Strong Ox, Golden Sun

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 2 minutes of roleplaying. This ritual targets a farm which must already be enchanted with the Blessing of New Spring ritual. 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

This ritual completely replaces the effect of Blessing of New Spring.

The target farm earns an additional 50 rings at the Summer Solstice (event 3) and the Autumn Equinox (event 4). The ritual ends at the start of winter.

This spell is intended to be cast at the Spring Equinox. If the spell is cast later in the year, then money that would have been gained in earlier seasons is lost. It is useless if performed after the Summer Solstice.

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 farms in the same territory. Each additional farm increases the magnitude by 2. The character who controls each farm must be present throughout the ritual.

Description

This spell is intended to be cast at the Spring Equinox. It is less efficient and productive if cast later in the year and is useless if performed after the Summer Solstice. If the spell is cast later in the year, then money that would have been provided during any missed seasons is lost. Performed at the optimal time, and left to run its full course, the ritual provides a total of 100 rings of additional profit to the owner of the target farm.

A farm affected by the ritual will provide more and better crops, increasing the amount of money at the summer and autumn equinoxes. Once it is in place, it also allows for more powerful rituals to be cast. In the same way that it requires Blessing of New Spring to be in place before it can be cast, it serves as an anchor for the Gathering the Harvest ritual, permitting even more wealth to be reaped from the soil.

As with the blessing of new spring, this is a very old ritual indeed. It enchants both domesticated beasts of burden and farm-workers alike, giving them great stamina and keeping them hearty and hale. Oxen can haul a plough for days on end without complaint, while labourers find their exertions tire them, but do not exhaust them. The fields themselves burst with grain, and herds of animals are hardy, healthy and gain strength to fight off predators and disease alike.

The ritual is understandably popular in The Marches, and there are covens of landskeepers who work hard to ensure that they can perform this ritual on many farms simultaneously. Such covens also work to master Blessing of New Spring and Gathering the Harvest if they can, and know that their ability to perform this ritual gives them a useful political tool when dealing with the households and monasteries.

Common Elements

The ritual grants strength and endurance to the creatures and plants on a farm. Ritual performances often include the evocation of the rune Verys or the constellation of The Oak. Hearth magics and symbols associated with strength and agricultural Prosperity are also commonly evoked, such as sweat, salt, honey, ale, milk or grain.

In the Marches, a portion of the produce that the farm produced the previous year might be used in the ritual. In a similar way, a Varushkan cabal or circle of Wintermark magicians might use honey made in an especially prosperous year with fresh-baked runebread, to draw a connection between then and now.

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