Please keep this sub-thread clean. If you're going to comment, change the Subject line. Otherwise, feel free to add items or additional lists as needed.
Spells to transcribe for others to learn,
None Requested So Far
Spells to Create/Acquire, Items to Enchant (by Viscaria, Isen, Fiona)
Quarters for the Visiting Guest CrHe 25 - Korvin? Jormungand? Fiona?
A Spell to make and install a door Cr(Re)He 20 - Isen?
"Do you mean for the villa rustica to house both the magi and their grogs? Recall that Rome invented the grid street system. Using the spells that I have now, I could easily fit them all into a single city block of domus surrounding a villa urbana.
"Regardless of such details, this is much clearer to me now -- in fact, this all seems to be well within my capacity, given the deadlines, and I suggest that we construct a Basillica for the A&S competition and ball. What about the underbelly of our city? Refuse, sewage, and security?"
"Given these numbers, we could lay out the city with two main streets, at whose intersection we put the Coloseum, Basilica, and Termae (bath house). Add another pair of streets in each direction...."
"The letters mark the Basillica, Coloseum and Marketplaces. Of course, this is entirely dependent on the landscape, and true Roman architecture involves a great deal more mathematical precision. Still, as a rough outline...?" She glances at everyone for approval.
Yes, please. Soonish. We're going to run into a stumbling block pretty quickly without knowing the layout. And actually, I have a pretty poor understanding of the known layouts already, having joined the game after they were developed. Are we in the regio-equivalent of the original site of Bibracte? If not, does that place exist in any meaningful way?
Are you saying that we explicitly cannot host 7 events (the typical 6, plus trying to establish the Scavenger Hunt as a new tradition that happens every year)? What are the political ramifications? Didn't we just piss off Le Maison by subverting one of their vassals? I lack the book. What are the 5 events?
I was under the impression that we also needed classrooms for research lectures, Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, etc.
We seem to be pretty clear on what the physical structure should be, and are just haggling over methodology. Permanent vs moon duration, spell vs spont vs enchantment. So...locating lab texts, grogs, raw materials and other available resources should be next.
I'd also like us to do something massive and exciting with all that intellego vis. Like create giant scrying mirrors in the pubs for people to watch the Falconball game on. ~snicker~ We could actually target the scrying mirrors to the balls themselves, so that viewers would get a balls-eye view of the action.
Although it isn't strictly kosher, I'm hoping that when we go looking for lab texts, we can find ones have documented experimental side effects.
The notion of how to pay for all of this given the lack of central stores has been the most interesting tangent for me on all of this. Especially when I set up Viscaria to join the campaign without necessarily joining the covenant.
Viscaria can pull 6 Vim or 3 Form vis per season with her alchemy, and comes front-loaded with Terram vis right down in her soul. However, she's also Cynical +3 Altrustic +2, so she fully expects the covenant to shaft her when she offers that up.
With Rego Imaginem, this seems quite possible.
Hum... Not rego. That'd displace the species
Creo(In)Im.
Which opens us to the possibility of soime smart asshole accusing us of scrying :-/
Alexei looks both impressed and confused at the plans. "Clearly I have not the head for planning and designing such elaborate festivals. I believe these are very worthy ideas. I do however know in general something about maintaining a camp and a siege, and waste disposal is very important for the health of those staying. One night's worth of waste from such a large group can produce hills of excretion. We should design a simple spell, in fact there probably are several versions of it already that we might acquire, to dispose of waste. Use Rings for the duration and target, Perdo Corpus, with perhaps some requisite Forms, keep it at a low power so that a few might easily learn the spell and then transcribe it many places throughout the Tribunal. When my pater and I travelled he would often cast it spontaneously and then dispose of the ring after, leaving virtually no trace of our..." he wiggles his eyebrows again "passing. Plus, I know that most magi are conscious of the, shall we say connections they leave behind; our guests will no doubt appreciate this contrivance, prevents them from worrying about others sorting through the night soil for a way to penetrate their parma. Such a spell will likely be easy to invent, learn and cast, and probably exists already. We can cast it in many places for convenience and avoid a terrible stench."
