1224.1 Vassal, Vassal, On The Wall

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: In the Ruins of Bibracte
13

Fixer is not the only one from Novus Main still active ( jebrick <--Halvard). I could easily remake him as an NPC.

Novus Main had some problems by being poor. It also owes it's Tribunal vote to Florum. If they kept with what was done in NM then Florum would never let them go unless they know for certain that we would vote for the Lotharingian Tribunal.

They would not have to move as vassals do not have to be close to their lieges. They have a strong aura.

Roof of the world would not work even though they are in the Alps. Too much similarities with at least two of the Magus. Curse of the Rhine gorge were making their Covenant in Westerwald which is closer to Fengheld than France.

14

I specifically didn't address other covenants mentioned because they exist in different Tribunals, and thus would not make a good vassal in the scope of the Normandy Tribunal. A chapterhouse arrangement? Perhaps, but that's a bit different and isn't at all helpful within the context of the Normandy Tribunal.

On the issue of Novus Mane. If Fixer and jebrick want to lift their PCs from Novus Mane into a newly minted covenant and make them a parallel universe version of the original, I'm fine with that. Ra'am in this saga likely isn't exactly the same as he would be if Phoenix had progressed to this point. Talia, Tektonius and other characters I've made here are not exactly identical to the versions I've made elsewhere. Apollodorus was even merged with the original concept for this saga (a gently gifted Jerbiton who stumbles on the Guernicus secret and stays a recluse, or a Tremere who stumbled on the secret) Talia might be identical, but she's pretty easy to play, doesn't have man useful skills to this saga and any nexus between here and there is pretty easy to control. Tektonius I listed as a possible lab rat for hire. I'll alter him a bit from what he was in that other saga which shall not be named, but his essence and back story will remain the same (a crippled Gift by a sadistic master). I'm working on a version of Anemone from Legacy of Rome to include as part of a coenobium to take part in the Tournament.

15

I do not mind redoing Halvard. He was a bad experiment that I tried to do too many things with and thus was good at nothing.

On a side note. I should post my Legacy of Rome Magus. He would need some approval as I made what I call a House Mystery Cult for him. The basic principle behind that is I think that each House could have it's own mysteries ( in the form of cults) even though the House is not based on Mysteries. So I made the Cult of the Dead for the Tremere. It was a lot of work for a saga that never got moving.

16

Jebrick, I suggested removing the Florum vassalage and moving them because keeping them as is, yet having them request vassalage, would imply greater political ramifications than JL consented to when I requested this story.

So, it seems what we have so far is:

  • Like Novus Mane, the previous magi went nova, leaving only the recently gauntleted Verditus apprentice in charge (I can play him.)
  • New magi (Wirth and Havlard, played by their previous players), join the covenant. Possibly others if other players want to pick up a character
  • Being young'uns, they are unable to withstand the raiding from Montverte, which has most recently, destroyed their fishing fleet, which was their sole income source.
  • Thus, they come to us for aid and vassalage

Does this outline sound good?

17

Yup.

And Marko Markoko wrote to me. He'd like to play Roberto again. So, maybe, we can convince him to do just that :smiley:

18

I am cool with this -- nay, excited at the prospect of playing with Marko, but imagine a slippery slope wherein we are advancing the entire Order of Hermes seasonally. On spreadsheets. Which get published by Atlas.

Since "Novus Mane" was probably meant to translate to "New Morning," I suggest we rename it to "Ex Tenebris Aurora" (From Darkness Comes Dawn). Others are free to suggest other names, or other tweaks than the ones that I've been strong-arming in, but we've got enough bare bones settled now to start the chapter.

[hr][/hr]

The road from Autun to Mons Electi is new, by the standards of Autun, but hard and smooth, supernaturally so in some places.

