New Spell: Spawn of the Countless Swarm

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

The idea of this spell is to spawn a lot of mundane insects (or destroy a lot of biological matter..?).
I have used the lower guideline to age animals, adjusted for insects much shorter reproduction cycle.
A rego requisite also seems appropriate.
Does the result seem ok?

Spawn of the Countless Swarm
Cr(Re)An 35 (15, touch +1, concentration +1, group +2)
You cause a swarm of insects to grow and reproduce. For rapidly reproducing insects like lice and flies the amount of individuals are doubled every diameter, while other spices might need up to 20 diameters. Due size restrictions a doubling will never create more than 3 million individuals (mass equal to 30 grown pigs). Reproduction of new individuals require nearby access to food of about the same weight as the created insects, but almost any kind of crops or cadavers should do. The spell ensure that the insects don't leave the general area while the spell lasts.

2

Insects are not animals but vermins aka worms.

I just looked at A&A p30, they explain the ReAn level 5 guideline "Cause vermin to spontaneously generate in appropriate matter, such as flesh, plants, soil, or water." They use it for ReAn20 Plague of Frogs. You can find the guidelines collated in:
atlas-games.com/pdf_storage/ ... elines.pdf

3

Thanks for the information.
I guess a similar spell will be level 20 (base 5, +1 size instead of base 15, +2 group) without the need for existing insects.

Does the spell you mention say anything about how fast the vermin will spawn? Will the resulting vermin be mundane?

4

Sorry to bump, but I would really like to know if there are any more details on the A&A guideline, like rate of spawning.

5

Since it's Duration:Momentaneous they should all appear at once. Since it's Rego, I'd think they'd be mundane.

6

Thanks!
A more philosophical question is if they will be mundane if I make them from "magic" food. If I feed a(n unlucky) grog on magical food for a year he should still be able to punch through parma, so my first guess is the insects will be mundane, with the only flaw that they have a duration (when the food ends). Unless fed by with something mundane for a while they will probably leave nothing but a little dust behind. Imagine a small town or a covenant being swarmed by so many mundane insects that people can't even move around without problem, just to have them vanish without any real traces at all... Could be a little shocker even for more battle worn mages, even if maybe not that useful.

For now my young animal mage will try to restrain himself from doing something crazy, using it only to have fireflies around the covenant on our midsummer feast.