So, as some of you may know, I'm currently working my way through Glen Cook short stories, which include Black Company stories I had never read before. Which made me think of the rite of Taking, by which one sorcerer would make another their slave.
I'd always assumed an Hermetic equivalent would be some kind of permanent (Probably Until) Rego Mentem ritual, but then I thought: Taken are notoriously hard to kill, as even Decapitation didn't stop Soulcatcher . This gave me an idea for a Mythic Europe analogue: External Soul.
So, what's a Mythic Europe would-be Dominator to do? Capture and/ or incapacitate another sorcerer, and then initiate them by force. There's nothing saying you must be willing, or even conscious, to get initiated in a mystery, after all. They'd gain the External Soul virtue, as well as a Major Flaw ( Patron seems somewhat appropriate). The fact that it would take a season really fits the impressive and powerful nature of the Rite of Taking, IMO
Other thoughts: What if your version of External Soul made the Dominator the container, instead of some random item? This would explain the "Taking" name. Further "initiations" would be of course possible, to empower his Taken
One needs to know the relevant Mystery Cult Lore to be initiated (TMRE p.13). But afflicting a victim with External Soul and then taking/swallowing their soul does indeed work far better if they do not know the Cult they get joined to.
I like the idea a lot: especially, because the possibility of traps in Initiations makes characters - and their players - research a cult for more than the Virtues they can initiate. Most Cults come with lots of rumors, and sorting out truths and lies about them is complex: especially as the Hermetic magi making up a Cult must not be spied upon by magic.
Traps can also be laid in the flaws that are taken during initiation, especially if the initiate is not aware of them when they enter the ritual. Imagine being a full season of service and the sacrifice into your initiation and then suddenly you have a vow that you might balk at...
I always took that as meaning that you need at least some adherence to the cult's beliefs and practices, with higher degrees of initiation requiring more "enlightenment" ( represented by your MC Lore skill).
Anyway, I'm glad if people like the (random) idea and/or it is useful to someone
An initiation trap is indeed a possibility of the mystery cult - but I suspect going through an initiation does require active participation, even if you might not fully foresee the ordeals you'll end up taking. You could have a mystery where the Dominator gets a virtue which enables him to take control of someone else as part of a ritual or lab action of some kind, however.
There's fake version of an initiation script in Lands of the Nile which inflicts the standard Ordeal flaw, but doesn't give the usual virtue. The flaw is loss of the Gift...
For some characters with blatant Gift, especially a hypothetical NPC with blatant Gift and a low int or other handicap, that might be the virtue.
An interesting concept, and I'm not sure how you would work it mechanically (there are so many option...) if you are talking about a predatory cult, is one where someone else's ordeal can count towards your initiation, and of course the other way around.
No matter how twisted are depicted some NPCs mages, the Order overall is rather benevolent, even if only a strong bias towards selfishness. However, it is very reasonable to conceive darker Cults that would require sacrifices, the Ordeal being not inflicted on the initiate but on a creature (human or otherwise) that would endure some form of Ordeal. The challenge for the initiate would be to find and bring a proper sacrifice otherwise he would be the one upon which will be bestowed the Ordeal.
For example: a man of a certain descent, a virgin, an animal of virtue, etc... The sacrifice might not lead to death, but to a permanent mark (ie: a flaw): branding, loss of vitality/characteristic, curse (Lycanthropy for example), hideous appearance, crippled, etc.
In term of game mechanic, itis tricky since it would give free benefits for "only" a moral cost and possibly chunks of the soul. I believe such options are not discussed in Mysteries since it will quickly go dark and open a can of worms that might not sit well with the overall background moral - Chtonic magic is as far as official rules err towards more ambiguous practices.
The dark Tremere-vampire of WoD would fit very well in this category: through a certain initiation, there were given potentially eternal life.
Where Diedne practitioners really evil, or simple their practices were too disturbing. What if they were practicing sacrifices, but the sacrifices were willingly embracing their fate (because it was for the greater good, because they would be guarantee a pleasant afterlife...). Of course, it would hurt Christian mages sensitivity, but would be well accepted in the Diedne culture and would not be seen as a crime.
An interesting concept with this is that something else takes the ordeal, but the initiated virtue only persists while the one who took the ordeal lives (or potentially the ordeal lives- for example a lycanthrope might infect others with the curse, maintaining the initiated virtue after the original lycanthrope's death). It would create a need for the magi to protect the bearer of the curse (which itself would be a flaw, so in terms of game mechanics quite possible)
. This gave me an idea for a Mythic Europe analogue: External Soul.
