Post by Hematite on Jul 11, 2014 11:48:51 GMT
Koldunic Sorcery
This ancient magic is one of the oldest forms of blood magic that vampiric kind has ever known. Only the secret magics of the Assamites (before they merged with Dur-An-Ki) are older. However, while the Assamites always kept their magics secret and subtle in the early nights, the Tzimisce of the ancient world walked openly as powerful elemental sorcerers. Before the onset of Vicissitude, their penchant for magic was so great that their first sobriquet was the Mystics. Only with the coming of Vicissitude in the early nights of the Roman Empire did they acquire the new nickname of Fiends.
What is Koldunic Sorcery?
Koldunic Sorcery is an elemental magic, based on the principle of the 5 Platonic elements: earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. Koldunic theory states that these 5 aspects together make up all magic that exists. They look down on all other forms of magic as lesser ways that cannot truly capture that essence. Koldunic Sorcery taps into the elemental heart of all of the natural world and twists that power to their own ends.
Outside observers speak of the Kolduns channeling power from the Umbra and the spirits. However, Kolduns themselves would never use such terminology. They say that their magic is drawn from the power of the elements of the natural world. Their paradigm has no concept of a separate spirit world. To the Kolduns, spirits are rampant everywhere, a very real part of the world around them. These spirits are mostly dormant but may be awakened and summoned by certain manipulation of the proper elements. Needless to say, Kolduns are most comfortable dealing with elemental spirits, though other Gaian spirits can be contacted. Kolduns will sometimes refer to the spirits they deal with as demons, though this is a more modern (for modern, read middle-ages) perversion as Christian influence spread into the lands of the Tzimisce in Eastern Europe. These are not demons in any sense (though some may be banes). The spirits of Koldunic sorcery are Umbral spirits. The Tzimisce simply have a different way of looking at them.
A Brief History of Koldunism
The early beginnings of Koldunic Sorcery were developed shortly after the fall of the Second City when the clans began to scatter. A small group of young Tzimisce (in this age read 5th and 6th generations for “young”) began to envy the power of their elders, and in lieu of plotting to steal it from them via diablerie, they looked for alternate sources of power. If their weakened blood would not make them their elders’ equal, perhaps the power of the earth itself would.
Now many in these early nights had minor magical tricks of their own, but these Tzimisce were among the first (other than as has been said before, the Assamites) to make a true study of it when it did not come innately such as with the Cappadocians. They spent decades in heated study of the way the elemental forces of the world interacted with each other and how to control those primal forces. They believed that since everything in nature was made up of the 5 basic elements, that controlling those elements would allow them to control nature itself.
Over many years these Tzimisce experimented and studied, attempting to bring the primal forces of the world under their control. But something always eluded them. They became quite powerful with more tricks, but it wasn’t what they were looking for and they knew it.
Then they found it. A specific land that had the primordial connection they needed to fuel their powers. These first Kolduns tapped the power of this land and became changed by it in turn. The earth was rich and vital, and they bent it to their will. The mountains had strong connections to air and fire and they bent that to their will too. The rivers and seas were wild and primal, and they made those theirs as well. Binding them all together, the spiritual resonance of this land was stronger than anything they had ever experienced, and allowed them to forge an innate connection with the 5th element of spirit.
In this land they enslaved the lesser spirits they found, and made pacts with greater entities to twist the land to match their nature. Under their influence, the land beyond the forest grew into a dark and twisted place, full barely restricted power and primal energies. They took the earth of this place into themselves and from this power could work their magic anywhere.
Who Or What Is Kupala?
Perhaps the greatest of the entities the ancient Kolduns compacted with was known as Kupala. This ancient force had soaked itself into the land the Tzimisce were tapping for their power. No one is quite sure whether Kupala powers their magic, or their magic powers Kupala, or indeed which one came to that land first. However it is undoubtedly connected with Koldunic Sorcery on a primal level, whatever it is. None have ever spoken directly with Kupala since the nights of those first Kolduns, and the name has only survived in a few vague accounts left behind.
