In the Normandy Tribunal book is the example of Anacreon ex Miscellanea, the Beggar King of Paris.
He enforces his rule with a ritual spell to make his enforcers very loyal.
How widespread in the Order would this Vis hungry spell be?
How can it be abused?
PS I may have reason to run Darius of Flambeau as a guest appearance soon, so I am trying to think of how to use the Enemies Flaw. If the enemy traded with Anacreon at some point....
I’m not sure why most wizards would cast this as a duration year ritual rather than a duration month non ritual. The risk of botch and the vis cost just seems like a ton of downsides. 7 pawns of vis would be more than the yearly amount of vis that a spring magus gets in a game I run.
Warping and convenience. Meeting everyone individually to renew the spell is likely to become a major distraction for a magi. If done once a moon, it means the renewal day, the spell has failed, which means the magi will deal with reactions to the gift with everyone at the covenant at the same time the artificial loyalty is gone. I suspect the main reason for instilling artificial loyalty is that you either don't want to bother earning / can't otherwise expect the loyalty of your covenfolk. Which means a possible rebellion once a month because the Mentem spell has failed. The way arround that is doing it every new and full moon. Going there, you're now at six days of distraction per season maintaining a single spell.
Alternatively, you can renew the effect on everyone at once, skip the lab distraction time, once a moon during the time you expect the spell to fail, and save the vis. But if you do that, you have to use Structure or group + size - the spell now warps everyone. It can't be designed for everyone in a changing staff, therefore for this single effect, every covenfolk gains 17 warping points per year. Do I need to explain why getting your entire staff to warping 6 in about as many years is a bad thing?
Most magi don't want 6 distraction days per season before stories hit to be able to act like jerks with their staff, and if they make the choice to be jerks anyway, it's better to spend vis once a year than deal with the stories of replacing your covenfolk every 5 years or having your entire staff have an armlong list of supernatural flaws.
Dankmar jumps to mind for that kind of thing, for starters.
Use the month duration to make a group loyal to someone else. Then don't renew it and watch them fall at the full moon...
Or use a Creo version to permanently instil loyalty...which then just needs to be reinforced with proper treatment.
If he can afford it, it is an efficient use of his time. Make it room and target a whole lot people for the same vis.
The item version (that does not even require penetration as discussed in our respective threads) require even less time, less ressources & lower warping.
Ring of Oath of Fealty CrMe24
T: Touch, D: Moon, T:Ind
Kiss the ring and be granted a Loyal +4 Personality Trait, with the object of this fanatical loyalty being the object's creator. Anacreon ex Miscellanea, the Beggar King of Paris asked his chambellan to have notable subject swear allegiance to him by kissing the ring
B: 4, Touch, Moon, Ind, +5 24 times a day
The momentary ritual to create a natural loyalty should work as it takes time to erode but erode it will as per his description.
But I suspects he intentionally wants to warp them to render the infirm as per his fetish
Every year, assuming he can find the vis, Anacrôn rounds up at least ten capable fighting men, casts The Irresistible Pressgang, and promotes them to the rank of cagoux. When this spell expires after a year, the Warping incurred often leaves the cagoux mentally deficient (Simple-Minded, Short Attention Span, and so forth); so they join the ranks of the calots and Anacrôn searches for more victims.
His ritual probably has a form of warping or side effect that pleases him...
W
My understanding is that as a CrMe effect it adds a Personality trait, but does not modify nor delete any existing personality traits.
Would Anacreon have to vet candidates for existing loyalties, lest he gets a pressgang whose loyalties are divided?
And what happens if he attempts to pressgang someone with a personality trait of "disloyal"?
I think quite. Even if this "King" uses the effect skirting with the infernal, many covenants use loyalty effects at some point. Only thing I see with this effect is the warping to simple minded which I don't know if it would be carried to the new magi learning the effect. It might need to be re-invented & cleaned-up prior to Order distribution...
The Momentary version that erodes if not properly maintained is probably more mainstream. Along with individual items that are given to the "most loyals" agents of the convenant. I personally like ReMe versions that "cultivate" loyalty over time usinge the "ReMe Base 3: Make a subtle difference to the target’s mental state." Guideline to always see what the Convenant Magi do in its best possible way. Put that in a ring that maintains a constant effect and you have a loyal grog.
W