Rivers of Gold

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. This ritual targets a business. 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 business provides an additional 180 rings over the next season, in addition to normal production.

If the owner of the resource does not attend the next event, then the additional production provided by the resource is still added to that character's inventory.

Additional Targets

This ritual can affect additional businesses in the same territory. Each additional business increases the magnitude by 8. The character who controls each business must be present throughout the ritual.

Description

As with Streams of Silver, this enchantment subtly influences the flow of trade, gently warping the effects of chance and synchronicity to encourage people to visit, and spend money in, the target business. The magic may improve profits in many ways; a supplier might make a delivery on time, or the quality of their materials might be greater than expected, for example; shoplifters and petty thieves think twice before robbing the establishment; less errors are made in the accounts; new opportunities for making savings are spotted. A customer looking for a particular item will check your shop before she checks those of your competitors; a sutanir looking for someone to provide wine to a wedding will pick your services over someone else's; rumours that say your business is better than a rivals flourish, while those that speak negatively of you, your business, your goods or your services tend not to be passed on.

The effect of the ritual is difficult to spot without magical means, unless one knows it has been cast; every piece of individual good fortune appears entirely reasonable - it is only when they are all taken together over the course of a season that it begins to become apparent that something is shifting chance in the favour of the target. The Autumn realm is uniquely suited to this kind of subtle manipulation of events - even Night is hard pressed to create effects with such far-reaching implications and effectiveness.

The spell is not cheap in terms of crystal mana, but the more businesses it is used on the more economical the ritual becomes. Nine crowns for six crystal mana is one thing; eighteen crowns for ten crystal mana is another again. A number of covens, especially in The Brass Coast and The League, are specialists in the use of this ritual and others like it. It is common practice for a troupe to encourage as many business-owners as possible from a territory to pay them to place this enchantment, and then combine all the casting's together into a single ritual (assuming they are proficient enough) to maximize their own profits.

Common Elements

This ritual moves wealth around, and the performance is often accompanied by coins and other precious items. In The Marches and The Brass Coast, coins taken from the previous season's profit are often used as a way to 'prime' the enchantment and attract more wealth. The targets often share a goblet of wine among themselves, and the ritual often begins or ends with a symbolic (or literal) payment to the performing coven. The rune Pallas is often evoked, but so are subtle rune of plots and the serendipitous rune of chance. Symbols of Prosperity are also common, often with an invocation highlighting the rewards of hard work.

The magic item known as the Mercantilist's Mask can be used to make this ritual easier to perform.

The bell by the door hadn't stopped ringing all day long, and Valtus was run off his feet. It had seemed certain that every scrap of stock would be sold out by lunch, but as fate would have it two of his suppliers chose today to deliver early and he'd been able to continue on into early evening. Now, finally, his shelves were bare and his coin-safe was bulging. He mopped his brow with a silk handkerchief and treated himself to a small sherry, easing his groaning feet up onto a stool as he finally let himself relax after the day's unexpected windfall of custom.

The door bell jangled as a well-heeled young bravo dashed into the shop, brandishing a fistful of coins, "Sir! For reasons far too convoluted to go into, I find myself in dire and urgent need of some shelves such as the ones you have upon your walls. Would you allow me to press an unreasonably large of sum of money upon you for their immediate removal?"