It is said that, in the aftermath of the Schism War, a scarred Flambeau hoplite took upon himself to make a pilgrimage of sorts. He visited all the covenants in the Order that welcomed him, bringing a message of peace and hope; he stayed but a few days as a simple Redcap would, and cast small spells to benefit his hosts as a token of gratitude for their hospitality. He was a master of Ignem, and many of his favourite creations were flames -- to warm the body and the heart -- sustained by magical Rings that allowed them to last long after he had left. It is also said that one of his creations warmed the long winter nights of a young Jerbiton apprentice; who, after passing her gauntlet, decided she would repay the old hoplite in kind. Starting from his, she visited several covenants, casting in each spells that kept the air fresh even in the dampest dungeons -- all sustained by magical Rings. Many other magi followed suit, and eventually a societas was born: the Ring of the Ring, "Circulus Circuli".
To gain and retain membership, a magus needs to satisfy a simple requirement: he must be capable of casting a spell sustained by a magical Ring, producing an effect that is generally useful to a covenant -- and he must be willing to cast it "a number of times within reason" whenever he visits the covenant of another member, at the request of that member. Most members consider a few dozen times "reasonable", and useful is construed very broadly (beauty is always considered useful by the Circle, thanks to a small but influential minority of Jerbiton magi). Virtually all members also strive to provide reasonable hospitality, within their means, to other members; and many cast their Ring spell if requested by any Hermetic magus, whether member or not, in the spirit of the Flambeau who started the tradition -- though neither of these is strictly a requirement for membership. Use of enchanted items, or non-hermetic abilities, to produce an equivalent effect is also acceptable; many Redcaps have become members in this way. Finally, many magi strive to develop a unique, signature Ring; but there is no shame in sharing a Ring, and indeed a few lineages or other associations of magi all share the same Ring.
[INTERSAGA] If you want your PC to be a member of the Circulus:
- Your troupe must first agree that the Circulus exists in your Mythic Europe, possibly with a different origin myth.
- You must design an effect, with D:Ring, that will last and be useful where it is cast for a reasonable time (measured in years, probably) after it is cast. Permanent heating, lighting or motive power; wards against vermin or other hazards; beautiful illusions, blessings on fields, metamagical effects -- anything goes, and in particular very low magnitude effects are perfectly acceptable. But the idea is that when a magus visits a covenant, he'll cast his D:Ring spells, and they will be still active and helpful years or decades after his last visit.
- You must be playing a magus (or perhaps a Redcap, see above) in a current saga; and your PC must be, or become capable of producing the effect on a consistent basis. If he wants a formulaic spell, or an enchanted device, he must devote a season to developing it in your saga (or more; or perhaps just use those "unspent" Lab Total points from another project). Spontaneous magic is acceptable, but keep in mind that the spell will be cast very often, so unless you can eliminate all chances of botching, your SG should probably burden you with an extra Warping point now and then.
- You must post your effect here! Posting a little background about the magus is nice, but not required.
In exchange, every time one of your PCs gets to visit another covenant and gets to cast his Ring there, some member of the Circle can be assumed to visit your covenant and cast his Ring. In each such instance, you can freely choose any one effect posted on this thread, to be cast at your covenant (a "reasonable" number of times, as above -- e.g. magical heating in a few dozen rooms). You can choose the same Ring multiple times, perhaps to "repair" Rings that have eventually faded away, or to deal with an expansion of your covenant. Ideally, Rings should be played as having a minor, but definite mechanical benefit on your covenant: positively affecting your covenant's finances (e.g. by producing cost savings, or by providing additional revenue), your grogs' morale, giving you a little help during stories, and so on.