Designing Tombs and Mortuaries

This section presents a method for designing ancient tombs using Boons, Hooks, and Build Points as if it were a covenant. It is not necessary to determine the statistics for a tomb unless it is going to be an ongoing part of a saga, although the following sections may still be useful for planning expeditions into the tombs of the ancient dead.

Tombs are typically marked with an ancient monument, pyramids being very popular in certain eras of both Egyptian and Nubian history. However, pyramids are not the only form of monument; the emperors of Kush built rock-cut tombs into mountainsides (such as Dju Wa'ab), their successors built massive grave mounds, and Christian kings had impressive marble palaces built in their honor. The sites are often further enhanced by statues, temples, columns, and other monuments.

These ancient monuments form preternatural tethers that cause the formation of a Magic aura (Realms of Power: Magic, pages 8–10). For every century that a grave site (which could be a series of pyramids, or a number of individual tombs) was in use, it generates a tether score of 1, up to a maximum of 5. The Magic aura is equal to the tether score, but auras can be higher than the preternatural tether score through impressive natural features. The Magic aura is often lower than the tether score might suggest if the monuments have decayed substantially

Each tomb can have up to 10 points of Hooks, which can be used to purchase Boons.

• Tomb of a major monarch: base Magic aura of 5, and 500 build points
• Tomb of a royal consort or minor monarch: base Magic aura of 4, and 250 build points
• Tomb of a lesser royal or high priest: base Magic aura of 3, and 100 build points
• Tomb of a non-royal dignitary: base Magic aura of 3, and 50 build points

Tombs may have the following resources. Unless stated otherwise, the costs can be found in Chapter 6 of Ars Magica Fifth Edition.

Curses

Curses are a special variety of enchantment created by lector priests. Most tombs have at least one curse, and some may have many multi-clause maledictions that promise a number of horrible fates to anyone who defiles the tomb. These were created using magical craftwork described in Chapter 5.

A curse's excoriation should be described as a Hermetic enchantment within the following guidelines. Most curses are Range: Touch and Target: Room. Each curse is triggered when the condition is broken. The condition can describe situations that could not normally be triggers of effects in Hermetic devices without further magic; for example, the trigger could require the target to be ritually pure, but the enchantment need not have an effect that determines purity. An excoriation is also triggered if someone tries to destroy the text of the curse. Once a curse has been triggered a number of times equal to its uses per day, the text can be safely destroyed to prevent anyone else from being affected. Most curses are designed with just one use per day. Excoriations may be designed with Penetration Totals in the usual manner for enchantments, but this is rare — these were intended to protect against mundane rather than magical intruders.

Some excoriations cannot be duplicated with Hermetic Magic, and these should instead be treated as the Greater or Lesser Malediction Flaw. Curses of this variety have a Special Duration (which adds no magnitudes to the level):

Several methods were used to keep people away from tombs.

Nothing But Sky and Sand

Pen 0, constant effect Muto Imaginem 39 R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Str

The structure targeted by this effect appears to be a sand-dune in all respects. This ward has an Ease Factor of 17 to avoid; for example, to spot an anomalous shadow, or calculate the precise position of the stars that will reveal the temple.

(Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +3 Structure; +3 environmental trigger, +1 2/day)

Turn the Interloper

Pen 0, unlimited/day Rego Corpus 30

Anyone triggering this effect is spun 180 degrees so that she faces in the opposite direction. This effect is usually triggered whenever someone tries to pass through a doorway. This ward has an Ease Factor of 15 to avoid; for example, a character might try to brace himself to avoid being turned around.

(Base 10, +2 Voice; +10 unlimited uses per day)