ARQUIDIÓCESIS DEGUADALAJARA, Iglesias consagradas *

For the Order of Hermes to make a major change to the course of Mythic Europe through magical technology,

Inanis

When vis is imbued into a physi- cal object in preparation for enchant- ment 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 enchant- ments, 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 prop- erties. The residue from one hundred pawns of vis is needed to make a sin- gle 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 de-

plete a fifth magnitude effect at five paces. Effects are not partially can- celed by inanis: if they have a level equal or lower to the maximum mag- nitude 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. Su- pernatural 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. Con- cerns have been raised that inanis might also deplete auras or even de- stroy 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 prob- lems of magical pollution.

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

v

Magical technology requires a plentiful supply of vis. The more spectacular enchantments cannot be achieved with Charged Items, requir- ing 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 pau- city 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 Eu- rope, but the Order keeps sources under close guard and distributes or sells it to its members. House Mer- cere might be rumored to have a huge vis cache hidden somewhere close to Harco, and House Guernicus punish- es anyone found stockpiling vis from their own sources.

m

e

As discussed earlier, a sufficiently large workforce is needed to produce

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 mass- producer 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.

b

m

t

While not necessary for magical technology, there are some Break- throughs in Magic Theory that ei- ther 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 Her- metic Magic Theory, could revolu- tionize the way in which enchant- ments are made, and remove some of the restrictions of time, resources, and workforce.