Transforming Mythic Europe Chapter Four: Magic as Technology

See Also

• The Ars Magica Reference Document
• The Transforming Mythic Europe Open Content page.
• The Transforming Mythic Europe product page on this wiki

Chapter Four: Magic as Technology

Mythic Europe is a world of Aristotelean physics, where magic manipulates the natural forces of the universe. Technological development is unlikely to develop down the same paths as historical Europe, since the differing laws of physics make some scientific developments impossible, and others yield contrary results. Magic is bound to be an integral part of the future development of Mythic Europe, and the most powerful wielder of magic in the thirteenth century is the Order of Hermes.

Magi of the Order of Hermes form a subclass of society: they are well-educated in the main, and versed in subjects of mundane study such as philosophy and the liberal arts, and yet they also wield the terrifying power of magic. A third and oftforgotten function of the Hermetic magus is as a craftsman, a producer of items of great interest to peasant, merchant, and prince. This chapter is about developing this third role for magi beyond a simply artisan position and into the realms of the magus as an inventor and producer of marvels in great demand by those who can afford them.

Troupes often try hard to avoid anachronism in Ars Magica Fifth Edition, both in terms of maintaining an accurate historical setting and in avoiding the introduction of modern concepts and equipment in the form of "magitech," largely because technology has a major transformative effect on the society that uses it. This chapter explores what happens if the troupe tries to introduce such anachronisms to society at large. A key aspect of a technological society — which Mythic Europe is not, at least by modern standards — is that the technology not only exists, but the benefits of its existence are felt by many. This chapter is not about equipping a magus with a magical version of a mobile phone, but equipping nobles, merchants, and even priests with them.

This chapter focuses principally on four inventions as examples of enchantments that could change the face of Mythic Europe. These are intended to serve as paradigms of the kind of impact that magical technology could have on society. These examples are discussed first, and then the rest of the chapter is a more general discussion of the effects that magical technology can have on Mythic Europe.

Scrying as a Means of Correspondence

Considering the ubiquity of mobile phones in the modern era, it should be no surprise if players of Ars Magica Fifth Edition want their magi to invent magical analogs of these devices. This technological breakthrough is about communication over distances, a practice to which the term "scrying" is rightly applied, although the Code of Hermes also uses this term to designate a proscribed use of magic (more on this later).

The utility of such enchantments need not be explained to most players, but the impacts that they might have on a medieval society should be carefully considered. The populace of Mythic Europe has very little exposure to people or places further than a week's travel from their home. Language is a barrier to all but the educated classes who speak Latin; communities on different sides of mountains — or in some places, on different sides of a river — speak different dialects or even languages, and these varied tongues are kept distinct by the lack of cultural exchange. Among the changes that first occur with increased communication between distant places is a gradual globalization of language and culture.

It may be that some covenants already have devices permitting communication between distant allies. Scrying devices become agents of transformation when they become commonly available to mundanes rather than just between members of the Order.

Remote Writing

The subtlest form of magical correspondence is an enchantment employing remote writing, where a message written at one location also appears at another. There are a number of ways in which this can be achieved, two of which are described below. Remote writing is less useful for conversations and more useful for imparting information, asking for help, and sending news. A key advantage of this type of magical technology is that it cannot be misconstrued as scrying by a Tribunal, or accidentally used to commit a Hermetic crime. It also presupposes that the intended recipient can read — a safe assumption if the message is for a Hermetic magus, but this can be more restrictive if intended for mundanes.

Example Device: Quills of Arcane Correspondence

This item is usually designed as two identical magical devices: a pair of perfectly matched goose quills. Inside the hollow shaft of each quill is an Arcane Connection to its partner; these Arcane Connections have been fixed in the laboratory to extend their durations indefinitely (ArM5, page 94). The enchantment within ensures that whatever is done with one quill is copied by the other, including dipping the pen into ink and writing on a page. Each item is typically left in a carefully prescribed position, lying on top of a sheet of parchment with an inkwell exactly placed and always filled with fresh ink. Failure to follow these procedures may mean that the message is not reproduced at the other location, either because the parchment was not registered correctly or no ink was picked up by the pen. Only one quill needs to be enchanted if one-way communication is all that is desired.

These devices would be more common in the Order were it not for the Aegis of the Hearth. If two covenants desire to be in contact using such devices, one must be made within the Aegis of one covenant and given to the other covenant, and vice versa. The items could still be made by the same individual at both locations, as long she was included in both Aegis rituals or granted token(s) for the duration of her work.

A variant of this device is a pair of enchanted bone styluses, which are used to inscribe on wax tablets. This version has the advantage of not relying on an inkwell in precisely the right location, but has less flair, thus less appeal, than the version using a quill. Quills are also superior because they offer a +7 Shape and Material Bonus to scribing.

This device could be expanded in scope by linking several quills together, each with an Arcane Connection to either a master quill or to each other. The invested effect would need to have Target: Group, but the resultant device would permit secure communication to several targets simultaneously.

Description

Two perfectly matched goose quills from the left wing; each is a snowy white feather. The quills are equipped with silver nibs for greater endurance, as a quill otherwise has a limited lifespan. Each quill is a Lesser Enchantment, each using two pawns of vis. The Arcane Connection to the other quill was fixed with a further pawn of vis. If this enchantment is modified it can potentially be used to write multiple books at once, although not being able to see the remote text makes for poor quality reproductions. Substitute the character's Finesse score for Profession: Scribe, but with a –3 penalty, and reduce the Quality of any remotelywritten text by 3 points.

Twinning the Quill

ReAn 19 Pen 0, 12/day
R: Arc, D: Conc, T: Ind

When the effect is triggered, any movements of the enchanted quill are exactly mirrored by the other, which is usually left atop a sheet of parchment with an open inkwell in a precisely defined position. Errors must be crossed out rather than scraped from the parchment in the usual fashion. A concentration roll is required every few sentences. Arrangements are usually made to change the parchment and refill the inkwell.

(Base 1, +4 Arc, +1 Conc, +1 precise control; +4 12/day)

Example Device: The Unsubtle Knife

Invented by Atrox of Tytalus, this device allows him to issue orders to any of his agents, who are scattered across the region. He keeps an Arcane Connection to each agent's home as a matter of course.

Description

A simple silver knife, as commonly carried for eating or for trimming quills. This item was made as a Lesser Enchantment with three pawns of vis.

The Writing on the Wall

CrIm 22 Pen 0, 3/day
R: Arc, D: Sun, T: Ind

The effect is triggered by writing a message with the tip of the knife on a suitable flat surface; in the past Atrox has employed ink on a parchment, carved his message on a tavern table, and cut an order into the flesh of a defeated enemy. The knife must be in contact with an Arcane Connection to a location during the writing. The message appears at that location, and persists until the sun next rises or sets. Because of Atrox's sigil, the message appears to be written in blood.

(Base 1, +4 Arc, +2 Sun, +1 clear letters; +2 3/day)

Clairvoyance and Clairaudience

Scrying is technically the use of Intellego spells at Arcane Connection Range, although for legal purposes the Code of Hermes has extended the use of the term to cover the use of any magic to spy or aid spying into a magus's affairs (Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, page 52). When magi talk of scrying however, they are normally thinking of clairvoyance (viewing things from a distance) or clairaudience (hearing things at a distance).

Items involving scrying magic often employ similar Shape and Material bonuses. Rock crystal is perhaps the most potent, granting +5 clairvoyance (ArM5 page 110). Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver that grants +3 scrying (Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, page 137), and silver offers a +2 bonus to Intellego effects (The Mysteries Revised Edition, page 33). Mirrors are a popular shape for scrying: not only do they include silver, they also grant a +6 bonus to effects that display images within the mirror (Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, page 139).

Example Device: Earring of Whispering Voices

Perhaps the simplest of all scrying devices, this enchantment takes the form of a piece of jewelry — usually an earring to make the best of the Shape and Material bonus of +5 to hearing effects. Occasionally these items are made as a matched pair with an integrated Arcane Connection to the other user, and these allow two people to communicate with one another no matter what the distance between them. The owner of a paired device who does not want a conversation overheard would do well to remove her earring and place it in a box or bag.

Since the key effect of this device must Penetrate Magic Resistance to work, it has been designed with the ability to create a brief noise to indicate the activation of the device, so that a magus can suppress his Parma Magica so that he can be heard. Otherwise, the device must be entrusted to servants who can be relied upon to relay any messages.

Description

This decorative piece of jewelry consists of a short cylinder of silver with a slit that admits the ear lobe. It is closed by applying gentle pressure. It was invented as an Invested Item prepared for enchantment with six pawns of vis. Three pawns of enchantment space have been used.

The two effects could be made as two separate Lesser Enchantments perhaps as a conjoined two-part earring — taking only two seasons of laboratory work (rather than at least 3) and only three pawns of vis in total (rather than nine).

A Signal of Intent

CrIm 8 Pen 0, 6/day
R: Arc, D: Mom, T: Ind

This effect creates a brief sound at the location designated by the Arcane Connection. The exact form of the sound is between the inventor of the device and his sigil, but a bell's note is usual. This effect does not need to Penetrate the Magic Resistance of the target; the sound may be heard by anyone in his vicinity.

This effect is used to signify to the recipient that the device's owner has used (or is about to use) The Ear for a Distant Voice. If made as a paired device to allow two-way conversation, it is usual for the recipient to trigger the same effect in his own device to indicate his own ability to hear the words of the listener; otherwise the first user cannot be sure his words are being received.

(Base 1, +4 Arc, +3 6/day)

The Ear for a Distant Voice

InIm 12 Pen 0, 3/day
R: Arc, D: Conc, T: Ind

The user of the device can hear the voice of the person to whom she has an Arcane Connection. She cannot hear anything else from the vicinity of the target other than his voice. The effect is triggered by touching the earring with the forefinger while holding an Arcane Connection to a person or place in the same hand.

(Base 1, +4 Arc, +1 Conc; +2 3/day)

Example Device: The Hermetic Speculum

The traditional design for this device is a polished sphere of rock crystal, taking advantage of the Shape and Material bonus for clairvoyance. Another common form for this device is a silver-backed mirror. A speculum ("mirror" in Latin) is a well-known magical device among sorcerers who indulge in speculomancy for their masters, often credulous lords and princes. Such sorcerers may be charlatans, hedge wizards, or both.

If used to scry upon someone who has a Hermetic Speculum themselves, The Scrier Spied effect is activated by the contactee's device, signaling that someone either wishes to talk, or else is eavesdropping in on the conversation.

Description

A sphere of rock crystal filled with flaws, creating many mirror-like surfaces within the body of the crystal. A small crystal is traditionally mounted on a chain worn at the belt; for an enchanted device this chain is often made of silver. Larger crystal spheres are too unwieldy to carry like this, and are instead provided with a stand on which they sit; these stands can be made of orangewood, which provides a +5 bonus to sight-related effects (Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, page 137). Because flawed rock crystal is enchanted as hard stone, a chainborn crystal would be a small object prepared with eight pawns of vis, and a free standing Speculum is a medium object needing twelve pawns of vis. Five of these pawns have been used up.

Summoning the Image of the Distant

InIm 17 Pen 0, 3/day
R: Arc, D: Conc, T: Ind

The wielder of the device can see and hear the individual to whom she has an Arcane Connection, provided he has no Magic Resistance. The images are divorced from any surroundings or other beings in the vicinity.

The effect is normally triggered by rubbing the item with the thumb or palm while holding an Arcane Connection to the person to be viewed. The images appear in the mirror-like flaws in the crystal.

(Base 2, +4 Arc, +1 Conc; +2 3/day)

The Scrier Spied

InVi 29 Pen 0, constant effect
R: Per, D: Sun, T: Smell

This spell operates like The Invisible Eye Revealed (ArM5, page 157): the Speculum responds whenever a spell of 30th level or lower is used to spy on whoever is carrying it. Note that this spell can detect the presence of scrying spells that have failed to Penetrate its bearer's Magic Resistance because it can "smell" such spells within a three pace radius of its location. A detected scrying spell is signaled by a soft golden light filling the crystal; this is a cosmetic effect indicating that the power has been triggered.

(Base effect, +1 to increase Duration from Conc to Sun, +1 to increase Target to Smell; +1 2/day; +3 environmental trigger)

Example Device: The Effigy of the Errant Image

This is perhaps the most effective type of device for distant communication, because it allows two-way communication through a single device rather than having paired items with reciprocal Arcane Connections. The user of the device creates an image of himself at a distant location, and can see and talk to anyone there present. The chief disadvantage is that the enchantment is of eighth magnitude, and so is more difficult and more costly to create.

A similar device can be achieved with a Creo Imaginem enchantment like Haunt of the Living Ghost (ArM5, page 144) rather than the Rego Imaginem effect detailed here; there is no difference in the overall level of enchantment. Tribunals have usually ruled that neither effect is an illegal use of scrying magic, since they make no attempt to hide the magus employing them.

Description

A small wooden statue of a human, small enough to easily fit into the palm of one hand. Its features are ill-defined and androgynous, and it has its hands held out palm up, as if asking for a gift. The Effigy has been prepared for enchantment with four pawns of vis (a small wooden object) and has no space remaining for further enchantments.

The Wandering Eidolon

Re(In)Im 40 Pen 0, 1/day
R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind

This effect causes the user's image to disappear from its current location and appear in a location designated by an Arcane Connection placed in the hands of the statue when triggering the effect.

The wielder can speak at the designated location and hear any responses, and he can also see everything he could if he were actually there. He cannot move his image from the immediate vicinity of the Arcane Connection, although he has some limited movement — he can pace up and down, for example. While his image is dislocated, he is invisible and inaudible at his true location. The displaced image is his image; if he sits then the image sits, if he is wounded then the image appears to bleed.

Note that the image cannot enter an area protected by an Aegis of the Hearth unless the device was made within that covenant or made by a caster who was included in the ritual's effects. If designed with sufficient Penetration, this effect could potentially overcome this limit.

(Base 15, +1 Touch, +1 Conc, +1 additional sense, +1 requisite; +5 item maintains concentration)

Story Seed: Inappropriate Use

Once scrying devices make it into the hands of mundanes, it is only a matter of time before a magus becomes is the target of a mundane's curiosity. The victim raises a prosecution case against the manufacturer of the device for scrying. This might seem like a difficult case to argue, but the prosecuting counsel has a sympathetic Tribunal behind him, and this could go badly for the character who made the offending device.

"I Will Not Use Magic to Scry..."

The scrying devices described above use Target Individual to directly spy on a person, but could equally use Target Room to relay the images of multiple individuals at once (provided they were in a room). If a magus happens to be in that area, then the user of the device has scried upon the other, and if a magus, has committed a High Crime. Designing the device with a Penetration of zero prevents this, but also prevents distant communication between magi. The two devices described above each have methods of signaling the recipient so he can suppress Magic Resistance, but this extends the resources needed to make the item in the first place.

Few tribunals would convict a magus if the possessor of a twinned device carried it while knowing both its function and the owner of its twin; such a case would probably be construed as malicious entrapment. However, there are other ways in which the device could raise accusations of scrying. If another magus is in the vicinity of the device when it is used, then his auditory or visual species could be transmitted to the user against his will, and that is scrying without a doubt. If a magus should come into possession of a device innocently or not — and if the linked device is used by the other recipient, then the scried magus has a legitimate claim to bring before the Tribunal if he was ignorant of its enchantment, even if he came by the device in an illicit manner.

Remote writing technology has none of these perils. Even if a magus sees a message that was not intended for him he has not been scried upon, for the user of the device has gained no information about the other magus. It could be argued that a magus who reads a message intended for another has scried upon the author of that message, since since he has gained information about another magus through the use of magic. This is a very tenuous argument to make, and would probably be rejected by most Tribunals since the aggrieved magus was the initiator of the magic that caused the crime to occur.

Why it May Not Work: Lack of Penetration

The Order of Hermes is liable to be very cautious around magic that permits an individual to scry on another. The Hermetic Oath is quite specific in prohibiting its members from scrying another maga or using magic to peer into her affairs. The Peripheral Code of a Tribunal might forbid magi from supplying scrying magic to their servants for this purpose as well.

For safety's sake, any magus embarking on plans to distribute scrying devices to mundanes should design them with zero Penetration; including more Penetration than this in their design is perhaps an admission that their intended use is not wholly innocent. However, this simple implementation of avoiding Penetration means that the devices are useless for communicating with magi, making the prospect of their spread much less likely.

Remote writing devices present less of a problem; they can be made by a covenant and then given to an ally, allowing that ally to instantly communicate with them regardless of distance. Covenants may be unhappy about handing out permanent Arcane Connections to items within their covenant, however, even to trusted friends. Once such items are out in the world, it might be too easy for enemies to get their hands on them.

Societal Impacts

It is a common aphorism that "knowledge is power," and this is particularly true in a world where news can be transmitted much faster than a courier can travel. Getting news of a battle just minutes after its conclusion confers a huge tactical advantage on a major noble conducting a war — on the assumption that these devices are scarce. Indeed, a cunning individual might pay a premium ensuring exclusivity over all copies of the device, which he gives to his trusted vassals and spies. It might be years before anyone discovers the source of his political and military success. The attempted patent on the device will not persist beyond this revelation; the spells needed to copy the device are relatively simple, and variants can be easily conceived by another magus.

Saga Seed: A Scrying Society

If integration of scrying devices into Mythic Europe is achieved, the impacts will be seen in all aspects of society. In the scenario considered here, the situation began with a single scrying device developed by a magus and (legally) sold to a mundane lord. When his use of the device was uncovered, there was public condemnation of this flagrant use of dangeroussounding magic, and a secret clamor for similar devices directed toward the Order of Hermes. As a result, Mythic Europe has a fair number of different designs, each one made by a different inventor and working somewhat differently from the others, bearing different features and quirks. Rather than attempting to produce an "industry standard', the Hermetic manufacturers of these devices have prospered from the diversity of different devices, and have even staged public debates over which one is better. The devices are nearly always designed with a seven year expiry; in a particularly cynical move by the manufacturers the designs are changed every few years, so there is a strong business in repeat customers who want to replace an expired model or else upgrade to a more fashionable design.

The most basic devices are remote writers like the Quills of Arcane Correspondence. These have proved a boon to merchants, who can place orders with their suppliers without having to rely on couriers. Likewise, producers can inform their vendors instantly when new artisan goods are ready, and create a demand for their produce in advance of its arrival. Bankers use the devices to secure remote authentication, allowing transfer of funds to be arranged instantly. Lieges use the devices to communicate with their vassals, and they have changed the face of warfare, allowing orders to be clearly and unambiguously issued to distant troops. The commoners also have access to Quills, at least in towns. It is usual for a town ward to club together to raise the funds for devices connecting to several locations, and they are available to any member of that ward. The Quills are normally kept in a locked room, and any messages received are posted in a public place for their intended recipients to claim them. Townsfolk whose relatives have moved away now keep much closer contact with them. One noticeable effect is that Reputations are more easily gained, harder to lose, and apply over a large area now that gossip is widely spread by the Quills.

The first Hermetic Speculum was commissioned by a prince of the Holy Roman Empire so he could observe battles and better organize his forces, but these have since spread into general use as well. Some cities have bought them for their populace, asking for particularly big mirrors so that many people can observe the images at the same time. To begin with, these Specula were just used to look at distant scenery and monuments that many townsfolk would never normally see. Later they started to be used by the cities' leaders to communicate with their citizens en masse through proclamations, and the Town Crier's Guild has recently formed to service the announcement of news using these devices. Just recently an enterprising group of jongleurs has taken to selling Arcane Connections to the hall in which they will be performing, informing buyers on what day and at what time they should use their Specula (of course, only those with Specula designed with Target Room can watch). The jongleurs have audiences hundreds of times bigger than they have achieved in the past, and the idea is sure to catch on with other entertainers. Artistic Reputations (Art & Academe, page 126) are bound to spread much faster and wider than ever before.

There have been several public scandals revealed by the Specula and other scrying devices, and a lot of public debate has revolved around an individual's right to privacy. Of course, these are the same individuals who are more than happy to gossip about what they've discovered about their neighbors. The recent fad is for devices that detect scrying, and some inventors have produced devices that prevent it entirely. There have been covert requests to the Order by certain high placed individuals for ways by which communication can be intercepted by a third party, but each object works through an Arcane Connection, which can only ever be joined to a unique object. Interception of communiqués requires obtaining an Arcane Connection to one of the two original devices and creating a third; and only half of the conversation would be heard unless an Arcane Connection to both devices was obtained. Whether or not this has been achieved is a secret of the artificers and their employers.

