I also offer my services to the protection of Sa Dragonera. Obviously, the fast portal back to Arans means any of us can hop to and from the chapterhouse if it is threatened; but perhaps I can work some devices to provide protection and early warning. Of course, it would help me as well if I had some idea of what I would be warding against and detecting; but I'm sure some general items can be devised nonetheless.
On the topic of officers, does Andorra treat "Armourer" as an office? Make no mistake, if you don't then I'm not asking for the post to be created; but if you do, then I would obviously volunteer to fill it. To the best of my ability - armaments per se and not my forte. Although perhaps if I could work with Donna...
"Roberto does raise an issue that's relevant to me as well," Lucas adds. "If I'm to be an assistant to the Herald, who will I report to? I had assumed that in the absence of an officer I'd report to Carmen as Pontifex. But I'd like to make certain."
That many? I didn't realize we had so many guards. Yet, given what Insidiae faced, we may very well need this. If we can afford it, you have my blessing.
Duely noted, and appreciated. We shall have to discuss this
(In the productive paranoïa thread?)
The witch cackles
Actually, we have an "Artifex" office. Sadly, it was last occupied by the Oaf, meaning that the post is tainted by association. The Artifex's duties is to keep track and maintain our supply of enchanted items and lab texts, as well as to ensure our grogs are well-equipped. Now, it would be hard to do worse than the Oaf, especially considering he fled the covenant with the Phoenix Sword of Andorra.
Which we'll have to retrieve... Sigh... We're never gonna see the end of this.
Good question. I second your assumption. It makes sense to me.
Some time after Guiverna joins Sa Dragonera, a few weeks before the next time Andorra casts her Aegis, Guiverna seeks council with Arachné.
She is dressed rather demurely (for her, anyway) in a long linen sleeveless dress with a gathered neckline that doesn't plunge nearly as low as normal.
"Thank you for seeing me, Warden. I know that...the circumstances that brought me to Andorra, and to Sa Dragonera, aren't exactly conducive to giving me your full and complete trust. But I am willing to work and do what it takes to not only make you not only trust me but accept me as a sodalis.
"I would like to lend myself to your casting of your Aegis this year. I don't know that spell myself, but I do know Wizard's Communion, and can lend three magnitudes of effectiveness to the Aegis. If you'll let me."
In the late autumn of 1237, in a lull between storms, Guiverna pays a call on Acutus (wherever he takes visitors), dressed in what can politely be called "very social attire"
"I was hoping I could trade knowledge with you, sweetie," she says with a playful smile, her fingers describing swirls on his arm. "I hear that the Bjornaer have a spell that allows their animal form to speak with a human tongue. I was wondering if it was possible for you to teach me that spell. In exchange, a little tit-for-that, I would be happy to teach you anything in my repertoire."
Cards on the table, eh? Sigh... Okay, I can do this. I don't trust you. Given the details surrounding our meeting, I just can't. But I'm willing to entertain the idea that you had no parts in whatever shenanigans the Oaf and Valgravian were up to, in their respective sides of the board. You are young, and may have made mistakes. We all do.
Which is why I voted for you to join our covenant, and am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.
With that said, I appreciate your offer, really, and encourage you to go on. Being an active, cooperative member of this covenant will go a long way toward gaining our trust. But be assured: Should you betray it, I'll come down on you, hard, and do everything in my power to shut you down. Do we agree?
She's lying, a little.
She's more empathetic for guiverna that she lets on, seeing him as yet another victim of vulcanus (what did they find in him???) and at worst a pawn of Valgravian. Still, she can't let her feelings dictate her judgment, and must keep to mind the posibility that this is all an elaborate ploy.
Which is, aside for her goal of strenghtening Andorra, why she encourages Guiverna to participate in the covenant.
If she's a plant, there's a real possibility that living aside the magi, investing of her time in andorra and Sa Dragonera's life, will make her betrayal all the more difficult for her. It'll also make it easier for her Sa dragonera sodales to keep watch on her, and notice any slip up on her part.
