazes, the player must succeed in a Courage roll (difficulty only 5, because of the trance-frenzy). For a vampire to successfully leap the flames, the player must make a Dexterity + Athletics roll (difficulty 6 to simply jump the flames, though Storytellers should feel free to increase the difficulty if the character tries to leap in a particularly dramatic or acrobatic way). After a Fire Dance, characters who leapt through the flames gain a temporary bonus point of Courage for the three nights following the ritus. This bonus point may even exceed the normal Virtue limit of 5.
=== Games of Instinct ===
The vampires of the Sabbat engage in numerous sanctioned “games,” adjudicated by their Pack Priests to maintain their predatory edge. These games take various forms, and different packs practice different styles — everything from parodies of children’s games or sports to completely unique vampiric tests of skill can be made into a Game of Instinct. The only commonality between the games is that the priest presides over them, consecrating them as righteous exercises.
Here are some common examples:
Cowboys and Indians/Cops and Robbers
The object of Cowboys and Indians is to capture or incapacitate (but not kill) as many members of the other side as possible. Because of vampires’ innate resistance to damage, this is easier said than done, and bullets aplenty fly during these games. The team that knocks the other out of commission is the winner.
Demolition Derby
Starting at opposite ends of a street or parking lot, pack members set their cars on fire and charge another team’s car. After much bashing and crashing, one team inevitably has to flee their car or burn to death; the first team to exit its vehicle loses.
Dogtagging
The object of the game is to capture a werewolf, tag its ear (with tags similar to kind used by cattle ranchers), and turn it loose.
Rat Race
A human is sealed in a labyrinth of some sort, such as an abandoned factory or part of a sewer system. The human is given weapons that can hurt vampires, such as handguns, knives, blow-torches, or chainsaws. The participating vampires, starting in different locations in the maze, hunt the human, while the human tries desperately to escape the vampires.
Whichever vampire captures and drains the human first, wins. An alternative to the Rat Race — the Bat Race — involves vampires only.
Rousing the Beast
The participant has to dig up the victim of a failed mass-Embrace. Once the crazed creature breaks the surface and frenzies, it is up to the game participant to immobilize her and destroy her.
System: Storytellers and players are encouraged to develop their own Games of Instinct; basically, any mayhem works for this ritus as long as the Pack Priest recognizes it and bestows her blessing upon it. Once completed, for the duration of one story, the winner(s) of a given Game of Instinct receive one bonus die to the dice pool of the Ability they used the most during the game. A player may not have more than one Skill augmented in this way for any given story.
=== High Holiday ===
This ritual is used during the celebration of several formal holidays integral to the worship of Caine. The current High Holidays are the Festivo Dello Estinto and the Palla Grande. Some priests of the Sabbat argue that having two Auctoritas Ritae reserved for holidays is excessive (three if one counts The Binding), and that a single ritual could be used to cover both celebrations and also to allow more traditional priests to revisit the older holidays of the Sect.
A High Holiday Ritus occurs within another, more specialized celebration dedicated to the holiday in question. During the Festivo Dello Estinto, there may be ritual sacrifice, bacchanalian indulgence, or gorging, while the Palla Grande is a more restrained vampiric ball with political overtones. Holidays are prominent events and religious celebrations. Unlike Camarilla balls or social salons, High Holidays are bloody, monstrous gatherings. They allow members of the Sect to revel in their vampiric nature, and educate one another on tactics, paths of enlightenment, and the lore and doctrine of Caine. This is not to say there are no politics at the High Holiday gatherings, but they are both more subtle and more brutal than those of the Camarilla.
Palla Grande: The largest and most revered of the High Holidays, the Palla Grande occurs on All Hallows Eve. It is a time to celebrate the history of Caine, and re-enact small plays or pageants comprised of parables from the Book of Nod. It is a dark masquerade ball with political overtones, and usually hosts the Sect’s yearly Ecumenical Council.
Festivo Dello Estinto: The “Festival of the Dead” occurs during the entire second week of March. The purpose is to revel in being a vampire, provoking one’s vampiric nature, and celebrating immortality by laughing in the face of death.
Walpurgisnacht: This festival occurs on the 30th of April, exactly half the year around from the Palla Grande. Walpurgisnacht is the night where the Sect celebrates its founding, telling the tales of Silchester and the Anarch Revolt. It is also the holiday wherein new childer are chosen, dragged before the Sect and Embraced in a public and ritualistic fashion.