I'm Sorry, Your Call Could Not Be Arcanely Connected

Magical communication is reliant on Arcane Connections, and these would probably need to be fixed in the laboratory (ArM5, page 94), else they are in danger of becoming Arcane Connections to something else, such as the box they are stored in (ArM5, page 84). If scrying technology is to become widespread, then it is likely that the locations it would be possible to view or contact would be limited, due to the time and vis needed to perform this task. It is a laboratory activity that can be easily assigned to Hermetic apprentices and junior magi, however; even some hedge wizards are capable of fixing Arcane Connections. Public collections of Arcane Connections might be made available, each carefully labeled, and an individual could borrow one if he leaves a deposit and an Arcane Connection to himself. Both will be returned upon return of the borrowed material, but allow the collection's curators to track down unreturned reference material, and trace or punish those who are suspected of using such material in malfeasance.

A Desire for Privacy

In a world where scrying devices are common, magi might have interest in spells or technology that hinders scrying. Remaining within an Aegis of the Hearth is a good way of foiling spies, but this is not always practical. The following spell can form a basis for an industry based around confounding the new magical technology.

Safeguard the Clandestine Conversation

Mu(Re)Im 10
R: Touch, D: Ring, T: Circle

The visual and auditory species produced by anyone within the circle drawn by the caster as he casts the spell are muddled to any observers who were not present in the circle at the time of casting; this includes those scrying on the target from a remote location. Those inside the circle can still see and hear each other normally, due to the Rego requisite that causes the spell to only affect the species streaming in certain directions. The nature of the muddled images varies according to the design of the spell, but usually includes the inventor's sigil, and leaves those within unidentifiable by their appearance or sound.

(Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Ring, +1 requisite)

Story Seed: Peeping Tom

A clandestine interest in invading another's privacy with scrying devices has attracted the interest of a demon. It supplies Arcane Connections to particularly licentious people, hoping that the peeping toms will imitate what they see. It can also manipulate the images, allowing nosy individuals to "witness" sinful behavior from public figures, leading to the public vilification of (amongst others) a friend to the covenant. The characters might be a target of the demon's false scrying when they begin to investigate.

The Copying of a Book

This section discusses some of the ways in which books can be magically copied. This is not intended to be an exhaustive catalog of the methods of producing books with magic; other techniques certainly exist, limited only by the imagination of the players.

A key advantage of copying a book magically is that a spell or device does not have the same limitations as a mundane scribe. The facsimile created with magic is as close as it can be to the original, duplicating every nuance, diagram, and letter precisely.

This means that texts on magical matters can be copied with as much ease as ones on mundane matters with a spell, whereas a scribe copying a book on a Hermetic Art needs to have a score in Magic Theory to avoid corrupting it.

Limitations of Hermetic Theory

There are a few principles that pose problems for any magus attempting to change the manner in which the Order acquires and exchanges knowledge. These do not necessarily relate to the Limits of Magic, but may instead be part of the incomplete nature of Magic Theory. It may be that there are hedge wizards who know magic that does not have the same restrictions.

There is No Art that Covers Knowledge

A magus cannot create knowledge using magic, and can only manipulate it indirectly. In Mythic Europe, a person's knowledge is integrated into his mind through the memory and the imagination. The memory stores ideas and experiences, whereas the imagination stores images and other sensory input. In particular, inscribed memories are the powerhouse of one's Arts and non-physical Abilities, fixed into the memory through study and experience. Magi have only begun to delve into the secrets of the mind, and there is no known way (yet) of transferring inscribed memories between minds or creating new inscribed memories, even though other types of memories can be influenced with the Art of Mentem. For more information on the medieval concept of the mind, see Art & Academe, pages 31–32. For more about memories in particular, see Houses of Hermes: Societates, pages 68–70.

Magic Can Neither Read Nor Understand

The Technique of Intellego is sometimes mistakenly seen as the Art of Knowledge. However, this Art in truth covers only the acquisition of information, not the information itself. Likewise, Mentem spells operate on sentient minds, not on the contents of those minds, so learning is not encoded with the Form of Mentem either. Words on a page are under the purview of the Form relating to the components of the ink used (mostly Herbam and Terram), or the page itself (Animal for parchment, other Forms for different media). Manipulating the words however gets no sense of the meaning therein. There is, for example, a profound lack of a spell that can translate the written word from one language to another, even though there is a spell that translates the spoken word in exactly this manner. This is because the mind that uttered a word can be interrogated for its meaning with Mentem magic, but written words are just artifices of ink and parchment that have no intrinsic thoughts behind them.

Rego Craft Magic

This insert summarizes the rules for Rego craft magic. For more details, see Covenants, page 49.

Rego magic can duplicate the activities of any mundane craftsman, bypassing the need for tools, time, and skill. Rego magic cannot create substances, and therefore the magus must provide all the raw materials necessary for the craft, while the Rego craft magic rearranges these materials into the desired form. It is not necessary to provide substances that are not integrated into the finished object but that are essential to the process; for example, a mundane percamenarius needs lye to bleach animal skins to make parchment, but Rego craft magic does not. The Duration of Rego craft magic is almost always Momentary; a longer Duration would merely repeat the manufacture process again and again on the same raw materials.

Rego craft magic requires a Finesse roll, the Ease Factor for which is at least three higher than the Craft roll needed by a mundane craftsman making an equivalent object. The Ease Factor for the Finesse roll is further increased if the Rego craft magic is drastically shortening the time needed to produce the finished item: doing a month's work in an instant requires an additional +3; doing a season's work in an instant incurs a +6; and a year's work imposes a +9 to the Ease Factor. If the mundane craft requires many intermediate steps, then an additional +3 (or more) to the Ease Factor is justified. Failure on the Finesse roll results in a mess rather than in a useful item, and a botch indicates a fatal flaw that is overlooked.

Copying a Single Page

Perhaps the simplest way to magically reproduce a text is to use Rego craft magic (see Insert) to duplicate the efforts of a copyist. Having a copy of the work to be copied present is essential, as is a stack of clean parchment (or other writing medium) and ink appropriate to the medium. Rego craft magic does not require quills, blotting powder, or other accoutrements of the copyist's craft; these items are not integrated into the finished manuscript and therefore not needed by the magic. As discussed earlier, magic cannot read, so the process of copying a page of text is a two stage process. A spell is first employed to lay an image of the text to be copied over a blank page, and then the Rego craft magic spell causes ink to follow the image's impression.

The First Furrow Guides the Second

Cr(In)Im 25
R: Voice, D: Sun, T: Group

This spell lays the image of a book's page over the top of a blank sheet, so that a scribe can trace the page's content. This creates identical copies of books. Used repeatedly over the course of a season, it can assist in the creation of copies of Hermetic books, allowing an unskilled magus to copy books even without having the Profession: Scribe Ability. (Note: this spell's description has been modified from when it first appeared in Covenants, page 97, where it erroneously implies that a magus without Profession: Scribe has a –3 penalty to any totals requiring that Ability)

(Base 1, +2 Voice, +2 Sun, +2 Group, +1 changes as pages turn, +1 requisite)

The Copyist's Puissant Quill

ReAq 5
R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Group

This craft magic spell causes prepared ink to form words and images on a page. The ink is overlaid on guidelines already present on the page, such as chalk or charcoal sketches left by a copyist, or the result of a spell such as The First Furrow Guides the Second. The Group Target permits multiple colors of ink to be employed. The spell does not distinguish between writing and illustrations, copying both with equal skill. The caster must make an Intelligence + Finesse roll to determine the accuracy of the spell's copying. The Ease Factor is 9 for an easy piece of copying; for example, one color and no illustrations, typical of a book with a Quality of 6 or less. The Ease Factor is higher for more complex or detailed works typical of higher Quality; for a Quality of 7 to 9 the copying Ease Factor is 12, and for a Quality of 10 or more the Ease Factor is 15. If this roll fails, then the ink fails to form letters and simply makes a mess. A botch indicates that the text looks fine but is actually nonsensical, a flaw only discovered when the text is read for the first time; however, characters will not often be rolling stress die for this Finesse roll.

Variants of this spell with higher Duration allow a magus to use this spell to make patterns on the page that correspond to the caster's words.

(Base 1, +2 Voice, +2 Group)

Copying an Entire Book

The spells in the previous section allow the copying of a single page at a time. However, a book usually contains more than a single page of text. A typical book consists of a series of gatherings bound together between two boards of wood. A typical gathering, called a quarternion, consists of four sheets of parchment folded in half, and is therefore eight pages of text.

It takes a moderately skilled scribe one day to copy four pages of text, and another day to tidy up and provide basic illumination for those same pages. A typical tractatus consists of about twenty quarternions (160 pages) and takes about a season of continuous work to copy (80 days: scribes do not work on Sundays or holidays). A typical summa has twenty five pages per point of its Level. Since scribes typically spend only half their time actually scribing and illuminating, the estimation of a year to copy a Bible is about right (it is a Summa on Theology of Level 10 and a Summa on Church Lore of Level 3; approximately 325 pages and therefore 163 days of continuous work).

Since copying an entire book is at least a season's work for a mundane scribe, a version of The Copyist's Puissant Quill that duplicates an entire book in one spell — rather than page by page — would require an Intelligence + Finesse roll against an Ease Factor of 15, minimum, which is well beyond the capacity of most magi. Copying a book page by page using Rego craft magic as detailed in the previous section would therefore seem the best option, but it requires hundreds of castings, each with its accompanying Finesse roll. For simplicity's sake, compare the Finesse Total (Intelligence + Finesse) of the caster on the nearby table to determine how much Quality is retained from the original book.

Quality Remaining After Copying

This table assumes an Ease Factor of 12 (i.e. Quality 7 to 9), a simple die roll, and no proofreading. For books requiring Finesse rolls of Ease Factor 9, add 3 to the Finesse Total; and subtract 3 for books requiring Finesse rolls of Ease Factor 15.

Finesse Total	Effect	Quality of Copy
3	Spoil 8 pages in 10	No readable book results
5	Spoil 6 pages in 10	6 points lower than original
7	Spoil 4 pages in 10	4 points lower than original
9	Spoil 2 pages in 10	2 points lower than original
11 or more	Spoil no pages	Equal to original

Resonances

Covenants (pages 87–88) details rules for improving the quality of a text by incorporating resonant materials into the creation of a book, or by clarifying the book by exposing it to a Magic aura. If such techniques have been used in the production of a book that is then copied with magic, the benefits of such resonances are lost. A copied book can be rebound using new resonant materials, and so the benefits may be replaced by similar ones if the copyist takes the effort to do so.

Binding

Once a text has been copied onto loose sheets it should be gathered together and bound into a codex. Unbound books are easily damaged, since it is easy for individual sheets to go astray. Furthermore, parchment is prone to warping out of shape unless it is firmly pressed between wooden boards and clasped together. This damage can negatively affect the quality of the text. Finally, unbound books cannot have resonances (see earlier).

Discovering Mistakes

A magus might want to compare a magically or mundanely scribed copy of a text with the original to find mistakes. Intellego Imaginem can detect differences between copies, but cannot distinguish minor variations in pen-work from meaningful errors. A spell such as The Copyist's Critical Eye (below) could be enchanted into a device that can turn the pages of both texts simultaneously, and even mark the pages that differ using a linked trigger. The marked pages would still have to be checked by someone who understands the importance of the text, but it would greatly reduce the time this takes. Once mistakes have been identified they can be scraped out and corrected. As a rough guide, a text that would normally take a season to write can be proofread and corrected in a week with unlimited uses of this spell.

The Copyist's Critical Eye

InIm 10
R: Per, D: Conc, T: Vision

The caster casts his eye over two texts, and he can immediately see the places in the second that differ from the first by perfecting his memory of the first text. The manner in which the differences are displayed depend on the caster's sigil. To Atrox of Tytalus, any incorrect words appear to be drawn in fresh blood.

(Base 1, +1 Conc, +4 Vision)

Example Device: The Superb Scrinium

A magus is unlikely to want to cast the same spell a hundred times to copy a text page by page. A more efficient way to do this would be to create an Enchanted Item which performs the task automatically. While the Superb Scrinium described here can copy and bind an entire book in a few hours, it does have its disadvantages. It takes twelve pawns of vis to prepare this item for enchantment, and another twelve pawns to instill the effects. It takes at least six seasons to create the item. It can only copy single sheets or codices, not other forms of books such as rolls or tablets, and only copies one side of each page (although it is rare to have writing on both sides of parchment). The biggest impediment is that the books produced by the Scrinium are rarely as good as the originals: they do not have any resonant materials, and they require a character with a high Finesse score to operate the device if mistakes in the text are to be avoided. The latter limitation cannot be circumvented; it is a fundamental constraint of Rego craft magic. Integrating resonant materials is possible, by using Binding the Hermetic Codex instead of Binding the Mundane Codex (Covenants, page 97), although these materials need to be sourced first.

Description

The Superb Scrinium consists of a large writing desk (a scrinium) designed to be put on top of a table. The desk is ornately carved from walnut wood. The lid of the desk can be propped up to make a slanted desk or lectern, but when in operation the lid is kept closed. Inset into the flat surface of the desk are three rectangular slabs of alabaster. In front of the middle slab are four horn inkwells, each one designed to take a different color of ink.

The enchanted item is set in motion by placing a book on the left-hand alabaster slab and opening its back cover. This triggers The First Furrow Guides the Second. The device can copy a text onto any animalor plant-derived material, but usually copies onto parchment. Ink appropriate to the writing material should be placed into the inkwells. Wooden boards, twine, glue, and other materials necessary for binding books should be put before the rightmost slab. A stack of blank sheets of sufficient number for the copy should be placed on the middle slab. The copying process is initiated by taking the top sheet from the middle slab and placing it on the right-hand slab, which triggers The Lector's Deft Hand. The book is duplicated one sheet at a time from back to front. It takes about one and a half hours to copy a text of 300 pages: three combat rounds (eighteen seconds) per page, one for each of the three effects.

The device relies on the Finesse Total of its activator, so its operation is usually restricted to magi, and even so it will tend to produce texts of lower Quality than the original unless the operator is highly skilled. It has no intrinsic proof-reading, although The Copyist's Deft Eye could be included into the design. The First Furrow Guides the Second determines how many books can be copied per day, since it needs a separate activation for each text; Binding the Mundane Codex should have the same number of uses.

The Scrinium has been prepared for enchantment with 12 pawns of vis (the highest cost of all the components is for the alabaster slabs, which are large objects of soft stone). It has no more space for any further enchantments.

The First Furrow Guides the Second

Cr(In)Im 22
Pen 0, 3 uses per day
R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Group

This enchantment has the same operation as the spell of the same name, described earlier, except with respect to Range and Duration. Each casting is sufficient for an entire text, since the created illusion affects a moving image. It is triggered when an open book is placed on the lefthand marble slab; an additional command word could be included if desired. To use the item correctly, the back cover of the book should be opened (else the book will be copied and bound in reverse).

(Base 1, +1 Touch, +1 Conc, +2 Group, +1 changes as pages turn, +1 requisite; +5 item maintains concentration; +2 3/day)

The Lector's Deft Hand

ReHe(An) 15
Pen 0, unlimited uses per day
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

This enchantment turns a page of any book placed on the left-hand marble slab. It can turn pages of paper, papyrus, and other plant-based materials as well as parchment and vellum. It is triggered when a sheet of parchment is placed on the right-hand slab (that is, after the Stack the Decorated Page effect has acted).

(Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 requisite; +10 unlimited uses per day)

The Copyist's Puissant Quill

ReAq 15
Pen 0, unlimited uses per day
R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Group

This enchantment has the same operation as the spell of the same name, described earlier, and acts on the topmost sheet of the middle stack of blank pages. It is triggered when a page of the book on the left-hand marble slab is turned (that is, after the Lector's Deft Hand effect has acted).

(Base 1, +2 Voice, +2 Group; +10 unlimited uses per day)

Stack the Decorated Page

ReHe(An) 20
Pen 0, unlimited uses per day
R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Ind

This enchantment moves a sheet of parchment, paper, or other animal or plantderived writing medium from the stack on the middle marble slab and places it on the right-hand slab. Note that the pages produced by the Scrinium are totally dry; there is no wet ink. It is triggered when the topmost sheet on the middle stack has been written on (that is, after the Copyist's Puissant Quill effect has acted).

(Base 3, +2 Voice, +1 requisite; +10 unlimited uses per day)

Binding the Mundane Codex

ReHe(An) 7 Pen 0, 3 uses per day
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group

This enchantment binds up to 800 individual sheets into a book. The enchantment fails if any of the materials necessary pieces of a codex are missing. It is triggered by tapping three times the stack of fi nished sheets to be bound. The operator of the device must have an Intelligence + Finesse of at least 6 to successfully bind the book. If you are using the extended rules for book creation (Covenants, page 88), then readers of a book bound with this enchantment can claim the +1 quality bonus for sound binding.

(Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +1 requisite; +2 3/day)

Copying Laboratory Texts

In theory, Laboratory Texts can be copied with magic in exactly the same way as books on Abilities and Arts. Naturally, an exact duplicate of the text is made, so if a Laboratory Text is still written in its author's personal code, this will be replicated in the copy. A Laboratory Text is usually much shorter than other books (approximately one page per level of the effect), although it may not be written as a typical codex but take a more unusual form. It may be that a magus does not have the capacity to magically copy a book due to the form that it takes. For example, many magi scribe their laboratory texts into wax tablets, some use metal sheets and an enchanted stylus, still others cover the walls of the laboratory themselves with chalk notation.

Laboratory Texts are a lot less forgiving than a book on an Ability or an Art. The Laboratory Text must be copied exactly without the slightest deviation, else it is corrupted and useless. Pages where the Finesse roll fails must be repeated, and a single botched page corrupts the entire Laboratory Text; something which will only be discovered when the Laboratory Text is used (wasting the season). If using Rego craft magic to duplicate Laboratory Texts, then consider that a professional scribe could copy fi ve levels of effects a day; 120 levels in a month, and 360 levels in a season. Using the earlier table, you would need a Finesse Total of 11 or more to copy a month's worth of Laboratory Texts fl awlessly page by page, or a Finesse Total of 14 or more to copy a season's worth in the same manner.

Optional Rule: Hazardous Laboratory Texts

Rather than requiring flawless copying of every page of a Laboratory Text, the troupe could decide that errors introduced into Laboratory Texts do not make the Text useless, but can introduce unwanted effects into the product of the season of work. If the magically-copied Laboratory Text was created with insuffi cient Finesse, then whenever it is used, the magus must make an extra roll on the Experimentation Table (ArM5, page 109) with a risk modifi er equal to half the number of pages spoiled per ten pages total. Thus if four pages in ten were spoiled, the risk modifi er is +2. If a copy is made of the copy with magic, then the users of the second generation copy must make two extra Experimentation rolls, each potentially with its own risk modifi er. This option makes magical copying of Laboratory Texts possible, but often undesirable.

Optional Rule: No Magical Copying of Laboratory Texts

Alternatively, you could rule as a troupe that Laboratory Texts are too sensitive to scribal errors to be copied with Rego craft magic. In a Mythic Europe that has magical copying of books, the production of Laboratory Texts becomes an artisan craft, with each one handwritten each time. This makes them a more valuable commodity.

The Order's Response

The Order of Hermes commonly sells books, either by public offer, by tender, by exchange, or by subscription (Covenants, page 94), and arrangements for a magus to visit a covenant and copy one of their books are relatively common. Technology to instantly reproduce these efforts could rapidly change the established order depending on the availability of the magic, although Hermetic magi are split as to whether this would be a change for the better or the worse.

Detractors

Some magi of House Bonisagus are likely to deplore the multiplication of such knowledge. If power is not hard won, then it comes with no responsibility. More mundanely, House Acclaim is devalued as authors become anonymized by mass production.

Jerbiton are, broadly speaking, disgusted with the idea of this invention, seeing it as a cheapening of knowledge for the sake of power. Those who live under the principle of sufficiency particularly deplore the technology. Similarly, many (if not most) Tytali believe that knowledge (that is, power) is worth nothing if not earned.

Quaesitores worry about the implications. While books on Magic Theory, Organization Lore: Order of Hermes, and especially Parma Magica are rare, it is easy to contain them. Once they can be mass produced, then it will be difficult to prevent such books falling into the hands of the mundanes, and (worse still) enemies of the Order. They are likely to attempt to ban the production of books on the Parma Magica at the very least.

Neutral Parties

The Mystery Houses are little affected by this innovation; the knowledge they hold dear cannot be trapped on parchment with ink, but must be wrestled from the fabric of the world with ritual and ordeal. They are not likely to have any great opinion on magical duplication of books; at best they might mildly support the ideas if it means more books to study. However, fear mongers might point out that should their secrets ever be discovered and recorded by an outsider, if book-duplication technology exists then the mysteries of a cult could be quickly disseminated — a sure fire way to ensure that the ancient ceremonies lose all power.

