Spreading Magic

Hermetic Architecture and some of the Aura strength spells from RoP:M both support the capability of making and strengthening magic Auras. How efficient can a magus be if they want to go Johnny Appleseed, or even get to a point of producing auras with a vis harvest that's greater than the vis put in toward making them?

Magical auras don't, by themselves, produce vis.

If you're referring to the generation of Vim vis as a lab activity...the effort you expend on developing the necessary spells and enchantments to improve the local aura would generate far greater returns if used to improve your Creo, Vim, Magic Theory and lab conditions.

You can make Vim Vis ex nihilo?

I don't know. I don't have RoPM, so can't remember the rules from there. Hermetic Architecture is very limited, however, so I don't think he could achieve much with that.

What I'd suggest instead is teaming up with the Muspelli of Rival Magic, they can bring up Magical (well, Titan) auras very well and, more importantly, destroy foreign auras. The only downside is that they can't bring down Divine auras, but that's pretty easy actually - just kill all the Christians and Divine creatures and remove all the relics, and the aura will dwindle to nothing in a matter of decades. Then get your Muspelli buddies to erect a Magical/Titan aura on top of the ruins, and you're set.

There is the slight problem that everyone will want to stop you as you're bringing about the end of the world, but what's a little armageddon between friends. There is also the silliness of Titan-auras being incompatible with Hermetic Magic, but frankly that's just silly given the setting's cosmology and should be dropped; and if it isn't, you should just Initiate yourself and all who swear allegiance to you in Titan Magic or something to be able to use this new aura type.

Interestingly enough, this is not necessarily correct.
Both Hermetic Architecture (guidelines box, TMRE p. 100) and the Aura affecting spells of RoP: M (p. 14) use language that refer to strengtening an Aura, not creating one.
Indeed, the text in the box of RoP: M (p. 14) mentions Hemrtic Architecture as being able to improve a magical aura, emphasis mine.
Strictly speaking, neither method directly states that a new magical aura can be created, and indeed the language used seems to indicate the opposite, to me anyway.

Other the other hand, Hermetic Architecture can apparently increase a magical aura by +1, to a maximum of 1, so yeah..

From a thematic standpoint the ability for Hermetic magi to go to an area without a magic aura and over time create a magic aura would be interesting in terms of increasing the strength and potency of the Order. One's saga mileage will vary, but I consider the idea of an Order that can basically 'fight back' against the encroaching Dominion aura to be a nice and interesting concept.

This said, I am not sure if its the purpose to actually let them easily and cheaply make Magic Auras at will. Of course there is the potential that an aura will develop if you repeatedly cast high level magic in a particular region.

If Hermetic Architectures is involved, it ain't cheap.

This, very much this.

In order to spread the Dominion, you just need to move some people and maybe a relic to a location and tell them to start or keep worshiping. Costs a little money to transport people and get it all started, but it pays itself back in future tithes. To actually spread Magic any significant amount (with Hermetic Architecture, anyway) you need to invest potentially several rooks (!) of Vim vis as well as likely a decent amount of money and time on mundane building construction (or Creo or Terram vis, I guess, but what are you, made of resources?).

Combine that with the relative rarity of Hermetic Architecture... Yeah, no.

Become friends with spirits or other magical creatures; they generate auras, RAW. Some even generate vis.

Many even generate offspring :slight_smile:

No. You can extract it from an Aura, though.

Dominion Auras rise from Church and Crown activities, Infernal Auras from evil, Faerie Auras by people saying "I DO believe in Faeries!" but Magic Auras seem to arise spontaneously, unless there's a way of creating a Tether I'm not aware of.

I need to bone up on Auras and Regios anyway, so...

There is, however, nothing to prevent you from finding a lacuna and pumping it up with ritual CrVi spells until it can overwhelm the local dominion aura (so everyone in the city gets warped in a few years from the high aura). Also if you can find a mobile tether you can bring it somewhere, pump up the aura, then relocate the tether...
There is also a few hints here and there that a breakthrough to allow creation of magical auras should be possible, somehow presumably tied to beauty...

Removing a tether tends to destablize the aura, doesn't it?

On the other hand, you could find a weak aura with a single tether, move a mobile tether there, add a ritual, let simmer for several years, rinse, repeat.

It's a bit like real estate development; it takes years, but the results last much longer and tend to feed more results.

But it does't change the entire area surrounding the development, well it does, but really slowly, and the further you get from the development the less pronounced the change is...

This entire post is as I read it, because these issues seem to be largely treated as background and are touched on lightly- not only may your mileage vary, so may your compass.
That being said: "Nearly all Magic auras have atether as their basis and center" implies a few do not.There is also a statement of "tethers may be either natural... or preternatural, built by wizards or arising from other magical entities" which suggests that when you start doing rituals to boost an aura you might be creating new tethers, especially if the original tether was natural instead of preternatural.

Step one: Be a magus of equal magical combat competency to a decently high-Might creature or have decently high Might (at least 35 or so) yourself. (There's no upper cap here as long as an appropriate creature for step two exists.)
Step two: Find your rough equal in magical power. Yes, specifically Magic, I don't think this works if the combatants are of differing Realms.
Step three: Find a place with a lot of natural beauty.
Step four: Fight your equal to the death. It helps if it's dramatic.
Step five: Due to the supernatural significance of the event, a Magic aura springs up using the corpse as a tether, which is assisted and empowered by the naturally scenic location.
Step six: ??????
Step seven: Profit.

Source: Core example.

And that is how you make new Magic auras. Hope you like danger.