Bright Lantern of Ophis

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. The ritual targets a single character or ribboned item, which must be present throughout, or the immediate area around the ritualists.

Note that this ritual cannot be targeted on a different territory using the Anvil regio. It can only analyse magical effects in the immediate vicinity of the caster.

Effects

This ritual analyses magical effects on the target person or object, or in the immediate area.

The ritual reveals information about magical enchantments, wards, or shrouds. It answers some or all of the following questions about each such effect on the target:

• What magical effects are present?
• What do these magical effects do? How long will they last?
• How can these magical effects be interacted with?
• Can they be ended early? If so, how?
• What is the source of these magical effects? If the source is a ritual, it will provide the realm and magnitude. If the source is an eternal, it will indicate the realm the eternal is from.

If cast on an area, it may also answer some specific additional questions:

• Is there a magical regio in the immediate area (within a short distance, up to 30 feet)? What realm is that regio aligned to? Is it a strong regio?
• Are there any special effects for performing a ritual in that regio?

Each contributor receives the same information.

The ritual will provide no information about a curse. Wisdom of the Balanced Blade is required to gain any information about a curse - it will not even detect its presence. Likewise it is no use in analysing purely spiritual effects, such as those created by the hallow, consecration, or anointing ceremonies. Again, it does not even register the existence of such effects.

Casting the divination version of the detect magic spell on a legal target will reveal if there is any information that can be gathered with Bright Lantern of Ophis.

Additional Magnitude

You may increase the magnitude of the ritual to penetrate more powerful shrouds or masks. However, the Bright Lantern will always discover all the pertinent information about the shroud itself even if it is not performed at a high enough magnitude.

OOC Information

The ritual is least useful when used to analyse the effects of rituals that are in Imperial lore. It is most effective when used to examine mysterious effects. It rarely provides any information when cast on an object - the innate powers of magic items are not considered magical effects, and many special effects attached to objects will be curses or spiritual effects. It is perhaps most useful for analysing magical puzzles, wards, and barriers encountered on quests.

It can be used in a territory under a magical effect to determine details of that effect: for example, if a territory is covered by a magical shroud, or a mysterious enchantment is affecting all the farms in that area. This effect cannot be achieved by performing the ritual at the Anvil regio - attempts to do so simply provide information about the Anvil regio and any magical effects on Casinea.

Common examples of where it can be used are to understand the effect of an enchantment, shroud, or ward created by non-Imperial ritual magic, or to examine the boons created by an eternal. It will also provide information about magical traps, wards, and puzzles. When performed in a territory under the effect of a large-scale magical effect, it can also provide information about that magical effect.

Description

This ritual allows the contributors to examine and gain information about a broad range of magical effects. It is an invaluable aid to those who explore dangerous ruins, or areas touched by powerful magic. Common uses include detecting magical traps and - just as importantly - the conditions that will trigger or remove them; examining magical seals and wards to ascertain their functions and limitations; studying the unique magical boons of eternals, to identify unexpected loopholes; and precisely understanding the effects of peculiar magics of all kinds.

It will only work on a magical effect that is actually present, and close enough to touch. For example, to gather information about a magical ward at least one of the contributors must be close enough to touch the effect throughout the performance.

When using the Bright Lantern on an object, it is important that the magician understands the difference between a magical enchantment and the innate properties of a magic item. Bright Lantern will not discern anything about the properties of a magic item that is part of that items functioning - for example, if performed on an otherwise unremarkable Biting Blade it reveals nothing, despite the blade's preternatural composition and sharpness. Only if the blade has been separately affected with magic - for example if its properties have been shrouded - will the Bright Lantern reveal anything and even then it will only reveal information about the shroud, not the capabilities of the magic item.

The ritual will also divine the provenance of a magical effect. The most common provenance is a ritual of some sort, or the actions of an eternal or other creature of the realms. In both cases, the Bright Lantern provides only broad details - the realm involved, and the magnitude of the ritual effect. On a few rare occasions it has determined the precise identity of the eternal involved, but in such cases the diviners have reported the sensation that the eternal wanted that information to be discovered - as if they had "signed" the effect. Uncommonly, the ritual may discover that the source of the magic is something else - the information determined in such cases is difficult to predict but always gives some context to where the magic has come form.

An interesting element of the Bright Lantern is that while it is stymied by a shroud or obscuring effect in the same manner as any divination ritual, it can always discover information about the shroud itself - its provenance, realm, magnitude, and so on.

Some arcane scholars compare Bright Lantern of Ophis to Wisdom of the Balanced Blade; both rituals analyse specific effects and provide in-depth information about their function, limitations and provenance.

Common Elements

This ritual often involves active divination, sometimes with runestones or cards. Lenses and mirrors are often used to closely examine the target, as are crystals that the contributors can peer into or through.

The area where the ritual is performed is usually well-lit, either by sunlight or by multiple lamps, lanterns, light-stones or fires. Some ritualists however prefer to study the target in relative darkness, illuminated by a single source of light. As the light source (often a lantern) is moved around the contributors examine the way the light changes the appearance of the item, or the shape of the shadow it casts.

The runes Sular and Ophis may be evoked - the former by covens who actively examine and seek information during the performance, the latter by covens that prefer to rely on sudden revelation to deliver information to them. The former group are usually active in handling the target, while the latter focus more on drawing up (or down) magical energies and may use incense, water or even some narcotics to empower their ritual.