Aernoudt Roger de Verditus had insisted on building the carriage himself in his laboratory, using up the last of the covenant's vis stocks. True, what few seisin they had were in no jeopardy of being lost, and no doubt an enchanted wagon would be of great value, once he'd actually put some magical effects into it. And in the end, getting the huge thing down from the tower had been easier than initially imagined (though, initially, it had been imagined to be impossible).

Yet, if Aernoudt thought he was fooling anyone about why he'd enchanted such an ornate and noble carriage on the very eve of the Council's decision to seek vassalage, he was most likely mistaken. His pater had been the last of the founders of Ex Tenebris Aurora, over a century ago, and Aernoudt had been the only apprentice who had wished to stay much past their Gauntlet. In a sense, a sense that was very real and very bitter to Aernoudt, he was the last guardian of the original vision for his covenant. His new sodales were welcome hands in the prospect of much labor but they knew nothing of the spirit of his old covenant.

They were building something new. Aernoudt was trying to save something old, and precious only to him, it sometimes seemed.

So, he had built the ornate carriage, and he had packed his finest robes, and he had insisted on coming with, and using the Reins. "Verditus make for good bargaining tools," he argued. "They'll want to pledge us just for the discounts that I might offer them. You're sure that they will be willing to stand up to Montverte?"

He could still see the burning ships and the devastated harbor. Some of the surviving villagers were talking about turning to piracy, he knew. Aernoudt found the idea nearly sacrilegious, although the sad truth was that there were no boats for them to pillage with anyway. Well, none except for....

He shook his head and tried to listen to what his sodales were saying.

19

((As a side note before full RP happens... I understand that the magi of Ex Tenebris Aurora (NM) were not much past gauntle. Perhaps 5 years. I know that if Roberto is going to be a full magi then he needs to be at least 30 years post gauntlet. Are we thinking that most of the magi at Ex Tenebris Aurora are that old or just Roberto or just not known??))

20

OOC: If Roberto is doing a guest appearance, then keep him and the others at 5 years. If he's joining the campaign permanently then that's up to JL.

21

My opinion is that all PCs should be more or less comparable in power. Viscaria is the only exception to this rule.

22

That doesn't really answer the question from my perspective, since it is unclear to me if we're asking Marko to play an NPC for cameos or if he'll be joining the campaign.

It's also not clear to me how Viscaria is not of equivalent power level as the other PCs. I suppose she could have become grossly more powerful, if I wasn't so prone to generalization. She might be slightly more versatile. ~shrug~ But I'll trust you on that point.

23

It is good for me to know. Halvard is going to get a major change to what I envisioned when I was making him but the Hedge Magic book had not been released for the way.

24

Viscaria is shy 200 or so experience points as compared to the other magi, but she has a kick-ass familiar... She is comparable in power, I misspoke, but she wasn't built with the same rules as the other PCs were, that's what I was getting at.

I think we need to have a very clear discussion about what's being asked here. Marko seemed to be saying he was interested in playing Roberto and Novus Mane. I'm not really interested in firing up a mini Novus Mane saga to exist within the framework of this saga. So, if Marko wants Roberto, he needs to come to Mons Electi to reside. I don't mind drawing on Novus Mane for information and flavor, but keep in mind that I'm not at all familiar with Novus Mane. I am also not prepared to become intimately familiar enough with Novus Mane to write stories for those characters, including Roberto. The extent of writing for Phoenix characters, with the exception of Viscaria, is that I'm trying to get Heims and Cygna home, and once done with that, it's entirely likely I'd never write anything for them again, and their players would use them as characters for correspondence, and advance them with an element of self-determination that they never had...elsewhere.