House Mercere are likely to be unaffected by the technology. Exemplar texts still need to be transported to those covenants who have a Scrinium, and copies still need to be distributed.

Proponents

Both House Flambeau and House Tremere are in favor of the mass production of books, since it permits a more rapid growth in power which in turn leads to a more efficient and powerful Order.

Those Bonisagi who do not vehemently oppose the technology embrace it, as a superb method for disseminating knowledge of Hermetic breakthroughs and innovations. Some members of House Tytalus support them in this, recognizing that conflict can arise from — and be manipulated by — the control of which texts are made available.

Those more politically-savvy members of House Ex Miscellanea are eager to obtain books on the Arts. They believe that the Order has too long kept knowledge from them, allowing them to wallow in Hermetic backwaters as second class citizens. Writing, publishing, and disseminating books that discuss their own unique tradition not only simultaneously preserve those traditions but perhaps attract more recruits.

Why it May Not Work: The Cow and Calf Oath

The Cow and Calf Oath (Covenants, page 95) simply states that the purchaser of a book, or the recipient of a book as a gift, will not sell or give copies of that book without the permission of the original owner. The oath refers to a ruling in the Hibernian Tribunal, and is not part of the Code of Hermes in any other Tribunal, and yet it is exceptionally common as a "gentleman's agreement" throughout the Order. Sometimes, for books of the highest quality, the oath is specifically recalled and sworn to give it legal weight. Copying a high quality book normally entails seasons of diligent work which few magi are willing to undertake if they might incur the displeasure of the book's originator. However, a device like the Superb Scrinium permits the copying of a book in no time at all, making it far more tempting to contravene the Cow and Calf Oath for financial gain.

As it stands, the Cow and Calf Oath is not part of the Code anywhere other than in Hibernia, so cannot be assumed to be in force without specific mention of prohibitions on copying. Magi have tried in the past to bring the decision to the Grand Tribunal, but so far that august body has declined to make a ruling. This might change if copying books becomes a trivial task. The intellectual wealth that powerful covenants have invested in their libraries will be quickly devalued if the Cow and Calf Oath is ignored, and the only way to enforce it is for it to become part of the Code.

The Cow and Calf Oath does not protect texts belonging to non-magi, so the edicts of the Grand Tribunal have little effect on the ability of the invention to transform Mythic Europe. However, it would take an altruistic magus to pursue the considerable time and vis needed for this invention if there was no possibility of him being able to profit from the books in his own library — many of which are likely to have been gifts or bought from other magi under a Cow and Calf arrangement.

Rules for a Large Library

Each Art and Ability is represented as a single Level and Quality that represents the sum total of the knowledge that the library has on that subject. Each subject has a summa; this is the best tome that the library has, with the highest Level + Quality. A library that lacks at least one summa on a subject has no score for that Art or Ability. The base scores for the library are equal to this book.

Acquiring more books on the subject increases the Level and Quality of the library's resources in this Art or Ability. Adding tractatus act as experience points in the Quality, and acquiring new summae acts as experience points in the Level; both scores increase as if they were Arts. Most books add at least some knowledge, but as the library grows, it becomes steadily more comprehensive. A book does not contribute an experience point to Quality unless its Quality is within three points of the library Quality, and does not count as an experience point in Level unless its (Level + Quality) is within three points of the library's (Level + Quality). Once added to the library there is no need to track individual Level or Quality. Needless to say, a covenant cannot just duplicate books they already have to increase either characteristic.

Studying from the Library

A maga whose score in an Art is less than the library's Level in that Art gains the library's (Quality + 3) in experience points in the relevant Art. A maga whose Art score is equal or greater to the library's Level gains experience points in the Art equal to the library's Quality each season, and can only study here for a number of additional seasons equal to the Quality before she has exhausted the library's information on the subject. Abilities are treated in an identical fashion. If a library's Level should subsequently improve beyond the maga's Art score, she may recommence her studies with the +3 bonus to Quality until she reaches the new Level. If the Quality is unchanged then she must cease her studies for that Art in this library; if Quality has increased as well then she can study for additional seasons equal to the change in Quality.

More than one magus can study the same subject in the same season; usually one studies the best summae according to the normal rules, and the others split the remaining books between them. Only those not studying from the best summa get the +3 bonus to Quality if their Art or Ability score is lower than the Library's total Level in that subject.

Example

A library's best book on Ignem is Level 6, Quality 7. There are also ten other summae and nineteen tractatus on Ignem, so the library's total score for Ignem is Level 7, Quality 9. Rather than providing details for all thirty books, this can be represented as follows:

Ignem: Level 7 Quality 9 (Level 6 Quality 7, + 10 summae + 19 tractatus)

Any magus with an Ignem score of 6 or less studies gains 12 experience points in Ignem from this library and can continue to study until his Ignem is 7. If he has Ignem 7 or more he gains 9 experience points and can study for 9 more seasons. If two magi wish to study Ignem in the same season, one studies from the best summa and gets 7 experience points as long as he has an Ignem of 6 or less, but can't learn anything if his Ignem is greater than 6. The second studies from 10 summae (enough to provide an Ignem of 4) and nineteen tractatus (a Quality of 5). If his Ignem is less than 4, he receives 8 experience points, otherwise he receives 5 — but can study Ignem from the library regardless of his Ignem score. If three magi want to study Ignem this season, then one gets the best summa as described, and the other two must split the remaining books between them; if done evenly then they each get a Level 2 Quality 4 library.

An Erudite Society

The cost and time involved in creating a book is one of the principle reasons why they are the property of the monasteries (who make them) and nobility (who can afford them). The vast majority of Mythic Europe would normally never own a book. However, it would not take that many copies of a device such as the Superb Scrinium for books to be a much more widespread phenomenon. Limited only by the supply of raw materials (and this is a very real limit, but not an unassailable one) and the provision of skilled operators (specifically, those trained in the Finesse Ability), copies of key texts could be available to any individual.

The impacts on medieval society could be tremendous. Free access to cheap reading material leads to the democratization of knowledge. Rather than being the province of the elite, the ability to read can be passed from parents to their children since it becomes a useful skill to acquire. Fortunately, we have a model to see how world-changing this can be, since in 1455, the Gutenberg printing press began to produce books using moveable type. By 1480, nearly every city in Europe had at least one press. Within a handful of decades of its first print run it was being used to generate political treatises exhorting the masses on the inequality of the world and the oppressive nature of the nobility. It would be hyperbole to suggest that the printing press saw an end to feudalism or the Catholic Church, but it was instrumental in the rise of civil disobedience against the aristocracy and the spread of Protestantism. The Gutenberg device was exceptionally slow in producing books compared to the speed that the Superb Scrinium can achieve, but then a magical device is less easy to make than a press, so the speed of the impact of such a device may be considered equivalent.

The dissemination of ideas and the questioning of the intellectual authorities is a natural consequence of a more literate society. The Church resisted translations of the Bible into vulgar tongues for centuries, largely because it feared what man might do if he were able to interpret the Good Book for himself.

A Guild of Scribes

A device such as the Superb Scrinium could easily put all the scribes in a city out of work. Capable of working tirelessly all day and all night, producing a complete tome every few hours, the Superb Scrinium could copy an entire monastery's library in a month, given sufficient supplies. That volume could represent several years of work for a team of several scribes, and unsurprisingly, the profession will be up in arms. The scribes are likely to lodge complaints with the burghers of the city or the local lord; trying to bring legal proceedings halting the operation of the technology. The reasons they give for this vary, but many will be outright fabrications — such as the books reproduced by magic are somehow profaned.

It is also likely that the non-religious scribes will incorporate and found a guild. Scribes do not have any strong reason to join a guild until their livelihoods are threatened, and they may join forces with other professions who make a living by writing, such as notaries and legal advocates. Monks are not allowed to join guilds, but they may well sympathize, and the guild could be supported by a monastery (or monastic order). The Learned Magicians (Hedge Magic Revised Edition, Chapter Five) may join forces with them; these hedge wizards are known for their parchment amulets and calligraphic chartae, and may be personally invested in maintaining a thriving industry. It may be that the parchment makers and ink-smiths also join up, but these professions are not under threat; indeed, the capacity for the Superb Scrinium to consume parchment and ink may well cause these professions to support it. Paper might become more widespread as a cheap alternative to parchment, and one which can be made at a much faster rate.

The political power of the Scribes' Guild depends on the role planned for them in the saga. If they can control provision of writing materials, then they can exert control over the magical creation of books — at least until a magus invents a ritual spell that generates vast amounts of parchment for relatively small amounts of vis. If left high and dry by their former allies, the scribes may well take on the role of saboteur, destroying books created by the new technology and attempting to wreck the device itself. They may become an underground profession devoted to what is perceived as old, archaic ways; writing their malicious spells to the doom of the Order in catacombs hidden under the city.

Optional Rule: Limits on Instant Transportation

Some troupes consider instant transportation to be a bit too much like science fiction for their tastes. As an alternative to banning such spells entirely, it could be reconfigured as traveling in the blink of an eye. Rather than disappearing from one place and reappearing in another — a feat best left to saints and holy magicians the magus travels through every point between his point of departure and his destination in a mere moment. The spell Gift of Frog's Legs (ArM5 page 134) epitomizes this approach: while the guideline specifies instant transportation up to 5 paces, the spell actually allows the target to jump that distance. Because essentially the character is flying exceptionally fast, anything he is wearing or carrying travels with him (even other creatures such as familiars, as long as they are small), but as noted in another insert (nearby), storyguides might veto characters from carrying with them an excessive load.

Under this optional rule, a character must have an unobstructed path between the two locations to use such spells, although it need not be a straight path. The caster cannot be in a building which does not have open doors or windows of sufficient size for him to get through, and he cannot be shackled or tied. His destination is subject to the same requirement for lack of barriers; if he forgot to leave his sanctum door open, then Leap of Homecoming does not deposit him there. If a barrier does exist, the target is transported as far as the nearest barrier. So if he is shackled, the spell has no effect, but if the only barrier is his closed sanctum door then he simply appears outside it.

Increased Knowledge

Assuming that Hermetic books are manufactured at the same rate if not faster — than mundane books, the consequences for the Order are profound. Books are no longer priceless commodities that are copied only with great effort by skilled magi. There will always be a place in the Order for the artisan bookmaker who picks unique resonances and magical enhancements to set his work above all others. However, covenants might have hundreds of books, and if they own their own Superb Scrinium, have the capacity to generate hundreds more. This could easily change the learning model of the Order. Study becomes a much more common method of advancement for apprentices since more books are available to them. At the other end of the scale, old magi have much more ready access to tractatus, and need not rely on the more dangerous study of vis for advancement in the Arts. Magi won't necessarily gain more experience points from studying books, but they are now less limited by the contents of their library; for, unless they are very unlucky, it will contain dozens of books on each Art.

In game terms, this greater provision of books might change the way that libraries are recorded in terms of game statistics. The system described in a nearby insert is suitable for covenants that contain at least fifty or so books.

New Guidelines for Instant Transportation

In all cases, add 1 magnitude to increase the distance to 50 paces, 2 magnitudes for 500 paces, 3 magnitudes for 1 league, 4 magnitudes for seven leagues, and 5 magnitudes to a place for which you have an Arcane Connection.

Rego Animal

Level 10: Transport an animal instantly up to 5 paces. Non-living animal products are transported with Rego Terram.

Rego Aquam

Level 4: Transport a liquid instantly up to 5 paces.

Rego Herbam

Level 10: Transport a plant instantly up to 5 paces. Non-living plant products are transported with Rego Terram.

Rego Ignem

Level 3: Transport a fire instantly up to 5 paces.

Rego Terram

Level 4: Transport a non-living object instantly up to 5 paces. For objects larger than something that can be comfortably held in two hands, size modifiers are necessary. Casting requisites may be needed if the item is primarily not under the Form of Terram.

Instant Transportation and Requisites

Ars Magica Fifth Edition does not specify whether casting requisites are needed for instant transportation, and this may be left to the interpretation of the troupe. A storyguide wishing to make spells of instant transportation difficult might insist on casting requisites unless the character is to arrive naked (or has clothes made from human skin and hair…); however this has the effect of making these spells exceptionally difficult to cast. Spells to levitate or fly do not require casting requisites, neither, apparently, does Gift of the Frog's Legs which uses a guideline for instant transportation.

The view taken in this chapter is that since Rego Corpus spells move the body, anything that the body is wearing or carrying is moved as well. Living creatures cannot be transported without requisites, except for familiars (if they can be carried), which share a special bond with the magus.

If the target is burdened by an unusually large load then casting requisites are certainly justified. As a guideline, any Burden which causes an Encumbrance of 3 or more should require a requisite appropriate to the material comprising the majority of the weight: Terram for metal, Herbam for wood, etc. Furthermore, a requisite is also justified if half the total weight is made up of a Form different to the primary Form: for example, a glass bottle containing wine, or a wooden crate with eggs inside. As always, the primary Form for a spell with requisites is derived from the spell with the highest base level, so a spell to transport a crate containing eggs is a Rego Animal (Terram) spell, not a Rego Terram (Animal) spell.

If you disagree with the basic premise that requisites are not required, then all you need to do is add casting requisites where applicable to the spells in this chapter.

Travel in the Blink of an Eye

Travel is a tedious facet of life in Mythic Europe. The fastest that most people can ever travel is on a horse at full gallop, and such speeds cannot be maintained. The fastest a messenger has ever traveled is 90 miles in a single day, and this relies on multiple changes of horses. Yet journeying away from home is a necessary evil for many; most freemen attend markets in their nearest town every week to sell their wares, and even if they live in that town, they may need to travel to obtain raw materials or clients. Some priests need to travel between their parish churches to hold Mass and hear confession. Nobles (or their representatives) travel between the manors of their fiefs to dispense justice and collect taxes. Perhaps most of all, merchants must shift goods from their place of production to the point of sale, and for those trading in expensive or rare materials, this might entail great distances indeed. It is within the scope of magi to lighten this burden of travel.

New Spells for Instant Travel

Some example spells for instant transportation are given here. These use the new guidelines from the nearby insert. These spells can easily be adapted into enchantments in devices. To make best use of Shape and Material bonuses they are often invested into enchantments in the shape of doorways (+5 magical transportation) or halls (+3 magical transportation), or incorporate opal (+4 travel).

Bring the Herd to Market

ReAn 45
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group

Instantly transports a Group of standard Individuals up to seven leagues, usually to a location known to the caster. This is often sufficient to transfer a flock from its pasture to market. This spell can affect up to two hundred chickens (Size –3), fifty sheep (Size –1), ten ponies (Size +1), or five horses (Size +2).

(Base 10, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +4 transport seven leagues)

A Bridge Without Wood

ReCo 20
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

Instantly transports the target to a point up to 50 paces away. The caster must be able to clearly see the destination. This effect can be used to cross rivers and even scale cliffs if a suitable arrival point can be seen.

If enchanted into a device, this effect could be used in place of a bridge, and has the additional benefit that it can be easily removed to prevent enemies from using it.

(Base 15, +1 Touch)

The Messenger's Shortcut

ReCo(An) 45
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group

Transports a rider and his horse one league (three miles). This effect is usually designed to affect a particular pairing of horse and rider to avoid warping, and so is designed to affect only two individuals. A spell of the same level could transport two or three riders and their mounts, but this spell is not designed to do so.

(Base 25, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +1 requisite)

The Mobile Infantry

ReCo 50
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group

Instantly transports up to 100 men and their personal equipment up to 7 leagues. This powerful spell has been used to ferry soldiers to a battlefield; the magus who cast it was later executed in a Wizard's March by a Tribunal.

(Base 30, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +1 Size)

The Instant Harvest

ReHe 45
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group

This spell divests a field of its crop, depositing the produce in a spot next to the field designated by the caster. It is best used for field crops such as leeks or turnips since it transports the

whole plant; if used to gather wheat, peas, or fruit, they must be processed further. An Intelligence + Finesse roll determines how neatly the vegetables are gathered; Ease Factor 9 avoids them being in an untidy pile at the designated spot.

(Base 10, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +3 Size, +1 transport 50 paces)

Rapacious Hand of the Highwayman

ReTe 35
R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Ind

Transports a wagon and its contents from within range to a location three miles away. An Intelligence + Finesse stress roll against an Ease Factor of 9 ensures that the wagon is deposited on all four wheels, otherwise it tips over upon landing and may spill its contents. Note that since this uses the Terram guidelines to transport non-living objects, anyone riding in the wagon is left behind. Without requisites, substantial amounts of liquid or animals are also left behind.

This spell has become commonly used in the Normandy Tribunal, where stealing the supplies of another covenant is not forbidden by the Peripheral Code and there is a culture of raiding the supply lines of one's rivals.

(Base 4, +2 Voice, +2 Size, +3 transport 1 league)

Portage of the Eagles

ReTe 45
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group

Transports up to one small hundred crates or equivalent volume of goods (100 cubic paces) to a place to which the caster has an Arcane Connection. Requisites are needed if the crates contain live animals or liquids.

(Base 4, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +1 Size, +5 transport to an Arcane Connection)

Impede the Impertinent Interloper

PeVi General
R: Touch, D: Ring, T: Circle

This spell cancels the casting of any spell of instant transportation within a circle drawn at the time of casting, or to a person within the circle. It also prevents the area within the circle from being the destination of such a spell. The spell fails and the intended target does not move. The spell can only cancel spells of a level less than the (level of this spell + 5 + stress die (no botch)). Thus a 25th level version of this spell is always suffi cient to block a Seven-League Stride, and might block The Leap of Homecoming if the stress die result is 5 or more. If the transport spell is of non-Hermetic origin then you should estimate its level based on Hermetic guidelines. If the caster of the affected spell is within the circle, then this spell must Penetrate Magic Resistance to have the desired effect.

(Base effect, +1 Touch, +2 Ring)

Example Device: The Gate of Countless Vistas

This rather grand-sounding device is typical of an enchantment with powers of instant transportation designed for a sanctum, covenant, castle, or so forth. It is unusual in that it is enchanted with multiple copies of the same enchantment, each designed specifi cally for a different user of the device. In this manner, magi can avoid warping from the powerful mystical effect while remaining able to benefi t from the enchantment's effects. Naturally, as covenants grow, more potential users of the device arise, and an old covenant might have a chamber dedicated to its numerous Gates of Countless Vistas. While a magus cannot benefit from the Laboratory Text of another, since each enchantment is designed for a different person, they do get a small bonus to their Lab Total for every version of the enchantment already in the device (ArM5, page 99).

If there are multiple covenants with similar devices, common practice would be to only provide allies with Arcane Connections to a particular room — and this would not be the room containing the covenant's own Gate of Countless Vistas. Rather, it would be a room with a sturdy lock, or else one with no door at all, but a magic device to open up a portal. This room is often placed outside of the destination covenant's Aegis of the Hearth. One never knows how long allies will remain allies, or how securely they maintain the Arcane Connections to other covenants.

Description

The Gate of Countless Vistas is an arched doorway made of stone. It is usually set into a wall rather than standing free, but if the latter is preferred, the doorway is equipped with a stout oak door fastened with an impressive iron lock. This door is not part of the enchantment — it just stops covenfolk accidentally straying through the gateway. The arch has a particularly prominent keystone at its apex; this keystone has a rectangular niche cut into it.

Nearby the Gate, and also not part of the enchantment itself, is a shelf containing several Arcane Connections collected by the user(s) of the device. Each one is designed to fit into the keystone at the top of the arch, and is clearly labeled — although some magi use a code only they know. The shelf may also hold several Arcane Connections to the magus's own Gate, made from the same stone used to construct the arch. All of these Arcane Connections have usually been fixed in the laboratory to prevent their expiry.

The Gate of Countless Vistas is a large item of hard stone, and was prepared for enchantment with sixteen pawns of vis. The amount of space left in the enchantment depends upon how many times the enchantment has been instilled; a maximum of four users are possible per device assuming that only one use per day is acceptable.

The Longest Step Made Short

ReCo 40 Pen 0, 1/day
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

Transports one person, his clothes, and his equipment to a location designated by the Arcane Connection placed in the Gate's niche. Each time this effect is added to the enchantment, it is keyed to a different trigger word. Each user is given his own password, to be uttered as he steps over the threshold of the arch.

(Base 35, +1 Touch)

Example Device: Phylactery of the Cautious Maga

This invested item is principally designed for a maga who prefers to avoid danger, but tends to find herself in harm's way. When she utters a command word, the Phylactery gathers an Arcane Connection from the maga's current location, and then transports her to a safe place represented by an Arcane Connection already within the Phylactery. She can use the gathered Arcane Connection to scry the location she has just left to determine whether danger has passed, and use it to return to her original location once she deems it is safe. The effects described below allow the maga to complete one cycle of these effects each day; if she expects more trouble than this, she may wish to design the effects with more uses per day.

