Sabbat Ritae

# Knowledge: Ritae

Adapted from a background into a secondary, Knowledge: Ritae is a Sabbat-only Secondary. If you want to take Knowledge: Ritae as a Secondary without being a member of The Sword of Caine, you will need a very good justification. Even with this Knowledge, these ritae will not work without a belief in Caine, though in a larger group so long as the individual respects the ritus and does her part, the faith of the other believers can make up for their lack of faith.

Ritae are not thaumaturgical, but they are blood magic, and they are affected by things which resist or counter blood magic. Further, when an individual is empowered by an active ritus, that creature’s aura shows clear signs of the enchantment; a bloody wash over the spirit that manifests as a blend of sorcery and faith.

The roll to enact a ritus is Intelligence + Knowledge: Ritae at a difficulty 6 unless the specific Ritus calls for a different roll. Only one success on the Intelligence + Knowledge: Ritae roll is needed to enact a ritus.

You know the ritae and rituals of the Sabbat, and you can enact many of them. This Knowledge is vital to being a pack priest - without this Knowledge, ritae will not function. This Knowledge is actually a supernatural investment, drawing on the magic of the eldest Tzimisce sorcerers. Sabbat vampires who are not their pack priest should have an outstanding reason for possessing this Knowledge, as pack priests are loath to share their secrets with the more secular members of the sect.

* ● You know three of the Auctoritas Ritae (your choice).
* ●● You know nine of the Auctoritas Ritae (your choice) and three Ignobilis Ritae (your choice).
* ●●● You know all thirteen of the Auctoritas Ritae and nine Ignobilis Ritae (your choice). Also you may
* create your own Ignobilis Ritae, given enough time (consult your Storyteller for development time and game effects).
* ●●●● You know all the Auctoritas Ritae and twenty Ignobilis Ritae (your choice). You may create your own Ignobilis Ritae, given enough time (consult your Storyteller for development time and game effects). You are also familiar with the functions of numerous regional and pack-specific Ignobilis Ritae even if you cannot perform them.
* ●●●●● You know all the Auctoritas Ritae and forty Ignobilis Ritae (your choice). You may create your own Ignobilis Ritae, given enough time (consult your Storyteller for development time and game effects). You are familiar with the functions of almost all of regional and pack-specific Ignobilis Ritae even if you cannot perform them; if it's been written down or passed around in lore, you've heard of it.

# Auctoritas Ritae

## What Are They?

Thirteen rituals, including four High Holidays, were selected as Auctoritas. These ritae were canonized by the Regent, and their ceremonies unified into formal practice. Further, it was decreed that no True Sabbat could be refused the right to learn these Auctoritas Ritae, provided the vampire secured the approval of their pack priest.

The Sabbat considers the Auctoritas Ritae to be extremely sacred. Individuals learn the ritae not only because they are useful or expected, but because knowledge of the ritae reflects a certain political ambition. Some priests choose to learn more than their station requires, subtly hinting that they are a political threat to the presiding Bishop or Archbishop. However, simply because an individual cannot be refused the right to learn an Auctoritas Ritae does not mean that they can find a willing teacher for a certain ritus, nor does it imply that politics are absent in this realm. On the contrary, the politics of the Auctoritas Ritae are even more byzantine, because ruling clergy must find reasons and methods to keep young, ambitious priests in their place.

Each Ritae requires an Intelligence + Knowledge: Ritae roll difficulty 6 to activate. Only one success on this roll is necessary for all participants to incur the benefits.

## 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.”*

Vaulderie and a separate oath to protect the sect’s secrets to Final Death almost always follow the Binding, exploiting the unity of purpose the ritus creates.

System: For one month following the Binding, vampires who participate in this ritus 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 Bloodbath

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 at-tend 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 for-ward, kneeling in front of and expressing their en-dorsement 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 ceil-ing, 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-rank-ing 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 con-ducts 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 cen-sured 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).

## Rite of Contrition

The Ignobilis 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 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.

## 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 priest follows the branding with a Vaulderie.

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.

While a pack priest has the authority to uninitiate any member of their pack, only the Regent, the Prisci, and the Grand Inquisitor can uninitiate a Sabbat member outside of their pack – and even then, only under specific circumstances. The Grand Inquisitor may only uninitiate a Sect member who has been convicted of heresy; a quorum of three Prisci may uninitiate one who proves herself ignorant or endangers the Sect; neither can uninitiate a Regent under any circumstances. The Regent may uninitiate any member of the Sabbat, at his will.

