[KoAS, Arcis Firmitas Pietas] – Enchanting and Imbuing (Private, Ongoing; Adder)

[Raliric Ered`Gard]

Timestamp: Carmelyana, Brightening IV of the Fourth Cycle of Junctior
Autumn of the Second Era of the Pax Imperialis,
First Era of the Celestine Mandate,
Thirteenth Era Post Fractum in the Regency of Milo L’Evienne.

A meeting had been called and his knights had answered; leading members of the Knighthood as well as the higher level Magi from the Magi wing had been assembled at the Centripax Headquarters for the Knighthood. It was here, in the privacy of their Citadel, that a meeting would be held to discuss a proposition that might, in the future, make the Knighthood more exclusive and appealing. Raliric, ever the one to have a meeting amongst equals, especially given the brothers he was to have a meeting with, chose the Mage Tower for the location of the meeting. It was large enough to accommodate a large gathering, and chairs and tables could be easily brought into the open, circular room for members to sit at. The set out of the room was in such a way to express the equality of the members. They sat in a circular pattern, made from square tables, and thus it was not the most appealing of set outs however it did the job.

The Knights had assembled early, having rosyn together before gathering their various note making devices and sitting at ease in the fresh mountain air that was constantly blowing through the slatted balcony doors. The meeting would begin once Raliric called it to begin for the simple reason that he was also there with them sharing their meal and talking, laughing and socializing with his brothers. Eventually he stood up and quieted the gathering down, bringing the meeting to a start would ensure they got business out of the way and could move on with having more fun or returning to their duties.

”Serale Knights, Adductae; Brothers. No doubt you are all wondering why I have called you all here this brightening; and no, Ilbieth,” He said fondly, turning to look at one of the senior officers who happened to be an Ork. ”it was not so that you could eat that feast of a rosyn!” He smiled, the fondness for the Ork showing clearly upon his features as the majority of the knight's chuckled; two dwarves laughing the loudest and banging their fists on the table loudly before drinking a portion of their mugs of ale. ”No, we are here to discuss the matter of armour and weaponry. The loss of a substantial amount of our heavy equipment in the previous two seasons was unfortunate and a set back that the Knighthood will take some time to recoup given how stretched our funds currently are. I am in the process of devising a way that we can be sponsored but not owned by those who sponsor us. It shall be difficult, however we are unfortunately given no other choice at this juncture.” He paused, glancing around at the myriad of faces, of different races, ages and backgrounds, who looked to him and nodded, agreeing. None of them wished to be controlled by a government or military directly, nor did they wish to be titled mercenaries. They were knights and they had earnt that title and distinction.

”That is also not why I have called you here. The business this brightening is with regards to the form, make and arcane nature of our weaponry.” He noticed that now the dwarves and Orks seemed to be taken back slightly, they were not the fondest of creatures for arcana but they had served close enough to magi to not be afraid of such. ”You all remember our beloved Knight Parreyon Syndicus, and the Honourary Knight Cerius. These men both possessed weapons that were arcanically advanced; they were enchanted and imbued. Knight Syndicus had been gifted a blade known as a Sunblade during his time serving as an Imperial Sun in Imperia; this blade contained some very interesting and helpful enchantments, though I am unaware of exactly what they were. Many of you with backgrounds in Religious institutions will also know of the Paladin's Soulblades, a weapon that, whilst being forged, was bound with the essence of the eventual wielder, giving the weapon a certain random power that could be wielded by that holy warrior.” Another pause so that he could get to what he was really saying on the issue. ”I propose that we, the Knights of the Argent Sword and the Adductae Fulguru, create our own weaponry which is enchanted and crafted in a unique. It will fill our members with a certain pride to have earned the right to possess such a weapon, and distinguish us from others wielding normal weapons. Not only should our weapons vary in design to normal weaponry, but they should also possess a certain degree of arcane ability that can be accessed by our members.” His last pause before opening the floor.

”What say you? Do you agree and if so I would like suggestions as to what we can do to make our weapons unique in structure; even if it is simply a symbol or something added to it to distinguish it; and what enchantments should be applied to these weapons.”

[Nimh]

The assembled seemed to take the suggestion with an ease of contemplation, many with expressions that belied their consideration. Enchanted or even imbued weapons were not a terribly bad idea, but would they be weapons of honor? That he mentioned other knights who have held similarly enchanted weapons helped push them past this question of honor and many were nodding in what appeared to be consent and agreement with Raliric's suggestion.