The Sacrificial Revel: The Sacrificial Revel, traditionally held in February, is a dark and thoughtful holiday. The Sabbat celebrate their freedom, tell tales of sacrifices made for the Sect in the previous year, and remember those who died for the cause over the centuries.
The Eides of Caine: The central theme of this High Holiday is that of the murder of Abel, and Caine’s resulting exile from Eden. It is celebrated in late August, during the time of the first harvests, and is often celebrated through unveiling works of dark beauty, elegantly fleshcrafted masterpieces, or other artistic performances in Caine’s honor.
System: Vampires who participate in a High Holiday Ritus replenish their Willpower completely. Further, they receive one additional Willpower point over their natural capacity. This extra Willpower point is kept until spent, or until one month has passed (whichever occurs first). A character may have only one bonus Willpower at a time.
=== Monomacy ===
It is inevitable that, among vampires as headstrong and violent as those of the Sabbat, differences of opinion occur. While the vast majority of these conflicts are handled with all the civility and reason a Sabbat can muster, some grievances are so deep as to warrant a more serious solution. When two (or more) Sabbat are unable to come to a resolution, the ritus of Monomacy serves to settle the issue.
Monomacy is usually practiced by only ranking members of packs. Many young Sabbat are too violent and hotheaded to recognize the gravity of ritual combat to the death, and would resort to it every time a packmate took blood from a vessel they decided they liked. As such, this ritus is conducted by the Pack Priest (or a higher ranking Sabbat, if the challenge is cross-pack), to whom a challenge is issued simultaneously with the challenge to the rival. The priest then decides whether or not the grudge is worth Monomacy, and whether or not she chooses to preside over the ritual. Should the priest deem the cause worthy, the challenged vampire may decline. In theory, there is nothing wrong with declining a challenge, but unless the challenger is of such little consequence as to be below the challengee’s notice, declining usually involves a great loss of face (and perhaps an unsanctioned duel afterward).
The actual practice of Monomacy varies widely — no formal code exists as to the choice of weapons, locations, or even terms of victory. Most often, Monomacy duels are fought to Final Death in some ridiculously dangerous or highly inaccessible place like an iron foundry or atop a skyscraper. Whether or not the vampires may use weapons, Disciplines, or other assets is typically the decision of the challenged. On the priest’s invocation, the combat begins, and the last vampire standing is declared the winner, usually followed by other ritae and celebration.
System: The details of Monomacy are best left to the story — troupes should be encouraged to add all the pomp and circumstance they wish to the ritus, though the exact details differ from pack to pack. The challenger decides upon the time and location of the duel. The challenged decides whether or not weapons will be used and what they will be, as well as any other details (until first blood instead of Final Death, no Disciplines, participants must wear blindfolds, participants must ride the wave of frenzy during the duel, etc.).
The priest administering the ritus is an adjudicating official — the duel begins and ends on her word, and it may be aborted at any time. It is even within the priest’s power to declare a Monomacy null and void after the fact, but the priest who does this to favor her own candidate is looked upon with extreme displeasure thereafter by other Sabbat.
==== The Monomancy ====
One of the earliest ritus devised by the Sect, Monomacy has been critical to the continuance of the Sabbat. Its strictures have changed from time to time, adjusted by the Sect’s needs or the dictates of a Regent, but the ritus of combat remains essential for unity.
Challenge: A clear challenge is delivered to the challenged party and her pack priest. Only True Sabbat (i.e. those who have gone through the Creation Rites) can either challenge or be challenged. If the challenged has no pack priest, or is not in a pack, they are at a significant disadvantage, and have only three nights to choose appropriate counsel – or it will be chosen for them by the closest Bishop or Archbishop.
Choosing the Arbiter: Next, an arbiter is chosen to preside over the dispute. The arbiter is ostensibly a neutral party (though that may not be the actual fact of the matter, given Sabbat hypocrisy) who judges if the issue is weighty enough to justify the possible death of a member of the Sect, and to determine whether all other means of resolving the dispute have failed.
If the individuals are in the same pack, the arbiter is their pack priest. If the challenge is cross-pack, the arbiter is the Bishop nearest to the challenged by proximity (or Archbishop, if the challenged is a Bishop, and so on). The priest of a third pack, or a Priscus, may serve as arbiter instead, if the individual is acceptable to both parties. If the appropriate arbiter cannot attend to the Monomacy within a reasonable timeframe, they may decline to accept the position, in which case the position reverts to the next most acceptable arbiter under the same terms. 
