Nevill said:
So, basically, one more mage and we can blow Muirthemne to the sky? With King Alric and all the Heron Guards? And it can be done with just a group of beginner mages?
How come no one tried this during the wars, either on our side or on the enemy's?
I can't say I like this spell, unless there is some catch involved.
Well you can certainly try... can't guarantee that it will actually work though.
There are a couple things working against using the spell as a WMD historically.
One - it is not a well known spell, the Deceiver cast it once to try and ambush Soulblighter but that was it. It is doubtful that most archmages know of its existence in the first place.
Two - It requires actual clear memories of your target. The Avatara did not have clear memories of the Fallen Lords' armies readily available while the Fallen Lords did not have a clear picture of the Province from which to bomb cities and armies. Balor
did use a spell on old Muirthemne that wiped out everything between the city and the mountains to the west and it may have been similar but then Balor did not actually go West in the first place. He left the conquest of the Province largely to his underlings, often with disastrous results.
Three - There are no scrying spells in the setting, if you want memories of a place then you will have to send someone (a mage so you can use them in the ritual) to physically experience it and then you will have to hope they have a good memory or that the location was very important to them.
As for problems with wiping out the Capital for your group:
First, it is possible to block the formation of the gate in the first place.
-Some magical items give off enough undirected energies to prevent a mage from getting a "lock" in the first place. So in cases like that you would have to remove the source of interference or find a way to control it.
-Any Archmage worth his salt will be able to detect what you are doing in the half hour to full hour it would take to open a stable gate (once the anchor is in place anyone with the ability can try and find it, a gifted mage could probably sense it as soon as you attach the anchor). So if you are trying to drop this on someone with real power you would need a way to hide the buildup.
-Alric
does know about the spell from the accounts of the men that fought with the Deciever and he has had his mages work out basic counter spells to prevent the formation of Gates within the Imperial District. When combined with the defensive wards in place around the locations both the Palace Complex in Muirthemne and in Madrigal could probably take the best you give them and still survive. Civilian casualties would be near 100% but the military target would still be standing. The Emperor would then likely declare you public enemy number one and set to work hunting you if he was able to detect the spell and trace it back while still open/under construction. It could be used to hit soft targets but do you lot really want to try and wipe out what little is left of humanity?
Second, this is a two way Gate. If you want to dump energy through to the other side it is entirely possible for a skilled archmage or group of mages to push it back through to your side and blow you up instead. If you tried to get cute and use this on Balor back when he was up and about he would probably let you open the gate, wrest control of it from you and then collapse it in on you so there is that to consider. If the Fetch had been paying closer attention or there had been a high priestess nearby it would have been a lot more difficult to close the Gate the way you did and it
would become a battle of wills.
So... it is powerful, it is useful but just be aware that there are some very competent mages and archmages out there that will be willing and able to stop you from simply blowing everything up.
