[AlexanderHowl]

We will now look at Guise and Obscurity, which are both important rituals of subterfuge, and we will use the previous assumptions. Just for reference, Guise has an energy cost of 4 while Obscurity has an energy cost of 6 (+1 for every +1/-1 modifier).

Guise possesses great utility on the strategic and tactical side of things. Used strategically, mages may disguise friendly units as groups of animals (using conditional modifiers to make friendly units immune to the effect). Used tactically, mages may disguise friendly units as enemy units (once again, using conditional modifiers to make friendly units immune to the effect). While it is less effective on larger groups, it is perfect for squads of scouts, and even allows larger groups to hide their numbers by masking effected members as additional beasts of burden. Guise can also be used strategically to disguise military bases as ruins or swamps.

Obscurity possesses tactical utility, but we will instead examine the strategic utility since we discussed the primary tactical use in a previous post. The strategic utility comes from denying enemy spies and enemy units knowledge about specific locations. For example, a mage could use the 21 remaining energy points from our assumptions to give enemies a -6 to skill to discover a small camp (radius 20 meters) for a year. Since the average human only has a Per 10, that means that an enemy unit will only have a 2% chance of discovering the camp unless they literally walk into it. Even scouting units will only have a 10% chance of discovering the camp (assuming Per 12).

The combination of Guise and Obscurity on the strategic level makes them particularly powerful. Obscurity would prevent enemies from finding structure in the first place while Guise would disguise the nature of the structure if it is discovered. Invading units would pass by a swamp and find themselves ambushed by defending units who seemed to appear out of nowhere.