A particularly paranoid (or accident-prone) magus might enchant an Intellego Corpus effect into the Phylactery that continually monitors his health, and uses a linked trigger to gather the Arcane Connection and then transport him to safety should he be seriously wounded. In this case, the usual Arcane Connection within the device might be to a physician or healer whom the magus has cultivated as a friend. The disadvantage of this option is that it puts the wearer under a constant mystical effect, which might cause warping if employed for too long (ArM5, page 168). Additionally, the effect that transports the magus to safety needs sufficient Penetration to breach the magus's Magic Resistance, for he cannot always rely on being conscious in order to suppress his Parma Magica. Placing the effect in a Talisman allows the Range to be reduced to Personal, avoiding this latter problem.

A saga where Laboratory Texts of this and similar Invested Devices become readily available could cause a major change in the current dynamics of the Order of Hermes. Magi are no longer exposed to many of the perils of the world, since they can return to their sancta whenever danger threatens, and then return when it has passed. Indeed, they could return every night to the comfort of their own chambers rather than spending the night by the side of the road or in a louse-infested tavern. A very lazy magus could use these effects in reverse; acquiring an Arcane Connection to a grog or companion, then sending him out to travel to the intended location. Once there — which he can check through scrying effects — the magus can transport himself to his doughty servants, entirely bypassing both the dangers and the tedium of traveling far from home.

Description

A hollow wooden box approximately three inches long, two inches wide, and an inch deep. The box has a lid of highly polished silver that slides aside to reveal two compartments within; one is usually empty, whereas the other contains an Arcane Connection to a safe place such as the magus's sanctum. The Phylactery is usually suspended around the neck on a thong, but may be affixed to the forearm or thigh with a leather strap. This item has been prepared for enchantment with twelve pawns of vis (the highest vis requirement is for the small silver plate used as a lid), and has used ten of those in its effects.

Acquire the Connection

ReTe 15
Pen 0, 1/day
R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Part

Upon uttering a command word, this effect transports a pinch of dirt, a cobblestone, or a chip of flagstone (as specified by the creator of the device) from the floor around the magus into the empty bottom compartment of the Phylactery.

(Base 4, +2 Voice, +1 Part)

Flee to Safe Refuge

ReCo 44
Pen 0, 2/day
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

This effect transports the wearer to the place designated by the Arcane Connection in the top compartment of the Phylactery. Note that unless this effect is designed with a Penetration bonus, the wearer must suppress her Parma Magica (ArM5, page 85) for it to affect her; this requires a Stamina + Concentration roll, vs. an Ease Factor determined by the maga's current situation (ArM5, page 82).

The effect is triggered by activating the Acquire the Connection effect; it can also be triggered separately by a command word. The reason for the linked trigger is to minimize the actions required by the fleeing maga: it takes just one command to activate both effects; and if a maga is sorely injured or in imminent danger, one action may be all she gets.

(Base 35, +1 Touch; +3 linked trigger, +1 2 uses per day)

Summoning the Distant Image

InIm 25
Pen 0, 1/day
R: Arc, D: Conc, T: Room

As the spell of the same name (ArM5, page 145); using the Arcane Connection residing in the bottom compartment of the Phylactery. The images appear in the mirrored lid of the box. Note that the effect will not work if the Arcane Connection is not to a well-defined room.

(Base 2, +4 Arc, +1 Conc, +2 Room)

Plaustrum Pertinax

Magic Might: 0 (Herbam)
Season: Spring
Characteristics: Cun 0, Per +2, Pre +1, Com –6, Str +5, Sta +6, Dex +2, Qik –5
Size: +3
Warping Score: 5 (2)
Virtues and Flaws: Magic Thing; Transformed Thing; Essential Virtue*, Tough, Well-Traveled; Magical Monster; Lesser Malediction (moving parts sometimes temporarily fuse)*, Oversensitive (orders from magi)*

• from Warping
  

Magical Qualities and Inferiorities: Personal Power, Terram Resistance; Reduced Attack, Reduced Initiative
Personality Traits: Stubborn +6, Disobedient to Magi +3, Wagon* +2, Hard to Topple (Dexterity)* +3

• Essential Trait
  

Combat:
Bludgeon: Init –7, Attack +6, Defense –1, Damage +7
Soak: +15
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–8), –3 (8– 16), –5 (17–24), Incapacitated (25–32), Dead (33+)
Abilities: Animal Handling 3 (dray animals), Area Lore 4 (routes), Athletics 2 (avoiding potholes), Awareness 1 (roads traveled before), Brawl 3 (bludgeon), Concentration 2 (Immovable Object power), Living Language 2 (drover's slang), Terram Resistance 2 (wear and tear)
Powers:
Immovable Object, 0 points, Init –3, Herbam: The wagon can fix itself in place, and prove completely immobile. Any attempt to move the wagon while this power is in operation risks damaging it. None of its contents may be removed either. ReHe 10 (Base 3, +1 Conc, +1 size, +1 extra force) Personal Power (10 levels, –2 Might cost, +1 Init)

Vis: none
Appearance: A flat-bedded fourwheeled wagon, big enough to carry six people, plus two on the driver's bench, or an equivalent load. An optional canvas canopy can be raised to keep the contents protected from the weather. The wagon requires two beasts of burden to pull it, or four when fully laden.

This wagon has been the property of a covenant for decades, maybe over a century. It became heavily warped after the covenant developed spells for instant transportation. At least once per week it was ported all around Mythic Europe, and eventually a botched casting of the transportation spell granted it the Transformed Thing Virtue (Realms of Power: Magic, page 47).

Known now as the Stubborn Wagon (Plaustrum Pertinax), this Magic Thing is viewed with a certain affection by some of the covenfolk, who enjoy its petty disobedience towards the covenant's magi. Its axles seize at inopportune moments, and it often throws a wheel rim close to an inn favored by the grogs. Despite this, it will always be an outsider, a freak generated by magic. It is capable of slow movement even without dray animals, but hasn't shown anyone this ability yet. When in a helpful mood, it can use its own Animal Handling in place of that of its driver.

You might wish to use the rules for Damaging Objects on page 77 of City & Guild rather than using Soak and Wound Penalties. In this case, the Plaustrum Pertinax has 10 damage levels, and when an event could damage it, make a stress roll + 5 (Wondrous item) + Profession: Drover or Animal Handling of the operator. If the result is equal to or greater than the Ease Factor of 15, the wagon avoids losing a damage level. Damage levels do not impose penalties, they simply indicate how much punishment an object can take until it is broken beyond use. Damage levels can be restored by a competent carpenter or wheelwright, although if the wagon is completely broken it may not still be a Magic Thing once repaired.

New Spells for Very Fast Travel

Not all magical transportation has to be in the blink of an eye. There are other means of travel that, while not instant, are still faster than anything currently available in Mythic Europe. This section includes a few spells which could act as inspiration for devices permitting other modes of transport.

Mercury's Winged Sandals

ReCo 20
R: Per, D: Conc, T: Ind

The caster can fly. He must make an Intelligence + Finesse roll to change direction or speed; with an Ease Factor related to his current speed — Ease Factor 3 for walking pace, Ease Factor 9 at moderate speed, Ease Factor 12 at maximum speed.

He can move at a maximum speed as fast as a running horse — about forty miles an hour — but this is reduced by one mile an hour for every point of Load he carries. He cannot physically carry a load which inflicts a Burden more than five points greater than his Strength (i.e. 15 points of Load for a character with Strength 0, 10 points of Load for a character with Strength –1, etc.). A second, unencumbered individual is a Load of 21 on average (see Grogs, Chapter 4).

Concentration Duration is better than Sun Duration for this spell since in the former case the caster can end it at will, but the effect is often enchanted into an item that maintains concentration for the caster, for added safety.

(Base 15, +1 Conc)

Woolen Steed of Araby

ReAn 20
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind

Imbues a woolen rug or animal pelt with the power of flight. A person sitting on the rug is lifted along with it, and the caster may make Intelligence + Finesse rolls to change direction or speed. The Ease Factor is related to current speed — Ease Factor 6 for walking pace, Ease Factor 12 at moderate speed, Ease Factor 15 at maximum speed of forty miles an hour. (Note that these Ease Factors are higher than for Mercury's Winged Sandals due to the increased difficulty of moving an object rather than oneself directly). The rug can only support the caster and his clothes; he can have no more than one point of Encumbrance or else the spell cannot lift him. The passenger is not protected from falling off the flying rug, so impressive aerial maneuvers are not recommended, nor is flying through strong winds.

The extra magnitudes have been added to this spell by analogy with the Rego Corpus guidelines.

(Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 unsupported surface, +1 for any direction, +2 for increased speed)

Vessel of the Clouds

ReHe 30
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind

Imbues a small boat such as a coracle with the power of flight. The boat and all its contents are lifted into the air, and the caster may make Intelligence + Finesse rolls to change direction or speed. For typical Ease Factors, see The Woolen Steed of Araby, earlier. The maximum speed is forty miles an hour.

The rigid nature of wood allows the boat to carry a substantial burden; in addition to being lifted itself, the boat can contain a Load of 50. Note that an average person has a Load of 21, so the boat can carry perhaps two people and their equipment. Adding a Size modifier to this spell lifts a larger boat: each additional Size modifier modifier multiplies the maximum additional Load by a factor of 10.

A boat made of metal (or other metal object) could be made to fly using the Rego Terram base guideline of 2. Metal is even more rigid than wood, and can bear an extra 75 points of Load in addition to itself. As before, Size modifiers lift ten times as much metal and thus ten times as much Load.

The extra magnitudes have been added to this spell by analogy with the Rego Corpus guidelines.

(Base 3, + 1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 unsupported surface, +1 for any direction, +2 for increased speed)

The Chariot of Zeus

MuCo(Au) 30
R: Per, D: Mom, T: Ind

Transforms the caster into a thunderbolt (equivalent to an insubstantial object). In this form he can move literally at the speed of lightning to any location he can see. There must be an unobstructed path between the caster and his destination. Upon arrival the caster transforms back into his normal shape with a mighty crack of thunder. Anyone within 2 paces of his destination must make a Size stress roll against an Ease Factor of 6 to remain standing. The caster can choose the location of another person as his destination, in which case he inflicts +30 damage to that individual and arrives standing next to her. If he strikes a building he arrives on the roof, and the building must make a stress check (City & Guild, page 77) or take six damage levels; wooden buildings catch fire even if they survive.

The Duration of this spell cannot be extended beyond Momentary, since bolts of lightning exist only for a moment; furthermore it can only be used outside. Note also that, no matter what your ruling on casting requisites for Rego spells, Muto spells definitely require them.

(Base 30)

What About The Hermes' Portal?

The Order is in possession of a powerful Mercurian Ritual that allows unlimited instantaneous travel between two points over the course of its year-long duration — the Hermes' Portal (ArM5, page 156). House Mercere guard a secret lab procedure to make Mercere's Portals, which act just like a Hermes' Portal but are permanent (Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, pages 80, 100–101). However, these methods have several disadvantages compared to devices like the Gate of Countless Vistas. Both Hermes' Portals and Mercere's Portals link two places through mutual Arcane Connections, and once cast or created, this location cannot be altered. A Hermes' Portal requires two casters (or groups using Wizard's Communion) who can cast a 75th level Ritual spell, and it lasts just a year. The Mercere's Portals are slightly easier to create and are permanent creations, but still constitute a 65th level enchantment and, again, must be made as a pair. The total cost in vis is less than for a Hermes' Portal, but the requisite Lab Total is harder to achieve than the Casting Total for the Ritual spell, even if Laboratory Texts are available.

There are some advantages to these two approaches over devices like the Gate of Countless Vistas. The first is Warping: neither the Hermes' Portal or a Mercere's Portal grant Warping points to those transported, since the target of the spell is the other end of the portal, not the transported individual. This is not true for Rego Corpus spells such as The Leap of Homecoming, which directly target the individual being transported and inflict a warping point for being a powerful mystical effect. Devices like the Gate of Countless Vistas can be designed to partially overcome this limit, but every user needs their own enchantment to be safe from Warping. The second advantage is that both the Hermes' Portal and a Mercere's Portal will transport any object — person, living creature or plant, or inanimate object. This gives them an enhanced utility over spells of instant transportation that must be invented for each type of object transported.

Form of the Zephyr

MuCo(Au) 40
R: Per, D: Sun, T: Ind

Transforms the caster into a strong gale wind. She flies at 50 miles an hour, but can increase this speed to that of a violent storm wind — 75 miles per hour — by expending a Long Term Fatigue level. She can travel at this increased speed for no more than an hour without expending another Fatigue level. This ability to gust is intrinsic to the type of wind into which the caster turns, much as the Cloak of Mist (ArM5, page 131) allows the caster to seep through cracks like natural mist. Note that because this spell turns the caster into a gale wind, she cannot travel any more slowly than 50 miles an hour. A different spell (of the same level) is needed to turn into a more gentle wind. The caster inhales a gust of wind to cast

this spell, and can end the spell and transform back into human form by letting this captured wind free.

While in the form of a wind, she can attempt to bowl over any object her size or smaller; this requires making roll of Strength + Concentration + stress die against the target's Stamina + stress die. The defender may add Athletics to their roll if they are braced for the attack. If the caster's roll exceeds her opponent's, then the target is knocked off his feet and flung backwards one foot for every point of the difference. As a violent storm wind, the target is instead flung three feet per point of the difference. Falling damage (ArM5 page 181) is inflicted on those knocked over; hitting an obstruction before the full distance flung back is reached counts as falling onto a hard surface (such as a wall) or a soft surface (such as a haystack). Knocking over inanimate objects has an Ease Factor of 9 + (3 x its Size).

(Base 30, +2 Sun)

Warping Gained from Instant Transportation

Spells and effects for instant transportation are often over 30th level, particularly if they transport a target an appreciable distance. This means that the targets of these spells accumulate a Warping point with every casting, and if a person, animal, or object is affected 5 times or more, it will suffer a Minor Flaw (ArM5, page 168), and another after 15 castings. Should one target experience 75 or more transits, it also accumulates a Minor Virtue. Flaws that result from repeated transportation magic might include Motion Sickness, No Sense of Direction or Lesser Malediction (feelings of loneliness and depression when away from home). Virtues might include Wilderness Sense (which includes a sense of where north is) or Homing Instinct (see Realms of Power: Magic, page 44).

Even inanimate objects suffer warping (ArM5, page 167), and while warped packing crates are no great trial (as long as they are not reused), transporting an entire wagon and its contents is not such a good idea, since the wagon represents a substantial outlay of funds and is not disposable in the same manner. There are no clear rules regarding what happens when items become warped. Eating food warped by transport across Mythic Europe should not be any problem (it would only have one Warping point in any case), unless it suits the story for this to be an issue. Items that get heavily warped may develop a personality of their own, although it probably needs a more dramatic event, such as a botch, for an item to become truly sentient.

Why it May Not Work: A Prohibitive Cost

Instant transportation is a high level effect. Even the basic version — The Longest Step Made Short described above — is eighth magnitude, and this permits just a single use per day. This represents a significant investment in time and vis even for a specialist in magical transportation. An option is to include effect expiry (ArM5, page 99); a magus could instill The Longest Step Made Short in a single season with a Lab Total of 48, if he was prepared to accept the limitation that the item would lose its magic after seven years.

If these problems are faced by the creation of just a single device, imagine the problems involved with setting up an entire network of Gates. Once Laboratory Texts are available for these effects then the pool of magi capable of creating the device widens, but the vis cost and time incurred does not change. The initiating magi would need to involve a fair few colleagues for the invention to have a significant impact on Mythic Europe. Involving an entire House in the benefits might be the way to go. House Verditius is perhaps the best skilled, but they are ill-suited to duplicating the same invention multiple times. House Mercere would perhaps be pleased to assist in a substitute for their Mercere Portal network, but there are precious few Gifted Merceres. House Tremere might see the benefits of rapid transit, particularly if it permitted the mass movement of troops. Other Houses might be more or less interested depending on the saga.

Societal Impacts of Magical Transportation

While conceptually simple, inventions incorporating instant transportation are only likely to be achieved by specialists in Rego — or magi with a Minor Magical Focus in Magical Transportation — due to the high levels of the effects involved.

Transport of Goods

The facility to bypass hundreds or thousands of miles of hostile countryside filled with untold dangers is highly attractive to a merchant adventurer. Caravan consignments go missing all the time, prey to robbers, dishonest carriers, and sheer bad luck. Sea travel is particularly hazardous; an estimated 10 percent of all ships on the Mediterranean Sea never reach their destination.

It takes nearly 50 days for a consignment to travel from Genoa to Paris overland, and 70 days by sea (City & Guild, pages 88–90). If the same commodities could make the journey in a matter of minutes, through several uses of a magical item with an enchantment like Portage of the Eagles, this could save the merchant vast sums of money in carrier costs and lost consignments.

Merchants with the capacity to instantly return valuable goods back home are likely to fund expeditions to distant places in search of fabled material. For example, nearly all the turquoise and malachite in Mythic Europe is sourced near the city of Nishapur in Persia, about as far as Mythic Europeans have ever gone. In the same part of the world in Badakhshan is the single source for lapis lazuli (for more on Nishapur and Badakhshan, see The Cradle & the Crescent: the Mythic Middle East). Other luxury goods from distant, almost mythical locations include silk from Serica, diamonds and spices from Hind, and gold and ivory from Africa. Such expeditions are far more attractive prospects if the goods (and possibly the explorers, although this is of lesser importance) do not have to risk the perils of the journey home, but can be sent direct to the warehouses in Genoa or Paris. The short term consequence will be that those merchants who possess such fabulous devices get rich, very quickly. In the medium to long term, particularly if instant transportation of goods becomes readily available, the principle consequence is inflation. Luxury items become a lot more common, and towns and cities in particular experience a boom in material wealth. Whereas before the typical medieval society consisted of subsistence living, spending what wealth was earned rather than allowing it to accrue, a society enriched in this manner has more disposable income than it is capable of spending, so saving becomes more common. Of course, hoarding wealth constitutes the sin of avarice, and demons flock to the cities to corrupt the inhabitants.

In the meantime, the people of the countryside are little affected by the economic boom. It takes much longer for the economic growth of the cities to filter through into the rural foodproducing communities since there is no direct acquisition of wealth occurring in the provinces. As a result, most farmers are unable to afford the higher prices of the cities, and the divide between rural and urban populations grows ever more stark.

Ultimately, the cities and their burghers become highly influential. They can begin to dictate terms to the nobility, for their wealth is founded in hard coin rather than in sinew and acres. The baronial class loses its influence, although some barons will doubtless adapt to the new traditions, and perhaps attempt to found a trading house of their own, complete with an item permitting instant transportation of goods.

Transport of People

Travel for the sake of the journey is rare in Mythic Europe. Those who make a living traveling the roads and byways are viewed with suspicion by most people, and this is a clear mark of a low status profession. A trip between the home manor and the nearby market town is the weekly business of farmers and craftsmen, and the business of the merchant has been described above. Other reasons to travel include pilgrimage, carrying messages, and visiting tenants or dependents — such as the yearly visitation of a bishop or his archdeacon to the parishes of the see, or a baron visiting the manors of his vassal knights to gather taxes. Of these travelers, it is the couriers who are likely to benefit the most from technology permitting instant transportation. There are occasions when the missives they carry are time dependent — particularly during times of war — and the messenger that has access to instant transportation grants his client or employer a massive advantage.

Spells and effects to shuffle soldiers across the face of Mythic Europe (such as The Mobile Infantry, earlier) can change the face of warfare. Distant allies can be of more use to those engaging in war, since their troops are at the other end of a spell or magical device.

Saga Seed: Public Portals and Medieval Tourists

Consider a Mythic Europe where magi have spent many decades disseminating devices of instant transportation such as the Gates of Countless Vistas across Mythic Europe. This begins as a means of convenience for the redcaps, replacing the former network of Mercere's Portals that was torn down during the Schism War (Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, page 80) with a less expensive and more flexible alternative, albeit one that causes warping. Most see little harm in allowing their companions and allies use of the Gates, but this makes it more difficult to keep the secret from mundane lords and burghers, who immediately see the benefits of instant transportation, and clamor for the building of private Gates for their own use. Many of these are personally built and installed by a single enthusiastic magus of House Mercere.