To be uninitiated means simply that the vampire is once more considered “False Sabbat,” and does not mean that she is a traitor. An uninitiated Sabbat is still a member of the Sect, and is owned by her pack. That pack has the right to extract a heavy toll on anyone who harms their property without their consent. Uninitiating a vampire strips her of all status and rank, erasing all previous deeds. Such a vampire must be reeducated before again receiving her Creation Rites and becoming True Sabbat. A period of not less than a year and a day must pass during this “reeducation,” unless the specific authority who punished the vampire relents and allows the Creation Rites, or unless the Regent specifically and publically pardons the vampire’s transgression. The Wild Hunt, on the other hand, is far more serious than simple uninitiation.

System: The recruit must succeed on a Courage roll difficulty 6 to undergo the Creation Rites. A recruit who fails this ritus once may attempt it again, though a stigma of cowardice will likely follow them. A second failure on this ritus will most often result in final death. One level of unspeakable aggravated damage is accrued.

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

Fire is one of the greatest enemies to vampires, a danger to flee. The Sabbat believes in mastering that fear. In times of war, Sabbat vampires use fire as a weapon against their enemies. In between battles, they perform the Fire Dance to show their triumph over the weakness in their souls.

A priest can call a Fire Dance at any time, whenever she judges the pack in need of some morale boosting. Bishops generally celebrate a Fire Dance just before a War Party, bringing together all the packs who will fight in the upcoming assault. Given the Sabbat’s emphasis on individual freedom, the convening priest never forces a vampire to take part in the ritus until she feels truly ready for it. Most vampires somehow find the resolve to participate anyway; their packmates do not tolerate cowardice, and too many refusals of the Fire Dance can get a vampire exiled or destroyed.

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.

Sometimes a vampire simply can’t muster the courage to jump. Tolerant packs throw him through so as to honor the spirit of the occasion. Less tolerant packs slaughter him as an inferior breed or pin him down in the fire to help him overcome his weakness.

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). Leaping through the flames inflicts 4 aggravated damage to kindred, each success on the athletics roll, as well as each dot of Fire Dancing skill that the character possesses lowers the damage by 1. It may be soaked with fortitude as normal. Fire Dancing skill also lowers the difficulty of the jump by 1 per dot.

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 com-monality between the games is that the priest presides over them, consecrating them as righteous exercises. Here are some common examples:

● *Capture the Ductus:* This game pits two packs against each other. The priest designates territory, generally a few square blocks. Each pack aims to present the ductus of the other to the priest; the first pack to do so wins. Inflicting Final Death on any participant automatically costs the destroyer’s pack the game (plus the rage of the offended pack). The priest has discretion in setting boundaries for mortal awareness. Particularly challenging games require that no mortal ever knows the game’s being played while other times, for games of terror, the priest actively condones displays of vampiric power.

● *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.

● *Dog Tagging:* 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.

● *The Spire:* The priest designates some target to climb that human beings cannot achieve without elaborate tools, such as the tallest skyscraper in the area. The participants must scale it using only their own bare hands and feet, the Attributes, Abilities and Disciplines. The first one to the top and back down wins. Climbing barehanded up modern buildings (stone, glass and metal, etc.) requires a Strength + Athletics role of a difficulty appropriate to the material every ten feet or so. Using Disciplines stylishly doesn’t guarantee a win, but earns the respect of competitors.

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 due 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 Holidays

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.

*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 flesh crafted 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.

*Festivo Dello Estinto:* The “Festival of the Dead” occurs during the entire second week of March; it’s second only to the Grand Ball as an opportunity for participants to revel in their trans-human abilities. All the Sabbat vampires in a city gather, setting aside usual disputes for the week of the Festival, and nomadic packs come into town to celebrate with their urban brethren.

The Festival begins as soon as the highest-ranking priest in town declares it underway. He gives a single instruction to the assembled participants: Revel. This is the time for vampires to set aside their normal restraints and find out just what they can do to themselves, to each other and above all to the mortals around them. Each night includes a Blood Feast and a celebration of the Vaulderie after the night’s exertions, scheduled as late as possible given the need of the participants to settle down for the day.

In principle, the Festival’s participants should act u utterly without regard for anyone’s concerns but their own. In practice, the world is still there even while vampires celebrate. The Sabbat uses the Festival partly to weed out the vampires who cannot distinguish between the freedom to choose their own course of action and consequences to their choices. Vampires who bring out mortal hunters or other s supernatural beings in response to Festival behavior deserve what they get, the sect’s teachers say.

Festival events vary widely. Fire Dancing takes place almost everywhere often coupled with dances pairing vampires with unwilling mortal partners. Packs whose members know Necromancy often raise zombies to provide accompaniment. In many cities, packs compete to present reenactments of passages from the Book of Nod and Sabbat history. Vampires who fancy themselves great hunters set out on special hunts, going after specific sorts of victims - teen mothers, bald priests, married computer programmers or some other specialized category of mortal. Vampires with experience in butchery, surgery and the like oversee competitions to kill victims with a minimum of blood spilled or to remove as many internal organs as possible while keeping the victim alive and conscious.

