Enchanting a Live Egg · Magic

Rather than gamble on the whimsical process of breeding for the best, a magus might want to instill magical effects into an unborn magical creature while still in its egg. Success would mean that the creature will have additional powers beyond those native to its kind. Magi cannot instill powers in living magical mammals because they need to touch and manipulate the fetus during the season, which will usually terminate it or its mother. Eggs and their living occupants could be manipulated, however, without fear of destroying the subject. Such an operation would be a Minor Breakthrough, using the rules found in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages.

Once the breakthrough is achieved, the complicated process has several preliminary steps. First, the maga must sense the unborn creature before her magic can affect it. Intellego Animal spells allow sight through the shell. Secondly, the length of time spent enchanting must coincide with the length of incubation for the creature being instilled. A raven's egg hatches in just under four weeks, which means a severe penalty to the maga's Lab Total if she wishes to instill an effect in 1/3 the standard time. Reptiles remain in the shell longer; for example, a crocodile hatches in 90 days (1 season). Since the magus wants to enchant the baby, not the egg, he must make tiny incisions periodically throughout the process, using Muto and Rego Animal spells to briefly open the egg during certain procedures. Lastly, the Material and Size tables need to be consulted. The closest appropriate Material match is bone (3 base points) of Size: tiny (modifier x1), meaning that only effects of level 30 or lower may be instilled.

If the maga has the capacity to perform the necessary spells during the enchantment, and has a high enough Lab Total to instill the effect within the limited duration of incubation, she should succeed. The storyguide should roll on the Experimentation: Extraordinary Results chart (ArM5, page 109) because of this unorthodox procedure. If the magus augmented his Lab Total by experimenting, two rolls are warranted. If everything worked, the hatchling has an additional power over and above those commonly inherited, granting the creature a free Magical Quality. Determine the Might Point cost of the power by dividing the creature's Magic Might by the frequency determined while instilling the effect. For example, if the instilled effect has a frequency of 1 use per day, and the beast has a Magic Might of 10, the power costs 10 points of Might to activate. If the instilled effect has a frequency of 3 uses per day, it would cost the same animal 4 points of Might to use (10 divided by 3, rounded up).

The Lens of Avian Inspection

InIm 23

Pen: 30, Constant effect R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind

Instilled in a clear glass lens (+5 Shape & Material Bonus), this effect lets a viewer see through an egg's shell and view its interior. Using the same principle as the spell Prying Eyes, the lens allows the viewer to inspect the developing chick inside the egg. The lens must touch both the egg and the viewer at the same time.

(Effect: Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Sun; +1 frequency, +3 environmental trigger, +15 Penetration)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (46), 2 seasons (35), 3 seasons (31), 4 seasons (29)

substances to influence the outcome of breeding. Use the rules for ligatures found in Art & Academe (page 68). If the breeder is breeding supernatural animals, the player may substitute an appropriate Lore Ability for the Academic Ability. A successful ligature must be applied to the creature for the entire period of gestation to affect the creature's offspring.

The stress die roll to determine the offspring is modified by the following conditions, which usually pertain to the mother during gestation.

Condition	Modifier
Adequate diet	+1
Agreeable environment	+1
Appropriate Hermetic spell	+1/magnitude
Inadequate diet	–2
Ligature	+1 to +3
Unsatisfactory environment	–2

If breeding for the beast, in hopes of creating a new line, roll a stress die on the following chart, applying the same conditional modifiers to the die as when breeding for the best. The possibility of two different kinds of animals breeding is up to the troupe and, ultimately, the storyguide. No die roll will force the storyguide to decide that one kind of animal can successfully breed with another kind.

Roll B Botch	reeding for Beast Result Offspring dies days after birth
0	Offspring is weaker than male
	parent (reduce Stamina or
	increase the cost of one power)
1-12	Offspring resembles male parent
13	Offspring resembles female
	parent (if female, this beast will
	provide a +3 bonus to future
	crossbreeding rolls)

14 Offspring resembles male parent and has one Minor Virtue or Quality of the female parent
15+ Offspring resembles male parent and has one Major Virtue or Quality of the female parent

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