The gods created the universe, and continue to put their influence into it. Although long-standing agreements and arguments between the gods themselves prevent many of the more direct interactions, there are no such restrictions upon their followers. Thus, the gods give power to those who follow them and maintain good faith. Those who devote themselves enough grow in power, and as the strength of a person grows the strength of their power grows as well. Eventually this power can grow strong enough that the gods can affect the universe more directly. Such powers take much more time and energy to focus into this world, and thus the practice of divine rituals began.

Essentially, those who use cleric powers have no real power in and of themselves. Their magic is not their own. It comes from their god, who gives them power in exchange for that person’s unreserved faith and devotion. But there is a limit to what a mortal frame can carry. With the use of symbols, items, and higher levels of belief a mortal can allow more direct access for the divine presence onto the mortal world and spread the natural influence of their god within said world. Such changes and spreads happen over centuries so it is rare for the scales to be tipped easily. Through the belief of mortals, particularly those of high power, that the gods gain this influence and change their worlds.

In order to cast a ritual, the caster must have the following:

• Enough tags in the appropriate schools of magic to cast the ritual. These costs are listed on the Divine Scripture.
• A Ritual Book containing the ritual you wish to cast.
• Any components required for the ritual. Note that components in some cases may be omitted; see below.
• A Spell Guide - Please make all reasonable efforts to inform the appropriate Guides that you intend to cast a ritual as far ahead of time as possible. Guides have the right to declare a ritual a “dud” if not alerted ahead of time that a ritual is to be cast. Casters are allowed some reasonable leeway on this, but don’t expect to cast a ritual at 4am if you haven’t scheduled it with a Guide first. In extreme circumstances, failure to notify a Guide ahead of time may result in an automatic ritual backlash.

Due to the nature of divine control, not all deities can cast all rituals, and some rituals are specific to certain deities. The Primary Caster of any such ritual must be of a deity capable of casting the divine ritual in question. In addition, no Divine Ritual tags can be expended by someone is out-of-favor, even to assist a character of the same or another god.

All rituals have a tag cost associated with them. These tags will specify Belief, Miracle, Channeling, or General. For each of these, you must have the appropriate number of tags in the appropriate description in order to cast, except general, which can be cast by any type. Characters may have tags in each, and each is considered a separate skill list. A character may be attuned to one particular type of divine ritual, representing how he associates himself with his deity and thus what sort of power he is best with. This sort of focus limits his view of the divine, however, and he becomes worse with another style of ritual. Those with Ritual Attunement require 10% less of that sort of tag to cast a ritual, and 10% more of tags associated with it’s opposing school. (round up)

As all of these abilities are interconnected, merely representing different styles of belief, a character may substitute one type of tag for another. Tags may be traded at a rate of 2:1 from one style to another, adjustments for ritual attunement always being applied after the conversion of tags from one kind to another.

Belief tags represent the true belief of the caster and are what open up the ability of the divine to enter the world. Belief rituals tend to create effects that last for a moderate period of time. Belief rituals are at odds with miracle rituals, representing the character’s ability to affect the divine and not the other way around. Thus, a character with Belief focus has penalties to Miracle Tags.

Miracle tags represent the power of the divine over the life of a person, particularly one as devoted as the caster, and how this power can control or shape events around the character, as well as the caster himself. Miracle rituals tend bring changes to the world around the caster, including the adding or subtracting of things to reality. Miracle rituals draw upon the power of the divine already present in the character and the world around him, not the introduction of new or different divine energies. Thus, a character with Miracle focus has penalties to Channeling tags.

Channeling tags represent the nature of the divine essence in every character, and how over time, a character of true faith more and more begins to resemble their deity in word and deed. Channeling tags tend to be very direct, bringing forth the raw power of the divine into the world. Channeling rituals represent the power of the divine in a character, and not of the power of the divine over the character. Thus, a character with Channeling focus has penalties to Belief Tags.

