Janus' latest filius:
...that's a lot of magic items!
And they all assist in the lab, in a meaningful way? Both of
Are used in the lab? For different purposes?
...and aren't
these chests the same as are being used by the covenant for income? Or are these seperate items? Surely they must be?
Broom of Sweeping cleans the floors of the entire covenant, keeps the room of the lab clean.
Broom of Delicate Lab Cleaning cleans the lab tools, glassware etc.
The Chest of the Butcher etc are reproductions of the same items as used for the economy and ease of work. In the lab they're used to process animal products for devices and various stuff.
The Mirror of Communication is used to contact suppliers to order lab ingredients.
The Glove of Teleportation to get the ordered ingredients.
I know I know I'm pushing it. I don't foresee this lab any more improved by use of devices.
...although maybe a Perdo Aquam device to help with alchemical compounds...
I have to ask 
Where/what are the rules for enchanted devices and their boni to art scores, health, texts etc? +1 pr. magnitude? what about Warping/aesthetics etc ?
Covenants, page 121.
Just shows how far I have been away from Ars 
Thanks Jason72
Once Janus notices his theoretical magical skills surpassed by a horse he is likely to shift his focus here for a while and away from practical applications.
I see him losing to Grace in the pub quiz, proclaiming: "Meanwhile I don't see you enchanting Hermes Portals!" and walking away in a huff.
There is no way his own cat familiar is going to be a contender in this contest, also partly because he was bound much later than Andreva boundGrace. Qlthough he does need to rise above a score of 3.
But what is Janus going to do for the next 15 years? He may skip having an apprentice this period, realistically speaking Gifted offspring may not always be available, even with an humongous family (Janus accepts any blood kin, second- as well as fifteenth-cousins).
The covenant has been made safe, healthy and comfortable. A lot of processes have been automated or are magically assisted, helping the economy. He needs to redo the two Relief of the Manor, although he may farm that out to a filius and just pay vis for it which Janus can earn by building a device for sale more befitting his skills.
Janus needs to build (at least) two more Hermes Portals in order to link Anulus Connectens to a leading covenant in the other neighbouring tribunal, in order to shut up /some of ) the critics of Anulus Connectens. Ideally he needs to build Portals to link up with Harco as well.
About Hermes Portals, these are described in HoH:TL page 100-101. They are a secret Mercere thing and only partly Hermetic. The magus Mercere is requires to study a text or a working portal for a season to get what it is about. Then he needs to prepare two portals for enchantment and enchant invested devices with ReTe65.
Apparently there is no shortcuts for Portals made after the first, no benefits for repeat work for the magus, like lab texts usually would. Odd, and a little bit annoying. But then again the process obvious has not been fully integrated into Hermetic Theory.
One way to fill his time (and regain his injured pride) would be to start integrating Hermes Portals into proper Hermetic theory. Luckily this is a project that will have no political repercussions, and therefore no stories .....
Bob
Terribly sorry, I had not seen your post all there hidden among the mega-posts of Janus and his stuff.
You are not a nit-picker at all, I really enjoy questions like that.
Err left or right handed gloves? I had not thought of that. I'm going to say right handed gloves, because the alternative would be sinister...get it?
No, Janus may build additional copies from lab texts as left-handed models. I'm going to say this is within the variation allowed even for using a lab text.
Technically the gloves don't need to be worn to work. While I haven't been informative about activation procedures I think touching the glove (it is after all R:Touch) to the thing to be affected and give a simple, verbal command in Latin is appropriate.
The gloves themselves can't know if something harvested is good or bad. But if the Finesse roll simulates what a skilled worked could and would do then perhaps more skilled users can pick selectively? This is not covered by any rules, so I'm going to rule against this.
Because then perhaps Janus needs to make an enchanted barrel which first senses a property about the items inside ("is this bad"?) linked to a Rego effect to remove the bad individuals. Only: what Target to use? T:Room should affect everything inside the barrel, at least to sense it. But are the bad apples or whatever a Group once the device needs to remove them?