The first to speak was Barthanes, the master Thaumaturge rising from his seat. His taloned hands rested against the table where his meal sat nearly completed and he bent forward slightly to glance around at the others gathered. "I think you have done us all a service in bringing this option to our attention," he started formally, raising a talon to scratch along the scaled line of his chin. "I would be glad to provide my own abilities to help cast the enchantments of imbuement into several of the weapons, as I am sure the others who are most capable in this field would also lend their skills. It is simply a matter of the spells, you are right. As to the make and structure of the weapons, I can lend no advice."

Some of the others around the table had shifted, either rising or differentiating themselves from the others by some movement. These were notably journeymen in their chosen field of arcana, some whose faces were poised as if running through lists in their minds.

"As for myself," Barthanes continued, "I would suggest the spells of Sacred Strike, Righteous Stun, Smite, Empower, and Wrath of the Holy. These, however, are all rather offensive in nature. Do you believe we should include spells of a more...defensive...nature?" He canted his head slightly, snout rising as he drew in a deep breath.

The others hadn't spoken yet or offered up suggestion, perhaps waiting to see where Raliric might lean towards in regards to the sort of spells that should be employed.

[Raliric Ered`Gard]

OOC: Lost a post I had written earlier because of a crappy internet connection, so I put this post together quickly.

”Aye, a mixture would perhaps be more advantageous, perhaps erring on the side of defense rather than offense. We all know what occurred at Zerdargia when too much offensive arcana is used.” He did not bother rising in his seat, not just yet anyway. ”My suggestions for spells would be Nimbility, Holy Armour, Symbol of Tanys and, yes, Empower. Most notably Nimbility, Empower and Holy Armour, in order to boost the Knights physical and also giving them shielding capabilities against Arcana. More so if Holy Armour is increased in power to that of a Journeyman. Symbol of Tanys might be a good addition for group confrontations. Another would perhaps be calm, through a personal effect rather than area effect might be more beneficial. And perhaps some Healing spells to allow wounded men the ability to heal themselves quickly and thus stave off death. Offensively the spells you suggested would indeed prove helpful against singular opponents. I would also suggest some area effect offensive spells from Elementalism and Sorcery. Though delivery of such offensive magic will take some discussion.”

It was a nice way of bringing the Elementalists and Sorcerers into the discussion so that they could give their views and ideas.

[Nimh]

Baranthes nodded slightly, seeming to agree with Raliric's suggestions for the spells. "Those would work for such a purpose," he concurred.

And all eyes shifted towards the remaining elementalist and the sorcerer, who had yet to give suggestions of their own. The elvish elementalist Synithyn was the first of the two journeyman to break his silence. He seemed to have given his words careful consideration--typical of an elf--and was in no rush to put the information before him. "There are but a few that I might suggest from the view of an elementalist. Earth spike, for one, as well as Blade of Fire, Column of Flame, and Wind Blast. Those would be my best suggestions. I hope my compatriots would agree..." He glanced around at the other elementalists at the table, none of which who had any points to argue there.

"As for spells of sorcery, Star of Force, Force Shock, and Force Blast I would recommend should you wish to be on the offensive. Defense spells you might find useful...Force Shield, Rebound...Reflect. There is one I am not certain how to employ, but the spell of Vision might be useful in some form or another," the journeyman sorcerer put in his own two silvers, scratching at his sideburns with a thoughtful look creasing his brow.

[Raliric Ered`Gard]

The knight had, some eras past, read a great deal of books on the other diciplines of arcana, memorizing their pages and learning their spells so that one day he would be able to create replicas of those standard spells; but using his own sphere. That brightening had yet to come, however he still remembered a great deal of the spells and what they did, if a little hazily. ”All good suggestions. I would think that Reflect would be of great assistance to the Knights given its nature of being defensive and returning offending strikes back onto the attacker. As for vision, I believe it could be of use to scouts, allowing them to look further ahead of the force to check for enemies. Perhaps coupled with Sanctuary it would be a most effective means of ascertaining if there is any living presence ahead of them. But what of Undead? Is there a more effective way of learning of their pretense?” He glanced about the room, wondering if there was a spell that had already been created to sense undead; if there wasn't he would proceed.

”We can of course create a spell to that effect,” He turned to Barthanes, ”Perhaps using the essence of life, similar to the Sanctuary Spell, perhaps we can alter it to show us where there is an absence of life. If the undead is summoned it will be an abundance of death essence and thus it will be like a black hole in the Sanctuary Spell, as the essences will cancel each other out when they meet. As for naturally occurring Undead...” He shrugged, unable to explain how this might occur but had no doubt that it was a possibility, there were Vampires after all. ”I don't think there is a way we can sense them. Only with sight would that be possible.”

Discussing the matter of the fashioning of spells to detect undead was something that was needed for the organization given that the empire was troubled by extremely powerful necromancers. And thus he would continue that conversation before moving onto the next.

