I'm writing up some Vis Sources for a location, and I have stumbled on Muto.
I am having difficulty with the tension between muto spells being unnatural changes, and the nned for the sources to be somewhat natural (otherwise why would they exist?)
My defaults are butterflies and the changing of leaves of trees in autumn, but I am having trouble developing a framework to think about more varied ones.
Has anyone had this issue? Can anyone think of a new way of framing my thoughts so I can be more creative?
I think that anything ''naturally' changing" is perfectly fine for Muto. Anything "naturally different" might be a good candidate, too, as well as anything that "naturally creates change" or any significant byproduct of such changes. Some examples:
Shapeshifters (including some significant Bjornaer and Mercere Mutantes) and their accoutrements.
A mask, costume, or other disguise from a particularly important personage or event; or anything significant associated with duplicity as long as it's not more strongly associated with another Art.
The one black sheep in a flock of white sheep, four leaf clover etc.
The byproduct of some transformative alchemical reaction connected to some important or supernatural event or person.
Any hermaphrodite (of a species that has few naturally occurring ones)
A barrel in which grape juice is fermented into wine, that is significant for some reason (an ancient barrel, faerie grapes, the first cask to be opened in a large region etc.)
A bronze church bell made by smelting bronze swords, after some significant event; or farming tools that have been used as weapons in an important battle.
Any item symbolic of a change in social station or allegiance that is not strongly associated with another Art - e.g. the hair cut from a novice who becomes a nun or friar, the former sigil of magus who changes his House, or the flagpole on the highest tower of a city that's repeatedly changed its allegiance.
Any item from a significant personage who changed his views or emotions many times; for example, the heart of a faerie princess who falls in love with a new man every spring.
Anything connected with the natural turning of the day, of the lunar phase, or of the seasons, as long as it's not connected more strongly with a different Art. For example, water from a pool that has reflected, at night, both the full and the new moon, during both the summer and the winter solstice; or vis from a place that has a Divine Aura during the day, and an Infernal one at night.
Anything significant providing a S&M bonus to Muto, or some subset of Muto, such mercury.
Have you looked at the Vis Source Location thread? It is almost all real locations, with descriptions and what the poster believes would be appropriate Vis. Many of them are Muto.
I have looked at that, it is quite valuable, but i was trying for different ones not just recycling. It is the metaphysics that is bugging me...maybe this is a research project for a character.
My only idea is... a Mutant .
Say, there's a spring in which, each summer, a fish is born, save that it is different from other of its species: it is golden, and contain x pawns of Muto vis. Problem is, the legend of the golden fish attracts treasure seekers of all kind
You get the idea, I hope this helps you
I'm sure I've posted a vis source a day myself at some point:
Anyway, my best muto ideas = 1. The petrifying cave – items left in the damp of the cave slowly cover with limestone. If left in the aura for a whole year, the most well-crafted item will become a statue containing Muto or Terram vis. (See Mother Shipton’s cave for a real-world example).
2.The changing tree – At the start of autumn, many trees change colour, but within this wood one tree will suddenly turn exotic colours that contrast with its neighbours, with bright crimson and purple leaves. These can be collected for muto (unnatural-looking changes)
3. 1. The grove of simulacra – the trees in this secluded grove all grow in twisted patterns. Several of them resemble people turned into trees, and you can see the faces of animals and people in the bark of others. The patches of bark on these strange knots can be harvested when the leaves have fallen in autumn – they contain muto vis (for the twisted shapes) or corpus vis (for human shapes)
4. The Fucine Lake
This lake was notorious for swelling up and receding, the water level varying by up to 40 feet in a single day in the most extreme examples. The ancient Romans tried to build a tunnel to drain it, Claudius succeeded but in the 500s an earthquake damaged it, so it will be back to being an unpredicatable lake prone to flooding. Maybe draining the muto vis source will stop the sudden changes in water level? Also Frederick II tries to repair it, potential for an adventure there.
5. Quicksand - this solid earth mysteriously becomes liquid, and changes in consistency the more you struggle - do some patches contain muto vis?
In our baltic game, we had a birch tree that gave flaming blossom, as an Ig source, u til a botched lightning bolt destroyed the tree. In time a bee hive formed thaere and the honey was burning hot and contained the Ig instead.
Something similar could be thought up for Muto vis.
In Mythic Europe, bear cubs are born as shapeless blobs of fur -- they stay that way until licked into shape by the mother bear. So -- the tongues of mother bears might be a source, or associated with, Muto; or the fur left over and lying around the bear's den after the mother licks the cubs into shape (so long as it collected within a specific time).
But this only happens roughly every two years, so maybe there are multiple bears & dens, or the vis source produces two-years-worth at a time, or the vis source alternates between the bear den and something else nearby.
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