Initiation Script for The Great Elixir (Target 21, or 30 for self-initiation)
The final degree, wherein the master rises like a phoenix from the heat of the process, their spirit and substance transmuted into an immortal being of magic.
This has only been done once, and very recently, by the secret master. It is likely that whatever script they used to self-initiate contained unique elements that cannot be repeated. There is also a possibility that there is no secret master at all, that they are merely a paragon invented by the cult masters to inspire the members. In this case no initiation script exists for the Great Elixir because no one has yet achieved it! For these reasons and to leave things as open as possible, instead of a script here are a list of elements that could be used in this script:
- Collect water from the fountain of youth +3
- Acquire one of the Golden Apples of the Hesperides +3
- Find the immortal Al-Khidr (or a similar figure), and study under him +3
- Find Cain, and study his curse +3
- Journey to Hyperborea, and convince the Hyperboreans to reveal the secret of their longevity +3
- Enter the magic realm in search of a powerful magical being that can grant immortality +3
- Acquire the ashes left over from the rebirth of a phoenix and/or be present during the rebirth to study the process +3
- The magus has to bind a phoenix as their familiar, severing any previous bond if necessary +6
- An Essential Flaw as an ordeal, representing an imperfection in the final elixir +3/+9 (minor/major)
- Wanderlust as a major ordeal. Being forced to wander the earth is a common theme in immortality legends +9
- The secret of the great elixir can only be witnessed under some specific celestial alignment which the initiate must calculate, and which only occurs once per 7/10/100 years +3
- The initiate has to give up all their worldly possessions, because worldly ties hold one back from becoming a perfected being +1
- The initiate’s talisman must be destroyed and recreated, symbolic of their immanent death and rebirth as an immortal being +3-6
- The initiate must perform some action at the exact place and anniversary of their own birth +3
- Making the great elixir requires unique equipment which requires rare ingredients attuned to the initiate’s favoured arts and/or virtues/flaws +3
- Making the elixir requires a focal item attuned to the initiate’s favoured arts. This must be the most perfect possible exemplar of this type of object. Only one such exemplar can exist anywhere in creation +6