Guiverna looks visibly relieved at Arachné's reply.
She giggles. "'The oaf', huh? I can see that. He could be something of a connard, but he was very good at what he did. And wasn't shy about telling you, either.
"I admit I made mistakes, and that getting involved with Vulcanus was a big one. It's going to take a while for me to find favor in the eyes of Maât, and to overcome my new sodales' reservations, but I think it will be worth it."
She take a deep breath and continues. "One more thing, Warden. I understand that one of the requirements for a journeyman is a season of service per year. I was wondering if you, or any of the Masters or the Pontifex, have any suggestions as to what service I can provide."
The old woman shakes a little, making a strange face, before succumbing to laughter.
After a while, she regains her cool, and clean the laughter's tears from her eyes.
Oh, you're good, I won't deny it. Either that, or you're quite the innocent.
She closes down on guiverna, as if wanting to tell a secret. Raising her index to the busty bombshell's nose, still smirking from her laugh.
You'll know, my dear child, that one should not make such an offer lightly. I always have suggestions as to what service one can provide, and might very well take you to your offer
"I get that a lot. Not the innocent, the other bit," Guiverna says with a smile.
"But, yes, I wouldn't have offered if I hadn't intended to follow through. If it's within my power, I'll do it. If not, I will work to make it within my power."
(And I just realized, I have no idea what House Arachné is.)
Guiverna shrugs. "I think the effects of our Gift rubs him the wrong way. He might be useful, though. He owns a few ships and makes a decent trade in fabrics, spices, and what not. Has a small warehouse on the docks, from what I hear." As she speaks, Guiverna leads the way back through the ravine to the cellar. "His wife keeps him on a pretty short leash, so so far he's had to content himself with leering. Pity, actually. I imagine he's quite good."
When they return to the cellar, Guiverna knocks on the door, and in practically no time another child, this one apparently a small dark-haired boy (like his parents and Zoe) opens the door. "Mommy said when you come back I can show you the doorway out," he says chipperly, and proceeds to do just that.
I got lost as to which thead I was in :mrgreen:
So what's Lucas planning to do with the place? Maintain two labs? A summer home? I mean, this place is nice. The Mercere are footing the bill for the tower in the quarter. He should keep this place too. We can't keep opening and closing regios with magic activity.
OOC: Lucas and Cecilia have talked to Guiverna about the place in Majorca. They're willing to give it up if the covenant needs it. But absent that, they'll keep it (and keep guards there to look out for the regio). They've gotten used to Majorca and have friends in Palma. The plan is for Lucas to have his sanctum in Arans and Cecilia to have her sanctum in Majorca (whether at the estate or a smaller house they acquire later).
I hadn't thought about Lucas keeping two labs. But the estate pays for the lab it has, so if no one takes the estate from Lucas, he'd have no qualms about keeping the lab in the interim.
Also, just out of curiosity, how much of a lab are the Mercere paying for? I'd assumed £3/year, which is what his lab costs. If they're willing to pay more, I'll have to take that into account when I get around to refining the lab.
"He's planning on keeping it, unless the covenant needs it more than he does. It's a very nice place, he his lab set up the way he likes it. His wife and family can stay here and he has his Mercere space in Arans."
Guiverna looks around at the manor. "To be honest, it worked out for the best that I found the regio I did. This house is just too big for me. It would take me years, if not decades, to get enough things to fill up all the rooms, and if I had a lover in every bedroom, I would never get any real work done."
"You can come in if you want," Guiverna says when they reach her room; there's not a sanctum marker on it.
She heads to a low table with several painted wooden icons showing people, animals, and people with animal heads, each of which has a small bowl with a bite or so of food in front of it. She sets the golden rook carefully in front of a painting of a woman in full-body profile with a headdress shaped like a throne and a looped cross in her hand, then lowers her head, closes her eyes, lifts her hands, and sings softly in French for a couple of minutes.
