The following is a list of
magical texts – by no means exhaustive – which date from the period of the
Roman Empire. These works are of use to those embroiled upon Cthulhu Invictus campaigns, but may also
be of interest to Investigators in any of the other canon periods of Mythos
adventuring.
Avesta
The sacred scrolls of the
Zoroastrians, the Avesta contains specifics
of the Persian gods and their worship. Although this work was damaged when
Alexander the Great sacked Persepolis, rumours speak of a second, pristine copy
somewhere in the Parthian Empire. The book is comprised of seven sections: the Yasna, which contains the sacred liturgy
and hymns of Zoroaster; the Visperad,
which supplements the Yasna; the Vendidad, which lists a variety of evil
spirits and ways to defeat them, including spells to fight disease and rituals
to cleanse everything from dead bodies to the stars in the sky; the Yashts, which include hymns dedicated to
individual deities; the Siroza, which
details 30 different deities; the Khordeh
Avesta, which serves as a book of prayers; and the Fragments, which cover material not included in any other section
of the Avesta.
Avestan; Zoroaster; c. 1400BCE; Sanity Loss 1D8/1D12; Cthulhu Mythos +10 percentiles; Occult
+15 percentiles; Medicine +15 percentiles; average 84 weeks to study and
comprehend.
Spells: Any the Keeper desires,
including 1D8 of the following: Augury;
Baneful Dust of Hermes Trismegistus; Bind Enemy; Cast Out Devil; Create
Bad-Corpse Dust; Curse of Darkness;
Detect Enchantment; Dust of Suleiman; Find Gate; Identify Spirit;
Imprison Mind; Powder of ibn-Ghazi; Unmask
Demon; View Gate; Voorish Sign; Warding; Warding the Eye.
Book of Apophis
These are papyrus scrolls which
provide instructions for fighting Apep, including a complete list of Apep’s
secret names. Its chapters include “Spitting
Upon Apep”, “Defiling Apep with the
Left Foot”, “Taking a Lance to Smite
Apep”, “Fettering Apep”, “Taking a Knife to Smite Apep”, and “Putting Fire Upon Apep”. Priests at the
temple of Amen-Ra in Thebes perform these rites daily on wax models and
drawings of Apep as a form of sympathetic magic.
Egyptian, in hieroglyphics;
author(s) unknown; c. 2,000BCE; Sanity Loss: 1D6/1D10; Cthulhu Mythos +4 percentiles; Occult +8 percentiles; average 30 weeks to study and
comprehend.
Spells: “Banish Apep”
*****
Apep – Great Old One
The Book of Apophis warns of Apep, the “Eater
of Souls”, who waits in the underworld beneath the western mountain Bakhu. The
living; the dead; even gods: Apep hungers for them all. A serpentine beast more
than 16 yards in length with a head made of flint, he blocks the underworld
river with his coils, trapping those who travel upon it and hypnotizing them
with his gaze. Then, while they stand still as statues, he devours them.
Those who resist Apep’s
gaze find themselves fighting not only the Eater of Souls, but the earth and
sky as well. The mountain quakes at Apep’s command, dropping boulders upon
them, and the ground cracks and splits beneath their feet. Thunderstorms roll
across the sky, turning the ground into an impassable mire if they try to run.
Even those warriors who bested Apep have struggled in vain; the next day the
great serpent rises again, hungry and waiting beneath Bakhu.
Although Apep’s cult is
small, Egyptians consider it a grave threat. While the Book of Apophis provides details about fighting Apep, including
spells and rituals to banish him, another unnamed book tells how to summon him
from his underground lair. Little more is known about the ritual for summoning
Apep, except a warning in the Book of
Apophis about “when the moon blocks
the sun and day turns to night”. To date, Apep’s cult hasn’t found the book
to summon him, but their members scour the known world for any trace of it. If
they ever find it, the Egyptians know they will call forth Apep and doom all
humanity.
Hypnotize Attack: If Apep succeeds in a POW
vs. POW roll on the Resistance Table, the victim is stunned for 1D4 rounds.
