đź“ś Lore Note: The Cerythian Rite
Name: The Cerythian Rite
Type: Forbidden Ritual / Soul Manipulation Ceremony
Status: Outlawed in all known realms
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🕯️ Overview
The Cerythian Rite is a forbidden soul-binding ritual known only through fragmented scriptures and the whispers of secret orders. It is not a ceremony of resurrection, but an act of violence against the cycle of life and death. Through the Rite, lost souls are forcibly dragged from the afterlife and bound to a living vessel, warping both spirit and flesh in the process.
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⚔️ How It Is Performed (Cruel Methods)
Blood Circles: The ground is marked with the summoner's own blood, forming a spiral of runes that pulse with stolen energy.
Soul Branding: The vessel's chest is seared with a mark that burns the soul into compliance.
Consumption of Ichor: The summoner must drink a black ichor made of ashes, marrow, and the remains of a corrupted beast.
Sacrifice: The Rite demands a personal offering—a memory, a limb, or even a loved one—to anchor the summoned soul.
Failure at any stage results in the vessel imploding into void ash, leaving nothing behind.
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🩸 Effects of the Rite
The soul brought back is never at peace; it constantly fights against the vessel.
The vessel begins to lose their humanity, often gaining inhuman traits or uncontrollable urges.
Those who survive become living anomalies—hated, hunted, or worshipped as gods.
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❌ Why It Is Feared
It is said to tear holes between the living world and the realm of the dead, attracting hunters—spectral entities that devour life.
Entire cities have been destroyed when a Rite went out of control.
The ancient Council declared it "a crime against existence itself", punishable by death without trial.
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đź’€ Rumors & Dark Truths
Some say the first kings used this Rite to gain power over their armies.
It is whispered that the gods themselves cursed it, yet its knowledge survives in forbidden tomes.
Legends claim that the Cerythian Rite cannot be completely erased—for every time it's forgotten, someone rediscovers it, and the cycle of horror begins again.