Been bouncing back and forth between Viscaria's character sheet/biography and her Prelude trying to figure this out, or at least get a good starting point. But I'm having a hard time reconciling the timelines. The bio (which, I think, might still be the one from JM's campaign?) looks like it has Viscaria going pretty much straight from her gauntlet to Phoenix...at least, the numbers add up if that's the case. While her Prelude has her being a prisoner of the Dwarfs for the last two years?
Just need to know chich is the case (or if it's a combo of the two) so I can give an educated answer.
Sorry, I found this hard to follow, if your intention was that this is information only for Maria to know or for information she relayed to group. I was asking if Étienne had a sense of intuition on a course to follow (since he has the virtue) and for an SG roll. I reread the virtue, and I need to present three, not just two courses of action, so it's fair that you don't roll on it, however you didn't phrase it as something you couldn't do, because I, as the player, didn't do something that was necessary.
What parameters will you roll on an intuition check (I don't want to abuse it), or should I just pick a different Virtue for him?
Truthfully, I only roll when I don't know which option is most beneficial for the story, or when there is a good opportunity for a plot to twist in one direction or another. In a situation like this, for instance, I take all the facts into consideration, and then ask for input from the players to color the end result. There was no question that you'd find the refugee camp. Only a matter of when, and how. Saying "Etienne's intuition, which is strong, helps guide them" meant that you would find them earlier than the die roll would suggest, but wasn't enough for me to determine when to set the stage, and I was hoping the player's choice of skills to use for the search would help inspire me (in this case, it didn't).
I find the phrase "I don't want to abuse this part of the Ars Magica system" to be laughable. The system is imbalanced, incoherent, and powerful. If it is important to you that Etienne gets the precise mechanical advantage described in the virtue, than I will be more diligent in the future about giving that to you.
Well his concept is such that he is extraordinarily lucky or is perceived to be that way. He often acts on nerve and many times the result comes out favorably. However my experience with people like this is that they invariably push too far and their lives come undone (kinda how he ended up with Ra'am). I could see him falling back on it like a drug or trying to act without it. Could be I'm just having trouble with this story as a player and can't find anything to latch onto.
I don't know that this is entirely your fault. Traditionally, the last six weeks have been the busiest time of year for me. I actually cancelled this weekend's trip because I needed a break, it has been that bad. So you and Azura have come into the game at a point where, IRL, I have a lot of stress going on. I have a lot less direction for what to do with the Refugee plot than I have with the main "settling in" plotline, so I'm really winging it on what happens in that thread. It could be that an unfortunate side effect of that is that I'm too busy scrambling to keep the world-gen happening to keep track of all the characters (like the mix-up I just made with Marie and Maria).
You're doing great with Ra'am, and I really like how Azura is shaping up, too. Neither of those characters feel like "new entries" to me anymore. I'm still feeling out Etienne, and of course, none of Azura's grogs have even had screen time yet!
Viscaria it shall be, then!
I have a lot of info for her on the wiki, I'd just like any additionnal details for hair, eyes...
On another subject, I still haven't decided a suitable last minor virtue for Hiems. I almost took unaging, but I want him to (slightly) grow old. He already has cyclic magic, which is great. I'll probably settle on something like puissant parma, making his magical core very hard to melt or alter through magic, but if someone has a good idea...
20 years from now Viscaria will say, "remember that time Ra'am told Cygna to go pleasure herself in what would eventually become her sanctum to figure out the secrets?"
Everyone will laugh and then Azura will say, "Good times."
Yep...and our children and/or apprentices will look at us with either a "Man, you guys are more awesome that I thought!" or an "Eeeew!" look on their faces.
I think this is so cool, we came back around to the beginning of the loop on certain events taking place. Cygna and her vis collection and the Azura and Étienne encounter...
Who knows, Ra'am could've caused both events indirectly by his busybody ways, and total academic approach to everything. I'm starting to see him more as Sheldon from Big Bang Theory (I've only seen it twice, but I think this is where he's going...)
Possibly, yes 
I had a good laugh over that as well!