Once an arbiter has been determined, she has a period of one month to decide the appropriateness of the Monomacy. It is their duty to perform a final mediation of the issue, and within their authority to claim that one side is clearly at fault and should instead perform some rite of contrition instead. If the arbiter denies the appropriateness of the challenge, then the Monomacy is ended. 
Acceptance: If the challenge is approved as legitimate, then at this point, the challenged party may choose to decline. If accepted, the ritus must occur within one month of acceptance. 
If the challenged has significantly more Status than the challenger, he may decline without penalty. “Significantly more status” means 2 dots greater (or 3 points greater if the Storyteller is using the optional Titles rules from V20 Companion, Chapter One). If he does not have significantly more Status, then declining the Monomacy means the challenged loses one dot of Status permanently. An individual who declines a Monomacy and loses Status as a result suffers social penalties, as well. That individual may be branded a coward by their superiors, or be investigated by the Hand or the Inquisition for their reticence. 
Deciding Terms: Once a challenge is accepted, the terms of the Monomacy must be decided. A Monomacy is a fight. Tales of Monomacies performed through cozy games of chess or riddles are apocryphal; those are dubious claims in light of the Sect’s ferocity and the vampiric nature. Such stories likely refer to Ignoblis duels rather than the Monomacy ritus.
The default terms for a Monomacy are a direct, one-on-one fight within a clearly defined, 30-foot/10-meter diameter circle. A Monomacy is expected to take place at midnight on the evening of the first new moon following acceptance of the challenge, at a location of the challenger’s selection. The challenged and the challenger face off within this circle, using ceremonial melee weapons of a type selected by the challenged and provided by the arbiter (the challenged may instead choose “unarmed”). Either party may choose to fight without the weapons provided, if they wish, but they may not use any other weapons. Further, the participants may not have any powers active when the Monomacy begins (though passive powers that cannot be turned off, such as Fortitude, are acceptable).
By default, no one (including the competitors, their packmates, other participants, or the arbiter herself) may interfere, collaborate, or use any powers on the competitors (for aid or bane) before or during the Monomacy; a stricture which is closely observed. After the Monomacy begins, the challenger and the challenged may use any powers they possess on themselves or their opponent. A victor is determined when one vampire either torpors her opponent within the Monomacy circle or drives her opponent fully out of the circle. (Note that both the challenger and the challenged’s Vinculi are fully effective during Monomacy.) Any of these terms may be altered by agreement of the two parties and the arbiter, although extreme alterations may cause other Sabbat to be suspicious of the results. A victor is determined when one vampire either torpors her opponent within the Monomacy circle, or drives her opponent fully out of the circle.
Alterations: If the challenger, the challenged, and the arbiter agree, the default terms of Monomacy may be altered. If any one of these individuals does not agree to the alteration, the default terms are the rule. Some examples of reasonable alterations might include a pack-on-pack fight, rather than one-on-one; multiple weapons scattered about the arena rather than one weapon per competitor; specific exclusions such as, “No Presence and no Obfuscate”; or individual inclusions such as, “Only Thaumaturgy will be allowed.” Larger scale alterations might include expanding the circle to a five-mile/eight-kilometer radius, causing the Monomacy to become a test of urban tracking and survival; or fighting while falling through the air after leaping out of a helicopter, and declaring the first one who is beaten to torpor or who “flees” via changing form before they strike the ground is the loser.
Lastly, the arbiter may add ritual trappings to the Ritus, such as requiring a specific number of witnesses or delaying the challenge for up to a month for spiritual reasons, so long as all parties agree. In no case can the arbiter’s requirements delay the Monomacy for more than a month. Additionally, only the arbiter may declare a Monomacy null and void, and they may do so either during or after the Monomacy has occurred. Such a shocking pronouncement usually means someone is proven to have cheated during the Ritus, or that someone outside the Ritus has interfered.
Outcome: After a victor has been determined, he may select the outcome. There are three outcomes to a Monomacy: death (including diablerie of one participant by the other), exile from a specific territory, or loss of Sect position (which is replaced via normal means within the Sect, not chosen by the victor). The outcome of death must occur within the circle, by the victor’s own hands or powers. If a competitor is ousted from the circle through the use of powers or by other means, the Monomacy ends without death, and the victor may only choose that his opponent suffer exile or loss of Sect position. All possessions of slain losers are given to the winner. If the loser is allowed to survive (either by condition of the outcome or through the victor’s mercy), they do not lose their possessions.
