Flower of Demeter
Level Three Crúac Ritual
Knowledge of this ritual has been passed down from the most ancient vampires, according to those Acolytes who use and teach this horticultural rite. With it, a character grows a unique species of red lily said to have been brought back from Hades by Persephone. The flower grows only in mortal blood — which must be supplied in total at the start of ritual — but is traditionally grown from a human corpse. To raise a Flower of Demeter, the sorcerer’s player must make a successful invocation roll once per week until the three successes necessary to satisfy the roll have been accumulated. (In this case, the extended action happens over the course of a week or weeks, not turns as is normally specified by Crúac rituals.) Over this time, the stalk of the plant grows slowly taller and taller from the ground or corpse that supplies its blood, up to a height of about six feet. Once the three successes have been garnered, the Vitae of the Acolyte brings the flowers to bloom. One bud on the stalk blooms per dot of the character’s Blood Potency, less one per week it took to cultivate the stalk, with a minimum of one.
The plant itself is inspiring to Kindred in an intangible, mystical way for as long as at least a single blossom remains on its stalk. All Craft and Expression rolls made in the presence of the flower gain two extra dice. This inspirational power is said to be an echo of Demeter’s springtime joy.
A vampire who swallows a Flower of Demeter experiences the blush of life until the next sunrise, with no expenditure of her own Vitae. She is capable of keeping down food, keeping up sexual activity and mimicking respiration and blood flow almost without thought. When the sunrise comes, however, the vampire undergoes an awful purge, vomiting up all food and drink consumed and experiencing tremendous but harmless anguish described by those who’ve experienced it as a “mourning of the flesh.”
An Acolyte cannot raise a new Flower of Demeter until her current specimen has been fully deflowered or allowed to die. The plant suffers all the anathema of the Kindred, and is destroyed in seconds by fire or sunlight. Blossoms clipped from the plant lose all mystical properties at the next sunrise, when they flake away in sheets of ash like burnt paper.
The plant itself is inspiring to Kindred in an intangible, mystical way for as long as at least a single blossom remains on its stalk. All Craft and Expression rolls made in the presence of the flower gain two extra dice. This inspirational power is said to be an echo of Demeter’s springtime joy.
A vampire who swallows a Flower of Demeter experiences the blush of life until the next sunrise, with no expenditure of her own Vitae. She is capable of keeping down food, keeping up sexual activity and mimicking respiration and blood flow almost without thought. When the sunrise comes, however, the vampire undergoes an awful purge, vomiting up all food and drink consumed and experiencing tremendous but harmless anguish described by those who’ve experienced it as a “mourning of the flesh.”
An Acolyte cannot raise a new Flower of Demeter until her current specimen has been fully deflowered or allowed to die. The plant suffers all the anathema of the Kindred, and is destroyed in seconds by fire or sunlight. Blossoms clipped from the plant lose all mystical properties at the next sunrise, when they flake away in sheets of ash like burnt paper.
Level
3