Day Nineteen: the communal teaching lab
OMG I am definitely suggesting this for my next campaign....
Bob
These are brilliant!
Hi! To save on seasons, just install a Minor feature Throne and make it a Lesser Focus at the same time, so that's +3 to Teaching done in one.The GQ hit is slightly less, but equally meaningless for the lab's purposes.
Day 20: Done with mirrors
A Jerbiton illusionist created this lab to enhance her studies. The lab appears to hold a giant statue in a room full of artwork and mirrors. A very large mirror dominates one wall - but strangely the mirror's reflection does not show the statue. This is because the statue is an illusion created by an experimental magic item which has a minor side effect.
The statue's image - creates an illusion of a statue of size +4 to the senses of sight and touch, but as a side-effect won't show up in a mirro. (CrIm 2 illusion that affects two senses (sight and touch), +1 touch, + 2 sun duration, + 1 size, +3 environmental trigger +1 2 uses/day so effect is always on, total 14)
Virtues: Magical excessive lighting (+2 Im, no extra upkeep as magical)
Greater Feature(Mirror) (+2 aesthetics, +3 Im)
Greater Illusion (statue) (+2 warping, +2 aesthetics, +2 Im) - no effect on occupied size as it is balanced by a Greater Feature (statue) which has no effect on the stats (at least that's how I read the flaw on Covenants p120)
Superior Decoration (+1 upkeep, +2 aesthetics, +1 Im)
Spacious (+1 aesthetics, +2 safety)
Overall size +2 , refinement +2, general quality 0, upkeep +1, safety 0, warping +2, health 0, aesthetics +7, +8Im. This lab took 7 seasons (including refinement) plus however long it took to enchant the magical lighting and greater illusion.
The lab has a personality trait of "Vain +2" and grants a reputation of "Art-obsessed Mage +3"
Day 21: The unpleasant lab
Attempting to gain a negative reputation through terrible aesthetics is quite difficult - most negative aesthetics modifications worsen health or safety, or increase upkeep, and several modifications to increase safety also increase aesthetics. However, someone who doesn't care about Health (like a Criamon on a path that ignores aging, or a Merinita who has already completed Becoming In The Body) can have an unhealthy lab that terrifies other magi.
The below lab is in a collapsing former tannery in a lacuna. The tannery is above an ancient site of ritual sacrifice, so forms a magical lacuna on the edge of town, but this large, smelly place repels most magi. Diogenes Ex Criamon finds it suits his purposes admirably.
Virtues:
Extensive stores (+2 safety)
Flaws:
Deformed (-1 safety, -1 aesthetics, +1 Mu or Pe)
Disguised (-1 aesthetics)
Empty (-1 aesthetics and -1 health per 2 unoccupied spaces)
Uneven Floor (-1 safety, -1 health, -1 aesthetics, +1 Mu or Te)
Vile surroundings (-2 health, -1 aesthetics, 1 Pe/An/Aq/Au/Co)
Dirty (-1 health, -2 aesthetics, +1 Pe)
Missing sanctum marker (-1 aesthetics)
Overall size +3 (1 occupied) , refinement 0, general quality 0, upkeep 0, safety -1, warping 0, health -5, aesthetics -8, +2 Mu, +2 Pe.
The lab grants a reputation of "Dirty mage 3"
Day 22: A Verditius forge
An enchanter has fairly simple demands - good tools, enough workspace to make their items, assistants to speed up the process, and somewhere to show off their work.
