Hermetic Projects Chapter Two: The Burning City

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The Burning City

The Burning City project is about constructing a covenant in the heart of a volcano. The effects in this project involve constructing buildings on either lakes of lava or the crater rim, effects to ensure that the magi and covenfolk can survive in this inhospitable environment, and effects to deal with the possible supernatural denizens of a volcano. Effects to find a volcano and to regulate its behavior are also detailed.

Although the Burning City is predicated on an entire covenant constructed within a volcano, there is no need for interested magi in your saga to take this approach. Perhaps your magi are only interested in building a small chapterhouse, or a laboratory, on the lava fields. Alternatively, your magi might not be interested in colonizing the volcanic heart at all — maybe they only want to survive inside a volcano for a particular adventure. In any case, your magi only need to develop the elements of the Burning City project they find useful.

Finally, if the particular effects of this project are not useful in your saga, some of the ideas discussed in this chapter may give the troupe inspiration for the construction of covenants, chapterhouses, or laboratories in the other inhospitable places of Mythic Europe.

Why Build a Volcano?

Why might magi want to build a covenant inside a volcano? For some magi, merely the challenge and the fact that it can be done is enough of a reason. However, some other reasons for colonizing a volcano include:

• Living inside a volcano could be a part of a Mystery Cult initiation.
• The heart of the volcano could have a very high magic Aura, which makes the effort of building a laboratory in the volcano worthwhile.
• Laboratories built inside a volcano can be designed to take advantage of the volcano’s natural features for a bonus to appropriate laboratory work (some examples are given later in this chapter).
• A magus whose magic suffers from a particularly harsh Necessary Condition or Restriction Flaw (see ArM5, pages 56 and 58) may only be able to use his magic within volcanic regions.
• A magus with a Study Bonus Virtue or a Study Requirement Flaw (see ArM5, pages 49 and 59) who already has an Ignem Art Score in excess of 35 can only take advantage of his Virtue when he improves his Art (or improve his Art at all, if he has the Flaw) if he studies in an extreme location, such as a volcano’s heart.
• The volcanic heart could contain vis sources that the covenant wants to ensure do not fall into the hands of other magi, or other forces beyond the Order of Hermes.
• The volcano’s heart could contain an entrance to the Magic Realm, the Infernal Realm, or the Faerie Realm, which the magi want to monitor, control, destroy, or explore.
• A covenant built inside a volcano is likely secure and hidden from mundane interference. Even many Hermetic or other supernatural foes would be reluctant to casually assault a covenant embedded in a volcano.
• A volcanic covenant may be allied to indigenous inhabitants of the volcano. The covenfolk could include fire elementals and other magical creatures, faeries, or humans with lava flowing in their veins (perhaps due to ancestors who were volcanic creatures).

Volcanoes in Mythic Europe

In Mythic Europe most volcanoes are found in Greece, Italy, and Iceland. However, there is nothing to prevent a volcano occurring elsewhere in Mythic Europe, in your saga — especially if the volcano arises due to magic.

The Greek Volcanic Islands

The Greek island groups of Methana, Milos, Nisyros, and Santorini are all volcanic. Each group consists of dozens of islands that have been formed by volcanic activity, and there are further volcanoes beneath the surface of the sea — the activity of these marine volcanoes sometimes causes the sea to boil. Many of the surface volcanic craters have broken their walls and also been flooded by the sea, and there are also a number of hot springs and pools heated by volcanic activity on the islands. There are frequent earthquakes on the islands, and the breaking of the islands by the shifting earth has revealed striking, brightly colored layers of rock deposited by successive eruptions. These layers of volcanic rock are good sources of the exotic minerals that are needed for some Hermetic laboratories.

Fishing villages dot the islands, and the larger islands have substantial towns. Many of the inhabitants use water heated by the volcanoes for bathing, and the island-dwellers could be recruited to act as covenfolk.

