Fire on the Water

Interdiction
While the practice of enchanting armies to make them savage is interdicted, it is illegal to perform this ritual.

Rules

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.

During the ritual the casters must be in a strong Autumn regio.

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

Burn Them to the Waterline

• Defending order
• Your side must control a region with the coastal keyword
• Casualties suffered by this army are increased by a fifth
• Casualties inflicted by this army against navies are increased by two fifths

The army is supported by heralds of Estavus who deploy powerful siege engines that hurl balls of unquenchable sapphire fire. The soldiers make full use of low tides and shifting sands to launch assaults on ships attempting a shore offensive.

Effects

This ritual calls forth heralds from the House of Fire and Flame in the realm of Estavus, to support a campaign army. The heralds who bring with them powerful siege engines, metal catapults that hurl brilliant sapphire flames, which spread supernaturally fast, and resist all efforts to quench them – water simply seems to make them burn even more fiercely. They can only be dealt with by smothering them, and can cause catastrophic damage to ships struck by them.

The army loses any existing quality and gains the Seawatch quality. For the duration the general can issue the order Burn Them to the Waterline when defending, but only while fighting in a territory where their side controls a region with the coastal quality. While the enchantment persists, the general responsible for the army experiences a roleplaying effect: you feel an urge to destroy by the most effective means available anything that stands between you and your goals, or which threatens things or people you value.

The ritual draws warrior-engineers from the realm of Estavus. These heralds have been known to exert unpredictable influence those fighting alongside them, especially those with the cambion lineage. This may include lingering roleplaying effects or even temporary hero points for the captains of military units supporting the enchanted army. Such effects are unpredictable; when they occur they are described in the appropriate Winds of War.

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

Assurance

The ritual loses all power and becomes useless if it is cast by a coven from a nation who have declared trade with the House of Fire and Flame to be illegal. This assurance might come into play if the Imperial Conclave chooses to place Estavus under enmity, but only if a group of Imperial magicians then cast the ritual.

Options

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

Description

This ritual is one of two seized from the Slave Lords of Rachensgrab during the raid on the Aerie that took place following the Autumn Equinox 384YE. Imperial fleets experienced the power of the unquenchable sapphire fire first-hand during the attack - as well as seeing its limitations when employed against individual warships rather than a full navy. It was entered into Imperial lore during the Winter Solstice, with the declaration being raised by Tyburn Weaver, Grandmaster of the Shuttered Lantern.

The ritual text itself was composed by magicians at the "Tower of Sacrifice" - an Autumn-aligned college of magic that was sacked and ultimately destroyed during the raid. it draws on the power of a specific group of heralds from the domain of Estavus - the House of Fire and Flame. They are described as having skin with the sheen of polished metal, and mighty fists which wield hammers of basalt and mauls studded with diamonds. They wear heavy plate of bronze and iron, and "their eyes glitter like polished jewels when talk turns to profit, and the wealth of the earth, and the chance to burn and burn and burn."

There is some minor concern that the agreement represented by this ritual text was apparently brokered with the aid of Pharam Vex. This herald of Ephisis was a lieutenant that dealt primarily with the slave trade, and was destroyed in Rachensgrab by Imperial heroes.

Common Elements

There are a few notes in the original ritual text about how it might be performed. It appears the magicians of Rachensgrab made great use of blood magic, and the text assumes that is the preferred magical tradition that will be involved. it suggests that the blood of the general who commands the target army be mixed with that of those with the cambion lineage. The resulting mixture would be used to anoint the forehead and the hands of the one who leads the army with "sigils of crowning, and of mastery over the weak, and over the power of destruction". It also encourages those involved to "speak fervently of their desire to shatter the hulls of their enemies, and to destroy any who dare to threaten the beloved Aerie, and how the sapphire flame will consume all who try to come against us."

Original Text

The original text is presented here for the sake of completeness, but makes unpleasant reading.

How This Came To be

In the year of Green Chains, Beloved Sajakta of the Green Iron Hand, with the aid of Pharam Vex Who Binds, met with the factotums of the House of Fire and Flame, who have their stronghold on the slopes of the fire mountain Shikal, which is also termed the City of Fire and Stone, the Throne of Chainforger, and spoke with them of the sea that girds us, and how we might best destroy any who dared to come upon us.

The House of Fire and Flame
Those of the House of Fire and Flame are not like we, who are human, but are forged from the stuff of the Mountain of Fire, by the One-Who-Hammers, and yet they understand the importance of exchange as well as any apprentice in the lowest halls of the Tower of Sacrifice. Most beloved Sajakta of the Green Iron Hand met with three of their emissaries in the chamber of Pharam Vex Who Binds and there negotiated an arrangement with them, and with their mistress, whereby they might come to the realm of mortals and burn our enemies for us.

