Building the library of Iusto Foedere

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Hi there,

As you know a few of us are building sample player covenants. In my case it is a vanilla summer covenant called Iusto Foedere south of Chester, a manor by the river Dee. I have to build the library and I decide to come to you for help :slight_smile:

Basic premises:

MUNDANE LIBRARY: will be filled with books from Jarkman's Sub Rosa compilation. So far so good. 150 build points. To increase the number of books and subjects, I have gone the route of "take tractatus only". The list will be as follows:
Copy-paste from Excel sent the format to hell, but you get the idea. 15 books on 13 abilities. All historical except the Hermetic/legendary ones.

Quality Ability Title Author Notes
7 Area Lore: England Historia Normanorum William of Jumieges
8 Area Lore: Wales The Journey Through Wales Gerald of Wales (commented by Transfodio of Jerbiton); He clearly considers Gerald to be a jerk.
7 Area Lore: Europe Bibliothecae Photius History (old book)
7 Church Lore Bibliothecae Photius History (old book)
7 Theology Bibliothecae Photius Encyclopedia, 2 tractatus
7 Theology Bibliothecae Photius Encyclopedia. 2 tractatus
12 Pagan Theology Metaphysics Aristotle
5 Artes Liberales Isagoge (translated) Boethius (Porphyry)
8 Artes Liberales Optica Euclid Translated from Greek (-1Q)
9 Philosophiae Consolations of Philosophy Boethius
10 Philosophiae De Luce (light) Robert Grosseteste
6 Dominion Lore Llancarfarn Saints' Lives Various Llancanfarn monks

11 Faerie Lore Guardians of Avalon Genevieve Merinitae British Isles
7 Magic Lore The Worthy Quarry Presteris of Flambeau Beasts
12 Magic Theory A Bully's Design Gwynedd Ex Miscellanea A review of the principles of MT. Does not look kindly on the formation of the OoH, but the insights on MT are very good
10 Magic Theory Circles & rings as containers of True Power XXXXX of Verditius
8 Magic Theory Muto Terram in road contruction Longinquus Bonisagus Dullest book EVER, but useful
9 Code of Hermes Testing the boundaries: Interference in a warzone XXXX of Tytalus Good teacher

Now, this is mmore or less covered even if I can accept suggestions for the Hermetic books if you have versions that you like :slight_smile:

However, I need help for the HERMETIC library. I would appreciate if you have suggestions for specific books.
PARAMETERS:

  1. The covenant creators are Seekers. They are interested in anglosaxon and vitkir rune magic especially.
  2. They are strong in Intellego and Vim, with secondary terram and Imaginem. I expect these to have a few tractatus each
  3. Most Arts should be covered, except herbam that will have been studied using vis another Art or 2 might not have boks either and we can have repeated books on a few Arts
  4. I prefer a broad selection of books for the covenant at lower levels more than a few good books, even if 2 or 3 belong to that type.

Book parameters are:
SUMMAE (14 books)
LEVEL-QUALITY
15-15
13-16
12-16
10-11
9-15
8-18
8-12
7-14
7-14
7-28
6-11
6-21
6-21
5-15

TRACTATUS (Quality). 17 books all in all.
11
11
10
10
10
10
10
9
9
9
9
8
8
8
8
7
7

So, now we need to fill in the blanks. :slight_smile: Suggestions?

2

I'll propose names which came from my ideas of the Novgorod tribunal, which may have been sold away with ease.

Summa

15 - 15:

10 - 11 :
Books which can be adequate:

9-16:

Tractatus:
10:

9:

8:

Pick Ideas you like, or none.

3

Something I like to do is to "fill out" the library with idiosyncratic books on stuff that's useful for magi, even if it isn't the "basics", and reflects the past of the covenant. I'm talking mostly Ability books here, although strange items or lab texts certainly fit that too (but are a lot more work to create). Some examples:

Latin L 5, Q 15. Grammar, by Cicero. A book on Latin, to help teach apprentices Latin to a high level. So you can study it from level 3, which you get by a hired Teacher, to get to the "respectable" level 5.

English L2 Q 10; Area Lore England Tractatus Q10. My Travels in the Shires of Fair England, by Flavius of Jerbiton. A book on English, that the founding members acquired in preparation to travelling to this foreign land. Written by a high-cultured Jerbiton magus, it is filled with amusing anecdotes and stories about this silly strange land.

Craft: Sculpture Tractatus Q8 x 2. Crafting the Runic Connection I & II, by Bernard of Guernicus [founding member of covenant]. These tractatus describes how to sculpt a symbolic representation that acts as a sympathetic connection to the target using a style inspired by North rune-stones. It's actually a purely Hermetic connection, using Hermetic symbolism, that any magus can create. It's just inspired by the omnipresent Norse rune-stones.

Premonitions Q9 x 3. The Prophecies of Hilda the Grey, by Hilda the Gray as translated by Bernard of Guernicus [founding member of covenant]. This is a weighty book of rambling speeches and vague prophecies by Hilda the Grey, a local Anglosaxon folk witch. Together they constitute a series of tractatus on Premonitions, and may also contain specific prophecies of interest to the covenant or saga. In at least one case, an apprentice studying the text also developed Visions.

Charm L 2 Q 15; Etiquette Q 15; Carouse Q 15. Earning the Affection of the People, by Synatro of Verona. This well-written text is widely regarded for its excellent advice on socializing. It was bought by a magus of the covenant exasperated by his fellow's ineptitude in social skills, a failing that led to a great and unnecessary enmity with a group of local witches.

I don't know if you want to adopt such works, you seem to have your library all set. But I thought I'll throw the idea out there.

As for the Hermetic books themselves, well, they're in a sense less colorful. I would suggest letting Intellego have only a relatively low-value Summa, as having high Intellego can really screw up a storyguide's plans, especially if he's not used to running such stories - so for a beginning covenant, it's probably best to leave Intellego on a low level. I'd hence place the most powerful summa on Vim, with Terram and Imaginem also getting good books. For tractatus, I'd likewise have no Intellego tractatus, a few Vim ones, and one on Terram and Imaginem. I can't think of any further Arts that are good candidates to be missing in addition to Herbam. In summary, I'd suggest something like:

4

Some books that seekers would really love are "primers" on supernatural abilities.
Supernatural Ability Summae Level 1 Q 20+ It means an apprentice can learn a supernatural ability right after apprenticeship. Some of them would be really useful for magi. Second sight, premonitions, ect. Communication+5 and level 9 in the ability can make Q22, and level 7 communication +5 can make a Q20. Plus probably a few points for resonances.

Then the apprentices can practice and write tracti, and the Seekers can use those to integrate. A side effect, is that pre-apprenticeship if the teacher has a high intellego vim total she can make the apprentice learn abilities, convert them to Hermetic Virtues, and make them relearn the abilities.

5

Awesome. Thanks guys. Will certainly use quite a few of those. I knew I had to come here for great feedback :slight_smile:

The books above are the ones I thought would be good, but I can change them in whatever direction I like. @Yair, your suggestions are really good so I will be using a few of those mundane books for sure. I know what I have, but I can change them :slight_smile: I really appreciate feedback so I am more than willing even to relent control of parts of the covenant to other writers if you want to do it :smiley: I will raid your list for sirure and change a few of the books I listed. IN general, I have destined 650 points for the library (mundane + magical), and they can be messed up in whatever way we want to :slight_smile:

Xavi

6

Don't forget a Bible.

7

Bibles are sacred items. I am not conbfident on how they would relate to an aura, and so will not put one there. Will point out that one is easily available at the nearby monastery, though