A magical butter churn is also on my brainstorming list.
As are devices to extract glue from animal bones (useful for the book binder) plus something to dry meat to make jerky for the road. There is already a sausage-maker device.
Some device to turn a lump of clay into a finished and fired pot? That would be useful in order to store all that food produced and processed!
A bag to preserve food for Redcaps on the road...wonder if Janus cna make it as a charged device in order to save vis?
For Janus' years 61-75 i can actually see him wanting a Talisman. I see he struggles a bit with casting some of this spells, so this is the main point of this project.
Help me out here Forum users, please???
Ideally I'd want a good S&M bonus to attune to get bonus to the Vim spells Day of Communion and Monthly Maintenance of the Demanding Spell but Vim has poor options. The relevant Techniques for these spells Rego and Muto have better options: Magnet +2 Vim - actually not much better and Mercury: +5 Muto.
Due to his maximum suckage at Intellego he migth go for Silver's +2 Intellego as well.
So I think I'll go for something as dull as a staff, unless someone can think of a better shape?
Janus is outgoing as it is, not confined to his lab for more than half of the year, but he doesn't really to outside to cast spells he does this to socialize with his extended family and monitor anyone else with magical potential.
Where he casts spells is at home, on Redcaps going on the road.
Actually, he could go for the same kind of trick he used for any of his devices: A glove, for the +4 affect by touch. Most if not all of the booster spells he casts on Redcaps is R:Touch. He could even become a fashion icon for wearing a single glove embellished with rare metals and flashy rocks...
Due to his massive Magic Theory he could combine many components. A glove or gauntlet would initially be leather or cloth with metal reinforcements, right? I'm not sure if mail gauntlets are a thing yet?
Leather or cloth does not have an S&M of its own, nor any specific materials. Well, except animal hide but Janus isn't really looking for a bonus -however massive it might be - to transform into the specific animal.
As for metals for a gauntlet? None of the practical metals are really good.
Bronze maybe, for the +3 Terram seems the least poor choice.
Brass, Iron has some marginally useful boni.
Is silver too flimsy for plating on a gauntlet? It is not intended to be used for protection per se, it just needs to be able to hold together for normal wear. Anyhow since I have no idea or need for effects for the Talisman, but I still need to instill some in order to get Attumenents why hot a MuTo effect to harden the flimsy silver...Anyway Silver has a few useful boni, however low they are. Unless I suddenly invent a subplot for Janus and his focus on family lines with mgaical blood concerning lycantropes!?!??!
Lead has a slight bonus for wards, that isn't completely useless, but lead is not what I consider a practical metal for a gauntlet.
As for add-ons I want Mercury. It is a highly impractical material, but it woudl be encased in a silver (or other metal) ampule and mounted onthe gauntlet in a protected location.
What else?
If going for a glove rather than a staff I don't have to think as mush about which type of wood to include. And I can't think of any really good ones anyway.
One thing to look at for S&M bonuses is Alchemical Reagents.
The upper box on page 76 of A&A has the details.
Short version
+1/+2/+3 bonus to a single Material S&M bonus for simple matter like stone requires a Level 4/5/10 Reagent, respectively.
+1/+2/+3 bonus to same for complex matter like metal, wood and most other materials requires a Level 10/15/20 Reagent, respectively.
Edit - Ink of Hermes (TMRE, in the common magics chapter) is the best option for Vim at +3.
Also, any one wood might be a good idea - you'd get the bonuses for affect living and dead wood on top of the particular type of wood bonuses and +2 Auram if the tree it came from gets struck by lightning. Fig(sex and gambling for redcaps 
), hornbeam, almond (all your plant growth spells), walnut might be ideas. If black hawthorn from AtD includes the regular hawthorn +3 wards bonus, that might be a good one, too.
What sort of effects are you worried about casting?
Or is it just penetration you're looking for?
