Ars magica 5 game - Hiddenhall

It can be a magical creature looking for a magi. Sometimes magi look for creatures, sometimes they come looking for magi!

Zaubersberg, I'm going to work on my character today. BTW it isn't what I messaged you about earlier. What file formats can work in?

What I'm going to bring is is a Tremere. I think I read that you don't have the HoH:TL book which has some Cannon. Is that correct? It'll be kind of important since the Exarch (local head Tremere) is in Stonehenge and I'll likely be forwarding appropriate news to him/her.

Is LotN cannon for our purposes or are we working differently from that?

Just to reiterate - you're looking for gauntlet+10 years, yes?

I see the back and forth about languages, but I'm not sure what the official ruling is at this point. I think I'll be a tribunal transplant to sidestep this issue.

Do you have any time for a quick googlehangout to talk about some details?

  • Chris

Actually, I think Tytalus are just normal dogs. Tremere are the ones with Wolves I think.

I recall reading Tytalus himself named his dog Tremere...

If I didn't miss some char anouncment we have so fare mages of the house Mercere, Merinata, Tremere and Tyalus.
Wait so we have a Tyalus and a Tremere?
Makes me wonder if both survive even the first year given the rivality betwean this two houses.

Hey, I was going to do an extra arrogant Bongo so... (actually isn't Ver the arrogant ones?) Conflict for everyone! Actually I think she'll grate most with the Tyalus. Power comes through conflict versus power comes through SCIENCE!

My official ruling on languages is this: English will default down to Scots at -1 (a dialect specialisation will see you ok) and to languages such as Dutch etc at -2 or more. Scots Gealic is a Celtic root language and has no connections to any Germanic ones. Its nearest are Irish gaelic and Goidelic (Welsh). Most official stuff in Scotland is done in either Latin or Gaelic but trade documents etc. tend to be in English.

I think it is a good idea to save companions until we have made magus introductions as it were, in case anyone wants to match companions with someone else's mage. If you want to make up some grogs, feel free but I'm happy to have them as faceless spear carriers.

I may have The HoH books by the end of the week. If so, it'll take a little while for me to read through and ingest them.

one thing we have to look at, though, is the resources of the covenant. It's a Spring covenant but the Tribunal is contributing quite a bit to it so I'm giving you 500 resource points to spend. You can start discussing what split you might want between Items/Library/Money etc. I'm giving you something for free: Crepuscidor, the Dead Librarian.

Crepuscidor is a sort of revenant. He was a librarian in life and remains one in death. He seems to view his care of and looking after books as more important than silly trivia such as death. Unlike many revenants, he is neat and tidy, keeps himself topped up with embalming fluids and tends to shrivel rather than rot. He smells quite strongly of camphor to keep the moths and flies away. Crepuscidor is an excellent book-binder, scribe and librarian. He has been thoroughly tested with spells and these point to him being a magical creature rather than faerie or demonic. He can happily hold holy items such as blessed crosses and, in fact, wears a small silver cross around his neck. His vocal cords have atrophied so that when he speaks it is never louder than a rasping whisper.

As far as templates for sending me characters, I'm not fussy. I have Word and Notebook but just something on the message board and I should be able to figure it out.

So my idea for the Tremere is this - he's not local. Somehow word got out on Hiddenhall's founding and the travel gateways they'll be researching. The house figures this could be a boon to the order and wants boots on the ground so to speak. In particular, the house is interested in making sure a Bonnisagus researches this thing so the results' potential for Order may be realized and not by some mystery cult so that the results are secreted away. My mage (name TBD) was apprenticed at Coeris in Transylvania, and was assigned to assist the Exharch in Stonehenge at [Covenant TBD by GM]. He's been there for a while and they have some confidence in him. They've 'assigned' him to become a member of Hiddenhall to keep an eye on developments and make sure the Order doesn't get screwed. They decided against sending someone more senior to avoid looking like they are trying to take over (which would be fine of course, but not necessary). As far as Tytalan rivalry - there is of course a rivalry but it's more cultural than anything else. They are, after all, cousin houses. The specific relationship will vary by individuals, but I don't think it'll be a problem on my character's end until progress-impeding and/or pointless Tytalus games start getting in the way. My guy wants the Order to prosper and has strong ethics in that direction, so as long as you're not being an idiot, I think you should find him agreeable.