Presiding archbishops and bishops watch the various competitions and award victors with the right of drawing first blood at the next Blood Feat. In some cases, a particularly good performance wins the victor a promotion on the spot while an appalling failure may lead to demotion or to the loser becoming one of the next Blood Feast’s vessels. Elders look with favor on competitions to hunt as widely and freely as possible without attracting mortal attention. Success in this sort of challenge requires developing and presenting a plausible cover story, such as a terrorist attack. The Sabbat hierarchy admires and rewards the ability to use mortal institutions without becoming tangled in mortal values or concerts like the Camarilla.

System: The Festival confers no mechanical benefits; instead take this as an opportunity for role play and learning your abilities as well as a chance for political schmoozing and maneuvering.

*Palla Grande:* The Grand Ball - Palla Grande to Sabbat elders and others who like to retain a European flavor to their ritae - marks the end of the Sabbat’s year. On All Hallows’ Eve, all the vampires in the city gather for a two-part celebration. Some archbishops summon all the vampires in their territory to celebrate in a single city; others encourage separate celebrations in each city. In either case, attendance is not optional. Nomad packs converge on the nearest city holding a Grand Ball. The most renowned priest in the city (who may not be the highest-ranked) oversees the ritus.

The night before the Grand Ball, the presiding priest and her assistants prepare incense burners. The burners hold an exotic mix of herbs and chemicals designed to weaken mortals’ willpower and skepticism and induce a mild hallucinogenic state in which acquiescence and belief come easily. As she blesses each burner, the priest adds a blood point of her own to each to start the mix’s transformation.

The first part of the Grand Ball takes place in public, often staged as a festival, a rave or some other gathering open to the general populace. The Ball’s vampiric hosts generally put on a fancy spread in whatever idiom they choose, with the best music, plenty of free food and drink and so on. Almost all Grand Balls emphasize costumes, going beyond fancy wardrobe to include physical transformation through Vicissitude and the illusions of Obfuscate and Chimerstry. Each vampiric participant adds a blood point to one or more of the incense burners. The air takes on a very slight pink tinge and all mortals in the area experience a mild form of the surrender that comes with the Embrace.

The second part of the Grand Ball takes place away from mortal eyes. The priest convenes a Blood Feast for the vampires of the area. Daring groups snatch their vessels from the nearby crowd or from the unlucky recipients of invitations to a “special private gathering” associated with the ball’s public face. Sabbat communities who face more serious challenges from hunters or whose leaders believe in not creating unnecessary risks round up their victims for weeks beforehand. Sabbat vampires, retainers and ghouls who’ve committed flagrant offenses also become vessels for the occasion.

At midnight, individuals chosen by the presiding priest present a reenactment of an event from Cainite legend or history. In some cities, would-be actors compete for the priest’s favor; in others, theatre duty is as much a punishment as a reward. Caine’s murder of Abel outstrips all other topics in popularity, with the diablerie of the Tzimisce and Lasombra Antediluvians close behind. Gehenna scenes attract both favor and controversy, with some elders (and devout neonates) arguing that too much attention to future troubles undermines morale. Most theatre groups include some element of audience participation, seizing prepared targets for use as disposable props.

After the show, the archbishop or ranking bishop present receives the Blood Bath. The recipient reclines in a tub, pool or other large container. Attendants bleed out selected victims to fill the pool. Each vampire present contributes vitae to a Vaulderie cup, whose contents then join the mortal blood. The recipient maintains a steady chanting all the while, and takes in a bit of the essence of the other participants.

At the conclusion of the Blood Bath, the participants join in the bath’s recipient in a final pre-dawn dance, generally very noisy and almost always ending in a frenzied attack on the unfortunate mortals saved for the consummation of the ritus. In most cases, the participants collapse in the ball’s private space and rely on ghouls to take care of guarding them and cleaning up during the following day. Over the next several days, vampires and ghouls charged with attending to the aftermath use a combination of lethal force, mental Disciplines and occasional Embraces to tie up loose ends.

System: Grand Ball participants gain the benefits of the Blood Bath and the Blood Feast as usual. In addition, they completely replenish their willpower. Each participant must contribute at least one blood point to the cloaking incense burners and may contribute more.

*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.

*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 Monomacy

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. 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 Ignobilis 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.

## 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 oth-ers 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 vio-lent 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 Knowl-edge: Noddist Lore or a specialization in Occult for participation in this ritus. Otherwise, this convention is simply an opportunity for Storytelling, role playing, and revealing bits of the great Cainite mystery.

## The Vaulderie

The Vaulderie defines the Sabbat as a group. Vampires who partake show that they are part of the sect; vampires who refuse the cup can never really belong. The Blood Bond as Camarilla and independent vampires use it binds the subject as the slave of his regnant. It reinforces the static hierarchy of elder over childe. The Vaulderie makes the participants equal, uniting them in their shared cause. It also introduces a constantly shifting mosaic of relationships as the vampire who held another in highest esteem last night has a new target of supreme devotion tonight. The bonds don't erode; they do gain rivals of equal or greater intensity.

