Poisoning the Well

Cost: 50 motes (committed)
Target: Demesne

The necromancer meditates quietly at the geomantic center of a demesne for number of days equal to its power rating. Her anima smolders around her, seeping into the land. The caster must commit the full 50 motes when she begins the spell and maintain that commitment until its end, when she sacrifices them completely.

Her communion with the demesne infects that demesne with the deathly power of the Underworld. It dies slowly, losing one rating dot per month until it reaches level 0. The necromancy has then subverted the demesne. Its aspect changes to Abyssal, then regains one dot per month, until it reaches its original power. If a manse is currently capping the demesne, it changes aspect as well.

Before the change is complete, Obsidian Countermagic can disrupt this process. So can Adamant Countermagic, if the sorcerer spends double the normal number of motes. In these cases, the poisoned land regains its original strength eventually, but slowly—at the rate of one dot per year.