Iosephus offers his contribution to the debate:
"I concur with the maga. To everyone their turn, and turn again. As all things move in cycles, so should we."
He pauses, and then adds:
"Sodales, forgive my forwardness - I am very unused to this sort of thing, as you probably know. But it seems to me that we are concerning ourselves with small matters, when the greatest one lies before us. We have decided to join our names together in covenant, but we have not yet come to any covenant about our name. This matter of a name seems to me of much importance. Could we not proceed to discuss it now?"
[color=blue]"Our sodalis," (and here, Fiona nods at Apollodorus) [color=blue]"has said more than once that he has chosen each of us to be here at the founding of our covenant, for various reasons. Perhaps we should take that as our name: Mons Electi"
Onesiphorus: I will go with the system that is in place. I am merely suggesting a system that will make it easier to hold onto long term plans, unite our intellect to common problems and yet allow a magus to handle an errand as he see fit. I have only the covenants best as a reason for my suggestion.
Onesiphorus: The matter is settled for now. Efficiency where not the issue and I am very confident in my capability to rule a covenant. A short pause. Or anyone else for that matter
OOC: Not intending to start a OOC fight just establishing Onesiphorus as a unpleasant person.
Fiona looks around the table. [color=blue]"That makes three of the four votes needed for passage of the name. And I have no problem with Iosephus taking the first turn on the wheel."
Alexei nods his smile fading a bit. "And regardless of who is to take the first run of Princeps, the defenses must be seen to. I'm hard at work on these already but the glaring hole is the Aegis, or lack of one. I know it is not currently cast, do we have one in our library? Is anyone able to cast it? And unless we want it to be less effective, we're likely to need to use a Wizard's Communion of sufficient power to have it work best."
"There is an Aegis text in the library. It is of 7th magnitude in total. However, due to the large area we must cover by the Aegis, it's effect is as of a 4th magnitude Aegis. The large size will easily cover everything built on this side of the Regio, including a couple of caves with vis sources, though it does not cover the chess game vis source, and to the outer wall on the mundane side. I have also secured a text on Aegis Mastery[1], in which one can learn adaptive techniques, penetration, lab mastery, magic resistance and still casting.
"I can assist with a Wizard's Communion of 8th magnitude for the casting.
[1] This is actually a summa of Aegis Mastery L3Q10, one can learn 3 of the 6 mastery abilities by studying the book to completion (5, 15, 30 xps for the mastery ability, if your character accumulates XPs in AoH and get to the 4th level or beyond they can refer to this text for another mastery ability, which would take a day away from a lab activity). Mastering a ritual spell is a very good idea, too. I'll post this, along with other stuff in the covenant thread, when I complete my spending of build points.
Edit: Orginally had unravelling (not still casting), which applies only to Perdo Vim spells. I have no idea why I had written that originally, must've been late at night, or something...
[color=blue]"I cannot cast Aegis of the Hearth myself, unfortunately, but I am able to contribute to the casting with a Wizard's Communion of the third magnitude"
"I can cast neither spell, so I'm afraid I can offer very little help. I have lived alone, and have had small cause to be concerned about security.
Here he nods respectfully to the others in turn, starting with Alexei, who raised the issue of security in the first place.
"But all solitary things tumble together eventually, and I am here to enter into Covenant with others, and to learn. I would very much like to learn Wizard's Communion. To tumble alongside, and with, and through, the Powers of one's sodales! It will be a Change for me, and a Transformation. From Solitude to Covenant and Communion! I do not mind telling you that these things are a large part of why I am here.
Alexei is tracing his finger on the table space in front of him and thinking. After several moments he speaps up. "I would need to study more before I could learn that Aegis spell, though I could probably learn the Communion well enough. What about the vis for it? Is there enough in the stores?"
"No, unfortunately, we do not have any vim or Rego in the stores. However, we do have a ripe vis source now and can trade, or extract the Rego from the dedicated vis, even though it is a waste. There should be a Redcap by by the middle of April. Alternatively, someone could decide to do some farming for the covenant. We do have a Vim vis source, which is extremely valuable due to its rarity and size, but that won't be ripe until Autumn." The way he says farming it is immediately obvious that he finds the idea extremely distasteful. \
"As to books for learning, we have a tome by the inestimable Istavan of Criamon about Vim. If you can actually decipher his riddles you'll end up learning a lot." It's a Vim summa Q9L14.
OOC note about the Vis sources: I've been working on a schedule for when these become available, and adjusting them as necessary. Some of them as written could be considered contested vis sources, that hook wasn't selected, so I'm adjusting some resources so they aren't quite so difficult to collect (the chess game is now ridiculously easy for most characters, for example), or are more predictible for ripe collection. For those wanting a difficult to collect resource, there are always Lucatio to try one's hand at. Known registered vis sources just waiting to be collected, or something.