Multiple characters may attempt to cast a ritual together, pooling their tags in order to cast more powerful rituals than either could alone. Any characters assisting in the ritual may put tags into the ritual although the worship of different deities can make these rituals more and more difficult. Those worshiping the same deity as the Primary Caster use their tags normally. Those worshiping an allied deity with the one of the Primary Caster spend two tags to gain the affect of one. Those worshiping a deity neither allied nor at odds with the Primary Caster’s Deity trade in tags at 3 to 1 (round down). On top of this, a helper worshiping a non-allied deity may gain disgrace points at Guide Discretion. The player should consult with the Guide prior to the casting of the ritual, who will then inform the Player whether or not they are subject to Disgrace as a result of the ritual. Those worshiping an enemy deity of the Primary Caster trade in tags at 4 to 1 (round down). On top of this, the character worshiping the enemy deity may gain disgrace points. As with the non-allied deity, the helper should consult with a Ritual Guide prior to the Ritual.

The Primary Caster must always put forth the largest number of tags, and there can never be a “tie” between Primary Casters - two casters couldn’t each put in five tags in a ten tag ritual, but one could put in six while another put in four. If three casters attempted the same ritual, the Primary Caster could put in as few as four tags, while the other two casters put in three each. Note that while all examples listed have been roughly even disbursements of tags, there is no rule that requires it, so long as the Primary Caster always has the highest number.

Components may in some cases be omitted for a ritual. The omission of a component adds an additional 50% cost to the tags required to cast the ritual. This cost does not compound, so a ten-tag ritual with one omitted component would cost 15 tags, and a further component omitted would cost 20 tags, rather than 23. Note that some components that are integral to the ritual may not be omitted; these are designated on the Divine Scripture itself.

Somatic requirements are critical to the proper functioning of a ritual. The divine scripture will list all somatic requirements required for the casting. Somatic requirements, like components, may be omitted, but this confers an additional 100% cost to the casting of the ritual. Also note that in some cases the somatic requirements are integral to the casting of the ritual and may not be omitted. Verbal requirements of a ritual can never be omitted or the casting will automatically backlash.

Once a ritual has begun being cast, any disruption to the ritual, its components, or it’s caster(s) will cause it to immediately fail and backlash. This backlash is immediate and instantaneous, and cannot be evaded, resisted or blocked in any way. If the casters survive the backlash, they may begin casting the ritual again at the point in which it was disrupted. This may in some cases cause multiple backlashes during the casting of a single ritual. Backlashes take a number of forms, but most commonly affect the caster(s), components, or target of the ritual. In some cases, a backlash may also affect objects within a certain range of the ritual, although this is uncommon in all but the most powerful rituals.

Some modifiers may reduce or increase the overall cost of a ritual. Note that the primary caster must always maintain the highest tag burden regardless of modifiers on the ritual, and that in no case may a rituals cost be reduced to less than half it’s original cost.

Divine Favor, as well as divine disgrace, affects the casting of a divine ritual. For each point of divine disgrace a character suffers from, add one general tag to the cost of the ritual. For each point of divine favor, reduce the tag cost of the ritual by one in any description. The favor and disgrace of those who worship deities other than those of the primary caster is less important to the ritual. Those who worship allied or non-allied deities of the caster count their favor and disgrace at half, (round up) for determining the effect on tag cost, while those who worship enemy deities do not count it in any way.

Divine rituals can be made easier by opening up a passage to the divine, and all rituals become more difficult if no such channel is present. If no ritual is used, increase the tag cost of the ritual by 25%. If Minor Ritual is used, increase the tag cost by 10%. If Ritual is used, do not alter the tag cost. If Major Ritual is used, decrease the tag cost by 5%. If Hell’s Gate is used, decrease the tag cost by 15% in addition to any reduction by use of rituals, to a minimum of a 5% reduction.

If a ritual requires a target, that target must be valid for the entire duration of the casting of the ritual in order to be targeted. If the target of the ritual is no longer present, the ritual is considered interrupted, and backlashes. Examples of invalid targets are:

• Targets that are too vague when declared
• Targets whose player is not present
• Targets which must remain in a certain area that leave that area during the casting of the ritual.
• Targets that haven’t been prepared properly for the ritual. If a ritual requires the target to be prepared in some way, the preparation will be included in the ritual’s description.