The Blackthorn Rose

The legends surrounding the Blackthorn Rose are obscure and varied in their details, but they largely agree on one point: the Blackthorn Rose was created by Envalanath, Mother of Blood, to create new true Vampires. These legends hold that when Envalanath created her children, the Bloodless, she knew she could not allow any basic feeding to create new, true vampires. Thus, she created the Blackthorn Rose. True vampires who had studied a special ritual could summon the Rose and, through another ritual, create true vampires. While feeding can create vampire spawns---or lycans, in the case of the Ragebound---it takes the Blackthorn Rose and its accompanying rituals to create new vampires.
Appearing as a full thorn bush of black vines and bright red roses, the Blackthorn Rose is an ageless artifact. There is only ever one Blackthorn Rose; it is unknown where it rests when not being used to create a new vampire. It is summoned by its ritual of calling, then must be used within 24 hours before the thicket it occupies withers and the Blackthorn Rose returns to whence it came.

Item type

Unique Artifact

Ritual of Calling

The Ritual of Calling is closely guarded, known only by ancient true vampires who have been entrusted by even older vampires or the Bloodless themselves. The Ritual of Calling is very complex, but its foundational steps are as follows:

1. A true vampire must spend three days reciting the Blackthorn's ancient rites before a thicket of roses.
2. At the turn of the seventy-third hour, the vampire must desecrate the thicket with the blood of five living mortals.
3. The vampire must slash their own wrist and consecrate the mortal blood with their own.
4. The roses will thus wither and the Blackthorn shall sprout from the shed vampire blood. There, it shall prosper for twenty-four hours before vanishing once more.

Ritual of Turning

Once the Blackthorn Rose is summoned, the following ritual must be performed immediately.

1. A true vampire of any type bloodlets itself for a day, gathering the blood into a vessel of silver. The vampire-to-be is bloodlet until they die and their blood is used to fertilize the Blackthorn's thicket. This can be done simultaneously with multiple subjects, although only the most powerful vampires can turn more than a handful of people at once.
2. The vampire pours a cup or goblet of its own blood down the throat of those who are to be turned. It must take care to ensure the blood reaches the subject's stomach, meaning the subjects are typically prostrated upright after their bloodletting.
3. The subjects are buried in coffins or tombs lined in gold. Gold's antimagic properties trap the ritual magics afflicting the subject within the coffin, allowing the magics to concentrate in the subject and sucessfully turn.
4. The turned are reborn after three days, but it can take much longer for them to reawaken. Once they do, they must feed (according to their strain's feeding requirements) within a week or become a strigoi. Once they have fed, the transformation sticks wholly and the turned are true vampires.

The Ritual of Turning leaves the turner drained and near-dead for weeks or even months, and the turned take days or weeks to awaken from their comatose state. Thus, it is dangerous for all parties involved, who can be killed in the wake of the ritual fairly easily.