Either at this council meeting or another, Vocis throws his hat into the ring for the office of Librarian. He not exactly uniquely suited for it, but no one else has volunteered or otherwise shown any interest (as far as I can tell).
Then the position is yours unless someone contests or protests the appointment 
I'm pretty sure nobody wants Vibria to hold that office. 
Yeah, 'fireproofing' is the first thing on Vocis's Librarian list. 
The library tower is fire resistant, but not fire proof. It is one of those mysterious Hermetic Architectural features of the covenant that Carmen mentioned. The library fire did only minor cosmetic damage to the building itself and the fire did not spread beyond it. What was our premium library was (is) in a chamber with additional safeguards. These are the books that survived with minimal damage, and now form the core of our main library. We have no exclusive collections as of yet. What was our former general library was not as well protected. Most of it was destroyed or damaged so badly as to be nearly useless. Some of it was salvageable, and merged with our former exclusive library to form what is now our new general collection.
So...
what new safety measures do you propose? And as for an exclusive Master's Library: is this an outdated concept? Do you want to build a new premium collection? Or a new general collection?
That's good, but I'm looking for a way to protect the books too.
What sort of safeguards were in place for the premium library? Also, are there any magical amenities in the library, like magical lighting or heating?
Vocis mentions fireproofing, but what he proposes is a private meeting with the Warden to discuss options. Good timing, Fixer!
The Master's Library isn't outdated yet, because it's clearly the safest place to keep all of our books. I'd rather hold off on any long-term strategy for it until we a) better protect the rest of the library, b) have a larger collection of books, and c) have a decent population of magi who aren't Masters.
As for the collection itself, Vocis's first goal is to obtain solid summae of the 'basics', which is why he's copying a Finesse summae in Sigmundo's library. I'm still deciding what the 'basics' are. At that point he's looking for quantity first, then quality long-term. Very important question - are we bound by the Cow & Calf to refrain from copying and selling any of the books that survived the fire?
What you have is a Ward against Heat & Flames constantly upon the physical structure of the building (granting +15 resistance), which is why it stands intact with only superficial damage. The chambers where books are stored have an effect that extinguishes internal fires, but those are only effective up to a certain size (again, +15). The fire in the main library exceeded the limits and could not be quenched. The top floor, the Master's library, had the additional safeguard of another effect that suppresses fire, reducing it by up to 15 points without extinguishing it. Since it does not destroy the fire, the size of the fire does not matter. It gets reduced (by 15 points), and the general quenching effect takes over from there. Thus the Master's library suffered minimal damage (mainly from smoke and roasting temperature levels).
The premium library had an effect that reduces the strength of a fire, as I just mentioned. There is magical heating and lighting throughout the building. These are not part of the building, they are separate devices. I never accounted for these, just handwaved it and said you can have them in your lab. Perhaps I should make an accounting though. We have a supply of about a dozen each? And Lab Texts to make more?
Perhaps Arachne could create a cadre of firefighting spiders! Fire suppressant foam instead of webs
The fire fighting foam part could be a separate charged item affixed to each spider, divide the charges amongst any number of spiders. I suppose what is needed is an invested device that can detect fires and direct the spider firefighters.
We currently have a system set in place that quickly elevates a journeyman to a master. But there is also the matter of guests and apprentices. It has been in the background, but once we got up and running again we started having regular guests again. It starts off slow at first, but traffic should hopefully pick back up soon. These guests are easily to miss, as they have been few. Mainly Redcaps (business as usual) and they never stay long. None have needed a lab. Only one was a magus. Carles of Jerbiton dropped off some casting tablets for us, including the one needed to heal Vibria's finger.
Guests are good. We do not charge them and offer hospitality to most any. But most always they leave a present or a donation behind. Iberia has a tradition of hospitality for Vagabundos (the Iberian equivalent to a Pereginator), and part of that tradition is that the Vagabond magus gives a gift of vis or something else magical or valuable when he departs. It is a matter of honor.
Just a few. Something I never thought about until you mentioned it 
Liberi de Creationé, Liberi de Perditu, Atlanticus, The Sorcerer’s Shield, Geographica Europa, and Pietro’s Opus.
Does the presence of those two effects cause any Warping problems for the Master's Library? I know you bumped the definition of 'high level' to 7th magnitude, but those are still long-term effects. The judges will accept 'watch my hands waving, nothing to see here' as a valid answer.
We'll need the magical lights and heaters in the Master's library, at a minimum. I would prefer to use enchanted items to provide heat and light throughout the library tower so we (meaning Arachne) can fill the place with fire suppression wards/items or something similar.
I would not presume to tell her her business.
Would guests come to Andorra to study if we restricted our best books to Masters only? It seems like those books would be the best 'draw' to gain donations, goodwill, and renown from visiting scholars.
If you get a chance, please add these to the wiki library page.
Then it's time we got our scribe(s) working. Vocis's youngest daughter is a scribe (write-up pending) and is joining the covenant in spring 1230. Assuming we don't have any others, he'll be looking to hire at least one more. If he can't find one that knows MT, he'll either teach the scribe himself or have Mica do it.
