Z-TCOP03 (May 7, 2023)
Puzzle
“Lupins, Legumes, and Leporidae.”
Mercutio Trivia | 2 Words
Clue
Hover over the clues if you require!
Clue 1: What exactly are those?
Clue 2: It's referring to what's done at a certain festival.
Clue 3: This specific festival is the oldest known one of its kind, but use the general term for the holiday.
Answer and Explanation
Answer: May Day
Explanation: Ovid said that hares and goats were released, and Persius said that crowds were pelted with beans and lupines, on this day - namely, regarding the Floralia, the oldest known May Day celebration.
Summary of Receipt
Mercutio has been tasked to investigate the Cult of Personality's usage of magic. It uses Manifestation, which - while not the weakest form of magic - isn't really a threat, since they'll need tens of thousands of well-trained cultists to do something seriously. Though, even if they do try to Manifest something, it'll get caught by the Gardyens. Instead, Mercutio suspects they're trying to conjure - or replicate - a Miracle, a poorly-defined phenomenon described as a 'gift from the Universe'.
Transcript
Receipt: Z-TCOP03
Author: Mercutio
Status: Secret
Subject: Personality Cult
While Blackwood and Twain busy themselves with actually finding our U.K.-based Cult of Personality, I have been tasked with looking into their specific use of magic. As Twain already mentioned, the cult primarily utilizes Manifestation for its magical practices. Certainly not the weakest form of magic out there… though I would hardly consider Manifestation to be a threat for a few reasons. Though if they truly have amassed a few hundred followers and have given them all sufficient training in the art of Manifestation, I suppose they might eventually pose a threat. Though any serious manifestation would require at least ten, maybe twenty thousand well-trained followers.
Or… I suppose just a handful of very potent followers, perhaps Augurs or the like. Still, Manifestation is a highly regulated form of magic. Any manifestation outside of the realm of normalcy is shut down by the Gardyens. Even a cult with a hundred well-trained Augurs wouldn’t be able to slip a serious Manifestation past the Gardyens. Though, I imagine this Cult of Personality is really trying to do something rarer. They’re trying to Manifest a miracle, no? Or—attempting to replicate a Miracle, at the very least.
Miracles are ill-defined in the realm of magic, though the most common definition amongst practitioners of the secret arts is that a miracle is a gift from the Universe. As a gift, it is not subject to the typical regulations of magic and thus both very dangerous and, paradoxically, impossibly safe. If the Universe chooses to provide a Miracle, surely it can’t do any harm to the Universe itself, no? Well… that is debatable. Miracles aren’t exactly common things, so they are very hard to study. As for what Miracle they seem to be attempting to replicate… well, I suppose I should discuss that on a more secure channel.