CERES

(Shadowy Darkness, Benign, Intermediate, Lesser Goddess)

Ceres was known to the Greeks as Demeter, mother of Proserpina (Greek Persephone). When her daughter was taken by Pluto (Hades), she grieved, and thus came the first winter. As she was taken from her mother a few months out of the year (typically six, but some tales say four), her mother's grief caused every winter to come. Yet, during the spring, Ceres' compassion was such that everything was more bountiful and sprang into bloom more quickly.

Thus, her priests and priestess' Specific Castings are focused around growing things and harvests.

Few of her priests would not assist a farmer in anything that needed doing, and even fewer would be able to resist assisting in either the sowing or the harvest. If any of the priesthoods has a humble dignity, this is it, for it is rather common to see them up to their elbows in soil, with dirt smudging their faces.

Rites to Ceres often include some small offerings, such as part of the harvest or a few seeds, and her name is on the lips of nearly all farmers who know of her.

Grade I:

Assess Field Formula
Time: Instantaneous
Area: One field
Distance: Sight
Other Heka Costs:
R&D: Nil
Other: Nil

E/F/M: This Casting allows the priest to glance quickly at a field and determine whether it would be more beneficial to have it lie fallow for the year, or plant a given crop on it, and if a crop, which one.

Seedsprout Ritual
Time: Instantaneous
Area: One seed
Distance: Touch
Other Heka Costs:
R&D: Nil
Other: Nil

E/F/M: By means of this Casting, the priest or priestess convinces a seed to begin growing. Typically, the seed will experience one week's growth per 10 STEEP possessed by the caster. If not planted within a reasonable time, the seedling will, of course, die. Nutrients needed by the seed are provided by the Casting, at least for the initial quick growth.

Grade II:

Fastweeder Formula
Time: 1 hour per 10 STEEP
Area: One subject
Distance: Touch
Other Heka Costs:
R&D: Nil
Other: Nil

E/F/M: This Casting causes a small change to the perception and speed of anyone doing weeding, and it will allow the subject of the Casting to weed twice the area that could normally be done in half the time.

Frostshield Ritual
Time: 1 day per 10 STEEP
Area: One small field
Distance: Touch
Other Heka Costs:
R&D: Nil
Other: Nil

E/F/M: By means of this ritual, the priest is able to shield a field from the effects of a frost for a brief time. If the use of this ritual is such that it is allowing the farmer(s) to ignore the normal season of planting, the ritual may very well not work. It was designed to ease an emergency, not become a crutch whereby the sowers could well become lax in their duties.

Grade III:

Earth Enrichen Ritual
Time: Instantaneous
Area: 1 cubic yard per 10 STEEP
Distance: Touch
Other Heka Costs:
R&D: Nil
Other: Nil

E/F/M: This Casting allows the priest to enrich a patch of earth, causing the earth to have twice the nutrients that would normally be found there. This will result in lush and abundant growth upon the earth, as well as above average yield.

Grade IV:

Fastharvest Ritual
Time: 1 hour per 10 STEEP
Area: One subject
Distance: Touch
Other Heka Costs:
R&D: Nil
Other: 75:1 additional subjects

E/F/M: This Casting causes the subject to harvest at twice the normal rate. Additional harvesters can be added at an expenditure of 75 Heka per additional subject. A family under the effects of this Casting could outperform most small towns!

Grade V:

Bountiful Harvest Ritual
Time: One season
Area: One field
Distance: Sight
Other Heka Costs:
R&D: Nil
Other: Nil

Special Materia Cost: an appropriate offering to Ceres worth no less than 5,000 BUCs

E/F/M: This lengthy Ritual, which requires two full hours to perform, allows the priest to bring Ceres' blessing upon the entire field (provided that it is a single crop), at the time of sowing. Once performed, the field will act as if the optimum conditions had been met for the crop, and the harvest will probably be a bumper crop. Even if certain mishaps occur during the season, the field will still survive, and anything left standing by such a mishap will recover. Typically, the ritual is performed by the church for those who have been particularly faithful.