Story Seeds for Mythic Europe's Volcanoes Creeping Earth At Campi Flegrei parts of the earth frequently creep, causing the earth to rise by 10 to 12 feet over a period of several years. This is fast enough for people to observe, and the inexorably rising earth can cause buildings to collapse and split. This is clearly a supernatural phenomena, and the recent collapse of a small town not long after a new church was constructed has convinced some magi that the creeping earth is the work of a magical spirit at the heart of Campi Flegrei, fighting against the encroachment of the divine on natural places. Pompeii and Herculaneum The Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed in an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. If your saga follows history, then these towns are buried and their location is not precisely known in 1220. However, the eruption and subsequent destruction was documented by Roman writers, so magi may decide to search for the towns. It is possible that the violent eruption caused the towns to fall into a regio, and perhaps the inhabitants, or their descendants, still live within. Maybe there is even still a functioning Temple of Mercury within the towns. The entrance to the regio might be found within the crater of Mount Vesuvius (or even other volcanoes). The townsfolk (who are surely supernaturally changed by their experience) could be recruited as covenfolk by the Burning City. Alternatively, perhaps the towns really are merely buried beneath tons of ash and mud. In either case, the two towns are now inextricably entwined with volcanism. This means that any artifacts recovered from Pompeii or Herculaneum may be used as a Sympathetic Connection of +1 to aid the Penetration of effects that target creatures that live in volcanoes. Artifacts from Pompeii or Herculaneum also have a +3 Shape and Material bonus for volcanism effects. This Shape and Material bonus is in addition to any other bonuses for the artifact.

Italian Volcanoes

Campi Flegrei, or the Burning Fields, is an area of volcanic activity about five miles across located very near the city of Naples. There are numerous craters and the last eruption was in the year 1158, in which the crater of Solfatara exploded. Some of the craters have been flooded by the sea, creating harbors.

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in Mythic Europe. It is almost 10,000 feet high and it dominates the skyline above the Sicilian city of Catania. At the summit of the mountain there are two main craters (Bocca Nova, and Voragine), and together the craters are nearly continuously sending forth showers of ash and molten rock. Every few years there are larger eruptions that cause rivers of lava to flow from the mountain, and there are hundreds of frozen rivers of lava on the volcano’s flanks. The last large eruption was in 1194. Exceptionally large eruptions occur every few hundred years, and during these eruptions massive fountains of lava are ejected thousands of feet into the air. Some legends say that the two main craters are inhabited by separate magical spirits who have trapped several brother-spirits beneath the earth. The escape of one of the brothers could cause a major eruption and the formation of a new crater. Other legends say that there is only a single magical spirit beneath the crater (see Realms of Power:Magic, page 111).

Lipari is an island volcano in the Eolian Islands. The volcano has a number of small craters, which have been fairly quiet of late — although there are records of a large explosive eruption several hundred years ago. The island is the pre-eminent source of pumice and obsidian in Mythic Europe. Lipari has been continuously occupied since before Roman times and there are a number of settlements on the island. The largest is the town of Lipari, which is the seat of the bishop of Lipari (which has been a diocese since the fifth century).

Stromboli is another island volcano in the Eolian Islands, with a number of craters. The volcano is nearly constantly active, and most evenings glowing fragments of lava are ejected hundreds of feet into the air from the crater. Although the intensity of this continuous activity varies from week to week, it is fairly predictable and not very hazardous. However, every few years, rivers of lava flow from the volcano into the sea. These outflows can overwhelm the unprepared, but even this hazard does not prevent people settling on the island, and there are a number of fishing villages on the coast. Even more rarely (perhaps once in a generation) a large explosive eruption occurs, which can cause damage within several miles of the volcano.

Vesuvius is near Naples and is, like Stromboli, almost continuously active at a low level, though it sometimes falls almost dormant for periods of about a century. During times of activity, larger eruptions might send fountains of lava into the air, or rivers of lava down the mountain slopes. Vesuvius is also famous for unexpectedly erupting in a massive explosion, typically following a period of dormancy. The Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed in such an eruption (see nearby insert).

Vulcano is formed by two islands in the Eolian Islands: the main island is Vulcano and just north is a smaller island Vulcanello. There are a number of small villages and monasteries on the larger island, and the island is reputed to be a very healthy place to live; many people bathe in hot mud pools on the beach. The rim of the main crater (La Fossa) is constantly blanketed in steam and sulfurous fumes.

