Fiona leans forward excitedly. [color=blue]"A 'field Aegis', she called it? And you're certain she said that she cast it without any vis whatsoever? You don't happen to have any idea how powerful an Aegis it was, do you? And whether it was a true Aegis and not...?" Fiona's voice trails off as she can't imagine what else it could possibly be.
[color=blue]"This is revolutionary! This could be the biggest breakthrough since Notatus invented the Aegis more than four centuries ago!"
This could well be the closest anyone's ever seen to Fiona actually drooling.
[color=blue]"Wait...what kind of connection to Mons Electi?"
"I remember her words exactly," Tranquillina replies to Fiona, a little bitingly perhaps (though she inches backwards noticeablely when Fiona leans forward). "It seemed to be a reasonably powerful Aegis - stronger than the one you have deployed here, for example." A bit of Tranquillina's excitement at the sheer magnitude of the breakthrough is reawakened in echo to Fiona's reaction.
"This, I am less sure about," Tranquillina admits. "You would think that Maris would simply command me never to mention the spell ... but that is not precisely what she did. She said this: 'I suggest that you don't talk about this to anyone, except those of your new covenant. Eventually, you may discover more than you bargained for, but I'm not going to reveal anything to you here and now.' I found her specific mention of Mons Electi strange - in large part, that is why I share my news with you now."
"I knew her for a few months while I visited Le Maison at Tria's invitation this past spring and summer. But I know little about her, in troth, other than that she is a senior Tremere maga." Tranquillina frowns as she sifts through her magically enhanced memory of the event. "Listen to this, sodales: she said, 'I am my pater's filia. He has decided to share his legacy with many not of his original House. I don't have to like it, and I don't have to do it myself.'"
She stops pacing and peers, a bit helplessly, around the council table. "Who is Maris's pater? What House did he belong to before Tremere? And, what can his 'legacy' be - especially if it includes a Field Aegis?!"
Tranquillina would know that Tremere is a True Lineage, just like House Bonisagus. One does not join the House, one must be raised within the House, so to speak. So, it should be corrected, what House did he belong to after Tremere?
And it is extremely unusual to retire from House Tremere. Other Houses is a bit more common, in this saga, it's very rare for it to happen, which could explain some of Maris's hostility...
[color=blue]"Exarch, won the title about three years ago," Fiona says casually.
Fiona is unable to hide the pain at Tranquillina's pulling back. ((Com 2 + Guile (hide true feelings) 3 + die roll 0 (but not a botch) = 5))
[color=blue]"Sorry," she says in Gaelic.
[color=blue]"Ahhh," Fiona says, a look of sudden understanding on her face.
"I knew her for a few months while I visited Le Maison at Tria's invitation this past spring and summer. But I know little about her, in troth, other than that she is a senior Tremere maga." Tranquillina frowns as she sifts through her magically enhanced memory of the event. "Listen to this, sodales: she said, 'I am my pater's filia. He has decided to share his legacy with many not of his original House. I don't have to like it, and I don't have to do it myself.'"
Fiona looks around the table at the others to see if anyone else wants to explain first.
((Per 2 + Folk Ken 3 + stress die 0 (no botch) = 5.)) Tranquillina isn't sure what Fiona is apologizing about; she wasn't aware of her subconscious reaction to the vis within the giantess.
((sucks, I wanted her to invite Fiona to tea later and have a heart-to-heart ))
Sensing the pregnant pause, Tranquillina patiently regards the council around the table, waiting for someone to open up as she has just done.
Isen is stunned at first. And then, contrasting with his previous attitude of "Why do you want to bother us with an unknown maga? ", the questions erupt
Holy! Are you sure?
Actually, no, I tend to believe you. Of course, they'd keep such a thing to themselves. The conniving bastards...
From his tone, it's difficult to say if Isen loathes or admires the Tremere.
We must get our hand on this. This could mean an aegis in every sanctum, without the size problems we face! And that's without talking about deploying an aegis anywhere. This would increase our defense tremendously.
Hell, this is exactly the kind of breakthrough I was hoping to find in the celtic ruins here. The one that gives you an edge. Although I didn't thought things would happen like this.
Xenophon, you think? That would make sense. And to think we never went through his papers...
I can't see this happening after 1225.1, or certainly Tranquilina not mentioning it for that long (over a year and a half).
And I think the Princeps rotation goes away effective 1224.1?
((I think we had established that this meeting is happening in 1223.4. It preceded the end of the Princeps rotation, for sure (this is the meeting that decided that!). And yeah, it seemed to me like half a year after arriving is about the right amount of time (at most) for Tranquillina to feel comfortable bringing up secrets with her new sodales.))
