[RITUALIST INFORMATION]

[Lazarus Carter]

R I T U A L I S T S

Ritualists are a savage and occult sort - as a firm parallel to the Templars and Demon Hunters of the world - who typically connect with Inferis through great trauma or distress in their life. Through premonitions in dreams and external temptations, usually a Demon picking on them from beyond the barrier, they become aware of something out there. They, in sleepless madness, attempt a crazed summoning of a Demon, not fully aware of the ramifications, and allow the Demon to break the barrier, essentially willingly but unwittingly sacrificing their body to the Demon in question. Nine times out of ten, that's how it ends: in tears.

Often considered to be simple Satanists, the reality of Ritualists is far different; they're damaged and manipulated individuals who feel an external presence. The first origins of occult Ritualism stems from around 550 A.D. in what is today Persia, but have since spread like an underground plague. If a tormented soul is intelligent or willful enough to actually attempt to communicate with this Demon before summoning it, or research, then they tend to be able to hone their knowledge to know that without preparation, the Demon will simply assume their form and they will be naught but a voice in their head as they're instead left to watch, helpless, from within their own body as the Demon wreaks havoc for the rest of their (typically short) lives.

If a Ritualist does manage to complete a proper summoning, however, with the appropriate preparation and intelligence, some of the time - often one in ten - they may be able to assimilate the energies of a lesser demon into their own form and suppress them, usually after hours of violent convulsion, and fight against them in order to actually hold the Demon within them in their body whilst retaining control. This symbiosis is known usually as a bonding as opposed to regular possession. Doing this grants the Ritualist the ability to knowingly cross into Inferis in the presence of a tear, and then back onto Earth when the time comes, and utilise very special abilities in both Inferis and Earth not dissimilar from Evocations...

R I T U A L I S T S / A M A L G A M S

Amalgams are almost identical to Evocations in practice, except that instead from being manifested through one's imagination whilst in Inferis, they're manifested from the amalgamation of Demon energy and human life-force - hence the name - being simultaneous inside a single mortal form... inside the real world.

Amalgams are seldom used publicly due to the fact that it usually results in a swift death from local law enforcement of the physical shell, returning the Demon's energies right back to Inferis to materialise once more. If they are used, they are usually used in small, covert battles, or more powerful Amalgams are used and passed off as natural disasters, or Equipment Amalgams used and made almost identical to human weaponry.

All Ritualist abilities MUST be derived from Demonic possession.

R I T U A L I S T S / I N F E R I S M O R P H S

Inferis Morphs make Ritualists the only class that, when bonded, can actually utilise supernatural abilities in both Inferis and Earth. Much like Amalgams, Inferis Morphs thrive on the combination of a human soul and Demon lifeforce - sometimes multiple Demon lifeforces - inside a mortal shell. In Inferis, Demons and their Ritualists walk separately, tethered together but separately. That said, when the human triggers an Inferis Morph, the pair of them combine into some grotesque demon form.

Most Demons have natural forms anyway, but this is vastly different - the introduction of human spontaneity into the mix means that Inferis Morphs take on a number of differing - and cumulatively more powerful - forms as the Ritualist learns more of this alter world. These Inferis Morphs rely on presence and proximity of the Ritualist and the Demon, but are VERY powerful, and can take on any form, only limited by one's imagination, usually with powerful weapons and simple abilities to boot.

C'est la vie. Deus Mortuus staff strongly recommend that Ritualists themselves make their Morph forms progressive, for a thematic essence in their character, unless their character has bonded multiple demons. Regardless, they will end up getting an extra one with every level.

All Ritualist abilities MUST be derived from Demonic possession.

R I T U A L I S T S / D E M O N S

The Ritualist-Demon relationship is always a complex one. From beyond the barrier, Demons taunt Ritualists and haunt them, sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, sometimes for even years before a summoning is first attempted. Sometimes, Demons tire of this process if a potential Ritualist is resilient and being boring, instead deciding to leave for a different candidate. It's predicted that up to thirty percent of guaranteed schizophrenia cases are caused by Demon interference.

Ritualists are often tempted by Demons into performing the summoning, but in some instances, actually seek out Demons, feigning ignorance if they're smarter and usually older, before summoning the Demon and trapping them within their body. Skilled, high-level Ritualists can even assimilate multiple demons, resulting in highly different Amalgams, diversity in progressive Inferis Morphs, and just general increased power and awareness. As well as being prone to multiple personality disorder from having more than just the regular one voice in your head.

It's a more rare occurrence, but particularly desperate Demons have been known to actually make deals which they then bind themselves to in order to leave Inferis in their delirium.

R I T U A L I S T S / S U M M O N I N G

Summoning rituals are typically gruesome, involving bodily matter such as flesh or blood. Some require stranger tributes, such as saliva or even feces. Demons can request just about anything to be summoned; greedy demons may want large amounts of gold, wrathful demons an animal skull, prideful demons a mirror... usually, the rituals' sigils are drawn in blood, either of a sacrificial animal or of the Ritualist themselves, the blood drawn with a ceremonial kris.

The more powerful the Demon, typically, the more extravagant - and sometimes, the more bloody and demanding - its summoning ritual is.

RITUALISTS CANNOT BOND WITH ANGELS.

R I T U A L I S T S / A P P E A R A N C E

Ritualists are typically gaunt and pale in appearance themselves, and the younger ones are sometimes brought into contact with Inferis through hallucinations, typically drug-induced, which puts some truth behind the image typically associated with Satanists - sometimes, those bad trips are more real than you'd like.

When possessed, Ritualists, in the real world, take on their human form regardless of who's in control. When walking in Inferis, the Ritualist and Demon assume separate forms, but must remain in proximity of each other lest the bond weakens. Obviously, when they undergo an Inferis Morph, the Ritualist and Demon are brought together. Demon possession or bonding can often cause Ritualists' forms to morph somewhat, inducing a change or tint of eye or hair colour.

This may make fighting with a Ritualist and Demon who are both PC something of a problem, and usually requires OOC co-ordination - please, it's imperative that you bond with a Demon - if it's a PC Demon, it's perfectly fine to create NPC Demons to bond with - whose player you can trust to be reasonable, consistent, and reliable.

R I T U A L I S T S / C O M M U N I C A T I O N

Ritualists and Demons typically sort out who's in control of a body very quickly, with the more willful typically wresting control and forcing the other to be nothing but a voice in the head. If the Demon's dominant, the partnership is typically short-lived - and for the duration of the bond, all Ritualists tend to have something of a psionic or telepathic bond with their Demon, which can induce some odd form of Stockholm syndrome in a sense.

When in Inferis, Ritualists and Demons can still communicate silently.