He points to the map. "Allow me to set up the Flambeau Field. Isen and Jacques as well. It will allow us to improve our standing with the House and you can always then defer the repsonsibility of the event...and its consequences to us."
I agree very much with my sodales. Such preparations are vital in a camp this large, as roman camps can attest. Moreso, it would demean us if we didn't offer such accomodations to our visitors.
Such a spell is only of fourth magnitude. As we probably won't need many, we can probably avoid spending precious time to learn it if some of us take the time to do some ceremonial casting.
[color=blue]"My coven-mate at Insula Canaria had enchanted a rug to dispose of her droppings and her water during Council meetings. Of course, that was Perdo Animal, not Perdo Corpus, but she did say that it was a fairly simple enchantment. The spell effect instilled is not even a full magnitude, and she was able to do the rug as a Lesser Enchantment, and that was before I arrived."
((ooc – I'm looking at a base level 3PeCo, +1 Touch, no change for Momentary or Individual; +10 for "Unlimited Uses," with no other mods for a final Effect level of 14. Fiona could make the item with her Pe 5 + Co 14 + Int 1 + Magic Theory 6 + Aura 5 + Inventive Genius 3 = 34, even without figuring in lab bonuses and stuff. Granted, it would be time consuming to make them. It might be better to make one or two Wands of Gong Farming, which would have the same Base Effect, add +1 for R: Voice. Don't know if "pile of poop and pee" would be "individual" or "Group" though, which would make a drastic difference in its makeability. Make the wand, give it to a grog, and just have him make the rounds of all the privies and chamber-pots throughout the day.))
((The wands could also make a decent item to bring on expeditions where we need to be discreet, but I think spells with Ring duration make this a bit easier maybe? We'd basically set up outhouses or group 'drops' over shallow pits that have the Ring/Circle of the spell inscribed at the rim. Anything dropped into the pit is destroyed and we don't need to keep grogs going around destroying the matter and guests most likely would need no direction ("Ha-ha! He doesn't know abou the 3 seashells!"). Just regular servants keeping the outhouses clean, which is no different from a regular cleaning job for them, they wouldn't need any warning or training or anything. We could also incorporate the design of a water closet for any of the buildings created, and then inscribe the spell into the building once raised, or provide chamber pots with the spell in them.
Come to think of it, in the Magi of Hermes book, the Tytalus who lives at sea has either a spell or magic item (chamber pot bolted to the deck) that does this job. I'll check it out when I get home to get the base levels and such.))
Viscaria nods thoughtfully. "And yet, one man's sewage is another man's compost. If we were to collect and properly handle this influx of fertilizer, it would be as valuable as the vis spent on casting a Bountiful Harvest.
"If we decide to go with the Perdo option, then....well, it should be no surprise to anyone that as an enchanter, I see the value of creating a Lesser Device to do this work for us."
Alexei seems unconvinced. "Why spend the vis designing an item though? Unless it was a charged item of course. But still, I think if we get a spell and cast it several times before the tribunal, we will not have to worry about it during the Tribunal. Or worry about it a lot less perhaps."
[color=blue]"It dues seem that making enough items to do the job would require a fair amount of vis. Perhaps Perdo Corpus with a Voice range and a Moon duration?" (ooc - that would make it Level 20. I'm not sure what the Target would be - we could do a "Circle" Target and carve a circle onto the port-a-potty's seat. I doubt that the "basement" of the port-a-potty counts as "Target: Room". So...D: R: Voice, D: Moon, T: Ring?))
"Have the duration and target both be a ring. Might that be an easier spell to design and cast?"
((I don't have my books with me, if we went R: Touch D: Ring and T: Ring we might get the lowest spell? Plus maybe we'll keep some of them for future use, depending on circumstances.))
It's now fairly obvious that Viscaria is exploring this just to be thorough, rather than from any particular preference. "A ceremonial spell is far more likely to go wrong than a formula. Now, if we seek an existing formula, we might discover a variant with unusual side effects which would be valuable, but a magus would still need to learn it and cast it -- one season to learn, and a nuisance duty while under a deadline. A charged item....who knows how many seasons it would take to create enough charges? A wand devised to cast such circles will absolutely not fail -- at least, not on the fair grounds, which we care about more than even a lab, and the duty can be assigned to the grogs. And we'd still have the capacity for later experiences.