So that begs the question - anyone playing a Bonisagus?

I will create the wive of my char today or tomorrow as grog lvl NPC who is a young guild master toolmaker with craft toolmaking at last at 8

I'm running Boni! She is a long running experiment of her mother to breed a better humanity. She has the transformed human virtue and is more than a bit derisive of "mortals", and their silly rotting bodies. She is here because... Reigo, its a good place to study and research and later when she is ready to train an apprentice kidnap a mundane mortal to get a child. The hope is she'll breed true, and evolution will eventually spread it throughout humanity. (Isn't it great how God ensured that His creations would continue to improve?)

Now what does that have to do with a Tremere?

I think in resources the covenant need to have at last to even manage the task at hand

  • a sound Intellego Summa
  • a sound Vim Summa
  • a Intellego Vis income source

given the changing Nature a Muto and a Rego Summa or Tractus wouldn't be bad

general some Creo, Corpus and Vim Vis source would be good (Longvity Ritual)

There should be at most a small Vis stock at start

Edit: Personal I think we shouldn't spend many points on summa or tractus of mundane subjects as they are bether bought with silver afterwards and there is not much reason to have a big Mundane topic Library in a starting covenant.
Also the most points should be spend in Vis income followed by Magic Library, Silver Income should big enough to allow each mage some pound per year to spend, magic items primary only for upkeep savings (such things like magical lighting for the labs ect.)

If you have HoH:TL, check out P116. My house is invested in the Order and would like to make sure it improves and flourishes (unless the something changes that makes that unworkable or ill advised - in which case the House will move on from the Order). Bonnisagus research is, by the Code, shared with the Order. This research might better the Order by making communication even better than it is now (no offense to the Mercere). Better communication is a 'force multiplier' for civilization. If a Bonnisagus researches this, we may all profit. If a house researches this an keeps it secret because they make it a mystery, we will have missed a golden opportunity.

What does it have to do with Tremere? Because it's about progress and our house values that. Our house is organized and deploys it's resources in furtherance of progress, thus I'm here to make sure this goes right.

From a story point of view, I see things gradually progressing by my mage gradually getting closer to his sodales. At first he's an outsider, but once people accept that his main goal is to ensure the success of our common endeavor, relations should warm.

300 build points... Hmm...

Okay a must have in my opinion is:
Lab Equipment Guy: 6 craft for glass (lab junk)
Lab Tool Guy: 6 craft for metal (tools)

We'll also probably want some scribes to copy the books we make. (For sales purposes.)
Scribe: Latin/Magic Theory/Profession: Scribe all 5
I'll take two. Okay this is a bit greedy, but my Boni can produce excellent tracti (Q14) before resonance. (And she'll start with two!)
We can factory produce them and sell them for a high (well low) price. Plus we don't have to share them if they are constantly being used by our scribes.
Point is it will give us easy silver, and possibly even some vis. (And possibly a angry letters from the people we undercut.)

Lab Techs:
Magic Theory 6 (lab set up). Magi should never waste their time refining a damn lab. That's what mundanes are for. Comparative advantages says mundanes are better at it.

Professor X:
Teaching (Magi) 6+3 com, Magic Theory 6/Artes Lib 6/Latin 6/Magic Lore 6/Conc 6/Finesse 6/Pen 6. No idea how he learned all this stuff, but he's probably more in demand than most magi. We may want several in fact.

Anyway that would be my idea of support staff.

Books: Summae are awesome, probably better tracti for most magi. If we want tracti we should write the damn things. Or trade for them with tracti we write.
Vis Sources: Meh, I want a couple pawns of Rego or Creo or Herbam vis a year since that is my main area of magic. Lets me make lesser enchantments for people's labs.

Exactly what my idea was. Research, write books, discover new junk. Phase out mortals. (Which is fairly easy since mortals conveniently die or get lost in twilight on their own.) Maybe even make a break through!

