If the inhabitants of Chilhac speak Occitan, then it is considered as part of Provence. Faith and Flames specifies (p.12) that: "Because of disputes between Normandy and the newly-extended Provençal Tribunal, the 1129 Grand Tribunal ruled the border between Provençal and Normandy Tribunals would be defined by where the people spoke Occitan."
So I am guessing that regardless of the map on page 8, Pralix wanted the covenant to be part of Provence. I would tend to assume that this means that we are indeed right at the frontier with Normandy. Assumedly the area around Lepuy also speaks Occitan predominantly in this saga.
In perusing Faith&Flame, it looks like research in Duremar and the surrounding countryside will find the following:
That asking people if they are magical, in the middle of a crusade against Heresy, probably isn't the most productive thing to do.
Hey, is that an old Diedne covenant?
Troubadors! Troubadors everywhere!
And roads. Can't forget the magic mercurean roads.
And Madonna cults.
Plus the standard Dowsing/Second Sight/Magical Sensitivity/Animal Speech/Way of the Land. Not so much Shapeshifter (as that's more a Rhine Tribunal thing, I think.)
It is close to the border. I had planned a site further north first and chose Chilhac because it is (or I can claim it is, which is the same thing really) south of the border.
In term of book, Clovis is interested in all techniques and for forms, he's interested in imaginem and Mentem unsurprisingly.
I agree L6Q10 is probably the best.
I was thinking I could learn occitan later and spend a season collecting vis for exchanges during the tribunal, all things considered, we won't have such concentration of magus before long. That would get us 3 pawns per season.
Sure. If you can take 240 level's worth of those texts, that would probably be pretty good. That gets up to the 3x maximum for trading purposes. Are all of those book-standard, or else "near enough to book standard to not matter"?
105 lvls are book standard 15 lvls are standard with modified range (eye instead of voice) so I would qualify them for "near enough to matter" as you put it ^^. Details are in character development.
Hm. Looking a bit more at the book creation rules. I MAY be able to squeeze out another level of quality - I'm having Emily do quick-copies, but I'm not seeing that doing so would necessarily reduce the quality of her work by 1. Yes, there's the -1 to quality for quick-copying; but she's a 5+1 Scribe, which means that her work gets the +1 "she's really good" bonus. I think. Does this bonus only apply when copying texts at normal speed, or is it universal?
Or more simply: does the +1 for a master scripter apply at all times, or only if you're copying at a regular pace?
If it's universal, Then St. Avery could create a 7/10; which (when quick-copied) produces a 7/9, which can grant 3 solid seasons of solid study. HOWEVER - Emily can only quick-copy 36 level's worth of books a season. So it's a toss-up between 6 lvl 6 books (with 12 months of solid study, for 120 xp), or 5 lvl 7 books (with 15 months of solid study, for 145 xp).
As this is probably going to be the main source of XP for the first 7 years, I'd argue for the latter.
Sorry I haven't been posting, started a new job this week so my focus has really been on that.
ANyway so as I mentioned Bastion isn't a bad teacher, does anyone want to take advantage of what he has? I believe I initially miscalculated and my teaching score for one-on-one is 14 which isn't too bad, I could probably teach someone else teaching and they'd basically have 2 teaching in two seasons then they would achieve 3 teaching from exposure xp.
Also I've completely forgotten the lab rules and don't have the book on me at the moment: How long does it take to set up just a standard lab size 0 with no refinement or virtues/flaws.
St. Avery would be willing to trade Arts instruction for spell instruction: his Highest lab total is something like 70+, so he can teach a LOT of Rego and Vim spells in one season. I'll be dependent on what he thinks he needs for whatever project he's on, though - but likely Creo or Corpus, after he reads the relevant book, of course.
2 seasons - 1 season (that anyone with Magic Theory 3+ can do), and 1 season that the magi should do himself. (Technically he doesn't have to, but he'll take a -3 to his lab total if he doesn't.) We do get some automatic virtue/flaws, though - they're listed....