Volcanoes in Iceland

Iceland, which was first settled by Vikings in the ninth century, is pockmarked with dozens of active volcanoes.

One of the most active volcanoes is Hekla, which has recently had major explosive eruptions in 1104, 1158, and 1206.

If your saga follows history, then there are subsequent eruptions in 1222, 1300, and 1341. The eruptions of 1104 and 1158 were so vast that debris and ash landed over most of Iceland.

The Ljósufljö volcanic field is a long strip of steaming fissures and craters that covers an area about 30 miles long and 3-6 miles across. The last major eruption occurred in 960.

The Reykjanes volcano is a cluster of small craters. The last eruption was in 1211, and if your saga follows history, it erupts again in 1226. The similar, nearby Krísuvík cluster last erupted in 1151 and 1188.

The Brennisteinsfjöll volcano erupted in 1000, 1188, and 1200. The eruption of 1000 occurred at the same time as the Icelandic parliament met at Thingvellier.

Katla is another highly active volcano, although it is usually hidden beneath the Myrdalsjökull icecap. Because of its ice covering, large eruptions from the volcano spew an impressive amount of debris over most of Iceland, and even the rest of northern Mythic Europe. The most recent large eruptions were in 920, 950, 1150, and 1177. If your saga follows history, then there are subsequent eruptions in 1245, 1262, and 1311. A smaller volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, a dozen miles to the west and likewise beneath an icecap, sometimes erupts in the months prior to Katla; the spirits of the two volcanoes may be somehow related.

Bárdarbunga is a large volcano partially hidden beneath the Vatnajökull glacier. The volcano periodically causes floods of glacier melt, and has occasional large, explosive eruptions. The most recent eruptions were in 1080, 1159, and 1210.

Öraefajökull is the highest peak in Iceland, and beneath it lies a large, dormant volcano. The large central crater (about two miles in diameter) is completely covered by the Vatnajökull icecap. Although the volcano has been quiet for some time (if your saga follows history), it spectacularly erupts in 1362.

Affecting Volcanoes with Hermetic Magic

Volcanoes contain bubbling, liquid lava, volcanic rocks, sulfurous fumes, and clouds of ash, all of which makes it hard to determine which Hermetic Forms should be used to target a volcano. The following guidelines have been used in this chapter to decide which Hermetic Forms are appropriate, and can also be used as a guide to the development of your own spells:

Create a volcano, volcanic rock, lava, or volcanic ash

Creo Terram

Create volcanic fumes

Creo Auram

Control/Cause/Stop the eruption of a volcano

Rego Terram (Ignem)

Control de flow of lava

Rego Aquam

Change lava

Muto Aquam

Move volcanic ash about in the air

Rego Auram

Talk to a volcano

Intellego Terram

For Terram effects, volcanic ash is the same magnitude of effect as sand (which is usually the base magnitude of the effect), and the base Individual is 10 cubic paces of ash. Volcanic rock, and an entire volcano, counts as the same magnitude of effect as stone (which is usually one more than the base magnitude of the effect), and the base Individual is a cubic pace. Lava counts as the same magnitude of effect as a metal (usually two magnitudes greater than base), and the base Individual size is a cubic foot. See ArM5 (page 152) for details of how the magnitude of Terram effects depends on the type of material being affected.

For Aquam effects, liquid lava counts as a corrosive liquid and the base Individual is a puddle with a volume of about 0.2 cubic feet (which is a pool a foot across, and six inches deep). See ArM5 (page 121) for details of how the magnitude of Aquam effects depends on the material.

For Auram effects, volcanic fumes and ash both have a base Individual that covers an area with a diameter of about 100 paces.

Effects to Help Find Volcanoes

These effects are used to help find a volcano. Vulcan’s Glass and Scribe of All That I Can See are enchanted items that could be used by a team of grogs to help their master find a volcanic site. Scent of Ash and Trail of Ember are spells, but, of course, your characters could invent similar effects as items if you wish.