A generation later sees Gates of Countless Vistas crossing Mythic Europe in an extensive network. Most major cities have two or more Gates for public use, and nearly all major nobles have their own. Chartered towns often collected the funds for a Gate through taxes, and have either now procured one or are on the waiting list of the local Gatemaker, usually a member of House Verditius. The minimum manufacturing cost for a Gate with unlimited uses per day is 10 pawns of vis (five to prepare for enchantment, five to instill a 50th level effect), which translates to a price of 150 Mythic Pounds or 30 pawns of vis (taking into account House Verditius's normal pricing structure; see Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, pages 114–115). Demand could inflate this cost further (maybe to 20 Mythic Pounds per pawn of vis, or four times the enchantment cost). Similar devices have been produced for transporting goods; rich merchant houses have both types, and employ a staff of specialist porters called concierges who work both sides of the Gates, transporting themselves, transferring the goods, and then transporting back to unload the pallets.

Most civic Gates have Arcane Connections to neighboring cities on sale, with the price dependent on the distance to that city. There is a brisk trade in Arcane Connections to more exotic locales, and a "tourist" industry has arisen amongst the rich, who visit cities or natural wonders at the opposite end of Mythic Europe, a true trip of a lifetime. Some locations have built hostels specifically to cater for these tourists. Of course, an unscrupulous vendor may sell an Arcane Connection to a place with no Gate for the return journey, then help himself to his client's property, knowing that he will not return! The pope has had to issue a bull indicating that the use of a Gate invalidates the spiritual benefits a pilgrimage brings.

When the devices first came into service, users were warned to not make more than four trips through the Gates in a lifetime, but this is routinely ignored since many of the signs of warping caused by the Gates are not immediately noticeable. The recommendation has since been relaxed to only 12 trips in a lifetime, and many stick to this since it is reinforced through the superstitious dread of the unlucky 13th journey. It is not widely known that if you are going to make five or more trips, you won't suffer from a second Flaw from warping until your 30th trip. The heavy level of warping that the concierges suffer is a poorly kept secret in cities, and the city slums are slowly filling with individuals with mental and physical deformities or supernatural aberrations. Beguines women from wealthy backgrounds who have taken lay religious vows and tend to the poor and sick — have begun to agitate against the use of the Gates, claiming they are a dangerous and corrupting influence on society. They use the former concierges as evidence of the threat. It has been several years, but people are starting to listen to the beguines, and some are looking to the creators of the devices as responsible for the situation.

Creating Wealth with Magic

A temptation for many player magi is to use their magic to create untold wealth. It can be exceptionally simple to create wealth, either directly in terms of silver and gold, indirectly in the form of valuable goods, or as enrichment through the reduction of costs. The realization that magi do not have to live in abject poverty is a revelation to many apprentices, and a source of confusion too, because few magi adopt the extravagant lifestyles that their Arts could permit.

The principle reason cited for not creating wealth is the negative impacts it can have on the local — or global — economy, which is assuredly meddling with mundanes. Additionally, being conspicuously wealthy draws too much attention to the Order of Hermes, which has always done best by thriving on the fringes of society, a separation mandated by the suspicion engendered by The Gift.

These concerns do not always stop magi young and old from pursuing magics to enrich themselves. The love of money and a yearning for luxury seems ingrained behavior in some people, despite religious prohibitions about coveting riches and the immorality perceived in those who hoard that which God has given them. Devices and spells to generate wealth are as much a part of technology in Mythic Europe as is wealth a motivator to invent in the first place.

A Cashless Economy

Much commerce in Mythic Europe — at least that on a local level — does not rely on the exchange of coins. When the autocrat of a covenant wishes to settle a bill with the local flour merchant, he may not hand over a pouch of coins; instead, he might arrange for the delivery of four dozen eggs. These he got in exchange for some iron remnants that the covenant's smith had left over... and so on. In towns, tally sticks issued by the merchant's guild are far more likely units of currency than the actual coins they represent. Peasants in particular avoid spending coins locally if they can, preferring to use barter to exchange the excess produce of their own efforts with a neighbor's excess, gaining some variety in their diet. The coins they receive are saved for paying the tithe and the various rents and fines levied by their lord (Lords of Men, pages 79–82).

It is usually visitors to a region who pay for things in coin. A sure way to spot a foreigner in a town is to observe someone handing over more than a few pennies for something; since they are strangers to the area they do not have a local line of credit or goods with which to bargain, and so must rely on hard cash. The nobility also use coinage, using the revenue collected from their peasants to pay their own dues to their lieges and the Crown, as well as dowries for their daughters and ransoms for their sons.

In addition to the difficulty in redeeming goods for coins outside market towns and cities, the magical creation of silver bears a real danger. The license to mint coins is perhaps the most jealously guarded right and is reserved for monarchs and — depending upon where one is in Mythic Europe — a few high ranking noblemen and archbishops. Even though the local economy does not rely on wealth invested into precious metals, the economy of a kingdom does; as a consequence, those found adulterating coinage or minting false money are dealt with in the most serious manner — nearly everywhere this is considered traitorous, and punishable by death. Even carrying false coin in any great amount is dangerous, and trying to use it in a commercial exchange is tantamount to an admission of guilt. Whereas the man on the street might not know the provenance of the many different types of coins, a royal official does. Few magi are willing to risk the perils involved, particularly when the populace is already suspicious of them thanks to The Gift.

Magi wishing to improve their financial situation should therefore look outside the direct creation of wealth, and look at ways of producing goods for exchange for things they wish to purchase. It is important to know one's market; an enchantment which entices fish into the nets ironically has little value in a coastal community where fish are in ready supply.

Direct Creation of Wealth

There are many ways to directly create wealth; this insert covers just two of them. Perhaps the simplest way of increasing one's personal wealth is through the direct creation of coins. These can then be spent as one would any other coins, although note the comments in the main text about Mythic Europe being a largely cashless society.

Probably the most lucrative substance to create directly with magic is pearls, one of the most sought-after precious gems in Mythic Europe. River pearls are of average quality, and are sourced mostly from Russia, but the most valuable pearls come from even further afield — from Persia, the Red Sea, and the islands around Arabia. Since antiquity it has been known that pearls are the offspring of a shellfish. Pliny the Elder revealed that they are conceived in the air from the dew, as evidenced from their color — if conceived on a cloudy day the pearl is similarly cloudy, whereas brilliant pearls result from sunny mornings. One of the key qualities of pearls is that no two are identical, although lapidaries try very hard to match them as closely as possible when constructing jewelry from pearls. Since magically created pearls are all identical to one another (see Boundless Wealth of the Oceans, below) suspicion might be raised that they are fake.

Boundless Wealth of the Oceans

CrAn 20
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group, Ritual

Creates 3,000 pounds of pearls, equivalent to over one million pearls about half an inch in diameter. These are remarkably large pearls, each one about a quarter of an ounce in weight. Good quality sea pearls usually sell for about three Mythic Pounds per ounce (Covenants, page 141). Each pearl is identical to its fellows, and is somehow marked by the sigil of the caster.

(Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Group)

The Wealth of Croesus

CrTe 30
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group, Ritual

Creates 13,000 silver pennies, amounting to 650 Mythic Pounds. The magus's sigil is incorporated into the design on the obverse and reverse of each coin. An Intelligence + Finesse roll allows the caster to match the design otherwise to that of a specific realm's coinage; an Ease Factor of 9 means that only an expert would notice the difference.

Note that the coins are made of unusually pure silver; even English silver — considered the purest in Mythic Europe — cannot match it in quality. Furthermore, coinage created with this spell is free from nicks, scratches, dents, and tarnish, and unlike a large proportion of coins in Mythic Europe, have not been clipped or divided to make change.

(Base 15, +1 Touch, +2 Group)

Flooding the Market

There are any number of ways in which Hermetic magi can create precious materials. Commodities created with magic only have potential value — they have no actual value unless they can be sold, preferably for their going price. The biggest problem is that Hermetic magic creates far too much of these valuable materials, tempting magi to sell it quickly and live a life of luxury. However, if the magi flood the market with their produce, then the price of that product — which is based solely on its scarcity — plummets. The characters then have the option to sell the rest of their stock at a fraction of its former value, or hold onto it until the market recovers, which might take decades, or even longer.

Story Seeds: Precious Goods

If the characters attempt to enrich themselves by usurping a traditional right like the production of salt, they may find themselves in all sorts of trouble. What might seem like a simple scheme to make the covenant a little more comfortable for its inhabitants could quickly escalate into a "salt war" with the local holders of the rights. In the past, such confrontations have included adulterating the opposition's salt pans with poisonous metal salts which cause hair loss, cramping muscles, and intestinal distress in any who consume even small amounts. Finding the alchemist who poisoned the salt before he strikes closer to home could develop into a paranoid witch-hunt amongst the covenant's employees.

A Harvest of Figs afflicts a Warping point on the target plant thanks to a powerful mystical effect, and Nourish the Displaced Vines inflicts another Warping point as a continuing mystical effect each year it is used. After several years of being affected by these spells, the covenant's spice trees develop the (Form) Monstrosity Flaw (Realms of Power: Magic, page 48–49).

Cinnamon trees are wellknown for their propensity to spontaneously burst into flames, and many other spice and incense trees are famous for attracting deadly serpents who live amongst their branches.

Some incense trees are guarded by powerful spirits, who may resent the theft and farming of the sacred incense, and send a team of sorcerers to reclaim their child (see Rival Magic, Chapter Five for details of the perfume-sorcerers of Soqotra).

Example Device: Potent Salts

The right to produce salt is possibly the most lucrative of the rights given to lords and monasteries by monarchs. Salt is less expensive than pearls and silver, but it is craved by all levels of society. One's social standing is often measured by the quality of salt one can offer one's guests at the table, but it is also heavily used by cooks and peasants alike to preserve meat and fish. The ubiquitous need for salt makes the rights to produce it very valuable, and in western Mythic Europe where salt mines are scarce, most salt derives from salt pans. Salt production and marketing is highly regulated as a town monopoly and, by setting prices, the salt makers maintain their profits. Salt rights representing the amount of brine that could be extracted each year are shared amongst certain of the townspeople. Town officials collect salt dues (or "sallage") in order to pay the fee owed to the king, which can be a hundred Mythic Pounds or more. Salt rights can only be passed on by inheritance; they cannot be purchased.

This example technology makes use of the Charged Items rules. The effect is of such a low level that even apprentices and junior magi can often create multiple charges, especially if a Laboratory Text is available.

Description

A common form for this Charged Item is a bag of crystalline material, akin to salt but with a slight metallic smell. A charge is used by scattering a pinch of the Potent Salts onto an amount of water up to the size of a base Individual of Aquam. As the crystals touch the water they initiate a rapidly expanding circle of pure white that expels the water as vapor and leaves the salt behind. A season in the laboratory creates the same number of pinches of crystal as charges; there is no effect from using less than a pinch.

Alchemical Separation of Brine

ReAq 4 Pen 0, charged item
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

A pinch of these crystals converts salt water into pure salt through Rego Craft magic. Saltmaking is a skilled profession, and normally takes a month to turn brine into perfectly dry salt; this spell therefore requires a Dexterity + Finesse roll with an Ease Factor of 12 to successfully produce pure salt. Any sea creatures, seaweed and other flotsam are removed as part of the process and piled up next to the salt.

Saltwater is usually about seven parts salt to two hundred parts water; this spell can affect up to 4,000 gallons of seawater (a base Individual of Aquam, assuming a circular body five paces diameter and two paces at the center), yielding 135 gallons of salt weighing 1130 pounds, or just over half a ton. Salt sells for 120 Mythic Pounds per ton (City & Guild, page 142) in a scarce market.

(Base 3, +1 Touch)

Example Device: The Garland of Prosperous Harvests

Amongst the most expensive commodities brought to the west are spices such as cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and pepper. Various fantastic tales are told about their origins, but educated people are aware of Pliny the Elder's explanations of their origins among exotic trees and bushes of Persia and the semi-mythical Hind. Spices are expensive because they travel from so far, and a magus might be tempted to cultivate the trees in Mythic Europe. And it is not just spices — incenses such as olibanum (frankincense) and myrrh are similarly expensive and derive from the gums of exotic trees. The principle difficulty is that a magus cannot create what he cannot conceive, and few people in Mythic Europe have seen a pepper bush or cinnamon tree.

This device uses an effect called A Harvest of Figs (see below) to rapidly bring a plant to maturity from the dried seed without the need for vis. This is typically done in the autumn, so that a harvest can be gathered immediately. When "planting" a new orchard, the magus or his representative parades around the prepared site carrying the Garland of Prosperous Harvests before him, touching the base of the pole to each seed as he comes across it. Just two dozen plants can be grown in each day, so the Garland of Prosperous Harvests is usually employed over two or three days to generate a decent-sized orchard. To allow the trees thus grown to survive past one crop, the Garland of Prosperous Harvests is then planted in the center of the orchard, touching one central plant, and Nourish the Displaced Vines is triggered to keep the plants safe.

Description

The Garland of Prosperous Harvests usually takes the form of a tall pole bearing a circular wreath of greenery one pace in diameter at its top. Sometimes, the wreath is replaced by a life-sized jointed mannequin, of the sort used to scare birds as it rattles in the wind. The Garland of Prosperous Harvests has been prepared with 8 pawns of vis (it is a large item made of wood), and has 2 pawns unused. Other enchantments typically invested may include effects to keep out disease and vermin.

A Harvest of Figs

CrHe 40 Pen 0, 24/day
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind

This spell brings a plant from seed to maturity over the course of a day. The plant that results is a perfect specimen of its kind appropriate to the season; if cast in spring the plant has flowers, if cast in autumn it is in full fruit. It can affect a tree up to Size +6, about 25 feet tall (a base Individual of Herbam is Size +3). The plant only thrives beyond the spell's duration if it can normally grow under the climate and soil conditions that it finds itself in.

(Base 15, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Size; +5 24/day)

Nourish the Displaced Vines

CrHe 19
Pen 0, constant effect
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Group

Permits up to a hundred plants of Size +3 (or an equivalent volume, such as a thousand plants of Size +0 or ten trees of Size +6) to grow well regardless of the climate and soil conditions, although they may still be affected by disease. The plants must be growing close enough to each other for their roots or branches to touch, else they are not considered to be part of the same group.

Plants affected by this spell for a year always produce their maximum yield of fruits, nuts, or seeds. A single bush of Size +3 produces anywhere between half to one bushel of produce, depending on the type of plant. A tree of Size +6 can bear five to ten bushels.

(Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +2 Group, +1 Size; +1 2/day, +3 environmental trigger)

Reducing Covenant Costs

Technological Cost Saving

As detailed in Covenants (page 66–69), a covenant can employ various cost-saving measures, and by far the most effective of these is replacing people with magic. Each laborer working for the covenant can reduce the expenditure on Provisions by one pound, but all the laborers can be replaced by an enchantment that produces an effect such as The Instant Harvest (earlier). Using the rule of thumb given in Covenants, this 35th level spell does the work of seven laborers, and thus saves seven pounds of expenditure every year. An item enchanted with The Elfin Baker can replace the need for employing a baker at the covenant and create a cost saving of at least four pounds a year.

The food bill is the largest category of expenditure in the day-today running of a covenant and so has the greatest potential for cost-saving. According to the economic system presented in Covenants (Chapter Five), it costs one Mythic Pound to support one point of inhabitants (in a spring covenant, a grog is one inhabitant point, a companion is three, a magus is five). Half this cost — i.e. 10 shillings — is taken up by provisions. Wages and consumables each account for another four shillings in every Mythic Pound, and the wear and tear on the fabric of the covenant accounts for the remaining two shillings per Mythic Pound.

Depending on how well the covenfolk eat, half to three quarters of the provisions consumed at a covenant is in the form of bread. Most of this will have started life as grain, either bought in or grown in the covenant's own fields. If a covenant relies on magically-created grain (see Fill the Capacious Silo, below) to meet its flour requirements, then it can save five to seven and a half shillings on every Mythic Pound it spends.

Magi could replace the wage cost with magically-created silver (see earlier), but they are simply passing onto their covenfolk the problems of false coinage. The consumables bill covers the various tools, equipment, and fuel needed for the smooth running of the covenant, and while these costs could be cut with magic, it would require lots of different spells to have a noticeable effect on cash flow.

Fill the Capacious Silo

CrHe 20
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group, Ritual

Creates a silo of grain. A base Individual of Herbam is about twenty bushels of grain, so this spell creates about twenty thousand bushels, or 30 tons of grain (640 bushels to a ton). This would fill a cylindrical silo 8 paces in diameter and 20 paces high, or a barn 20 paces by 10 paces to a depth of 15 feet. This spell is underoptimized, in that it could create a hundred times more grain for the same spell level (since all Ritual spells have a minimum level of 20); however, that amount of grain would be virtually impossible to store. In a time of famine, that may not be a difficulty.

(Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +2 Size)

Work of a Hundred Querns

ReHe 15
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group

This spell uses Rego craft magic to transform up to 10 bushels of grain into flour. The caster must make an Intelligence + Finesse roll against an Ease Factor of 6 to obtain usable flour, but this is of the poorest quality with pieces of husk still within the bran-heavy flour. An Ease Factor of 12 generates fine white flour instead. An advantage of this spell is that no grit from the millstones end up in the flour regardless of its quality. In Mythic Europe, the right to mill flour is usually protected by law (Lords of Men, page 77), and using this spell could get the magus into a lot of trouble; however, it will save them the

The guideline used was published in Covenants (page 51), and permits items made of plant products to be treated.

cost of employing a miller.

(Base 4, +1 Touch, +2 Group)

The Elfin Baker

ReHe(Aq) 20
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group

This spell uses Rego craft magic to create a batch of 12 dozen loaves of bread in an instant from sufficient raw ingredients of flour, water, and yeast. The spell can even use raw grain rather than flour; if used at its maximum capacity it requires 10 bushels of either. Making basic bread is a Simple (Ease Factor 3) task for a baker, so the magus must make an Intelligence + Finesse roll against an Ease Factor of 6 to succeed; otherwise the result is an inedible mess of spoiled dough. If this roll achieves an Ease Factor of 9 the bread is particularly good; an Ease Factor of 12 produces pandemayne, the finest white table bread.

The guideline used was published in Covenants (page 51), and permits items made of plant products to be treated and processed. A similar spell — The Elfin Brewer — can create 12 dozen pints of ale from grain, water, yeast, and gruit (herbs used for flavor).

(Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Group)

Storage and Life of Magically-Created Grain

A peasant in Mythic Europe requires about 24 bushels of grain each year to support his nutritional needs. They don't eat all of this; some is bartered away for an equivalent value of vegetables, meat, eggs, and cheese. Using the system presented in Covenants, these 24 bushels support one inhabitant point; magi and companions eat finer quality food, and so consume more bushel-equivalents than grogs.

The grain created by Fill the Capacious Silo has all the properties of normal grain, and so unless precautions are taken, there will be a steady loss every year due to rot and vermin. Even under the best conditions — a silo magically protected from damp and mice — the loss rate can be 5 to 10 per cent. If minimal precautions are taken (i.e. keeping the grain covered from the weather but little else), the remaining grain could reduce by a fifth every year, and after just one year all the grain has a musty taste.

Example: A small covenant with 50 inhabitant points uses Fill the Capacious Silo. Unfortunately, they do not have sufficient storage space, so lose a fifth of their stored grain each year. In the first year they create 20,000 bushels: 1200 bushels are consumed (24 bushels per inhabitant point); and 4000 bushels are lost to rot. This leaves them 14,800 bushels. In the second year they eat another 1200 bushels, and lose 2960 to rot. They now have 10,640 bushels, just over half what they started with. It takes them six whole years before the contents of the barn is insufficient for another year's worth of bread, and the covenant has saved 7½ shillings per inhabitant point per year (this is a poor covenant that eats a lot of bread and porridge). The covenant considers the total saving of 112½ Mythic Pounds to be a good return on an investment of four pawns of vis to cast the Ritual spell.

Consequences of Relying on Magic to Meet One's Costs

Magi often do not think about the industry that has grown up purely to support their often large households. For example, the covenant mentioned earlier is consuming 1200 bushels of wheat each year. Since one acre of land yields one bushel of wheat, or thereabouts, this could represent the land farmed by 10 to 40 peasants (a freeman typically has 120 acres or more, a villein usually rents about 30 acres). One casting of Fill the Capacious Silo represents the grain grown on 20,000 acres of land — or, more realistically, 3300 acres of land each year for the six years it lasts.

If the characters have hitherto relied on the local community for provisioning their covenant, and suddenly halt their demand for a particular commodity — such as grain — then they may inadvertently create a surplus in the local community. In the short term, the farmers sell or store the excess, but in subsequent years simply grow less to match the reduced demand. This can have significant repercussions on the lower levels of society, the villeins and half-free peasants who rely on agricultural day labor to make ends meet. It might also affect freemen who had acquired debts in order to buy land to grow crops on their behalf, believing that they could be guaranteed a steady income.

