The Nature of Theban Sorcery

Vampire the Requiem - Covenant - Lancea Sanctum

The study of Theban Sorcery is seen as a largely scholastic pursuit by many Sanctified, sorcerers and mundane Priests alike, but the practice of Theban Sorcery requires more than academic study and a description of a ritual’s performance and effects. A Theban Sorcery ritual can be written out, but some first enter the world in the form of divine imagery, as inspiration. A ritual can be read and understood, but it cannot be truly appreciated — made manifest — without an effort of will and a soulful investment. A ritual can be practiced and memorized, but it cannot truly be said to be learned until the sorcerer’s knowledge of it transcends memory and Language and becomes a matter of intuition and faith.
To turn inspiration into a ritual, and a ritual into power, requires three general steps: the discovery of the ritual, the identification of the ritual and the learning of the ritual. Discovery recognizes divine inspiration in the world. Identification reveals the capabilities of the ritual. Learning enables the sorcerer to activate the ritual.
Most sorcerers never discover a ritual. Rather, the majority of Sanctified sorcerers first interact with rituals that have already been identified and written down by the sorcerers who came before them. Any Kindred can read the record of a ritual, but that only describes what the ritual does and implies how it is made to happen. In some cases, even the record of an identified ritual is of little help to non-sorcerers — the notation may be so full of abstract references to the unknowably willful and intuitive efforts of Theban Sorcery that the text has no substance to the unenlightened.
In the Middle Ages, Sanctified sorcerers sometimes equated the study of Theban Sorcery with the study of religious hymns. A hymn can be written down and read, it can be heard, but it cannot be fully appreciated until it is performed. A hymnal can describe how a hymn should be performed, but it cannot convey the ability to perform it (or to perform it well). A hymnist can write a new hymn, but he does not truly create it — he finds its essential inspiration somewhere in God’s creation, comes to understand how it was meant to sound and then conveys that message in writing that earthly beings can understand. So it is with Theban Sorcery.
Theban Sorcery in the Game In game terms, a Sanctified sorcerer can study Theban Sorcery, read and record descriptions of a ritual and examine the inspirational imagery of new rituals without being able to use it. This is the role of the Academics Skill in the activation of the ritual. To perform a ritual, the sorcerer must know his own abilities, how to get the voice of his will to inflect just so upon the physical world, if he’s to turn the notes into a song. This is the purpose of Theban Sorcery dots in the activation of the ritual.
Intelligence dots provide the power and verve to a ritual’s performance; they describe the sorcerer’s raw mental ability to effectively act. Characters that rely on Intelligence to fill out their ritual dice pools tend to act with aplomb, but perhaps with an excess of noise, hand-waving and gesticulation.
Dots in Academics provide the knowledge of what Theban Sorcery rituals are meant to do and what should be done to best evoke their power; they describe the sorcerer’s familiarity with ritual practices, the quality of his studies and his precision. Individual rituals are not rated with dots because the sorcerer’s individual quality of study is what matters. Characters that rely on Academics to fill their ritual dice pools tend to activate rituals with great precision or economy of movement, or may inform their ritual actions with historic flourishes such as quotes of holy scripture, archaic vocabulary or ancient customary gestures.
Theban Sorcery dots provide the strength and refinement of will, the soulful effort, that makes the ritual possible; they describe the sorcerer’s mastery over his own soul. Characters that do not supplement their ritual dice pools with many dots from Intelligence or Academics tend to activate rituals with either passionate displays of their own greatness (perhaps the sorcerer shouts or shakes like a televised faith healer) or reserved moments of inward prayer.

