I believe I get to arround 27 myself prior to applying S&M bonuses.
And yes, a 0 still lets you enchant and cast using that form / technique.
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Ah, great, that clears up a great many things. I don't think we need the magnitude for unnatural in that case (I didn't realize it was just for indoors casting, but you are right of course). So that means it's best to leave this up to Argentius, probably. Lares' total before shape and material bonuses is a measly 22.
Fan and bellows both give 4+ bonus to this, so both Argentius and Aetherius should be able to do this.
Lares will propose this (with the description amended as temprobe suggested) to the others then, instead, and focus on some other project in the meantime.
Oh I didn't factor those in at all. So yeah, it should be doable in a season.
Now the question is this: what can Argentius add to this item that ALSO allows it to blow an amplified (hurricane force?) and super-heated sirocco away from the covenant as a both a defensive measure in honor of The Red's agreement to spare Al Kufra. 
...
That's harder. Rego Auram guidelines tend to fall under the ward category, or the control category. A ward would likely default to boundary, which couldn't be enchanted into an item. You could enchant an item with a Base 5 Control a very severe weather phenomenon to take a hurricane-like wind and throw it in another direction, but first it's likely high magnitude (including +3 sight which is required, a possible +2 group, and a non-momentary duration) and if you expect it to be triggered when that phenomenon closes in rather than when it's actively used by someone with a keyword, you'd dependent on a linked effect to an intellego auram effect. It's a nice project, but probably not for the coming year.
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Continuing Lares's theme of "helping Al Kufra," I'm wondering about crafting a plow that might eventually have two effects:
The Loam Plow of the Oasis
MuTe: Change sand to loam.
PeHe: Destroy weeds or noxious plants.
What would be needed to enrich the soil to make it more fertile? CrHe has effects that speed up the growing of a plant, but I think it's impacting a single plant at a time. Is there a way to impact a group of seeds?
I'm imagining a plow that has a seed bag attachment so that as the grog plows a sandy field, it first changes the sand to fertile loam and then drops in a seed that grows faster than normal. The next day, the grogs harvest while another field is being transformed and planted.
This would take a few seasons to make but it could be a game changer to a desert community.
Is it too grand of an idea?
I think the MuTe would need to be a ritual rather than item, or it will revert back to sand after the duration. It could be cast monthly, of course - I suppose daily would be too demanding. But quite a difficult effect to enchant - you'd need lots of +size modifiers or lots of castings.
I think the CrHe can affect many plants. It's a high-base effect, though, so also quite difficult to pull off. Maybe start with something more minor? First take a more careful look at how they are farming at the moment, then try to figure out some way to "cheat" with magic.
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I think fundamentally you would either want these as circle/ring spells or enchanted onto an item (plow, staff) that would inscribe a circle with a circle/ring duration. Then you can transform the sane into loam for a circle duration- killing weeds in desert sands is a bit redundant, actually being able to water plants will be a much bigger issue.
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@silveroak Can you clarify your interpretation of the circle/ring rules for me? This is so as to avoid surprises if I were to make such a spell.
If we were to invent the circle/ring spell to transform sane into loam as you described, would it count as "breaking" the circle if the farmers entered and exited the circle? The previous discussion left me uncertain.
I'm back from Europe, and dealt with my jet lag. I'm awake!
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Did you find our Perfecti, raccoon, or are we still searching? 
No Perfecti in Athens, I'm afraid.
I just had a nasty-ass minmaxing munchkin revelation: what if Lares were to invent a Year-duration ritual Maintaining the Demanding Spell? He could offset the vis costs of the ritual by expending long-term fatigue using his Imbued with the Spirit of Vim virtue.
Discuss.
While Imbued with the Spirit of Form is a pretty good munchkin Virtue (Vim and Corpus being probably the strongest), that particular scenario sounds pretty bad.
You probably want to avoid the 600+ concentration rolls necessary to do it.
(Maintaining the Demanding Spell requires you to target an existing spell, so you'll have to cast the first spell, then start doing a Ritual spell. It also explicitly calls for a stress die, so you can botch.)
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Right you are, didn't realize that! It's only a difficulty 6 concentration roll, though.
Let me see... Year duration (+4) adds 3 magnitudes to the +1 diameter duration of the base spell, meaning that the ritual-level effect could only affect spells of at least 3 magnitudes lower. That in itself makes it fairly expensive.
If the level of the spell to be affected were 5, the ritual would have to be level 20. It takes 15 minutes per magnitude to cast a ritual, so an hour. Concentration must be rolled every 2 minutes, so 30 rolls.
A very high botch chance, in other words, and I think rituals always have a stress die, so there's no getting around it either.
Well, can't say I'm particularly unhappy about that conclusion 
I suppose you could plausibly cast your moon duration maintaining the demanding spell prior to attempt the ritual to maintain it for year. That being said, while I suppose obviating the vis cost of ritual with your virtue is nice, you'd need a fairly high level effect. How many year duration spells do you expect to need?
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Now that you put it like that, it isn't quite as strong as I thought. And of course, the spells subject to this wouldn't have the benefit of Boundary etc.
I've been thinking of occupying myself by generating a companion while the Europe expedition lasts. My first thought is that I might make a redcap, since I've never played one of those. That's a legit companion, isn't it?
Maybe there has been some trouble with their former covenant and they are looking for a new place to stay? Maybe they knew some of the magi from before and therefore recognizes their rejuvenation, so the Europe expedition has to spill the beans?
How would @temprobe feel about this "competition" in the redcap-ing department?
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A redcap is definitely a legit companion. The obvious possibility is someone who knew Aetherius.
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