the two magi who are members decide to officially bend the rules; or alter the charter to allow Special Circumstances for unanimous approval by the current full members. Then you're not even technically bending the rules. Also begs the question of letting our Pcs be brought into the fold quicker than the charter allows for.
Especially given that I've been in the saga for nearly three years and we're still in the same season that I arrived. 
That will still leave the issue of being without an Aegis for a season, though, as it'll go down at the Spring equinox and won't be researched until the end of Summer.
(I'd thought we couldn't change the charter without Tribunal permission, to prevent us stripping out the provisions which require us to host people, but rereading it, it says:
So it is possible to change the charter. Still got the timescale issue, though, which makes me prefer the casting tablet idea.
I do sympathise with your comment about the rate of time passing (is partially why I had wanted to gloss over some things like recruiting cavalry). I'm hoping we can have a bit of a timeskip soon.
Hm...AotH isn't a standard Hermetic effect, so wouldn't inventing it require notes or a copy of a version of a different level? Or something like that?
Scott
They know who you are.
Since you want to get through this as quickly as possible....As was suggested earlier, they would indeed like to be able to graze their horses on the covenant's land. However, when they've tried that in the past, they've had trouble with a magical horse luring away their best mares.
Scott
I'm right in thinking that the covenant doesn't own any horses, aren't I?
Gregorius will go and speak to Fray and Stephen.
"I've been so speak to the headman of the local village. The village is willing to have some of their young warriors fight for us, in exchange for being able to graze their horses on the covenant's land. When they've tried to do that in the past, however, a magical horse has lured away their best mares."
"I think we need to draw out this horse, then overpower it and either bargain with it, if it's intelligent, or capture and train it if not. I'd rather not kill it unless we don't have any better options, but it might come to that. Would you be willing to assist me?"
"Why of course," Fray replies. "Assuming the beast runs with a pack we will need to scout. If it comes to capture I might be able to make it easier to catch" (outlined effect from before) "however I'll think about some other options too."
"What is your timeframe?"
"I'm at your service," Stephen replies. "Perhaps some aerial scouting would be useful. Perhaps we could corral the beast or rope it from above, assuming it's not intelligent, that is. I'd say that our best bet is to approach the horse to begin with to see if it can communicate. If so, then, as you say, we can reason with it. If not," he shrugs. "We move to other options."
"Perhaps we also should create a pen for it too, so it is secure if it needs to be broken."
Gregorius smiles gratefully.
"Thank-you. You're right, Fray, that we should prepare something to hold the horse before we try to capture it. I'll talk with Damianos - he used to work with horses at Gigas. Might be worth bringing him with us, actually. I had been thinking about a ward, and that might still be useful in addition, but they do have the problem that you have to cast them after you have the horse in position."
"My worry about going to look for the horse is, how do we make sure we get the right horse? There's no shortage of them out there. That's why I was thinking of setting up a horse and waiting for it to come to us. Of course, that does have downsides - it might take longer, and we need a fine mare, which we don't have. Can either of you create a mare, or a convincing illusion of one?"
"Hmm. Illusions are not my strength, however - switching sight, scent, and sound of another animal might be plausible. With the help of somebody who knows mares, and a suitably large animal or person. "
"Failing that I have a spell to change Beasts which might switch a horse cosmetically into a mare, if the change is superficial enough".
Edit: Fray adds "perhaps the effects in combination. Do we have cattle or another passive horse for bait?"
"I'm afraid illusions aren't my forte either," Stephen replies, "except for invisibility. Nor are Animal spells. I do know a spell that will cause the earth to rise and hold someone firm, however. That should work as well on a horse as on a person. With luck it would hold long enough to put a halter on the horse."
Gregorius mentally goes through the list of the covenant's large animals, and emerges with a slightly horrified expression on his face.
"I think the only creature we have that's the right size is Alcimus. Which...would certainly be a deterrent to future attempts. And he's intelligent, so he can co-operate, at least if I can persuade him that it's not too beneath his dignity. Can we rig it so we can unravel the spell at the right moment so he can ambush the horse? That might persuade him. How's your penetration, if you can get an arcane connection to him?
Looking to Gregorius, "as long as he's accepting as a first principal but honestly his inherent magic may be too powerful. At the very least it will need three separate illusions to give me a chance. "
Ooc I can't see his Might to take a guess.
[OOC: Might 10 - his stats are here: https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/companion-character-sheets/5241/1
I see Fray only has a Penetration of 1 (with no speciality), so that probably is going to be difficult to get through, even with an arcane connection, especially as a positive aura will also boost Alcimus' magic resistance, making it counterproductive.]