Their skin has the sheen of polished metal, and their mighty fists wield hammers of basalt and mauls studded with diamonds, and their bodies are wrapped in heavy plate of bronze and iron that turns aside any blow, and their eyes glitter like polished jewels when talk turns to profit, and the wealth of the earth, and the chance to burn and burn and burn.

Wearing the Mask of the Master, Beloved Sajakta spoke on behalf of all the Slave Lords of Rachensgrab, and bound the House of Fire and Flame to an agreement whereby they would offer their services when called upon by the Tower of Sacrifice or by anyone prepared to meet their price of tempest jade, the crystal that cracks, the stone of thunder.

In return for their service as mediator Pharam Vex Who Binds received a payment of star metal, with which they might forge unbreakable collars, and were greatly pleased.

The Power of the Summoning
With this ritual, the servants of the House of Fire and Flame will come forth from the Realm of Chains, dragging behind them their great catapults wrought from the bones of their home, and also with them the sapphire flame that devours all the soft things of the living world, especially wood, and rope, and cloth, and flesh, and recognises not the touch of water, and stand beside our soldiers, and turn their terrible engines of devastation against those who would approach our fastness.

Oh, would that we could craft that fire! That there were some combination of tempest jade and alchemy that would let us fill out own catapults with that wondrous devouring flame, for then none would stand against our vessels., and we would have all the world in our chains.

Young Ajakstu believes that through trickery and subterfuge that secret could be uncovered, and taken for us, but Ajakstu says such things often, and is mocked for it, for they believe any secret can be gathered with trickery, when it is clear that the fire is not of the mortal realm at all but effuses from some unique power of the Realm of Chains that we cannot touch. Woe to Ajakstu, who is foolish, and shall never amount to anything, no matter whosoever their patron be!

The power of the magic lies not solely in the House of Fire and Flame, for their hands shall touch the one who leads the defenders of our mighty home, and infuse them with a little of the cataclysmic power that is the heart of each member of the House, urging them to destroy, so they must be carefully attended to ensure they do not harm anyone or anything that is of value to another Slave Lord.

The soldiers are also touched, but the presence of the Realm of Chains is less, and their ability to damage anything of value is much less, and most likely their fear of punishment will be greater than the desire the presence of the House of Fire and Flame evokes within them.

Contract
This rite draws on the power of the House of Fire and Flame, and there is an agreement at its heart, that if the rite is ever invoked by a coven from a nation who have declared trade with the House of Fire and Flame to be illegal then the contract will be broken and the rite will lose all its power for all people of that nation, which is no true contract, for the Lords of the Aerie will never turn against the masters of the Realm of Chains, so we need not ever fear that it be broken.

Weakness
In the spirit of cooperation, the negotiators of the House of Fire and Flame caution that this rite has a weakness in that it is most effective against a disciplined, united force of war vessels, and its effectiveness against a mass of independent ships would be much reduced, although it could still inflict stinging damage on any such vessel that attempted to raid the shores, it would be foolish to rely on it, but Beloved Sajakta of the Green Iron Hand fears no pirates, no privateers, no conglomerate of foolish captains, and neither do the Lords of Rachensgrab.

Performing the Ritual
The enchantment is not cheap, and nor should it be given the power it evokes, but we have plenty of warm ashes, and crystal mana, and tempest jade, with which to secure the service of the House of Fire and Flame. As blood, and the mastery of blood, is of paramount power, let the coven take the blood of the general, and mix with it the blood of cambions, who are infused with the power of the Realm of Chains, and then anoint the forehead and the hands of the one who leads the army with sigils of crowning, and of mastery over the weak, and over the power of destruction, and let them speak fervently of their desire to shatter the hulls of their enemies, and to destroy any who dare to threaten the beloved Aerie, and how the sapphire flame will consume all who try to come against us.

There are other shapes; as Young Ajakstu insists on reminding us, such as the strategy of masks that is so close to their addles heart, and Meverus of the Golden Eye says that we could look to the heavens to find the power of chains and destruction there, and old Wulfric of the Western Ice says that their runes of ending and slavery and bargains, and wealth will empower the casting but who has an interest in such esoterica? Let blood call to blood, let furious blood call to the fury of the flames, let blood burn those who would resist our mastery, and let the waters of the Sea of Steel devour their ashes.