“The
Eater of Souls”
char.
|
value
|
char.
|
value
|
char.
|
value
|
STR
|
56
|
POW
|
30
|
Move
|
18
|
CON
|
60
|
DEX
|
22
|
HP
|
64
|
SIZ
|
67
|
APP
|
n/a
|
Magic Points
|
30
|
INT
|
20
|
EDU
|
n/a
|
SAN
|
n/a
|
Damage
Bonus: 7D6
Weapon: Bite 53%, 2D6+db
Armour: Apep is immune to all non-magical attacks
Spells Control Weather, plus any others which the Keeper
desires
SAN Loss It
costs 1D12/1D20 SAN to see Apep
*****
The Chuma Scrolls
This sheaf of five scrolls contains
information about the cult of Yibb-Tstll (known as “Chuma” to the sub-Saharan tribes).
It contains information about contacting and summoning the god, his blood, and
nightgaunts.
Egyptian,
in Hieratic; translated by unknown scribes from a sub-Saharan original; c. 1800BCE.
Sanity Loss 1D6/2D6; Cthulhu Mythos +8 percentiles; average 8
weeks to study and comprehend.
Spells: “Awaken Chuma” (Summon Yibb Tstll), “Call the Black Blood” (Black Blood), “Summon Child of Chuma” (Summon/Bind Nightgaunt),
and any others the Keeper desires.
G’harne Fragments
According
to the G’harne Fragments, The Chthonians, along with their leader Shudde M’ell,
come from a distant planet named Urakhu. In ancient times, a group of sorcerers
associated themselves with the worship of these beings and called their circle
the “Followers of Urakhu”. These evil magi based themselves in the lost city of
Irem (or Iram), which was quite well documented during the Roman period, and
tyrannised the local populace with their activities.
Copies
of the ‘Fragments which this cult uses, are based upon transcriptions
devised by an ancient shaman named Ashod, who directed his followers to the
locale where they built the city of Iram. In the process, they drove out a
civilisation of reptilian humanoids which retreated beneath the dunes and left
the wizards to their own devices. During the height of the Roman Civilisation,
Iram was ruled by a Grand wizard named Shaddad, until he overstepped his bounds
and doomed his empire forever.
One Follower of Urakhu
named Dabir, feared that the oral rendition of the G’harne Fragments originally created by Ashod would be lost, so he
captured an Assyrian scribe and forced him to transcribe the work as Dabir read
it aloud to him. The resulting work consists of three heavily-damaged scrolls,
stored in the library of Iram. When Iram (or Irem) is destroyed, it’s most
likely that, so too, are these scrolls.
Assyrian, in cuneiform; transcribed by an unknown Assyrian prisoner
from an Arabian translation; c. 980BCE; Sanity Loss 1D6/1D10; Cthulhu Mythos
+10 percentiles; average 12 weeks to study and comprehend.
Spells: “Converse with the Gods of the Earth” (Contact Chthonian); “Speak with a Genius of the Air” (Contact
Elder Thing); “Address the King of the
Earth Spirits” (Contact Shudde M’ell), “A
Barrier of the Earth’s Blood” (Red Sign of Shudde M’ell).
The Writings of Tacitus
"Inde consilium mihi ... tradere
... sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul habeo."
(“My purpose is to relate ... without
either anger or zeal, motives from which I am far removed.”)
-Tacitus
If Herodotus is often
referred to as the “Father of History”, then Tacitus can be said to be the
“Father of Historiography” (although he does owe a debt to Sallust who came
before him). He is known, not only for the histories which he compiled, but for
the method he adopted to do so: his prose is dense but spare, and never glosses
over the essential facts. He never acts as a cheerleader, loudly proclaiming
the might of the Empire and sweeping its defeats under the rug: in fact, his
material, discussing as it does the corrupting influences of politics and
power, can be roundly described as pessimistic.
Tacitus lived during the
reign of Domitian and comments briefly upon the decadence and corruption which
blighted that period; some have said that it was the tenor of those times which
caused Tacitus to become a “glass half empty” kind of reviewer. At all times
Tacitus appears to walk a neutral path: as often as he approves the decisions
of a particular emperor or general, he later castigates them without apology.
Tacitus wrote two major works in his
lifetime, along with three monographs (at least, these are what have survived
down to our time, although internal evidence would also seem to limit his
output to this handful). The two major works are the Histories and the Annals:
The monographs came first and were followed by the Histories and the unfinished Annals.
