Anulus Connectens: Janus of Mercere

Games Discussion Ars Magica
81

Good idea. That makes things more transparent if counting the pluses and minuses.
It would actually be 'minor virtue x2, major virtue x1' for Second Sight, Premonitions and Shapeshifting respectively.

For the rest of the Qualities I choose 1 Greater and 2 Lesser Powers. But when picking some of the for white cats suggested powers from the cat power list some pf them were Personal Powers. I assume are okay as Lesser powers because I did not use the reduced Might cost and improved Init that a Greater Power was listed to have. I hope that's clear enough.

I'm still lacking a name though. Any good ideas Erik?

82

Um, Busybody +3, Carefree +3, Curious +4, Cat +3, Territorial +3, Timid +2... Janus is a roman mythological name, how about Proserpina? (the Roman name for Persephone)?

83

I had to briefly read up on Greek and Roman mythology. Persephone/Proserpina was goddess of grain and agriculture, and also of the underworld. Growth in the springtime and also the circle of life, with death and rebirth...I think that's suitable symbolism.
It's a male cat so perhaps Proserpinus? I like that.
Thanks

84

Here is the slightly altered stat block for Janus' cat Familiar. he is names Proserpinus, a male verison name of the Roman goddess Proserpina who is a parallel to the Greek Persephone.
There is the Loyal Personality Traits added plus True Friend Virtue from the Familiar Bond, plus the Cords have been added.
Design note: Of the 10 points of Qualities 5 have been used for additional Supernatural Virtues. As mentioned with the earlier posted stat block Proserpinus has been affected by Basuas' and Andreva's characteristic booster Rituals for much better Int, Com and Prs than normally for a cat.

I'm well into Janus' year 46-60 now.

85

That's also how Metacreator (which I know you're using) does it.

86

Great, thanks!
So Janus can make do with one device, because whether it's fruit, berries or nuts it´s all picked off trees, plants or bushes. Of course some might fall off and lie on the ground, and these are probably not picked up. depending on how specific or flexible one assumes devices can be. Anyway I think it's more fun if spells or devices have some small quirk which can mentioned in anecdotal fashion. So Janus might note the fruit and nuts on the ground is dealt with by pigs and chickens deliberately let into the gardens or orchards to feed and fertilize the trees and bushes.

87

I actually did not use MC for the cat, maybe I should? I'm afraid I have not used MC much for creatures.

88

Works for me.

89

Go Disney or go home? How about a spell that uses the ReHe level 10 guideline "Make a plant or thing made of plant products move with purpose and intelligence, without requiring your constant control." and have the trees pick themselves? Touch/Sun/Room or Circle with a magnitude or 2 for Size? You provide the containers of course. :stuck_out_tongue:

90

Does the 70 year expiry date come up in years 61-75 or 76-90?

91

Good question. I'm going to say they run out toward the end of 61-75.
A new question now arises: Using the lab texts to re-create the devices, how does this mesh with Expiry? And do I even have to use the Expiry limitation second time around? Normally you have to do the project with no changes when using lab texts, but how would this work here?
Expiry allows the amount by which Lab Total exceeds Effect Level to be multiplied, in order to build the device quicker.
Using a lab text means your Lab Total merely has to exceed the Effect Level, instead of having the excess accumulate points up to the level.

An easy solution could be to just re-invent the devices properly this time, with no expiry. Hopefully Janus' lab total is now sufficient to do this. But that doesn't answer the question above. Plus if he could he'd have his new apprentice for that period make the devices. Janus could teach his apprentice the Focus, using the rules from Apprentices, because it is a Hermetic Virtue. So it may be possible for an advanced apprentice, taught the right things, at the end of his apprenticeship to achieve lab totals sufficient to re-create the devices from lab texts.

92

Using the lab texts, you re-create your project exactly.

If you want to take advantage of the lab texts, yes.

Just the same - nothing can be changed.

I'm afraid I don't see your point? Why would this change anything?
Mind you, you could possibly save time by having your apprentice enchant some of the effects into the device, using your lab texts?

That would be my prefered solution.

EDIT: Inserted missing space

93

Once I got my head around this I was less puzzled.
I can't find any possible explanations for for not needing to accept the Expiry as a trade-off for using the lab texts. Otherwise it could be an exploit, to enchant with the shortest possible Expiry and then re-create to a no-Expiry version. I mean your lab total is sure to exceed effect level to begin with, otherwise the Expiry option can't be utilized and you can't finish the effect. And then second time around you'd exploit that you finish in one season because of the rules for lab texts.
Nope.

