Sorry about up and disappearing for a couple of days; I've been having an imbalance of the humors. Too much cold and dryness, you understand, 'tis the season.
I'm finalizing my characters; in addition to Justinia Rossa ex Miscellanea, I have my companion Galiana de Fréjus the Joglaressa, my shieldgrog-maidservant Eleni Sykara, the Lebanese architect and convert Abd al-Maseeh Ibrahim al-Lebnani (because I figured that it'd be interesting to have our covenant consist of fusion architecture), and Fransisca Pugliesi, who has been in charge of cleaning, serving, organizing and doing otherwise menial labour for the caravan for the last decade and a half.
For my points, I'm thinking two six-point Insight sources, one being a synthesis of some of Conciettas study notes which had made their way to Paris (contributing toward Confluence of the Realms, LoH), and the other being an attempted integration of either Platonic or Aristotelian (depending on silveroak's preferences, with a slight preference for Aristotelian on my part) philosophy into Magic Theory, as part A&A. In addition to these, I am caving in and spending an entire twenty-seven points on an edition of the Canon of Medicine in its original Arabic (worry not, I'll translate it so y'all can read it), and four points on an enchanted device which I name the Strings of the Atlantic Puppeteer, which is essentially just The Enchanted Porter from Covenants with unlimited daily uses and a better name slapped on top.
To cap it off, I'll spent seven points on 35 vis, spread amongst Creo, Rego, Aqua, Terram and Vim (distribution yet to be decided), as well as ten on silver, because it turns out that we might need actual funds.
JoelHalpern – Tomas, Bonisagus longevity specialist
Redcap Companion
Shield Grog for Magus
Shield Grog for redcap
Servant
Exasperated Cultist – Justinia Rossa Ex Miscellanea, Faerie blooded Fertility specialist, difficulty w/ spont
Galiana de Frejus, Joglaressa
Eleni Sykara – Shieldmaiden/maidservant
Abd al-Masseh Ibrahim al-Lebnani – Lebanese architect
Jebrick - ?
Quinchris – Tytalan Spymaster/Leader
Kingjawa – Indiana Jones type Greek Jerbiton, gentle gift, some aquam/auraum
Apprentice companion
Shield Grog
Cook
Scribe
Me – Tartessos, Doomsday Prepper Verditius
Master Paphos, Stonemason/Maestro/Mythic Companion
Shield grog
Gamekeeper/Gardener (mostly rabbits/chickens)
Forge Companion/Mason, apprentice to Master Paphos
Flavius – Frederic of Flambeau, Elementalist, guardian of the covenant
Knight Companion
Guard
Servant
Hunter
Current Build Points: (3 players submitted, still need three more)
Muto Summa L15/Q12 (27)
Intellego Summa L15/Q12 (12)
Canon of Medicine (Arabic Medicine Summa) (27) presumably a L6/Q21?
Concietta insight source Q6 (1)
MT insight source, Aristolean philosophy Q6 (1)
9 magnitudes of lab texts (9)
6 magnitudes Enchanted items (6)
Strings of the Atlantinc Puppeteer magic item L20 (4)
Skill 6 Tailor (6) I don’t think we spend points for them when using a Grog slot
Skill 6 Scribe (6) same issue, let’s play them and save the points
80 assorted pawns Vis (16)
220 lbs Silver (22)
Once we have all Build Points spent we can move forward.
I believe you forgot my third grog, Fransisca Pugliesi. She can be put down as 'Housekeeper' or 'Matron' or somesuch; she will have started as a washerwoman and gradually come to be the overseer of all the petty mundane things necessary for the functioning of the covenant. That said, thank you for the effort in making and updating this list; it does make it far easier for the rest of us.
I am afraid Ability Summae cost (Level x 3) + Quality, so it is L6/Q9. Not the best in the world, except, of course, that it probably literally is the best summa in the world on medicine. Quality nine is less than a good teacher could provide, but it's the same as training (assuming level 6) and it has no cow and calf oath (so with some judicious copying, it can be distributed amply to our medici and medicae without having to waste our valuable time on actually teaching).
The philosophical integration would not use the inspiration rules, so that would not apply. Also I am less than certain why such research would be associated with the caravan instead of a fixed lab. As to philosophers, I believe Aristotle would have been the more influential on Bonisagus.
regarding tribunals for trade- most tribunals meet in 1221, two exceptions I have found are Stonehenge, an implication that the Levant is also out of step with tribunals in 1222. Most significantly Normandy is confirmed to have a tribunal in 1221, and they are easily the vis-poorest tribunal, so your vis stores should trade better than average there...
Fair enough. I was just thinking, if we were searching for the lore and secrets of the ancients, it would make sense to research the Philosopher's works. After all, Aristotle was the teacher of the great Alexander, who founded the city which nurtured the creators of two of the nine kinds of ancient magic (Heron and Ptolemy). In addition, the man lived in a time where defixiones (or katadesmoi, as he'd've known them) and Apollonian priests yet filled the lands. Surely, if we were to attempt to grasp those words which were taught in olden days, we would be best served were we to be guided by the virtuous pagan himself? But yeah, I see what you mean about the insight. It's just that, honestly, I can't think of that many others that I'm really interested in >_>
I guess I'll just invest in more vis or something?
I understand. My bet is that the wiki page predates most of the new Tribunal books as it has Thebes as a 0 and Hibernia as less than Loch Leglean. Just those two are known to be vis rich.
The Roman Tribunal book for the 3rd edition describes it as very vis poor due to dominion and population(pg 11).
I was just pointing out that the table probably needs updating due to recent Tribunal books. Normandy is also struggling with over population of magi making the vis more scares but (IMHO) it is handled better than Rome as the Tournament helps hand out more vis if a Covenant is willing to work for it.
Of course we also don't know how Rome has changed between editions- I know that Hibernia is described in 3rd edition as being overrun by demons and in 5th as having no infernal influence. I'm going to stick with Normandy being the poorest in terms of naturally occurring vis.
Any progress on getting the forum so we can work on detailed character design and on understanding the initial setup? (I presume the first story will be the arrival on Malta of the first team?)
JH - It seems to take a while to actually get a forum, and the request is in. Right now we can finish our Build Points. We still need them from you, Jebrick, and Quinchris, although Quinchris has not been on the forums since last month.
I am planning to split my build points evenly between Vis and Silver. I may then claim some of that Vis for projects, but most of it is for the covenant, for spells we ned to cast and for getting books. I understand those exchanges will have to be played once we start, and may take some time.
I am presuming we will have to go to Malta, look around, and find a location where we can set up that has a reasonable magical aura. We will decide whether we ensorcel an initial tower, or have to build more slowly (there are plusses and minuses both ways as far as I can tell). And we will need to negotiate initial rules for the group, including whether we want formal covenant registration initially.
