  Using the generally covariant magnetofluid formalism for a hot plasma, a new
spacetime curvature driven mechanism for generating seed vorticity/magnetic
field is presented. The ``battery'' owes its origin to the interaction between
gravity and the inhomogeneous plasma thermodynamics. The general relativistic
drive is evaluated for two simple cases: seed formation in a simplified model
of a hot plasma accreting in stable orbits around a Schwarzschild black hole,
and for particles in free fall near the horizon. Some astrophysical
applications are suggested.