The works overlap each other: the “Agricola”
outlines a certain period, but the Histories
goes over the same terrain in greater – or different – detail. Even the
monographs themselves re-examine earlier material: the “Agricola” touches on the society of Germania in its scope, but the
later “Germania” invests more time on
the subject. The “Dialogus” is
tentatively considered to be the work of Tacitus: it is a more stylised work,
adopting the literary approaches of Cicero, and feels less “naturally
Tacitusian” than the rest of his work. Finally, the Annals covers a period before the Histories, but is unfinished: although earlier sections discuss the
area to be covered, Tacitus died before completing it. Today it is known as one
of the earliest secular histories to record the existence of Jesus Christ.
For the purposes of this list, it’s not
so much what’s in Tacitus’s works that’s of interest but what is not. Not all
of his works have survived and – despite knowing from the extant writings what
would have been discussed – there is a huge amount of space for keen keepers to
fill in the blanks. The monographs are more or less intact, but it’s the Annals and the Histories that will most suit Call
of Cthulhu players.
The Histories
was written before the Annals,
although it covers a period after the events of the later work. The intent of
the Histories was to cover the period from “The Year of Four Emperors” up until
the end of the rule of the Flavians. Only the first four books remain, along
with twenty-six chapters of the fifth book, taking the project up to the
suppression of the Great Jewish Revolt by Titus (the years 69-70). It is
believed that the work would have continued right up until the year 96, and the
death of the Emperor Domitian. Most of book five contains an ethnographic
overview of Roman attitudes towards the Jews and is considered an important record
nowadays.
Most scholars believe that the Annals contained at least sixteen books,
but books 7 to 10, parts of books 5, 6, 11 and 16 are missing. The book covers
the death of Augustus Caesar in 14AD, and the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula,
Claudius and Nero, probably up until the latter’s death in 68, in order to
connect nicely with the period covered in the Histories. The work was intended to contain a codicil covering the
life of Augustus Caesar and the founding of Rome, and some discussions of the
life and reigns of Nerva and Trajan, but these are absent.
So what could be slipped into the
blanks? How about this:
“It was a flaming sunset or late
afternoon in the tiny provincial town of Pompelo, at the foot of the Pyrenees
in Hispania Citerior. The year must have been in the late republic for the
province was still ruled by a senatorial proconsul instead of a praetorial
legate of Augustus, and the day was the first before the Kalends of November.
The hills rose scarlet and gold to the north of the little plain, and the
westering sun shone ruddily and mystically on the crude new stone and plaster
buildings of the dusty forum and the wooden walls of the circus some distance
to the east. Groups of citizens – broad-browed Roman colonists and
coarse-haired Romanised natives, together with the obvious hybrids of the two
strains, alike clad in cheap woollen togas – and sprinklings of helmeted
legionnaires and coarse-mantled, black bearded tribesmen of the circumambient
Vascones – all thronged the few paved streets and forum; moved by some vague
and ill-defined uneasiness. I myself had just alighted from a litter, which the
Illyrian bearers seemed to have brought in haste from Calagurris, across the
Iberus to the southward. It appeared that I was a provincial quaestor named L.
Caelius Rufus, and that I had been summoned by the proconsul, P. Scribbonius
Libo, who had come from Tarrago some days before. The soldiers were the fifth
consort of the XIIth Legion, under the military tribune Sex. Asellius...”
This of course is the Halloween dream
which H.P. Lovecraft shared with Frank Belknap Long in a letter dated 1929 and
which the latter used as the seed for his novella “The Horror From The Hills”, detailing the emerging abomination
that is Chaugnar Faugn. Keepers wishing to construct an adventure involving
this particular Great Old One, might wish to drop clues about it in an extremely-rare
early edition of Tacitus containing some of the missing sections...
“Auferre trucidare rapere falsis
nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.”
(“To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp
under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call
it peace.”)
-Tacitus, Agricola (“De Vita et Moribus Iulii
Agricolae”), 98 AD
“Germania”
This work describes the
Germanic tribes of the European mainland, including their religions, politics,
warfare, and culture. The Germania (Latin
title: De Origine et situ Germanorum)
is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire. The Germania fits within a classical
ethnographic tradition which includes authors such as Herodotus and Julius
Caesar. The book begins (chapters 1–27) with a description of the lands, laws,
and customs of the various tribes. Later chapters focus on descriptions of
particular tribes, beginning with those who lived closest to the Roman Empire,
and ending with a description of those who lived on the shores of the Baltic
Sea, such as the Fenni. Tacitus had written a similar, albeit shorter piece, in
his Agricola (chapters 10–13).
