Rituals

Rituals are journeys into the timeless Otherworld of the gods, often called the Gods War since their conflicts are a common feature. A single individual—the quester—assumes the identity of a deity and attempts to recreate the deity's actions. If the quester succeeds, he can harness huge supernatural powers for the good of the clan. If the quester fails, he risks death and bad consequences for the clan.

Preparing for a Ritual

Rituals are expensive and risky, although the rewards can be more than worth it. Even attempting a ritual will cost 3-4 magic, above and beyond what you've spent at sacred time. And every ritual calls for a sacrifice, of goods, herds, or in the case of Gamari Horse Mother, horses. You must sacrifice at least one good, and you'll want to sacrifice more; you run the risk of getting a message that your priests think you did not sacrifice enough, which will hurt your chances of ritual success. An offering of 25-30 goods/herds/equivalent is usually enough. Failing the ritual will cost you extra magic, the regard of your neighbors, and might even kill the person selected for the job. Failure at individual points in the ritual, even if you succeed in the overall quest, can hurt your quester, permanently age them, kill your goods, damage your relations with others, and other "fun" things. Don't perform the ritual unless you're sure you can pay the cost of failure.

That being said, there are a number of things you can do to enhance your chances.

• Avoid doing a Ritual if you've done it within the past 5 years. The game will keep track of this and warn you if you've done so recently.
• Put magic into Rituals during Sacred Time. Having 2 or more ritual points will especially help. Having a shaman or a devotee of Relandar will improve your capacity by 1 each, for a maximum of three. Bear in mind that with the extra costs of the ritual itself, this gets very expensive in magic.
• Perform a Ceremony venture successfully within the past year. Success also gives up to 2 magic, helping you afford the Ritual itself.
• Be on good terms with your neighbors, especially your rider neighbors. At the start of each ritual, you will always have the option to ask other rider clans to participate. More clans equals more chance of success.
• You will also be asked to perform some sort of action in regard to Wheels . In about half of the rituals you will be asked if you want the Wheels to participate; it is harder to get wheel clans to join along (and harder for some rituals than others, with Inilla Forage Finder being perhaps the hardest), but the effect is the same as a Rider clan joining. (Keep in mind that the Wheels will want you to help them in return.) In about the other half, you will be asked if you want to whoop against a Wheel clan, giving you a bonus if successful, and irritating the wheel clan in question regardless.
• Have people with high skills in demand by the ritual, especially if they are a devotee of the god in question
• Have a treasure associated with the deity. These will almost always share a name with the deity in question.
• Putting magic into other sacred time blessings like War magic will aid you in actions that get tested in the ritual. (Especially 2-3 points) Example: War Magic allocation boosts combat based actions in the ritual for example.
• Having a shrine to the god in the ritual will help you succeed in the ritual. (Bigger Shrine, stronger benefit)
• Vs Tests - In the wiki you may find info stating a choice is based on a vs Test, like Magic vs Spirit test. There are treasures and spirits that aid choices. If you have the Clay Mask treasure, which helps with dealing with spirits, then you may be better off making a choice that is vs Spirits. It is still generally better to make a choice based on skills first, but treasures that aid against certain things may help you make the best choice. A snake spirit aids in overcoming skepticism. If you have a choice that is vs Skepticism, an activated Snake spirit might aid the choice as well.
• Some choices are categorized in the wiki by specific terms like Hunting based choice. These choices are a combination of 2 skills. A Hunting based choice considers both the quester's Combat and Food abilities. Choices listed as "likely" or "possibly" are not 100% confirmed to be correct.
• Some choices may prove relatively more difficult to pass than others despite choosing the appropriate skills for a choice.

Rituals

Ride Like the Wind

A Storm Age Rider clan prepare to perform a ritual to travel into the Gods War.

The following are rituals that appear in Ride Like the Wind.

• Busenari Light Finder
• Dostal Elk Hunter
• Ekarna Four Trader
• Elmal Path Guardian
• Gamari Horse Mother
• Inilla Forage Finder
• Nyalda Marriage Maker
• Hyalor Tablet Maker
• Taming the River

The following rituals are not part of regular set. They lack corresponding in-game myths, and can only be performed during the end of the game. You do not have to prepare for them in the same way as normal rituals. Although they are easier than the regular rituals, it is still possible to fail.

• fight against invading trolls
• A fight against a sea dragon
• A threat to crops and forests
• Rivalry between warlords

Lights Going Out

A Chaos Age Ram clan prepare to perform a ritual to travel into the Gods War.

Due to the deaths of many gods since Ride Like the Wind, and the general instability of the divine realm, some rituals have become too dangerous to perform by the time of Lights Going Out. This is a list of rituals your clan is still able to perform:

• Humakt Draws the Line
• Taming the River
• Osara the Warrior

New rituals may be learned over time:

• Summons of Nontraya
• Orlanth and Ernalda

However, though not formal rituals, it is still possible to visit some gods by traveling through a tear into the Gods War that might appear on the map.