Does anyone have any tips/rules for fertility magic? I cannot find direct references anywhere, but my players are looking to 'cure' an NPC's infertility and I cannot work out if this is possible, and at what level e.g. a CrCo spell is required to do it.
Thanks in advance!
N.
Ancient Magic has a section on fertility magic (this is something that a Bonisagai in my saga is integrating). In Magi of Hermes, the character, Aurulentus of Jerbiton invented some spells that might be of interest to you. In particular his spell The Maculate Noblewoman (InCo, Base level 10) "Accurately determines the underlying cause for the infertility of the target."
If the reason for the NPC's infertility is part of a Flaw, then it's likely to be part of their Essential Nature, and thus is almost certainly incurable by Hermetic magic. If it's a curse, liberal application of PeVi will fix it. If it's just part of a story, then some seasons of investigation, perhaps with the help of Fertility Lore ability from Ancient Magic and/or the spell mentioned above, followed by a CrCo spell, should do the trick. Ancient Magic sets the base CrCo guideline for ensuring the conception of a child at 15.
Thank you for the very thorough response!
N.
Well, you can temporarily violate Essential Nature with Hermetic magic - you can turn a human into a pig, for example. It's just that the magic has to be sustained, so you can't use a Momentary Creo Corpus ritual that "permanently" solves the problem. But you could use magic to temporarily "enhance" the mother.
In this regard, there are two questions.
Should the magic last until the child is born, or until the child is conceived? In the former case, duration must either be Year or Ring, with all the attendant issues (warping, vis or severe movement restrictions etc.). In the latter, Moon or even Sun might be sufficient. I would tend to go with the former.
What guideline to use? In particular, should one use Creo or Muto? Personally, I'd use Creo - making a woman fertile is moving her closer to the "ideal" woman, even if it's against her Essential Nature. But there are no clear guidelines in this sense: I'd probably use Level 20 "Heal the Debilitating effects of Poison, Disease or Injury".
It should be noted that Ancient Magic presents a magical effect (Potion of Creation) that ensures conception during its duration; but this does not really work according to the Guidelines, in my opinion. Its Target is Unborn Child and its Duration is Sun. But the target should not be Unborn Child - since the Target neither exists when the magical effect is invoked, nor is created as a direct result of the magical Creo effect (or it would disappear at the end of the Duration). And I am totally clueless where the level 15 Base guideline comes from.
As far as I can tell, it's entirely its own and really ought to be added to the expanded tech/form guidelines at some point. I know I've added it for my sagas.
As I understand it, even in medieval times infertility was seen as a "medical" issue amongst the learned: there was a humour imbalance or an issue with the vegitative spirits of the woman.
Well, good news!
There's a whole tradition within Ex Miscellania dedicated to Fertility magic which can, with relative ease "ensure the conception of baby" ! (HoH:S 106). Before experimenting, your PCs might want to try and track one of these folks down. In fact, they're supposed to be one of the the easier-to-find traditions, and many members are Gifted Companions and Wise Ones rather than full magi, making their services easier to procure.
If the problem is a relatively mundane one, this makes a lot of sense.
If the infertility was caused by some sort of disease, then Restoration of the Defiled Body (CrCo 25) will remove any "crippling or malignant aftereffects". If the infertility is inborn, CrCo should still be able to solve it, either with the Base 25 guideline equivalent to restoring a lost limb or the Base 35 for adding to physical characteristics.
Essential nature, imo, only comes into play if you try to CrCo fertility into something that's never naturally fertile, like a statue. Reproduction is part of the nature of human beings. Trying to heal a Flaw which gave a PC points violates the Law of No Free Lunch, a gameist concept, and fails for that reason. I wouldn't apply this to NPCs.
Agreed.
I think it comes down to the gender and fluffy 'in game' underlying cause of the infertility.
For a male character with the flaw "No Balls", Duration Sun will do. A female character with missing/malfunctioning/broken equipment, Duration Year (forcing her to spend 9 months cooped up inside a Ring is just cruel!)
I'm not sure the people in ME know about things like ovulation. I think they were simply of the opinion of "Tab A + Slot B = Babby Formed". I could be wrong about that, I'm not a medical historian. If they know such things IYS, Duration Moon. IMS, I say Sun; I tend to err on the side of ignorance. That way I'm only pleasantly surprised when I learn otherwise.
When in doubt, add Requisites! Cr(Mu)Co Base 20 sounds good.
Yeah, I changed the target to Individual, myself.
Re: No free lunch -- very true. At the very least, a new flaw should arise to replace the old one... In this case, perhaps, noting that the mum is now bound by True Love for the child, and won't be allowing any risks to the little squirt. She had to betray the covenant! They were going to hurt her miracle baby!
This. So much this. Anything that helps generate story fodder deserves a this. 
As it is breaking past essential nature, i would say Muto. But almost certainly also with a Creo requisite.
Or the other way around.