The WaH&F is the sole continuous effect, and targets the tower itself only. The other are triggered only by the presence of fire (environmental trigger).
I suppose that depends on what is in the general collection. And on our relationship with the specific visitor.
Will do.
If someone feels like drawing up a specialist character as an assistant scribe/librarian, then they are on your staff
I guess my first question should have been, is it reasonable to expect to have visitors coming to Andorra to study in our library? I don't know how often this happens outside of places like Durenmar.
In that case, I feel like it.
Is this limited to grog characters only, or could Vocis have [strike]Professor Flitwick[/strike]Magister Fidelius on his staff?
[quote]
We are not on that scale, not yet anyway. I am actually basing this on the high turnover this game has had in the past. There has always been a core of constant players, but also numerous ones that come and go. There are random NPC's as well, as fits the needs of a story or backstory.
Then go for it
A specialist is an NPC, and doesn't get fully fleshed out as a grog or a companion. In theory they could be either or somewhere in between.
I'd rather save Flitwick until we hire a full-time teacher. He's both overqualified and underqualified (no Prof: Scribe) for an assistant librarian.
Softly, Arachné says
I think that "Covenant Property" should cover any items gifted to the covenant, or any artefact created or purchased using Covenant Ressources.
That is, should I use vis from the covenant to create a flying carpet, it belongs to the covenant, not to me. Should I do that using my own vis, it is my property. Should I later pay for that item in vis, it is mine.
I should be able to craft some temporary carpets in little time. These would be good for a few uses, say, about 3 to four, at little cost to me.
Now, I'm probably able to create one as a lesser item, too, should the covenant find it worthy of... About 4 to five pawns of vis, I guess.
Ready when you are 
My craft has some... Limits. And it isn't eternal.
I think it's probably better to create a single master spider, who shall detect fires in the library, using an expanded Room target, and quench them at once using Perdo Ignem with the same target. Yet, this means at least 3 seasons's work. Of course, we'll need to use only magical lightning and heating, but I can do that easily
Vulcanus scratches his beard. "If we're already looking at an invested device for fire detection and extinguishing, I am best suited to opening the item for enchantment. I can manage close to four rooks* of vis in a single season, which means I could open the library tower itself for enchantment. In fact, if we strip down the walls and I craft new walls out of iron, then I can open it for enchantment for a discounted investment of vis. Additionally, I can inscribe the new walls with runes that will make the library easier to enchant**, not to mention that iron walls will never burn and would be difficult for an intruder to penetrate... and that enchanting an entire building creates philosophic resonance making it much easier to create enchantments that affect everything within.*** Once the library is open for enchantment, of course, enchantments may be placed in it by anyone" he looks straight at Vocis then, because he's SUBTLE AS A FREIGHT TRAIN, "and the seven magnitude capacity would mean that covenant librarians will have plenty of room to add their own enchantments for decades to come."
(Non-precious metals are base 5, and if we put the library tower at two size categories above "small room" that's a multiplier of x7. Vulc can handle 36 pawns in a season, which is sufficient to invest the library tower with 35 pawns with just a little room to spare. Which leaves the question of whether a team of blacksmiths can feasibly craft an iron tower in a single season, but if everyone else is okay with handwaving it, mundane crafting times are way more detail than I give a flip about. Besides, we wouldn't technically be rebuilding the whole tower, the infrastructure is already there-- he'd just be reinforcing it with iron walls.)
*He's exaggerating. 36 pawns is technically closer to four rooks than it is to three, but yeah, he's willfully exaggerating. Still, for people who don't have knowledge of Verditius inner mysteries (which is all of you), it sounds like Vulc just casually dropped the "my Magic Theory is close to 20" bomb on the room.
**Iberian (Verditius) Runes. Like, say... +4 to contain or protect from fire, or +6 to fire-related effects (which would help with the magical heating and lighting, in addition to the fire-detection and fire-extinguishment alike).
***S&M bonuses, Room = +6 to affect everything within. A tower is just a really big room.
Is Sigmundo holding us to the C&C oath?
Vocis: I would consider permanent carpets worth four to five pawns.
Vocis: My intention was to use only magical lighting and heating, so that part of the plan won't be a problem. As for the seasons of work, I'm willing to offer a season or two of Mica's time if it will help expedite things. He's not looking at Vulcanus, but he's not not looking at Vulcanus either, if that makes sense.
Since Vulc is so familiar with smiles that don't touch the eyes, he can have one now. I'd rather not tear down the existing tower if we can avoid it. How many pawns will be required to open the tower as is?
"Thirty-five. I can't instill it with runes unless I build new walls, though. I wouldn't need to tear down the tower, just... reinforce it internally."
Peanut Gallery post.
Enchanting the tower requires a lab to be constructed around it.
...That doesn't make any sense.
It's unlikely to be the case in this saga, anyway, as rooms of the tower already had lesser enchantments on them.