building the covenant

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Praesidium Orae
121

That would be a good idea, as we probably wouldn't reasonably need it to be providing a permanent bonus all of the time, just when we come under attack or whatever.

Does the cotton weaving one sound right to you?

Also yeah, silveroak has mentioned a few times that we need to decide what our sources will be and I'm assuming he'll expect them to be done in a logical fashion.

An interesting one for creo could be "The Crone" as listed in the covenants book, which is basically an old woman whose menstrual blood has magical properties and can be collected for creo vis, as the book describes it the magi basically have to offer something to her for her to be willing to go along with it, which we could have as we offered the crone something more valuable than what another covenant had.

122

A few points here -

  1. what is the point of having 2 books in the same subject when one is lower in both level and quality?
  2. You probably don't want vis sources that are relatively transitory like an individual's menstrual blood. That is certain to dry up in 120 years.

I do use the aura variation rules, a bit of vis extraction would not threaten the stability of the aura though, and over time it is resilient. While we are on the point of variations over time, I do also use random fluctuations to income sources, and use the prevailing loyalty of the covenfolk as a modifier.

123

  1. I don't believe we have done this have we? My ability summae suggestions were level 5 quality 20 and level 7 quality 14.

  2. The scenario states that any daughters of the crone will also receive the effect

124

had apparently misread that to be level 4 and quality 14, and you had indicated getting the books at a lower level, which reinforced that impression.

A quick point- a crone is a woman who is past menopause, and thus would have no menstruation. Or future daughters.

Level 7 quality 14 books would be 35 points apiece as would level 5 quality 20 books...so 12 books (I'm not counting the 2 undetermined level 5 quality 20 books) at 35 points apiece would be 420 points

125

I would like to suggest that the two undetermined level 5 quality 20 book be assigned ... 1 on Medicine, and the other on Philosophiae or Greek.

Anything with an asterisk on the wiki still needs a title, yes?
How about:
In: Stretching the Senses
Pe: On the Advantages and Acceleration of Atrophy
Im: The Sounds of Colors Tasted
Penetration: The Wizard's Awl

126

to answer a question missed- yes casting tablets exist.

127

Yup sounds good, on the note of the crone I'll just quote the actual passage in the book:

So clearly she's got some magic in her ancestry that allows her to continue menstruating long after she should have gone through menopause.

Some Book names:

Penetration: The Breaching of the Magical Armour

Parma Magica: The Magus' Armor, Parma Magica: The Pride of Bonusagus

Finesse: The Deft spellcaster, Delicate Spellcraft

Magic Theory: Developing magical spells

Magic Lore: The Magical Realm: An introduction to its inhabitants

Faerie Lore: The Realm of the Faeries: The Faerie culture and their traditions

128

So are the crone and her daughters dependants living at the covenant without working? What would be the relationship here?

129

The crone lives in a village of her own and is said to be well respected. Although she doesn't truly understand what's in her menstrual blood she knows that the magi consider it very valuable and may use it to get something out of the magi hat will be beneficial to her or her village.

130

So how does your covenant claim her menstrul blood? That doesn't seem like something that can be explained through conquest...

131

Well as the situation describes the Crone desires something valuable in return for her blood, which could lead to the Normans offering something more valuable than what the covenants on the Italian peninsula could offer.

132

The Normans wouldn't be negotiating on your behalf. If it involves land or territory your relationship with the Normans is an acceptable explanation, but not for this. Unless I suppose she is a prisoner of the Normans who provide you with her menstrual blood, but unless her daughters are also going to be prisoners etc this is not a stable source of vis. Realistically there are very few ways a person could be a stable source of vis for a covenant...

133

I vote we get some specialists. They're a really good deal honestly. Even if there are gonna be grogs that can do similar things they can act as a backup or extra.

To start with I recommend a couple teachers. Crafts people can lower costs and provide someone for a grog to train under.

