Sorcery/Ikselam
Solar Circle
Irresistible Eye of Solar Inquisition</i>
Cost: 30+ motes
(This spell comes from the Black Company novels by Glen Cook.)
This mighty spell was invented shortly after the Usurpation by a Solar despot who managed to escape the initial purge. He retreated to his Solar Sanctuary deep in the Southeastern Wyld, but still did not feel secure; although the people who lived there seemed to be his loyal retainers, he saw no reason why they couldn't be biding their time to strike when he was least prepared, just as the treacherous Terrestrial Exalted had. Although he already knew mighty Charms which allowed him to read people's minds, he desired something even more powerful, something which could break even the strongest magically-fortified will. After a year of intensive research, he created a spell which did just that.
The Irresistible Eye of Solar Inquisition targets a single individual, who must be within five yards of the caster. When the spell is cast, that individual is immediately paralyzed, and her mind becomes completely open to the caster's scrutiny. It is impossible for her to hide anything from the caster; in fact, those things which she desires to keep hidden will stand out all the more due to the emotion and willpower invested in their concealment. The only way to keep the caster from finding out something is to completely erase it from one's mind, and even that leaves telltale marks on the psyche. Nothing short of a Solar Circle spell can keep the interrogator from finding out what the target knows or doesn't know.
The interrogation trance lasts for up to two hours, plus an additional hour for each 5 motes the caster spends in addition to the spell's base cost. At the end of this time, the target regains full consciousness, but loses all her temporary willpower. She also suffers a -2 penalty to all dice pools for the next day due to lingering fatigue and disorientation. If the number of hours she spent in the trance exceeded her permanent Willpower, she loses one point of permanent Willpower for each additional hour. For mortals, this is permanent; Exalted and other magical beings roll Essence each day after the first. A success means that one point of permanent Willpower is regained; failure means nothing happens. On a botch, one point of the Willpower loss becomes permanent, and may only be recouped through xp. These rolls continue until all of the lost Willpower has either been recovered or permanently lost.
Use of the Eye is also very draining to the caster. After using the Eye, he suffers a -2 penalty to all actions for one day unless he passes a difficulty 2 Stamina + Endurance check.
The subject of the Irresistible Eye of Solar Inquisition will remember what parts of her mind the caster rifled through, although the recollection will be like memories of a nightmare, hazy and distorted. The only clear feature will be the image of a huge, burning eye, filling her field of vision and piercing into her soul. To outside observers, the only visible effect aside from the characteristic anima flare and pyrotechnics produced by any high-level sorcery will be that the caster's eyes shine with blinding golden light while he is looking at the subject.
Comments
<i>The Eye! Yeah! Excellent!
Of course, now you have to write up that spell with the snakes that eat you up from the inside... and write up the wind whales and the talking menhirs... and of course there's the White Rose...
