"So we'll have to stick to the plan with respect to the perfecti, I suppose. It will take a while, though, and I would prefer to avoid this murdering business in the meantime."
Lares pauses to think.
"What if we imprison the former perfecti? Or put them to sleep? That would keep them from sinning, wouldn't it?"
"Sleep would be good. I suppose if you put them to sleep until we can find a new perfecti then gathering your vis will be a lesser sin than murder for our younger members to seek forgiveness for."
"Excellent. That should be manageable. You will have to take care of them for about a year, though, and I suspect they will be a bit worse for wear when they wake up. But it's still better than dying - or killing. How many former perfecti are there? We'll have to prepare an area for this."
(OOC: The way Lares plans on doing this is Call to Slumber base 4, range touch +1, duration ring +2, target circle = level 15. His total for ReMe is 3 sta + 7 mentem + 10 rego + 8 aura + 2 gestures = 30, so easy-peasy. Did I get this right?)
That will put them to sleep until the circle is broken, but it will not keep them alive with regards to thirst or starvation.
Yeah, I meant that the Cathars should feed, hydrate, and otherwise care for them.
Would adding CrCo reqs deal with the thirst/starvation? Based on keeping wounds from getting worse, but deprivation instead of wounds?
Ah, I've always thought that "breaking" the circle in this context means literally effacing it. So wards end if someone not affected by the ward stepped into the circle, on this interpretation? I can live with it.
That would mean he instead casts life-linked Call to Slumber base 4, range touch +1, duration moon +3, target group +2 = level 30. He would cast this version ceremonially, so his total would be 3 sta + 7 mentem + 10 rego + 8 aura + 2 gestures + 2 artes + 2 philo = 34 divided by two is 17. That means he would always take at least two fatigue, and sometimes four. This he needs to cast once a month for several seasons, but the Cathars can feed, hydrate etc. the sleepers without problems.
since it affects minds, any mind stepping across will affect it. One of the automatons could cross without breaking it, but would not have the skills to feed the unconscious people, which realistically would require the medicine ability (feeding people in their sleep is not trivial)
CrCo could not keep someone fed without expending vis, and even then it would be at best an experimental effect. ReCo base 15 includes "direct the flow of bodily energy" which could in principle slow their metabolism so they would need less food and water, though the existing example uses it to transfer fatigue from one person to another. Though Hibernation of the Slumbering Turb (from mystery cults) allows a re Me effect with a creo component to allow the subject to sleep without sustenance but awaken ravenously hungry with a CR requisite for what is already a ritual spell (the mystery aspect being that it is activated by touching the magus), so I would allow this if you cast the spell as a ritual, with a +1 for complexity and +1 for creo requisit.
What about the version to cast it directly at the group without requisites? Do we have anyone who would be capable of feeding them? I suppose there must be someone with some medicine ability, or it could be learned with practice.
The issue being also that anyone with an ability in medicine and possesses a mind would cause the collapse of the circle by crossing it. At that point you might as well use day duration and let them feed themselves every sunrise and sunset.
Forget the circle, I mean this.
That should work, it will require periodic checks against medicine to keep them properly fed and hydrated.
Ironically the best medics in the settlement are Arabs.
When they talk this over with the Cathar covenfolk there are 17 individuals who choose to be put to sleep until a new perfecti can be found.
Ok great, let's do it like that. In case the Arabs ever mess the feeding and hydration up, have the Cathars check on the sleepers several times a day. If they seem to be weakening, we'll wake them, feed and hydrate, and then Lares will put them back to sleep. Hopefully this will help the Cathars accept the Arabs, too.
The Cathars will now gather the vis, correct?
After this is done, Lares will report the results, to the magi who were not present, over dinner.
"... so they were going to kill them. Imagine that. I'm sure God would have been real pleased with His flock."
He shudders slightly.
"Anyway, I put them to sleep instead. Not ideal, but it's better than having them murdered. This means we'll be short some menial laborers for the coming year or so. I'll have to see where we can cut corners or switch tasks around. But they should be gathering the vis now. I didn't have the heart to wrest the task from them, given the circumstances. Maybe later - they seem to want better jobs, so maybe train them in something else and spread the vis duties around in exchange. It's a long-term thing."
He pauses.
"Of course, all this could just be postponing the inevitable. We better find a perfectus in Europe who is in his or her right mind. Willing to bend a few rules to see justice done, in other words. Else our poor sleepers will go right back on the slaughtering block when we get back."
He sighs.
"Oh, and they also really hate the Arabs, and think we have broken some kind of a deal we made with the Cathars back in Europe. I suspect this is not all good, yet."
Plasmatoris shakes his head as the magi discuss the situaton later. "We are currently hoping that there still are perfecti who we can find - we have no actual knowledge of the Cathar situation in Europe, do we? Do they still practice?" He sighs deeply, and shakes his head. "Whatever monster decided I should be in charge of things really- Oh, wait, this is my own decision. Right, I'm a monster." He lifts a hand to Tastheus as if warding off a comment. "I am not saying it is a duty I am unable to handle," he drawls with his tight, rictus grin. "I am merely saying that I would rather be a lazy slob and not deal with it."
Okeannetis looks at Plasmatoris, and says "None of us can be a lazy slob. Not with this complete change. And we'll have to deal with it."
She looks at her fellow Magi before continuing "I don't know what others have planned for way to get to and from Europe, and am sure some of you might be more versed in Rego Corpus than I am. I don't know, nor care, what shapechanging spells my former self had learned, but I do plan to invent new ones, but it will take me time to improve my Muto Corpus, to a level where I can do that. It might afford us a faster way to get to and from Europe, and once I research such spells, I would be willing to invest them into a device, so that others might make use of it as well, if it pleases this council."
Plasmatoris lets his manic smile into something a bit calmer, more natural. "I do understand, Maga. I will do my best to handle everything put forth. I can promise my full effort. But I cannot promise I will not complain about the weight we all must carry."
"You're right about that. Wait a while, I'll see what Winitran knows. He is not one of the Cathars, but maybe he has heard something. He hasn't lost his memory, after all."
@silveroak Lares gets up from the table and heads out, looking for Winitran. He asks him if he has heard anything about the current situation of the Cathars in Europe.
Winitran nods "At minimum the Catholics believe there are Cathar's in France, since they are still hunting them down and every year or two they execute a few people they claim are Cathars. I do know that two years ago one of the covenant Cathars underwent his perfecti ceremony before leaving for France for missionary work, so unless the Inquisition has killed him there is presumably at least one Cathar perfecti in France. I should mention he was granted a longevity ritual before he underwent purification, in order to prolong the missionary work in the case he was not caught.
"'Catholics believe' - you make it sound like the Catholics invented the Cathars just to be able to execute people."
Lares chuckles.
"Can you describe this perfectus who left the covenant? He would make an excellent contact if we can find him. And... it was two years ago, you say?"
Having presumably gotten the description, Lares goes to the Cathar leadership and asks them if they could look to see if they have any memorabilia of the perfectus who left. "Especially hair, blood, bodyparts - anything of his body. It could help us immensely in trying to locate him."