For several reasons, this "spell" will take several posts to hash out, not least of which is my unwillingness to write the whole thing down at one time. I've made this thread so we can hash it out in peace without unduly cluttering or bumping my own game thread, and also as a potential home for other complex rituals I may cook up in the future.
This ritual is concerned with the creation of a Discordian holy-symbol, something that will proclaim the power of Eris to any and all who see it - or else just confuse them, which amounts to the same thing. As near as I can tell, no one has ever done this before. There are plenty of symbols and signs associated with the Faith, of course, but no one as taken to blessing one of them and wearing it around his neck. Since I'm breaking new ground - and because V-me has very little else that's interesting to do with his time - the whole thing is going to be as long, as involved, and as complicated as he can make it. It will be absolutely riddled with symbolism and bogus numerology.
Riddled, I say.
In any case, the core of the finished symbol will be five wingnuts, which will undergo various transmutations and so forth over the course of the ritual; by the end, each wingnut will supposedly contain the summoned essence of one of the five elements (Sweet, Boom, Pungent, Prickle, and Orange). The whole thing will take twenty-three days and will happen in five phases. Twenty-three is a number of power (2+3=5), and the five phases mirror the five seasons of the Discordian year (Chaos, Discord, Confusion, Bureaucracy and Aftermath). The first day of the ritual must be a Setting Orange (the fifth day of the five-day Discordian week), so that each subsequent day falls on the most auspicious day of the week for its particular piece of the performance.
The phases follow:
1) Declaration of Intent. One day. The Pope declares his intention before Eris of creating a tangible symbol of Confusion in general and Eris in particular. Activities include personal purification, disambiguation of the Pope from a cabbage or something, ranting, getting Eris's attention in the first place, and preparations for later rituals.
2) Invocation of the Elements. Five days (one per wingnut). The Pope imbues each wingnut in turn with the essence of a different element, giving each the life, vitality, and individual identity necessary for the later steps. Activities include personal purification, preparation of the ritual space, calling upon the elements, transmutation of the wingnut(s), and sequestering each finished wingnut in a special container (in which it will remain, in meditation, for one week).
3) Emergence, Introductions and Attuning. Five days. As the wingnuts complete their five-day periods of meditation (staggered, of course, one wingnut per day), the Pope introduces them each to himself and to each other, taking time to get to know them and for everyone to become comfortable with everyone else. Activities include naming each wingnut, group games, social mealtimes, one-on-one interaction with each wingnut, and bedtime stories.
4) Binding and Formal Affirmations. Eleven days (one day ritual, ten days affirmation). The Pope performs a ritual of unification, binding the five wingnuts together and formalizing their connection to himself. He then makes this Official by filling out and filing an ever-escalating series of forms. Activities include complex transmutations, convoluted symbolic reasoning, tedious hand-copying, repetitive compulsory song, and overuse of paper clips.
5) Dissolution and Emancipation, or, "Screw You Guys." One day. The Pope gets thoroughly sick of forms, the wingnuts, and unity in general. He breaks apart the wingnuts' bindings, discards said wingnuts, and seeks wisdom in solitude. The Holy Symbol is completed when he returns to the wingnuts and once again collects them - this time without all that silly business about eternal, inseparable bonds. Activities include mistreatment of official forms, breaking things, sulking, eating hot dog buns, and awkwardly making up.
That's the overview. I think I'll hit each section in detail in separate posts. In terms of mechanics, I'm interested in defining this thing's time factor. I haven't gone through and made an account of how long I spend each day on actual ritual, but I imagine it will average somewhere between one and three hours per day (23 to 69 hours total). As a player, I'm hoping I get full credit for the twenty-three days, but as a referee, I'm hoping to get some insight into adjudicating this kind of situation.