If you want to know the truth about Kupala, click on the spoiler below. This is not necessary information to play a Koldun, as most Kolduns don’t know this information. These are answers purely for OOC completeness.
Kupala is an ancient Earthbound Demon, one of the great Sleepers who escaped bondage in Hell by binding himself to the Land Beyond the Forest. It is unknown exactly when Kupala came to that land (it certainly could have existed elsewhere before and moved its reliquary) but it certainly awoke briefly during the time that the first Kolduns were practicing their new art. It’s precise relationship with Koldunism is not clear. Koldunism is definitely not Infernal in origins, nor does it tap any infernal energies. However, Kupala’s presence in the land the Tzimisce tapped so readily certainly influenced the direction their magic took. Whereas once they might have wanted only to influence and channel these primal forces, the taint of Kupala twisted the magic into one of violent displays of force and direct mastery over the earth.
State of Koldunism in the Sabbat
Koldunic Sorcery played an important role in the Sabbat from the very beginning. Before the Anarch Revolt, in the early nights of the Tzimisce war with the Tremere, the Kolduns were the all important weapon that kept the Usurpers from victory in the Tzimisce homelands. This led to more and more young Tzimisce at the time learning the Koldunic arts to better fight their hated foe. Koldunic Sorcery has always been an art for the young, a means of exercising direct power, direct control in a way most elders feel is rather beneath them.
This set the stage such that when the Anarch Revolt really began to gather steam, there were a great number of young Kolduns among the Tzimisce Anarchs who wanted to glory in their power, sick of the leashes of their Carpathian elders who had forbid them from pursuing the Tremere further and seeking bloody revenge with fire and lightning. These Kolduns were the necessary power behind much of the early Sabbat, allowing them the time to organize free from Tremere purges.
However, the inclusion of House Goratrix in the Sabbat pushed the Kolduns a bit to the rear of things. The magic of the Tremere Antitribu was far more versatile and far more practical for daily use, particularly for the subtler tasks that became more and more necessary as the world moved out of the medieval and into the Renaissance. Though the Kolduns were willing (though not cheaply) to share their arts, the Hermetic magic of the Tremere was easier to master, and generally seen as more useful. Besides, Koldunic sorcery just had a more than slightly unwholesome feeling to it.
As time progressed, Koldunism became largely seen as old world magic, a remnant of a past age and fell mostly out of fashion. It was still practiced by hardliners in the Tzimisce, though more for tradition than other reasons. Gradually less and less even among the young Tzimisce wanted to spend the time to learn the ancient magic. Many found its wild and uncontrolled nature quite at odds with the Tzimisce obsession with beauty and perfection.
Then in 1999, all of the Tremere Antitribu went up in flames. This rocked the Sword of Caine to its core. If the Pyramid of the Camarilla could do that, what else could they do? They had long said they would eliminate anyone who took the magic they had so rightfully stolen from others. After this event, magic within the Sabbat took on a great deal more fear. However at the same time, many of those who had previously had no interest in the discipline magic required became curious. This was clearly an extremely dangerous source of power, but if it could accomplish feats like that…
Many young Tzimisce also took this as a sign that in the absence of the Tremere antitribu (whom they had never really gotten on with in the first place) now was the time for the old to return. A huge resurgence of interest in Koldunic Sorcery spread through the young Sabbat Tzimisce. Unfortunately, it existed in such a sorry state within the Sabbat, that finding the necessary instruction was easier said than done. However enough practitioners remained that slowly it began to spread once again.
