Spirit’s
Transcendent Realignment
(Command/5,
Focus/4)
This particular Sorcerous ritual is on its face
fairly innocuous. When performed
simultaneously by two people (only one of whom has to be an actual Sorcerer),
it will briefly (CD hours) cause them to effectively change bodies. Once the ritual ends, the switch is
automatic; if one person’s body is killed, the other does not keep the new
body, and the one that died will have no memory of the afterlife once
‘revived’. The other major wrinkle in
this ritual is that it only works when both parties have some sort of physical
and/or romantic relationship with each other.
This can be awkward, given the general misanthropy one finds among
Sorcerers, but it can be worked around.
If that was all there was to it, this would be
merely a minor little ritual mostly used for the usual applied decadence and
debauchery. But, as usual, there’s more.
A Sorcerer with Focus/5 will notice after the first
use that the ritual is actually deliberately toned down; successful research
over a few months will reveal a fairly simple variant that can be used to
permanently switch bodies. The physical
components are a few herbs and compounds that need to be ingested by both
individuals for the ritual; also, for this to work both people need to be
genuine Sorcerers in some sort of physical and/or romantic relationship with
each other. The other Sorcerer does not
have to be aware of the true nature of the ritual, however.
In game terms, when either form of this ritual is
performed memories, Rituals, Skills and Songs go to the new body; Forces,
Characteristics, Advantages and Disadvantages stay where they are. No Sorcerer has ever worked out why this
should be so, but given that this means that any Forces or powers gained
through Infernal Pact and/or Oathtaking would thus stay
with the old body, finding out why has never seemed all that urgent. Most Sorcerers will set things up so that
they can conveniently kill their old body once they have permanently switched
bodies, but a few have tried to set up scenarios where, say, an
aging-but-wealthy adept makes a trade with a poor-but-young apprentice. Such scenarios tend to end badly - Sorcerers
have difficulty with trust issues, and few of them are rich - but some will
still try.
Everyone aware of this ritual - it’s not common, but
it’s not particularly difficult to find - assumes that there’s entire groups of
immortal Sorcerers out there flitting from body to body. This is not the case: most of those who
engage in the ritual have increasing difficulty adapting to the world after
their second full lifetime (to say nothing of the unique long-term
complications found among those who have switched genders). A lucky adept will double his or her
effective lifespan. Most aren’t that
lucky.
The depths of their unluckiness will only become
fully clear after death. The above
Sorcerous ritual does not, in fact, allow individuals to switch bodies; it
instead engages in the much simpler technique of switching memories. Someone who has
undergone the permanent version of Spirit’s Transcendent Realignment has
actually merely had a new personality and memory superimposed upon the old
one. The soul remains untouched, which
means that a Sorcerer who has set things up to switch places with an unsuspecting
victim and then kill his old body has merely found a
creative way to commit suicide. As for
his ‘victim’... if the Sorcerer was not Hellsworn
before, pretty soon a demon will sidle up to him and make an attractive
offer. The Sorcerer will invariably make
that deal.
Why not? He
got away with it once.
Time: One hour for the temporary version, seven
one-hour rituals (once per day) for the permanent
Essence: 3 from each for the temporary version, 5
from each per ritual for the permanent.