Virtues:
Studio (+2 aesthetics),
superior tools (+1 Upkeep, +1 safety +1 Items)
forge feature (+2 aesthetics +3 Items)
superior construction (+1 safety +1 aesthetics)
servant (+1 aesthetics +1 Me)
Overall size +2, refinement 0, general quality 0, upkeep +1, safety 0, warping 0, health 0, aesthetics +6, +4 Items +1 Me
The lab looks like a large forge with an assistant permanently keeping it fuelled and stocked. It is full of well-made tools, and has stone walls lined with fire-bricks for extra protection. The atrium to the lab displays some of the best previous works, and a few diagrams from lab texts. It gives the owner a reputation of "Skilled enchanter +3"
Day 23: a lab in Hedyosmos
In The Sundered Eagle the covenant of Hedyosmos is described as an underground home to Terrae cultists. Their main areas are all kept lightless, and no light must spill out of a magus' lab. The following lab is designed for Aiakaia of Guernicus, a young maga. I have kept her lab lightless as she is used to navigating underground without light. The lab makes use of a natural cave which has been tunnelled into, and large storecupboards fitted with symbols in bas-relief so the maga can identify them with Ears of the bat
Virtues:
Natural Environment - a cave (+2 aesthetics, +3 Te)
Extensive stores (+2 safety)
Flaws:
underground (+1 upkeep, -1 Health, -1 aesthetics,+1 Te)
lightless (minor flaw, -1 upkeep, aesthetics can’t be more than -1, +1 Pe or Im )
Overall Size +2, Refinement 0, General Quality +0, Upkeep 0, Safety +0, Warping +0, Health -1, Aesthetics -1, +1 Pe +4 Te
The lab gives a poor reputation of "Cave-dwelling maga 1"
Day 24: A hospital
It is possible to have multiple people visiting your lab each day. Each one diminishes safety, but adds to your study of humanity (whether corpus or mentem). This lab looks like a hospital, and while frequently pallets lie empty (for the magus' safety), it can be filled with people whose imbalance of the humours can be studies (adds to corpus or mentem depending on whether they have more physical or mental symptoms)
Virtues:
Person (-1 safety +1 Co or Me per time) - up to 6.
Servant (+1 aesthetics +1 safety +1 Me)
Spacious (+1 aesthetics +2 safety)
Extensive stores (+2 safety)
Superior construction (+1 aesthetics, +1 safety)
Major feature - a pallet (+2 aesthetics +3 Co)
Overall Size +4, Refinement 0, General Quality +0, Upkeep 0, Safety +1, Warping +0, Health 0, Aesthetics +5, +1 Me +4 Co - if one physically sick individual
Overall Size +4, Refinement 0, General Quality +0, Upkeep 0, Safety -4, Warping +0, Health 0, Aesthetics +5, +7 Me +3 Co - if filled with six people suffering mental symptoms. The lab gives the owner a reputation of "compassionate healer +2"
[I need to do 6 more entries with only 2 days left - I feel November may only be 80ish per cent done this year)
we are all very appreciative I what you can manage! These are great.
Bob
Day 25: The lab of four elements
This lab has been placed outdoors to cover an area where a volcanic stream of lava reaches water, releasing steam and creating fresh pumice. A good site would be on an Icelandic beach, or by a stream on an Italian island. Such natural tethers allow for a high aura and also coincides with vis sources.
Virtues:
Natural Environment (+2 aesthetics, +1 Ig +1 Aq + 1 Te)
Spacious (+1 aesthetics +2 safety)
Extensive stores (+2 safety)
Vis source x 4 (-4 safety, +4 warping, +2 Au + 2 Aq +2 Ig +2 Te)
Superior equipment (+1 general quality +2 upkeep +1 safety +1 vis extraction)
Magical Superior Heating (not actually magical - this is from the lava so is upkeep free, but the magus has to ward themselves against heat or it counts as excessive heating - +1 health +1 aesthetics +1 Ig)
Flaws:
Outdoors (-1 General Quality +2 Upkeep -1 safety -2 Health -3 Aesthetics)
overall size +6, Refinement 0, General Quality 0, Upkeep +4, Safety -6, Warping +4, Health-1, Aesthetics +0, +2Au +3 Aq +4 Ig +3 Te +1 vis extraction. The extreme levels of warping and lack of safety from the four vis sources make this highly dangerous - it could do with refinement, adding some insulation and gaining a servant.
(design note - I was seeing what would happen when you try to stack the vis source virtue as many times as you can. The answer is, too much warping and danger, and a very large lab.)
