How to master a rune or technique (sorcery)?

[Squaredeal Sten]

How exactly, in game mechanics and character action  terms, does a character master a rune, for sorcery purposes?   How does that character master a new technique? 

RQiG p.384 does have a paragraph on his, which says there is an INT threshold and then there is an INT+POW roll, augmentable,  to ‘achieve intellectual union”.  Then sacrifice 1 POW.  These attempts can be made at a rate of one per season. 

But can the character just make that roll at the end of every season no matter that he has no instructor nor book on this, nor has he devoted any specific share of his time to researching it?  Does it make any difference that he is a Lhankor Mhy initiate, or by profession a  Philosopher, or an Aeolian,  or on the other extreme can he be an Orlanth lay member who has spent his season herding sheep and looking at the stars at night and is illiterate, or a slave hoeing corn on a Lunar plantation?  Same INT+POW roll in all cases?

 

This is a live question because in one of my campaigns a Lhankor Mhy initiate has expressed interest in learning sorcery.  IAW RQiG p.389 every Lhankor Mhy initiate is taught to master the Truth rune and the Command technique “upon” initiation, (not as part of it?) so we can start with the assumption that he mastered these even though right now he doesn’t know boo about sorcery.  But what if he wants to master a second rune and / or a second technique?

 

I am pretty certain that this has nothing to do with having a rune affinity.  You can’t argue  that a very high rune affinity might mean mastery because RQiG p.381 says “A sorceror’s understanding of a rune is not based on their affinity with that rune, nor is it a skill.” 

 

And RQiG p.383 says that sorcery techniques are also not-skills.

Pp.117-118 of the new Runequest Weapons and Equipment book only explain costs of learning a sorcery spell, and do not enlighten me much about the process of mastering a rune.  It does say that “  A mentor can also reduce the amount of time spent attempting to learn a Rune. A sorcerous mentor with a proper library provides a bonus of +30% to a ritual for learning a Rune or… “ but there is no indication of what that base time or cost is, that the 30% bonus would be applied to, or how long such a ritual might take.

 

It appears to me that the process under the “rune magic training” section (RQ W&E p.117) for learning a new rune is only for learning a new rune affinity,  which starts at 0% and gives a gain of about 2% per season.  This is not the same as gaining mastery of a rune which is needed in sorcery.  Mastery of runes and of techniques is explained as a yes-no thing, not a skill to be learned in increments.

[Ian_W]

Before you and your player go further in rules, you as a GM need to have a think about the Lhankor Mhy cult, sorcery and the society they live in.

My two clacks worth is that Ljankor Mhy got heavily mucked around with by the God Learners, and their sorcerous tradition is a remnant of the Middle Sea Empire using the Lawspeaker cult as a means of finding out all sorts of secrets. If you've got a player who wants to go down that path, have a think about these specific issues In Your Glorantha.

 

1. What do the other Lightbringer cults know about sorcery and the LM, and do they have the same view on LM sorcery as the godless, probably chaos tainted sorcerous magics of the Westerners, Arkati and/or Lunars ?

2. What social roles do LM sorcerors fit ? Are they the sophisticated urban spirit specialists that Old Ways traditionally used Kolating shamans for ?

3. How do LM sorcerors think their magic fits the Western, Arkati and Lunar/Carmanian traditions of sorcery ? Or do they see it as something completely different ?

4. What do non-sorceror LM think about LM who use sorcery ?

After you sort that stuff roleplaying and world building stuff out, you can then think about rules.

[metcalph]

I think that mastering a rune requires study and illumination and the amount of time required for it is the same as if you were training or researching a rune in one season (rulebook p416-417).  The difference is you are trying to grok the theoretical part of the rune rather than the affinity.  Don't forget to use sympathetic magic bonuses.  If you are swotting at the Jonstown Library you would get a +20% on the roll (Major Rune Association p388) but if you studied Fire during Dark Season you might get a -15%.  

[Scotty]

6 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

How exactly, in game mechanics and character action  terms, does a character master a rune, for sorcery purposes?   How does that character master a new technique? 

RQiG p.384 does have a paragraph on his, which says there is an INT threshold and then there is an INT+POW roll, augmentable,  to ‘achieve intellectual union”.  Then sacrifice 1 POW.  These attempts can be made at a rate of one per season.