If the covenant owned the land that the crops were grown on, then they can make an entire community redundant. Without the covenant to purchase their wheat, these farmers and their families could be driven into poverty if they cannot find a buyer. The repercussions go further than just affecting the farmers; farming communities need a host of other support industries such as carpenters, smiths, millers, bakers, cook shops, thatchers, carters and dray men, chandlers, and so on. The wives and children of the farmers and tradesmen provide servants to the covenant; if the families are forced from a region, there will be a dearth of such individuals. Alternatively, with so many out of work farmers, covenants might see an increase in applications to join their turb. The social upheaval of replacing costs with magic should not be under-estimated as a source of stories highlighting the dependence of the covenant on the local community.

Societal Impacts of the Creation of Wealth

Issues regarding the local impact of the magical creation of wealth have already been discussed above. There is an implicit assumption that when magi realize the impact their activities are having on a local level, then they cease in those activities at the very least, and at best make an attempt to set matters right.

But what if they don't? the Order of Hermes does not have a collective social conscience — indeed, individual members can be entirely selfish or completely amoral and yet remain within the Code of Hermes. What if the Order simply doesn't care about destabilizing economies as long as it cannot be linked back to the Order itself? It is quite possible for the Order of Hermes to become fabulously rich through the magical creation of wealth, as the following story illustrates — a possible direction for Mythic Europe if the Order chooses not to regulate wealth creation.

Saga Seed: Hermes Mercatorius & Hermes Furis

Two common depictions of the god Hermes or his Roman counterpart Mercury were as a merchant (Latin mercator) and as a thief (Latin fur). Both of these aspects are intimately connected with the acquisition of money, both licit and illicit.

This scenario commences after a few covenants in Normandy began various schemes for acquiring wealth. The impact of their actions was great enough to crash the economy of Flanders, and the Order of Hermes was eventually forced to step in. The key offenders were Marched, and the wealth they accumulated was confiscated. The Quaesitores were surprised as to how much silver they had managed to accumulate, and while some advocated destroying the illicit riches, other voices prevailed. So the money simply sat in a storeroom in a Normandy covenant under guard, while magi debated how best to use it. Eventually it was entrusted to House Mercere who had experience with banking (Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, pages 84–89), and the Primus at Harco used it as capital to support various investments and loans on the Order's behalf.

Due to the shrewd behavior of the Primus, the money steadily grew over time. It became a matter of further concern to the Order and was raised at Grand Tribunal. Some magi considered the accumulation of wealth unseemly, and once again advocated its destruction. Others pointed out the folly of such action — the financial balances of the realms of Mythic Europe depended in part on the existence of this money; to destroy it would risk wide scale economic collapse. The problem, they argued, was that the money was not in circulation. A resolution was passed at the Grand Tribunal that House Mercere would be permitted to offer loans outside the members of the Order, for the purpose of recirculating the wealth they had accumulated. Naturally, these loans would be offered without interest.

Fast-forward several decades and the Order of Hermes is now the richest institution in Mythic Europe. It has financed crusades, the building of cathedrals, and numerous trade expeditions to distant lands; there are few money-making schemes that they are not involved in. Knowledge of the Order's existence has not changed that is, most nobles and churchmen have heard of the Order of Hermes and know them to be a society of wizards — but most cities and large towns have an official office where freemen, nobles, and clergymen may meet with a representative of the Order (invariably an unGifted member of House Mercere, at least in the first instance) and either deposit money for safekeeping or else arrange a loan for a costly purchase. The Order keeps the ability of magi to create wealth de novo a closely-guarded secret, but in actual fact has relied on this many times when capital was insufficient to meet demands due to failed investments.

This increased presence has had unfortunate consequences. The Church in particular dislikes the Order's role, despite being one of its biggest clients. Believing strongly that the love of money is the root of all evil, some bishops have begun to preach on the perils of getting financially involved with the Order's financial business. They remind their flock that magi are first and foremost practitioners of wizardry, and those members of the Order whose business it is to watch mundane attitudes closely are uncomfortably reminded of the manner in which Jews, and in particular Jewish moneylenders, have been treated in the past.

Why it May Not Work: The Silver Consensus

If magi are in danger of destabilizing local economies through the magical creation of wealth or through technological advances that simulate the creation of wealth in an indirect manner, the Order of Hermes may intervene. However, it is not in anyone's interest for the Order to simply forbid the creation of wealth; instead it is much better for the lawmakers of the Order to try to regulate wealth creation so that it is still possible for magi to live a comfortable life, and yet in a sustainable manner. This section describes a Tribunal ruling called the Silver Consensus, which attempts to tackle the issues involved.

Following some disturbing mistakes made during the Schism War, the Order is aware of the effect that creating large quantities of wealth has upon the surrounding mundane populations. However, it was decades before magi started to repeat the same mistakes, resulting in a special Tribunal being held to discuss the issue of magically created wealth. The Silver Consensus is an expression of their agreement concerning how magi would balance the ease with which they can create treasure and the antagonizing effect this has on other powerful groups.

The Tribunal ruling from which the Silver Consensus derives its name and legal force simply states that no covenant may create more than two Mythic Pounds of silver per member per year. More recent rulings, and public statements from magi interested in maintaining Europe's financial system, make the law more complex, and subtler.

The Silver Consensus should be considered an option for your saga rather than part of the canon setting. It might result from a ruling of the Grand Tribunal and therefore apply to the whole Order; or else it may be specific to a single Tribunal, probably the one in which the characters reside. Finally, the Silver Consensus may not exist — yet. Rather, it could be introduced during the course of a saga where the creation of wealth plays a major part.

The Principles of the Silver Consensus

The intention of the Tribunal ruling, to prevent a repetition of the problems caused by the creation of wealth, may not be subverted through childish literalism, or sleights of speech.

That is, covenants dickering semantically, for example by claiming that they created gold, not silver, will not simply be punished, their magi will be considered incompetent and mocked. Magi wanting to test the boundaries of the Consensus, and the patience of those magi willing to violently enforce it, are expected to try harder than this. To fail to do so demonstrates a lack of respect for the opinions, and power, of the enforcers of the Consensus.

No more than two silver pounds worth of goods, procured by magical means, may be trafficked to the mundanes by any magus in a single year.

This principle has several effects. Magi may not average out their two pounds of goods across several years. Goods that occur naturally but are gathered or processed by magic are not exempt from the consensus. The economy of Europe is divided between the mundane and magical: it is perfectly legal for a magus to create a diamond to enchant as his talisman, or as a gift for a faerie prince, provided no magus ever gives or sells it to a mundane. It is permissible, indeed expected, that covenants will create commodities and trade them with each other.

Some younger covenants bridle under the Silver Consensus, but no stable group opposes it. As powerful Summer covenants become wealthy, they want to preserve their position, and move from opposing to supporting the Consensus. The division of wealth into that which can be used inside the Order and that which can be used outside allows older covenants to act as bankers for younger ones, by granting them mundane silver in exchange for magically-produced goods.

Wealth created by magic taints such wealth as it generates.

This rule prevents magi from blurring the division between their magically-acquired and mundane wealth. A magus who clears farmland with magic cannot ever use the proceeds of that farmland to buy goods from mundanes. A magus who gathers fish to shore with a magical flute may not use the profit from their sale to purchase mundane goods. This rule does not prohibit the magi from using these goods, so some covenants meet many of their expenses magically, and run businesses that provide them with sufficient money to afford mundane produce.

The members of a magus's household are the magus's property: they are not mundane.

A magus may use magically-created wealth to support and maintain his household, including its servants. These servants, however, are not independent of the magus. They are not permitted to pass magically-created wealth to mundanes.

The sale of magic items — provided they do not assist in the creation of wealth — does not breach the Consensus.

Magi are permitted to sell many items to mundanes, but are prohibited from selling those items that provide significant wealth, or allow the mundane to magically defray large expenses. A candle that burns forever is permitted; a magical millstone that grinds forever is not. Less clear-cut examples are discussed at length during Tribunal meetings.

Enforcing the Silver Consensus

The Silver Consensus is supported by those Autumn covenants who feel they would likely be targets of harassment if the current detente between Europe's landed class and the Order broke down. Toward the end of the Schism War the creation of wealth by each side destabilized the currencies in some areas. When there is too much silver in the mundane economy, it loses its worth. When a region reverts to barter, many people in cities starve, and many nobles wage war on whomever they think has money. The Autumn covenants that support the Consensus all have methods of generating mundane income, and don't want their own position undermined.

Several Houses support the Consensus. Houses Guernicus and Jerbiton prefer that the mundane nobility not be molested, and urban society not collapse. House Mercere has decisive advantages in the current trade system, and does not wish to lose them. Several other Houses – Criamon, Bonisagus and Verditius – support the Consensus because, were it to break down, magi would need to waste time governing mundane people. Even some members of militant Houses, like the Tytalus and Flambeau, feel that the collapse of society would lead many starving people toward the Infernal, strengthening the Enemy.

The Consensus is not enforced strictly. For it to become a concern, the magus's illegal activities have to reach a value sufficient for it to draw attention. This is usually only after an inflationary bubble makes obvious to observers that there is something unbalanced within a region's economy. It is very easy for magi creating goods to collapse a local economy, because a little added wealth in an economy tends to magnify its effectiveness as it is spent. Similarly, pulling wealth out of an economy tends to do greater harm than immediately apparent.

Other Examples of Magical Technology

It is not possible to cover all possible impacts of magical technology that could be wrought by player magi. Invention often follows need, so player characters are most likely to seek technological solutions for problems specific to the saga. This section has a few further ideas for inspiration, which involve relatively simple inventions that can have significant ramifications.

Mechanical Power

The majority of mechanical power in Mythic Europe is supplied by the labor of people and animals. The innovation of the padded collar a few hundred years ago permitted horses to outstrip oxen as the superior draft animal. Waterwheels — horizontal wheels at first, but gradually replaced by the more efficient vertical wheel — came into use at about the same time, and are now commonplace for pounding, grinding, lifting, and pressing. Wind power has been used to power ships since antiquity, but the latest innovation is the windmill, apparently invented in eastern England in the 1180s, and now spreading through northern Europe.

The Order of Hermes has a new source of power available for general use, typified by the Hermetic Generans (see below). Costing just two pawns of vis as a Lesser Enchantment, this device can be manufactured by even junior magi if a Laboratory Text is made available to them.

The Hermetic Generans ReTe 15

Pen 0, 1/day
R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind

This enchantment takes the shape of a thick disc of iron connected to a rod. This rod can be connected to a gear wheel or cuff which can be slipped over any axis. Once triggered, the device imparts strong motion; this would normally be in a straight line, but because it is tethered to the wheel or axis, it generates rotation instead. Assuming it is sufficiently attached, the Hermetic Generans can do as much work as a person or animal with a Strength of +5 (approximately one horse-power). It continues to turn until commanded to stop by the person who activated it, or until the sun sets. Naturally, the device could be designed to provide truly constant motion, but this would prevent it from ever being shut off. If nothing else, storage of such devices could be amusing.

A stronger Hermetic Generans can be made; each magnitude added to the effect increases the power output ten-fold. One magnitude more would be enough to turn the front axle of a heavily-laden cart. Two additional magnitudes would turn an average waterwheel.

(Base 2, +1 Touch, +1 Conc, +2 affect metal; +5 item maintains concentration)

The Impact of Magical Power Generation

In the hands of a mundane who has a general familiarity with gears and mechanics — and given the ubiquitous nature of the waterwheel, these are by no means uncommon multifarious uses for the Hermetic Generans will present themselves. Any device that normally relies on a beast of burden to pull it can be replaced with a Hermetic Generans attached to an axle between two wheels. Such a device could pull a plow at greater speed than a team of horses or oxen, and require just one man to guide it. Stronger devices could power a cart. As a mode of transport it would need some control over the speed, and be dependent on road quality, but would be superior to a horse since it does not tire and does not need to be fed.

Where the Hermetic Generans would be particularly useful is in industrial processes, replacing wind power. The wind is currently the strongest source of power available, but it is highly variable and dangerous in excess. The Hermetic Generans produces a constant, strong force capable of operating ceaselessly without wear. This would not only increase output of current processes employing this technology, but would permit applications not currently possible, such as lathes, triphammers, mechanical saws, paddle boats, fans for blast furnaces, and mechanical clocks. Think of a world of clockwork and steam, rather than reaching its heyday in the 1700s, this could occur easily 400 years prior if there is sufficient supply.

Warfare and Weapons

Because of the restrictions on interfering with mundanes, Hermetic magi do not often turn their thoughts to mass combat; however, magic can be devastatingly effective in wartime. It is not possible to detail all the ways in which a magus can apply magic to the battlefield, but inventive players can surely come up with any number of effects. This section offers a few ideas as to where magical technology can be of use. The use of magical technology in warfare is predicated on the fact that using or supplying such devices is not considered to contravene the Hermetic Oath, although clearly this is against the Code under the default setting. A circumstance where this might be permissible, for example, is if a warlord was supported by non-Hermetic wizards (or renegade magi), and the Order felt honorbound to respond in kind.

Direct attacks — such as inflicting wounds on your enemies, or causing them to burst into flames — are certainly effective, but have a few practical difficulties. Such effects are usually of high level (especially if they are going to affect many opponents at once), and so are expensive to manufacture in time and vis. They also generally need a specialist magus to achieve the requisite Lab Totals. Furthermore, unless designed at Sight Range, the device must usually be carried into combat. Even ignoring the possibility that it could be captured by the enemy, there is a danger inherent in pausing in the midst of a pitched battle for a round in order to activate an enchanted item. Another consideration is the use of Target: Group on the battlefield — there is a large gulf between the maximum number of people affected and the actual number of people affected because a group must be clearly separated from others of its kind (ArM5, page 113). During melee, combatants do not form large groups suitable for this Target, even with size modifiers added. A spell might be designed to affect 100 humans, but you will rarely find 100 humans forming a clear group in the middle of a war; and if you do that skirmish may include as many (or more) of your own side as the enemy. More likely, combatants will be split into smaller groups of six or fewer, reducing the maximum effect greatly.

Magi are even more useful in a support role, and if they manufacture enchantments that they can hand to mundanes then they need not even endanger themselves. The section on Magical Communication has several methods for distant viewing, which can be very useful for safely scouting out the deployment of enemy troops. Spells such as Breaking the Captain's Baton (Magi of Hermes, page 50) or Dissolving the Wall of Shields (Houses of Hermes: Societates, page 70) can turn a trained group of soldiers into an untrained group in an instant; in the middle of combat this can be lethal. A scout armed within enchantment that creates spectral noises, horrific images, or even something as simple as rain can ensure that an opposing force is not rested before a battle, and so have fatigue to fight as well as their enemy.

Where magic can be exceptionally useful is during sieges. The bane of any war is the ability for those within the defensive walls of a city or castle to resist their opponents, for at least as long as their food and water lasts. Walls are rarely a serious barrier to devices constructed by magi; Charged Items such as The Instant Breach (see below) can have a devastating effect on walls, and with the use of a Laboratory Text can be invented by almost any magus. Specialists can create many copies every season.

It is important to magi that their own technology cannot be turned against them, and this might affect the devices that they make available. Whereas battlefield magic potentially affects anyone without Magic Resistance regardless of which side they are on, devices like the Instant Breach are useless against covenants protected by an Aegis of the Hearth.

The Instant Breach

PeTe 15
Pen 0, Charged Item
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Part

Triggered when touching a stone wall, this Charged Item destroys a section of that wall. It destroys 270 cubic feet of stone; enough to make a 6 foot diameter breach in a castle wall that is 10 feet thick, or 10 feet in diameter in wall that is 3 feet thick.

The charges are usually placed into separate boulders which are flung in groups by a trebuchet along with ordinary rocks.

(Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Part, +1 affect stone, +1 Size)

The Impact of Magical Weapons

Magical technology has the potential to affect warfare in Mythic Europe as much as gunpowder affected warfare in historical Europe. If the manufacturers of magical arms are common, then Hermetic magic could easily come up against Hermetic magic, and an arms race would ensue. With the right impetus such as a barbarian horde supported by powerful wizards poised to invade Mythic Europe — the Order might see the need to develop a more martial stance and become purveyors of magical weapons technology.

Medicine

Disease is perhaps the biggest cause of mortality and misery in Mythic Europe. All diseases are caused by an imbalance of the humors (see Art & Academe, Chapter 4), and the things that can cause such an imbalance are legion. A dearth or an excess of those things necessary for life can cause sickness, as can the presence of contranaturals such as a malign celestial influence, and super-naturals such as demons and faeries. Hermetic magic can tackle these external influences, but it is much more effective at directly affecting the humors themselves and creating conditions that are conducive to swift recovery. Ritual magic can be used to heal the disease completely, but this cannot be adapted to a form of technology because ritual spells cannot be made into enchantments.

A less efficient but still effective device would be one such as the Lancet of Good Health. This takes three pawns of vis to make as a Lesser Enchantment, but can be used to treat an entire community against infection, one at a time. An average individual with a Severe disease (such as bloody flux or pneumonia) normally has an even chance of getting worse every month (or whatever the disease interval is); but with a +6 bonus to Disease Recovery rolls he has an even chance of improving, and has only a one in a hundred chance of getting worse. Furthermore, the Lancet of Good Health can be used on a new set of patients every day.

The Lancet of Good Health

CrCo 25
Pen 0, 24/day
R: Touch, D: Moon, T: Ind

Anyone whose blood is let by this sharp scalpel receives a +6 to any Disease Recovery rolls for a Moon's Duration.

(Base 3, +2 Touch, +3 Moon; +5 24/day)

The Impact of Magical Medicine

While well-meaning, healing devices could actually have an adverse effect on Mythic Europe. Cities are smelly, filthy, and crowded places. If more people survive the diseases that thrive here, then they will only become smellier, filthier, and even more crowded. As harsh as it might seem, poverty's effects are exacerbated if fewer people succumb to the diseases of the poor. Land clearances would follow to provide enough food to feed all the extra mouths; and vis sites might be compromised. Those that survive disease could easily succumb to famine unless further innovations improved food production.

It is not just the poor who would be affected. Feudal lords rely on producing children to inherit their lands (if male) and to make good alliances (if female). A lord typically wants two sons ("an heir and a spare"), and as many daughters as his wealth can support. If more children survive to adulthood this could disrupt noble society — more sons desiring a share of the estate, particularly under the French and German system of partible inheritance (where the estate is divided between all male heirs) rather than Anglo-Norman primogeniture (where only the eldest son inherits). The sons may not have anything to inherit anyway, since their father could be impoverished by trying to find a dowry for his many daughters.

Since contraception is sinful, husbands might be reluctant to fulfill their marital duties resulting in the wife acquiring legal grounds for divorce. There may be a backlash amongst the nobles against the new medical technology — at least, until the lords gets ill themselves. It could take several generations for a new social equilibrium to establish after such an upset.

Further Ideas for Magical Technology

Here are some additional ideas and applications of enchantments to replicate technological advancements in your saga. You will need to come up with the appropriate statistics and guidelines for these enchantments, but these notes should get you started.

The Magical Manufacture of Glass

Creating smooth sheets of clear glass is very difficult using mundane technology, but would be easily achievable with magic.

Masonry lift

The 13th Century is a time of great architectural advances, but the capacity to design vastly outstrips the capacity to build. A device which makes the moving of stone blocks a trivial task would be a massive boon to the construction industry, not only in terms of speed, but also in terms of safety.

Automatic Plow

Preparing the land for harvest is the most intensive of all agricultural labors. It heavily depends on access to a draft team of oxen, or more rarely horses, a commodity that several villages often share. Those who get to use them last risk doing a poor job thanks to sodden or frozen ground, and may suffer from a shortened growing season. Good plowing ensures good crops, and a magical device that plows a field in an instant would be a major boon to rural areas.

Truth-talker

The legal system could be revolutionized by a device which revealed the truth or falsehood of a statement; merchants and kings could find uses for such devices as well.

Technology's Transformative Nature

The rest of this chapter considers some more general issues around introducing magical technology into a saga, and how it might transform Mythic Europe. The examples examined up to now represent a good range of the sort of impacts that the characters' actions could have, but every eventuality cannot be catered for. This section deals with the motivations, the processes, and the impacts of magical innovation.

Medieval Concepts of Technology

The technical arts have been the subject of many words written by the great thinkers and philosophers of both antiquity and the current day. For example, Plato divided technological pursuits into productive arts, which bring about something that did not previously exist, and acquisitive arts, which conquer by word or deed, or prevent others from acquiring things already produced. In the former category fall agriculture, medicine, construction, and painting and sculpture; among the acquisitive arts are learning, cognition, trade, fishing, hunting, and warfare. He and other classical scholars saw these arts as inferior to the liberal arts and philosophy, for they do not nourish the mind — indeed, many of them distract one from this noble pursuit.

