Eyes of the Hills

Rules

This ritual is part of Urizen lore rather than Imperial lore.

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 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.

Effects

This ritual places an enchantment on the soldiers of a campaign army that allows them to make and execute strategic and tactical plans more effectively. The target campaign army gains a boost to its combat ability equivalent to 4,000 additional soldiers but only for purposes of calculating the economic benefits of any plunder, or similar, order - that is, the army does not inflict additional casualties or gain additional territory, but it does generate additional wealth. As with any enchantment on an army or navy, the additional army strength granted by this enchantment may be reduced by the orders issued by the general. While the effect is expressed as being equivalent to additional soldiers, this enchantment never reduces casualties suffered by the army.

As long as the enchantment persists, the general experiences the following roleplaying effect: you are acutely aware of any opportunity to take advantage of every situation that surrounds you, for your benefit or the benefit of allies. It feels easy to ignore any drawbacks or compromises that might be involved in seizing any opportunity for gain.

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 Horizon, 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.

Too many treatise on war speak of nothing but the deployment of soldiers and the disposition of armies as if these things were nought but pieces on a chessboard. As if war was the clash of steel and the spilling of blood and nothing more. Those who neglect the realities of war will find defeat awaits them. More wars are won by supplies than swords. It is logistics not tactics that determines the outcome of the battle, as often as not. A brilliant strategy may reveal a victory on the day, even while the outcome was won determined or years earlier by resources and supplies.

The Grendel opened my eyes to the truth that war is ultimately won not by killing the enemy but by seizing their enemy's wealth and resources. The first time I saw their wave riders attack our baggage trains, I thought them driven only by greed - cowards who had abandoned their fellow soldiers merely to enrich themselves. But in the weeks that followed, our forces were starved and hungry, while we watched their soldiers, camped on the other side of the Couros, feast and make merry. By the time we were finally joined in battle, the fight was already lost.

As Dean, I was committed to delivering victory to our armies on every front. The Eyes of the Hills was always contentious, many assumed the ritual was nothing more a way to enrich our generals and threw base accusations at me. But the Grendel showed me the truth, that the wealth we strip from our enemies can clothe and feed us instead of them. And if it does then victory will soon follow.

''Meditations'', Callus Strategos

A powerful enchantment of the Autumn realm, the Eyes of the Hills infuses soldiers with a degree of cunning and awareness that allows them to seize every opportunity for profit. While war is usually destructive, it invariably creates opportunities to seize the wealth of an enemy and tear it from them. But in the clash of steel, such opportunities all too often go unnoticed. The enchantment ensures that no chance to is missed, as those affected become alert to what is going on around them. The army becomes adept at lightning strikes designed to loot wagon trains, raid Bourse resources, or plunder mines and forests.

Autumn magic is ill-suited for use in war, if a general desires to improve their chances of defeating the enemy. The realm is well suited to enchantments that improve logistics, making armies move and resupply faster, but the realm is dissonant with destruction and that makes it impossible to use to create rituals that increase casualties or take territory.

However, prosperity and wealth is one of the strongest resonances of the realm and that does make it possible to enchant an army to aid them when foraging or looting. This ritual makes every soldier in the army alert to any opportunity to steal wealth or resources from their enemy while on campaign. Any army that can issue an order to plunder - or otherwise loot wealth while on campaign, can benefit from this enchantment.

Common Elements

As an enchantment that enhances a campaign army, the general of the target army serves as a vital focus for delivering the magic. A banner or standard that will be used by the target force as a focus for the ritual is an obvious component, as is the presence of soldiers who have fought beneath that banner in the recent past. Other elements include girding or crowning the military leader, the slow and steady beat of drums, and the use of symbols of Prosperity like cups or coins are common.

The Key has a strong resonance for this enchantment - "Things are revealed" reflects the way the magic imparts potency to scouts, observers, and pathfinders moving stealthily to observe enemy positions. Pallas, the rune of wealth, can always be employed when creating this enchantment which concerns itself so intimately with the value of things.