But can the character just make that roll at the end of every season no matter that he has no instructor nor book on this, nor has he devoted any specific share of his time to researching it?  Does it make any difference that he is a Lhankor Mhy initiate, or by profession a  Philosopher, or an Aeolian,  or on the other extreme can he be an Orlanth lay member who has spent his season herding sheep and looking at the stars at night and is illiterate, or a slave hoeing corn on a Lunar plantation?  Same INT+POW roll in all cases?

The key part of that that section is:

Quote

To master a new Rune or technique, the sorcerer must achieve intellectual union with the source of their magic (be it the Invisible God, the One, the Great Mind, Logic, or whatever the sorcerer’s philosophy holds to be the case).

The adventurer needs to be part of a cult, school or society that has a sorcerous aspect, otherwise they are not going to have the correct philosophy to support sorcery. Likewise they need to have the capacity to learn Runes & Techniques (the INT requirement)

6 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

This is a live question because in one of my campaigns a Lhankor Mhy initiate has expressed interest in learning sorcery.  IAW RQiG p.389 every Lhankor Mhy initiate is taught to master the Truth rune and the Command technique “upon” initiation, (not as part of it?) so we can start with the assumption that he mastered these even though right now he doesn’t know boo about sorcery.  But what if he wants to master a second rune and / or a second technique?

The easiest way of looking at this mastery of Runes & Techniques is like an initiation ritual. As it costs a POW, the ritual is likely an hour long (not including ritual preparation). In the case of a Lhankor Mhy initiate without a sorcerous mentor, they would need at a minimum, access to a sorcerous library for at least 4 weeks (with a teacher gives +30%).

[Shiningbrow]

12 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

AW RQiG p.389 every Lhankor Mhy initiate is taught to master the Truth rune and the Command technique “upon” initiation, (not as part of it?) so we can start with the assumption that he mastered these even though right now he doesn’t know boo about sorcery.

Well, we *know* that can't be true, because not every LM initiate will have the INT to learn Runes or Techniques. So, I think - only those heading down a sorcerous path would learn them - certainly not forcing everyone with the INT to be forced to learn them (and sacrifice the POW).

I think it's already been said that some factions within the LM temple structure are anti-sorcery, while others are obviously pro- (and presumably, some on the fence). Character creation indicates something like this, as you have to choose either spirit magic or sorcery.

[Squaredeal Sten]

12 hours ago, Scotty said:

The key part of that that section is:

The adventurer needs to be part of a cult, school or society that has a sorcerous aspect, otherwise they are not going to have the correct philosophy to support sorcery. Likewise they need to have the capacity to learn Runes & Techniques (the INT requirement)

The easiest way of looking at this mastery of Runes & Techniques is like an initiation ritual. As it costs a POW, the ritual is likely an hour long (not including ritual preparation). In the case of a Lhankor Mhy initiate without a sorcerous mentor, they would need at a minimum, access to a sorcerous library for at least 4 weeks (with a teacher gives +30%).

Speaking of that +30%, what is the base chance ?  I don't see any reference for it.  Because of the "bonus" sentence I infer that it is a chance, not a sure thing.  Aha! it is on page 384 of RQiG; INT+POW roll on D100, augmentable, success involves sacrificing 1 POW,  and this implies that for my player to learn basic sorcery he needs to spend a minimum of two seasons studying it: one for the rune and one for the technique, because there is only one attempt per season.  That's my answer.

;And it is unlike a cult initiation ritual in that regard, since as I understand it the chance to be accepted for cult initiation  is a pre initiation interview and Divination thing, while the actual cult  initiation ritual is a sure thing.  At least unless the GM chooses to roleplay it and the player somehow blows it.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by Squaredeal Sten
aha!

[Squaredeal Sten]

6 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Well, we *know* that can't be true, because not every LM initiate will have the INT to learn Runes or Techniques. So, I think - only those heading down a sorcerous path would learn them - certainly not forcing everyone with the INT to be forced to learn them (and sacrifice the POW).

I think it's already been said that some factions within the LM temple structure are anti-sorcery, while others are obviously pro- (and presumably, some on the fence). Character creation indicates something like this, as you have to choose either spirit magic or sorcery.

