Rites & Rituals

The Tremere know that Anarchs have duplicated their Encrypt Missive ritual (see pp. 145-146), but they are thus far unaware of the unique modifications the Punk Sorcerers have made to it. The basic application of this ritual allows the sorcerer to leave a message in the form of graffiti which can only be understood by readers who meet certain criteria. The sorcerer’s message may be visible to any Kindred, to any Anarch, or to specific individuals. That much is known. What the Tremere do not realize is that the placement matters as much as the message, for if a punk sorcerer uses this ritual to tag a particular location — specifically a place which the sorcerer has vandalized in some way and which belongs either someone he perceives as an authority figure (whether the Prince or the mortal government) or someone he personally perceives to be an enemy — the ritual has a secondary effect that makes it easier to perform other punk magic at the scene.

System

The graffiti message will last until it is removed and its true meaning will be visible to any intended target for that time. To trigger the secondary effect, the sorcerer (and any allies he brings) must actually vandalize the area and then leave a message taunting some figure of authority. This message may or may not have a hidden meaning in it, but it must somehow identify the sorcerer, either by his commonly used identity or by a regularly used alias which is known to whichever local authority figures might be expected to visit the scene. For one hour per success, the difficulty of all rituals and path effects executed by the

sorcerer within sight of the graffiti is reduced by 1 if the graffiti incorporates an alias or by 2 if it reveals a name by which the sorcerer is personally known by the authorities.

Some punk sorcerers leave hidden messages visible only to specific vampires like the Sheriff or Prince, and then use the benefits provided by Calling Card to cast delayed action rituals as traps triggered whenever he reads the hidden message. The BFU ritual, for example, is designed explicitly for this purpose.