Latin; Tacitus; 98CE; Other Kingdom (Germania) +4 percentiles; Occult +2 percentiles; average four weeks to study
and comprehend.
Spells: None.
Historia Naturalis
In an impressive sheaf of
over a hundred scrolls written in the cramped handwriting of Pliny, this work
elucidates many aspects of what is known about the natural history of Europe, Asia,
and Africa.
Latin; Pliny the Elder; c. 40CE; No Sanity loss; Natural History +15
percentiles; Occult +5 percentiles;
average 25 weeks to study and comprehend.
Spells: None.
Mural of the Reptilian Residents
of the Nameless City
The paintings in this
series are of differing quality, obviously created over a long period. They
include depictions of the reptilian race founding the city, the cataclysm that
brought it to the surface, the arrival of the men who would build Iram (also
known as Irem), and the reptilian race’s retreat toward an underground
paradise. This work is of most use to scholars trying to understand the
pre-history of the world and the events that transpired to create the ruins
where these murals now stand.
No text; creator(s) unknown; date unknown; Sanity Loss 1D2/1D4; Cthulhu Mythos +3 percentiles; average two
weeks to study and comprehend.
Spells: None.
Pharmakeutria
Countless healers and magi
use this early medical treatise for guidance in creating and mixing potions. It
contains instructions for the alchemical process of creating Milk of the Dark Mother, a whitish
substance made from the secretions of Shub-Niggurath causing rapid growth,
early sexual maturity, and a variety of hideous mutations in plants. Its effect
on animals or people is unknown.
Greek; Theocritus; c. 310–250BCE; Sanity Loss 1/1D3; Cthulhu Mythos +3 percentiles; Occult
+3 percentiles; Potions +8 percentiles; average 15 weeks to study and
comprehend.
Spells: “Create Milk of the Dark Mother” (Contain the Black Goat’s Bile); “Speak with the Children of the Dark Mother”
(Contact Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath); “Call
the Dark Mother” (Contact Shub-Niggurath)
*****
The Black Goat’s Bile
While the milk produced by
Shub-Niggurath has myriad effects, not all of which have likely been observed,
this other substance has a range of capabilities which are listed within the
pages of the Pharmakeutria. It’s
likely this excretion of the Black Goat and its Dark Young is useful to it in
determining worthy worshippers and cult followers, and also to attack certain
enemies.
The Bile causes all
unevolved, or partly-evolved, living creatures to suddenly undergo full
metamorphosis. This applies to humans with the “Innsmouth Look”, those who have
made the Unspeakable Promise with Hastur, Fosterlings of the Old Ones,
incipient Ghouls, latent Spawn of Nyogtha, and all other similar creatures
whose destiny is to transform into something terrible.
Another effect of the Black
Goat’s Bile is to cause vegetable matter to spontaneously erupt into cancerous
rapid growth. There are no benefits to be gained from this use of the Bile –
all nourishing aspects of the plant matter are removed during the mutation and
the plants wither and rot away noisomely in short order.
The spell listed in the Pharmakeutria is not, in fact, a recipe
for the making of this effusion but rather a means of creating a vessel to
carry the substance. The Bile itself is produced by Shub-Niggurath and her Dark
Young, and may be offered up by them as part of a bargain with these monstrous
entities.
The caster must prepare a
beaker or other receptacle, ensuring that it has a leak-proof lid. This vessel
must be made of high-quality materials and then infused with all of the
caster’s Magic Points while they chant over it during the course of a single
night, during the dark of the moon. Once prepared, the container will hold the
Black Goat’s Bile in a potent state for a period of up to one month.
*****
Praesidia Finium (“Frontier Garrison”)
“...The barbarians were
wont to call out devils which they sent against us; they called them out from
the air and beneath the ground, and one such which they sent killed half a centuria of soldiers before falling to their
swords.”