Scent of Ash

InAu 15
R: Personal, D: Concentration, T: Smell

The caster can smell and identify, on the breath of the air, the ash that has carried from volcanoes. This is enough information for the caster to determine the approximate direction and distance to each of the volcanoes he detects. A dormant volcano can be detected in this way from within one league (three miles), a volcano that has erupted within the last 100 years can be detected from within seven leagues (21 miles), and a volcano that has erupted in the last season can be detected from within 100 miles. Dormant volcanoes are detectable in this way because ash from their violent eruption is still present in the environment. The ash may have fallen to the ground, but some small (but detectable via Hermetic magic) fraction has been blown up into the air again. Of course, the huge plume of ash from a large on-going eruption can easily be identified without the aid of magic from many hundreds of miles away.

(Base 4, +1 Concentration, +2 Smell)

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (30), Two Seasons (23), Three Seasons (20), Four Seasons (19).

Scribe of All That I Can See

InTe(Aq)(He) 25

Pen: 0, 1 use per day, item maintains Concentration
R: Touch, D: Concentration, T: Vision

This enchanted quill helps a character to rapidly draw an accurate map of what he can see. The item grants the user special magical senses that allow him to precisely estimate the distance, shape, and relationships among geographical features, and figure out how best to represent this information on a page. This is information that anyone with sufficient skill could determine by merely looking. The quill does not draw the map by itself. The character draws the map. The quill only ensures that the subsequent map is accurate and that it can also be very speedily drawn, by providing the character with enhanced information about what he can see.

It takes 1 Diameter to draw what can be seen from a tree-top or church tower, and it takes 3 Diameters to draw what can be seen from a mountaintop, or by a flying character. If what is being mapped includes something complicated (like the streets of a city) it takes an additional 3 Diameters to draw the map.

The map produced with the aid of the quill can be used in conjunction with spells such as Trail of Ember and The Inexorable Search (ArM5, page 131). Having the map also gives a character a +3 bonus to Area Lore rolls made to navigate the terrain depicted.

The character needs to provide parchment and ink (or similar materials), and he must be literate if he wishes to annotate the map. If the map is not annotated it can only be used by a character who successfully makes an (appropriate) Area Lore roll against an Ease Factor of 12. If the map is annotated, it can be used by any character literate in the language of annotation. The character who created the map can always use it, even if it is not annotated.

The requisites are required so that rivers and forests can be mapped too.

(Base 2, +1 Touch, +1 Concentration, +4 Vision, free requisites; + 5 item maintains Concentration)

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (50), Two Seasons (38), Three Seasons (34), Four Seasons (32).

Trail of Ember

InTe 20
R: Arcane Connection, D: Momentary, T: Individual

The caster of this spell throws a piece of volcanic rock onto a map. The rock lands on the location of the volcano it was expelled from. If the volcano’s location is not bounded by the map, then the rock rolls off in the direction that the volcano lies.

If the rock thrown onto the map is not volcanic, then it just lands somewhere at random. The caster can confirm this by casting the spell several times: a volcanic rock will always land on the same spot on the map.

Note that a volcanic rock created via Creo Terram magic will not reveal what volcano it came from when thrown onto the map with the Trail of Ember spell. This is because such a magically created volcanic rock did not in fact come from a volcano.

(Base 4, +Arcane Connection)

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (40), Two Seasons (30), Three Seasons (27), Four Seasons (25).

Vulcan's Glass

InTe 20 Pen: 0, 1 use per day
R: Touch, D: Concentration, T: Vision

This enchanted mirror allows the user to identify the volcanoes in a mountain range. The user turns his back to the mountains, and studies the reflected image of the mountain range in the mirror. The reflected images of the volcanoes glow with a red aura.

This spell works because whether or not a particular mountain is a volcano is a visible property that can be distinguished by someone with appropriate skill. This spell compensates for the lack of appropriate skill in the observer.

(Base 2, +1 Touch, +1 Concentration, +4 Vision)

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (40), Two Seasons (30), Three Seasons (27), Four Seasons (25).