Now that makes sense to me.  it's not part of the LM initiation, it's something taught "upon" initiation, that is as an option after initiation you can register for Sorcery 101 but LM initiation is a prerequisite and there is an INT test for the class (or maybe those with INT<13 just flunk the course and are steered to another field of study.)  All this usually happens in the pre-game character generation background, the five years between coming of age and entering play at age 21.

So for those of us GMs running Six Seasons in Sartar like campaigns and starting with 16 year old adventurers, our players have to take sorcery 101 during play.   In this case the adventurer is about age 19 or 20, and - to draw a simile with the Real World - has been pursuing one academic program (spirit magic etc.) and this desire to start sorcery is like deciding to change your college major from pre-med to engineering; He is going to have to take a whole new set of low level classes.

OK, that's a good simile to use in talking to the player. 

Now how about those actions and mechanics?

 

 

[Richard S.]

Since I know someone's gonna say it eventually, I'm gonna point out that the core sorcery rules are basically just a teaser until the proper ones come out. They're enough for a LM sorcerer to get by and for GMs to do a sorcerer NPC or two, but they're not a finalized system so you need to use a good bit of homebrew to do anything beyond a LM who starts out as a sorcerer.

[Squaredeal Sten]

17 hours ago, Richard S. said:

Since I know someone's gonna say it eventually, I'm gonna point out that the core sorcery rules are basically just a teaser until the proper ones come out. They're enough for a LM sorcerer to get by and for GMs to do a sorcerer NPC or two, but they're not a finalized system so you need to use a good bit of homebrew to do anything beyond a LM who starts out as a sorcerer.

Oh, at this point I think i have enough to run on.  The Adventurer in question is really not in a position to take off right now and do two seasons (or more) in the Jonstown Library, or alternatively to visit Nochet for the purpose of studying sorcery. 

I have to designate or create a potential instructor - and the player has to figure out how to meet that instructor, how to get the time for the instruction, etc..  What will it take to get that sorcerous LM to accept the PC as a student?   What would it take for the Adventurer to convince the whole party to divert to Nochet? 

Will the Adventurer make Rune level first?  Which might be easier -

Or to join the Esvulari?  This last might be the hardest path of all, since as I understand it the Esvulari assign roles by inheritance and if you're not born into the ethnic group it may be cold day in hell before they instruct you.  Yes I know, this is Runequest, there is a variety of hells, and you can heroquest to them.

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Squaredeal Sten
Yes i know... & spelling

[Squaredeal Sten]

16 minutes ago, Richard S. said:

Since I know someone's gonna say it eventually, I'm gonna point out that the core sorcery rules are basically just a teaser until the proper ones come out. They're enough for a LM sorcerer to get by and for GMs to do a sorcerer NPC or two, but they're not a finalized system so you need to use a good bit of homebrew to do anything beyond a LM who starts out as a sorcerer.

Yeah, but this player has been successfully teased by Jeff Richard & co.,

and so I as GM have to have a decent answer to the basic questions in 2021-2022, not in 2027 when a book comes out with more on sorcery, perhaps a book on the various Malkioni sects.

[Squaredeal Sten]

On 12/13/2021 at 12:08 AM, Ian_W said:

Before you and your player go further in rules, you as a GM need to have a think about the Lhankor Mhy cult, sorcery and the society they live in. ..... have a think about these specific issues In Your Glorantha......

In My Glorantha, which i do try to keep close to canon.

1. What do the other Lightbringer cults know about sorcery and the LM....    They probably don't distinguish between Lhankor Mhy rune magic and sorcery, it's all "LM stuff" to anyone outside the cult.    What do the other Lightbringer cults know about sorcery at all?  Not much other than that the Malkioni do it, that it is slow but powerful and that it is not rune magic.  and, of course, that some  Bad People used it in the past. 

2. What social roles do LM sorcerors fit ? ......  a look at the LM sorcery spells in RQiG shows that  all or most fit the "Knowing God" archetype.  It's all the scholar / knowing things cult, that's the social role.   it seems unlikely that a sorceror would pursue the other LM role of bureaucrat.

3. How do LM sorcerors think their magic fits the Western, Arkati and Lunar/Carmanian traditions of sorcery ? Or do they see it as something completely different ?.....  They regard it as one more set of techniques for Knowing.  And of course Lhankor Mhy wants to know everything.  What good LM, wanting to imitate his god, wouldn't want to know more about those traditions?

