The Kettle of Infinite Stew

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

I have an idea for a (winter) covenant magical item, but I'm not sure if I can do it the way I think I can, and I would like extra eyes on it.

This is an enchanted kettle which keeps the contents from going stale, rancid, or bad. As the stew is served up, the cook will add more meat, fish, vegetables, and water to keep it full. The enchantment ensures that no one gets sick from a bad piece of food that's been sitting in the kettle too long, keeps the water from filming over with grease, and so on.

The base guidelines, as best I can figure, are:

  • Creo Animal 2 (by comparison with the Creo Corpus guideline of the same level) to preserve a carcass from decay.
  • Muto Aquam 2? Not sure about this one, but I'm going with this, for the "change a natural liquid into another natural liquid." effect, changing "putrid or filmy water" into "clean water or broth"
  • Creo Herbam 1, based on "prevent a plant from becoming sick" to keep the vegetables from going bad.

The Duration would be Sun, with an Environmental Trigger: Sunrise/Sunset to keep it going in perpetuity, and Range: Touch for affecting everything within the kettle.

Would the Target be Individual, Group, or Part? I'm leaning toward Individual, but I can make a strong case for Group, since it's multiple cuts of meat and vegetables all with a mass less that that of an Individual.

If I were to create the item now, it would look like this:
CrAn 5
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind
[tab][/tab]Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun
Usable twice a day (+1) with an Environmental Trigger: Sunrise/Sunset (+3), for a final Enchantment Level of 9.

MuAq 5
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind
[tab][/tab]Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun
Usable twice a day (+1) with an Environmental Trigger: Sunrise/Sunset (+3), for a final Enchantment Level of 9.

CrHe 4
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind
[tab][/tab]Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Sun
Usable twice a day (+1) with an Environmental Trigger: Sunrise/Sunset (+3), for a final Enchantment Level of 8.

All in all, three pawns of vis, plus the 20 to open it – 5 for base metal (iron) times 4 for Large.

2

Didn't most inn keep such stew going for years, if not centuries for some?

Maybe some Rego to keep miasma out and stop spontaneous generation from occuring is enough.

3

It's called a 'master stock' and it's still done today in some places (China, for example), though modern refrigeration makes it a lot easier. There's also the notion of the 'perpetual stew' and 'mother dough', and some beer starters may be centuries old as well.

4

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_stew is a better fit.

5

I agree with Tugdual and John Prins: keep the pot boiling (or have it boil at least a few minutes every day) and contents won't "go bad". That's immensely easy to do with a CrIg spell cast just once, perhaps even spontaneously: in our saga it's called (it sees lots of usage, including the occasional gift/sale to mundanes)
The everboiling pot, CrIg 15, R:Touch, D:Ring, T:Ind
Cast on the outer border of a circular pot, it keeps it at boiling temperature essentially forever (or at least until the pot suffers sufficient wear and tear to break the D:Ring effect).
(Base 4, +1Touch, +2Ring)

Note that "water filming over with grease" is normal even if you cook fresh stuff, as grease tends to be lighter than water - all you need is turn the stuff a bit with a spoon before serving!

That said, if you don't want a boiling pot, but something more like a fridge (except that it keeps edible stuff fresh, rather than cool) I'd use the guidelines from Covenants, pp.50-51, that keep Animal and Herbam stuff from spoiling with a CrAn/CrHe level 2 guideline and make (for just 1 pawn of vis):
The unimaginatively-named container of ever-fresh food, CrHe/An 9, R:Per, D:Constant, T:Ind
This wooden container, one pace to a side, keeps its contents from spoiling. Note that R:Per, T:Ind allow the caster (in this case the container) to affect itself and all the things it is wearing or carrying (Arm5, p.111).
Base 2, +1requisite, +2Sun, +3 levels environmental trigger, +1 level 2uses/day

6

Nobody seems to like (or at least refer to) The Vitalizer of Provisions (Covenants, p. 52, CrAn (He) 19)?

7

I had actually forgotten about that. Not what I was looking for, but I can see the covenant having at least one of those, as well.

8

I know it is modern science, but it explains the old technique of letting the cauldron always over a fire: above 65 °C, harmful micro-organisms cannot grow thus cannot spoil your dish.
Notice that they cannot grow, but it does not kill them, it is not pasteurisation.

If you keep a kettle simmering, it is enough to achieve good pasteurisation over relative short time (since simmering means 100°C).
Again, it is modern knowledge, but people were already familiar with food spoilage and discovered (without understanding the science behing it) ways to preserve food through cooking/drying/salting/sugar preservation/fermentation, etc...

So it is reasonable to have spell which can turn milk into perfectly fine cheese, grapes into wine and fresh cod into bacalhau (using sea water as source of salt). None of these spells should requires virtus since they can all be achieved through Rego or Perdo (for the drying aspect).

9

The Hot Pot idea is brilliant. I think you don't want it boiling hot, though. You'll overcook most everything. Stews and other slow-cooked pot dishes are more in the range of 160-170 F / 74-76 C. This may be a base effect of CrIg 3 or 4, depending on what you want.