How does the Aegis of the Hearth affect the enchantments in a Familiar Bond, if the magus familair pair are on different sides of the Aegis boundary?
Say magus A sends his difficult to detect Familiar into an enemy Covenant to do something not good. Then to get the Familair to escape, magus A activates the Familiar Bond enchantement "Summon the Distant Familiar", whose effect is to cause the Familiar to teleport to within arms reach of magus A.
As far as I can tell, the AotH can't stop that enchanted effect from working. Have I got that right?
The power would be activated by the magi outside the aegis, but effectively, crosses the border of the aegis, even though the effect is enchanted at touch range, since the familiar is in the aegis at the moment the power is activated. This counts as a spell "cast toward the Aegis (originating from outside it)" at the start of the aegis description. As such, the familiar enchantment would need to penetrate. The slightly different rules for enchanted items would apply as well, if you prefer to read those.
A maga may, at any time, invest powers in the familiar bond. This is a laboratory activity, and the rules are the same as those for investing a power in an invested device, with five exceptions. < exceptions not relevant for use in an Aegis >
We further have (ArM5 p.161):
Effects from enchanted devices are resisted by the Aegis unless the item was within the Aegis at the time of casting, or was created within the Aegis by someone who was part of the ritual or in possession of a token.
So the effects enchanted into the familiar bond interact with an Aegis like effects from a device. As that device is the familiar bond, it is resisted by the Aegis "unless the familiar bond was within the Aegis at the time of casting, or was created within the Aegis by someone who was part of the ritual or in possession of a token."
Where is the familiar bond, if magus A is outside the Aegis and his familiar inside? It is most plausible, that it is not fully inside "at the time of casting".
But magus A could still have instilled the power into the bond, while within the Aegis as participant of the ritual or in possession of a token. In that case the Aegis would not resist.
By ArM5 p.161 the Aegis would otherwise resist effects in the bond to A's familiar inside the Aegis, if A triggers them from outside and has no valid token for the Aegis.
if the familiar of magus A approaches a foreign covenant, pretending to be a mundane animal, and is adopted as a pet by an apprentice or magus in that covenant, does that familiar essentially have a token for that covenant despite the lack of a physical token?
if the familiar has a token then do bond effects triggered from outside still have to penetrate?
A token is a token by ArM5 p.161, and only given to those whom the magi consider entitled to work their own magic under the Aegis.
Neither pets nor horses nor skullery maids get them just for being around and their unassuming muggle selves.
Even the rare shield grog who got an enchanted device from his magus does generally not need one: check against p.161.
Well, if the familiar has might they cannot enter the aegis without a token, unless they are too powerful for the aegis to keep out. However it seems to me that they key factor is that they receive a formal invitation- after all magical cats don't normally have pockets to put a token in anyways. It doesn't say anything about being invited to do magical working, just being given an invitation to enter.
Beings with Might need both the invitation AND the token to enter or to use magic unhindered inside the Aegis. Exception of course being if they participated in the casting of the ritual.
While not RAW, I have seen many groups who do not apply the penalty to beings with Might which were present within the area when the Aegis was cast. Otherwise you run into all sorts of things such as having to go around and invite/attach a token to anything with Might which could not take part during the ritual. Have a sword with Might? It is not an "enchanted item", so by RAW it needs to be invited and have a token for its powers to not be blocked by the Aegis.
Hermetic cats would have no problem taking part in the Aegis ritual. Those of the Black Line especially spend a great deal of time warding, with a special power that allows them to do it in groups.
How many items/beings with Might that can't take part in the ritual does a typical covenant have? Not many, I would think. Familiars for example should normally be able to participate in the ritual.
In your example with a sword with Might, I'd expect some mage to take it along for the ritual so it too can 'participate' in the casting.
That would depend entirely on the individual Sagas. It could range from none to "way to many". If a Covenant makes an effort to collect things of Virtue, the total can rapidly approach that "way to many" threshold.
Sure Familiars can take part, as well as many animals such as Hermetic Cats and Birds of Virtue. But how about Fish of Virtue? Bees of Virtue? Trees & Plants of Virtue? A large standing stone that is an Item of Virtue?
Do you really want 20+ Hermetic Cats, a dozen Crows of Virtue, several dozen Fish of Virtue carried in urns, a few hives full of Bees of Virtue, a few dozen Trees of Virtue (animated by ritual), another few dozen Plants of Virtue in pots, and a multi ton stone lifted by magic to take part in your Aegis Ritual?
The cats and birds and such can take part in the ritual without too much problem.
As for the rest - well if the magi want to collect all of that, and want them to be able to use their powers unhindered inside the Aegis, then they had better make sure all of them can take part - or make sure they can be given tokens and formal invitations afterward.
Inconvenient? Oh, absolutely. But that is something the magi should consider before starting to collect all the Beings of Virtue.
How the Aegis works is one of the largest variables I have seen from Saga to Saga. What requires penetration vs what does not, active participation vs presence during, interaction with Regios, how Tokens/Invitations work, interaction with Realm Abilities, so on and so forth.
I could answer those for most of the Sagas I have taken part it. The answers would be different for most of them. Many of them come down to the type of story that is trying to be told and ensuring that it can be told.
By canon, spirits can be invited and while a token needs to be available for this it can be held by the person doing the invite because it’s difficult for many spirits to hold onto tokens. I’m not sure why a cat that is invited would be any different. Perhaps given the token but not required to hold it at all times.
and if the Familiar is a mundane dog, rat, or smart bird like a raven? No problems entering the Aegis, and it is "carrying" its enchanted Familiar Bond.
Was there ever a consensus as to what the Aegis penalty meant for an enchanted item?
Magus A, who bound the familiar, is at one side of that bond, the familiar at the other, and the enchantment in the bond (ArM5 p.105). The bond, made of the three cords (ArM5 p.104), connects the two.
These cords may be seen by someone with the Second Sight Virtue, but they are otherwise imperceptible.
So they have a place in space, and neither magus A outside the Aegis nor his familiar within the Aegis can "carry" the entire bond.
I fully concede that it is only partly in the Aegis, and the Familiar is only carrying its end of the Bond cords.
I am sort of envisioning the bond cords something like an enchanted polearm lying across the Aegis boundary. Physically half in, half out.
And it appears I may be biased towards the idea that it should be in a single state rather than half and half, but I have no idea if this is supported by ME metaphysics.