Cardea, Mistress of the Hinge (Might 10)
A minor deity worshipped by the Romans who had purview over hinges. Yes, just hinges. Rome had, in fact, a trinity of doorway deities – Cardea, Limentinus, and Forculus. St. Augustine once famously mocked the ‘petty gods’ of the pagans of Rome, saying that “Man needs only one guardian to watch the threshold of a house, while the gods need three. Evidently Forculus can’t watch the hinge and the threshold at the same time…”
In reality these spirits are liminal beings, associated with the boundaries between places. In particular they held the function of being called on to delineate the boundaries of sacred spaces – to separate and draw division between places that were touched by the gods and the merely mundane. This was an important role in Roman religion and was shared with more substantial gods like Terminus and Janus.
Cardea is the spirit of closing the open and opening the closed. At once the lock and the key, the watchman and the thief. She is invoked to aid in overcoming barriers, but also to aid in constructing traps and protections.
She appears as an auburn-haired woman dressed in Roman style. She has two faces. One looks left and is wry and cheerful. The other looks right and is grim and determined.
Characteristics: Int +5, Per +9, Pre -3, Com 0, Str 0, Sta 0, Dex +6, Quik +8
Personality Traits: Enjoys Puzzles +6, Determined +6
Size: 0
Combat: Brawl: Init +1, Attack +6, Defense +6, Damage 0
Soak: 0
Wound Penalties: –1 (1-5), –3 (6-10), –5 (11-20), Banished (21-25)
Abilities: Craft: Locksmith 16, Legerdemain 16, Intrigue 12
Powers:
The First Key, variable points (Init 8)
Cardea can replicate any non-ritual effect relating to bypassing locks at a cost of 1 might per magnitude.
The Second Key, 10 points (Init 8)
Cardea can suppress any magical effect equivalent to no more than 40 hermetic spell levels for up to Sun duration.
The Third Key, 6 points (Init -2)
Cardea can create a new entrance through a magical regio boundary within sight.
The Fourth Key, 10 points (Init 8)
Given an arcane connection to a place Cardea can bridge the gap between here and there. For the duration, which can be up to sun, a mundane portal (a door or window) opens from the place this power was used to a mundane portal at the destination. People, animals, and objects can pass back and forth as if both places were next to each other.
The First Lock, variable points (Init 8)
Cardea can replicate any non-ritual effect relating to securing locks at a cost of 1 might per magnitude.
The Second Lock, 10 points (Init -2)
Cardea can create a watching ward with a level of 60. The theurgist must prepare the spells to be placed in the ward, Cardea only provides the ward ritual itself. This can contain 60 spell levels. She can also cast a room version which can contain 50 levels, a structure version which can contain 40 spell levels, or a boundary version which can contain 30 levels. The latter two cannot currently be replicated by hermetic magic.
The Third Lock, 6 points (Init 8)
This power destroys a regio entrance to a magic regio within sight. Note that the boundary is not harmed, this effect must target a specific method of entry. For example if a regio can be entered by a secret path through the woods that path would cease to exist. The regio can still be accessed by other means.
The Fourth Lock, 10 points (Init -2)
This ritual power utterly destroys a boundary in the magic realm, so long as that boundary is no more than strength 7. If the strength is greater the boundary score is permanently reduced by 7 instead.