How to do this ritual

[Taran]

I'm playing a character who's a changeling crafter who's works kind of like cupid to help people fall in love.  His full time job is running an on-line dating service.  Obviously, he hates House Raith because he wants his clients to find True Love and not just Lust.

He's giving his card out to everyone.  Is there a way to use those cards as a link to everyone who has one to give them some kind of protection against unnatural lust.  To protect them from House Raith?  If so, how would you make the ritual?  Let's say there are people all over the city who have these cards.

[Haru]

I think an actual protection of that scale is out of the question. That would require a ton of energy, and the card seems to be too feeble a link to sustain that.

I would probably use the cards as a detection web for supernatural lust, so if one of the people I gave my card to was under attack, I'd know and could do something against it. It's not perfect, but it seems the best he can do.

The real protection, of course, is to find true love, which would actually protect his clients.

[Sanctaphrax]

I don't see why protection should be impossible. Thaumaturgy can tear the stars from the sky with enough shifts, and this isn't that big an effect.

I'd call it a maneuver. Creating a PROTECTED FROM LUST Aspect or something like that. 4 shifts for a sticky Aspect, plus some shifts for duration, plus some shifts for the number of people affected.

And as it happens, I recently came up with some tentative rules for that last bit.

So if you wanted to protect 100 people (7 steps down the chart, 2 shifts per step) for a year (8 steps down the chart, 1 shift per step) I'd call it a 26-complexity spell.

Bear in mind that a year's duration isn't really a year's duration. The spell will linger until the trigger occurs (a White Court Vampire tries to do their thing to the target) or until a year passes. If triggered, the Aspect will only last a scene or so.

[Haru]

I don't see why protection should be impossible. Thaumaturgy can tear the stars from the sky with enough shifts, and this isn't that big an effect.

I didn't think in shifts. To me, putting up a blanket protection on that many people seems like it would require not only a lot of power but also a lot of finesse. Which means that the link through which you send that power has to be strong enough as well. Mass produced pieces of paper wouldn't do it for me. And to me, it would sort of diminish the meaning of true love as a protection against white court vampires.

Maybe if the business cards were written individually for the person it is given to. Written with a cupid's feather with the blood of the target mixed into the ink. Maybe the blood of a white court vampire too, as well as your own, to establish a link. The cards could be made from paper that has been made from a tree that has been planted as a token of love.
Or maybe you need the blood of the client to activate a card. That might make it more feasible.

All in all, the bigger question, to me, would be what the effect on the story is supposed to be. Are the Whamps specifically targeting your characters clients, and he wants to prevent that? Do you want to establish a Whamp-free city? It seems like it would be on a plot-device level, and therefore it wouldn't really need any shifts, but rather a good justification. The idea in my first post was meant in the spirit of a plot hook as well, have your spell go off when one of your clients is in danger, and there you are in the middle of the action.

[Leeder]

Do your clients always have your visit card with them? If they don't, I'd say it's impossible to guard them from the Whampires. Although, using your clients' blood solves the problem, but... I wouldn't lend my blood to an online dating service's empoyee.

In general, I agree with the point that protecting mortals from something such intimate as lust and love must be something more personal, than remote psychic shield, channeled through an ordinary piece of paper. A magical network, alarming you if there is Incite emotions attempt somewhere in the city seems more appropriate for me.

And I do know one thing for sure: I would not allow my players to push someone to True Love with magic. It's a miracle stuff, and should not be at everyone's reach, especially when manually arranged.

[Taran]

I would probably use the cards as a detection web for supernatural lust, so if one of the people I gave my card to was under attack, I'd know and could do something against it. It's not perfect, but it seems the best he can do.

The real protection, of course, is to find true love, which would actually protect his clients.

Yeah.  I'd thought about the web.  The game takes place in New York City, though...that's a very big web.

My original idea is that each card might provide a fragile aspect.  But that's a lot of individual potions, really.

And, yes.  Love is the Ultimate goal

And I do know one thing for sure: I would not allow my players to push someone to True Love with magic. It's a miracle stuff, and should not be at everyone's reach, especially when manually arranged.

Of course he can't cause true love.  But he can make all the conditions just right for Love to Bloom. 

I'm playing with a few other players: 
- one weeds out predators at social meet and greet functions (he's a telepath) and also figures out common interests.
-one has a (almost) supernatural ability to do statistics and creates all the surveys and finds the best possible matches
-my character creates the mood. By using his magical arrows to create aspects to bring couples together.  Kind of like Harry's love potion.  Basically, the building block are there.  My character just gets things moving.

The important thing is weeding out the Whampires.

[PirateJack]

Personally, I'd link it to a red rose rather than your character's card. Have it be a service provided by your company that you provide a rose for each and every date, which is how both of the potential love interests would find each other for the first meeting. Use a cloned rose back at your headquarters (if you take a cutting off a rose and plant it, it'll grow into a genetically identical rose) to then cast a spell that would provide some protection from the White Court.

[Wordmaker]

I would treat the wider collection of cards (or whatever you decide them to be) as fluff.

The only situations where you really need to worry about how it works in a rules sense is when it's happening "on-screen."

You can have an aspect that relates to it, such as "Shepherd Against the White Court" and compel that to force a White Court vamp to back off if they try to use their powers on someone you decide has one of your cards. If you're not there to

As for the cards themselves, these sound like a Block to me. So the ritual is to create an enchanted object.

Card of Love's Protection
Can be used by anyone
Uses: 3
Effect: Block 4 against Incite Emotion (Lust)

Alternatively, you could cast the ritual to put an aspect on someone, "Protected from Lust", which of course they'd get a free use for a compel, as above.

If any of these three options can't be used (you're not there to compel your own aspect, the enchanted item runs out of charges, or the character runs out of fate points to use the compel) this would narratively mean that they've forgotten or lost their card, or the White Court vampire may have taken it from them, realising the protection it offered.

[Quantus]

Personally I wouldnt even try to make it an actual Protection Against the Wraith powers (and we are talking Wraith's specifically, not the fear or despair Houses, yes?) for two reasons a)the True Love protections are instilled by an exchange of SOUL, which is not something a wizard is not supposed to be able to manipulate without Soulfire, and certainly not something that could be essentially mass produced for strangers, and b)because it's effectiveness would be relative to the Power of the Wampire in question.  Rather, I would make it a sort of trap spell that is triggered by the Incite Emotion (Lust) effect of the Wampire, but doesnt actually try to oppose that power.  Instead just make sure it ruins their cover or at least their hunt.  Im thinking instant nausea and projectile vomit on the potential victim: Instant Mood Killer.  It wouldnt save them from a truly starving Wampire that was past normal reason and not really trying to appear human, but it would stop most that would be poaching the dating scene.