Groovy. I just started up a new thread for "spells to get at Tribunal" - I've actually used up 170 level's worth of copies (out of 360), which leaves 190 remaining. I've marked off which ones I think are a really good idea to get for the covenant (in general), which ones St. Avery was personally looking for, and some misc. ones that he thought would be interesting but not particularly useful.
I'll take look at the spell this evening (self's parma).
I changed my last 2 seaons, I assumed we bought the occitan book for 6 ponds (only one positive answer) , and I extracted 3 pawns of virtus vim for the last season (in case we need it for tribunal).
If she qualifies as a skilled scribe, then her bonus should already be applied to the quality of the initial book. I don't think her skill would apply a second time when copying the book (unfortunately for us). Note that a skilled scribe needs a score of 6 to give the bonus in the first place, so in that regard she is simply "skilled", so I don't think that would warrant an addiitonal bonus when copying.
Am I right in assuming that we will be keeping the originals of any book we produce? Could we have hired additional scribes so that the copies wouldn't be done quickly? Alternatively, could we arrange the trade with a later date of delivery in order to sell a full-quality book? Otherwise I think we can expect the same for any book we obtain that way...
Cornelius would approach Bastion on that. He is interested in learning a lot of Creo and Corpus, since he will be the first one to need a longevity ritual. In exchange, he could teach Bastion Intellego and Vim. Cornelius isn't a particularly good teacher, however, as he currently teaches only with a SQ of 10 one-on-one. This would rise to 12 after 3 seasons where he teaches (that would bring up his Teaching score to 1 plus a specialty).
As for setting up a lab, that takes 2 seasons. First season gives you a lab with the Basic flaw (-3 to General Quality), while the second season brings it up to standard. Note that since our labs are underground and have an auspicious shaped, they provide additional bonuses and penalties (+1 Aesthetics, +1 safety, +1 upkeep, -1 Health; +1 Te, +1 Vi).
Well, St. Avery was writing the original books in 1 season, and Emily was making copies the next season. (Yes, I know you can have the author dictate to the scribe and have it done all in the same season.)
I usually assume that the level of the Ability includes the +1 specialization, if it applies. So Emily is currently a Scribe(Hermetic) 5 - which means she's a skilled scribe (6) when dealing with Hermetic texts. At least, that's always been my interpretation.
Yes. The original books are L6/Q10; Good bindings and Illuminations, but no bonus to Scribing - originally, I was assuming we would be sending the books to Paris to get them bound and illuminated, but to keep the accuracy of the texts, we would have to scribe all the copies locally. However, Emily was originally 10 years old, but now she's 25 - so her skill as a Scribe increased a great deal. The actual copying process consisted of St. Avery writing it 1 season, and then her copying it the next. (In order to not use the scribe too often - she could only be used 2/year, and so I had to spread out her workload.) According to Covenants, books are usually dictated and copies are made right at that time, but the end result is the same either way. Which I suppose means that the Skilled Scribe bonus can be added when you copy it (to make the letters clear and crisp, I suppose), even if you're simultaneously taking a -1 penalty for copying quickly.
The original issue was that we didn't have scribes that also had Magic Theory, and as such couldn't trust the quality. While maybe we could hire from other covenants, I imagine that "1 year before tribunal" is kind of when they're super-busy. In fact, Emily herself represents a perk of St. Avery's Mentor/Patron story flaw, and is just that: him hiring a decent scribe from his previous covenant.
Do you cast an Aegis in 1220. If yes, who does and do they botch (using vis increases your botch chance unless the spell is mastered)? Where do you get the vis from (in exchange for An Vis? A loan?)
Emily would have worked with Clovis in the final season, to get some of his clarified texts copied (based on the discussions in the "Covenent Spell List" thread) +190 spell levels copied.
Phantasm of the Human Form (30) +2 copies
Summoning the Distant Image (25) +2 copies
Veil of Invisibility (20) +2 copies
Words of the Unbroken Silence (10) +2 copies
Wizard's Sidestep (10) +2 copies