OOC post
Here are the vis sources collated by season.
The Corpus one is essentially contested as written. There's either a boon that you guys are eligible for, or it needs to be rewritten. I adjusted the great game so it wasn't difficult.
Additionally, I boosted the Rego vis source and the Vim vis source with Mad Max's unallocated build points, however they don't ripen until Winter and Autumn, respectively.
So, there are three decisions relating to the Aegis. Wait for available Vis or extract from the Aura or...? Who's learning what? Someone needs to learn the Aegis, and someone should learn Wizard's Communion. It looks like no one can actually learn the 35th level Aegis see chart need to learn some Vim or Rego or do something before learning the Aegis. Would you like me to bump that back down to 30th level or provide a 30th level Aegis of lesser power (there are some available bps), either a reduction in size or in protection? I'm flexible. This item seems to be stymieing the council.
As to Jonah taking the first season, I think this is settled, since he offered, and two of the 4 others accepted, that's 3 out of 5, which is a majority (remember, Apollodorus doesn't intend to vote). I've adjusted the topic names a bit to reflect this change.
[color=blue]"Would the Redcaps or your Quaesitores be willing to trade us Rego or Vim for the dedicated Rego Terram vis from the King on a seven-for-six basis?" Fiona asks thoughfully.
Edit: SG changed Creo to Rego when talking about the dedicated vis.
"I would think that we could do better than that, even." Apollodorus suggests helpfully. "I'm not very familiar with the Redcap, who's coming and his name escapes me at the moment. The one who visited me regularly before recently retired and went back to Iberia. I'll have no advantage or disadvantage in barganining with him. Perhaps you can see to his arrangements and cater to him when he arrives? It would also be a good idea for anyone to have their correspondence ready."
Dedicated vis effectively counts as 2 pawns when used in appropriate rituals of the form, it's very valuable. The weight could be an issue, though...
Alexei speaks up. "I have some Rego vis in my personal stores, I'd be happy to contribute it to this first casting of the Aegis. I believe that the dedicated vis is too valuable to trade unless we get a more favourable rate. If I contribyte my vis for a casting of the Aegis I would like some kind of compensation, it need not be much, the protection of the Aegis is very important."
"We should probably consult with our Verditius maybe. But I think Rego is vis alone is quite valuable, I'd price it at worth 2 pawns of any Form. With dedicated Vis...while it is more valuable, it is also already committed to a specific combination that might not be desirable to some. Having said that we should at least get half again on the return, so for every 2 pawns we trade we should at least get 3 pawns in return. We might also send out letters for the future to such House as Verditius and Bonisagus, those two might find it more valuable...should we wish to trade this vis rather than use it. I know I can find uses for it."
Onesiphorus: Could we not just wait for the resources to become available. First we don’t have anyone who knows the ritual and it will take a season to learn it and that assumes that we don’t have to study anything before learning the ritual. Here is my plan. First someone takes upon learning the rituals and spells needed. Then we should construct a laboratory that is focused upon vis extraction. If we had any apprentices this would be a great task for an apprentice who is in his later years. I could construct some equipment that aids with vis extraction and we could make sure that there are enough supplies to make a very well supplied if seldom used laboratory. At first we will be unguarded if we do not wish to loan vis for payment for a caster and the ritual but then we can set an apprentice to extract vis for us and then use the vis to cast the ritual. This should not endanger our aura as we release the vis into the aura again. This will take some effort but I think that it will be worth it in the future.
"If the person learning the Aegis does not know Wizard's Communion, that must be learned, as well. That means two seasons, so casting it at the end of summer. I'd also prefer someone have mastered the Aegis to minimize the risk of error. The following year, I'd like to remove myself from casting altogether, and just be a standard participant in the ritual to avoid the risk of a miscast spell."
"Based on previous discussions and correspondence with each of you, I'd say Onisephorus or Silviatos are close to being able to learn the spell in a season. Silviatos almost certainly, if he enlists the aid of his apprentice and familiar. And since he knows Wizard's Communion already, it means we could cast it by the end of spring."
Apollodorus pauses to consider the idea of waiting until the vis is available, "The Vim would be ripe in Autumn, and the Rego ripens in the Winter. We can certainly wait for the vis sources to ripen if everyone is willing. Further, it would allow others to learn Wizard's communion, and I could perhaps excuse myself from the casting of the ritual, and just be a standard participant. Given my advanced age, I would like that." Note, Apollodorus looks to be in his lower 40s, younger than almost all the magi joining him (some players don't have age/apparent ages listed for their characters, please update this).
"As to creation of another lab, that is entirely optional, and I have no opinion about it, either way."
