I had some thoughts about the relations of the Telsberg family with the covenant, based on their past interactions with Leonardus. Do you want me to share them with you privitely, or here?
The reason I ask is because there is a potential for stories there, in which your companion could be introduced. If you are interested in running that story, it might be better of the rest if the troupe doesn't know all the details.
I'll let you know when I make a decision for sure. I'll think on it today while I'm at work before I make a final decision.
Just to clarify, selecting a member of the Telsberg family as a companion does not automatically mean claiming the responsibility for that initial story. It just means you may have to wait for the results on the first story before your companion is introduced, to avoid spoiling that story.
If you are the one who runs that story, then you will of course be free to introduce your companion at the same time.
Alright, I think I will go forward with a minor Telsberg character. @Arthur you can DM me the plot stuff for the Telsbergs to keep it hidden whenever you get a chance.
Do we need someone with AotH? I think our previous caster is MiA.
We have a casting tablet in the library, as well as a lab text for when someone has the time to learn the spell. Both have an adjustment to account for the large size of the covenant (it is enough to protect the main building and cavern).
So there isn't an acute need for someone to know the spell right away.
Ah, right! Mariana can learn it after arriving, then. She wouldn't have learned the larger-size one ahead of time. And then if the other player returns, no problem, either.
I'm trying to think through what a good Familiar fit might be. One thought had been a drake or small dragon, and binding a dragon like Arkliss wouldn't be so tough, but we already have someone doing a dragon/drake/worm and I wasn't set on it anyway. I have a huge amount of flexibility with Cr/Pe/Re all being relatively comparable (Pe is behind but will pull ahead) and Me applying to anything with Intelligence already. I love it when an idea just screams it's right, commonly when it matches a Focus as well, at least somewhat. But Mariana's Focus would more closely fit a spirit, and I'm not doing spirits. Here are some thoughts:
Wolf (Re + Me) - If it's to accompany her as a sort of protector. She could readily bind the one in the core book.
Weasel (Cr/Pe + Me) - This matches a couple Arts, and it's a little different. Probably would give it some Purifying Touch or significant skill with herbalism.
Bee Swarm (Cr/Pe/Re + Me) - This matches her Arts best overall, and it might keep the honey/meed idea from back when going, but through the Familiar rather than the maga. Swarms are treated as a single animal, but they're also treated as a Group; so I'm not sure if this is possible. It could be fairly unique, which is always cool.
Cat (Pe + Me) - This is the least original, but could fit, and it wouldn't be hard to get a cat from one of those lineages.
Beaver (Cr/Re + Me) - I had an idea of a beaver carving wooden items with its teeth, perhaps with Touched by Magic. That might include a walking stick so it could walk about on two legs, somewhat human-like (and not totally un-beaver-like).
Other - There are so many options. Maybe something else.
Any thoughts? What about swarms? Any cools suggestions for "other"?
Maybe she asked Wolfgang to get her a basilisk egg and didn't listen to his warnings about how lazy and annoying the basilisk is?
I didn't know there were rules for swarms, I would've thought if you wanted bees you just did a bond with a King Bee.
Does it need to be an animal? I've been in games where plants or objects were allowed but not sure if that was house-ruled or not.
I'd originally been thinking some sort of dragon kind. But another character is doing that and is better suited to it, and I don't want to change the uniqueness there. Plus, I'm not sure I want the Familiar to be a big story element, mostly because I don't have a fabulous Familiar idea in mind.
Yes, rules for swarms are in several (3? more? Off-hand, TTT, BS&S, and LoH.) different books. They're basically copies of each other, though sometimes there are some added notes.
The mandrake root is possible canonically. Otherwise it usually takes some special link. Faerie Magic works for any living Faerie, including in human-like form. Earth Summoning works for earth elementals.
I think of Basilisk as different from Dragon, but fair enough. (I think they'd fall under mmf: lizard, but not mmf: serpent or mmf: dragon). Other lizards, like Salamander, could work.