However, in the 13th century these mundane practices are slowly undergoing a renaissance, shaking off the labels of "vulgar" and "sordid," and becoming instead the artes mechanicae, or mechanical arts. The classical heritage of crafts and craftsmanship has been reworked to explore technology's positive place in the relationship of humans to God and nature, and a distinction has opened up between purely physical labor and the intellectual work of the inventor, engineer, and mechanic. By elevating these technologies to the status of intellectual arts, they have become perceived as worthy fields for study and innovation, which in turn has lead to a technological boom. The last hundred years has seen (to name just a few inventions) the introduction of horizontal looms for weaving; the trebuchet, mangonel, and crossbow; the round-hulled cog; the mariner's compass; and water powered machines for milling grain, fulling cloth, retting linen, twisting cables, and forging iron.

Keen to contrast the artes mechanicae with the artes liberales, most 12th and 13th century discourses list seven technologies to parallel the seven liberal arts, although which seven are included varies from author to author. A typical list, from Hugh of Saint Victor, consists of:

Lanificaria: wool working, weaving, leather-working, and costuming;

Armatura: manufacture of armaments and also architecture, metallurgy, carpentry;

Navigatio: navigation, which through its nature permits business such as buying, selling, and exchange;

Agricultura: growing crops and raising domestic animals;

Venatoria: hunting, also cooking, gathering, selling and serving food;

Medicina: medicine;

Theatrica: theatrics, games, and amusements.

Other lists exchange some of the above to consider painting, toolmaking, or alchemy; or elevate individual arts such as architecture, commerce, pottery, or navigation to independent status. Some classifications even designate magical practices such as divination, necromancy and illusions as mechanical arts.

The Magus as Inventor

For many of its practitioners, Hermetic magic is a tool to overcome difficulties and make life easier — that is, it is a form of technology rather than an academic pursuit.

Whereas some magi seek Hermetic breakthroughs for the sake of intellectual satisfaction, most magic nourishes the body rather than the mind. However, there is a world of difference between a maga who creates enchantments to improve her sanctum or covenant, and one who is a true inventor who creates enchantments for the good of all men.

For magic to become a technological advance — and to transform Mythic Europe — it must become available for use to a significant proportion of the population who can benefit from it. This goes beyond the sale of a few Lesser Enchantments to noblemen, although mass production is not necessarily required. For example, a single device that duplicates books can have an impact on society all on its own.

Why Should a Magus Pursue Invention?

Even the most obsessed Verditius craft-magus does not usually seek to transform Mythic Europe with his inventions, although this would indeed be an exercise in hubris. Most magi who specialize in enchantment are artisans, making unique items of high quality for themselves or for customers who can pay the astronomical price demanded. To truly transform Mythic Europe with an invention takes hard work and the sacrifice of resources that could have been spent on increasing personal power. So why might a magus do this? This section explores some motivations. Note that none of the motivations given below are mutually exclusive with the others; the impetus that drives a magus to invent is often a complex one.

Enchantments are Arcane Connections

Before a covenant sets up in business selling magical technology, it might want to have a care for its own security. A lesser enchantment is an Arcane Connection to its creator that persists for weeks after creation, and invested items last years. As an option, a saga might decide that charged items remain Arcane Connections for days. Lesser enchantments can be kept at the covenant until the duration of the Arcane Connection has expired but makers of invested items could benefit from the following spell.

Sever the Connection

PeVi 20
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

The targeted Arcane Connection has its duration reduced by three magnitudes. This is sufficient to reduce an Arcane Connection of a duration of years to a duration of days. The affected item can then be stored for a couple of weeks before being passed on.

(Base 15, +1 Touch)

Wealth

A base motivation for the invention is the desire for material wealth. Even saving one's riches is a modern concept; seeking to hoard that which God has given is considered an affront to the Almighty. While some might frown upon this ambition as sinful, it is true that life in Mythic Europe is a lot more bearable if you are rich. Magical technology can generate wealth in two ways. Enchantments can be sold for profit, in effect converting the manufacturer's time (and possibly vis) into silver. Alternatively, the magic can be used in the generation of wealth, as discussed earlier.

Fame

Sometimes, the accolade of one's colleagues is insufficient; the desire to be recognized outside the peergroup for one's efforts is the driving goal of an inventor. If this recognition is to come, then the invention must be truly great, and make a real impact on the lives of many — or the lives of a few influential individuals. This goal is more nebulous to some players, since fame has few concrete benefits, and any satisfaction experienced by the character is one step removed from the player. Nevertheless, fame is an important motivator, particularly to those Houses that keep track of acclaim in the form of Reputations.

Influence

In the cutthroat politics of the courts and guilds of Mythic Europe, he who can provide an advantage to a player of the "Great Game" — even a small one — can be a valuable asset. Possession of a magical device that one's opponents do not have can be sufficient to ensure one's ascendance or the downfall of one's enemies. If an inventor controls who has access to his innovation, then he can assert influence over those who benefit — or those who wish to benefit. How this influence is used might come close to breaking the Code of Hermes, but a clever magus can manage such problems by working through intermediaries.

Social Change

The three reasons already given are fundamentally selfish reasons for pursuing invention; each aggrandizes the magus through acquisition of transferable resources — silver, prestige, or favors. However, some inventors are driven by selfless goals, providing access to technology to those who really need it. Such socially-minded magi pursue simple inventions that improve the lot of the agricultural laborer, the journeyman craftsman, and the common trader.

Because of the greater numbers of such individuals in society compared to those who could advance the magus's financial or social status, the rewards are often poor for the effort required. Nevertheless, some consider it their duty to share the product of The Gift which God has given them.

Not all desire for social change is selfless, however. A magus can be motivated by a number of emotions or philosophies that have nothing to do with wealth, fame, or influence. For example, hatred for the ruling classes might lead to benefit for the poor, but not as its main goal.

Manufacturing

One of the downsides of Hermetic laboratory projects is the time and vis that they normally need to complete, neither of which is unlimited in supply. If we look at the development of technology in historical Europe, we find that the greatest advances occurred through the capacity to mass-produce key devices so that their benefits permeate throughout society. At no time did a single unique object create a technological revolution.

However, if the advantage of an advancement is very great, and has the capacity to affect many people's lives on its own, then copies can afford to be produced very slowly. A classic example of this is the Gutenberg printing press, whose impact was felt locally almost immediately. An invested item intended as a technological advance would have to make a similar impact, since few would be willing to spend time and resources to create multiple copies. The production and publication of Laboratory Texts would speed things immeasurably, allowing less skilled or less specialized magi to complete complex projects in a reasonable amount of time.

Creating Invested items or lesser enchantments with a limited lifespan (ArM5, page 99) is a means by which the manufacture of magical technology can be sped up, and if the enchantments are intended for dissemination amongst mundanes, this is a good idea anyway (see The Sale of Enchantments, below).

Charged Items

One solution to the constraint of vis is to formulate the magical technology as a Charged Item. Once a Laboratory Text for the Charged Item exists, manufacture rates are increased for those capable of completing the project, and no vis is required for completion. The biggest diffi culty with this approach is meeting the demand, especially once the technology has spread beyond the local area. Such problems can be solved through a good distribution network, or local magi who can manufacture charges in return for a share of the profi ts. However, a big advantage is the likelihood of repeat custom; once the charge has been used, the buyer needs another one.

A Hermetic Workforce

A magus might be unwilling to make multiple copies of the same enchantment, but this is an ideal job to give apprentices approaching their Gauntlet. Assuming that their Lab Totals are sufficiently high and a Laboratory Text is available, an apprentice can be set the task of creating copies of the item under the guise of gaining exposure in Magic Theory or in the applicable Arts. This tactic is especially productive when Charged Items are the technology being manufactured. Of course, not all apprentices are appropriately skilled: a manipulative master might ensure that they are, and as soon as possible to get maximum utility during their training, but most magi are not this unprincipled.

Some covenants place requirements on their members for seasons of work for the good of the covenant as a whole. These obligations in the charter can be exploited to obtain a magus' services with a minimum of grumbling, as long as the covenant as a whole is to benefit from the spread of the technology.

The Sale of Enchantments

Most Tribunals have established some rules regarding the sale of magical enchantments to mundanes. These are usually based around the clause of the Hermetic Oath that forbids interfering in the affairs of mundanes. A series of Tribunal rulings in 1061 made it illegal to accept money or other mundane goods as payment for arcane services from anyone other than a member of the Order of Hermes or a Hermetic covenant, and any magic sold in this manner to a non-magus must eventually lose its power. These rulings were confirmed by the 12th meeting of the Grand Tribunal in 1063, making them binding in all Tribunals.

As indicated in Ars Magica Fifth Edition (page 16), this ruling has two (apparently deliberate) loopholes. The first is that magi are permitted to accept magical goods as payment from mundanes, such as vis or minor enchantments. The second is that magi can deal through intermediates, permitting mundane agents who are members of their covenant to sell magical devices on behalf of the magi who make them.

The sale of enchanted items therefore continues across Mythic Europe through intermediaries, who usually obscure the connection to the Order of Hermes. Indeed, the primus of House Verditius has even set a standard price to which members of his House must adhere, which currently runs at 15 Mythic Pounds per pawn of vis used to enchant the item (Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, pages 114–115). These prices apply only to members of House Verditius and according to policy, are one and a half times the cash-equivalent of a pawn of vis — the house deliberately overprices its items as a mark of the added quality provided by a Verditius artisan.

The Quaesitores only need to step in to regulate the market when a magus has been too blatant, or is showing excessive favor to a single recipient, thereby acting much like a court wizard despite the pretext of using a subordinate for the actual sale. Another suspect activity is giving away enchantments for free, even if the intent is an innocent one. Providing magic to mundanes for no renumeration is a sure sign of acting as a court wizard, at least in the eyes of some magi.

Why Hasn't This Happened Already?

Before we go on to discuss how characters might achieve the production of magical technology, it is worth considering why this has not been done before. After all, the motivations for magical technology are many and varied, and the techniques do not, in the main, rely on any recent innovations in Hermetic theory. So why has no-one else done it first? The Order of Hermes has had the ability and a sufficient supply of intelligent individuals with the same needs and motivations that might drive player characters down this route.

Story Seed: Foreshadowing

If a troupe is planning to gift or sell magical devices to a favored mundane, the storyguide can foreshadow the social unrest that might result from this. A faerie (or enemy magician) seeking to cause mischief to the covenant ensures that one of the covenfolk discovers a minor magical device — a stout metal rod that has the power to momentarily soften any material with which it comes into contact. The covenant's smith might use it first, binding a handle onto it and using it as a forge hammer, as he no longer needs to heat the metal. Then the carpenter borrows the hammer and finds he can shape wood in ways he never could before. The mason discovers he can build walls without mortar. The gardener uses it to soften the packed earth. Even the cook has a use, using the rod to extract marrow from bones and roll out stiff pastry with ease. The problem is that there is just one such rod, and everyone wants it. The covenfolk become fractious as they compete to gain control over the miraculous device. The matter finally comes to the notice of the magi when the rod goes missing, and everyone accuses each other of hiding it for their own use. By this stage, desire for the object has become so strong that certain individuals are willing to lie, cheat, and falsely accuse others if it means they will possess it.

No-One Thought of it Before

The Early Medieval period in Europe that immediately preceded the current era was not a time of great innovation or invention. Socially, the feudal system discourages change, and this mindset is deep-rooted in the medieval psyche. Intellectually, scholars are overshadowed by the great minds of the past, and there is a prevailing attitude that all that can be known, is known. It might seem odd to the modern reader, but immediately prior to the game period there was no inertia for new ideas in the Middle Ages. The great thinkers stood in the shadow of giants rather than on their shoulders.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, this intellectual stagnation is being challenged thanks to an influx of scientific and mechanical texts newly translated from Arabic by Spanish and Italian scholars. The new thinking is spreading at such a rate that the 13th century will be known as the Golden Century, for the sheer wealth of its innovations and inventions. This is now the perfect time for innovation to be accepted and rapidly disseminated.

In the Order of Hermes, magic is most often used to do things more quickly and easily, not differently. Only rarely do true innovators come along and enact a transformation that can influence all of society. Under this scenario, that would be the player characters.

It Didn't Catch On

Alternatively, one might posit that innovations have been made, but for one reason or another did not become widespread. Maybe the innovator died or accepted the embrace of Final Twilight before passing on his ideas. Maybe one covenant pursued a magical book-making scheme, but they kept the secret to themselves to preserve their monopoly, and it was never intended to be widespread.

Insufficient Supply

An innovation could have a major impact on Mythic Europe, but it needs magi who are willing to abandon their usual activities to make duplicate copies of inventions. Such work holds little interest for most magi; even the inventor of the device himself might balk at having to make copy after copy to the specifications in his Laboratory Text. In 1220, there are approximately 1200 magi spread widely across the face of Mythic Europe, all involved in their own studies, breakthroughs, schemes, and cults. Persuading even one other to assist in manufacturing could be an insurmountable task.

The Order Lacks a Single Voice

The Order of Hermes is not in the main an agent for change. Many Tribunals work hard to maintain the current equilibrium between themselves and mundane society, and if player characters wish to enact a transformation, they may find themselves struggling against their own sodales.

Furthermore, even the best plans can be quashed by apathy or narrow vision on behalf of one's peers. The Order of Hermes is perhaps unique amongst medieval institutions in that it is essentially without rank or hierarchy. As a social model this is daring and innovative, but as a form of government with no clearly defined central leadership, the decisions it makes by committee are highly subject to persuasion by a motivated demagogue. If a magus who invents a game-changing device has a political enemy, with sufficient skill that enemy could turn the temper of the Tribunal against the inventor. Alternatively the enemy could arise precisely because of the device, through a sense of envy or genuine concern for the implications. The Quaesitores could be convinced that the item embodies some infraction of the Code. The more religious magi could be persuaded that the device is immoral and will lead to sin. The Bonisagi and Verditii could be stirred to jealousy. If all else fails, the rival could resort to certamen or even Wizard War to prevent the dissemination of the device. Once the Order's mind is made up, overturning the decision is difficult, and the magus may need to abandon his plans or continue them in secret.

The Order of Hermes might actively discourages certain technological devices if they get wind of them early enough, because of past disasters relating to the innovation. For an example of how the Order might react, see the Magical Creation of Wealth, earlier. The player characters might discover one or more of these failed attempts while researching their own project. Magical technology requires the vision of its inventor for it to persist past his lifespan. Since it is not revolutionizing Magic Theory or making a breakthrough, other magi may have little interest in taking up the baton.

Luddites and Saboteurs

Disenfranchised skilled workers were a major cause of social unrest during the Industrial Revolution, and a troupe might wish to turn to that period for inspiration as to how society might react to magical technology. In early 18th century England, the Luddite movement organized the destruction of textile factories in a desperate attempt to preserve their jobs. The name "Ned Ludd" was attached to the workmen's manifestos left at the scenes of their crimes, giving the movement its name. Fearing a revolutionary conspiracy, the government ruthlessly repressed Luddite rioting. In France, disenfranchised workers threw their wooden shoes (sabots) into machinery to jam them, thus the name saboteurs.

The proto-Luddites and early saboteurs of Mythic Europe will not attack the "factories," since assaulting a covenant filled with creepy wizards with eldritch powers is too much for the courage of most craftsmen. However, they can assault the supply lines, ostracize vendors, attack grogs gathering vis, and cause multiple other annoyances to the magi.

Magic as an Agent of Social Change

This book is about how magi are capable of changing the face of Mythic Europe. For magical technology to achieve this, it must go beyond the creation of a single device for use by the covenant. A significant proportion of Mythic Europe must be affected by the invention for a true transformation to be achieved through the technology. This does not mean that there have to be hundreds of devices — a single device can have as much impact as a hundred if it does the work of a hundred men, even if the impact is strictly local. Furthermore, a single device can have a large impact if it is in the hands of one who controls the fate of thousands (or more). Due to the feudal structure of much of Mythic Europe, a device in the hands of a baron has the potential to change the lives of all his vassals and tenants.

Social Consequences

There are knock-on consequences of any technology that do not necessarily relate directly to the benefits offered. These social consequences may be difficult to predict, since they emerge from human behavior.

I Want One

When a magical device first enters public hands it is likely to be unique, or one of a very small number. As discussed earlier, Hermetic invention is hampered by the process of enchantment being an artisan craft rather than amenable to mass manufacture. Regardless of the size of the impact that these small number of devices have, there will be some who do not benefit, and this breeds jealousy. A magus might be only seeking to improve the lives of the peasants who supply food for the covenant, or his local friend the baron, but soon enough the neighboring peasants or lords will notice the advantage of their fellows, and may approach the characters the gain the same advantage for themselves. Of course, if persuaded to duplicate their efforts — perhaps encouraged by the compensation offered — then the problem just spreads further. This is exactly how magical technology may become widespread in the first place if the characters are not already inclined towards mass production but wish to avoid problems with the locals.

Envy is a powerful emotion — it is not for no reason that it is counted amongst the deadly sins — and an even more powerful motivator to action. If the inventor refuses to duplicate their efforts, then the easiest way for those who lack it to get what they want is to take it from those who have it. This could take the form of a pitched battle or a covert raid. Of course, if the theft is successful, then the original possessors may well attempt to steal it back.

It is a short step from envy to malice. If denied the capacity to take the device from their neighbors, then they may seek to destroy it instead — if it can't be stolen and it can't be shared, then it is better for no-one to have it than for someone else to prosper. Alternatively, some do-gooder might seek to destroy the cause of contention to restore former harmony between the warring groups.

The Devil Makes Work for Idle Hands

On the face of it, anything that increases the wealth of the lower classes seems like a force for good. Players with a modern outlook might wish to improve the lot of the poor and downtrodden through labor-saving devices that take the place of backbreaking toil. They may be expecting those peasants to be grateful, and become more manageable as a result.

However, this is not often the case, at least in the short term. Peasants who have time on their hands use it to organize politically (see Lords of Men, page 92). If freed from the chains of drudgery, peasants have the opportunity to look around and discover that while their lives are better than they were, they could be better still. After all, their lords have even better living conditions, and perform absolutely no work at all, relying instead on their staff to fulfill their needs. Even the inhabitants of the local town have a better time of it than a rich peasant, since the town charter grants them definite rights and personal freedom. In short, labor saving devices promote idle peasants, and idle peasants foment rebellion.

Economic Effects

A magical device might be directly involved in the creation of wealth, but it could also incidentally enrich the local economy as well. If a covenant becomes rich through an invention, then its local expenditure is likely to increase as it uses its new-found wealth to improve the living conditions of its inhabitants. This might require attracting builders and masons to improve buildings and build new ones; these trades need laborers to support their trade. New people brought to the area also need places to live, and will spend locally on food and drink. All this stimulates the local economy, and a small change to a covenant's wealth could easily spur the growth of a nearby hamlet into a village, and a village into a small town.

Disenfranchisement

Magic need not improve the local economy; it can destroy livelihoods as easy as creating them. A magical device that simplifies a manufacturing procedure or speeds production eliminates the need for humans to perform the same task. If these devices become locally common, then mass unemployment can easily result as the work done by scores of people is now done by a single enchantment. Depending on how widespread the device becomes, there might be nowhere for the disenfranchised skilled craftsmen to go to ply their trade. As they leave the area seeking work further afield, the local economy suffers from the loss of a workforce that would normally be spending their wages on food and consumables. This could impoverish villages that hitherto relied on a specific trade, and towns could shrink in size and importance.

A second impact to the detriment of the economy is a device that removes the dependence of the covenant on a local produce or service. A single covenant can have a major economic impact in a region; a typical spring covenant spends one Mythic Pound every year on each of its servants and grogs, three Mythic Pounds on each companion, and five Mythic Pounds on each magus (Covenants, page 65). A lord's household might incur the same costs (with the lord and his family replacing the magi), but the peasants in a lord's demesne exist to meet his demands; so the "cost" is incurred only in book-keeping terms — it is exactly matched by income, and no actual money changes hands. Most covenants do not have feudal rights over peasants, and so any transactions they make for buildings, consumables, and provisions actually puts cash or trade goods into the economy. If a covenant devises a way to avoid one of these costs and therefore reduce its outgoings, the community outside its walls that has grown up to service its needs is denied the income the covenant once provided, and this decreases the amount of available wealth in the region. Few magi stop to think that supplying their laborers with an enchantment that instantly plows their fields could actually destroy the livelihoods of all the peasant laborers who they have previously employed to do that task for them.

