What is it?[]
A canopic jar was created to serve as a prison, the jar has channels carved in the outside, flowing with liquid unicorn blood. Inside the jar, resides all the anima of the Rhoswen who were banished to the Niflheim following the First Great Divide of the Blood Heralds. They did not want any chance of them being free once more to destroy the balance they represent. Opening the jar will have disastrous results, as it would release these spirits. Anyone who had sworn the Rhoswen Accord, aka the Blood Herald initiation oath, could have become possessed at any point. Meanwhile, their essence would have been banished to the corrupting influence of the Niflheim.
Trefoil Academy gave the jar the nickname, the “boom boom cookie jar”. The jar is currently in possession of the Veks ever since the academy had managed to recover the jar. The Westgaards have made repeated attempts with the help of their allies to try to infiltrate the stronghold to recover it. They have failed thus far.
How did it come into existence?[]
Henry the 3rd of House Plantagenet had five children. His second son, Edmund Crouchback, was the first of the family to develop the the mage-gift. At this time, magical institutions in the area were not as quick to identify a youth with magic, and it was not unheard within mundane society to put to death those who were thought to be different
For all of Henry the 3rd’s peculiarities, he did love his offspring as much as a ruler could. Therefore, he set aside a swath of land called Lancaster to bundle the boy out of sight of those who might try to hunt him down.
Edmund Crouchback was a savvy young man but out his depths. As the second son of a king, there was naturally courtly intrigue that surrounded him. In exchange for support and structured training his otherwise unexplainable gifts, he agreed to join the ranks of the Blood Heralds. His number eventually became 975134.
975134 was also quite skilled at recruiting others to the Blood Herald ranks and took every opportunity to do so. This most advantageous given how the House of Lancaster would marry into other houses. These connections to other houses of influence proved quite useful to the Vek Bloodline.
House Lancaster was not the only regiment of Blood Heralds in the area though. There was also the rise of the House of York, who used the white rose to represent its own particular branch. While nowadays, the Blood Heralds are commonly associated with a red rose, the organization symbol is that of a bleeding rose because it is a sign that has been marked. Another name for the white rose is “the Death Rose” or in Gaelic, the Rhoswen.
For a while, the two Blood Herald regiments appeared to jostle for power. This merely orchestrated, and snickered heavily about behind sound proof wards. This was done to keep the rest of mundane society unaware how powerful both houses truly were. Then, one day, the infighting turned real.
The House of York grew too ambitious. They grew increasingly eager to lay claim to the Blood Heralds as their own rather than honor the Vek Bloodline’s claim. The tipping point with the Rhoswen Sect was when they imprisoned two young Blood Herald informants and future recruits in the Tower of London. The cur, Richard the III sold them out to the Kneppt Bloodline, an ally bloodline of the Westgaards, in exchange for aid. A line had been firmly crossed.
The House of Lancaster took up arms as the Vek Bloodline’s banner-man. So intense was the Blood Herald’s effort to eliminate the Rhoswen Sect that they enlisted the help of many mages and even mundanes to eliminate them. This event was remembered in history as the "The War of the Roses". Mundane society often believes that the "The War of the Roses" was an open conflict between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, and not realize it there was more to the story.
It was Henry Tudor, aka 975643, a Blood Herald who general oversaw the final defeat of those traitors. The Rhoswen were then systematically imprisoned in a canopic jar. The outside of the jar is a cartouche on it and a rose on the seal. Inside the jar, resides all the anima of the Rhoswen who were banished to Niflheim. They did not want to take the chance of them being free once more to destroy the balance they represent.
Now, the countryside had been subjected to a very long war, and much of the causation had to be concealed from the populace. To ease fears, 975643 adopted a white rose emblazoned on a red rose. It was taken to be an olive branch by those who did not know better. In reality, a bleeding rose is often used as a warning symbol of impending destruction to one’s mark. The reason the white rose is displayed as smaller on the red rose is because it is being consumed by the red rose.