Some other locations of hot springs can be found here in Italy, if you are looking for a "closer" location to place the lab. =)
theculturetrip.com/europe/italy ... t-springs/
Some others around Europe:
Day 26: the familiar lab
A final one actually in November before I try and finish up in the early days of December:
Galanthus of Flambeau is a Perdo Ignem specialist. He set up a spacious, well built lab. He installed magical heating using a lab text from a friend. However, when he came to bind a salamander as a familiar, he realised he wanted to mentally communicate, share its senses, and reshape the creature - he would need Intellego, Muto, Mentem and Animal to make these. He decided he would devote so much time to his familiar that it would be worth specialising in the lab activity dealing with this. He refined his lab down until it could hold a nest for the salamander and two linked magical circles as features.
Initially:
spacious (+1 aesthetics +2 safety)
superior construction (+1 aesthetics +1 safety)
magical superior heating (+1 aesthetics +1 health +1 Ig)
overall size +1, Refinement 0, General Quality 0, Upkeep 0, Safety +2, Warping 0, Health+1, Aesthetics +3, +1 Ig
After refinement
Greater Feature (nest) +3 familiar
Greater Feature (linked summoning circles) +3 familiar
overall size +1, refinement +4, General Quality 0, Upkeep 0, Safety +2, Warping 0, Health +1, +7 aesthetics, +1 Ig +6 familiar
The new features:
Nest - a comfortable place for an animal that is in the lab by choice, rather than caged - An, Familiar
Linked summoning circles - two magic circles containing pentagrams or hexagrams whose lines join - Re, Vi, Familiar
(when I read the lab rules in covenants, I realised Familiar is a specialisation but there are no examples listed to increase Familiar as a bonus - this lab is to rectify this, and show why it might be useful)
Day 27: The vis extraction facility
(Having covered labs specialising in familiar, items, teaching and texts, there's a couple of activities I haven't covered)
Every hermetic magus is taught how to extract vis from an aura. It is a popular activity to assign to apprentices, and older magi sometimes do it if they are desperate for more Vim vis. The description under the "Elementary" flaw ends with "Some covenants build elementary labs in powerful auras for the purposes of vis extraction"
This lab consists of a few pieces of exquisite glassware neatly arranged on a fine wooden bench. The room is a little smaller than the normal lab.
Virtue:
Superior equipment (+1 general quality, +2 upkeep, +1 safety, +1 vis extraction)
Flaw:
Elementary (-2 general quality, -3 upkeep)
overall size -2, Refinement 0, General Quality -1, Upkeep -1, Safety +1, Warping 0, Health 0, Aesthetics 0, +1 vis extraction. Assembled in a single season for the cost of 3 and one third mythic pounds, this lab only requires two-thirds of a pound in maintenance to have all the vis extraction capability of a regular lab and adds a modest margin of safety in case you are tempted to experiment.
If you find an area with a Vim vis source, you can build the lab around it, add the Vis Source supernatural virtue (+1 warping, -1 safety, +2 Vi)
overall size -1, Refinement 0, General Quality -1, Upkeep -1, Safety 0, Warping +1, Health 0, Aesthetics 0, +1 vis extraction, +2 Vi.
Day 28: a lab for a magus with a study restriction
The Bonisagus who built this lab has a study restriction. As a newly gauntleted magus, he can only study modest things. He wants to become an authority in Intellego magics. He joins a winter covenant with a powerful aura that warps the covenfolk (so he has no worries studying Vim) and builds a lab.