So, if there is an expectation that I'm going to do stuff in Novus Mane, I need to quash that now. If I'm misunderstanding the goals of those saga participants and it's for flavor purposes, only, we're good. Marko can bring Roberto here, he can re-imagine him to be comparable in power to the existing magi, and I can help with that. Or he can bring in another concept. IMO, trying to shoehorn a magus concept into a saga concept is fraught with risk. Characters are designed or become accustomed to a particular saga. IF Roberto is brought to Mons Electi, Marko and I will have to have an extensive conversation about his goals for the character. Further, there's going to be a lot of input from Alexei and Fixter, and also even jebrick, as Roberto is modeled on previous editions understanding of Flambeau. Alexei and Isen were both loyal to Garus, and Marko has indicated Roberto wasn't a huge Garus fan... There's a player/character conflict area that needs to be resolved or at least agreed upon how to handle things moving forward.

25

I have no interests in playing a mini-Novus Main game. But if people wanted to have a Vassal and use NM for the template then I would help. Change the name and change the characters ( if needed ) so we have a vassal. Havlard is meant to be an NPC. Anyone can play him. I just want to see if I can get this concept off the ground. Can't be any worst than what he is now.

26

Yay!

Happy-happy-joy-joy-joy :smiley:

I would take the unmodified as-he-is option. Here is the link to his character sheet where he last left off, submitted for the inspection of the troupe.

https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/character-sheets/2562/1

On the same page, along with various other Novus Mane magi, you will find Roberto's to grog sidekicks Carlos & Pedro, as well as his companion Marcello (Jebric's character). They are not essential and I am not trying to shoehorn them in. I am just now remembering I never figured out exactly what was up with Marcello and his delusional memory.

But as I said, that is a total tangent. I am more than happy with this. Ecstatic really :smiley:
I mean this is f'n awesome!

Now I just need to figure out how to navigate your saga page. Very complicated with what appears to be multiple threads running concurrently. Where should I start in order to get a hand on it? Keep in mind, I don't need or even want all of the information. Just what would be realistically within Roberto's knowledge plus that which I as a player should be aware of.

And how do you wanna start the story arc up? I could write the classic "stranger rides into town" sorta intro. As for the McGuffin (Hitchcock term for "the plot motivator), the McGuffin idea I have is that NM somehow became independent from Florum somehow (not sure how, maybe they found a treasure and bought their freedom, mayby Florum is trading them off, or some such). But in any case, a year later we are struggling and really need a new liege covenant, which sounds like Mons Electi could be an apt choice.
Just an idea.
Sally killed off Garus or some such? Correction, I just scrolled down. She wanted her character as Prima? It sounds like a story about electing a new primus may be interesting here. Roberto would vote for Santiago :laughing:, but that guy would probably turn it down. Roberto himself is a bit to young, and even if he wasn't it still would not be his goal. Not politically ambitious. Instead, Roberto manufactures a bunch of campaign buttons that say "Wirth for Primus" :smiley:

(Can you guys tell I am at the library with my laptop? Detailed messages are a pain in the ass using my phone).

And you are telling me that after a two year absence I still have the highest post count on he Forums? Is that even sane? What was/still-is wrong with me? OMG.

:smiley:

27

I think something went horribly wrong with my posting. It looks like I accidentally deleted something. Maybe I hit the wrong button. I am unsure

Crap, I did. I erased my long post and apparently Jonathan's quite positive reply. I am going to request that my Spaminator powers be suspended until I am more familiar with navigating this site again.

28

No you didn't delete it. I moved the posts to the Table Talk thread. I'll post a more in-depth response later.

29

whew!

Yeah, I just figured that out. :smiley:
I shall move conversation over to the table talk thread.

30

a quick question as I begin to finalize Havlard. His basic story is that he was found by a local hedge wizard and inducted into the hedge tradition. After a few years he is found and taken by by a Ex Misc from the Lineage of Pralix, who wants to preserve his current knowledge so the Order can benefit. She can not open his arts so she contacts a Bonisagus that can. As part of the price the Bonisagus can remain in contact with Halvard and can have input on his studies.