Yes the god learner stuff is incredibly dangerous, and that's why the LM cult won't give the  god learner knowledge to outsiders IF they get it, and are very picky about the LM they would tell if, just speaking theoretically of course, they were to gain any of it.  But the god learner history is not just pr even mostly about sorcery, it's mostly about heroquesting to change the myths.

Do any of the LM know god learner sorcery?  That's classified and you have no need to know.  But a small set of people know that in 1621ST Minyarth Purple received this scroll sealed with lead seals, opened it very carefully.... and isn't talking about it. 

Never repeat our conversation and don't write it down!  Now that you know these things you are forbidden to travel inside the Glowline.  The Lunars would arrest you for spitting on the sidewalk and torture you until you tell them what you don't know.  Then they would feed you to the Crimson Bat.

4. What do non-sorceror LM think about LM who use sorcery ? ..... that all depends on which non-sorceror.   Most don't even know that the LM cult dabbles in sorcery.   The Malkioni, of course,  think there is nothing wrong with the wise knowing and using sorcery but they have doubts about the LM level of wisdom:  How wise can they be if they don't recognize the obvious, inescapable, logical  conclusion that there is an  Invisible God and that Malkion is / was his / her / its prophet, and LM is a mere emanation?  

But a more practical question is: Can the non-sorcerors tell the difference between sorcery and other magic in the field in real time?  IMHO probably not.  We have not been told that the "sensory manifestations" are qualitatively different than for rune or spirit magic, and those are subject to wide variations by spell and by cult.  Maybe if you were a Rune level member of all cults you could tell by elimination of all other possibilities, IF a sorcery spell's manifestations were different. 

[g33k]

8 minutes ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

 

But a more practical question is: Can the non-sorcerors tell the difference between sorcery and other magic in the field in real time?  IMHO probably not.

Rune Magic generally goes off really quick; also, mostly fits into well-known effects.
Spirit Magic is slower, but its effects are even better-known (there are very few cult-secret or unique Spirit spells).

Most experienced adventurers will know these patterns.

If someone is casting a spell, and is still casting after a round of combat... well... he's your godless huckleberry.  Get 'im quick before his spell goes off!

[Dragon]

1 minute ago, g33k said:

Rune Magic generally goes off really quick; also, mostly fits into well-known effects.
Spirit Magic is slower, but its effects are even better-known (there are very few cult-secret or unique Spirit spells).

Most experienced adventurers will know these patterns.

If someone is casting a spell, and is still casting after a round of combat... well... he's your godless huckleberry.  Get 'im quick before his spell goes off!

Except Rune Magic that is ritual. And the LM sorcerer is likely going to be using ritual practices to boost their chances of locating the particular object (Geomancy), boosting his INT for days, or boosting his Knowledge skills for the time needed to complete said skill (Logician). Things like Identify Otherworld Entity are sort of like detect spells, the LM just spends a round in ritual practices (as far as the observer knows).

Meaning, the less experienced adventures won't be able to sense the LM is that different. The experienced adventurers know the rumors about LMs and they will also know that LMs are no direct access (they have to get outside the Torvald Fragments) to any sorcery that causes damage. So, if the enemy with the fake beard and Truth and Stasis tattoos is casting a long spell, you might just shrug and keep trying kill the Humakti. Not like the Malkioni who might be casting a Boon of Kargan Tor to support the Humakti. Or Finger of Fire. Or the Lunar sorcerer about to cast Moonfire.

[jajagappa]

4 hours ago, g33k said:

Most experienced adventurers will know these patterns.

If someone is casting a spell, and is still casting after a round of combat... well... he's your godless huckleberry.  Get 'im quick before his spell goes off!

You can't make that leap because ritual magic is also extended, including creation of enchantments which can be done by any of the magical approaches.  The LM sage would simply tell the mis-informed person that he was simply casting important ritual magic which requires a long time to reveal the Truth.  And his Rune Magic will reveal that, yes, indeed, the LM sage is telling the Truth!