”I believe it would be beneficial to have a permanent enchantment of Righteous Aura upon our weapons, with a specific way of activating it so that the non-magic users are able to. Perhaps a connection through divinity that, once the hilt is grasped, allows for the mental command to take place to activate the enchantment. A link, if you will, between knight and weapon.”

[Nimh]

Barthanes inclined his cheek slightly as Raliric addressed him, speaking of creating a spell that might work to sense undead. "It can be done--the creation of a spell to achieve what you are asking. As of now there are no such spells that work in such a fashion, but we can create such a one. It will take a little trial and error, but it shouldn't be out of our reach." And hard to immediately test without any undead in the immediate vicinity. "We can at least work to see if we can somehow reach a remedy for the problem. Trial and error--you may wish to hold off on imbuing such a spell until we are positive that it works."

At the second turn of direction that the conversation had taken, the master thaumaturge frowned, looking rather thoughtful. "As I am the only person here who could cast such an enchantment, that would be draining to enchant all weapons. I can do but one a month--only one enchantment," he repeated. "As you can see, gentlemen, this would take us sometime to accomplish." He grinned faintly. "Our limitations are thus: There can be but one imbuement per weapon and I would suggest placing the imbuement within the hilt of the blade...not the blade, for just the slightest chip and..." he shook his head. "The results would not be favorable, I'm afraid."

He shifted, looking at the other journeyman who would be adding in this endeavor. Imbuements were not such a difficult thing in comparison to the more involved enchantments. "So if we could settle upon how many you wish to enchant--how many months you wish for this to take--I can be more assistance there. The imbuements should be of no difficult, so long as you understand that there can be but one per weapon. We can perhaps imbuement bracelets or pendants to wear about the neck with other imbuements, if that is your wish."

[Raliric Ered`Gard]

”Oh, I have no intention of getting the Magi of the Knights to be enchanting and imbuing for the next few years to get all of our weapons the way we wish them, that would be foolish and unfair to you all. No, we will do a weapon or two here and there as we progress. There is no rush whatsoever.” A broad smile to indicate that he meant what he said, then he addressed the others concerns. ”The creation of a spell to detect undead should not be very difficult, but I agree it will be hard to test it and ensure that it works correctly. Let us hope, for now, that we do not have that opportunity.” By saying this he obviously meant that he did not wish to face such a thing as Zerdargia again, where there were countless undead and necromancers. ”A more controlled environment might be more acceptable for something like that.” And he moved on once again.

”I believe that the first imbuement or enchantment should be Righteous Aura or Nimbility. Something that will either enhance our abilities or add a certain edge to our battle potential. At first I believe the Knight’s should have their weapons taken care of, from highest ranking to lowest. Beginning with Gedriwyn and yourself Barthanes; and then moving down from there.” That took care of who was to be enchanted or imbued first and foremost, and then he moved on to the matter of how many enchantments or imbuements could take place on one weapon.

”We can enchant or imbue more than one spell onto one weapon, so long as that weapon is crafted of multiple parts. For instance.” He withdrew one of his Graw’lak and held it up for all to see, pointing at various parts of it which, for anyone who knew of how a weapon was crafted, knew were made seperately and joined together when the blade had been finished. ”The blade is a single part of the weapon, the crossguard another, the grip another and the pommel another. Thus, in even this weapon it could contain four enchantments. Though I agree, enchanting the blade would not be adviseable due to its ease in being chipped. However, a gem or stone of some description could be inlaid into the center of the blade, close to the crossguard so that it does not weaken it, and this could be enchanted to react to the weapon.” He pointed to thee guard. ”I would advise the main enchantment to either be placed in the guard, either as a gem or the guard itself, or in the grip. These parts will see the least amount of damage.”

”Our only problem after this is forming some way for an arcanically inept person to activate the enchantment or imbuement. Gedriwyn for example cannot use Arcana and thus cannot use the technique activate. Either there should be a mental link established via divination upon gripping the weapon, or the enchantments and imbuements should be passively linked to simply touching a certain part of the weapon. A touch upon the gem to activate the enchantment, etc.” A shrug, this he would leave up to the other magi in the room to discuss more on as many of them were more skilled and more learned in the Arcane field than he.

”As for Amulets and pendants and such, these are a good idea also. Though they should probably contain the shielding spells.” He took a moment to reach up and unclip something from his uniform which he then held in his other hand for all to see. It was a pin that had the crest of the Knighthood upon it, though modified slightly to show his rank. ”This for example would be a prime piece of jewelry to imbued with either a healing spell or shielding spell. Each knight could be issued one upon joining the knighthood and once the imbuements had been completed it would just need to be recharged. As the Knighthood grows this would be more of a possibility. It could be activated with touch and spoken word, both together, and thus allow any knight to use them.” A shrug, just another possibility.