A Note on Templars
Templars don’t accept challenges or fight in their liege’s place in a Monomacy. Leaders in the Sabbat are expected to be capable in combat as well as religious fields. “Capable” does not mean that every Sabbat leader must be a master of physical battle; a vampire may utilize cunning application of their Disciplines to force their enemies out of the Monomacy circle, and never need to raise a hand in their own defense. Combined with the protection of Vinculi and ceremonial bureaucracy to keep challengers away, this can keep a non-combat character in power long enough to develop any physical competence she needs to remain a leader in Caine’s army.
Some leaders use their Templars as offensive weapons, with such a Templar usually contriving an excuse to challenge an enemy of their liege and nominating their liege or one of their liege’s pawns to any resulting vacant position.
=== Sermons of Caine ===
Some members of the Sabbat value their knowledge of the Book of Nod. Others don’t know or care about the book, and they see their role in the Sabbat as one of endless war and violence. Those members who take the story of their origins very seriously often gather to hear sermons on their history to remind them who and what they are. This reminder serves to strengthen their loyalty to the Sect and their ideology. Pack members take turns reciting from the Book of Nod, while the others sit in a semicircle holding lit candles and meditating on the passages. The sermons are sometimes followed by the Vaulderie, and, among more intellectual packs, intense deliberation. Pack members often discuss the passages read during the ritus almost until dawn. 
Vampire history, particularly as far back as Cainite legendry is largely an oral tradition — very few copies of the Book of Nod actually exist. Few, if any, Sabbat packs can agree unanimously on the exact phraseology of a given passage from the book. The Sect is divided on this matter — some Sabbat believe that as long as the spirit of the Book of Nod is preserved, the letter is irrelevant, while others maintain that for all Sabbat to have the same reference, a standard book needs to be decided upon. This schism, of course, results in a wide variety of individual positions on the matter, from violent support on both ends of the spectrum to a profound ambivalence for anything outside one’s pack‘s take on the matter.
System: While this ritus does not require a system for a mechanical effect, some Storytellers may wish to award experience points toward the Expert Knowledge: Noddist Lore or a specialization in Occult for participation in this ritus. Otherwise, this convention is simply an opportunity for Storytelling, roleplaying, and revealing bits of the great Cainite mystery.
=== The Vaulderie ===
Vaulderies are small affairs, not fifty-person monstrosities. Individual Vaulderies are typically no larger than ten to fifteen members. When the Sect gathers en masse, they perform many small Vaulderies – between packs, along Clan lines, within factions, or among those with similar personal ethics. It is a matter of politic at such a gathering to decide whom you Vaulderie with first, or whom you avoid, and cunning vampires learn a great deal by watching the ebb and flow of Vaulderie circles over the course of a night.
=== The War Party ===
The Sabbat thrives on diablerie and the destruction of elders, and this dangerous ritus serves to facilitate both of those urges. War parties consist of multiple packs that vie for the blood of a non-Sabbat elder. Packs participating in the War Party compete against one another for the privilege of killing and diablerizing the elder, but rarely do the packs come into deadly conflict with each other, reserving their violence for their target.
In preparation for a War Party, the participating packs gather and celebrate. They may also perform the Fire Dance, listen to Sermons of Caine, and participate in a Blood Feast or Vaulderie. The chief of the War Party, usually the most accomplished or highest-ranking priest among the packs, offers the assembled packs the challenge. She stands before the individual packs, each lined up behind their leaders, and asks each of the packs’ leaders in turn, “Do you come freely to war, and do you take up this noble cause, never resting until the blood of our enemy is spilled?” The leaders respond with a forceful “We do!” Only after the packs have committed to the hunt does he reveal the identity of their target.
A pack suffers great humiliation if it backs out of a challenge after its members have committed themselves to this most dangerous game. For the remainder of the night, the vampires hold a revel, preparing themselves for the hunt the next evening holds in store. The War Party sets out after its prey on the night following the challenge — the hunt has begun. Sabbat vampires on the warpath stop at nothing to take down their prey. They kill, burn, smash, and overturn anyone or anything that stands between them and their target. The winning pack is the one whose member consumes the elder’s blood first. The target, unliving or dead, or some recognizable portion of the target, must be brought back to the place where the packs accepted the challenge. The Chief of the War Party accepts this trophy and bestows her blessing over the winning pack. Once the chief recognizes the winner, all bets are settled and another celebration is held.
