The Altar of True Sacrifice (Might 5)
A Daimon, or some kind of power which can be invoked, though it appears to have neither mind nor motive. It is somehow linked to the concept of ‘sacrifice’ – not in the sense of a religious act, but in the sense of giving up something you truly value in exchange for something you need more. The best guess hermetic theurgists have is that it is an ascended Lugra, a spirit of the pain of loss, but this is only a guess.
It appears, as is implied by the name, as an altar of grey stone. It is rough hewn and seems to meld with the ground or floor it rests on as if cut from living stone. In the centre of the top is a hollow to place something in, about the size of a dinner plate.
The altar is horrifyingly easy to summon, so easy (and so sinister in its nature) that some theurgists fear it is a trick of the infernal and refuse to use it – the truth is left up to the storyguide. The difficulty with the altar is not in invoking it but in the terrible cost of the sacrifice required by it.
Characteristics: N/A
Personality Traits: N/A
Size: +3
Soak: Special*
* The altar is made of seemingly mundane stone. If attacked by something capable of breaking stone such as hammers and chisels it will break and be banished.
Powers:
True Sacrifice, 5 points (Init 0)
The theurge must sacrifice something on the altar. This means the thing must be destroyed beyond repair and placed in the hollow. For example, a precious statue could be shattered by hammers and some of the shards placed on the altar; a beloved pet could be killed and its heart placed in the hollow. There is only one requirement for the sacrifice – it must be something truly and genuinely precious to the theurge offered willingly.
In return the remains placed on the altar will be imbued with vis in proportion to the significance of the sacrifice. This could be as little as one pawn as in the case of Calistus of Jerbiton who sacrificed a bottle of vintage wine he had been saving; to the 62 pawns gained by Vortigern of Tytalus when he sacrificed his own wife – one for each year they had been wed.
The truly desperate magus can even sacrifice parts of themself. By using perdo magic to destroy some aspect of the theurge and placing an arcane connection to them on the altar the sacrifice can be completed. Sacrifices of this kind known to have worked are the memory of the theurge’s mother, the mother tongue of the theurge, the theurge’s sense of taste and the left hand of the theurge. For reasons unknown any such sacrifice becomes a part of the essential nature of the theurge and cannot be reversed by hermetic magic.
How this vis is produced is a true mystery. Certainly, the daimon does not itself have the might to generate it. Some theurgists believe this vis is tainted by the infernal and any thing it is used for will come to evil ends. Whether this is true or not is left up to the storyguide.
Use of the altar is known to produce Eidolons, spirits of emotion, from those participating. It is unknown if this is due to some unknown property of the altar, or the fact that those willing to use it will often have extreme personality traits and be in a state of heightened emotion when invoking the daimon. Vortigern of Tytalus was plagued by the spirit of his own ambition for many years after his sacrifice, until he managed to trap and bind it.
Vis: If the altar is broken the majority of the stone vanishes into a choking dust. Anyone who is exposed to this dust and does not have magic resistance gradually gains 5 points of warping over the next few weeks. A single intact stone is left behind containing 1 pawn of Vim vis. This vis has the magical property of inflicting a point of warping to anyone without magic resistance within voice range every diameter.