So, the time will soon come for my Magi to finally start his original research, and I'm thinking of what he should actually shoot for. There's a lot of good options already in the books: Fertility magic, the Mechanica of Alexander, Divination, etc. Many of these can be acquired by means other then original research, but given how I'm stated, research is my best bet.
However, Original Research does allow whole new discoveries, and so I have been tempted to invent one, inspiration came from one of the unusual books our covenant paid considerable points to start with:
Leading to this possible hermetic breakthrough:
Oxandrist's Legacy
Description:
Most of the Order of Hermes remembers Oxandriust as a crank. An arrogant, questionably sane, intolerable and largely amoral Magi with a serious overspecialization in Muto. Among some Magi, however, especially those who likewise specialize in altering the forms of their fellow creatures, she has an almost mystic standing. Rumors of what incredible feats she accomplished rush about such circles, and if one believed they all, they would be forced to come to the conclusion that she made 10 or 20 hermetic breakthroughs over the course of her life. It is certain that the majority of the stories are false, and likely that all of them are, but that hasn't stopped Magi from trying to replicate her legendary feats -- including the one that finally took her from the world of human understanding.
Rules:
This breakthrough gives the player access to a new Laboratory Activity, the Ritual of Ascension. Upon completing the ritual for the first time, the player becomes a Might 1 Magical Creature, and their Might can later be raised (see below). Performing the ritual requires an absolute minimum of 10 Magical Theroy, and a MuCo Lab Total of at least 120. Experimentation is allowed as a means to reach this lab total, but it is strongly advised against.
Researching the ritual to allow for it's first use requires four seasons of lab work, culminating in the ritual itself. Over the span of this time, the magi employs 10 Pawns of Muto Vis and 10 Pawns of Vis that can be Corpus or Vim. These are all considered to be used in the last season (thus the requirement of 10 Magical Theroy). This research produces lab notes, but they are not useful to anyone but the magi -- the ritual only works for the Magi who researched it. Magi may not research rituals for other people. A magi in possession of his own lab notes can perform the ritual in one season instead of four.
Upon performing the ritual for the first time, the Magi takes two warping and enters Twilight. A mage may resist entering twilight as normal, but if they succeed in doing so, the ritual simply fails. Once in twilight, the magi rolls for comprehension as normal. If they fail to comprehend the Twilight, they suffer the usual negative effects, and the ritual fails. If they succeed, they reappear as a Might 1 Magic creature when they return, and also gain the usual positive effects.
Performing the ritual future times is considerably easier. It does not require entering twilight, and takes only one season. Each time the ritual is performed again, the magi's might increases by one. Performing the ritual in this way costs New-Mightx2 Pawns of Vis, which must be Muto, Corpus or Vim.
As magic creatures, Magi effected by this ritual do not suffer from Warping, although any negative effects induced by warping they already have remain. They likewise do not age, although negative effects from any aging rolls they have already rolled remain. They otherwise retain all their abilities.
As "dual natured" creature, that is, creatures with both Might and Arts, Magi effected by this ritual are subject to several unusal rules:
- Their Parma-Magica and Might stack for determining Magic Resistance.
- While they do not have Warping, any effect that could send them into twilight if they did have warping may still send them into twilight. They add the magnitude of their Might to their rolls to comprehend twilight.
As usual, creatures created this way may receive new abilities every time their Might advances a magnitude, starting at 5. Exactly what they get should be handled with the storyguide.