System: The vampire partaking of the diablerie gains the benefits of committing the Amaranth. Vampires who belong to the winning pack gain a temporary point of Sabbat Status. This point disappears at the end of the next War Party (unless the same pack wins again), or at the end of the next grandiose Sabbat affair. At the Storyteller’s option, this Sabbat Status point may be made permanent if the hunted elder was of exceptional power or reputation.
In addition to the details mentioned in V20, p. 510, all members of a War Party gain three free bonus dice to use in any action that actively pursues or attacks their specific target. When used on a roll, a bonus die is expended and may not be regained. You may use more than one bonus die on a single challenge, but the bonus must be declared before the dice are rolled. As the evening goes by, the vampire’s Beast grows stronger, pushing them to more and more reckless acts in its desperation to reach the quarry. Storytellers should encourage players to portray this, acting more and more reckless as sunrise draws near. A priest can only cast the War Party on a number of vampires equal to three times their permanent Willpower rating.
=== The Wild Hunt ===
One of the greatest crimes a Sabbat can commit is to turn traitor, and the Sect protects its secrets. If a member reveals a Sect secret to the enemy, she is punished severely. If a Sabbat leaks information of a vital nature, a priest may call for a Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt is much like the blood hunt, but ends with the eradication of the offending Sabbat Sect member, as well as anyone — Kindred or kine — who may have knowledge of the betrayal. The gravity of the Wild Hunt depends upon the traitor in question — the packs are expected to police their own ranks, while high-profile turncoats receive the attention of Archbishops, Prisci, Cardinals, and all those who serve them.
The priest assembles the local Sabbat and formally calls them to the hunt, which is sometimes similar to the preface of a War Party. Once caught, the offending Sabbat is staked and immobilized. The pack takes her before the Ductus and Pack Priest (or Bishop, etc.), who recite her crimes to her packmates. The pack then torments the offender in whatever manner it deems appropriate — hot irons, Vicissitude, and mutilation are the least-creative forms of vengeance a righteous pack can inflict on a traitor. Finally, the pack destroys the traitor by throwing her (still staked) on a consecrated burning pyre.
After the traitor meets her end, the Sabbat pursues those who either learned of the secret or were involved. Sabbat justice is relentless — the Sect stops at nothing to ensure their security. Naturally, the Sabbat cannot know about every little (or even many of the big) secrets that slip through the cracks. Frustration over this fact often makes things doubly bad for those they do catch.
System: Sabbat who are subject to the Wild Hunt are no longer Sabbat, and thus, no longer considered by the Sect to be vampires at all. No amount of groveling can convince the Sect to take back a traitor, though this harsh reality comes more out of security than bullheadedness.
In addition to what is detailed in V20, pp. 510-511, at the moment the ritual of the Wild Hunt is performed (at the end of the third night), the target gains a mystical, ever-bleeding scar upon her flesh. This scar is usually on the forehead, the back of the neck, or one of her hands; the locations where a vampire is anointed during her Creation Rites. The ever-bleeding mark is in the shape of the Sabbat sigil, and clearly identifies the vampire as a traitor to the Sword of Caine. The vampire will bear this wound until their Final Death, or until they are pardoned — an act which can only be done by the Regent. They lose all Status dots and position in the Sect, cannot benefit from any Sabbat ritae, and all Vinculums to them are immediately broken — although Vinculums they have toward others still remain.
== Ignoblis Ritae ==
Unlike the auctoritas ritae, the “low” or “common” rituals vary widely from pack to pack. Several of these ritae show up in some form or another in every Sabbat pack, but many of them are unique to regions or even individual packs. Storytellers and players are encouraged to adapt or create their own ritae, to give a sense of camaraderie and significance to the pack.
=== Acceptance Ritus ===
This ritus welcomes a new member to a particular pack, to recognize the ascension of a recruit, or any time a change in power or membership occurs (such as a new Ductus or Pack Priest). Each member of the pack must recognize the new position of their fellow Sabbat in a personal manner, be it by sharing blood, the giving of a gift, or whatever. The Sabbat being accepted must make an oath of allegiance to each member of the pack, and to the Sabbat cause in general. The Acceptance Ritus differs from the Creation Rites because it is more social than supernatural. A Sabbat may have received his Creation Rites, but may be snubbed by a pack that refuses to extend him the ritus of acceptance.