"Furthermore...we seem to be focused primarily on human wastes, but I do seem to recall quite a few meats served on sticks as well as on the bone at Le Maison. Such refuse would not be handled by this spell. With a device, I could easily enchant it to destroy all manner of things -- or even teleport them to a compost heap."
The Tidy Disposal Of Unmentionables
PeCo(An)(He)
Base 5 - Destroy a corpse
+1 Animal. +1 He. +1 Ring +1 Touch +5lvl for 24 uses/day
Total: 30 (1 season for Viscaria, after she sets up her lab)
Charged Item Version: Total: 25, vs Lab Total of at least 56 = 6 charges/season.
An Efficient System of Composting
ReCo(An)(He)
Base 35 - ReCo teleport to an arcane connection
+1 animal +1 Herbam +1 Ring +1 Touch +5lvl for 24 uses/day
Total 60 (2 seasons to make as an invested item)
"I'm not much of a theorist on magic I'm afraid. I'll have to do some calculations. But mu initial suggestion was actually to include some requisites such as Animal and Herbam both, so the ring could be used as an overall refuse pit. One spell to take care of it all. However that might raise the magnitude more than is economical. Would a spell of Perdo Corpus with an Animal and Herbam requisite, designed to destroy human, animal, and vegetable products be more efficient if cast as a ring spell for the duration and target?"
OOC, I believe that in the medieval paradigm, we are not aware that poop is post-digestion food (I mean, corn was a New World food, so how would they have figured it out?).
Viscaria does some quick math, appearing to draw in the air with her finger. "...add the....carry the one...I could do it in 5 magnitudes. Six magnitudes for the item. That'd cost 9 vis normally, including expenses. I'd charge you 5, or call it 4 and an apprentice weaver."
[[OOC: Viscaria has a habit of asking for people, animals, songs, services, etc when bargaining. ]]
I have a hard time believing that hunters didn't know where spoor came from. Even if they don't know it's digested food, they'd still know it was discarded Corpus or Animal.
Oh sure-- what I mean is that human waste would be all Corpus and animal spoor would be Animal. No one would realize that it should have an Herbam requisite, because they don't know it's made up of what the pooper ate.
For what it's worth, that chamber pot has a Perdo Corpus with an Aquam requisite, the base is 4, +1 more for the requisite. R: Touch +1, Ring for Duration adds 2 magnitudes, Circle for Target adds nothing, so we're talking a level 20 spell based on the design Alexei suggested. If we add Animal and Herbam, now it's 30, a pretty hefty spell, but relatively easy to cast once designed.
As an item you could change the duration to Momentary and the Target to Individual (which is what the item in the book has), but you have to pay for the amount of uses, which should be Unlimited for +10, making it 20 anyway and costing 2 pawns. And that was for a chamber pot. As a wand (which could gain the advantage of a lab bonus for destroying things at a distance if you increase the range), you might either have to raise the Range (or not up to you), but likely have to increase the Target to account for large amounts. You'd also still need to put uses per day. You could still make a wand that had Unlimited uses and had to touch the target and couldn't effect larger amounts; it just would be messy and inefficient and possibly time consuming as when the pit filled up a grog goes in and destroys it an Individual amount at a time (talk about a shitty job!).
So, up to you, I think the spell with Ring/Circle might be the best for the job. It could be inscribed on large or small holes (from a pit to a chamber pot), and as long as no one deliberately mars the ring should last the entire Tribunal with minimal maintenance and care. We might also be able to sell the lab text, but that could no doubt be said for an item as well.
I think this whole topic has descended into the crapper. I say we look for sewage and waste management spells/items used by past tribunals and punt the question. It's enough that we have it on the list for right now.
"Alright, well, how about if we just agree that we should look into past solutions. An existing lab text on the subject in whatever form will suffice. Let's move on before this conversation gets bogged down. What about security? What sort of security do we need? What do the Quaesitors provide, and what do we need beyond that? Laetitia, do you have any insight into this issue, or know whom we might speak with on the subject?"
OOC: As I'm often fond of saying, "Ars Magica: the game for kids who were never given enough homework."
