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Technique and Form: MuVi
Level: Gen
Range: Touch
Duration: Year
Target: Structure
Ritual? Yes
Req: None
This spell is used by covenants with dependences. A dependence (monastic term that means a possession of a monastery far away from the monastery's core) is a magus' sanctum that is not physically linked to the rest of the covenant. The motivation for keeping a dependence may be because the magus' experiments are too dangerous for the rest of the covenant, or he may prefer to have the sanctum in a location useful for his magical studies. (an Auram magus might choose to be in a castle on the windy top of a mountain, with the rest of the covenant being in the valley below).
As dependences will not be protected by a normal Aegis of the Hearth, this spell seeks to solves this problem. To use it one must use an object that was part of the covenant (for example, a stone from the wall, a statue, or a tree from its gardens). The object must be prepared for use in the casting of the Aegis of the Hearth. The object will be usable in successive castings of the Aegis without be prepared again, provided that the Aegis ritual is cast by the same person or people, with the same level, and is participated in by the same magically-Gifted people.
The object must be implanted in the dependence, performing the same function it performed in the original covenant (the stone must be inside a wall, the statue or the tree must be placed in a similar place) in order to be a valid arcane connection.
The ritual Projecting the Aegis of the Hearth may then be cast. Provided it is cast successfully, the Aegis of the home covenant is projected through the arcane connection and protects the dependence. While the Aegis of the Hearth ritual must normally be performed by all the magi of the covenant, the Projecting the Aegis of the Hearth need only be performed only by the magus (or magi) inhabiting the dependence. The maximum level of protection given by Projecting the Aegis of the Hearth is either the level of the covenant's Aegis or twice the level of the Projecting the Aegis of the Hearth ritual, being equal to the level of the lesser of the two.
If the caster of the Projecting the Aegis of the Hearth ritual participated in the Aegis of the Hearth ritual, he does not need to penetrate the Aegis' resistance, otherwise the Projecting the Aegis of the Hearth's penetration must overcome the level of the Aegis.
If the arcane connection is destroyed (the statue or the stone are destroyed or the tree dies) or it ceases to perform the function it performed in the original covenant (the stone is extracted from the wall, the statue is taken out of the dependence or the tree is uprooted) the link is broken and the dependence is unprotected.
This system presents some dangers, for the arcane connection can be used to avoid the original covenant's Aegis. A dependence normally is less secure than a covenant, so the dependence might be a crack in the covenant's protection. Thus a dependence should not be set up for frivolous reasons. A common trick used by builders of dependences is to conceal the arcane connection or to use a fragile object so that the connection can be destroyed easily to protect the home covenant if the dependence is taken by force.
If the home covenant's Aegis is dispelled, the Projecting the Aegis of the Hearth ritual is also nullified. The annual renewal of the Aegis (if performed by the same people, with the same level and the same Gifted people participating) does not affect the Projecting the Aegis of the Hearth, which will remain active until duration expires (though it may also be renewed).
Level Calculation: This spell, like the Aegis of the Hearth, does not fit in standard Hermetic theory. It was developed from the same rituals that allowed Notatus of Bonisagus to develop the Aegis of the Hearth. This origin explains why it is more powerful than it ought to be.
Text copyright © Gabriel Pallarés Ramón 2005.