Volcanic Rock as an Arcane Connection A volcanic rock is an Arcane Connection to the volcano it came from that lasts for years and gives a +3 Penetration multiplier. Of course, the Penetration multiplier is only relevant in the rare case that the volcano has Magic Resistance, or if the volcano is within an Aegis of the Hearth. A piece of volcanic rock would not usually be an Arcane Connection to any magical spirits, elementals, demons or other creatures dwelling at the heart of the volcano, but it could be used as a +1 Sympathetic Connection to such creatures.

Effects to Create Volcanoes

Of course, it might be that the magi cannot find a volcano on a suitable site — perhaps no volcano can be found with a Magical aura, or the volcanoes are far from where the magi want to live. This doesn’t have to be a problem: the magi can raise their own fiery inferno from the protesting earth!

Tear the Earth Asunder

CrTe 65
R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Individual, Ritual

The caster of this ritual stabs a dagger into the ground: from the wound a volcano rises, and lava and scalding gases erupt. Over a period of a day, the volcano erupts, darkening the sky with plumes of ash, and forming a large volcanic crater.

Obviously, the eruption of the volcano devastates villages, towns, monasteries, covenants, or other settlements built in its shadow. Once the spell has been cast, there is no active magical effect; the eruption is natural and does not need to Penetrate Magic Resistance, and consequent rivers of lava and falling ash can also pass unhindered through an Aegis of the Hearth. The caster of the ritual also needs some form of protection to avoid being killed in the eruption.

The volcano region can be up to 20 miles in diameter (though the crater will be a fraction of this size), and the peak can be up to 15,000 feet high (which would make it one of the taller mountains in Mythic Europe).

(Base 3, +1 Touch, +13 Size)

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (130), Two Seasons (98), Three Seasons (87), Four Seasons (82).

Awaken, Sleeping Giant!

ReTe(Ig) 45
R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Part, Ritual

This spell is cast in the crater of a dormant volcano, and causes the volcano to erupt into life again. The volcanic crater can be up to two miles across, and the spell has no effect if cast in a location other than a volcanic crater. Obviously, the caster will be caught in the eruption, which may be a problem if he is not protected by appropriate wards.

Once the spell has been cast there is no active magical effect; the eruption is natural and does not need to Penetrate Magic Resistance. The effect is considered “slightly unnatural,” as it is natural for a volcano to erupt, but the spell artificially triggered the eruption.

(Base 2, +1 Touch, +1 Part, +8 Size, +1 affect Volcano (same as stone))

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (90), Two Seasons (68), Three Seasons (60), Four Seasons (57).

Hazards of Volcanoes

The hazards of the volcano include lava, heat, noxious sulfurous fumes, and, of course, eruption.

Lava

Molten lava has a base damage of +15. This is the level of damage sustained if a character walks on lava or is splashed by lava. If a character has a limb or more of their body covered by lava, it causes +30 damage. If half or more of his body is covered by lava, then the character suffers +45 damage. Finally, if his entire body is immersed in lava, he suffers +60 damage. The character continues to suffer this damage each round, until he has been removed from the lava. As lava may stick to the character, it may be difficult to naturally remove the lava from a character who has been immersed in a pool of lava. Note that, apart from defining the base damage for molten lava, these rules are not new; they follow the standard rules for heat and corrosion damage on ArM5, page 181.

Bonuses to the character’s Soak score from any armor he is wearing only apply if the character has less than half of his body covered by the lava. This is because, although the armor provides some protection from splash damage, the lava can flow through and behind the character’s armor once he is substantially covered. Bonuses to Soak from Virtues such as Tough, and the natural hide of some characters (such as Bjornaer magi in Heartbeast form), cannot be bypassed in this way. Most magi will also have a bonus to their Soak from their Ignem Form Bonus (see ArM5, page 78), which cannot be bypassed either.

