Korvin walks with his head bowed in thought for a bit. Your tone seems to say you disagree with the method. If I may, how would you do it given the same parameters of 20 villas and 3 resident halls which will house 300 magi. All permanent. I can show you a map of the grounds if it would make it easier.
((Darn server indeed. First it didn't show that you had posted, and now I have to retype my own post because it miscommunicated on a preview. 
))
Petronius gestures towards the Tribunal field, "Let's go over there and I can share some thoughts." The two start walking towards a spot where they have a global view of the preparations. The Bonisagus continues, "I have a number of spells that could satisfy your needs, although maybe not your exact requests." The Coliseum and the Roman Baths come into view as the magi walk a small path higher on the mountain.
"Let me ask a few questions first. How many covenants do you think will be represented, and how large will those delegations be? And have you ever heard of the Limes Germanicus?"
The number of Covenants? A trickier question than you might think because of the vassals. Lets see.. There are 16 named Covenants which includes vassals. Of course that includes Mons Electi and Novus Main. They are our vassals but will not be attending as I understand. We expect some extra guests from Iberia, the Alps and the Rhine. So our worst case is that 14 Covenants show up with 2 to 6 magus each. That is from Normandy. Lets guess that 2 Covenants from the Rhine, Iberia and the Greater Alps. That is safe. So that is 20. Lets estimate the each Covenant will bring 10-15 people. Now we will also have a sizable Mercere fair since we are at an advantages point with 4 Tribunals. We are assuming 300 magus just to be safe.
The name Limes Germanicus seems familiar but I have not been in the Rhine in many years.
Petronius nods, "So you can expect a strong delegations from a handful of powerful covenants, and many delegations from smaller covenants, as well as individual magi from all over the pace." He smiles, "Have you thought of asking them to pre-register their presence? That way, it might be easier for you to plan accordingly."
"Anyway, you were expecting smaller delegations to share a villa, and large delegations to be split in more than one villa?"
The villa are built to handle roughly 20 people each. We will give each Covenant that send a delegation their own villa. There will be natural groups of course. Liege and vassal. A tricky prat will be with delegations from the other Tribunals. I expect a sizable group from Iberia. Greater Alps will be small or medium. I think Durenmar will show up because of the Lotharingtian debate. That means Fenghold might also show up with a large group. As i said. Three hundred magi is not out of the question.
"Plus their grogs, mundane servants, plus a variety of familiars and other companions."
"So the delegation of a large covenants with its... how did you call them... vassals, would conceivably consist of ten to twenty magi, with something like forty assorted mundane companion. Enough to fill a villa." Petronius squints because of the sun, "or a possibly a Mystic Tower. Four of them,, he points at the periphery of the field, "positioned at each corner of the field, might be quite appropriate and majestic. They might even be integrated with the wall, if you'd like."
"Smaller delegations could be hosted in smaller towers, either strung along the walls or arranged along the streets." He turns to Korvin, "You see, some years ago I developped a ritual to create smaller towers, similar to the Limes towers that our Roman ancestors used to defend the Empire and channel their magical energy, as they did with their roads."
"These square towers are less elaborate than Mystic Towers, but made from stone and wood. Which makes them more cozy and easier to ornament, should you wish to do so. They stand about forty feet in height and are twenty feet wide. Their floor design is much less flexible, but would be sufficient to host delegations from smaller covenant. Individual magi could be hosted in additional towers of either size. The Limes towers would fit quite well with the Coliseum, as their are quite Roman in style."
"These are both spells that I know, and which could be cast quickly. Furthermore, I have some mastery of them, which greatly reduces the risk of unfortunate accidents when handling vis. So, depending on the exact number of castings required, my fees would be relatively low. Mons Electi would, of course, have to provide the vis for the casting themselves. Though I could, of course, come up with some of the vis myself, in exchange for some of that Rego Terram vis."
Could the stone towers match the architecture of the Bath House and Coliseum? Otherwise they would look out of place.
"In the case of the Mystic Tower, certainly. The spell is quite flexible regarding the final result."
"Less so in the case of the Limes towers, as the spell was designed more for martial purposes, but there is still some leeway. Some parameters are set, like the fact that those towers are square and the partitioning of the floors is generic, but cosmetic changes can be made."