With the Rhoswen eliminated, the Blood Heralds looked for ways of preventing this from ever happening again. The Rhoswen Accord was added to the initiation vow. Nothing in magic acts in isolation, words have power, and power always comes at a cost. To cast a magical vow of such magnitude, the Blood Heralds had to assume the risk of reverse possession. If the jar was ever opened for any reason, those who have sworn the vow would be able to be tracked down by the imprisoned entities and possessed.
Therefore, the Leader of the Blood Heralds at that time, 293821, had the jar secreted away and hidden within a tomb. Layers upon layers of protective traps, physical and magical, were applied. In addition to having the tomb guarded by a sphinx, a spell was added to keep the tomb's location hidden from anyone of had magic and was actively searching from it as well as an age restriction ward to stop individuals from entering into it.
Rhoswen Jar Threat[]
There are whispers among ancient texts that speak of a risky but powerful ritual that would be capable of destroying of the artifact, removing the corrupting force from Niflheim. Once the ritual has initiated, it must be completed. It is critically important that the ritual be followed to the letter or else the continents will be released.
Step 1: Four separate potions will need to be brewed. In order to brew them correctly, the ingredients will have to be added to the cauldron in reverse alphabet order. After each ingredient is added, the cauldron needs to be stirred 3 times.
The ingredients would need to be carefully mixed into the following potions:
· Eastern Eyes Potion
| 1 oz | Sun Chamomile |
| 1 sprig | Stellar Lavender |
| 3 sprig | Caledonian Heather |
| 1 sprig | Thyme Sprig |
| 4 oz | Leyline Water |
· Western Eyes Potion
| 1 oz | Pterippi Crocus |
| 1 bud | Ebon Jasmine |
| 4 sprigs | Stellar Lavender |
| 2 strand | Caledonian Heather |
| 1 oz | Bottled Aether |
· Southern Eyes
| 1 sprig | Lamb Thistle |
| 3 strand | Unicorn Mane Hair |
| 2 sprigs | Thyme Sprig |
| 2 sprigs | Sun Chamomile |
| 2 sprigs | Rosemary Sprig |
| 2 strands | Honeybind |
· Northern Eyes
| 2 bud | Ebon Jasmine |
| 1 petal | Mercurial Rose Petal |
| 2 sprig | Honeybind |
| 1 sprig | Hydra Yarrow |
| 10 grams | Primal Earth |
| 1 strand | Selkie Kelp |
Step 2: The following sign would need to be traced out
Step 3: Each assembled potion would have to be placed in its corresponding direction. A transference sigil attuned to the exact current location of the jar must be placed in the center of the sign.
Step 4: The following incantation would have to be read by eight people. Each person positions themselves and place their hands on the sigil and the incantation is read in unison:
Netherworld that I may see and drive away darkness, for I am a child of World tree.
I have come that I may see my ancestors and that I may cut out the heart of Seth who has harmed my father Osiris.
I am noble, I am an akh, I am equipped; O all you ahku, prepare a path for me.
My mouth has been given to me that I may speak with it.
My heart belongs to my ancestors.
Listen well, my heart, and do not stand up as a witness against me, do not be opposed to me in the tribunal, do not be hostile to me in the presence of the Keeper of the Balance.
It is indeed well that my heart should hear!
Those who intend me harm, get back!
Retreat!
Get back, you dangerous one!
Do not come against me, do not live by my magic.
The crocodile speaks: 'Your face belongs to determined. The sky encloses the stars, magic encloses its settlements, and my mouth encloses the magic which is in it. My teeth are a knife, my tusks are the Viper Mountain.
The deceased replied: 'O you with a spine who would work your mouth against this magic of mine, no crocodile which lives by magic shall take it away.
May I have power in my heart, may I have power in my arms, may I have power in my legs, may I have power in my mouth, may I have power over those who would harm me ... those who would harm me in the realm of the dead ... those who would give orders to harm me upon earth.
O door-keepers of the Netherworld who guard your portals, who swallow souls and who gulp down the corpses of the dead who pass you by when they are allotted to the House of Destruction...
Let my desire guide my wishes, may it open the portals for me, may the earth open its caverns to me, may it make me triumphant over my enemies. I know you and I know who I am