He starts with a large space which he fills with bright decorations of many forms. He has in the antechamber large cabinets, as he has commissioned books on mundane subjects from monasteries and booksellers. He is capable of studying In and Im to a moderate level (about 15 each), and Vi to his hearts content. (from p49 of the core book - Intellego level 15 at least one book on each of a dozen mundane subjects. Imaginem is 5 for a painting, 30 in a building covered with elaborate figured decoration in many media where music is constantly played - I figure 15 or 20 for superior decoration, if he adds a musician as a person he may reach the 30)
Virtues:
Superior construction (+1 safety, +1 aesthetics)
Superior decoration (+1 upkeep, +2 aesthetics, +1 Im)
Spacious (+2 safety, +1 aesthetics)
Studio (+2 aesthetics for the book collection)
Magical Superior Lighting (+1 aesthetics, +1 texts, +1 Im)
overall size +2, Refinement 0, General Quality 0, Upkeep +1, Safety +1, Warping 0, Health 0, Aesthetics +7, +1 texts +2 Im. He gains a reputation of "aesthetic scholar 3" amongst his peers.
As he gains in power, he realises he wants to reach for the very best study conditions for Intellego - but how will he surround himself with scrying devices? He could assemble a huge number of lesser devices, but he decides the best way is to construct an InIm item that utilises a very large group target. He makes a wall-sized window of a thousand panes of glass, each one of which shows the place it has an arcane connection to. (Glass x1 Huge size x5 - requires 5 pawns of vis to open, able to hold 50 levels of effect). He uses the base effect "use one sense at a distance" InIm level 1, range arcane connection (+4), duration sun (+2), target group +2 for 1000 targets (+4) - level 35 so far, with 2 uses/day and a sunrise/sunset trigger so it is always on (+4) levels. With an In and Vi of 15 each, with his Int, magic theory and strong aura and +2 Im bonus from the lab this will take several seasons of work, or he could commission a verditius to make it. The real effort is in getting the arcane connections - fixing so many is right out, but getting a large number with an expiry time of years and having an apothecary improve them is possible.
The magic item allows study of Intellego to level 35, and adds a bonus of +2 In +1 Im.
overall size +2, Refinement 0, General Quality 0, Upkeep +1, Safety +1, Warping 0, Health 0, Aesthetics +7, +1 texts +2 In +3 Im
Day 29: The lab for furthering the order
As I abuse my lunchbreak something silly, here is a lab designed for one purpose: in order to open the arts of apprentices with unusual supernatural abilities (which is both a vital part of the lineage of Pralix and house Ex Miscellanea, and also very useful for Merinita who want apprentices with faerie virtues), you need a huge InVi lab total. I've once seen a massive team effort (our Bonisagus being assisted by two other magi to open the Arts, and then handing over to another magus for training and apprenticeship) do it, but a lab built for a covenant could make it easier. Maybe Cad Gadu or Irencilia have a lab like this. Verdi may benefit from having a huge InVi lab for investigating exotic enchantments.
Virtues:
Extensive Stores (+2 safety)
Gallery (+1 safety, +1 teaching)
Greater Feature x 3, a throne, an astrolabe, an orb – (3 points on specialisations and +2 aesthetics each - the astrolabe and orb give 6 points to In or Vi - 3 each, the throne +1 Me and +2 teaching)
Spacious (+2 safety +1 aesthetics)
Superior Construction (+1 safety, + 1 aesthetics)
Size +7, Refinement +2, General Quality +0, Upkeep +0, Safety +1, Warping +0, Health +0, Aesthetics +8, Teaching +3, +1 Me, +3 In, +3 Vi
This lab is perfect for opening the arts, teaching apprentices, and investigating enchantments. Adding better tools, or refining to make more space and adding a forge, could add an "Items" specialisation to make investigating enchantments more effective.
Thinking of spells to allow customisation of labs, Ironboundtome has created a couple and I can see casting tablets for these being popular. I also think that the spells to shape ice could be handy if someone makes an ice cavern - carving a lab from a block of ice, and then reshaping allows you to increase the size, add extra insulation or change the shape to something more auspicious a lot more easily than when dealing with stone buildings.
Here's an idea I had - what about using Rego Craft magic to refine your lab?