Could go with Lion, or Panther.
I'm trying to think of animals that fit in with matriarchy in the medieval paradigm but not coming up with anything.
An owl or a fox could make good low-key familiars. An eagle, falcon, weasel, dog or cat are all easy to bring along for mundane stories.
RoP:M officially classifies them as some of the more powerful worms, itself a subset of dragon-kind.
Yup. I was debating the mundane story issue, which could easily include a pony as well. Nothing's just jumped out at me yet, though. I've had other ones that I saw from the start (horse for a knight-styled mage, dragon-revenant for a necromancer, etc.
I did some studying. It looks like small, companion animals were a sign of status among women and clergy, while men tended to have hunting animals like horses, dogs, and hawks. So a small, companion animal would be very fitting.
The polecat (the wild ferret/weasel) also has a few traits that will be particularly fitting. It sometimes pierces the brain of its prey to immobilize it but keep it alive for eating later, which is somewhat akin to the PeMe and PeAn spells Mariana will make later. They're polygamous as well, which fits her raising in the Cult of Heroes. And being Cr/Pe + Me oriented regardless of powers is appropriate. The longevity ritual would make it less musky, too - bonus.
There is plenty written about Weasels of Virtue to throw together something fairly quickly for a low-power Familiar.
Hello! I have a couple of ideas to pitch for the campaign. I am happy to work with the troupe.
I have: A verditious who is a weaver. They are coming from Flanders to the covenant because they are trying to get away from some trouble from their home region (I am thinking some sort of problem with a local weaver guild or fae). I want to pay a verditious, and I like the idea of being a verditious weaver.
The world's friendliest Tremere: This Tremere's pater has decided that the rest of the order will not currently accept the Tremere's vision. Unlike the rest of the house, he is working on it, by starting a century long charm offensive. Part of this is that he has sent the character to go and build resources and make friends in a far-off tribunal. This tremere wants to help build resources against the day of a crisis, and make friends by being the best worker a covenant could ask for.
Hey Stephen! I think either of your ideas should be be pretty easy to work with. We talked earlier about intentionally filling in certain roles or positions. I believe that the enchanter/maker and the Hermetic diplomat were both players that dropped off, and those seem the most fitting for your character concepts to me.
I think there is a covenant somewhere around the Rhineland that specializes in having magic weavers (I think some family of people descended from faerie spiders iirc) if you want to go with the Verditius. I think the Tremere idea is interesting too. What kind of magical area would you focus your Tremere on?
Hullo there.
I see that it has been quiet here for some time, and for a newcomer, it is impossible to see who have committed to what, and who has dropped out. Could you, oldtimers, please give us an overview of the concepts that are in play?
For my own part, I would be interested in playing a magus for whom house interaction is important, but this depends very much a beta-SG who is interested in that House. In order of preference,
If I do not play a Tremere myself, I would volunteer to run the Tremere plot for another Tremere PC.
You want to do the tremere, and I will look at my verditious then? I am not sure two tremere rocking up to a covenant at once will be strictly welcome!
Well, that's not up to the Tremeres, is it?
It is a fair point though.
OTOH, running a Tremere plot line for only one player may be a little bit heavy-handed. I think this should be more up to the prospective beta-SG.
That said, I am happy with your proposal, but we need to hear more about the rest of the concepts before we call anything settled. I think @Arthur said he needed two voluntary beta-SGs per character concept ...
Would your Verditius be a mystery seeker? Or just an independent craftsman by the core book?
I am torn. I would love to seek the mysteries and have in my head someone trying a lesser breakthrough of finding another of the elder runes, but the hubris flaw that comes with having an inner mystery ends up meaning inevitably walking down a similar road of character development, which is a shame. I love the inner mysteries and would love to focus on them, which would probably end up with literal hubris and challenging Athena to a weave-off in the distant future, but it does do a lot of shoving your character down a particular path.