Vulcan's Forge

The Roman God Vulcan (Greek, Hephaestus) had forges beneath Vesuvius and Vulcano, and possibly other volcanoes too. Many volcanoes thus contain faerie regiones that led to Vulcan's court. Of course, whether the Vulcan presiding over this hot and sooty realm is the real Vulcan, or merely a faerie portraying the role, is unclear. Stories that might arise from Vulcan's Forge include:

The Competition: An emissary from Vulcan arrives at the covenant and delivers a challenge. Vulcan claims that the volcano is his forge and will not allow the magi to remain unless they beat him in a series of competitions. The competitions include:

• • Forging the strongest sword.
• • Creating the sharpest edged blade.
• • Smelting the largest amount of iron from ore in one day.
• • Manufacturing the most beautiful and delicate copper tiara.

The competition will be judged by Vulcan's wife Venus (Aphrodite). If the magi refuse to participate then Vulcan will cause the volcano to erupt. On the other hand, as long as the magi perform credibly Vulcan will let them stay, even if they do not actually win the competition.

Forge Companion: Vulcan offers to train a character in the art of metalworking (or the magi request this). The character lives for several years in Vulcan's court and gains an Affinity Virtue with either Craft: Metalwork, Rego, Ignem, or something similar. The years spent in the faerie court are also spent learning Abilities or Arts from Vulcan, working at his forge, or adventuring in the faerie court.

Smith for Hire: Vulcan can make highly complex devices and can find exotic materials. He is willing to work for the magi, but they need to pay him with presents for his wife Venus. Items created by Vulcan are especially useful for magi, as when he uses his forge he automatically prepares the item for enchantment (see ArM5, page 97). This means that the magi can invest items that are large or made of exotic components, even if they lack the required Magic Theory to prepare the item for enchantment themselves. Items forged by Vulcan are also very cost-effective as invested items — depending, of course, upon what Venus' present costs the magi.

Outside Influence: If it becomes known that the covenant is in contact with Vulcan's court, then representatives of House Merinita and House Verditius are likely to both be very interested. The covenant can expect to be visited by many magi of these Houses, which could lead to competition over local resources, the establishment of a House Verditiusdominated chapterhouse on the very doorstep of a covenant, and legal wrangling at Tribunal over whether anyone is "molesting the faeries" of Vulcan's court. At the very least, many visitors are likely to distract the magi from their own work.

hundred people.

The effect is based on the Rego Corpus guidelines, applied by analogy to the Aquam Form. Note that the water is only transported a distance of seven leagues, so for this to be effective the well must be located with seven leagues of the water source. A version of this effect, using the guideline one magnitude higher, would enable the water to be transported any distance.

(Base 30, +4 Arcane; +3 environmental trigger, +1 2 uses per day)

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (108), Two Seasons (81), Three Seasons (72), Four Seasons (68).

Cleanse the Undine's Tears

PeAq 24

Pen: +0, 2 uses per day

R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Individual

This effect eliminates the salt in the water in the well. This effect is triggered by the Fill the Well power, and is activated one round later.

Note that the salinity of the water will not return once it has been removed. This is because salt is not part of the essential nature of water.

(Base 15, +1 Touch; +3 linked trigger, +1 2 uses per day)

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (48), Two Seasons (36), Three Seasons (32), Four Seasons (30).