Non-Hermetic Inventors

While it is the preeminent magical tradition in Mythic Europe, the Order of Hermes does not have a monopoly on the production of enchanted items, and other wizards could effect a transformation in Mythic Europe.

In general, non-Hermetic wizards are more restricted in the types of magic they can perform, and so are more limited in the sorts of change they can cause. However, it is true that there may be some traditions specialized in enchantment that might be better than a Hermetic magus in his chosen field, as well as being sufficiently motivated.

This option is a good choice for troupes who might want to advance the progress of a magical society but who have misgivings about the Order being its instigator.

Crafters of Wondrous Items

Characters with the Touched by (Realm) Major Supernatural Virtue (City & Guild, page 71) are perhaps in the best position after Hermetic magi to become inventors.

Their biggest advantage is that they do not require vis to create their enchantments. They can also benefit from assistants in their workshop, as well as using workshop innovations and superior raw materials to improve their Craft Total.

Their chief disadvantages are that their powers are limited to just two Hermetic Forms, the items they make will only work for the specific individual for whom they are made, and the effect is limited to Range: Personal or Touch, the Duration must be Sun or less, and the Target must be Individual.

These devices cannot Penetrate any Magic Resistance.

The Rusticani

Although there are Rusticani (also known as Mechanicals) within House Ex Miscellanea (see Houses of Hermes: Societates, pages 130–133), no part of their unique magic requires the practice of Hermetic magic. Rather, the Craft Magic Major Supernatural Virtue permits its possessor to enchant any other magic he knows or Virtue he possesses into a charged item or lesser enchantment. Making enchanted items in this way requires vis, and that vis must be already present in the object crafted into the lesser enchantment, which limits them a great deal. Nevertheless, the Mechanicals are perfectly placed to be inventors due to the speed by which they can produce items — it takes as long as it does to make the mundane object bearing the enchantment and their outlook on life. These hedge wizards live amongst the common people in villages and other rural communities, and share the effects of their magic freely with the people with whom they live. Combining the Craft Magic of the Rusticani with the powers of a hedge tradition could be particularly effective.

Learned Magicians

The Mathematici of Bologna (Hedge Magic Revised Edition, Chapter Five) and their allied traditions are examples of the scholarly approach to magical invention typified by Hermetic magi. While their laboratory activities can only produce the equivalent of charged items, their production of chartae in particular is very swift, taking a matter of hours or days rather than a season. They are limited in what they can achieve in terms of technological effects, but innovations which promote the practice of a particular craft in an affected building, or the health of crops or farm animals, are possible, although no dramatic changes will be enacted on Mythic Europe by learned magicians.

Alchemists

Practitioners of experimental philosophy (Art & Academe, Chapter Five), these scholars use natural magic rather than supernatural magic in their science. Alchemy is a difficult subject to master, but once formulae have been developed for specific reagents these can be duplicated by those with only a basic understanding of the underpinning philosophy. Another key advantage is that alchemy can be taught to anyone; it does not require The Gift or any underpinning Virtues. All of the reagents listed in Art & Academe (pages 75–77) are technological advancements in their own right, and if mass-produced, could effect a real change in Mythic Europe.

One example of how Mythic Europe has already been transformed through alchemy is the use of Greek Fire by the Byzantine Empire (The Sundered Eagle, page 47). They cracked the problem of mass production through innovation and the almost limitless coffers of an empire. As a consequence, factories producing Greek Fire were scattered in secret locations across the Empire, although most have closed down since the fall of Constantinople in 1204. If other reagents could be mass-produced in the same manner, alchemists could easily become highly sought after as a route to political and military power.

Inanis

When vis is imbued into a physical object in preparation for enchantment or in the instilling of powers, its previous physical vessel crumbles, but leaves behind a residue. This used to be removed as part of the ordinary laboratory trash and never given a second thought. However, with the increased production of enchantments, large amounts of this residue was accumulating, and magi began to notice a strange phenomenon. The residue imbues the detritus from a laboratory with magic-sapping properties. The residue from one hundred pawns of vis is needed to make a single pawn of this inanis (meaning "void" or "emptiness"), which usually takes the form of a concretion of dust, dirt, pottery fragments, and other rubbish into a spongy gray mass. One pawn of inanis takes one round to stop a first magnitude magical effect from working within one pace. The inanis is unaffected by this sapping effect. Pawns are cumulative in terms of time taken, strength and range when in contact with one another, so five pawns would take five rounds to deplete a fifth magnitude effect at five paces. Effects are not partially canceled by inanis: if they have a level equal or lower to the maximum magnitude the effect is canceled, if it is greater then it is not affected. Effects originating from beyond the range of the inanis can pass through the radius of its effect, but if they linger within the area of effect they are diminished by it. The inanis absorbs the fluid vis that makes such effects possible. Supernatural creatures with a Might less than or equal to (5 x pawns) of inanis lose one Might for every season they spend within its area of effect. Concerns have been raised that inanis might also deplete auras or even destroy The Gift. The problem of what to do with the inanis that is gradually accumulating across Mythic Europe has become a major topic for debate for the Order; most magi refuse to have it anywhere near them.

Note: the existence of inanis is not a standard part of the Ars Magica Fifth Edition game, but an option for a saga that wants to explore the problems of magical pollution.

The Augustan Brotherhood

The recently discovered Virgilian Magic (Rival Magic, Chapter Three) has a strong element of invention through the practice of Animo, the creation of objects with awakened spirits that have caused them to take on the semblance of life. Animo is as costly and time consuming as creating a Hermetic enchantment, but produces devices which can move of their own volition and be aware of their own surroundings and adapt to them, something impossible with Hermetic magic. The discoveries of the Augustan Brotherhood are less than a century old, and it remains to be seen how much influence they will have on the future of Mythic Europe.

Mechanicians

The Mechanicians, or "wonderworkers of Heron," are a now-extinct magical tradition of mechanicmagicians who studied under Heron of Alexander and his pupils (Ancient Magic, Chapter Six).

The Mechanicians infused mechanical devices with wondrous abilities through the combination of mundane craft with geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and physic. They died out sometime in the fifth century, although some magi believe that their magic could still be resurrected if the fragments of Heron's teaching could be gathered and put back together.

If the secrets of the Mechanica of Heron were rediscovered, the ability to build technological devices producing semi-magical effects without the need for vis would be a major boon to any aspiring inventor. The devices described by Heron are almost by definition the types of invention that could transform Mythic Europe: any conceivable device that produces, controls, destroys, or changes earth, fire, air, or water are within the purview of his mechanicae, and they were also able to affect the human mind.

The Process of Transforming Mythic Europe

The impact of any magical technology depends on both its dissemination and integration into the community that benefits from it. The first effects are likely to be seen local to the introduction of the device. There may be economic impacts initially, but once these stabilize, there is likely to be a period of growth and acceptance of the device. Other magi may get involved by duplicating the device from the inventor's Laboratory Texts, promoting its spread. Things may eventually advance to the point where the device is so widespread that its use is commonplace.

Prerequisites for Change

For the Order of Hermes to make a major change to the course of Mythic Europe through magical technology, there are a few prerequisites for per-

mit that change to take place. These are saga considerations, in that if the troupe wishes to run a saga in this environment, these needs must be met by the world and/or society.

Vis

Magical technology requires a plentiful supply of vis. The more spectacular enchantments cannot be achieved with Charged Items, requiring sufficient resources to meet the needs of the inventors. This does not require a vis-rich saga if the vis is not available to the player characters. One option is that in the past, when these innovations were first made, there was a plenty of vis to meet the needs of the Hermetic inventors. However, those sources have been plundered and are now dry; the world has much vis spun into enchantments, but there is a paucity of it in its raw form. In a saga of this type, discoveries such as Mutable Devices (from Heron of Alexandria's Mechanica, Ancient Magic page 79) or Reforging Enchanted Items (an Inner Mystery of House Verditius, Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults page 125) become important to characters who want to innovate themselves since they allow them to scavenge spun vis and use its capacity in new enchantments.

Alternatively, vis might still be present in its raw form in Mythic Europe, but the Order keeps sources under close guard and distributes or sells it to its members. House Mercere might be rumored to have a huge vis cache hidden somewhere close to Harco, and House Guernicus punishes anyone found stockpiling vis from their own sources.

Magical Engineers

As discussed earlier, a sufficiently large workforce is needed to produce enchantments who must be Gifted, know Magic Theory to a sufficient degree to utilize the required amount of vis, and have sufficiently high Arts to achieve the enchantment even with a Laboratory Text. It takes a long time to train a Hermetic magus and, in traditional sagas, this slows the growth rate of the Order of Hermes. If the Order is to become a massproducer of enchantments on behalf of Mythic Europe, it needs to have a suitable workforce able to prepare items for enchantment and then instill effects.

One solution would be to indenture magi after their apprenticeship, requiring a certain number of seasons of labor to remunerate the Order for the training they have received. This indenture period is not dissimilar to the journeyman phase of a craft guildsman, and while it is a tedious requirement, it helps the Order maintain its position as the prime inventors and producers of technology in Mythic Europe. Magi can further indenture themselves for future benefits such as membership of a covenant or access to prime texts on the Arts.

Alternatively, the Order may have discovered a way to speed the process. If all apprentices are taught Magic Theory at the beginning of their apprenticeship period — or even before apprenticeship truly starts — then they can begin preparing items for enchantment as soon as they are Opened to the Hermetic Arts. With the help of Laboratory Texts, an advanced apprentice could even instill some simple effects. Other apprentices could be set to copying out Laboratory Texts for dissemination across the Order. This could greatly speed the manufacture of items.

Breakthroughs in Magic Theory

While not necessary for magical technology, there are some Breakthroughs in Magic Theory that either speed or ease the creation of enchantments. Such Breakthroughs include Single-Use Charged Items (Hedge Magic Revised Edition, page 102), Vis-less Enchantments (Ancient Magic, page 120) and Rune Magic (Ancient Magic, page 139). These innovations, once sufficiently integrated into Hermetic Magic Theory, could revolutionize the way in which enchantments are made, and remove some of the restrictions of time, resources, and workforce.

Early Adoption

Early on, inventor magi may need to work hard to get others to adopt their invention, a stage crucial to the creation of wealth, fame, influence, or desire for social change that has driven them to this in the first place. Thanks to the social penalty of The Gift, if the invention is intended for lords, craftsmen, or peasants, magi are better off employing mundane factors to handle the transactions. Even then, there is a general distrust of magical things — and things perceived as magical — in Mythic Europe, and it could be endlessly frustrating to magi that the device that could make life so much better for peasants lies abandoned in a barn because of a superstitious fear of it.

Once this hurdle can be overcome, the benefits resulting from the device's usage should become apparent to the community employing it, and this generates interest in the device. Once interest leads to demand, the spread of the magical technology begins to gather momentum.

Acceptance and Spread

Perhaps the hardest phase for any technological advance is keeping the interest in the device going. In this phase, the inventor magus will have to overcome problems of supplying the demand for his creation: Hermetic enchantments take at least a season's work in the laboratory, and many of them have a vis cost attached to them. The benefits to the inventor must outweigh the demands on his time to duplicate the device, unless he is able to farm out production to others (see earlier for a discussion of the problems of manufacture).

If he is both hard-working and lucky, a magus might see benefits deriving from his invention within one to five years of its adoption. It is during this phase that one can expect to see increasingly larger perturbations to the social order caused by the invention (see Social Consequences, earlier).

Widespread Integration

If the player characters are the inventors of technological magic, then they may never see this stage of the device's dissemination in Mythic Europe. However, if the player characters are particularly aggressive in the manner in which they spread use of the device, and the saga is sufficiently long lived, then they may live to see this transformation. Alternatively, this might be the time to introduce some of the playing styles discussed in Chapter 1: Introduction, and allow the characters to see a version Mythic Europe post integration of their technology in a flash-forward to the future.

Inspiration for the sort of longterm changes that might result should be sought in the modern world. Players of roleplaying games are intimately familiar with technology, but it is often hard to see to see the impact that their character's invention might make when it first comes out. With hindsight we can see what a major leap forward the introduction of a certain invention has had, but this is difficult to predict at the time, particularly with the knock-on effects that one industry can have on another. For example, technological advances in the production of linen during the thirteenth century led to linen underwear becoming more common. This lead to a bonanza of raw material for the making of cheap paper, which in turn made writing materials more accessible to townsfolk and encouraged the rise of literacy in urban areas. The main cost of book production became the wages of the scribe, and with more people able to read, there was a need to find a means to drive book production costs downwards. Inventors started to experiment with printing, and the book press was born.

Saga Seed: A Transformed Mythic Europe

Imagine a world which has been completely transformed through magical technology. The player characters are just one group of inventors amongst a host of others, Hermetic or otherwise. This section briefly discusses one possible outcome of widespread magical technology in Mythic Europe. It is described as if these changes have already occurred by the time the saga starts, which may not in fact be the case. The troupe may well decide to play through these transformations and be involved — or perhaps prevent — their described outcome.

The principle transformation of Mythic Europe into a society using magical technology occurred seventy years ago. Since then, progress has raced on, with more and more devices becoming available to the common man. The skies over most big cities throng with ships held aloft by magic. In the homes of the rich are to be found delicate automata which perform to the delight of the children, while the cook slaves in the kitchen over a magical stone that provides heat without fuel. Fields are tilled with mechanical plows, which also sow the seed and ward off crows; livestock reach maturity in record time and are free from disease that reduces the yield of milk, eggs, or meat. Some covenants resemble factories rather than the homes of scholars, home to artisans and craftsmen who provide the raw materials to supply the burgeoning need of the artificer-magi.

Armatura & Lanificaria: Manufacture

Magic has permitted the rapid production of textiles, tools, and weapons, but also created advances in architecture and carpentry resulting in better housing and grander structures. Largely operated by individuals with little or no score in the Finesse Ability, these creations of Rego Craft Magic turn out at best items of average quality, and much of it is shoddy. However, manufacture is no longer time-limited, merely resource-limited, and advances in mining and processing have improved resource provision as well.

The outcome is the increased availability of materials and objects formerly restricted to the wealthy classes, such as parchment and books, fine cloth, forged iron, and hardwood tools. Increasingly, the cities of Mythic Europe are developing a disposable society in which shoddy tools are bought cheaply but not expected to last very long.

Despite the efforts from the peacemongers of the Order of Hermes — mainly from House Guernicus — technological advances have changed the face of warfare. This is true not just of personal weapons useable in both missile combat and melee combat, but also of and siege weapons that are deployed against massed troupes and against defensive structures.

The rise in availability of magical technologies that can enact massive destruction on buildings have driven a demand in protective devices. The Learned Magicians, who can influence luck, health, and magic with their protective devices, have a roaring trade in protecting buildings and city walls against magical siege engines.

The Other Houses

Bjornaer: The dominant Harmonist faction of the house (Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, page 11) have largely eschewed Hermetic society, and taken to an adventuring life in flying ships and other devices of magical transportation. They search for new wonders in the natural and supernatural world, having tired of human-created wonders. The few Wilderists have dispersed: claiming back the wilds from humanity can no longer be supported by the Order.

Criamon: Largely unchanged. House Criamon still contemplates the Enigma and ignores the changes in the world of dross.

Flambeau: Mostly unchanged by technological magic, although a new school of magical combat has been developed that specifically concentrates on the destruction or interruption of magical devices.

Guernicus: Unchanged, although somewhat emasculated. The House fought long and hard to enforce the Oath and stifle change; now defeated it fears it has lost the respect of the Order.

Jerbiton: Has concerned itself with the aesthetics of technology, developing new art forms based on magical devices that transform the populace through their appreciation.

Merinita: House Merinita has suffered under the relentless stripping of vis from supernatural sites for the manufacture of technology; Faerie has proved a particularly vulnerable target.

Tremere: Particularly interested in armamentation: siege engines and devices that protect from them; ranged and melee magical weapons; and shields that prolong the life of soldiers.

Tytalus: Polarized as ever, the followers of Tytalus have found a new way to challenge the Order. Some have wholeheartedly adopted the new technology and strive to remain at its cutting edge. Others stubbornly refuse to adopt innovation, only practicing magic through spells, and even promulgating "wizard" stereotypes such as pointed hats and staffs.

Navigatio & Theatrica: Transport and Communication

The distant communication innovations discussed above have been fully integrated; indeed, this was one of the first magical technologies made available by the Order of Hermes. The version of Mythic Europe described above is a reality in this scenario, where distant viewers are used by rulers to address their subjects on mass and — some claim — to spy upon them. In the meantime, most rich households have such a device themselves, and most poor households can rely on having a public device nearby. House Jerbiton, despite initial reservations, have embraced this technology as a means of providing beauty to multitudes in one go, and sponsor events in which artists display their work through public scrying mirrors.

Instant transportation was not considered as a viable option for magical travel due to concerns over warping. Instead, Hermetic architects built alternatives to beasts of burden that need neither food nor rest, and, more recently, flying ships for the transport of passengers as well as cargo. These devices are still expensive to use, and most individuals still rely on slower traditional forms of transport.

Agricultura, Venatoria & Medicina: Environmental Technology

Crop yields and animal husbandry are areas that have benefited from magical technology, with the result that, in cities at least, people are better fed. Comestibles have a longer life and can be preserved from rot, with the result that the Living Conditions penalty for living in a city or town is halved to +1.

Medical magic is to be found in hospitals in most towns and cities. Enchantments drive out the foul airs and corruption that can cause infectious diseases, humoral balances can be quickly identified and corrected, and wounds heal better and faster.

A New World Order of Hermes

As a whole, the Order of Hermes has itself changed as much as the rest of Mythic Europe. As the authors of the transformation — or at least a major contributor — the Order has flourished. With the spread of magical technology, the Order of Hermes has come out of the shadows (see Chapter 2) and incorporated as a highly selective craft guild.

One of the contributing factors to the revolution in magical technology was the betrayal of House Verditius's Outer Mystery to the Order as a whole by an anonymous writer who distributed many copies of his text (depending on your saga, it might have required a Breakthrough as described in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, page 29 to allow a Mystery Virtue to be acquired through teaching rather than Initiation). Verditius Magic was consequently learned by many magi, and without the need for casting tools. This scandal bit deep at the heart of House Verditius, which has ceased to operate as a Mystery Cult and has become a Societas, although it still retains the secrets of its Inner Mysteries. Many followers of Verditius have entered a partnership with magi Bonisagi; as always, House Bonisagus toils to find new uses for magical applications, but now rarely indulges in the practical or experimental side to their science. Instead they pass their Laboratory Texts onto Verditius colleagues for the actual manufacture. At the last Grand Tribunal the primus of Verditius announced the co-location of his domus magna with that of House Bonisagus at Durenmar; and many believe that it will not be long before House Verditius ceases to exist as an independent entity and becomes absorbed into House Bonisagus.

The second factor promoting the rise of technological magics was the take-over of House Ex Miscellanea by a cabal of Rusticani. While this House is still home to a collection of Hermetic hedge traditions, a sizable minority of its membership are Rusticani, including the primus. The domus magna has become a hive of industrial activity, attracting magical craftsmen from across Mythic Europe and producing the magical technology on a wide scale. Some magi of other houses have entered joint apprenticeship arrangements with a Mechanical so that Craft Magic has entered the milieu of Houses Tytalus, Tremere, and Mercere. Some have linked the downfall of House Verditius to the rise of the Rusticani, noting that the Mechanicals were ever opposed by the Verditius mystery cult.

Since the wider use of scrying devices for communication and instant transportation for travel has become commonplace, House Mercere has been forced to reappraise its usefulness to the Order. Rather than a messenger service, the redcaps have turned their talents towards the business side of their house, and have become mundane agents for the sale of magical technology.

The Enemy

Greater capacity for exploration has also led to greater contact with civilizations beyond Mythic Europe. In particular, contact with Arab and Persian cultures has revealed a similar — if not more advanced — level of magical technology, but one which is alien to the approach adopted by European wizards. Eastern magic is channeled through spirits, and their technology therefore has the capacity to be intelligent rather than mechanical in its response to a situation, albeit limited by the constraints imposed by the sorcerer. Breakthroughs in Solomonic magic have lead to an enhanced capacity to coerce spirits into the service of a wielder of a device rather than under the direct control of a sorcerer. Such magical practices are viewed with great suspicion on the west, particularly since some eastern wizards employ demons to power their devices. The secular and almost scientific nature of western magic is equally incomprehensible to the easterners.

Years of warfare in the Holy Land between Arabs and Westerners have caused an innate unwillingness to share ideas, resulting in a great deal of hostility between the branches of magical technology. As a consequence, there is a great interest in studying the devices of the opposing side, to gain vital information about how to counter it. Espionage and counter-espionage are fertile grounds for stories.

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