Boiling Mud and Water

Sometimes volcanic activity heats water and mud to scalding temperatures. Bubbling pools of mud and geysers of boiling water trap the unwary. Boiling mud and water both cause +3 damage to a character (+6 damage for immersion of a limb, +9 damage for immersion of a torso, and +12 damage for total immersion). Of course, mud pools and hot springs of lesser temperature are not dangerous, and some characters frequently bathe in these for medicinal benefit.

Heat

Even characters who are merely close to a volcano can take damage from the heat. Characters who approach within 30 yards of molten lava suffer +3 heat damage each diameter.

Fumes

The noxious fumes from a volcano affect anyone who comes within 15 paces of a crater or river of lava. This has two effects: the fumes are toxic, and the character cannot breathe due to the lack of safe air.

• The lack of air to breathe means that the character must make an air Deprivation check every 30 seconds (5 combat rounds); see ArM5, page 180.
• The toxicity of the vapors also poisons the character. Every diameter that the character remains within the vapor, make a Stamina check for him against an Ease Factor of 6. If this is failed, the character takes a Medium Wound.

Eruptions

Characters caught in a volcanic eruption may be swamped by lava, crushed by falling rocks, overcome by fumes, or buried beneath ash.

• The rules just given can be used to cope with the lava and fumes from an eruption.
• Characters who are at peril from falling rocks may take between +5 and +20 damage, or even greater if the storyguide chooses, depending on how close the characters are to the center of the eruption.
• Burial by ash is a particularly insidious danger. There is little danger from the falling ash itself, but ash can sometimes rapidly cover a large area to a depth of dozens of feet. This causes trapped characters to die from asphyxiation. The character must make an air Deprivation check every 30 seconds (5 combat rounds); see ArM5, page 180.

Effects to Protect Characters

These effects are designed to protect characters who either live within a volcano, or are temporarily visiting a volcano.

Pitch Brush

ReAq(Ig) 48

Pen: 0, 6 uses per day
R: Touch, D: Moon, T: Part

This enchanted item is a brush that is used to paint a dark tar infused with volcanic ash onto the hull of a boat. The brush causes the tar to magically seal, and until the effect expires the boat can be rowed or sailed on lava without damage.

Other items, such as oars or even a person, can also be painted in the pitch. Each charge is enough to paint the hull of a small boat or a single person. However, as the effect has a Part target, larger items can be fully protected by painting it with several charges’ worth of the pitch. If only the hull of the boat is painted, then other parts of the boat will not be protected if they come in contact with the lava. This might happen if the boat capsizes, for example.

This spell is based on the Rego Aquam guideline to ward against a mundane liquid, and the Ignem requisite prevents the heat damage (with an additional two magnitudes due to the intensity of the heat).

(Base 5, +1 Touch, +3 Moon, +1 Part, +1 Ignem requisite, +2 intense heat; +3 six uses per day)

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (96), Two Seasons (72), Three Seasons (64), Four Seasons (60).

Cloven Hoofed Boots

MuAq(Te) 24

Pen: 0, Constant Duration Effect
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: part

These boots turn the lava directly beneath them into a solid. Although the boots are constantly active, the effect only solidifies the lava that the boots are touching. This means that the character wearing the boots can either walk across or stand still on top of an expanse of lava. However, once the character moves, the solid lava that was beneath him melts back into the bulk of the lava field. Another character may be able to quickly follow behind, but this would require a lot of agility.

The Terram requisite is free because it is part of the guideline. Note that this effect does not change the temperature of the lava, so a character using these boots will likely need protection from heat.

(Base 4, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Part, free Terram requisite; +1 for 2 uses/day, +3 environmental trigger)

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (48), Two Seasons (36), Three Seasons (32), Four Seasons (30).

Steed of Vesuvius

MuAn(Ig) 45
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Individual

This spell magically transforms a horse so that he is able to gallop across molten lava as if it were a cobbled road. The horse also has no fear of the heat or fumes expelled by the lava, and he does not suffer from the heat of the lava or the toxicity of the fumes. The rider of the horse does not receive any protection from this spell.

When the spell expires, the horse suffers a Long-Term Fatigue level.

The requisite is free because it is part of the guideline and required for the effect.

(Base 25, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Size, free requisite)

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (90), Two Seasons (68), Three Seasons (60), Four Seasons (57).