Easiest thing for Janus is to have his apprentice re-create the devices. Some of the enchantments may have fairly high levels, but the apprentice only needs to exceed this level by 1. It may take some specialization, but Janus can spend one of his seasons teaching the apprentice one-on-one to teach him the focus. Sure, it's a Major Virtue, but adding Flaws lowers the Ease Factor - and you gotta' have your Flaws from somewhere. I smell another magus with Deficient Technique: Intellego perhaps?

Or Janus could simply take the time to re-invent the device effects without Expiry. The Expiry thing came as a re-spec because I had missed that a standard sized Room won't even cover a normal Lab, and since both Janus and Andreva wanted larger labs I added another Size modifier which took the level just above what Janus could do in one season. And since I was more or less done with his first 15 years I had no desire to have to redo it and spend 2 seasons per enchantment. Luckily the device was made as an Invested Device because I had originally anticipated the need for Expiry, but during the design I saw that Janus could in fact pull it off.
Second time around Janus is much better in the lab, and if all the relevant lab totals are +10 higher than they were back them He could perhaps build the same effects as Lesser Devices in order to save vis. Time for opening for enchantment is less of a factor since he has an apprentice for this very reason, among others. With Art studies, which are further improved by the Focus, better Magic Theory, which also raises the limit to S&M bonus, a good apprentice and familiar as assistants, improved lab it is not unrealistic.

94

Okay, so Janus +60 is done. But what isn't done yet is the complete write up of the devices he has been making! There is going to be a shedload of low level Rego Animal and Herbam devices to use by farmers, kitchen staff etc. Craft magic plus other utility effects. This is a natural next step taken following the magic available to quickly raise young animals and plant seedlings to maturity - these raw materials need to be processed. Both for trade and for consumption in a growing community.

Janus notes that even though a great deal of processes can now be done with magic, using Craft Magic requires Finesse. So instead of greatly expanding the number of specialized workers and craftsmen and -women Anulus Connectens simply trains more and more covenfolk in Finesse. Janus insists, however, to always keep skilled covenfolk using the mundane craft knowledge for quality control and to ensure the Finesse-users know what a good cheese should be like.

Expect a stat block for Janus +60 featuring a device list about a mile long.

Oh, and he has called in his filia Vesta to assist in making Hermes Portals, in order to link Anulus Connectens to the leading covenant in this unspecified tribunal..come tho think of it he'd better keep Vesta for the first year of 61-75 to make a set for the other neighboring tribunal as well.

95

Will you be posting your lab as well?

96

Oh yes. Lab, Apprentice...well, Filius more like it at this point, plus familiar. Everything. But maybe not today.

97

Janus +60 is now ready.
He has spent an awful lot of time in lab activities, about 3/4 of his time. Although that also includes teaching his apprentice Peragros, which for the purposes of our development process counts as lab activity but does not really require staying inside in the lab. Some seasons has been spent improving his lab as well, it had been largely neglected for the last one or two periods, but progress was deemed necessary in order to achieve lab totals good enough for Hermes Portal. As Janus called in his filia Vesta (whom I assumed had raised Magic Theory by 2 over the course of over 15 years) the enchantment process actually only took 1 season per portal, however time was also needed to open the gates for enchantment, plus to study notes about the portals.
But a lot of new devices have been invented, and his next period might be less productive as he may need to re-create form lab texts some of these for trade or because there is a demand for more copies of some.

The devices (Relief of the Manor 1 and 2) Janus made in his early years for the covenant's comfort were made with 70 year Expiry and will run out in the next period. Teaching his apprentice Peragros his Major Focus of Home & Hearth plus tailoring with the useful Arts means Pegragros can actually re-create all these devices from lab texts right off Gauntlet, using Janus' lab. So I think Janus commisions his filius to do this work, when the time comes, rather than do it himself.

Below is Janus +60, his Familiar Proserpinus, his filius Peragros plus his lab follows in later postings, this one will be a mile long!

98

To be picky, are the gloves all for a particular hand or are some left and some right, so they can be worn in pairs?
Do the gloves need to be worn to work? Is there a penalty to the Finesse roll if the glove is ill-fitting or can't be worn (ie if it's too large or small)?
Can the gloves selectively harvest fields that mature without the use of magic, so that unripe fruits/nuts/vegetables aren't picked, with or without an Finesse level increase?

What about a butter churn? Or a juice press? Or a millstone?

99

Janus' lab +60

100

Janus' cat Familiar has been developed with 30 exp per year, but reduced for labwork when assisting Janus, which has been less than half the time. Even though Janus spent 3/4 of his time with such projects, a lot of them did not require his familiar's assistance; teaching apprentice, preparing items for enchant,ment etc.
Proserpinus has been granted 240 exp for Abilities: