Creating a security camera

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

My character has a large mirror hanging in her laboratory. Invested device, silver, large, 6*4 = 24 vis to open. I've mentioned it before.

Drawing inspiration from the Gargoyles and Grotesques in HProj (pg 44), I would like to be able to use that mirror to check to see if anybody has been in my laboratory while I've been gone.

So, first I need to give it a sense of vision. HProj pg 44 offers a sample spell, [strike]but insists that the spell needs penetration in order to see through Magic Resistance. I thought that the species given off by a magical being were not magical, so why do I need penetration?[/strike] (EDIT: MRB specifically prohibits this)

Next, I need the mirror to be able to remember what happened. I may be gone for a very long time, after all. I have no idea how to do this. Base 5: Create a memory? TMRE's Art of Memory uses Base 5 to create empty rooms in a magus's Memory Palace. But how much time can the mirror remember? Should I give it extra magnitudes of size?

Third, I'll need to be able to play back the events. See my other discussion about having the mirror accept verbal commands. [strike]Only, hang on, that's just giving it another sense, right? Is there some way that I could give the mirror sight and hearing in a single spell?[/strike] (EDIT: MRB specifically prohibits this)

In which case, the I'll have yet a different spell for the displaying of information that it senses or remembers sensing. CrIm, Base 2, +1 Concentration, +5Lvls item maintains, +10lvl unlimited uses = CrIm 18 to display sight and sound, yes?

Alright, then by this logic, I can instill all kinds of other T:Sight senses into my mirror and have it display it, yes? Possibly some some T:Structure or T:Boundary Intellego spells? Even though I'm no longer using Target:Sight? Okay, what about using R:Touch, T:Sight to sense everything within the boundary of my Aegis?

2

You have to create a sense, not just an image.

Here are my personal suggestions:

InIm 50 (3, Arcane +4, Sun +2, Vision +4, add hearing +1)
You create enhanced senses that warns you of sound or movement inside your libary over any distance. You may choose to watch and listen to the events as they happen, but this should require concentration while you do it, and nothing is recorded. This spell could be recast at a distance with an arcane connection, or changed to a year long 60 ritual.

In(Cr)Im 45 ritual (2, Touch +1, Year +4, Vision +4, Creo +1, Interactive +1)
Makes a "security camera" as you first suggested. Watching the "replay" require you to touch the mirror.

3

For story purposes, I don't want my maga to actually be alerted when an intruder comes in, just to be able to find out later.

Why do this as a ritual rather than an enchantment on the mirror itself? (Note: this is a Verditus, so her enchanting total is significantly higher than spell creation)

It's also not clear to me how this spell would create the effect I'm talking about. This would be to display any information picked up by the maga's magically created, vision-based senses?

4

Here's the problem with an item-- what stops whomever is in your sanctum from stealing all your stuff, including the mirror? If they're penetrating your sanctum, looting your stuff is easy.

Better to have a Waiting Spell tied to an InIm effect (Show the Uninvited Guest?) and a CrIg (can't have people hiding in the dark). Then your maga knows who was in there and can respond.

Ideally, you have two Waiting Spells-- the first one to alert you, the second to kick off a high penetration Winds of Mundane Silence effect, so that you can arrive and deal with the intruder sans any augmenting effects.

If you're not dealing with a magical intruder, then why not just ward the place against people?

What are you hoping to gain by learning the intruder's identity later that you couldn't get by confronting them in your sanctum where you're free to do anything?

-Ben.

5

I'm thinking more in terms of a paranoid magus instilling effects into an already extant device so that he can spy on the help. Your concerns are totally valid, but the character isn't operating out of a sound logical position. Between personality flaws and Verditus Hubris levels, high-powered Verditus enchanters should be creating wacky items for dubious reasons.

6

Fix an Arcane Connection to the mirror. If it's stolen you can either grab the mirror back via a teleportation effect, or scry down the AC to find out where it is.

7

I saw something similar to this in a saga I played in. Roughly speaking, creating a security camera involves one or both of the following:
a) being able to sense remotely (so you can look at what's happening in your sanctum while far away) and
b) being able to "store" the whatever information is gained for later perusal.

a) is relatively easy to achieve: there are ReIm guidelines that allow one to "move" species (sight, sound etc.) far away, pontentially as far as you have an arcane connection to. All you need for remote sensing is then to cast a Ring/Circle spell on, say, a circular mirror "looking" at your sanctum so that whatever species hit the mirror are teleported to where you want them to appear instead. No permanent enchantments or rituals needed.

b) is harder. You either have to come up with some elaborate contraption to "trap" the species involved, or to have "intelligent" medium that will remember what it has witnessed. The second choice seemed the simplest: just have a loyal and/or magically conditioned animal (or grog, or summoned spirit - or even a magical automaton, but that's really a waste) watch. Then, have the watcher report to you either directly, or by allowing its mind to be read. Note that Mentem effects allow one to sharpen the details of half remembered events!