It's not Penetration he's loking for - he's not that kind of magus. It's mostly a matter of having high enough Casting Totals to be able to cast spells reliably and without fatigue.
Looking at Janus' spell list he has troubles with a high level ReAu weather ward, MuVi Day of Communion and ReVi Monthly Maintenance of the Demanding spell. Actually only the last one is really bad!
Janus could simply grind Rego and Vim, but they are already 13 and 10 respectively so it won't be fast - seberal seasons for just one level.
A Talisman however takes at least 3 seasons for a bonus: one to prepare item, one to attune as Talisman, one to attune a bonus (granted, alongside instilling an effect, but he still needs to think up some effects he wants, and that's quite hard because he is not magus who typically relies on a talisman for anything)
How about a couple non-Talisman options?
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Grind a level of Mastery for the Monthly Maintenance spell and select Stalwart Casting? You've already taken an adaptive mastery ability, so you can argue access is there.
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The Ceremonial Casting Mastery Ability might be an option as well - +6 for AL & Philosophiae, combined with a props bonus of up to +5 (page 59 HoH:S) and if it's done in the lab it's only 3 minutes/magnitude (page 60, HoH:S), so it doesn't add too much time. Actually, a dedicated ceremonial casting space with extensive props available to all magi in the covenant might be a worthwhile project.
Well, seeing as it it mostly just a single spell the problem is with Mastery could be an answer. And since Janus is of House Mercere it is not far-fetched that he uses further Mercurian Masteries (after all it is mostly Mutantum Masteries that are restricted).
He already has Mastery 2, and as you say both Stalwart and Ceremonial are good options, since it is a spell he can cast under controlled and relaxed circumstances. Raising Mastery from 2 to 4 is +35 points so that is more than 1 year of study. The bonus and general advantage of this is more than what a Talisman could give, but it is limited to only this spell and takes a bit more time.
In this kind of project a Talisman would be the better option for showcasing things, and I may have Janus build one anyway, but I can't really think of any good effects to put into it.
He really only needs one or the other though. Stalwart Casting eliminates the fatigue issue by itself, while Ceremonial Casting boosts his casting total so successful castings without fatigue are much more likely.
I keep thinking panpipes on a neck chain for Janus' Talisman, even though he has shown no inclination to music. With his ability to incorporate multiple materials due to his high MT, each pipe in a set of 5 could be a different material. Add in small decorations and you could manage a fair number of extra shape/material bonuses maybe too. A small piece of ivory carved into the shape of a shield? Small tragedy/comedy masks made of marble? A pipe of cinnamon wood stained with (alchemically purified) Ink of Hermes?
The panpipes might be because of the family aspect - revelry, control children, affect emotion bonuses - it might become a way to improve quality of life in the covenant in non-tangible ways.
What about incorporating an Enriched Topaz of Virtue into his Talisman (RoP:M), whatever it ends up being? The Material bonuses for Topaz aren't bad and the Warping-free Puissant Leadership might be worth having.
I suppose (all of) you could look at creating some (reasonable) S/M bonuses as well.
I'll hark back to what I said on the other thread. Beacuse of Janus's great interest in Family he could concentrate on creating a Talisman that would be more useful to his heirs than Janus himself. Talismans have a vastly increased vis capaicity, and so otherwise unavailable invested devices are now possible. For the glory fo House Mercere!
Bob
True, with casting of +27 for a level 40 spell the standard aura of +3 almost guarantees it can be cast (barring a Botch, but with Mastery 2?), however it will cost fatigue unless rolling 10 or more on the die. Stalwart casting is perhaps the better option because it does not demand any special actions or whatever.
Yes, although not very skilled at Mentem nor having shown any inclination towards it, using a Panpipe Talisman for effects regarding emotions could work very well. Effects to ensure family gatherings and holidays run smoothly despite the presence of Gifted individuals may be useful.
Great ideas, this gives some food for thought.
If nothing else then answers to the question: Why did Janus not do this a long time ago?
Seconding this.