Simply mixing vitae isn't sufficient for the Vaulderie. The presiding priest must use a cutting tool and a cup dedicated to this specific purpose. Priests generally decorate their tools with hieroglyphics and artwork that expresses their pack concerns. (Artisans who produce tools that express a pack's shared sense of self gain high status. The Sabbat never has enough creators to match its ranks of corruptors and destroyers.)

The priest takes her ritual tools, makes a cut in herself and drains out as many blood points as she cares to contribute. Once the priest begins the ceremony, she passes the cup and tool to each participant in turn, who contributes as many blood points as he chooses.

Contributing only one blood point looks bad - do you have something to hide? Contributing five or more blood points, except when duty requires, looks bad, too. Are you angling for control? The ductus must contribute at least one blood point per participant (down to a minimum of one blood point remaining), and generally aims to put in more than anyone else as a show of dedication and primacy of place. Trying to put in someone else's blood, from a concealed pouch or other source, doesn't work. The cup erupts and splashes the blood everywhere. Everyone loses the blood they put in. The priest must start the ritual again and the offender probably faces swift destruction.

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.

System: The priest takes the filled cup and performs a simple ritual over it that merges the blood together. Real magic happens at this point. Even if the priest was chosen on the spur of the moment by packmates interested in renewing their Vinculum, a priest performing the ritual makes it work while someone not chosen as priest could perform the same ritual but get no results. The priest offers a brief blessing on each participant as she drinks from the cup. The ritual gives back to each participant as many blood points as she put in.

Every Sabbat member takes the Vaulderie seriously. Even the most feral wanderers or rowdy urban punks settle down for this ritual even if they're never serious at any other time. This is what it's all about.

The Vaulderie generates the Sabbat's alternative to the blood bond, the Vinculum. Each vampire takes away from the ritual a special bond to some other members of the pack (or whatever group performs the ritual).

## 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 any-one 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 accept-ed 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.

The effects of a War Party last until the next sunrise. Once a War Party has been cast, the packs cannot turn from their purpose, even if they cannot find their target or there is no hope of victory. In such cases, the packs will literally drive themselves to death, throwing away their lives in increasingly desperate attempts to reach their victim or succeed against impossible odds.

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, 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 eradica-tion 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) se-crets that slip through the cracks. Frustration over this fact often makes things doubly bad for those they do catch.

Like the War Party, this ritus confers Caine’s blessing upon multiple packs for the purpose of hunting a specific, named individual; in this case, a traitor to the Sect. This rite may not be used to target someone who is not a member of the Sabbat, and it may only be performed against someone who has betrayed the Sect in a tangible manner.

By the dictates of the ritus, the priest invoking it must publically announce the Bans of the Hunt (a complete list of charges against the accused) and a location. The accused individual has three nights to face her accuser and answer the charges. If the rebuttal is judged sufficient by the Ducti gathered to hear the exchange, the accuser must commute the Wild Hunt into an appropriate act of contrition (or no punishment, if the accused is innocent). If the Ducti judge the rebuttal to be inadequate, then the accused has the final option of challenging her accuser to Monomacy. If she does not give challenge, or if the accused does not arrive within three nights to answer the charges, then the casting of the magical ritual of the Wild Hunt is performed.

There is a big difference between “False Sabbat” (which implies redemption) and “traitor” (which doesn’t). A vampire who fails a Rite of Contrition, fails in their duty, or performs some other minor crime, might be uninitiated and refused the Creation Rites for a year and a day. A vampire that betrays the Sword of Caine, reveals Sect secrets (even to Revenants or ghouls), or flees the Sabbat for another Sect is a traitor, and they will be hunted and destroyed with extreme prejudice.

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, 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.

# **Ignobilis Ritae**

## What Are They?

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.

## Allegiance Ritus

The Allegiance ritus bridges the gap between formal creation of a new Sabbat member and her acceptance into a specific pack. The new vampire must prove herself familiar with the sect’s ideals and capable of acting effectively. While in this transitional period, the vampire occupies a distinctly secondary position. She stands at the rear during Auctoritas Ritae, drinks last at the Vaulderie (and generally can’t contribute her own blood) and cannot engage in discussion of the Book of Nod. Most packs administer a secret mark of some sort as part of the ritus, identifying the recipient as someone who’s begun to win acceptance and not yet completed the process.

The trial period may last only a few weeks if the vampire proves remarkably capable or may stretch on for years. A vampire who never succeeds in impressing a pack enough to warrant Acceptance faces the threat of Final Death administered by her disappointed creators. Camarilla defectors spend more time under scrutiny and must complete tougher challenges of their new loyalty, often including attacks on their former comrades.

