Muffled Oar

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. This ritual targets a fleet. The character who controls the target personal resource must be present throughout.

This ritual is an enchantment. A target may only be under one enchantment effect at a time.

Effects

The fleet gains a significant bonus to its effectiveness when it is assigned to support a fleet-specific spy network. This temporary bonus increases the effective fighting force of the unit by 100, the equivalent of 5 normal upgrades.

While the fleet is enchanted, the character who owns it experiences a roleplaying effect: you find it difficult to be concerned about the legal implications of your actions. In particular, you find the idea of laws about who can own or use items or substances to be of minor consideration.

The effect lasts until the start of the next Profound Decisions Empire event.

Additional Targets

This ritual can affect additional fleets as long as they are controlled by characters in the same territory. Each additional fleet increases the magnitude by 8. The character who controls each fleet must be present throughout the ritual.

Description

This enchantment of the lore of Night was codified at the College of Silent Voices in the Sarcophan Delves. The ritual was given to the Imperial Conclave by the Haaienvermijders, a Sarcophan magical cabal whose named apparently translates literally as "Shark Dodgers". The ritual was intended to help with the 384YE evacuation of Feroz, where it was apparently used to great effect. It was secured as part of a deal brokered by the eternal Sadogua, and in exchange the Haaienvermijders received a copy of "Andreas i Sol-Devorador i Erigo's Golden Voyage" from the Conclave.

The enchantment it provides combines the resonance of obfuscation and intuition to help a ship avoid enemies – whether pirates, rival ships captains, or legal authorities. Under the effect of Obfuscation conceals noises and manipulates weather phenomena in a subtle way to ensure that ships are not marked by vigilant watchers. Intuition grants the captain a supernatural awareness of when their current course will take them within sight of, or reach of, those who wish them harm.

Furthermore, this same power of intuition helps guide the ship and its crew to places where they are more likely to learn something useful, or seize an opportunity. While it is mostly of use to fleets that are engaged in smuggling goods, it is also valuable on those rare occasions when a ship must navigate enemy waters without being seen, or without engaging a superior naval force.

Unfortunately, there is a drawback to the ritual. It subtly encourages the captain of the fleet to ignore legal restrictions on their behaviour, especially when it comes to possession or use of illegal substances. Indeed, in some quarters, the very existence of this ritual has raised questions about what exactly the "Shark Dodgers" are using it for...

Common Elements

The ritual involves exploiting the Law of Dominion to enchant a fleet by using the captain as an arcane connection. Given the magical emphasis on obfuscation, a coven might shroud themselves and the target in some way - wrapping them in cloth, veiling them, or concealing their identity behind masks. The ritual might also be performed in darkness - perhaps with only a single candle - to reinforce the concept of hiding ships while still leaving the crew the ability to navigate.

Several runes resonate with the magic - Queros the Rune of Plots symbolises covert action, while Diras the Rune of Secrets highlights the concealment the ritual confers. Aesh might also be used, surprisingly, as the concept of Wisdom resonates well with the other half of the enchantment, which grants intuition and instinctive navigational abilities to the crew of the enchanted ship.

For an astronomancer the constellations of the Lock and the Spider both have an affinity for the enchantment - representing both that things can be hidden and things are watched by a hidden eye. Tracing the Lock onto the skin of the target, while drawing the Spider on their forehead brings the resonance of both constellations into pay, concealing and empowering with hidden vision in equal measure.

Likewise certain dramaturgical images are closely tied to the magic of the ritual. The Witch represents hidden forces, and both the Cloak and the Lantern could be employed to highlight different elements of the ritual.