Monument Tests > The Test Of Imbuement

The Test of Imbuement (Amtep)

(This isn't a complete description, more of a set of ideas for a worship test that doesn't require much in the way of resources.)

There's also a forum thread.

Summary

A succession of priests creates a ritual blade and imbues it with sufficient earth energy to make it holy. No priest may touch the blade twice.

Steps

The process starts when someone forges a ritual blade on an anvil. The blades are like resin wedges and other modern implements, in that there is a limit to the number of blows that can be used to improve them. There is no minimum quality, so anyone can make one, but higher quality ones are better for the test.

Then, a group of four priests brings it to a location of their choosing and does a ritual to bury it there. During the ritual, they receive visions that tell them how long the blade should remain buried, in terms of a minimum and a maximum number of days.

Later, a group of four different priests can come and do another ritual to dig it up, if they know the right location. If the timing is right and the ritual is correctly executed, the blade will be imbued with an extra 1000 to 3000 points of quality. If priests are too early or too late or did the ritual wrong, then the blade returns to the way it was forged.

If the extra quality has put the blade over 10000 points of quality, then it becomes a "perfect ritual blade", and the group that dug it up can deliver it to a university of worship in order to pass the test. If the blade is still under 10000, then it will have to be buried again at a different location.

Every time the blade is dug up, it has to be by a group of priests that have not handled the blade before. This means that the priests who bury a blade are always doing it in order to help other people pass the test, never for themselves.

The minimum and maximum time, and the amount of quality that is gained, all depend on the location chosen. Over time, priests will learn which are the best spots for burial. An average spot might have a minimum of 7 days and a maximum of 14, and add 1500 quality points.