## Farewell Rites

Used when bidding a fellow Sabbat farewell, when a pack leaves a city, when a pack member leaves for an extended period of time, you get the drift. Typically they involve the leader praising the one(s) leaving.

## Tests of Pain

All of the various Tests of Pain ritae challenge the participants’ ability to remain functional in the face of severe pain. Some packs use Tests of Pain as part of their competition to choose new leaders; many packs include Tests of Pain along with Contrition ritae as punishment. The Trial by Stake is simple and widely practiced. The participant to be tested gets staked to a wall by a stake through his chest, mounted high enough that his feet don’t touch the ground. Depending on the pack, he may remain there until packmates let him down just before sunrise, or he may have to tear himself loose and go on to perform other tests. The Trial by Fire subjects various parts of a participant’s body to flame wielded by the pack priest. The Trial by Gauntlet requires the participant to make his way through parallel rows of packmates who beat him, sometimes with weapons, sometimes barehanded.

The range of Tests of Pain is nearly infinite. Pack priests generally develop a favored personal repertoire. Use Courage and Self-Control (or Instinct) for specific tests when the vampire’s resolve is in doubt.

## Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving ritus practices the giving of thanks in an old-fashioned, literal sense. Members of a pack gather and each tells a story about his exploits. He begins, “I thank Caine for his favor when I…” Then he recounts a recent accomplishment, aiming to show his particularly remarkable strength, cunning or other desirable characteristic. Exaggeration is routine in almost all packs that practice this ritus. Thanksgiving often precedes an esbat or other more formal occasion.

## Spilling of Blood

The ritus of the Spilling of Blood is one of several that never quite became Auctoritas but is well-known throughout the sect. Vampires feeding together make a point of trading sips from their respective vessels with a ritual acknowledgment along the lines of, “Hot blood that spurted from Abel at his time of death, sustain us for the will of the Sabbat.”

## Welcoming Rites

Used to greet other Sabbat. Welcoming rites of both packs are combined with each bringing something new to the gathering. These rites are more like a party but two points of protocol are carried out during them. At the beginning of the rite all pack members greet each other individually, presenting their names and their home. At the peak of the celebration a gift is usually exchanged from pack to pack. The leaders often use this ritual as a time to discuss Sabbat plans.

## The Asp’s Blessing

Sabbat teachings sometimes compare the sect to a snake. This ritus gives that metaphor tangible form. The priest raises a snake (almost always of some venomous species) before the pack and asks Caine’s spirit to guide the snake’s eyes and fangs. Each pack member must step forward to kiss the snake. If it bites back, the priest denounces the participant for concealed sins. At the end of the Asp’s Blessing ritus, examination and Contrition ritae follow for all who failed the test of purity.

System: Any person who has committed a knowing sin against sabbat as a whole or the Code of Milan will be bitten by the snake.

## Martial Rites

Martial ritae take many forms, all with the goal of mustering pack members’ enthusiasm for and ability to take the endless war to their enemies. A Martial ritus generally involves some rhythmic activity to ease participants into a trance state. Music, dance and martial arts all enjoy widespread popularity. Traditional (or neo-primitive) groups include body adornment, ritual scarification and the like.

System: For the night following the ritus, participants gain one dice to all rolls made in combat.

## 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.

System: Those who take part in the ritus lose any verbal communication. If the tongue is healed, the effects stop immediately. For the night following the ritus all stealth rolls made by the participants are at 2 lower difficulty.

## 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 exhaust-ing 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.

System: The Participants must make an Stamina + Athletics roll at difficulty 8. 3 or more successes are required to last until sunrise. Those who succeed, must make a rotschreck check at difficulty 8 and receive 5 levels of aggravated damage (Soakable with fortitude). Until the next full moon, those who successfully took part in the ritual gain 1 additional Courage dice that may exceed the maximum of 5

## Truth Revealed

The Truth Revealed ritus hangs on the edge of Auctoritas standing; its efficacy depends on the ability of the priest administering the ritus. A vampire under suspicion of dishonesty writes out a statement with her own blood. The priest takes the paper and burn s it, usually in a ceremonial censer. If the smoke turns black, the statement was false while white smoke indicates truthfulness. Even when the priest does nothing special, the ritus produces accurate results more often than chance would allow. Sabbat scholars theorize that the ceremony taps into the latent mystic powers of the pack united in the search for truth.

System: Priests who possess three or more levels of Occult or Knowledge: Ritae may make a contested willpower roll difficulty six against the subject of the inquiry. If the priest succeeds, the ritus always generates the right color of smoke.

