Integrating Fertility Magic into Hermetic Theory

A magus may gain Insight into fertility magic by studying an ancient fetish figurine, or a cave painting (see Cave Painting Galleries, below). Additional Insights may be gained, as required, by studying other relics, but a fetish figurine that has been destroyed to extract its vis may not be studied for Insight.

Once the magus has an Insight Lab Text he can begin the process of integration with Hermetic theory, by inventing an effect that deals with birth, pregnancy, or the fertility of women, thereby gaining breakthrough points, as described in the Introduction. Possible Hermetic effects that might be usefully invented include an Intellego Corpus effect that reveals a pregnancy (InCo, base 4) or a Creo Corpus effect that restores a woman's body to her pre-pregnant state (CrCo, base 20). With the storyguide's approval, a non-Hermetic effect, chosen from those below, that utilizes the Range Unborn Child, may be invented during this integration process. However, the Fertility Ritual itself may not be attempted until the appropriate Breakthrough has been achieved.

There are two breakthroughs in fertility magic. The first allows the magus to learn the Arcane Ability Fertility Lore; this is comparatively simple and requires only 15 breakthrough points. The second grants the magus the Minor Hermetic Virtue Fertility Ritual Magic, and is more complex, requiring 35 breakthrough points. There is no need to achieve both breakthroughs, although the Fertility Lore Ability is useful in developing Fertility Rituals.

Characters exploring cave systems may find fetishes made by ancient fertility cult practitioners. Such a discovery is the most likely method by which a character can learn of the ancient fertility cult. The exact shapes and forms of the fetishes vary considerably — some are carved from animal bone or antlers, others from stone or wood — but all represent a female figure, usually faceless, and are about the size of a fist. Each fetish figurine contains one pawn of Creo vis, but extracting the vis destroys the fetish.

Cave paintings (see Cave Painting Galleries, below) are also sources of information about the fertility cult.

This Ability covers the knowledge of fertility, and can be used to determine fertility and blood relationships between characters. The Arcane Ability Fertility Lore is not a supernatural ability, and the determinations are made via a simple visual inspection, which takes about five minutes to perform. If the character wishes to make the inspection surreptitiously, increase the Ease Factors listed here by 3. Note that as the inspections are purely visual, the character cannot make any determinations about an unborn child using this Ability alone.

A roll of Perception + Fertility Lore against an Ease Factor of 3 indicates whether a character is pregnant and what the natural due date is, to within 10% of •

The Minor Hermetic Virtue Fertility Ritual Magic allows a magus access to a new Target Unborn Child. This Target is equivalent to Individual for the purposes of calculating a spell level, and it may be used to make an unborn child, from the moment of conception until birth, the target of a spell. The magus must be able to sense the mother to target the unborn child, and the mother's Magic Resistance (if any) protects her unborn child.

the remaining time. So, the less time until the birth, the more accurate the estimate, although if magic has altered the length of the pregnancy the estimate may be erroneous.

• A roll of Perception + Fertility Lore against an Ease Factor of 3 determines whether two characters are related or not. The Ease Factor is increased by 1 for each generation of separation between the characters, and modified by a further +3 if the character wants to determine the exact relationship. For example, to identify that two siblings are related the Ease Factor is 3, and to identify a character's grandparent the Ease Factor is 8 (3, + 2 two generations apart, + 3 exact relationship). •
• A roll of Perception + Fertility Lore against an Ease Factor of 12 reveals whether a character (male or female) is fertile; remember that characters who use a Longevity Ritual are not fertile. •

Books may be written about the Arcane Ability Fertility Lore and it may be studied, practiced, and taught like any other Ability.

An unborn child, carried in the womb, is difficult for Hermetic magic to target as it is not quite a separate individual. Mainstream Hermetic magic can target a baby in the second trimester, and onwards until birth, as a Part of the mother, but targeting a Part of an Individual increases the magnitude of a spell (see ArM5, page 112). Thus, the Target Unborn Child allows a maga to effect an unborn baby with lower magnitude spells. In addition, mainstream Hermetic magic cannot usually discriminate at all between mother and child in the first trimester. This is a flaw in Hermetic theory, which is circumvented by the integration of fertility magic.

The magus with this Hermetic Virtue has access to the new Target Unborn Child, and can devise Fertility Rituals that are performed during conception to influence the traits that the child is born with.