=== Atra Sacramentum ===
The sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church are considered necessary for a mortal’s salvation. So, too, do Orthodox members of the Church of Caine consider the Atra Sacramentum integral to a vampire’s unlife. When the Atra Sacramentum is cast, all vampires involved in the ritus must perform a sacrifice of their own flesh, offering reparation to the Dark Father in penance for the sins of her forefathers, the Antediluvians. Typically, the ritus is performed in front of an altar fire, into which each vampire slices a finger or some other small portion of their flesh while offering a prayer for the blessing of Caine.
System: The vampire receives two points of unsoakable aggravated damage when performing this ritual. Healing this wound ends all effects of the Atra Sacramentum. Until the next sunset, a vampire who has participated in the Atra Sacramentum ritus does not suffer the effects of their Clan’s weakness. A vampire may only receive the benefits of the Atra Sacramentum once per lunar month, and the ritus’s benefits last only for one night.
A Double-Sided Coin
For some Clans, such as the Nosferatu or the Harbingers of Skulls, the Atra Sacramentum is a significant blessing. These vampires suffer the stigma and agony of a twisted form that cannot be cured with blood or even the use of Vicissitude. Even so, the effects of the Atra Sacramentum can only go so far. Clans with a significant physical alteration as part of their Clan weakness find that alteration lessened – Nosferatu are no longer hideous, and Kiasyd could pass as human – but also lose any benefits granted by their physical alteration. Mechanics which specifically call upon those physical alterations do not function while this ritual is in effect.
=== Calling the Directions ===
This ritual hearkens back to the Native American shamanic practices adopted by the Sabbat upon the Sect’s arrival in the New World. The Loyalist faction had the strongest ties with the native peoples of the Americas, from the tribes to the north to the huge cities of South America, and the rituals and philosophies learned from those shamanic practices still influence loyalist thought.
Calling the Directions is a means of invoking the spirits of the four winds (usually East, South, West, and then North), beckoning these cardinal spirits. By doing so, the participants of this ritual reconnect themselves to the elemental, primal nature of the world, asking to – for a short time – feel as if they are a part of the cycle of the living world. This ritual often involves dancing, drumming, and ecstatic practices.
System: This ritual requires at least four participants, one to stand at each quarter and call specific winds. Participants in this ritual gain a benefit according to the direction they invoke during the casting of the ritus. If there are more than four participants, the additional practitioners may choose which of the four directional points they are assisting, gaining the benefit of that quarter. These benefits last until the next sunrise.
East: The wind of speed and mental swiftness. The participant gains a +1 to their initiative rating.
South: The wind of passion, emotion and breath. The participant gains a +1 to their Humanity aura for purposes of interacting with mortals (or loses all negatives to interaction with mortals, if on a Path of Enlightenment).
West: The wind of wisdom and knowledge. The participant gains a +1 to any non-combat skill, chosen at the time of the ritual’s casting.
North: The wind of the mountains and of physical constancy. The participant gains one additional Healthy wound box.
=== Irad's Wall ===
Irad’s Wall is an old ritus, but one guarded jealously by the Ultra Conservative faction to assure that their plans are unobserved. To cast, the petitioners must cause an area no larger than a single room of 100 square yards/meters to be consecrated with incense and salt.
System: When this ritus is cast, it sanctifies a building or small area for a single night, preventing spirits, wraiths, or astral forms from entering the location. Such entities may attempt to spy on the protected area, but they cannot cross the barrier of Irad’s Wall. If a body whose spirit is elsewhere crosses this barrier, the spirit immediately returns to its body – instantly ending powers like Possession, Astral Projection, or Soul Stealing. Characters who leave their bodies while inside of an area secured by Irad’s Wall will find themselves unable to leave that area until their body crosses the barrier. This ritual ends when the sun rises.
=== Laurel of Concordance ===
Members of the Status Quo do not appreciate change, and work to keep the Sect in a state of abiding stasis. They do this by creating consensus, and encouraging others to compromise rather than seek progress in any specific direction.
System: During this ritus, members of the Status Quo enchant sprigs of laurel, which they must keep on their person for the remainder of the night. If an individual loses this material token, the ritual’s effects end for that vampire. This ritual may additionally be cast on mortals who have a blood tie to the Status Quo vampire (ghouls or Revenants).
For the rest of the night, all those involved in this ritual gain +2 to any pool for the purposes of mediation, achieving compromise, trying to calm someone out of frenzy, or quieting a state of aggression. This bonus does not apply to pools used with supernatural disciplines.
=== Martyr's Eyes ===
The members of the Order of St. Blaise use this ritual as an early warning system, giving them limited information at range when things go wrong.