I agree with Adauli on the summae, although my character is beyond a Vim summa (he's a Vim specialist if he gets accepted as is). I would pt a lower priority on Vim vis income (as it can be extracted from an aura easily), but I would still be useful. On the other hand, if we want an Aegis we'll need a regular source and as a Vim specialist I could probably use some too. (Note: as a Mercere I can trade vis at preferential rates through my House, or I'll be able to as soon as the GM reads the relevant HoH book :slight_smile: )

Lamech, the GM told us 500, not 300 points. I think a copying mill is a good idea, in fact I suggest we set up a mundane one as well as an income source. Scotland has lots of pastures, that means lots of sheep and cows, parchment should be plentiful, why not manufacture it, use it to copy mundane texts, and sell them abroad through our trade connections ?

The glass and tools craft, I know they are useful as money savers, but fuel will be hard to come by if we have to lug it to Edinburgh and inside the regio. Plus, depending on how big it is, all the smoke...

Your Lab Tech and Professor(s) (we already have our dead librarian), while undoubtedly very useful, how on Earth did you manage to get them ? When an autumn covenant could afford to pay them fortunes to luxuriate in their comfortable palaces ?

Something that has not been mentioned, but I would love to see an aura higher than the Base 3, and /or additional regio levels, but those are additional boons and would require additional hooks.

Shall we provide some background on the Players so we my get to know each other?

I'm 41 in New England in the US. Been gaming since 1980 and Ars since around 1992 or so with 2nd Ed and I pretty much own everything that's been published for the line (at least I can't think of anything I've missed off hand). I've probably run a dozen or so campaigns and am currently running a meatspace one. Never done PBEM, so this should be fun.

Anyone else?

Given that we need to make regular reports a second Scribe is no bad idea

But as my char have only a slight postive Com and no Good Teacher Virtue book writing is not his thing.
But if the 7 years I did with him past the gauntlet go trough like I made them then he is not that bad at Blacksmith crafting magic as he can do easy Blacksmithtask without rolling and the necesary spell is mastered so no botch.
For other crafts bassed on Terram he would first need the necesary spells but inventing them is still to difficult for him.
His wive can set up a own shop in the city if the covenant dont take her as she have the Guild Master virtue and so legal can open a shop if there is not to much competition in the city.

Oh and something funny for Thumber my Merinata was actual send by a small Bonisagus covenant to send a duplicat of the reports we have to make also direct to them.

My magi can make trees grow in a day. All the fuel we'll ever need. Also make them instabloom for food. On the smoke... I thought this place was so big as to be unexplored? We could always add some plants and such. Regardless candles and torches make smoke anyway. If it is a problem we'll need to figure something out.

Ah, a GM bio. I'm 48 and from Scotland (actually just over the river from Edinburgh) I've been GMing since I was 16 but have only run one Ars Magica game before. My other interests are mediaeval re-enactment (the steel stuff, not SCA) and wasting my life watching series on Lovefilm. You can find me on Farcebook as Neil Alexander here: facebook.com/neil.alexander.10

Actually, that reminds me of a background question I forgot to ask? Has the realm affiliation of the regiones been confirmed? I sort of assumed they were magic realm aligned rather than fae. If they are Fae aligned, I'll probably need to rethink my character completely (scrap and do something new). Fae aligned would probably mean you need Fae understanding to use properly and this whole project will end up in a mystery cult. With that alignment signaling that information, the House probably wouldn't invest in my mission as such.

Wow good that I decided that the covenant my char was bevore is on Terram Crafting Magic because else we probably would have 2 with Herbam magic focus
Btw is your spell just Lvl 30 (Base 15+2 Sun+1 Touch) or did you also add extra level for size?
Ohh and isn't there a MuIg Spell for smokeless flames? I think I stumbled upon it on char generation.

Level 30. And I barely made it as is. (No focuses, transformed human and natural appearance eat virtue/quality points. 6, but worth it.) I was under the impression changing size wouldn't dispel the spell. Hence I can drop it on a seed or sapling.

Also better than smokeless flame, it Ring/Circle light making or heat making spells. No fuel.