016 - I am John Galt

Ritual: I am John Galt

Cost: 2 significant charges.

Ritual Action: Take a fiction book (something at least 10,000 people would recognise by name ...so I guess a stapled together print-out of My Immortal counts) written within either your or the target’s lifetime and two mementos. The mementos may be from either your own or your target’s past (depending on whose lifetime the book was written in, you can mix and match if it applies to both) and representative of formative events in your lives: one traumatic and one constructive. Find a way to personalise the book incorporating both of them. It doesn’t have to be obvious, gluing a photograph inside of a dust cover or grinding a tchotchke into dust then using that in ink on a dedication or marginalia both work for example.

Gift the book to the target in a socially inappropriate way, it doesn’t have to make them uncomfortable but it should do so for someone aware of it. If they read all of it (no skimming) the ritual takes effect.

Yes, you can use the ritual on yourself.

Effect: On any success, the message of the book takes firm root in the target’s psyche and sprouts like kudzu. Exactly what the message entails is open to personal interpretation. One person could read Lord of the Flies and come away with a sense that the book is about how strong preying on the weak is the natural order or they could take it as a screed against tyranny of the majority. Their existing beliefs aren't a factor, merely what they believe the book represents. The target gains a pseudo-passion in line with this interpretation: once per session they may flip-flop or reroll a check relevant to it. It also seems perfectly natural for the new pseudo-passion to dominate their thinking and acting contrary to it will trigger Self checks (typically rank 4-6).

On a matched failure or fumble, the ritual seems successful but instead of bearing fruit the target picks up a mental disorder (as though they had maxed out failed notches in one of their gauges) related to the book not sitting right inside their head. Phobias, phillias, paranoia and delusions are the most common outcomes of a botched casting. The GM may wish to roll for the ritual in secret to hide the nature of the outcome.

In either case the effect is grounded within the book and lasts only as long as it remains in one piece and the target’s possession (for this purpose keeping it in their home or car or school/work locker counts as possession, they don’t need to carry it with them. If someone steals or borrows it or it ends up being thrown out with the trash that’s another matter). The disorder or pseudo-passion dissolves instantly when the effect ends, which may trigger stress checks on its own.