Eyes of the Hills

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

<box>Hit and Run

• Defending order.
• Your side must control a region with the forested, hilly or marsh keyword.
• The ability of this army to defend territory is increased by a fifth.
• Casualties suffered by this army are decreased by a fifth.
• Casualties inflicted by this army are decreased by a fifth.

The army uses their mastery of wilderness survival to impede enemy advances. They set up camp in defensible locations, use hidden paths to move around, and employ natural features of the wilderness to hamper their attackers. A guerilla army in a defensible position does everything it can to make itself hard to attack, rarely presenting the enemy with an opportunity for a pitched battle. This tactic is especially effective at slowing the advance of an enemy force while awaiting reinforcements

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Effects

• CHANGE THE ORDER TO BE UNIQUE RATHER THAN JUST A GUERILLA RIPOFF ADD ADDITIONAL FLAVOUR

The target Imperial army gains the "Hillfighter" quality. The army gains the Hillfighter quality and loses its existing quality. While the enchantment persists the general can issue the order Hit and Run defending order. detailed in the Guerilla quality, but only while fighting in a territory where their side controls a region with the hills quality.

As long as the enchantment remains the participating general experiences a powerful roleplaying effect:

This ritual enchants a campaign army, granting the soldiers a supernatural understanding of and ability to move through hills and similar rugged terrain. The army loses any existing quality and gains the Relentless quality for the duration. For the duration the general can issue the order cut them down when attacking.

While the enchantment persists, the general responsible for the army experiences a roleplaying effect: you become suspicious of anyone moving in your peripheral vision, and feel an urge to ensure you always have a clear view of the exits from your location.

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 green iron for crystal mana when contributing to it. Every 2 ingots of green iron spent counts as 1 crystal mana when contributing to the ritual.

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 Horizen, 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 Swords in the Noonday Sun, Good Green Oak, Hook of the Hoarfrost Guardian, and two rituals that had already become part of Imperial lore - Find the Best Path and Hammers of the Brilliant Shore.

Flavour Text

There are few things more disheartening than facing an enemy army that has superior command of the terrain over which the campaign is fought. The Thule were like ghosts – they would vanish in one area and appear in another hours later. They fired arrows at us across impassable chasms; they confounded our catapults with the spurs of the mountains; they sabotaged and hid the passes. We spilled so much blood trying to push northwards it stained the rivers red.

All that changed when the Varushkans appeared. The Northern Eagle banner came up with the sun, and they fell on the Thule like the judgement of the heavens. They had a counter to every tactic and perhaps most importantly they had heavy woolen blankets. To this day, I have never forgotten the first night I spent in the warm embrace of a … but I digress. They were prepared, is what I am trying to say, and their preparations and training and simple awareness of the hills and the slopes of the mountains saved lives. Mine included.

When I became Dean, I remembered my experiences fighting the Thule and decided to find a way to impart understanding of the terrain to the armies of the Empire. It was quite tricky – we discussed the possibility of using Day magic, but in the end we looked for inspiration to the way Bound by Common Cause allowed disparate military bands to unconsciously allow for each other's foibles and movements. The enchantment binds the army together with a greater awareness of each other, true, but it doesn't stop there. It serendipitously assists every preparation made, helps to make every little task a little bit easier – from repairing a bridge to pitching tents in the teeth of a blizzard. It even draws a little on the cold hearts of Autumn Eternals, helping even the most clueless city-dweller of the League endure the cold and exposure of high altitude.

While our people build our Spires in the peaks of Urizen, we prefer to stay in them – we cannot match the hardiness of the Varushkan or the Steinr, but this enchantment goes some way towards making the experience of high-altitude fighting a little more tolerable.

The magnitude, unfortunately, is punishing. Still, when a campaig is close it can make the difference between victory or defeat for an army so … the price is not so high.

Common Elements

I recommend breaking the Mountain, and evoke the Tulpa of the Oak, when I weave this ritual. My good friend Lysander of Mennonspire composed a marching song with a hand-drum accompaniment that uses the music of the spheres in some incomprehensible way to weave the magic through an entire marching army, to good effect.