Pillars of Adamant

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.

During the ritual the casters must be in a strong Summer regio. This ritual targets a territory, and must be performed at a regio in that territory. If the ritual is used to target an Imperial territory, it may instead be performed at the Imperial regio at Anvil.

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

Effects

Damage dealt to bastions in the territory this season will be reduced by a fifth. This effect will not stack with Rivers of Life or similar effects - the target would gain whichever effect provided the most benefit.

Buildings constructed with mithril or white granite, including sinecures, great works, and similar, are less likely to be damaged by territory-level curses and become harder to destroy. Opponents could still destroy a building with a concerted effort to target it, but they won't be destroyed by a general rampage.

The effects of the ritual are obvious to anyone living in or passing through the territory. As with any effect that targets an entire territory, there may be unanticipated consequences to this ritual. The nature of the area and the current situation there may prompt additional unpredictable effects, often resulting in an entry into the following season's Winds of Fortune.

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

Option

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.

Description

This ritual became part of Urizen lore following the Spring Equinox 388YE. It was submitted via the Gift of Knowledge by Xenia of Urizen. The ritual was codified by the spires of Urizen under the guidance of Ioseph, the Doyen of the Spires. It was based on an original piece by Ioseph, a well-respected magician and former Minister of Historical Research. The magicians of Urizen were assisted in their work by enthusiastic koboldi from the realm of the King under the Mountain who had encountered the original enchantment in Redoubt and prevailed upon their liege for permission to offer their aid.

This ritual invokes the Summer resonance of adamant. Pure adamant, which can only exist in the Summer realm, is utterly indestructible. It does not age and cannot be marred by any means. Even dragonfire does not diminish true adamant. Only a shadow of this miraculous mineral can exist in the mortal world, and it is invariably created through the auspices of one of the Kings and Queens of Summer. The eternal who shares a common name with the stone - the King Under the Mountain also known as Adamant - is the most eager proponent of its use. Several Imperial fortifications, including the Gate in Semmerholm, are infused with the strength of this miraculous material.

The ritual bears some similarities to Stalwart Stand on Solid Ground, which ensures the bastion of a fortification will not fall unless the structure itself is utterly reduced to rubble - a time-intensive and difficult endeavour with even the smallest fortification. Unlike Stalwart Stand, the Pillars of Adamant enchantment infuses every structure predominantly built with white granite or mithril in a single territory. It will protect sinecures, great works, ministries, and edifices as well as bastions.

Such structures can still be destroyed or damaged, but it requires a significant focus on behalf of attacking armies to do so. Even then, such assaults are likely to take longer and require substantially more effort than tossing a lit torch in through a door. There is speculation that attempting to overcome the protection created with this ritual is exactly the kind of thing that would attract the "attention" of the Sentinel Gate.

A humorous aside suggested that the magic ought to protect Imperial armies given they are "made" of mithril. Obviously, the enchantment does not grant additional strength to armies, but the comment was quite droll.

Aid of the Koboldi

The koboldi of the Strone Dragon offered material aid to the Urizen magicians in codifying this ritual. Normally resident at the Crucible of Fate, the tiny heralds encountered the ritual when it was cast on Redoubt in Winter 386YE. A contingent of the creatures made a pilgrimage south to the storm-tossed coastal territory to observe the enchantment in action and reportedly were very excited by its effects. Their aid was accepted, and they provided multiple boons - replacing the need to create a new arcane projection, for example. Their expertise greatly sped the process of codifying the enchantment, reducing what would normally have taken nine months to a mere two seasons.

More significantly, while working with some of the scholars of Summer magic in Zenith, their intimate knowledge of stone in particular suggested a way to refine the enchantment even further. Working with their foundational understanding, the Urizen were able to shave the magnitude of the ritual down to fifty, from an original sixty. The ritual now incorporates glimmers of magic inspired by the King Under the Mountain - but it does not directly draw on that eternals power and remains a work of pure mortal magic.

The koboldi were even more excited by this development. If it is easier for mortal magicians to cast, they will perform it more often, and more lovely stone and metal structures will survive invasions unscathed!

On a side note, the metallic spiders that serve in the heliopticon towers on behalf of the Sovereign Lord of the City of Bridges, by all accounts, did not appreciate the influx of Summer heralds. Not due to any particular enmity but simply because they found their endless enthusiasm to be remarkably tiring.

Common Elements

As with many enchantments that deal with fortifications or enchant an entire territory, this works well with a map or a representation of the buildings in the lands it will protect. Shields and armour resonate well with the performance, as do other defensive items or magic that repairs broken things.

The Captain and the Bishop in dramaturgy both work well in performances of Pillars of Adamant, as does the runes of Strength and of Victory. The Mountain and the Oak both resonate with the ritual, representing difficulty for invaders and endurance or resistance for the structures protected by the enchantment.

King Adamant is clearly resonant with the ritual, but the Queen of Ice and Darkness might be called on by goetic magicians who wish to avoid the Stone Dragon for some reason.