As per Covenants p49, rego magic can make "any change a mundane craftsman can affect, even when the magus is limited by lack of tools, time or skill". Consider refining a lab – if this counts as improving through craft, it is surely a trivial task as magi don’t normally need to roll their Magic Theory, they just spend a season. So the difficulty is 3 (minimum for Rego Craft on a trivial task) + 6 for a season’s work, totalling 9 (or 12 if you want a year’s worth! – but restriction on working for one year per point of refinement probably sinks this). Following the example of “The Laboratory of Bonisagus” (Covenants p122) it would be a Terram spell with a Vim requisite – so base 2 +1 touch +2 group +5 complexity for total ReTe(Vi) 30, requiring a Per + Finesse difficulty 9. Botches will cause expensive loss of materials.
Day 30: the too flexible lab
If you really want a customizable lab, why not just twist the building it's in around until it's the shape you want? A MuTe spell to make parts flexible(so needs structure and part targets) with a Rego requisite to physically move parts would allow you to reshape the size and shape of rooms, add or subtract windows and doors, add defensive features, maybe add a gallery?
The Architect's whim - I would rate this MuTe 4 (change dirt so that it is highly unnatural) +1 affect stone +1 range touch +1 duration concentration +3 target structure +1 part +1 Rego requisite - Mu(Re)Te 40. Allows you to shift parts of a stone structure around while you concentrate, when you stop concentrating the structure freezes in place. Finesse rolls will be needed. This can also give the Magical Fortress Boon from the Hooks and Boons chapter at the start of covenants if used to alter entrances and add arrowslits when someone attacks.
Botching with this spell will be terrifying and very hazardous.
Used in a lab, it allows you to add or subtract Virtues & Flaws from the "Structure" section with a Finesse roll. If used on a regular basis, or enchanted in an item in the lab, it can give the "Chaotic" supernatural Flaw.
There are no stats for this lab - as it will keep changing (and probably gain a mysterious drop in General Quality from the Hidden Defect flaw every time there's a botch).
It is ideal for someone with a Major Magical Focus in Stone and a good Finesse - I'd recommend Cautious with Finesse though.
- applauds *
Thanks for all of these, darkwing. They've made for really interesting reading - I think my favourites have been the "poverty-stricken" ones.
Thank you very much, darkwing. This has been a pleasure to follow, and a great source for inspiration.
Excellent work darkwing.
Plenty of good ideas, and it is refreshing to see concepts which are not purely an exercice of getting the uber-most-awesome lab.
Ideas that weren't used
- The beautiful garden. I didn't do a Herbam lab, because Ricardus Caespuus lab at the end of Covenants does a pretty good job already. There's not much more you could do to make a super-effective Herbam lab, but you could carefully create the most aesthetically pleasing one.
- A foxhole - for a Bjornaer, make an impregnable lab (accessible via a tiny tunnel that a burrowing heartbeast can make its way through) that's underground - not very exciting but practical for that sort of heartbeast. I may write one up if I ever create a fox, badger or rabbit Bjornaer.
- A torturer's dungeon - mostly an excuse to stack features like a cage or a rack to stack Pe and Co bonuses and revel in its horrific appearance. I may write one up if I ever do a PeCo specialist.
- A criamon labyrinth - building a lab inside a maze with a haunted grave at the centre - an excuse to stack mentem bonuses with only modest warping but negative aesthetics.
- The super-warping lab - the heinous architecture flaw is really bad, so trying to stack that with afire or airborne and a vis source and a guardian to try and maximise warping just stacks up so many negatives that anyone trying to create a warping lab will probably go boom from the poor safety.
- A sentient lab - I think I've worked out a way to make a sentient space (for the flaw for a lab, or the covenant boon) but I need to check my figures. Also I'm not sure what I'd combine it with to make an even more memorable lab.
- A lab for Ingasia - while reading The Sundered Eagle I saw that Stouritis wants to build new labs to attract magi and to be used when there are visitors for the contest. Would the new labs be joining the labyrinth or would they be in dedicated buildings above ground? I couldn't decide.
- A longevity ritual specialised lab - really, you may as well build any Creo or Corpus focussed lab, and then add priceless ingredients when you have the money.