Quick Study

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 2 minutes of roleplaying. This ritual targets a college of magic. The character with dominion over the building (the Dean or similar title) must be present throughout.

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

Effects

During the next season the codification speed of the targeted college is increased by 5 ranks when formulating a ritual. If the college does not research a ritual then the enchantment has no effect.

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

Description

This ritual was codified in 384YE by the spires of Urizen, under the guidance of Marcus, the Doyen of the Spires. It was based on work originally performed by Marcus several years previously. The original ritual was designed to work specifically on the Halls of Knowledge before their tragic loss to the Druj. Following that first attempt, Marcus refined and perfected the ritual before presenting it to be codified by the spires of Urizen.

The ritual was formulated with the assistance of scholars who at that time resided in Grendel occupied Spiral following an agreement with then-Salt Lord Kalliact. It was the first ritual to be formulated with the aid of the golden spiders dispatched by Prospero in his role as patron of the Spires.

The enchantment created the the ritual works through a combination of subtle influence and serendipity. Scholars and magicians studying at the college are prepared to work longer hours, to take shorter breaks, and to organise their schedules more efficiently. Obviously there are limits to what this can achieve – a College of Magic is still an academic setting after all and professors and wizards are notoriously difficult to orchestrate.

At the same time, there are fewer accidents, and those that do happen tend to be more minor in scope. This is the influence of serendipity – of carefully nudging events into an optimal shape to allow the researchers to concentrate on their tasks. As with the influence, this magic is particularly subtle. A scholar will happen to find just the book they need to reference even in the most cluttered office or library. Passers-by and unexpected guests happen to arrive at just the right moment to cause the least disruption.

Finally, the ritual aids with communication. Written notes are simply clearer, even allowing for the idiosyncratic nature of many arcane scholars. Meetings prove to be more useful, with fewer misunderstandings, and tend to be resolved much more satisfactorily. All in all, the college of magic effected by this ritual becomes a delightful place to work and study, even if the inhabitants are not necessarily aware of the magic gently nudging them onto the right tracks.

The magic of Quick Study is most apparent when it is performed on a “traditional” magical college – places like the Icy Crag or the Lyceum. When used on the Spires of Urizen the magic is significantly more diffuse. It is no weaker, and no less effective, but it is even less noticeable. Rather than enchant the entire Heliopticon network across multiple territories, it is theorised that the enchantment has one or more loci that shift around the Spires using the lights of the Heliopticon as an ethereal pathway. At any given point, several spires may be partaking in a little of the enchantment created by the ritual while others are unaffected; then when a researcher shares their theory with a magician in another spire via the Heliopticon, the magic gently shrouding their library might leap across the distances between to infuse the office of the recipient.

Common Elements

Quick Study requires the presence of someone who has uncontested dominion over the college – the Dean of the Lyceum, the Doyen of the Spires, or the Master of Ice and Darkness. They might well be the ideal focus of the ritual, symbolically playing a pivotal role as the one who will “direct” the enchantment once it is created.

The astronomancers of Urizen are confident that the Phoenix has a powerful correspondence with the ritual – things learn is a potent astronomantic Law to apply. The Chain might also be applied – things being connected is a core component of many Autumn enchantments that deal with efficiency or serendipity and this is no exception.

A dramaturge might look to the Witch or the Prince, the Lantern, and the Library as suitable devices from which to build a compelling ritual. Rune-wise, the most likely runes to resonate with a performance of this ritual are Hirmok (the rune of Dominion) and Queros (the rune of Conspiracy).