# **Faction Ignobilis Ritae**

## What Are They?

Beyond the pack, the Sword of Caine can be a chaotic and unpredictable environment, as rebellious splinter groups and political factions rise and fall — often leaving little trace of their existence. Others have survived the test of time. These feuding political groups push doctrine and guide the mindset of the Sect. Individuals can swap factions over the years, changing political alliance as their personal beliefs mature or alter. Many Ignoblis Ritae have sprung up among these factions as a result.

Today, the primary political contingents of the Sabbat are the Ultra Conservatives, the Orthodoxy, the Order of St. Blaise, and the Loyalists. Two other factions, the Pander caucus and the Status Quo, have less political power in recent nights. Further, some Sabbat simply don’t care about politics. Vampires not affiliated with a faction are known as “Moderates.” Most Moderates claim no unifying cause, and therefore Moderates do not have Faction Ritae.Faction Ritae are used only by members of specific political factions. Like other ritae, these rituals rely heavily on faith to power their magic. Vampires who do not genuinely believe in the principles of a faction cannot successfully take part in that faction’s rituals. If a vampire with divergent beliefs participates in a faction’s Ignoblis Ritae, the ritual will fail. This makes it nearly impossible to infiltrate another political faction for very long; eventually, the spy will be forced to partake in a Faction Ritus, and will be discovered.

Packs that bridge factions may have members who possess Faction Ritae from multiple factions. Unfortunately, as noted, an individual must believe in the principles of the political group in order for those rituals to function successfully. Such packs often break up, or else unify their political ethics through argument and strong vinculums. An individual can leave a political faction for another, but in doing so, she loses the capacity to cast any ritae belonging to the faction in which she was previously a member.

Faction Ritae may only be purchased by a member of the Sabbat who has undergone the Creation Rites, who has at least three dots of the Ritae secondary, and who is a member of the political faction, with genuine belief in that faction’s political goals.

It takes at least three members of a political faction, working together, to cast a Faction Ritus, but only one of them needs to possess the rite in question. Unless otherwise stated, Faction Ritae may only affect members of that specific political faction.

## Ultra Conservative

Members of the Ultra Conservative faction are often seen as stodgy, inflexible, archaic vampires who never fully abandoned the hierarchy of lineage. However, as other groups floundered in recent years, Ultra Conservatives have seized many positions of authority, centralizing command and providing critical coordination for the Sabbat’s troops. Ultra Conservatives are excellent commanders in the war against the Antediluvians. Although this faction tends to contain the most hidebound members of the Sabbat, it has also gained a significant number of new and militant members.

Ultra Conservatives favor strong leaders and insist upon intensive training, ensuring that every member of the Sect has the capacity for war. Ultra Conservatives work to consolidate the strength of the Sabbat through strict and efficient hierarchical structures. They recommend the Vaulderie between all packs of a diocese, and are certain that with enough ties of blood, the Ductus position will no longer be necessary. One day, the Sabbat will be a unified nation, abandoning the medieval concept of the cellular “pack.”

### 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.

### 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: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.

## Orthodox

In recent years, a campaign of renewed religious fervor has swept the Sword of Caine. These Kindred advocated a return to the dedication of the ritae and an emphasis on the Priest’s position within the Sect (above the more militant positions, such as Ductus). They postulate that the Sabbat has somehow displeased the Dark Father, by turning away from the ritae, relying too much on modern technology, or by allowing heresy to enter the Sect.

This faction’s priorities are spiritual, based upon an ideal that the Sabbat’s leadership should be solely comprised of the most devout and faithful priests. As adherents of this school of thought have grown more public in their arguments, they have gained a tremendous amount of support from mystics, spiritualists, and scholars of the Sect, and the Orthodox faction was born.

Orthodox Sabbat advocate a greater use of the ritae, more authority for pack priests, and a narrower description of “heresy” – the better to allow the Sabbat to research new and powerful weapons and blood magic for the ongoing war.

### 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: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.

### The Last Rites

The ritual of the Last Rites is typically performed on a vampire who is entering a situation in which they are about to die. This ritual may only be performed by an Orthodox member of the Sabbat, but may be cast on any individual to whom the caster has a Vinculum.

System: To cast this ritual, the Orthodox faction member melts a small bar of silver in a brazier, and the target must press their fingers into the molten metal, taking a point of unsoakable lethal damage. Healing this wound ends all effects of the Last Rites.

If the target of this ritual dies, the caster becomes immediately aware of the death. So long as the death does not include their diablerie, the target’s soul may be “reclaimed” by the caster of this ritus by simply willing it to join with her own. Although the caster does not gain any mechanical benefit, it is in all other ways as though she had performed the diablerie upon her companion. In the moment that the soul is “reclaimed,” the caster gains a vision from the dead vampire’s point of view, allowing them to see the last moments of the target’s existence. The effects of this ritual last until the next sunrise; if the target dies after the sun has cleared the horizon on the morning after the ritual was enacted upon them, the caster will not know.

