Mass Resurrection

Mass Resurrection is Agrophon's greatest and most contentious weapon in the Duumvirate War. It allows clerics to make an irreversible sacrifice to transform graveyards into living villages. The radius of the spell becomes an incredible world of flora and warm light, full of perfectly healthy people who were recently corpses or even skeletons. People believe it can reverse the worst events of history, or convert tragedies into fountains of hope. But the spell is dangerous at every step and it could easily go wrong.

Effect

The caster gives their life to bring back every dead thing within the mile. The radius of the spell becomes a thriving ecosystem to support its resurrected people. The caster's sacrifice is permanent: they cannot be brought back in any way.
The returned people are known as "porrocienti" or "second-goers."

Side/Secondary Effects

Mass Resurrection is powerful, volatile, and unrefined. It has a slough of dangerous consequences, especially if the caster is distracted or in poor condition. The spell's work can potentially go wild, molding and cultivating the target area beyond necessity. It might attempt to resurrect things it shouldn't, awakening nearby creatures and granting them disproportionate strength, turning them into wacu. In the worst case, the spell's radius looks nothing like what the caster intended, and the effects may take years to defuse.

Manifestation

The spell is powerful enough to discolor the sky, unless it's cast indoors or underground. After the blinding light and roiling earth, the newly formed land is quiet for a moment before new plants and animals begin to sleepily stand up.

Discovery

The many components of the spell took decades to discover and still haven't been perfected. It was developed by dozens of clerics and researchers, with Botryte's limited help. The main contributors were Donna Myerby, Gadfly, and Albert Thaumaton, all of whom condemned the project after it was tested in Suthermont.

14 Spring 716 - Suthermont, Botryte's Park

The first trial of Mass Resurrection was performed by Quisitus Veigr on the troubled island of Suthermont, in an attempt to heal its declining population and unearth its illustrious fallen wizards.

92 Autumn 732 - Aevaly, Everett Catacomb

An audacious use of the spell, this resurrection by Leyes Abeckre was used to reverse the disastrous Battle of Aevaly. It was intended to create a second front behind enemy lines, to replenish Aphygia's military strength, and to restore hope for the dying Stakes. 11,000 fallen soldiers were resurrected. 19,000 total were resurrected.
Developments - Act I

1 Winter 733 - Falcimont, The Modern Tombs

The defiled graves of great Vacillian people were recovered and transferred to the tombs under Falcimont. To celebrate the new year and the success of Mass Resurrection, these people and their lost knowledge will be recovered.

Teucra, The Bor Sertorius Graveyard

A resurrection had been planned in Teucra since 730, to warn the Duumvirate away from that city. Teucra is a wealthy, defensible keystone melting under internal conflict; some believe it's easier to wait for the destruction, then resurrect what remains.

Traive, The Hilltop

Gnaeus Devinctus Lampen attempted to resurrect the soldiers here. Thanks to Apellon Redpath's intervention, the resurrection was only half finished, killing Lampen and summoning thousands of wacu but leaving the dead where they are.

Developments - Act II

The Mountain, Pelages's Roost

Pelages has been collecting people who die at sea, whisking them through the Saddleshelf Gate to his home in the Feywild. Once he's gathered enough, he plans to resurrect them.

Hibiscus, An Undisclosed Location

Related Deity/Higher Power

Botryte

Mass Resurrection

8-level Abjuration (ritual)

Casting Time 1 Hour

Range Touch

Duration Instantaneous

Components V, S, M

Materials A Gleaming Slate, and some optional materials for cultivating the location, like plant seeds or medicine.

You resurrect a large population within a 1-mile radius, at the cost of your life. The spell has many helpful secondary effects, but it usually takes months of planning to ensure life and safety to the resurrected creatures.

Preliminary Effects

During the hour of casting time, some continuous events appear around you:

• The ground warps and hollows, providing space for resurrected creatures to move around. An underground network forms, by which any affected creature can walk to your current location. The tunnels follow existing caves and corridors, and are unlikely to cave in, similar to the effects of Passwall. Deep quarries prevent the network from flooding, for a time.
• Filaments of magic precipitate off the caster and illuminate dark areas. Within the spell's radius, underground or otherwise low-light areas become brightly lit. It takes about 100 days for the magical light to wane.
• Fresh air permeates the area to support life. For the next 100 days, airborne hazards are expelled from the spell's radius. Dust miraculously settles, spores and pollen don't accumulate, and creatures can easily survive beneath their former graveyard.
• A source of fresh water appears, such as an endless creek or a self-replenishing grotto. It runs out after 100 days, but rainfall becomes slightly more frequent at your location.