"Hmm." Gregorius thinks for a few moments. "It's a bit risky, but how is both of you's Perdo Vim? Could you manage to penetrate on a spell to suppress his Might briefly?"
[OOC: Relative guideline is on page 63 of The Contested Isle. Dispel Magic Resistance from a Might score aligned to one realm with a level less than or equal to the level of the Vim spell plus 20 + stress die (no botch). Spell must penetrate the Vim based magic resistance of the target. Suppression only lasts for the duration of the spell, and the magic resistance returns afterwards.
I'm pretty sure "level" should read "base level", so we just need to penetrate on a base 1 + 1 Touch + 0/1 Momentary/Concentration spell = level 2/3. We want to do it in the lowest aura available (which I think is 1 without a lot of travelling), so we're trying to penetrate an 11 Magic resistance, meaning we need a Perdo Vim casting total beforew division of 26 or 28 if we don't use arcane connections. That's probably just within what Stephen can do?]
"That's just as the edge of my ability," Stephen replies. "I might be able to manage it if I tried enough times. But then I'd be likely to suffer some Warping, which I'd very much like to avoid. Is there another alternative?" He thinks for a moment. "I could create the illusion that looks like a horse, or one that looks and sounds like a horse. But I'm not sure I can manage smell on top of that."
OOC1: Stephen can get a +18 (+23 in the Aura) to his roll, so he could make 26 or 28. But he's like as not to botch before he succeeds. Also, alas, he has 0 Penetration. (As I said, this was one of the first characters I ever created. I made some definite mistakes.)
OOC2: Stephen can get +26 for CrIm (+31 in the Aura). That's enough for a CrIm 15 spell, which includes the Phantom Animal modified to not have smell. If we were upwind, the magical horse might not notice the absence
OOC3: I wasn't thinking of spontaneous illusions when I said that illusions weren't my forte. Apparently I'm pretty good at them.
SIMPLE PHANTASMAL ANIMAL
CrIm 15
R: Voice, D: Diam, T: Ind
Creates an image of any animal or beast up to the size of a pony (Size +1). Under your direct mental command, it moves about (within range) and makes appropriate noises. You need to be able to concentrate, and be within range, whenever you wish to direct the illusion to move in some manner. If you move out of range or stop concentrating, the illusion just freezes in place. The image does smell like an animal, but it has absolutely no effect on the senses of touch, taste, or smell. Of course, a magus may not use this spell to create the image of an animal he or she does not know exists.
(Base 2, +2 Voice, +1 Diam, +2 move under your command)
Ooc: could you spont the smell as a separate effect?
[OOC: Is it just at the edge? I made Stephen's Perdo Vim casting total Pe 11 + Vi 5 + Sta 2 + 1 Aura + 2 loud words and gestures = 21, which only requires a roll of 5 or better to hit 26 (which is probably all that's needed if Fray is casting the other spell, as then it can be done in the same round). He can get another +3 if he uses ceremonial magic (which should only take 15 minutes as it's a first magnitude spell), although it's arguably not worth it. Botching is only going to be a one in a hundred chance - his golden cord makes it unlikely he's going to be rolling more than one botch die.
I have to admit, when I first remembered that guideline existed I thought it would be Rego rather than Perdo, which would be more convenient.
But yes, illusions look like they're another option (although the needing to keep concentrating to stop it freezing in place is a pain).
I suspect you'd need to concentrate on the smell to keep it in the right place, which would be difficult whilst also keeping the animal moving. Although you could just have someone else create it (quietly) when the horse actually turned up. Base 1 + 3 Sight + 1 Conc = level 5.]
[OOC: Although, thinking about it a little more, if you do manage to hit 28, using diameter and then casting a long duration intangible tunnel on Alcimus for use when we're up in a boat in the air could be useful.
Dispelling an effect of a specific type is going to be base level + 4 magnitudes + stress die. I think the Imaginem spell will be Base 3 + 1 Touch + 2/3 Sun / Moon = Level 10/15, which implies we need a base of 2 or 3, so will be a lot easier to unravel if we can use Touch range. Unfortunately if we don't unravel, Alcimus is unlikely to be able to penentrate the magic resistance of the horse when it shows up. (This is the point where I regret that it's Stephen rather than Fray that has Harnessed Magic.)]
[OOC I thought CrIm didn't need to penetrate MR. It is not resisted? Or do you mean that the MR reducing effect? I thought that was only momentary or Dia?]