Location and Establishment

Whether a maga wants a private menagerie or a magical animal stud farm, the location of the final venture is important. Only the smallest, most personal menagerie will fit in her sanctum; if she has any ambition, she will need a larger space. The location of the wild animals is also important, since few magical beasts will be found within walking distance. She will need to visit many distant sites to find her four-legged, winged, or finned treasures, and have a notion as to where she wishes to keep them.

The first consideration is the Magic aura of the location. Few magi can adjust an aura, and while some Hermetic mystics claim this power, the safer bet is to find an aura powerful enough to serve as a location site. Besides the assistance in casting spells and creating enchanted items, a Magic aura will also provide the magical essences necessary for magical animals to live. A maga must carefully consider the Magic Might of the beasts she wishes to contain, for the more powerful they are, the higher the Magic aura will need to be to avoid Acclimation, the process by which magical creatures lose Might when deprived of a Magic aura (Realms of Power: Magic, page 52).

The second reason locations are important is because that is where the wild magical animals are. Often, the hunt for a magical beast will begin with the search for its habitat. Bestiaries can offer valuable insight about a creature's lair, and while this isn't always specific, it will narrow the field. The indication that the "boa is an Italian snake" aims a search at the Roman Tribunal, and knowing that a manticore is a beast "born in the Indies" means searching outside of the geography of the Order of Hermes.

Powerful magic auras are hotly contested by magi in most Tribunals, and only in the more rustic tribunals — Hibernia, Novgorod, and perhaps Transyl-

Surveying the Lands for Magic

vania — might one expect an excess of unclaimed auras and regiones. But this expectation could easily prove false, and it is up to your troupe to decide how available a powerful magic site is in any given area. Pockets of them might exist under the very nose of the Order, located in hidden valleys and winding streams of the Rhine and Normandy tribunals. Weak magic auras are fairly common throughout Mythic Europe, and depending on the ambition of the maga and the scope of the project, a weak aura may prove sufficient to the task.

InVi 20 Pen: 0, 1/day R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Vision

Instilled in a small rock crystal (+5 shape and material bonus to Lab Total), this effect grants the holder the ability to detect magical auras through his vision. Similar devices must be constructed to detect other types of auras (i.e., Divine, Infernal, and Faerie). Any seen location with a magic aura will appear as if covered by a shimmering violet veil.

(Base 1, + 1 Touch, +2 Sun, +4 Vision) Required Lab Total: 1 season (40), 2 seasons (30), 3 seasons (27), 4 seasons (25)