-Brian Lumley, The Transition of Titus
Crow
The original version of this work was
written in 183 AD; some say the author was in fact the Roman governor, Quintus
Lollius Urbicus, however, certain occult scholarship claims that this
personality and the writer are two different individuals. It comprises the
account of mysterious events which took place during the Roman occupation of
Great Britain, in particular, the massacre of a winged being without a head in
the North Country near Hadrian’s Wall. The text also mentions, in passing, a
battle with a great, invisible dragon in the Severn Valley against troops led
by Marcus Quintus Laberius and an unexplained explosion that occurred near
York.
There are only two fragmentary copies
of the original Latin text: the more complete one is kept in the holdings of
the Wharby Museum in Yorkshire; the other resides in the Library at Miskatonic
University. The first English translation of this work was produced, in a
limited edition of only 50 copies, at a private press around 1703 and the only
two surviving copies of this run currently form part of the British Library
collection (one other copy was known to have been in the collection of Titus
Crow, prior to the destruction of his home). Roman scholarship almost
universally holds this work to be a clever fraud, defeated primarily by its
subject matter.
(Source: “An Item of Supporting Evidence”, Brian Lumley)
Latin; Q. Lollius Urbicus; 138AD; Sanity Loss 1d2/1d6; Cthulhu Mythos +4
percentiles; 3 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells:
None
English; Translator unknown; c. 1703; Sanity Loss 1/1d4; Cthulhu Mythos +3
percentiles; 2 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells:
None
Frontier Garrison
“…And with fifty of our Brotherhood
torn and dead beneath the bloody light of Evening’s glow, we thanked the Gods
for our victory; then we set to, to build a pyre on which to roast the hewn and
steaming gobbets of our foe. For as the mad Pict had warned, if his tribe could
but find the corpse, by Dawn’s pallid rays the beast would rise again to ravin
in the wilds once more. Beneath the hither shadow of the Wall, we consigned it
to its foul, unmarked grave…”
-Frontier
Garrison
This edition - typical of many of the
Golden Goblin’s catalogue - is a high quality work redolent of the
book-production values espoused by William Morris and his set. The text is
supported by sixteen detailed woodcut prints and the pages are heavily bordered
in scrollwork of black and red. Only three of the plates show the monster;
however, possibly due to an error in the translation, or maybe due to a whim on
the illustrator’s part, the artist has chosen to depict the creature at all
times as a typically medieval demon with its face obscured by foliage, or other
elements of the scenery, rather than ‘headless’. This translation is quite at
variance with the original text, dropping the dragon encounter and the
explosion report, and is shot through with paraphrases and additions, never
claiming the events described therein to be factual in the least but rather, a
whimsical and eerie tale.
English; Unknown translator; Golden
Goblin Press, 1911; Sanity
Loss 0/1d2; Cthulhu Mythos +2 percentiles; 1 week to study and
comprehend
Spells:
None
Sapientia Maglorum
“Ostanes” is, most likely, not a single
individual, but rather a conflation of several magical authors. In much the
same way that many ancient texts were attributed to “Aristotle” in translation,
or “Hermes Trismegistus”, the false attribution has become a kind of shorthand
for the phrase “author unknown”. It’s likely that there was an ‘Ostanes’ at one
time, but that the amount of occult literature attributed to him is much less in
quantity than it would seem.
These powerful scrolls record a
lifetime of occult learning. This compendium of dark and arcane sorcery can be
very dangerous for the uninitiated to read, not least because it includes a
spell to contact Azathoth.
Pehlevi;
“Ostanes”; c. 6th century BCE; Sanity Loss 1D4/1D8; Cthulhu Mythos +5
percentiles; Occult +5 percentiles; average 20 weeks to study and
comprehend.
Spells: “Hide
the Soul” (Apportion Ka), “Consign an
Enemy to the Flames” (Banishment of Yde Etad),
“Beseech Charon”, “Summon a Sandstorm” (Bring
Haboob), “Bring Forth the Daemon Sultan!” (Call/Dismiss Azathoth), “Speak with the Oracle of the Green Flame!”
(Call/Dismiss Tulzscha), “A Rite to
grant Wisdom” (Chant of Thoth), “Garb
Oneself with Flames!” (Cloak of Fire),
“The Daemon Sultan’s Doom” (Dread Curse
of Azathoth), “Create a Magical Beacon” (Enchant Brazier), “A Wicked Curse” (Evil Eye), “A Powerful Spell to Harm One’s Enemies” (Eye of Light and Darkness), “To Remove
Obstacles” (Parting Sands), “The
Thrall of Sekmenkenhep” (Sekmenkenhep’s
Words), “Summon a Flying Steed!” (Summon/Bind
Byakhee), “Protection from Wicked Curses” (Warding the Eye), and any others the keeper desires.