The side story is that the Bonisagus see an opportunity to advance in his House. He would like Havlard to go and begin to incorporate his hedge tradition into Hermatic theory but the Bonisagus wants to get the credit. He has Havlard packed away to Novus Main and is pressuring him to do the research ( as a friend who has Havlard's best interests in mind). I'm imagining the Bonisagus as fairly powerful who will use his influence/ power to keep Havlard going and to "remove" bothersome distractions.

We started this with the promise of a question so here it is. Havlard has the Mentor flaw to represent this but somehow it does not seem right. While the Bonisagus does act as a mentor he also will be quite a task master and have an effect on the people associated with Havlard. Should I stick with Mentor or is there another flaw that fits this idea better?

31

Havlard at gauntlet minus background ( as JL and I dither flaws)

Havlard Arawinson
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Pre +1, Com +2, Str 0, Sta +2, Dex 0, Qik 0
Size: 0
Age: 30 (26), Height: 5'8'', Weight: 180 lbs, Gender: Male
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 2 (4)
Virtues and Flaws: The Gift, Hermetic Magus, Elemental Summoning(Thurgury)[1], Elementalist(Earth)[1], Elemental Control(Thurgery), Cyclic Magic (Positive): +3 At Night, Unaging, Improved Characteristics, Arcane Lore (50/50), Deft Terram,Affinity Terram, Affinity Rego

Chaotic Magic[1], Weird Magic (Botches on Stressed Casting: Extra botch die), Hedge Wizard, Ambitious, Proud, Nocturnal (All Rolls: 1 between dawn and midday), ?Mentor?, Susceptibility to Divine Power, ?Dark Secret?
[1] Free virtues and flaw

Personality Traits: Proud +3, Unforgiving +2, Honorable +2, Meloncollie +1
Reputations: Hedge Wizard 3
Combat:
Dodge: Init: +0, Attack , Defense +0, Damage
Fist: Init: +0, Attack +0, Defense +0, Damage +0
Kick: Init: 1, Attack +0, Defense 1, Damage +3
Soak: +2
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, 0, 2, 4, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: 1 (1), 3 (6), 5 (11), Incapacitated (16) (total penalties reduced by 1)
Abilities: Elementalist: Earth 1, Elemental Summoning(Thurgery) 1, Elemental Control(Thurgey) 1, Area Lore ( Southern Wales)2, Athletics 1, Awarness 1, Welsh 5, Stealth 1, Survival 2, Magic Lore Meistroli y Ddaear 2, Hunt 2, Charm 2, Folk Ken 2, Guile 3, Intrigue 2, Leadership 2, Bargin 2, Etiquette 1,Swim 1, brawl 1, Latin 5 [2], Magic Theory 4, Artes Liberales 2, Philosophiae 2 , Finesse 2 , Penitration 1 , Code of Hermes 2, Parma Magica 1
[2] Arcane Lore
Arts:
Cr 4, In 3, Mu 3, Pe 3,Re 5,
An 0, Aq 2, Au 2, Co2 ,
He 0, Ig 2, Im 2, Me 1, Te 10 , Vi 2

Equipment:
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Spells Known:
Fist of Shattering (PeTe 10) +14
Supple Iron and Rigid Rope (MuTe 10) +14
Invisible Sling of Valano (ReTe 15) +17. Move a stone through the air as fast as a bird flys. when the caster stops concentrating the stone falls to the ground
Trackless Step (ReTe 10) +17
Unseen Arm ReTe 5 +17
Hands of Grasping earth ReTe15 +17
Pit of the gaping earth PrTe15 +15
Wizard’s side step ReIm10 +9
Unraveling the Fabric of Terram PeVi 5 +7
Lamp without Flame CrIg10 +8
Eyes of the cat MuCo5 +7
The Call to Slumber ReMe10 +7

32

I say it is textbook Mentor :slight_smile:
Look at Roberto for example. He has never chosen a covenanant on his own. He was posted at Novus Mane then reassigned to Mons Electi by Santiago. NM were his years of freedom. Now, for the forseeable future, he is on assignment for his mentor.