Dragon's Blood

Mu(Re)Co(Ig)(Te) 70
R: Personal, D: Year, T: Part, Ritual

This ritual changes the blood of the caster into lava. This does no harm to the caster himself, and his super-heated blood means that he is immune to any heat based damage that causes +15 or less damage (which includes lava).

If the character is injured in melee combat, his opponent(s) must make Dexterity rolls against an Ease Factor of 6 to avoid being splattered by hot lava. Opponents who fail take +15 damage. If the caster’s melee opponents are unaware of his lava blood (that is, it is the first time they have seen him injured), then the Dexterity roll is made against an Ease Factor of 9.

The Ignem and Rego requisites are required to give the additional protection from heat. The Terram requisite is free because it is required for the effect.

(Base 25, +4 Year, +1 Part, +1 Ignem requisite, +1 Rego requisite, +2 intense heat)

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (140), Two Seasons (105), Three Seasons (94), Four Seasons (88).

Covenant of the Dragon

Mu(Re)Co(Te)(Ig) 85
R: Touch, D: Year, T: Group, Ritual

This ritual changes the blood of a Group of up to 100 individuals into lava. This has the same effect on each member of the Group as the ritual Dragon’s Blood. This is an efficient way (in terms of vis) of protecting an entire covenant from the heat hazards of living in a covenant located in a volcano — although each person will take 6 Warping points every year (see ArM5, page 168).

(Base 25, +1 Touch, +4 Year, +2 Group, +1 size, +1 Ignem requisite, +1 Rego requisite, +2 intentse heat)

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (170), Two Seasons (128), Three Seasons (114), Four Seasons (107).

Fumarole Mask

PeAu 34

Pen: 0, Constant Duration Effect
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Individual

This mask is made from porous volcanic rock and it destroys the toxic properties of any air that passes through it. This allows the wearer of the mask to breathe without trouble in the heart of a volcanic crater, or on a river of lava. The air affected by the mask tastes slightly unpleasant, but this does not cause any damage to the wearer.

Although the mask is constantly active, once the toxicity of the air has been removed, the air itself is no longer the subject of a magical effect. This means that the air is not resisted by characters with Magic Resistance, so magi can breathe using the mask without lowering their Parma Magica.

Note that Muto effects which change the air to be non-toxic are of little value to magi, as the effect only lasts as long as the spell duration. This means that when the magus tries to breathe the magically changed air, his Magic Resistance will resist the air as it is the subject of a magical effect. So the magus must either asphyxiate or lower his Parma Magica — both options are hazardous.

This spell is based on the Perdo Aquam guideline to destroy a property of a liquid, and applied by analogy to the Auram Form.

(Base 15, +1 Touch, +2 Sun; +1 for 2 uses/day, +3 environmental trigger)

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (68), Two Seasons (51), Three Seasons (46), Four Seasons (43).

Effects to Control Volcanoes

Vulcan’s Warning Bell is an enchanted item that is intended to give the covenant due warning that the volcano is about to erupt. In most circumstances, the warning is sufficient to allow either the covenant to be evacuated, or (perhaps more usefully) the Scorn of Aphrodite’s Tears ritual can be cast, which suppresses the imminent eruption. The Flame Tongue spell can be used to direct a belch of hot lava at an individual, which can be used as a weapon to discourage invaders. Creeping Earth makes the earth rise over the course of a month, seriously damaging buildings.

Creeping Earth

ReTe 25
R: Touch, D: Moon, T: Part

The caster of this spell stamps his foot on the ground and a patch of earth, centered on his position and 35 paces across, slowly but inexorably rises up for the duration of the spell. The earth rises at a rate of about one inch per day (up to three feet over the spell duration).

This is fast enough for people to observe if they watch the earth for more than a Diameter, and the movement can destroy buildings and other structures — even the strongest castle walls run the risk of collapse.

This spell only works when cast within a league of a volcano (three miles). This is because this movement is only a slightly unnatural property of the earth in such regions, whereas it is a grossly unnatural property of earth elsewhere.