A corrupted Greek translation by the
Samaritan sorcerer Dositeheus also exists. It contains fewer spells, which are
more likely to be unfinished, and has incomplete passages and damaged pages.
Grammatically
poor Greek; Dositeheus; c. 6th Century BCE; Sanity
Loss 1/1D3; Cthulhu Mythos +2 percentiles; Occult +4
percentiles; average 20 weeks to study and comprehend.
Spells: “Hide
the Soul” (Apportion Ka), “Summon a
Sandstorm” (Bring Haboob), “Bring
Forth the Daemon Sultan!” (Call Azathoth,
but not Dismiss Azathoth), “Create
a Magical Beacon” (Enchant Brazier),
“Protection from Wicked Curses” (Warding
the Eye).
Scroll of Thoth-Amon
For unknown reasons –
certainly unusual ones, given what’s known of his character - the Samaritan
Simon of Gitta is believed to have destroyed the only copy of this profane work
in 41 CE. Rumour has it however, that scribes at the Temple of Ptah produced a
copy (or perhaps several copies) of it and relocated them to Thebes where they
were hidden. Most scholars of any credibility think that these rumours are
simply that and are grounded more in wishful thinking than in fact; however, we
all know that “credible thinkers” tend to gravitate towards the middle ground
of reasonableness and ignore distinct possibility. These scrolls are among the
most mysterious and powerful works in the ancient world: they include spells for
contacting Nyarlathotep in his guise as Set, and for bringing forth demons to
serve the bidding of the caster.
Egyptian, in hieroglyphs; Thoth-Amon; c. 10,000BCE; Sanity Loss 1D4/1D8; Cthulhu Mythos +10 percentiles; Occult
+6 percentiles; average 15 weeks to study and comprehend.
Spells: “To See as far as the
Aten” (Augury), “To Invoke the Wisdom
of Thoth” (Chant of Thoth), “To Send
Confusion to Your Enemies” (Cloud Memory),
“A Curse to Smite Your Enemies” (Curse of
the Stone), “Request an Audience with Set” (Contact Nyarlathotep), Call Upon an Emissary of the Gods” (Summon/Bind Child of the Sphinx), “The
Touch of Anubis” (Wither Limb), “The
Scourge of Horus” (Wrack), and any
others the keeper desires.
Sibylline Oracles
"estai
kai SamoV ammoV, eseitai DhloV adhloV"
-Sibylline Prophecy
These scrolls, comprising a
total of 12 books, are a detailed description of the prophecies of the oracle
at Cumae. They’re disjointed and hard to understand, even for those with
knowledge of the oracles. This work includes information about contacting Hermes,
the Greek manifestation of Nyarlathotep.
Greek; Heraclitus; c. 7th century BCE; Sanity Loss 1D4/1D8; Cthulhu Mythos +5 percentiles; Occult
+8 percentiles; average 30 weeks to study and comprehend.
Spells: “Consult the Omens” (Augury), “Baneful Dust of Hermes
Trismegistus”, “Speak with Hermes, Thrice-Wise” (Contact Nyarlathotep), “Speak in Tongues of Flame” (Candle Communication), “To See Afar” (Create Scrying Window), “Mystic Fire” (Enchant Brazier), (Enthrall Victim), “Name a Shade” (Identify Spirit), and any others the keeper desires.
Tilsimati
This work consists of carved tablets
detailing the creation of amulets to protect against evil, particularly from an
undesirable fate written in the Tablet
of Destinies. The amulets are created by carving arcane images and
shapes on cylindrical or flat seals. A Greek scholar in Seleucia is/was working
on a translation of the Tilsimati
using the only known copy.
Sumerian,
in cuneiform; author(s) unknown; c. 4th millennium BCE; Sanity
Loss 1D3/1D6; Occult +4 percentiles; average 20 weeks to study and
comprehend.
Spells: Create Amulet, plus any others the
keeper desires.