Primary Effects

Once the spell is complete, a burgeoning of life begins. The ground shakes itself into soil, on which plants and fungi multiply, until the whole radius of the spell is green and suitable for farming. The remains of dead creatures are sorted out, given some space, and resurrected. Finally, you vanish into mist, and cannot be brought back in any way.
Similar to the normal Resurrection spell, revived creatures are weakened until they take several long rests. However, the spell is persistent in keeping them alive during this time, causing them to succeed all death saving throws.

Saving throw

As the spell concludes, the caster must make a Wisdom saving throw to avoid harmful side effects. The saving throw is modified by the circumstances of the casting.

• +0: You're comfortable and you know that you're safe. You can see at least 120 feet.
• -5: You know that the ritual may be interrupted, or your visibility is limited.
• -10: You're in a dangerous or distracting location.
• -15: You're aware that something is working to stop the ritual.
• -20: You can see or hear something which threatens to stop the ritual.
• -25: You're in immediate danger and are hurrying to complete the ritual on time.

The saving throw has several difficulty classes, which affect the success of the resurrection and the intensity of the side effects.

• DC 30: The spell goes completely as planned, with no side effects except those you allow.
• DC 20: Odd things happen in the radius of the spell, but the resurrected people are generally safe.
• DC 10: The spell's radius becomes a volatile place which the resurrected people must survive.
• DC 0: There are more unintended effects than intended, and the two will likely be at war.
• DC -10: The radius of the spell becomes unrecognizable, and nobody is guaranteed to come back. The resurrected people will be at the mercy of a strange new environment.
• Total failure: Nobody is resurrected. The spell only produces a few side effects. Make a Constitution saving throw (DC 10). On a success, you fall to 1 hit point, but the spell does not kill you and you may attempt it again.

If you roll a natural 20 but you still didn't pass the highest difficulty class, the success of your spell is one level higher. If you roll a natural 1, the success of your spell is one level lower.

Side effects

The following effects might accompany your spell.

Incomplete resurrection

If the radius of the spell contains more than 10,000 dead creatures, it might skip over some of them. Creatures occupying a larger volume are more likely to be resurrected. For example, a whole human skeleton which decomposed in this area is likely to be resurrected; a dead bird or a drop of blood is far less probable. There are also ways to deliberately prevent something from being resurrected. Processed goods like leather and soap are almost impossible to restore into their animal constituents.

Extra clerical magic

Power from the spell is left behind. While a creature is affected by the resurrection (the next 4 long rests), they can use a spell from the cleric spell list in a time of extreme need. Unlocking a spell of 1st level requires a Wisdom saving throw (DC 15), and it can be used again up to 2 more times. Even after the effect ends, creatures may choose to keep studying divine magic, taking up celestial-based classes even if they don't have the stats required for multiclassing.

New sentience

The spell attempts to resurrect some creatures that are already alive, turning them into wacu. Creatures with intelligence less than 6 have their intelligence increased to 6. Their size category permanently changes toward Medium, by either 1 level (80%) or 2 levels (20%; these creatures are sometimes called "dire.") Their stats change as if they were targeted by the Enlarge/Reduce spell. They're extremely quick studies in their first year of awakened life; their Intelligence can further increase by up to 4 points, and they can learn up to 3 skills.

New animation

Objects made of organic material can be resurrected: flowers, food, leather, wood, etc. An object or group of objects has a chance of being affected by the Animate Objects spell, and its form mutates until it has a way to move and collect energy. Some objects can be further strengthened: they might gain new abilities based on their shape, grow as with the Enlarge spell, or even gain magical abilities. Awakened magic items are likely to gain special properties.
At higher levels: If the spell is cast at 9th level, you have advantage on the required Wisdom saving throw. However, over the next few days, the side effects of the spell multiply to much greater levels. This can produce extreme weather, Huge monsters, and creatures with class levels.

Class(es): Cleric