These nights, Koldunic Sorcery is by far the most commonly practiced magic in the Sabbat. The young (mostly Tzimisce, but it has begun to spread among other clans as well) are as always driving the resurgence. Officially the Sabbat sees Koldunic Sorcery as a mighty art from the past, come again to help their crusade against the ancients. A few voices within the Inquisition pointed out how close it really is to Infernalism, but those voices were very swiftly silenced. The powers that be decided that the power Koldunic Sorcery can offer to the Sabbat is far more important than any ideological misgivings.
Learning Koldunism
Learning Koldunic Sorcery is more involved than learning another discipline. No one can learn a Way of Koldunic Sorcery without use of the ritual The Ties that Bind. This ritual attunes the new Koldun to the ancient pacts that were made all those centuries ago, allowing him to tap the primal energies of the world. As such, those who want to restrict the knowledge they hold are doing a very good job of keeping that particular ritual rare, and is NEVER shared outside the Tzimsice clan even if knowledge of Koldunic Sorcery is.
In general, it is not that hard to acquire tutoring in the Koldunic arts, though any prospective student should expect to find themselves deeply in debt to a Tzimisce for the privilege. Any Tzimisce found teaching Koldunic Sorcery too cheaply will quickly find themselves being “chastised” for the good of the clan.
General System
All Koldunic Sorcery operates on the same basic system. Each Way has an associated Attribute, and all rolls of that Way are made with that Attribute + Occult at a difficulty of 3 + the level of the power. This roll is always made using the Koldun’s natural Attribute, not including any bonuses from blood expenditure, transformation, or any other effect. Rituals are activated with a roll of Intelligence + Occult, similarly at a difficulty of 3 + the ritual level. If the Koldun does not possess the Koldunism specialty of Occult (which is usually part of the basic training as a Koldun), he suffers a further +1 difficulty on all rolls to activate any Way or Ritual of Koldunic Sorcery. Unless mentioned otherwise, all rituals take the standard time of 5 minutes per level.
Power Source - Blood, Earth or Umbra?
Koldunic Sorcery is quite different from Thaumaturgy in the fact that the power involved does not come from the Koldun himself. The Koldun is tapping into a raw and primal power through barely understood spiritual conduits. It isn’t as simple as the spirit compacts of Dur-An-Ki either, though it certainly involves Umbral energies (though as mentioned earlier, no Koldun would ever use that term).
All uses of a Way of Koldunic Sorcery do cost blood. However, this blood is not so much a power source as a trigger, a small energy to open a much larger conduit which truly powers the magic. Because of this, the blood does not need to come from the Koldun. Some see it as a sacrifice to the spirits (or to Kupala), some as a catalyst. In any case, the blood spent for Koldunic Sorcery must actually be shed, not merely spent internally. However this shed blood can come from another sacrificial victim, including mortals or even animals. It is a sacrifice of life energy to gain access to the primal conduit. The blood shed burns up before it ever hits the ground and as such no samples are left afterwards.
Spirit Primer (Spirits vs. Demons vs. Leleks)
Throughout Koldunic Sorcery descriptions, the entities they deal with are alternately called Spirits, Demons and Leleks. In truth they are Umbral spirits, and primarily elemental ones (though the greatest affinity of Koldunic Sorcery is to corrupted bane elementals). However, as mentioned earlier, Kolduns see the spirits in a very different way than the standard Umbral paradigm. Their cosmology has no place for a divided world. They see the spirits as a vital part of this world, the conduits through which the mystic energy of the world flows. In some ways they are correct, while in others they are far off. Spirits do have a presence in the material world, even while existing in the Penumbra. It is that imprint that Kolduns draw upon to use their most iconic art, the Way of Spirit.
Even those Kolduns who have studied with other magical paradigms and thus now understand the concept of the Umbra still do not channel such knowledge into their magic. Koldunic Sorcery simply wasn’t designed to account for a divided world and the paradigm cannot incorporate the idea properly.
Any references to Demons is a corruption of the language from the nights when Christianity was running rampant and declaring all of the old religions to be demonic. References to Leleks are only local flavour to the term. Spirits are what Kolduns deal with.