Tuscan Rituals
“Pliny, in his Natural History, mentions the Tuscan Rituals,
books containing the liturgy of Summanus, Monarch of Night and the Terror That
Walketh in Darkness. The cult of this deity is surrounded with mystery and
fear. His temple stood near the Circus Maximus, and St. Augustine says that his
worshippers were few, the fact being that this horrid cult was conducted with
such secrecy that even the most curious antiquarian inquirer could ascertain no
particulars ... Martianus Capella, a native of North Africa, explicitly says
that Summanus is lord of hell. Assuredly then in the worship of Summanus we
have sheer demonolatry.”
-Montague Summers, Witchcraft & Black Magic
In Rome, Summanus was worshipped as a
kind of dark Jupiter, controller of the night sky and wielder of the
thunderbolt. Its holy day was June the 20th and at that time its
worshippers enacted certain rites and ate special wheel-shaped, red cakes. The
temple at the Circus Maximus is said to have been built in the 3rd
Century BC, and its reputation as a place of evil stems from that time;
nowadays, its exact location is unknown. A modern cult to this being still
exists today and there are also cults to it in the Dreamlands. The Tuscan Rituals is a collation of all
rites dedicated to this Old One, and its exact date of writing is unknown (Pliny
gives the earliest mention of it). The text is written in the local “low”
language rather than Latin, indicating perhaps the lower class origins of the
organised worship of this being.
(Source: Brian Lumley, “What Dark God?”)
Italian;
unknown author(s); c. 40CE; Sanity Loss 1/1d3; Cthulhu Mythos +2
percentiles; 3 weeks to study and comprehend
Spells: “To Divine the Will of Summanus” (Augury); “To
Speak with the Dark God” (Contact Summanus); “To Banish a Demon” (Curse
of Darkness); “To Bind a Demon” (Imprison Mind)
*****
Roman era Spells
The spells which were of use in the Roman
era are quite different from those in use in other time periods, and certainly
with very different concerns. Individual Keepers may rule that these spells “no
longer work” if it suits them to do so; certainly there is enough precedent in
Mythos Tome Lore to make this ruling.
Augury
Range: n/a; Duration: Instantaneous; Cost:
1 MP; Sanity Loss: 1D3; Resistance: No
This spell allows Roman augurs to predict
the future. Before casting this spell, the auger must determine what form of
augury (ex caelo, ex avibus, ex
tripudiis, ex quadrupedibus, or ex
diris) is most appropriate. He then must carry out the ritual by making a Science (Augury) skill check. If
successful, the augur receives a vague glimpse of the future. These can often
be interpreted in multiple ways. For example: an augur trying to predict the outcome
of a major battle between the Legion and a Celtic tribe might glimpse a vision
of battered and bloody centurions returning to Rome; that could be interpreted
to mean that the Legions will lose and limp back home, or, on the other hand,
might be seen as a portent that victory will be hard-fought. A successful Know roll might help an augur understand
an uncertain vision.
This spell is only usable once a week. If
the augur sees a creature or event that would result in Sanity loss under normal circumstances, he loses the same amount
that he would have lost in a face-to-face encounter.
Awaken
Chuma
Range: n/a; Duration: Instantaneous; Cost:
8 MP; Sanity Loss: 1D8; Resistance: No
To bring Chuma, the sub-Saharan
manifestation of Yibb-Tstll, from the Dreamlands to the waking world, the
casters must gather in a circle around an image of the god during the early
hours of the evening and under an open sky. The spell requires a living
sacrifice. The sacrifice need not be human, but must have a POW of at least 10.
As the spell is cast, the image begins to revolve; all who witness it must make
a Sanity roll (1D3/1D6). As the spell progresses, the image spins faster and faster.
At the same time, Yibb-Tstll’s blood floats down from the sky and covers the
sacrifice, draining 1 POW from it every 30 minutes. When the victim’s POW
reaches zero, he falls unconscious and Yibb-Tstll manifests over his body.
Banish
Apep
Range: n/a; Duration: 1 Day; Cost: 10
MP; Sanity Loss: 1D4/1D6; Resistance: No
This ritual must be performed in a very
precise order. After crafting a wax model or making a small drawing of Apep,
the caster must first spit upon the effigy while extolling the power of Ra.