I do not think 4 large towers would be enough. If we are looking at 20 villas now that would handle roughly the same amount. i also must look to the political situation. Just as you would not want the delegations from Durenmar and Dankmar to be in the same building, I must make sure that Montverte and Confluensis are not near Florum. And could the towers be lower and wider rather than tall?
"I'm afraid that the dimensions of the Mystic Towers is one of the parameters that cannot be changed much," muses Petronius. "Only very small changes would be possible along those lines. The towers would also be round, not square. You see, most of the spell's flexibility is aimed at deciding the interior layout. That and the cosmetic aspect of the tower's exterior."
Korvin paces around with his head down in thought.
What do you think of my question on the number of towers that might be needed? We might need 10-20 of them. It could cut off the sunlight as they are arranged around the edges of the field.
Korvin begins drawing in the dirt a map of the Tribunal field with the main buildings.
A few days before the end of summer, Fiona goes to Viscaria's office (as Aedilis).
[color=blue]"I hate to do this, Viscaria, but I find myself in need of some of my deferred Vis allotment. 27 pawns in total, in some combination of Creo and Corpus. Perhaps 15:12?"
((Unless Korvin wants his seven pawns in some other Arts?))
"Well," the Bonisagus replies, "a Mystic Tower is 80 feet high, so it can easily have seve or eight floors. Even if only six of those are used to host magi, three by floor with a multi-purpose room on each floor, you could host what, eighteen magi per tower with great comfort. You also have two more floors in the basement, where mundanes could live, in addition to the ground floor which could be configured as a guest hall with an attendant kitchen."
"If you were to rely only on such large towers, we would be speaking of about sixteen tower. The Limes towers are half as large, but also cost half as much vis. They are also more suitable to smaller covenants and delegations from outside of your Tribunal."
"So we are talking about sixteen large-tower equivalents, with two small towers equating one large. The disposition and layout would be up to you, of course. Note that you may want to leave some free space where you could raise additional towers as needed, if more guests show up at the last minute."
"Another thing to keep in mind is that you will need furniture, tapestries, and various mundane items to decorate those towers. That is outside of my purview, I'm afraid. You might be better off purchasing such things from mundane craftmen."
We have made arrangements for the furnishings.
Let me think on the large towers. I'm sure I will miss something. The small towers sound wonderful for what we are expecting. Lets see if I put Florum in a large tower and Confluensis with their vassals. I will need one for the Mercere and one for the Redcaps. I may need one for the Iberian contingent. hmmmmm.
If we go with 6 large towers, how many small towers will we need?
((If it gets tight, Korvin will defer his payment until we can get enough Creo or Corpus.))
((I went in yesterday and figured in all the unclaimed Vis Allotments, and fixed the formula in the Total Pawns Available field. We have about 762 pawns of vis currently in inventory, of which 505 is unclaimed Vis allotments from years past. Poor, we ain't.))
((I would not figure out allotments until AFTER the Tribunal. I might have to spend a good chunk. Basically, allotments come from what is not used for building the Tribunal and leading up to it. I'm guessing that rather than getting 17 one year people will get 13-14. We might want to use some for brides 
and I may also have to exchange one kind for another. Terram comes to mind.))
((If you're paying 13 or 14 pawns of vis for a bride, she better be freakin' hawt!!!))
((But seriously, we can figure out allotments after Tribunal, once we see what we have...and if anyone needed an advance or whatever, that can be backed out.))
((I need to be more clear. Do not touch any of the BIG pile of vis. It is one big pile. Korvin and Alexei and perhaps Fiona will spend form that pile. At the Tribunal, it is still one big pile. After the tribunal, we take what is left and then give out allotments. I would hate to have people mad because Korvin spent what they thought was their vis but was agreed to be the Covenant's vis until after the Tribunal. So we might appear to have 800+ pawns of vis in the ledger. Korvin might spend 200 of that on getting ready. I'm guessing that I will need to exchange some vis for terram and igium. At the end of the tribunal, we will look at the ledger and THEN allot everyone's vis over for all the deferments. The pile will be smaller so the pay out will be smaller. ))
((Hey! Tranquillina should get a vis allotment too, right?! She became a probationary Mons Electi member at the end of 1223.2, and should be a full member seven months thereafter. For simplicity, we could say no vis in 1224.1, a half share in 1225.1, and full shares thereafter.))