Swords in the Noonday Sun

This ritual is part of Urizen lore rather than Imperial lore.

Rules

Urizen Lore

This ritual is part of Urizen lore rather than Imperial Lore. Any Urizen character with the appropriate lore can master or perform this ritual. A character from another nation who mastered the ritual before it became part of Urizen lore may still perform it, but does so under the usual rules for performing a ritual learned from a ritual text.

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 10 minutes of roleplaying. If the ritual is cast using the Imperial Regio it requires at least 5 minutes of roleplaying instead.

This ritual targets an Imperial army. The general responsible for the army (or the egregore if the general is not at Anvil) must be present throughout.

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

Effects

This ritual enchants a campaign army, filling the soldiers with supernatural prowess - strengthening them, and helping them defeat their enemies with force of arms. At the same time, it fills them with a passionate fervour, a belief in themselves and in their ability to secure victory.

This raises the strength of the campaign army by the equivalent of 1,000 additional soldiers. As with any enchantment on an army or navy, the additional army strength granted by this enchantment may be reduced by the orders issued by the general. While the effect is expressed as being equivalent to additional soldiers, this enchantment never reduces casualties suffered by the army.

While the enchantment persists, the general responsible for the army experiences a roleplaying effect: you are filled with confidence and assertiveness, and are driven both to take responsibility for others and to “get things done”. Anyone who stands between you and your goals should be dealt with swiftly and without mercy.

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

Options

Any caster who has mastered the ritual may choose to substitute orichalcum for crystal mana when contributing to it. Every 2 ingots of orichalcum spent counts as 1 crystal mana when contributing to the ritual.

Additional Targets

This ritual can affect additional armies from the same Empire. The general responsible for each army must be present throughout the ritual. Each additional target increases the magnitude by 60.

Law of Scale
This ritual represents the best Summer army enchantment ritual that can be created without the involvement of an eternal. Centuries of experimentation have shown that it is not possible to improve on this ritual with the magic of this realm. An arcane projection that creates a more powerful version of this effect, one that creates a lower-magnitude version that grants less enhancement to the army, or one that provides a different bonus to the army is not possible due to the law of scale. It might be possible to create a version of the effect that had differently flavoured roleplaying effects, but the mechanical qualities would remain the same. For further notes about this see link.

Description

This ritual was one of the very first to become part of Urizen lore, following the Autumn Equinox 383YE. Contributed by Mord Thorntarry of the spire of Auric Horizon, the ritual was one of those contained in the book Meditations. Written by Callus Strategos, Dean of the Lyceum during the reign of Empress Britta, the book also contained Good Green Oak, Hook of the Hoarfrost Guardian, Eyes of the Hills and two rituals that had already become part of Imperial lore - Find the Best Path and Hammers of the Brilliant Shore.

Soldiers in the army enchanted by this ritual are granted Summer gifts similar to those provided on a smaller scale by Strength of the Bull and effects such as Swan's Cruel Wing or even Champions Shining Resolve or Crimson Ward of Summer Stars. The individual benefits vary from warrior to warrior, and some magicians theorise that each soldier unconsciously shapes the form the magic will take based on what they feel they can best make use of.

It also fills the troops with a passionate fervour, smoothing away doubts and encouraging them with thoughts of what they can do to secure victory for themselves and their comrades. These powerful emotions are harnessed to their will however; they are no more likely to fight among themselves than normal, reserving their passion for defeating their enemies, but they often find themselves in touch with deep wells of wrathful fury when the situation demands it. Those with the changeling lineage in particular can find this experience a little overwhelming, given the touch of magic that already makes them prone to bouts of wroth.

Meditations records that the eternal Meraud offered helpful advice during the formulation of the original ritual, but the magicians of the Lyceum chose not to directly involve any eternal in its creation reasoning that giving an eternal another method to influence the Imperial armies was not ideal. When the ritual was originally codified, General Clarisse de Rhenai of the Golden Sun and Gundal of the Green Shield reportedly fought a duel for the right to be the first to be enchanted with it. The Dawnish general was the victor and the first target of the ritual. According to Callus, there was some concern among members of the Sevenfold Path that the passions inflamed by the enchantment might be seen as inspiring a malign spiritual presence, and indeed the magician was eventually called to inquisition over its effects. He was acquitted however and the ritual went on to be used several times during the campaigns of Empress Brennan against the Druj.

Common Elements

This ritual enhances a campaign army, and the general of the target army serves as a vital focus for delivering the magic. A banner or standard that will be used by the target force makes an ideal additional focus for the ritual. The magic involves unleashing powerful emotions that urge an army to violence, and as such the general should be encouraged to maintain their poise - to harness the destructive passions to the will so that they may be used with precision rather than risk overflowing and turning against those who experience them. As such, a form of guided meditation may be employed in which the target is inspired to view the raging will for victory that the magic inflames as a weapon to be wielded only against their enemies.

The astronomantic constellation of the Mountain has a strong association with this ritual, but The Drowned Man also has resonance - the ultimate aim of the enchantment is to end a conflict in an absolutely decisive fashion after all. Those Urizen who make use of the runes may find Jotra and Tykonus resonate with its power, but the Rune of Thought an the Rune of Passion is also applicable - the one harnesses the other in pursuit of the general's goals.

While their power is not directly involved in this ritual (indeed, according to the original source the magicians of the Lyceum made a conscious decision to decline offers of direct assistance from the inhabitants of the Summer realm), the names of Eleonaris and Meraud might be evoked as part of the performance.