Spell question

[Winged]

I found this in the SpellWiki:

@SpellWiki

Animation of the Stone Brute
MuTe (req: Re, An) 30
R: Touch, D: Diameter, T: Individual
By touching a statue, the caster changes it into a living animal (up to Size +2). Whilst in contact with the animal, the caster can direct its actions. The animal will continue to perform the actions even while not of range of the spell, until it has succeeded them or the duration of the spell ends. Otherwise, the animal behaves as a typical member of its kind.
Just beyond the door to Terrene’s sanctum there is a pair of beautifully carved, life-sized, stone statues of lions.
(B: 5, R: Touch +1, D: Diameter +1, T: Individual; Size +1, Requisite +1, Stone +1)

And it got me thinking of how to just animate the statue without making it an animal. Would this be done just using ReTe? What if autonomous movement was necessary? Would I need to still use the An req to give it some sort of intelligence/cunning/ability to act on its own?

*Wing

[YR7]

@Winged

Would I need to still use the An req to give it some sort of intelligence/cunning/ability to act on its own?

I'll say yes. You're giving the stone a quality it doesn't naturally have, volition, which is part of the Form of Animal (well, you can also go for Mentem for a different kind of volition)...

I would, however, allow a CrTe(Vi) ritual to summon an earth elemental. Go figure.

[Eldragil]

Could one also use CrTe (Me) to summon a spirit to inhabit the statue for the duration?

Just wondering,
B

[ncl]

@YR7

I would, however, allow a CrTe(Vi) ritual to summon an earth elemental. Go figure.

Wouldn't that be ReTe(Vi) rather than CrTe(Vi)? I mean, you'd be compelling an existing elemental to inhabit the statue rather than creating one ex nihilo.

One thing I've never understood about Ars is how "smart" spells are (or can be). On the one hand, spells like The Shadow of Human Life or The Walking Corpse seem to be intelligent enough - they can follow general commands, at least. On the other hand, both seem sufficiently ad hoc that I'm not quite sure how to extrapolate from them to, say, create an animate statue.

Nathan

[YR7]

@Eldragil

Could one also use CrTe (Me) to summon a spirit to inhabit the statue for the duration?

I think not. Perhaps CrMe(Te), but not CrTe(Me). CrTe creates stone. It doesn't summon spirits. It may create a magical, intelligent, stone creature with a Vim requisite, but creating or summoning a stone SPIRIT seems an oxymoron to me.

@ncl

Wouldn't that be ReTe(Vi) rather than CrTe(Vi)? I mean, you'd be compelling an existing elemental to inhabit the statue rather than creating one ex nihilo.

Well, you CAN summon a stone creature using ReTe (no Vim required, even), but then you would need an Arcane Connection (range and item) to affect it.
The same would go for demons, BTW, in my campaign. Except that I would allow an appropriate sin to serve as an arcane connection to a demon - you want to summon a demon of lust, include an orgy in the ritual, and so on.

One thing I've never understood about Ars is how "smart" spells are (or can be).

Can't answer without the book. Serf's parma.