The Necromancer's Grimoire

Another example of an invested device combines all the necessary enchantments into a single item. At first glance, a Necromancer's Grimoire looks like any other large tome in a Hermetic library, big and heavy and filled with pages of parchment. Closer inspection reveals a more gruesome construction. The front cover is fashioned from a human skull and decorated with an amber gem and a turquoise stone, two reputedly sinister gemstones popular with necromancers.

Human skulls are not hard to find for Hermetic magi, even those who live in the center of society, surrounded by opulence and grandeur. The two main sources for skulls are cemeteries and battlefields. Finding a fresh battleground could be a challenge or trivial, depending on where the magus lives and how close he is to marcher lands or other violently disputed areas. Most human settlements have cemeteries, on the other hand, and a magus might not even have to leave his covenant to mine the soil for skulls. However, it might be a better idea to raid a cemetery a few villages away, since the deceased's relatives will certainly mind if their loved one's skull is exhumed from its eternal rest. The cover's gems can be acquired from a reputable jeweler, although the turquoise stone is rarer than the amber gem. Turquoise stones are more common in the East than in the West.

The Necromancer's Grimoire is first prepared as a compound item, as explained in ArM5, page 97. Each of the three components must be enchanted to grant the associated shape and material bonuses to the magus' Lab Total. The front cover requires 9 pawns of vis to be prepared for enchantment (human bone [3] x medium size [3]). A magus must expend 12 pawns of vis to open the amber gem for enchantment (semi-precious stone [12] x tiny size [1]), and the same number of pawns for the turquoise stone (semi-precious stone [12] x tiny size [1]). Like any compound invested device, the magus must then decide to prepare the invested device using either the sum of the component parts (33 pawns of vis) or the highest required single component (12 pawns). In this case, merely preparing the device with 12 pawns of vis doesn't allow enough room for the necessary enchantments, which require 27 pawns of vis to instill.

Preparing this compound invested device for enchantment is truly a feat, especially considering that, in a single season, a magus can only use a number of pawns of vis equal to his Magic Theory times two.

Once the physical book is constructed and its component items are prepared for enchantments, the magus instills the following spell-like powers.

The Turquoise Stone-Soul

ReMe 63

Pen: 52, Constant Effect

R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Room

The book is instilled with Imprison a Ghost in a Vessel, which captures the ghost inside the turquoise gem that adorns its cover. The book must be placed face down, so that the turquoise gem can touch the floor.

(Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +2 Room; +1 frequency, +3 environmental trigger, +3 linked trigger, +26 penetration)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (126), 2 seasons (95), 3 seasons (84), 4 seasons (79)

This effect costs 7 pawns of vis.

Detect the Presence of the Specter

InVi 60

Pen: 52, 2 uses per day

R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Room

This is the same linked trigger used previously. A specific ghost must be selected as the target of this effect.

(Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +2 Room; +3 environmental trigger, +26 penetration)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (120), 2 seasons (90), 3 seasons (80), 4 seasons (75)

This effect costs 6 pawns of vis.

Rousing the Receiving Fleshy Host

ReCo(Me) 42

Pen: 10, Constant effect

This instilled effect casts Animate the Slumbering Corpse. The book must be touching the corpse. The effect needs Penetration because the target is not a regular corpse, but a revenant with a Magic Might of 9 (see "A Necromantic Miscellany," later). Although the revenant is already animated, moving under the control of its own animating spirit, this effect will override the revenant's animating spirit and place the bound ghost in charge. The effect's default command is, "Stand up."

(Base 10, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Mentem requisite; +1 frequency, +3 environmental trigger, +3 linking trigger, +5 penetration)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (84), 2 seasons (63), 3 seasons (56), 4 seasons (53) This effect costs 5 pawns of vis.

Grant Control to the Ghost

MuVi 59

Pen: +30, 1/day

R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind

The spell-like effect, Passing the Reigns of Corpus, is instilled to allow the ghost to control the Rousing the Receiving Fleshy Host spell-like effect.

(Base effect 25 (to affect a level 30 Corpus effect), +1 Touch, +3 linked trigger, +26 Penetration 52)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (118), 2 seasons (89), 3 seasons (79), 4 seasons (74) This effect costs 6 pawns of vis.

Perceive the Presence of Magic

InVi 24

Pen: 0, Constant effect

R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Room

This is the same linked trigger described previously. The power The Turquoise Stone-Soul will activate this effect, which will in turn activate both Rousing the Receiving Fleshy Host and Grant Control to the Ghost.

(Base 3, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +2 Room; +1 frequency, +3 environmental trigger)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (48), 2 seasons (36), 3 seasons (32), 4 seasons (30)

This effect costs 3 pawns to instill. The total cost of all five spell-like effects is 27 pawns of vis.

After the book is enchanted, the necromancer creates a revenant using a ritual spell. He ties the book to the revenant and commands it to lie on the floor facedown, so that the book touches both it and the floor. He then summons a specific ghost. As soon as the ghost enters the chamber, the linking trigger Detect the Presence of the Specter detects the ghost and activates The Turquoise Soul-Stone, which imprisons the ghost in the turquoise gem. Perceive the Presence of Magic detects the activation of the effect The Turquoise Soul-Stone, and activates Rousing the Receiving Fleshy Host and Grant Control to the Ghost.

Once completed, the living corpse is a combination of the summoned ghost and the revenant. The living corpse's Magic Resistance is the ghost's. Both ghost and revenant have Magic Resistance prior to combining the two into a living corpse, but after the living corpse is created, the ghost's Magic Resistance supersedes the revenant's Magic Resistance. The ghost is bound in the Grimoire, so its Magic Resistance protects the book, just like a magus' Parma Magica protects his clothes and worn personal items. Because the revenant is wearing the book, it too is covered by the ghost's Magic Resistance. If the living corpse detaches the book, the revenant is