1237 AD: Theurgy and its Practice

 1237 Adventure Oracle

Cabal Legacy—10% (68, no adventure)

Seeker—10% (93, no adventure)

Regional Produce—10% (49, no adventure)

Multiple Sites—10% (63, no adventure)

Road—10% (52, no adventure)

Rival—30% (68, no adventure)

Unsafe—10% (73, no adventure)

Unknown—30% (72, no adventure)

Hermetic Politics—10% (28, no adventure)

Protector—10% (36, no adventure)

 

Incredibly, despite having added two more hooks, we manage to avoid rolling even a single adventure. I'm honestly quite excited for when Favors or Protector comes into play. A new writing prompt is always a joy. 

 

That being said, let's get into another quiet year. 

 

Spring 1237

With the regio sorted out for the moment and the Nile free, it was time to focus on the future. Jabril was excited to begin experimenting with Theurgy, but he also wanted to take an apprentice soon in the next decade, and either bind a familiar or forge a talisman before that. He had some ideas for the talisman, but for now, he devoted himself to study of the Forms. Before he began work, he traded his Muto tractatus for one on Auram to Venti Rosa. 

Taking a pawn of Aquam from the stores, he had his servants fill, empty, and refill a great bowl of water in front of him continuously as he experimented. 

Vis study: rolled 5+3+3=11 xp to Aquam, bringing it to 4. 

2 exposure xp to Magic Theory

Summer 1237

Not quite at the level needed, Jabril took another season to study Aquam. At this point, he and the covenfolk were wasting quite a bit of water. 

Vis study: rolled 4+3+3=10 xp to Aquam, bringing it to 6. 

2 exposure xp to Magic Theory

Autumn 1237

Having studied Aquam, Jabril couldn’t contain himself anymore: yes, he needed to improve his Arts, but there would be time for that later. This season, he truly wanted to experiment with theurgy (and so did your humble narrator). 

He had for some time had an idea for an early warning system for the various sites in Siwa: a spell that when cast on a group of books, would cause anything written in them to be displayed on all of them. At a base level, this would be Level 1 ReAn: Manipulate items made of animal products (Covenants, p. 50). This was a complex thing, I would argue, which pushes it up another level. With touch range, group target, and sun duration (to be explained later), this would leave the overall level at 10 ReAn, easily done in a season. That being said, wanting to make this a theurgical spell made it a bit more complex.

From what I, your humble narrator, understand, you’re effectively dealing with two separate spell effects when you’re making a theurgy spell: the summoning effect, which is the base effect of the spell and whose level is determined by the Might of the summoned spirit, and the effect you want it to be able to produce, which the spirit needs to match-10 with its Might score at minimum. Jabril wanted to be able to use the Flexible Formulaic Magic benefit of theurgical magic to use a lower-level spell and still achieve Moon duration on the warning spell, which meant the spirit would need at least 5 Might to produce a level 15 effect with 0 penetration. Thus, we need at least a level 5 spell to produce the needed effect, and since spirit Might must equal or exceed the base spell-like effect, we need level 10 Feel free to correct me in the comments if I’ve misunderstood. 

With that in mind, Jabril set to work crafting the level 10 spell, working to research an appropriate minor spirit. 

Lab total: 16+15+2+7+3+0=43 (the 0 represents Magic Lore, which Jabril does not yet have) points accumulated. With more than quadruple the score of the spell, Jabril invented it in one season. 

With some magical research, he was able to learn the name of an appropriate spirit of books. It was a being that the sahirs would have classified as a jinn, named Faham, who according to some minor tales had once aided librarians at the great library in Alexandria. Summoning the spirit in his Aghurmi lab, he explained his needs and formed a pact with Faham, properly forming the spell. Afterwards, he purchased six blank books from a passing caravan (one for each of his controlled sites) and had Faham produce a Moon-duration effect on the group of them, then passed them out across his sites, including Siwa, giving one to the council of elders. One, of course, he kept for himself at Aghurmi. 

2 exposure xp to Magic Theory

Invoke the Spirit Faham for a Day

ReAn 10, General, Mystery Spell

Range: Arcane Connection

Duration: Sun

Target: Individual

Summons the spirit of books Faham for a day. Faham has Might 10 and can produce one effect: cast upon a group of books, he can make each of them reflect any changes made to any of them for Sun duration, and can modify this effect as per Flexible Formulaic Magic. (Base effect, level determines spirit’s Might)

Winter 1237

Having delved into theurgy for the first time, Jabril felt satisfied and turned back to study, reading his Auram tractatus atop the highest tower in Aghurmi, buffeted by the wind. Afterwards, he traded his tractatus for one on Mentem. 

Book xp: 10+2=12 to Auram, bringing it to 4

Aging roll: rolled 9-1=8. Jabril’s apparent age increases by 1.