Interpretations of Theban Sorcerery

What are Theban Sorcery rituals? Where do they come from? While the story of Amoniel’s presentation to the Monachus is considered the gospel truth, it leaves some questions unanswered.
Sanctified of different philosophical leanings favor different answers to the lingering mysteries of Theban Sorcery, and no one theory has ever enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the majority of parishes. As a result, Theban Sorcery is a popular subject for debate among serious and amateur covenant theologians. Many Bishops believe the mysteries of Theban Sorcery to be unknowable, and therefore an inexhaustible subject for Sanctified ponderings and discussion — something to contemplate time and again over the endless nights of one’s Requiem.
The covenant’s relative open-mindedness on this topic has been tested many times, however. With no formal, definitive explanation of the nature of Theban Sorcery to be found in Sanctified scripture, the subject has become open territory, accessible by extremists and heretics as well as pious, wellmeaning contemplatives. More than a few minor heresies have grown out of apocryphal suppositions on the “true nature of Theban Sorcery,” and more heresies of the sort will doubtless appear in future nights. It’s one thing to consider the myriad, uncertain possibilities of the Theban Sorcery mystery; to declare the mystery solved is another thing altogether.
Theories that go against the details of the scripture — by claiming that Amoniel is actually just another aspect of Vahishtael, for example — are merely unpopular or regarded as outlandish. Heretical theories defy the spirit of the scripture, present speculation as fact or attempt to redefine the very cosmology of the covenant’s Judeo-Christian roots. Extreme examples from history have supposed that Amoniel was an extraterrestrial, that Theban Sorcery is a variation of Cruac and that new rituals are actually created by the vampire who finds them and projected into the world as a manifestation of the will.
The following three theories on the nature and origin of Theban Sorcery have been supposed time and again in the history of The Lancea Sanctum. Little evidence exists to support any one theory over another, and few Sanctified theologians expect to ever know more for certain. Each of these possibilities is a matter of faith.

Gifts From Heaven

The least radical interpretation of Theban Sorcery’s origins relies the most on the letter of the scripture. This theory accepts Amoniel as an agent of God, sent to Earth to deliver His gift to the Sanctified. Theban Sorcery rituals, therefore, are intended as boons to reward those Kindred who pledge themselves to the covenant and the study of the Testament. New rituals are presumed to appear on Earth when God decides the time is right; some were set into the world during Creation and others are brought down by Amoniel when the time of their need is imminent. In this design, ritual offerings are thought to be made to God Himself.

Secrets of Longinus

As the spirit colonialism spread among Kindred and kine, as Manifest Destiny drove living and undead missionaries to the remote corners of the world, the image of Longinus as an ancient explorer and world traveler became popular among Sanctified neonates and ancillae. The notion is that Longinus used miraculous powers to visit every continent and culture on Earth in the nights after his disappearance and that, on those journeys, he honed his powers into new rituals modeled on those bestowed to him by God through Amoniel. Rituals have therefore been hidden throughout the world by Longinus where he prophesized they would be needed. Sanctified missionaries and settlers see the presence of new rituals as evidence that Longinus has approved the surrounding lands as a feeding ground.
In this design, Longinus is the only Kindred capable of creating Theban Sorcery rituals; some Sanctified suppose he was taught by Amoniel after the Testament was dictated to the Monachus. It was Longinus who petitioned God to reveal Theban Sorcery to the Monachus. Ritualists who subscribe to this theory believe ritual offerings are sacrificed in tribute to Longinus, who made similar offerings to convince God to give Theban Sorcery to all Sanctified vampires.

Stolen by Angels

Sometime in the 1700’s, Sanctified theologians in Eastern Europe put forth the idea that Amoniel was acting in secret when he brought Theban Sorcery to Earth. This theory, which is still regarded as heresy in some domains, supposes that Amoniel stole Theban Sorcery from Heaven and hid its rituals on Earth to aid the Sanctified. Amoniel, it is believed, admired the Sanctified for their piety in the face of damnation. Theban Sorcery rituals are his gift to the Sanctified, so that their duties in undeath might be made a bit easier and so that faithless Kindred might see the glory of Heaven and be converted. This interpretation of the Testament regards Amoniel as a selfless servant of God, willing to brave His wrath to see His work done well on Earth. Ritual offerings, then, are sacrificed on behalf of Amoniel, to repay Heaven for the stolen rituals.