Arms Master: Com+2 Teaching 5, Single Weapon 5, Bow 5, Latin 3 - 12 points
Apprentice Tutor: Com+2 Teaching 5, Magic Theory 5, Artes Liberales 2 Code of Hermes 2 -12 points

Glassblower: Craft: Glass 6
Baker: Craft: Baking 6
Mason: Craft: Masonry 6
Blacksmith: Craft :Blacksmith 6

Scribe: Profession Scribe 6, Magic Theory 1, Artes Liberales 1, Latin 5
Laboratory Assistant: Magic Theory 6

If we use the library rules that require the trio of professionals for good quality books we should probably have those specialists as well. Bleh, tired. I threw this up without a lot of checking, so I may have something stupid in here.

134

Right now I am building a horde of grogs that are mostly craftsmen- the downside to created grogs is work- keeping track of their advancement, replacing them as they age, etc. However you don't have to pay points for them. So any of these suggested specialists could also have gone into the grog suggestion thread and would have a BP cost of 0.

Also the current allotment of labs would not allow a glass blower to be financially prudent, as it would cost over 2 lbs a year to support and would save only a pound a year. Points were allocated towards labs at one point, I'm not certain if that was for customization or buying extra labs.

135

The points were suggested so that we could have some customisation.

136

Alright well we still ahve to decided on vis sources so I'm going to go throguh the book and list the ones that are appropriate for the arts we still ahve to fill:

Creo: There's One which is harvesting maggots form animal carcasses in the summer, and another about harvesting an apple tree that contain creo vis in the apples, the tree only produces 6 apples each year and three of those must be allowed to fall and rot. These woudl work as we are in need of two sources of creo vis

Intellego

  • The Tree of Truth: Similar to the creo tree there's a tree that contains an odd fruit not common to the area that can be harvester for Intellego vis.
  • Alternatively The Waystones: Basically follow a bunch of waystones, from each waystone one more will be visible and when you reach the final one your shoes will contain intellego vis, would be suitable to the hilly terrain of the area and is a bit different than having another tree.

Muto

  • The Chrysalis of Rebirth: Each year a bunch of caterpillars nest in a field of wildflowers a ways off form the covenants, after the butterflies burst forth there are leftover cocoons that didn't hatch that contain muto vis

Perdo

  • The Stone of Death: During the second week of june the stone is shrouded in a light mist, if an animal is sacrificed each day for the ten days this occurs then perdo vis forms from the blood

Rego

  • There isn't one I particularly like, but maybe as a coastal town we could have something to do with tides?

Aquam

  • Something to do with the inlets

Corpus

  • I believe ghosts were discussed
  • Hangman's Oak: Decade's ago a man was found guilty of murdering his wife and a wandering monk, he was hung on the largest oak tree in town, since then each year a guilty man is hanged from the oak the tree produces one blood red acorn that contains corpus vis, only one acorn is produced regardless of how many men are hanged, can become tainted if the man was innocent.

Herbam

  • Mallorn Dandelions: A hill outside the covenant with a small faerie aura grows thick with dandelion blossoms each spring, if left to age until the winter solstice they contain herman vis

Mentem

  • Howling of the Winds: Basically strange faerie magic, centuries ago a faerie was killed by her son, taking another mother to that shore at some point in the year leads them to sob uncontrollably, harvesting their tears contain mentem vis

Terram

  • The Rock Shepherd: A rock elemental fell in love with a water elemental, one day he found the water elemental had dried up as a result of a human mill, each year at the end of winter he takes a pilgrimage and places one of he best rocks in the empty stream, the enxt day the rock can be harvested for both aquam and terram vis, which works well for us.
  • Not sure on the other source of Terram

So if these are agreeable then all we need is an additional source for Corpus, Rego and terram.

137

Keep in mind that what is in the books are only suggestions, you can come up with unpublished sources.

138

Of course, but I'm terribly unimaginative so using the suggestions works for me, I'm of course happy if someone comes up with good alternatives but I've got nothing.