System: When someone who “contains” the vampire’s blood (a ghoul or someone with a high vinculum to them) is truly frightened or demonstrably in danger, the vampire receives a flash of insight. This insight provides only a sense of who is in danger, and a sense of the general cause (being attacked, falling off a building, being chased by police, or seeing a werewolf, for example).
This ritual only needs to be cast once. Thereafter, the ritual’s effects are permanent so long as the target maintains a bond of blood (such as the vinculum or the blood ingested by a ghoul) to the caster. If that bond of blood is ever destroyed, the ritual must be enacted again.
=== One of My Tribe ===
Devised by Joseph Pander himself, the Renaming Ceremony is based on Native American initiation and manhood rites. This ritual officially adopts a Caitiff (or an individual of any Clan) into the Panders. By spending a full night dancing, drumming, and performing feats of the blood with other Panders, the individual asks for and receives rebirth. She takes a new name and loses all blood-ties to her former Clan, lineage, and Antediluvian, becoming a member of the Pander Clan.
System: By spending a full night in ritual activities with other members of this faction, the target individual, if willing, may cast off the ties of lineage and “become” a Pander. Although their character sheet retains their native Clan, they sever all metaphysical connections to Sire and lineage. Malkavians are expelled from the Madness Network, and any powers that work through the ties of lineage can no longer target them.
=== Purity of Babel ===
The Book of Genesis details the story of a mighty city of peace and prosperity, whose heights would reach into heaven and rival even the glory of God. The Almighty struck down that city, even as Enoch was destroyed by the Deluge. So, too, do the Loyalists see absolute unity as another type of slavery, and reject conformity. The Purity of Babel was created to strengthen the pack, allowing secure communication even within a larger gathering. The fact that public conversations using the ritus tend to frustrate those who do not understand them is just a bonus. Only members of the Loyalist Faction may participate in this ritus.
System: For the rest of the night, those who participated in a specific Purity of Babel ritus (up to ten Loyalists) may choose to communicate with one another in a manner that is indecipherable to all those around them. These vampires have the capacity to literally speak another language, one that cannot be deciphered by any means. Further, this communication does not have to be verbal. The participants in this ritual may signal to one another clearly so long as they can see, hear, touch, or otherwise clearly sense one another, even over video cameras, cellphone or other electronic means, and those who were not part of the individual’s ritus cannot gain meaning from these gestures.
Vampires who participate in one Purity of Babel ritus may not decipher the communication of those using a different form of the ritus. This communication is as obvious as any other conversation; only the meaning is obscured.
=== Renunciation ===
The Renunciation is a solemn, formal ritual casting out all previous beliefs and doctrines, and swearing an oath before Caine to be loyal to the Ultra Conservative faction. This ritual (like all faction ritae) may only be performed by an Ultra Conservative, but may be cast on any other consenting vampire. An individual who undergoes this ritus is forgiven their previous sins against the Church of the Dark Father, and begins a new life as an Ultra Conservative. This ritus should be performed publicly. The priest who performs this ritus does not have to believe in the petitioner’s sincerity; elder vampires of the Sect have long used this ritus to ensure the loyalty of allies who have fled from the Camarilla’s ranks.
In order to fulfill the Renunciation, the vampire must swear a formal oath of allegiance to the Ultra Conservative faction. Thereafter, the performing priest stakes the petitioner in a public display of trust in the priest (it does not matter if this is against the petitioner’s will, so long as it occurs). While the individual is transfixed, the priest recites a short Sermon of Caine over their unmoving form. When the stake is withdrawn, mythically representing the vampire overcoming death (a symbolic Embrace), the vampire rises and is welcomed into the faction by her peers.
The formal oath of the Renunciation is as follows:
“I (name), pledge to uphold the Sect, its rightful clergy, and its sacred goals, in the name of the Dark Father. Stability through discipline. Unity through constancy. Victory through relentlessness. I will prove my worth. I swear it, upon the altar of Caine.”
System: A vampire who has undergone the Renunciation ritus gains a permanent die on all Self-Control or Instinct rolls, so long as they are a member of the Ultra Conservative faction and doing something that upholds the ideals of that faction. A priest who begins the Renunciation ritus but does not complete it (for example, kills the petitioner while they are staked) is considered to have broken the ritus, and will be punished severely by her superiors.