## Loyalist

Loyalists were the first to arrive in the New World, and spent a great deal of time among the Native American tribes, studying their shamanistic practices. These influences shaped the Loyalist movement, impacting many of their faction ritae. Even in modern times, Loyalists tend to think more like the plains tribes than European colonists; many are nomadic, valuing freedom and the small tribe of their pack. Even those who settle down put a high value on rule by the will of the community, rather than through the domination of an established hierarchy.

Loyalists insist that the primary foundation of the Sect is freedom, not unity. They are rebellious and young, but unlike the Anarchs, Loyalists do not want to tear down their parent Sect. Instead, they want to see it succeed – through the freedom and independence of each pack. Though they can be contrary, often refusing orders simply to prove a point, most Loyalists genuinely believe in the Sect’s cause. They advocate an extremely limited hierarchy, where the Regent is the sole authority above pack Ducti. They accept that under certain circumstances, the Regent might elevate a Ductus to leadership over several packs for the purpose of achieving a task (such as defending territory or reclaiming a domain). However, once that task is done, the “Ductus Priori” would step down, relinquishing this temporary authority and restoring freedom to the packs.

Loyalists do tend to listen to the judgment and guidance of the Prisci (some of whom are Loyalists, as it is one of the few positions without hierarchical authority over others), but that respect must be earned by the Prisci in question. In these cases, the Loyalist is not “accepting the authority” of a titular position, so much as being guided by a more experienced Sect member whom they acknowledge as a superior vampire.

### 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.

### 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.

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:*North: The wind of the mountains and of physical constancy. The participant gains one additional Healthy wound box.

## Order of St. Blaise

Through careful manipulation of resources, the Order of St. Blaise take on the task of protecting Sabbat cities in ways most Sabbat traditionally neglect. They are powerful influence mongers and controllers of the mortal world. In general, members of the Sabbat disdain humanity and mortal life. This leads to friction between the Order of St. Blaise and other factions, as the Order’s primary purpose typically requires them to maintain their humanity, and to interact with mortals far more than other vampires in the Sabbat.

However, the Order’s contributions to the Sword of Caine are unparalleled, and have been unquestionably useful. In these modern nights of cellphone cameras and constant mortal surveillance, the Order of St. Blaise has become unquestionably integral to the survival of the Sect. Still, as much as they are useful and utilized, many members of the Sabbat continue to look down on the Order of St. Blaise, claiming that the vampires of this faction are a little too willing to “play with their food.”

### 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.

### 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.

## Pander

After the third civil war of the Sabbat, the Clanless members of the Sect unified behind a vampire named Joseph Pander. These Clanless demanded greater respect for their contributions and a greater share of glory. They fought against the staid beliefs and superstitions of archaic vampires, arguing that Clan had no meaning as to a vampire’s potential. In the end, they overcame many of the biases and bigotry within the Sect and earned a place for themselves as a Clan.

In modern nights, many Panders take their prominence within the Sabbat for granted. They pay more attention to other issues, and seek personal power wherever they can gain it. The faction now has a reputation as mercenaries willing to back any cause in the name of personal profit.

### 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.

## Status Quo

The Status Quo supports the hierarchy and the Code of Milan, and seeks compromise between the other factions so as to ensure the smallest amount of change to the doctrine and practices of the Sabbat. Many members of this faction are older vampires, static and unwilling to learn new things or alter their ways. They often support an existing regime over the upheaval and uncertainty of a new one, preferring to maintain a known (if flawed) precedent over any form of change.

### 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.

# Homebrew Ritae

## The Fog of the Beast

While stripping ones humanity is all but a necessity in Sabbat, some Priests like to make it as painless for their flock as possible.

System: The Priest burns a mixture of her own blood and narcotic substances in a brazier. Those inhaling it will feel a light intoxication and not much more. Though the ritual does not affect the participants will, its effects are more insidious. For the next 24 hours, those who inhaled the smoke become incapable of regret, automatically rendering any conscience rolls a failure.

## The Ties that Bound

Vaulderie is a sacred ritual for the Sabbat and some Priests have learned to make the ritual of mutual vows even more apparent for their packs, demonstrating their ties in an obviously visible way.

System: The Priest who touches and focuses on a vauderie cup for a minute causes all kindred who participated in the Vaulderie using that cup to see red lines connecting them to each other. Stronger the mutual bond, the brighter the line appears. It is usually performed after a vaulderie for boosting the morale (and ensuring that no one has somehow dodged the bond)

## No Rest for the Wicked

Sabbat are full of inhuman monsters who do not rise from torpor easily, even if it is caused by a daysleep, let alone damage. To not allow their best fighters to sleep for hundreds of years, some Priests have mastered a way of pulling their flock out of torpor by using their very beast.