[Alex]

5 hours ago, Squaredeal Sten said:

But a more practical question is: Can the non-sorcerors tell the difference between sorcery and other magic in the field in real time?  IMHO probably not.  We have not been told that the "sensory manifestations" are qualitatively different than for rune or spirit magic, and those are subject to wide variations by spell and by cult.  Maybe if you were a Rune level member of all cults you could tell by elimination of all other possibilities, IF a sorcery spell's manifestations were different. 

Needs more context, I think.  In the LM case, the distinction between a snappier sorcery spell and a slower spirit magic will be fairly opaque to anyone other than a colleague.  ("These long-winded long-beards really like to make a meal of these things, eg?!")  I don't think (non-ritual) sorcery and ritual rune magic will in practice be especially confusable, in the same sort of way as you can generally tell what's a 100m race and a marathon without waiting to the end.  But an especially wily (or long-winded again) caster might blur the distinction somewhat.

If dealing with Evil Foreign Magic(TM) -- Malkioni, Lunar, etc -- the distinction is likely fairly hard to spot, unless you've been doing as Captain Picard instructed, and studying that enemy recognition chart really closely.

[SDLeary]

8 hours ago, g33k said:

Rune Magic generally goes off really quick; also, mostly fits into well-known effects.
Spirit Magic is slower, but its effects are even better-known (there are very few cult-secret or unique Spirit spells).

Most experienced adventurers will know these patterns.

If someone is casting a spell, and is still casting after a round of combat... well... he's your godless huckleberry.  Get 'im quick before his spell goes off!

The thing is though, that all cults have certain rituals that take time; and according to the priests these ritual are for a reason or produce an effect.

SDLeary

[Shiningbrow]

I'm going to disagree a little, and suggest that sorcery casting is generally objectively different than Rune or Spirit spells.

Rune Magic is usually big and flashy as you exhort your god to grant you specific changes in the world.

Spirit spells are generally quick, and quietly focussed, with maybe a small chant or mantra.

Sorcery, OTOH, is usually quietly meditative, but with complex hand gestures to help with the focus.

However, I'll also say that a) most Orlanthi have never seen a sorcerer in action, b) trust that LMs are just doing their God's special magic, and, c) there's a very different word for LM sorcery, and the godless stuff... Which the LM temples are very loud in venting and ranting about!

[Ian_W]

55 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

I'm going to disagree a little, and suggest that sorcery casting is generally objectively different than Rune or Spirit spells.

Just thinking out loud here, but one of the things that Arkati and Lunar sorcery might do is to tactically *disguise* what sort of magic they do - the ability to do a quick and dirty sorcery spell that looks like using a bound spirit or bringing forth battle magic could be very useful in a fight against people who are aware of magic use, which in Glorantha is "anyone dangerous".

 

The more I think around this, the more I feel some schools or Lunar magic - those with connection to the Illusion rune - would do this.

[Alex]

19 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

Rune Magic is usually big and flashy as you exhort your god to grant you specific changes in the world.

They're often (but not always) big and flashy in effect, but bear in mind they whole 'SR 1' thing.  They're exceptionally quick.  They're quicker than moving your feet, or moving your hands.  

19 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

Spirit spells are generally quick, and quietly focussed, with maybe a small chant or mantra.

Not all that quick, and they pretty explicitly require some sort of physical movement, Or Reasonable Local Equivalent depending on the exact spell and whatever the 'special effects' of that particular tradition might be.  And potentially in the same speed range as sorcery if mega-boosted by MPs.  (Looking at you, Bladesharp 12 (ab)users!)

19 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

Sorcery, OTOH, is usually quietly meditative, but with complex hand gestures to help with the focus.

I suspect the nature of the "semi-trance" sorcerers lapses into varies considerably, including whether it's quiet, and how demonstrative it might look.  That there's a DEX SR element implies to me there's indeedsome degree of physical manipulation involved, whether subtle or grandiose.  On the face of it, if you were going to confuse any two of the three (other than ritual magics of each time, deliberate subterfuge, or especially weird examples of each type), it'd be "slow spirit magic" with "quick sorcery".

19 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

However, I'll also say that a) most Orlanthi have never seen a sorcerer in action, b) trust that LMs are just doing their God's special magic, and, c) there's a very different word for LM sorcery, and the godless stuff... Which the LM temples are very loud in venting and ranting about!