===Rite of Contrition===
The Ignoblis Ritae of Contrition stands on the verge of potentially being elevated to Auctoritas, and some priests of the Sabbat already treat it as though it were one of the High Rites. This causes a great deal of friction with Ultraconservatives, who have no intention of allowing a “new” ritus to be confirmed as an Auctoritas Ritae.
Contrition allows a humiliated or failed Sect member to atone for their actions. The Contrition Ritus (originally detailed in V20, p. 511)allows a vampire to prove their sincerity and loyalty and suffer penance. An insincere Rite of Contrition may still succeed, provided the penitent has enough faith in Caine, but if discovered, such a vampire will almost certainly not be allowed a second chance to atone.
Performing a rite of Contrition is a semi-voluntary act. The penitent vampire requests the rite occur (or is ordered to perform one, and agrees to do so) and gathers in a public location along with her pack priest, the aggrieved, and the pack priest of the aggrieved. No apology must be tendered, but the penitent must clearly and contritely state before the congregation the deed for which they intend to make amends. Thereafter, the penitent’s priest will assign an appropriate task, to be fulfilled within three nights (and must be reasonably possible within that time). The priest of the aggrieved may then add a caveat to this task, usually magnifying the difficulty based on whether or not they feel the penitent is truly remorseful. Typically, this addition is something like “...and you may do so using only a pistol” or “...which must be retrieved from the local Prince of the Camarilla.”
After the Task of Contrition has been established, the penitent may choose a willing second (typically a member of her pack) who can aid them in the task. The penitent may have no other assistance. If the penitent does not succeed in the task within three nights, or if they receive assistance from any other member of the Sabbat, the ritual fails, and both pack priests immediately become aware of the failure. If the penitent succeeds, they must be forgiven the original transgression.
If a vampire is ordered to perform a Rite of Contrition by a superior, their only options are to agree or to challenge their accuser to Monomacy.
System: If a vampire attempts the Rite of Contrition and succeeds, they are utterly forgiven the grievance they had committed. It may not be brought up again, and no further argument, vengeance, or persecution may occur related to this issue. Though it is certain that vampires do not forget grudges so easily, the appearance of “dropping the issue” must be maintained by those who were aggrieved.
If the vampire attempts the Rite of Contrition and fails, they are stripped of all status, forced to step down from any position, and may not gain dots in the Status background nor the benefits of any title for six months thereafter.
=== Stealth Ritus ===
In the interests of maintaining silence, some packs take extra precautions and invoke favorable omens. In the Stealth Ritus, all participating vampires bite out each other’s tongues and spit them into a fire. Though this causes no health levels of damage, the immediate bleeding and healing consumes one blood point. The Pack Priest or Ductus usually bows out so he can issue orders, but some packs have developed complex hand signal systems so they may communicate silently while on stealth-intensive activities.
=== Sun Dance ===
The Sun Dance tests Cainites’ endurance and bravery. During the ritus, vampires writhe and gyrate in a hypnotic dance around a symbolic inscription of a fiery sun from sunset to sunrise without pause, until they collapse in exhausted heaps, covered in blood sweat. The ritus always takes place during a full moon, and pack members usually dress for the occasion, wearing frightening masks or red body paint. Pack members prove their courage by seeing who among them, after an exhausting night’s dancing, can remain in the open the longest.
A Blood Feast sometimes follows the Sun Dance (especially when it is performed at heavily attended Sect functions), as the vampires must replenish their spent energy constantly for the duration of the ritual.
=== The Blessing of St. Blaise ===
Drawing upon Saint Blaise in his capacity as the patron saint of throat ailments, the order uses this ritus to guard against maladies which pass through the throat. The priest begins by consecrating a pair of candles, and presses them in a crossed position to the neck of blessing’s recipient. The priest then recites the blessing, “Through the invocation of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr of the Sword, may Caine deliver you from ailments.” The recipient is then cured of any harmful effects they may be suffering as a result of having ingested something, and further grants a measure of protection against the harmful effects of ingested substances for the next seven days.
System: If the target has been affected by poison, drugs, or any other ingested substance, the effects of those substances are immediately ended. This includes anything which has been poisoned, diseased, chemically altered, or tampered with, provided it was consumed through the throat.
Further, the ritus protects against the next single ingestion of tainted substances within a seven day period. Note this does not remove the Disease Carrier flaw from a vampire with that Flaw (the infection is latent within the Cainite), but could cure someone who has consumed the blood of an individual who possesses that Flaw. This ritus has no effect on the blood bond or the Vaulderie.
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