Shortly after she gets her laboratory set up and her Quarter mostly completed (say, Summer of 1237 sometime), Guiverna will seek out Lucas's familiar Horus.
"Hi, handsome," she says as she feeds him a piece of meat (carefully) and strokes his head. "I have a proposition for you.
"My regio is a pretty fair size. I was wondering if you would help me explore it for a couple of months or so, identify any other entrances or any places that may be a risk to us. Whenever you have some free time, and Lucas can spare your invaluable assistance."
(I was thinking Winter of 1238, Winter or Autumn of 1240, or the Summer or Autumn of 1241. The sooner the better, in our mind.)
What? A Sa Draganna enterance in a region that could take months to explore? I mean Fleur has a region in her garden but her whole sanctum isn't a regio... did I miss something here?
Isn't each magus's particular Quarter located in a Regio? That's pretty much what I based my whole dealio on. And for some reason, I assumed that the regio was pretty big. Maybe it is "just" as far as the eye can see, I don't know. If not, never mind.
The Minor Boon (Covenants, p. 8 ), which I took for Guiverna's Quarter, says: "The covenant is located in a magical regio that can be entered in many ways. The covenant may take measures to limit entry into the regio, but these are never perfect." The Minor Hook (ibid, p. 10) says: "There is a regio on the covenant site, although the covenant does not lie within it. The magi do not know everything that is in the regio." I couldn't find a Free Hook for Regio in the book. The labs must also take Regio (ibid. p 119) which says: "The interior of the lab is in a regio, and there is another regio level, which the owner can navigate easily." Which, I guess, means that by definition the regio itself must have an Aura at least 1 less than the Lab (in Guiverna's case, her Lab has an Aura of 3, so the Regio would have an Aura of 2).
The guidelines also say that "All points are linked by a regio network."
My understanding, interpretation, what have you, is that each Quarter is a Regio. And that each Regio is connected by a Network, the "hub" of which is the vis-producing fountain at Sa Dragonera. Neither the rules or guidelines seem to say that the Regio has to be small (the size of a house) or huge (the size of the Nile Valley)
I was picturing Guiverna's regio as being a few miles across, at most (probably three or four, maybe five). Under normal circumstances, it probably wouldn't take more than a few days to thoroughly explore, but since it would probably take time away from any other seasonal activites (i.e. lab work), it would have to be a seasonal task. Unless she were studying that season, spent a month exploring, and took the -1/3 hit on her SQ, which is an option that just now occurred to me.
Tl; dr: seems like we read the same passages and had two different interpretations of it.
Okay, here is how I understand it, and I think I've been given the green light from Marko to be the "Keeper of Sa Dragonera" although I am absolutely open to other interpretations.
Each quarter "has" it's own Magic regio, that without any boons spent has "a Weak & Small Aura, with a strength of 1 and large enough to cover their Lab and Sanctum". Admittedly, this requires a bit of an assumption that when we're discussing auras as related to the quarters, we're really meaning the regio.
You can spend boon points to increase the size and power of the aura (I read regio) such that for 3 boon points it "increases the Aura to 3 and increases the size to Medium, enough to cover your entire Quarter." So in my mind, you could now have your entire quarter reside within the regio, should you choose to do so.
The only real dimensions provided anywhere are that with the Regio lab virtue you get +3 size which would make the lab 1000 square feet. That would equate to a "Tiny Aura" from the Chapter House boon list.
So, as I extrapolate things, every quarter has a regio, whose size is dependent on boons/hooks. With the "Tiny Aura" hook, the regio is roughly 1000 square feet. With the standard "Weak & Small Aura". the regio is 1000 square feet, plus the size of the magus' sanctum. With the "Strong Aura" boon, the regio is (or can be) the size of the entire quarter (whose dimensions are not clear).
All of the "independent" regios have one of their "entrances/exits" at the vis-producing pool on Sa Dragonera which acts as a hub; somehow connecting all of these disparate regios (to be learned once I get the adventure up and running).