139

Also anything involving blood sacrifice (perdo vis, and possibly corpus from the above list) could result in problems with the church for additional hooks...

140

I think this is a list of all the vis sources suggested so far, with comments and additions in blue

Creo:
Harvesting maggots from animal carcasses in the summer. I like this one. Perhaps this could be something we have to search for all summer in the temple area or in a nearby woods where a low magical aura occurs. If the maggoty carcasses need to be searched for this could be a way to get some of us off-site to get a story started.
Harvesting an apple tree that contain creo vis in the apples, the tree only produces 6 apples each year and three of those must be allowed to fall and rot. This is okay as well, although I think I like the maggots idea better.
Water poured on the altar stone of the ruined temple contains 4 Creo vis in the Spring. Already on wiki
Crone’s menstrual blood I think this may be more trouble than it's worth.
Fish roe gathered from a shallow pool. (Need to think about the story behind this more.)

Intellego
The Tree of Truth: A tree that contains an odd fruit not common to the area that can be harvester for Intellego vis. Okay
Alternatively The Waystones: Basically follow a bunch of waystones, from each waystone one more will be visible and when you reach the final one your shoes will contain intellego vis, would be suitable to the hilly terrain of the area and is a bit different than having another tree. This one always feels more like it should be in the Stonehenge tribunal.
Condensation on one of the windows in the covenant library contains Intellego vis. Investigation revealed that the stones forming the frame came from the stones scavenged near the ruins. Attempts to duplicate the effect have proven fruitless up to this point.

Muto
The Chrysalis of Rebirth: Each year a bunch of caterpillars nest in a field of wildflowers a ways off form the covenants, after the butterflies burst forth there are leftover cocoons that didn't hatch that contain muto vis Typical source, but still a good one.

Perdo
The Stone of Death: During the second week of june the stone is shrouded in a light mist, if an animal is sacrificed each day for the ten days this occurs then perdo vis forms from the blood I'm not sure the attention we might get from a blood sacrifice is worth it.
Water poured on the altar stone of the ruined temple contains 4 Perdo vis in the Autumn Already on the wiki.

Rego
If the leaves from a laurel tree growing out of a Roman ruins are woven into a crown on midsummer, they contain 4 Re vis Aready on the wiki.
Still need another source for this one.

Aquam
Aquam vis is gathered from a tidal pool a half-day's journey up the coast. The water that remains in the pool at the low tide of the first new moon in Spring contains 4 Aq vis. Already on the wiki.

Corpus
I believe ghosts were discussed Would we need the "Haunted" hook for this one. Or perhaps the ghosts are a bit further off. I'm okay with this one.
Hangman's Oak: Decade's ago a man was found guilty of murdering his wife and a wandering monk, he was hung on the largest oak tree in town, since then each year a guilty man is hanged from the oak the tree produces one blood red acorn that contains corpus vis, only one acorn is produced regardless of how many men are hanged, can become tainted if the man was innocent. Seems a bit iffy to me.
A pool located in the covenant regio contains Corpus vis after someone bathes in the water. (2 pawns per season)

Herbam
Mallorn Dandelions: A hill outside the covenant with a small faerie aura grows thick with dandelion blossoms each spring, if left to age until the winter solstice they contain herbam vis Okay.

Mentem
Howling of the Winds: Basically strange faerie magic, centuries ago a faerie was killed by her son, taking another mother to that shore at some point in the year leads them to sob uncontrollably, harvesting their tears contain mentem vis I like this idea. It also give us a slightly different flavor, is we want to keep the faerie story. I would suggest the base of a nearby cliff as the location.

Terram
The Rock Shepherd: A rock elemental fell in love with a water elemental, one day he found the water elemental had dried up as a result of a human mill, each year at the end of winter he takes a pilgrimage and places one of he best rocks in the empty stream, the enxt day the rock can be harvested for both aquam and terram vis, which works well for us. I also like this one. Would the Rock Shepherd be someone/thing we could develop a relationship with?
Still need another source