I suspect the Orlanthi (or those that care enough to worry about and rationalise such things) see it as the same, but LM have it safely mastered and contained.  A little like Orlanth's Magic Weapons -- we beat up those other guys and took their stuff.

[Alex]

2 hours ago, Ian_W said:

Just thinking out loud here, but one of the things that Arkati and Lunar sorcery might do is to tactically *disguise* what sort of magic they do - the ability to do a quick and dirty sorcery spell that looks like using a bound spirit or bringing forth battle magic could be very useful in a fight against people who are aware of magic use, which in Glorantha is "anyone dangerous".

For the Lunars, the RQ3 take was of course they don't just disguise one as the other, they actually combine the two.  Whether that's still true to any extent in the RQG canon-to-be I assume we'll just have to wait and see, I imagine.

Among the Arkati the same might be true and for essentially the same reason, but we know less about them, there's very few of them, and they vary hugely from instance to instance, so it's even harder to say.

[Joerg]

Munchkin Humakti casting  big sword trances take a lot of time, too. But then I am more than ok with dealing them a head-shot while they prepare.

[SDLeary]

9 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

I'm going to disagree a little, and suggest that sorcery casting is generally objectively different than Rune or Spirit spells.

Rune Magic is usually big and flashy as you exhort your god to grant you specific changes in the world.

Spirit spells are generally quick, and quietly focussed, with maybe a small chant or mantra.

Sorcery, OTOH, is usually quietly meditative, but with complex hand gestures to help with the focus.

However, I'll also say that a) most Orlanthi have never seen a sorcerer in action, b) trust that LMs are just doing their God's special magic, and, c) there's a very different word for LM sorcery, and the godless stuff... Which the LM temples are very loud in venting and ranting about!

Why wouldn't an LM Sorcerer invoke LM when casting a spell? LM is who  has provided the Sorcerer with the Knowledge and training to cast it! I would also imagine that at least some of the various sects of Malkionism also invoke Malkion or IG during their castings.

SDLeary

Edited December 15, 2021 by SDLeary

[French Desperate WindChild]

9 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

I'm going to disagree a little, and suggest that sorcery casting is generally objectively different than Rune or Spirit spells.

Rune Magic is usually big and flashy as you exhort your god to grant you specific changes in the world.

Spirit spells are generally quick, and quietly focussed, with maybe a small chant or mantra.

Sorcery, OTOH, is usually quietly meditative, but with complex hand gestures to help with the focus.

However, I'll also say that a) most Orlanthi have never seen a sorcerer in action, b) trust that LMs are just doing their God's special magic, and, c) there's a very different word for LM sorcery, and the godless stuff... Which the LM temples are very loud in venting and ranting about!

I agree with you about rune magic. Because there is another "contributor" , the god, and its presence is clearly felt by everyone.

 

But the difference between LM sorcery and spirit spells is not so clear from my perspective.

you need to add MP (with gesture, etc to keep the focus) so Orlanthi (not the cult, the culture) know that spirit magic could be long to cast.

Now when orlanthi are seeing a LM sorcery spell, what are they seeing ? a wise person trying to decrypt a text or understand something (logician), locating something on a map (geomancy), and other stuff absolutely outside of their own understanding, but something accepted by their priests.

 

Do they even know that sorcery is a different form of magic than what we (IRL)  call spirit magic ?

In the same way, Orlanthi have ritual (with or without any magic/real effect) to bless a champion, or a troop to go to war. that is not done in few seconds during a fight, but spend time before the fight. Will they understand, one day, that the western fighters have more efficient blessing, thanks to sorcery , but less "in fight" magic effect ?

 

from my perspective, only LM and zzaburi (or zzaburi-like) would know / understand there is a true difference between sorcery and  spirit magic.

I even not sure that a shaman will know it, just note that the other one has weird magic she cannot understand, and don't see good spirits around them

[Darius West]

On 12/13/2021 at 1:36 PM, Squaredeal Sten said:

How exactly, in game mechanics and character action  terms, does a character master a rune, for sorcery purposes?   How does that character master a new technique?  RQiG p.384 does have a paragraph on his, which says there is an INT threshold and then there is an INT+POW roll, augmentable,  to ‘achieve intellectual union”.  Then sacrifice 1 POW.  These attempts can be made at a rate of one per season. 

