Amulet of Mnemosyne
Ritual · Vampire · Level 3
Careful lies and half-truths are amongst the most common and potent weapons a vampire has in her arsenal in the arena of politics. The right secret whispered at the wrong moment can shatter a sterling reputation and topple plans crafted over centuries. Locking away such secrets takes a good deal of will and a mastery of the art of deception. However, there are Disciplines and rituals that have the ability to pick thoughts from the head of an unsuspecting victim, force her to reveal secrets, or prevent her from lying at all.
A small chantry during the Regency era decided to devote their research to tackling this problem. Truth was a concept too powerful to completely remove from a subject’s mind. They could obfuscate or rewrite the memories, but there was always an element of the truth in the vessel. Once the thaumaturges realized that truth could be measured, a solution became obvious. The Amulet of Mnemosyne allows a subject to whisper a secret into the amulet and thus transfer the energy of the truth into the mystical shell.
System
The thaumaturge creates an amulet forged from brass and soaked in a pool of her blood. Next, she must recite the proper incantations over the amulet while
it is resting on an object that symbolizes the truth to the thaumaturge. Finally, the subject (who does not need to be the thaumaturge) must prick her lips, kiss the amulet, and then whisper her secret.
Once activated, this secret is completely removed from the mind of the subject until she reverses the ritual by again kissing the amulet. Memories are completely rewritten to account for the missing information. These new memories are generated by the power of the magic; neither the thaumaturge nor the subject has any control over the specific details.
Should the amulet be destroyed, the secret will return to the mind of the owner.
If a rival thaumaturge discovers the amulet, and knows or researches this ritual, he may attempt to learn the secret it contains. Holding the amulet to his ear, the rival thaumaturge engages the original caster in a contested Willpower roll. Should the rival thaumaturge win, the secret is implanted in his mind. The caster will feel uneasy as though something is wrong, but will not know the root cause as she has forgotten the secret.
The downside of this ritual is that the subject has no idea that the secret exists or that she has hidden it within the amulet. She will act as per her typical personality would
suggest, which could cause a number of complications. Ironically, by hiding the secret, the subject leaves herself vulnerable. For example, if the subject murdered the Prince’s child, she won’t know to be careful at court or to be watchful that others might have learned her secret.
A crafty thaumaturge will ensure that the amulet is placed in her hands after the danger in passed by mailing it to themselves or hiding it away with a trusted retainer with a note written in their own hands. Because of this, any thaumaturge who knows the ritual will flinch anytime she finds an Amulet of Mnemosyne, dreading the secret she might unlock.