Creating a recording item

While not nearly as capable as what is desired here, in play my Magus enchanted his lab with a In(MuRe)Me(Te) effect to form a "memory" of sorts.

Verbal Manipulation of the Lab
In(Mu, Re)Me(Te), Level 30, P/S/I, Base 5, RDT 2, Complex 2, ET +3, 3/day +2
This effect allows the same understanding of spoken commands as found in effects like The Tireless Servant and Bookstand of Hespera, without any actual automation. InMe was chosen since it has the highest base (without automation) and allows more precise handling of spoken commands. The MuTe requisite forms something of a memory, in the same way as dozens of levers and pages of paper would. The "levers" serve as the triggers for other effects. The Re requirement is for flipping these "levers" and writing on the "pages". A cosmetic effect is that if the lab is interacted with by InTe spells, the effect appears as reading a book detailing all the "levers", what they do, and how they are currently positioned along with any notes on the "pages" rather than having a long slow conversation with a rock. In effect, this is the labs "Operating Manual".

Combined they allow an enchantment which can understand "spoken Latin commands" and flip "switches" (which could very well be tiny physical switches inside the enchanted device). There is a record of all the flipped switches which can be accessed by using any spell that allows communication with a rock (along with the current position of all switches). Cosmetically it is as reading a book rather than talking to the rock.


Anyone with access to the Peripheral Code issue 3 can look up the Cult of Knowledge on page 7. They use CrMe Base 5 for implanting a memory and CrMe Base 10 as a memory storage, but does require a new minor virtue.

I think if I was a Verditius, I'd do this using Craft Construct. Craft a human-shaped one, give it a semblance of human form, give it complex locomotion, then find a way to scry on it and give it directions from a distance. And instead of recording things, actually experience the world through it.

In TMRE, p.28-29, we have a Re 15 guideline for summoning a spirit of a particular Form.
It's not Ritual, and a ReIg example is given to summon a Fire spirit using as an Arcane Connection any mundane fire in the area. HoH:S p.99 reuses the same guideline (explicitly referencing TMRE) to have a ReMe spell that summons a spirit of Anger using an angry person as an AC; the angrier the person, the higher the Might of the spirit. Personally, I think that one should be able to use the same guideline to summon a Memory - a Mentem spirit related to a particular event - using as an AC a person who has experienced the event. The Might would be proportionate on the impression made by the event on the person.

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Like some others, I'm not entirely sure I agree with the existence of a 'pure mind' with no substrate attached. Ghosts have a spiritual existence, Angels are pure spirit IIRC. I say this because to create the mind it needs to exist somewhere, whether it's 'This diamond is now intelligent', or 'I created an empty ghost'. It still needs to exist, to be targeted.

I'd lean instead of creating an empty mind, instead creating an intellect inside, for example, a rock crystal or other inanimate object. We already can TALK to rocks, not such a stretch to awaken them, I'd think. We can talk to and awaken trees already.

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For the purposes of recording memories, it seems to me that instead of trying to create an entire mind you really need to create a memory palace that is not anchored to a specific mind. Then work on copying items between memory palaces.

you really need to create a memory palace that is not anchored to a specific mind

That would be perfect. However, all memory's spells listed in the Mysteries (p26-27) deals with extra locus added to an existing Memory Palace. Constructing a memory palace requires the Art of Memory skill.
Now, it might be possible to create a spell that create a memory palace and for all purposes of what is looking to achieve my mage, that would be for her the equivalent of creating a blank mind since she is not looking to achieve anything else but to store memories.
But it still need to be bound to something physical to be handled - namely transported. So I can always discuss with my ST that if creating a blank mind seems a stretch, creating a memory palace should be more reasonable, but won't required any breakthrough (at most a minor point, at 15 BP).

I was considering using CrMe spell from Art of Memory to create additional locus to extend the memory capacity. My take was that since it is a really, really blank mind (no skills and no will), it does not have any ability to sort information and, for example, to segregate two different memories unless new memory loci are specifically created through appropriate spells - an active action, done by the magus.

I see the appeal of your approach, and it might be the next evolution of the spell, once there is a better understanding of these blank minds.
I can also see how it could evolve into strange magical computer - once you have a blank mind, I am sure a mage would think of trying to store some automated behaviour and combining this ability with Automata mystery... you see where it could go :wink:

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Take care that the way a memory is defined in Art of Memory is essentially "a single piece of information". Which is not the definition your guideline use. So, I think some experimentation would be needed in order to conciliate both.