"Xenophon ex Tremere? I know that name...." Tranquillina offers. "From half a century ago at least - is he dead now, or passed into Final Twilight?" ((Int 3 + Order of Hermes Lore 1 + stress die 9 = 13, +1 for "lineages" specialization. Does Tranquillina know anything else about Xenophon?)) "- wait - his papers?" she slows Isen down, confused.
Alexei had been half-heartedly listening, so many things going on in his mind. He did like the change in how the officers were to be selected and their duties. He only slightly heard about the field aegis, something that he would ordinarily be interested in. It was when the topic of the Tremere and Xenophon that he had his full attention. He reaches forward and pats Tranquiliana on the hand.
'We have shared much of the sorrows of Mons Electi...but there are still secrets that are now coming to light for you. Xenophon was the name Apollodorus had when he was a Tremere, long ago."
Tranquillina stares at Alexei for a few long moments. She doesn't see any of the other magi react with surprise - and anyway, Alexei does not sound like he's joking. The silence hangs over the room for another moment. Tranquillina squeezes her eyes shut, then opens them to focus on nothing in particular, seeking clarity in her mind.
Finally, she walks purposefully back to her chair and sits down. She peers around the room at each of the magi in turn. She exhales loudly. "Tell me more, please," she requests. Her eyes fix on a carafe of wine, and with a quick spell she slides it across the table to her hand, then refills her cup rather amply.
[color=blue]"Maris's pater was Xenophon of Tremere," Fiona says. [color=blue]"At some point, I think about fifty years, he grew disenchanted with his house after he apparently learned things that would prove hazardous. Xenophon then disappeared without a trace, to be replaced by Apollodorus of Jerbiton...the man who gathered us together and was the impetus behind Mons Electi."
Fiona takes a deep breath and continues. [color=blue]"His legacy could be any number of things, but two spring to mind. First is his knowledge of the Duresca Scrolls, and the evidence that he apparently found proving their veracity. Second is a powerful ward that he had placed around his sanctum that prevented any members of Guernicus from entering."
Fiona looks around at the others to see if anyone wants to either continue or to stop her from continuing. [color=blue]"Apollodorus, or Xenophon, if you prefer, had found evidence that Guernicus had manipulated the greatest Crises of the Order in order to bolster their own power and to make themselves indispensable. The Schism War, the Sundering...Guernicus's doing."
Fiona pauses to compose herself, as she seems to be getting a little choked up (and to give anyone else an opportunity to speak).
And he could also have invented that Field Aegis, then. Making him the greatest Hermetic Researcher in ages.
We really, really need to go through his papers, see if we can find anything useful in them. says Isen
...
And this is probably how Korvin decided to sort through these
[color=blue]"It's quite possible," Fiona says thoughtfully. [color=blue]"I doubt that it's a coincidence that I first noticed that our aura seemed to have become more auspicious for Rego after his death than it had been before, and from what I understand, he had a gift for Rego."
I would imagine the same as it was. If the magus does a task for the covenant, he or she can get paid an appropriate recompense based on how arduous and/or dangerous it was. After all the vis debts are paid at the spring meeting, the surplus is allocated among the magi based on their status (full members get a full share, probationary get a half share).
Cool, it would probably be a good idea to work out these details, but at least I can assume that every magus has several pawns of vis per year to play with.
One reason I ask is because we still haven't decided whether Viscaria's plan to create Lamp-Lighters and Hearth-Starters, which would give everybody's laboratory Magical Heating and Magical Lighting, is still going to happen now that amul's gone. Tranquillina is interested in Magical Heating (or Superior Heating) because of the health benefit. If Viscaria will do it for us, then great. If not, then she would be happy to pay vis to someone else for a Magical Heating source - for example, Flambeau's Furnace which she almost included with her build points anyway. But we should agree on whether it's reasonable that she could order up a magic item from an NPC at her former covenant.
I believe that vis has been held in reserve to do all of the projects related to the Tribunal, first. And then once those things are done to satisfaction, that the years of vis collection will be disbursed to all of the members. This should clear up after the negotiation is done in 1225.2...
Do we have all the info we need to calculate the vis spent on the Tribunal, and thus the magi's vis allocations to spend?
Back to my reason for posting: we should probably update the officer positions, after the Tribunal, to account for Viscaria's departure and Roberto's residence. Currently we have:
Aedilis (logistical, magical): Viscaria (deputy?)
Diocetes (logistical, mundane): Tranquillina (Alexei as deputy)
Imperator (martial, mundane): Alexei (Jacques as deputy?)
Interpres (diplomatic, magical): Fiona (Tranquillina as deputy)
Princeps: Korvin (deputy?)
Scutatius (martial, magical): Isen (Viscaria as deputy)
Vilicus (diplomatic, mundane): Tranquillina (Fiona as deputy)
We need a new Aedilis, and four deputies. Jacques and Roberto seem like the most likely candidates to fill (most of) these positions. Of course other changes can be discussed.
Edit: right, Rose too!
))
", the questions erupt