While still exalting the sun god, the caster grinds the effigy under his left
heel, stabs it with a spear, ties it with a leather strap, slices it with a
knife, and tosses the mutilated remains into a fire. He must continue his litany
of Ra’s powers and deeds until the likeness of Apep is reduced to ash. Apep has
been banished to the land of the dead, and this spell keeps him there. It also
affects his followers, each of whom suffers 1D8 points of damage if within a
one-mile radius of the casting.
Beseech
Charon
Range: n/a; Duration: Instantaneous; Cost:
12 MP; Sanity Loss: 1D10; Resistance: No
This spell must be cast at night in a
gateway or archway. By his casting, the magus reaches out and contacts Charon,
the keeper of the way over the River Styx in the underworld. Charon is an
avatar of Yog-Sothoth, and contacting the avatar invites Yog-Sothoth into the
caster.
Black
Blood
Range: Sight; Duration: Instantaneous; Cost:
3 MP; Sanity Loss: 1D4; Resistance: No
With a successful casting of this spell,
the magus summons forth the blood of Yibb-Tstll to rain from the sky and
suffocate his target. The caster must keep the target in his sight for the
duration of the casting, which takes 15 minutes.
Create
Amulet
Range: n/a; Duration: Permanent (see below); Cost: 5 MP; Sanity Loss:
1; Resistance: No
Before a sorcerer can cast this spell, he
must craft an amulet from a semi-precious stone. Each type of stone has its own
unique properties that influence the amulet’s specific powers, as do the images
carved into it. After creating the talisman, the sorcerer must sacrifice
something of value to the person who will wear the amulet. Then, the spell is
cast.
When the enchanted amulet is either worn
about the neck as a pendant or carried in a pouch, it can be used to summon the
aid of a supernatural guardian once per day. This guardian can mitigate five
points of damage or increase the wearer’s POW by 3 for one hour.
Create
Curse Tablet
Range: Touch; Duration: Special; Cost:
5 MP; Sanity Loss: 1D2; Resistance: Yes
To create a curse tablet, a sorcerer must
have access to a lead tablet, which he then inscribes with the desired curse
and buries in an underground chamber or tomb. Merely burying the thing in a hole
in the ground is insufficient; an existing subterranean structure must be used.
The curse must be written in either Greek or Oscan; Latin won’t suffice.
Further, the caster must chant while inscribing and burying the tablet. After
he buries the tablet, the caster makes a POW vs. POW roll against the curse’s
intended victim on the Resistance Table. If the caster is successful, the
victim suffers the effects of the curse.
If the victim is successful, the curse
has no effect. The nature of the curse must involve fortune or money. A curse
cannot kill someone outright, but instead damages his business or livelihood. A
curse is permanent unless the lead tablet is removed from its burial place. The
instant it’s removed, the curse is lifted. The victim doesn’t have to be the
one to remove the tablet from the ground; anyone can do it, even unwittingly.
To re-enact the curse, the chants must be repeated while the tablet is
reburied.
Evil
Eye
Range: Sight; Duration: 1 Day; Cost: 3
MP; Sanity Loss: 1; Resistance: Yes
Rarely found in tomes, sorcerers instead
pass this ancient spell from one to the next through the oral tradition.
The Evil Eye curses its victim, bringing
misfortune and bad luck. While under its influence, the victim has no more than
half chance to succeed at any roll regardless of other modifiers. When the
spell is cast, the victim can make an opposed POW vs. POW roll (his own against
the caster’s) on the Resistance Table to resist the effects. A given magus may
only afflict one person at a time with the Evil Eye.
Summon/Bind
Child of the Sphinx
Range: n/a; Duration: 5 min. per MP Cost; Cost:
1 MP per 10 percentiles of success to summon; Sanity Loss: 1D3+creature 0/1D8; Resistance: Yes
Dating to pre-dynastic Egypt, this spell
allows the caster to summon a Child of the Sphinx — an anthropomorphic animal
construed as the Egyptian gods Ra, Thoth, and so on. In truth, Children of the Sphinx
are avatars of Nyarlathotep.
Spending the MP and succeeding, a Child
of the Sphinx rises from the sands in 2D10 game minutes. Surviving the Sanity
test, the caster must bind it to his will or his life could be forfeit. To
exert his control, the caster must oppose the Child’s MP with his own on the
Resistance Table. If the caster fails, the Child is free to do as it wishes,
which will most likely culminate in the caster’s death. This spell can only be
used to control one Child at a time.