These days characters get to increase their skills once per season (is that a mis-spelling of session? jk).  Adventures may take a while, but it is generally assumed that once ended the characters get down-time for study, training, household management chores etc.  It is therefore reasonable to assume that a character can devote the period of their season not spent adventuring on the matter of communing.  Now this can be augmented, and I draw your attention to page 246 of the RQG book.  If the character spends 1 week involved in 'intellectual union', they will get +60% to the roll. That's the augment, and it is a substantial bonus on the base INT + POW roll. If they devoted their whole season to the matter it would be +75%, but then they couldn't have adventured.  It is up to the GM to determine how much time a character can devote to their pursuit of intellectual union.

Technically there is no monetary requirement for performing this, but the character needs a source of upkeep during their downtime, and the liberty to take time off.

Intellectual union is not discussed at any length in the write-up, but it is a ritual of sorts, just not like theistic or shamanistic rituals.  Instead it involves a lot of conferring and poring over books (especially one's primary grimoire), consulting tables, astronomy and astrology, observance of sympathies and correspondences, taking measurements and perhaps dabbling in a test involving alchemical runic principles, and a general literature search on topics relevant to the technique they wish to master, or perhaps none of this occurs and the sorcerer simply sits very deep in thought for a very long time staring at a blank wax tablet while they gather their thoughts.  Then they sit down with the evidence and begin the process of reasoning out how it works, and experimenting with getting it to do so.  If successful, there is a moment of epiphany when the intellectual union is achieved, and the technique is understood in all its subtlety and glory. The 1 POW represents the opening of the mental channel that initiates the sorcerer into the technique, in much the same way that spending 1 POW allows a theist to form a connection with their deity. 

Sorcery Techniques are a rarified and abstruse, highly intellectualized sort of deity (if you will indulge the analogy).  Imagine if you will, treating Calculus or Topology or one of the other forms of Higher mathematics as a deity.  Instead of only numbers and signs however you are manipulating the runes, the very underlying system of Gloranthan reality. The techniques and runes make no particular demands on you, unlike most deities, and are utterly indifferent to your fate.  You cannot call out to them for aid, for they have no intrinsic ego to appeal to, and likely no body, but they also don't inflict arbitrary cultural rules upon you, and nor do they demand your loyalty or obedience.  Abstract principles are unusual gods, but don't assume they aren't real or powerful, or that they are intelligent.  It is enough that they are intelligible, and once grasped, are completely indifferent to being used in a way that other pesky gods are not.

[Baron Wulfraed]

27 minutes ago, Darius West said:

These days characters get to increase their skills once per season (is that a mis-spelling of session? jk).  Adventures may take a while, but it is generally assumed that once ended the characters get down-time for study, training, household management chores etc.  It is therefore reasonable to assume that a character can devote the period of their season not spent adventuring on the matter of communing.  Now this can be augmented, and I draw your attention to page 246 of the RQG book.  If the character spends 1 week involved in 'intellectual union', they will get +60% to the roll. That's the augment, and it is a substantial bonus on the base INT + POW roll. If they devoted their whole season to the matter it would be +75%, but then they couldn't have adventured.  It is up to the GM to determine how much time a character can devote to their pursuit of intellectual union.

It is per season... There is an explicit assumption that one game session (adventure) is performed per season. Page 8 of RQ:RiG states

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In RuneQuest, the assumption is that one season passes each time the adventurers have an adventure.

The length of time spent in adventuring (or /other/ non-occupational activities) is limited by page 422

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The Occupation Income roll assumes the adventurer is engaged in their occupation each season, gone no more than three weeks or so (“adventuring time”). If an adventurer is absent for more than that in a season, the penalty is a cumulative –20% per three-week period

Spending any time in excess of 3 weeks in activities not tied to the occupation will result in penalties on income rolls. So a 3-week adventure followed by even 1-week in non-occupational activity, in my interpretation, would result in that -20% penalty. My interpretation is that "per three-week period" includes the three weeks adventuring ONCE one goes beyond that period. Otherwise one could adventure, say, five weeks and 6 days (ie; just short of 6 weeks) without being penalized, and adventuring for 6 weeks would incur only one 3-week penalty (and are only spending 25% of the season doing your actual occupation!).