System: The Priest creates a concoction of herbs, blood and narcotics that she ingests. For the next 24 hours, her blood may be used to rise from torpor any kindred, regardless of generation. While under the effects of the highly narcotic brew all frenzy checks are made at difficulty 10. The kindred awakened that way is similarly required to make a frenzy check at difficulty 10, as their beast is first to rise.

## The Sanctum of the Damned

Not all Sabbat packs are nomadic. Some prefer to make their home in one place, which exposes them to risks like Camarilla raids and plain kine attacks. To combat that, Priests of those packs have developed a defensive measure meant to keep the communal haven safe.

System: The Priest ritualistically beheads a human in the approximate centre of the haven, whichever it may be, in presence of the entire pack and buries the head under it. Since that moment, the haven truly belongs to the pack. While the building is even half intact, the shadows will always uncannily cling to the pack during the day, making it impossible for them to be burned by the sun. All frenzy and Rotschreck rolls on the heavens grounds are made at -2 difficulty.  In addition, all rolls made on the territory of the Sanctum and in defence of the pack are at 1 lower difficulty, while those made in attack of the pack are at 1 higher difficulty. The Priest may maintain only one sanctum at a time.

## The Midnight Hunt

A bonding exercise for the pack, this ritualistic hunt is done together and must always start at midnight, usually signifying a night full of revalery and blood.

System: When hunting together, the pack may add one dice per each participant to their hunting Dice pools. This bonus is also applicable if the pack is gathering vessels for a blood feast.

## Silent Tongue

Meant for the stealth missions when every noise made may spell disaster, this Ritus offers an alternative communication method.

System: For the rest of the night, the pack that participated in the ritual may communicate with each other effortlessly while in each others sight. No more than a shared sign language in function, the ritae offers one that is shared between the pack and only the pack and transmits meaning and nuance in a very short amount of time.

## The Heart Divided

A priest is the shepherd and guardian of her pack. When one of her flock is missing, she can always find the fragment of herself in their hearts.

System: at any time the Priest may focus on any person who “contains” her blood (a ghoul or someone with a high vinculum to them), and know their location. This is not so much a knowledge of their precise location as it is an understanding of the persons direction and distance from the Priest.

## The Ties of Blood

A Vaulderie is taken by the Sabbat except those with Rank, a speech is given on the importance of leadership within the Sabbat, that we are not a bunch of elders who simply assume powers, that the leaders in the Sabbat have a duty to those they care for. Those who took part gain 1 social Dice when dealing with Sabbat of Rank fpr 3 nights.

## Voice of Blood

With the Sabbats sometimes lax approach to sireing, the question of a lucky surviving shovelheads lineage is a hard one to answer. To not send of all of such fledgelings to Panders, Priests have developed a method of looking into the blood and discerning its properties. The Priest must burn a drop of blood from the person in question along with a number of herbs in an incense burner. By inhaling the smoke and analysing its color, the Priest may be able to tell details of the persons lineage.
System: Only one Success is necessary to discern a clan but with three or more, the Priest can also know the generation. The ability of the Priest to decipher the information they gained depends on their Kindred Lore. At 2 they are only able to tell the main 13 Clans, at 3 they may know bloodlines, at 4 they can tell a difference between an assamite warrior and a priest, as well as some of the rarer bloodlines, At 5 she may know even the most exotic blood.

## Order of St. Blaise Ignobilis Ritae

### The Heart of the Order

The order of St Blaise is well known, and somewhat infamous, for their involvement in mortal lives, going as far as parlaying with hunters of the Order of Leopold. When leading such public lives, a good cover is necessary, especially for the inhuman kindred of the Sabbat

System: A human heart, surgically removed no longer than 24 hours ago is blessed by the Priest and the blood of all members of the Order participating is mixed and injected into the heart, after which it starts beating. The beating of the stolen heart returns the functions of life to the kindred in question, coloring their skin, warming up their flesh, allowing them to eat and drink and otherwise feign humanity. Destruction of the heart stops all effects of the ritual, halves the amount of vitae participants have, their own dead hearts bleed out, and causes 8 health levels of unsoakable lethal damage to all kindred bound to it, forcing them to heal the same turn or fall into torpor. The heart needs to be fed vitae each month to keep beating equal to the number of participants. The Priest who performed the ritual may dispose of the heart safely by eating it. For the purposes of hunting, it counts as 2 dots in Masqurade secondary.

### Combing

St. Blaise had been martyred by the torture known as combing and by recreating it, the Priets of the Order attempt to further hide their nature from those who see deeper than skin.

System: The priest uses an iron comb to ritualistically mutilate those who take part in the ritae, causing 1 level of unsoakable lethal damage.  For the 24 hours following the ritual, the aura of those who took part in it will appear human, although it will retain whatever coloration is appropriate for the person.