[Nimh]

The dracon shrugged slightly. "That is true, yes, that you could place more than one spell in the hilt, but this works best prior to the time when the weapons are pieced together. We could very well imbue each part of the weapon, but it is almost of a surety to work...incorrectly. The spell, that is. In order for each piece to hold an imbuement--or enchantment--without issue, the spells must be added prior to the hilt being pieced together. Of course, you could try it, but the spells would prove faulty. It would be best to keep one imbuement per weapon, unless you plan to outfit everyone with new swords?"

He frowned in such a manner that only a dracon can and shifted from one foot to the other. "But I do concur, that the issue at hand would be how to activate them... It cannot always hold true that someone with the Skill will be present to assist in it and not all here, I am sorry to say, will have the ability to even unbind themselves. Such is the way of arcana. But we could, as you suggested, find some way to activate it. What you speak of is...rare. There are few versed in arcana who have been tutored at that skill. My focus has been more on the battlefield than in the scholar's room. I have not learned this."

He shifted thoughtfully. "I think, because of this, a better course of action would be to supply the senior non-mages with enchantments, then work our way down to those who are capable of working arcana, as to provide them with some measure of protection that those of who can already cast a spell can already work. How are you inclined towards this idea?"

[Raliric Ered`Gard]

OOC: Apologies for the short post. Pressed for time at present.

The dracon in human form nodded his agreement to all that had been said. They would indeed need to study how to make the enchantments accessible for the non-magi, though he believed that at the end of the brightening it would a simple affair, a little addition of divination and it would work well enough. ”Agreed. Supply the senior non-magi and work our way to those who can use arcana.” A nod, a moment of thought before he spoke again. ”That would mean Gedriwyn, Nydilaba, Cilawin and Belaw as the first four. Four Longswords.”

[Nimh]

ooc: tis fine - posts don't always have to be nice and lengthy - I couldn't do much with mine today either x.x

ic:
"Very well. So are we agreed." There was a lull of a silence as Barthanes contemplated on the topic a bit longer, and then nodded. "So then we will start with the spells Righteous Aura and Nimbility for Thaumaturgic spells and ensure that we bless first the longswords of Gedriwyn, Nydilaba, Cilawin, and Belaw."

He rubbed his scaled hands together thoughtfully."Are we then working only with the spells of Thaumaturgy or will be adding in spheres further down the line?" His mouth parted slightly, then clicked shut, shifted from one foot to the other. "It might be best if it is so for the Thaumaturgic spells might offer the best in ways of protection... And when, Raliric, do you wish to start this endeavor?"

[Raliric Ered`Gard]

”Aye, start with those four and test their effects and how they will work. Once we have worked that method out we can similarly begin the enchantment of the rest of the members of the Knighthood.” He nodded once more, ”The other spheres can be brought into the mix once we have established the initial enchantments are working as we wish them to. Then Elementalist spells and Sorcerous spells can be implimented with the same care for the non-arcanists.”

Raliric had not mentioned his own weaponry being enchanted for the simple reason that he no longer had his trusty bec-de-corbin and because it was being reforged as they spoke. When it was completed he would no doubt bring it before Barthanes and ask for the enchantments to be made.

”Not immediately. This brightening was meant for discussion and formulating a plan of action. We have done that and so the rest of this brightening will be for rest and to see to your other duties. We will begin the process on Solaria. All work on these enchantments will be performed in the Mage Tower on the top level. Thus allowing for the maximum effect of the Planar alignments whilst we perform these tasks.”

[Nimh]

ooc: As I am retiring, I would suggest looking for someone else to take control of this thread for you

ic:
Barthanes nodded slightly. "It sounds as good a way to go about it as any," he agreed. "Better to see how everything turns out first, you're right."

He regarded the others at the table who would be partaking in the endeavors, the adepts of the various spheres. They would not be lending their aid just yet, not while the thaumaturgy spells were being worked into the weapons, but at least they could give help on reaching the conclusions they'd need regarding the issues they had thus far encountered.

"Very well. This brightening for relaxing. Tomorrow we will begin trying to reach conclusions on the dilemmas that have been posed and Solaria...on Solaria I will begin work on the enchantment, others on the imbuements." So that was that and, indeed, the rest of the brightening went towards relaxing and other such duties that they worked at. They would begin the strenuous beginnings of their work come Solaria.

[Raliric Ered`Gard]

Raliric nodded, agreeing with Barthanes and the other Magi. ”Very well. Everyone, back to your meal and enjoy the darkening and the morrow. We have work on the Solaria.” Then he sat and began to finish the snacks that had been provided and the drink in his hand.

On the Solaria, the Enchantments and Imbuements began.