(Base 2, +1 Touch, +3 Moon, +1 Part, +2 Size)

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (50), Two Seasons (38), Three Seasons (34), Four Seasons (32).

Flame Tongue

For info on this spell's community erratum, see Talk:Flame Tongue

ReAq(Ig) 25
R: Voice, D: Momentary, T: Part

This spell causes a glutinous glob of lava (from a lake or river of magma) to leap out and hit something. The volume of lava moved is about 2 cubic feet, and it can be moved to hit any location within Voice range. Whatever the lava hits takes between +15 and +60 damage, depending on how much of it is covered by the lava. The lava sticks to whatever it hits and continues to inflict damage each round. It takes several days for the lava to cool naturally.

The heat of the lava is also sufficient to ignite anything flammable that it hits.

Flame Tongue is an Aimed spell, with a +6 bonus to hit due to the size of the volume of lava.

If the caster tries to totally immerse a person with the lava projectile, there is a –6 penalty to the Aiming Roll (effectively canceling the +6 size bonus). There is no penalty to the Aiming Roll if the objective is to merely splash someone. In some circumstances, the storyguide may decide that a missed attack to immerse a character results in a splash.

(Base 10, +2 Voice, +1 Size)

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (50), Two Seasons (38), Three Seasons (34), Four Seasons (32).

Scorn of Aphrodite’s Tears

ReTe(Ig) 70
R: Touch, D: Momentary, T:Individual, Ritual

This ritual is cast when the eruption of a volcano is imminent, and it climaxes with a vial of pure water being poured into the crater mouth. The ritual prevents the volcano from erupting.

The volcano region can be up to 20 miles in diameter (although the crater will be only a fraction of this size), and the peak can be up to 15,000 feet high.

(Base 3, +1 Touch, +13 Size, +1 affect a volcano (equivalent to affecting stone))

Required Lab Total to invent spell: One Season (140), Two Seasons (105), Three Seasons (94), Four Seasons (88).

Vulcan's Warning Bell

This enchanted bell is suspended in the vapors escaping from a volcanic crater. It detects when the volcano is preparing to erupt. Normally, the bell gives a number of days warning equal to 1 stress die. If a 0 is rolled on the stress die, then the number on the botch die represents the number of hours warning. If the botch die is itself a 0 (i.e., a botch), then there is no warning. The variable warning is a feature of the eruption, not the bell; Hermetic magic cannot predict the future directly, so the item must rely on advance signs of the eruption, and they appear at varying times.

Note that if the volcano unexpectedly erupts due to a supernatural effect, there may be considerably less warning.

There are two effects involved — one to detect the imminent eruption and one to ring the bell. Note that it might be possible for a magus to design a single effect that both detects an eruption and rings a bell to convey this information, as a cosmetic effect. That is not the approach taken here.

The Vibration of Anticipation

InAu 19

Pen: 0, Constant Duration Effect
R: Personal, D: Sun, T: Touch

This effect gives the bell the magical sense to detect the imminent eruption.

(Base 4, +2 Sun, +1 Touch; +1 for 2 uses/day, +3 for environmental trigger )

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (38), Two Seasons (29), Three Seasons (26), Four Seasons (24).

Clarion Call

ReTe 17

Pen: 0, Unlimited Uses
R: Personal, D: Sun, T: Touch

This effect rings the bell. The frequency of the ringing increases as the eruption time nears, and in the final hours the bell urgently rings every few seconds.

(Base 2, +2 effect metal; +10 unlimited uses, +3 linked trigger )

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (34), Two Seasons (26), Three Seasons (23), Four Seasons (22).

Increasing the Lab Total

Attribution

Based on the material for Ars Magica, ©1993-2024, licensed by Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games®, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license 4.0 ("CC-BY-SA 4.0"). Ars Magica Open License Logo ©2024 Trident, Inc. The Ars Magica Open License Logo, Ars Magica, and Mythic Europe are trademarks of Trident, Inc., and are used with permission. Order of Hermes, Tremere, Doissetep, and Grimgroth are trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB and are used with permission.