Her priestesses (all female, all virgin) seek to emulate her, and they are warrior-maidens and wise as well. They take the role of protectors, and their Castings deal with protecting themselves and their chosen area (as Athena was said to be the defender of Athens).
E/F/M: This Casting benefits the priestess by giving her insight into Minerva's accrued battle wisdom. With but a glance at the threatening force (which must be a creature of some sort, or perhaps a battalion or
small army), the priestess can determine whether the force is a nuisance, a minor threat, a major threat, or a nearly undefeatable threat.
Fastparry Formula
Time: 1 BT
Area: One subject
Distance: Touch
Other Heka Costs:
R&D: Nil
Other: 10:1 additional BT
E/F/M: By means of this Casting, the Priestess grants one free Parry per CT for as long as the Casting lasts. Of course, a suitable weapon must be employed, and damage is accrued to the weapon as per normal. The duration of the Casting may be extended by 1 BT for each additional 10 Heka spent, to a limit of 1 BT per 10 STEEP.
E/F/M: This Casting grants the Priestess immediate insight into her foes, detailing for her their relative strength, how effective they are in employing their weapons, their level of strategy, and, upon a Special Success, a weakness that they possess (provided there is one). The insight is fleeting, and the Priestess temporarily gains 10 STEEP in her Combat, Hand Weapons, and her effective armor is doubled for the duration of the Casting (she knows exactly where to strike, and how best to avoid the blows). To simulate the strength and effectiveness knowledge, the JM should grant the player knowledge of the opponent's appropriate attacking STEEP (rounded to the nearest 10 STEEP), and Physical TRAIT (rounded to the nearest 10), and this may be updated for any of the opponents for the duration of the Casting only.
Shield Strengthen Formula
Time: 1 BT
Area: One shield
Distance: Touch
Other Heka Costs:
R&D: Nil
Other: 10:1 additional BT
E/F/M: This Formula boosts the protective abilities of the Priestess' (or another's) shield, doubling its effectiveness in absorbing damage, and effectively halving damage done to it. It may only be cast on a shield (nothing that can be used as a weapon), and the duration may be extended by an additional BT for every 10 additional Heka spent. Once the shield is destroyed, the Casting on it dissipates. This Casting may not be made permanent in any way (although it is said that the highest of priestesses have much more powerful, and secret, Castings to make permanent shields of this type for themselves).
E/F/M: This Casting allows the priestess to create a shield for herself from nothing. This shield will exist for one Battle Turn, although it's existence can be extended by an additional BT for every 10 additional Heka spent. The shield should be treated as a Large Tower Shield, with no susceptibility to Electricity (and no protection either), and it lasts until the shield is destroyed by damage accrued to it, the Priestess wills it to be gone, or the Casting ends.
E/F/M: This Ritual, taking a full hour to perform, blesses the members of a single army. No more than 10 people per point of STEEP possessed by the Priestess may be so blessed, and all must be able to hear her words. Each member of the army will receive 10 points of Heka-engendered Physical armor, to last for the day or until damage absorbed by it causes its destruction, and a 5-point boost to their Combat, Hand Weapons STEEP. Note that the cost of the Ritual simply allows it to be performed, an additional 10 Heka must be spent per person being affected (so a Priestess with 50 STEEP may be able to affect up to 500 people, but suppose she has a mere 275 Heka left; she spends 75 to activate the Ritual, and then the remaining 200 to affect people, so 20 members of the army are affected, her choice of which).
The army being so blessed must somehow be defending the interests of their home, otherwise the effects dissipate.
E/F/M: By means of this Casting, the Priestess invokes Minerva in a ritual that takes a full hour to perform, and must be performed before all people to be affected. The defenders being affected may not be more than 10 per point of STEEP possessed, and the cost in Heka per defender is a mere one point of Heka. Each defender receives 25 points of Heka-engendered Physical Armor, to last for the day or until damage absorbed exceeds its protection (much like the Armor, Physical Cantrip), and a boost of 10 STEEP in their Combat, Hand Weapons K/S Area. Note that the effects extend only to the city limits and its immediate environs, so that an army cannot be blessed in a town and then marched to a nearby locale. Anyone leaving the town and its immediate environs immediately loses the effects. In other words, a strike to break a siege is permissible, pursuing the fleeing army causes the benefits to be lost.
The effects are doubled for any town that officially marks Minerva or Athena as its protectress and patron (such as Athens).