Harmonic Metamorphosis of the Beast

Cr(Mu)An 35 R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind, Ritual This spell can only be successfully cast by those with the Hermetic Metamorphosis Virtue. It requires the immobilized body of the recipient animal, and the donor organ. If the donor derives from another animal, it too must be immobilized. During the casting of the spell, the caster removes the organ from the donor and grafts it to the recipient. The spell resizes the organ (if necessary) and joins up the blood supply and internal organs. The type of organs that can be transplanted are functional units of the animal — its head, pair of hind legs, tail, pair of hands, heart, and so forth.

A replacement organ involves the removal of the recipient's organ and putting the donor organ in its place. If the caster wishes he may take the recipient's original organ and put it in the space left on the donor, but this requires two surgical rolls (see below), one for each animal.

A transposed organ involves the recipient gaining an organ without removing something first; for example, giving it a pair of wings or a second head. The donor animal (if any) dies as a result of this type of surgery.

Magical surgery of this type can be purely anatomical, or else confer a Virtue from the donor to the recipient. An anatomical change can grant the recipient a new ability (such as flight) or a Quality (see Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, pages 40–43). A Virtue can be any General Virtue that derives from the body of the animal; such as Keen Vision, Long-Winded, or Tough. A donor who loses a Virtue due to this spell receives the Enfeebled Flaw if it survives the surgery.

The ritual surgery performed as part of the magical actions of casting this spell needs to be performed accurately to ensure the success of the spell. This requires a Dexterity + Chirurgy roll against an Ease Factor of 9. If the organ is transposed rather than replaced, the Ease Factor has a +3 modifier. If the surgery grants a Virtue rather than an anatomical change, the Ease Factor has an additional +3 modifier. If the surgery roll fails then the animal dies soon after the casting of the spell. If the surgery roll botches, then the spell creates some dreadful monster instead.

Example: Marcus wishes to swap the head of a lion and an eagle in his first step to creating a griffin. Eagles have the Keen Vision Virtue, so this is more than simple anatomical surgery. To successfully implant the eagle's head on the lion's body, his surgery roll has an Ease Factor of 12. He needs only a 9 to successfully implant the lion's head on the eagle's body, but the lion-headed eagle that results suffers from the Enfeebled Flaw. The spell compensates for the vast difference in size between the two heads.

(base 25, +1 Touch, +1 Muto requisite)

cation, if any. In general the animal grows larger (although does not usually gain a point of Size), its hair grows longer and any horns, teeth and claws available as weapons become more vicious. The animal often loses its domestic coloration, becoming plain brown or brindled grey. Note that in Mythic Europe dogs are not domesticated wolves, and cows were not bred from the primeval aurochs — animals were created in the state in which they are found. Yet all are familiar with the process of a beast becoming feral if abandoned by man, and that is what this spell does. Marcus did not gain any breakthrough from this spell.

(base 4, +1 Touch, +3 Moon)

MuAn 35

R: Touch, D: Moon, T: Pair, Ritual

During the casting of this ritual spell, the caster removes the heads of two animals and reattaches them on each other's bodies. The surgery causes no damage as long as the spell is cast correctly. With a Corpus casting requisite one of the targets can be a human, but at least one must be an animal. At the end of the duration, the caster can restore the heads to their owners if both are present, but if either target is absent then both die.

Like Spirit of the Bull of Minos, this spell is the result of an insight into the ancient magics of the Minoan priests. The atypical Target of Pair is part of the non-Hermetic specification of this spell, and is treated as Target Group for the purposes of spell calculation. A Hermetic variant would use Target Part, but only affect a single creature.

(base 5, +1 Touch, +3 Moon, +2 Pair)

Icarus' Folly

MuAn 40

R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind

The targeted animal is given a pair of wings. It does not immediately know how to fly, but just like a fledging bird it succeeds after the first few attempts. Unfortunately, a flaw introduced in the experimental process makes the duration of this spell unreliable; at the end of every hour of the duration, roll a simple die. If the result is equal or lower than the number of hours that have passed, the spell's duration ends prematurely. After the precipitous death of the first few test subjects, Marcus named the spell after the legendary inventor of wings who himself plummeted to death after flying too close to the sun. As if in compensation for the flawed spell, the second season of invention resulted in a breakthrough.

(base 25, +1 Touch, +2 Sun)

A Limb Bereft

Cr(Re)Co 30

R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Part

Creates a human leg that is animated and able to move by hopping. Through a quirk in the experimentation process, the leg has an inclination to kick anything it comes near; while there is little danger of serious damage, it is a grisly distraction. If its chosen target decides not to attack the limb directly, he takes a –3 penalty to all rolls and 2 extra botch dice.

Marcus was intrigued to discover that human limbs cannot be created as animate (unlike animal organs) and required a Rego requisite to provide motion. This spell did not provide him with any breakthrough, however.

(base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Part, +1 Rego requisite)

Eyes from the Wizard Torn

Mu(In, Re)Co(Im) 15 R: Per, D: Conc, T: Part

This macabre variation on Image from the Wizard Torn and Prying Eyes actually removes the caster's eyes and has them fly to the location of interest where they transmit the information that they see. At the end of the spell, the caster's eyes are restored to their proper place. This spell did not result in a breakthrough, although Marcus has found it useful. The Rego requisite is required to allow the eyes to fly, but does not incur additional magnitudes.

(base 3, +1 Conc, +1 Part, +1 Intellego requisite, +1 Imaginem requisite)

MuCo(An) 20

R: Touch, D: Year, T: Ind, Ritual

During the casting of this ritual spell, the target's heart is cut out and replaced with the heart of a bull. The surgery causes no damage as long as the spell is cast correctly, and it grants the target the Reserves of Strength Virtue throughout the duration of the spell. At the end of the year, the caster can replace the original heart of the target with no ill effects if it has been preserved sufficiently well. If this is not done, the target dies.

This spell results from an Insight (see Ancient Magic, pages 8–9) Marcus received after investigating the catacombs under the ruined palace of Knossos. There he found ritual objects belonging to the Minoan Cult of the Bull who practiced a magic similar to that he was trying to achieve. His ability to read the memories of a sacrificial knife (thanks to the third station of the Path of Seeming, see Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, pages 64–65) gave him the requisite insight to allow him to invent this non-standard spell. He has created an enchanted item called a Canopic Jar to preserve the heart of his experimental subjects (see Enchantments, below).

(base 2, +1 Touch, +4 Year; level 20 due to ritual effect)

Kiss of the Enigma

CrVi 15

R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

The target acquires two Warping Points, and, if a Hermetic magus, must check to see whether he enters Twilight in the normal way. Marcus invented this spell primarily to use on caged animals, to see if he could induce monstrous characteristics by infusing their bodies with pure magical energies, but the results were disappointingly random. He had to invent this spell three times before it yielded a breakthrough. The two prior versions both had Side Effects due to experimentation: the first spell changed the color of the target's hair, while the other made the target's skin transparent.

(base 10, +1 Touch)