Since I'm plugging away on the covenant, I thought I'd post a first version of my share of the build points.
EDIT: I'm updating this as we go along, just to keep things tidy
Items
The Tapestry of the Watch
This large tapestry hangs in the Great Hall (or whatever we have). It appears to be a beautifully woven image of the hilltop on which the ruins of Bribracte stand - the hill from which one enters the regio. If you look at it long enough, however, you'll notice that it changes: clouds move across the sky; the trees in the tapestry sway in the wind. If you watch for long enough, the sun will sinks down to the horizon and then set, and the moon and stars will appear. If you watch all night, you'll see the dawn in the tapestry, too.
In fact the tapestry constantly shows an image of what's happening outside the main entrance to the regio. If anyone is approaching the entrance, their image will appear in the tapestry. It's beautiful, yes, but it's also an advance warning system, to let the magi know of any visitors, welcome or otherwise, before they arrive.
Built as the following:
For sensing the image elsewhere:
Int Im 19 (Base 1, +4 arc, +2 sun, +1pt for 2 uses/day, +3pts for trigger: sunrise/sunset)
For displaying it in the tapestry:
Cr Im 16 (Base 1, +2 sun, +10pts for unlimited uses per day, +3pts for trigger: linked to other spell)
Total levels: 35
Total cost: 14bp
Vis Sources
I thought I'd describe the vis sources as a kind of journey from the main halls of the covenant up towards Iosephus' sanctum. Think of it as a tour of the grounds!
Behind the covenant's beautiful halls, there is a cliff. There is a narrow, rocky path - almost just a ledge - that winds up the side of the cliff. If you climb that path, you'll wind upwards and upwards until you eventually come to a wider ledge, where there grows a shady grove of mulberry trees. The trees are full of silkworms, weaving.
The discarded silkworm cocoons can be collected and made into silk. The silk can then be re-woven into patterns of magical significance. The re-woven silk patterns are worth 5pts of Muto vis.
(25bp)
Stay on the ledge near the mulberry trees. If you carefully shift aside the branches of the trees - taking care not to damage any of the cocoons being spun - you'll discover the entrance to a cave. The cave is narrow at first, but as you follow it deeper into the cliff it widens out into a broad cavern.
This cavern is highly magical. Its ceiling drips with water, forming long stalactites, stalagmites, and pillars. These rock formations grow and change with extraordinary speed - extraordinary in geological terms, that is. Every year there are new formations, and the cavern looks different and must be navigated differently.
Periodically, parts of stalactites will break off and fall to the floor, shattering into strange shapes. Certain of these rock shards contain vis: you can tell which ones they are by the shape. If collected, ground up into a fine powder, and mixed with lime (the mineral, not the citrus fruit!), they are worth 5pts of Vim vis per year.
(25bp)
Gradually, throughout the year, a thin layer of water pools at the lowest point in the cavern floor. On the Winter solstice, you can set up a series of mirrors to bring moonlight into the cavern, and shine it into the pool. Water collected at that time contains 2pts of Aquam vis.
(10bp)
There is an entrance to a further tunnel on the far side of the cavern. This tunnel takes you up into the rock, and then outside again onto the face of the cliff, much higher up. There's another narrow path there, winding its way up the cliff-face. This path is very exposed to the wind, and gets very blustery. If you're up there during a very bad storm, and manage to catch a something blowing by - perhaps a leaf or twig - then the leaf or twig can be torn apart to release a pawn of Auram vis. This is worth about 2 pts of Auram vis per year (or rather, let's say exactly 2pts every year, for bookkeeping purposes).
(10bp)
If you wind further up the narrow path, hugging the side of the cliff, you'll eventually get to to Iosephus' sanctum, which is in a cave high up near the top of the cliff.
Iosephus' Sanctum
Iosephus' Sanctum is reached via the very steep and narrow path that runs up the side of the cliff. Once you near the top of the cliff, the path seems to end abruptly with a steep, long drop. In fact, if you turn to the wall of the cliff at the end of the path, and cast some sort of magic to remove the rock, you'll find that there's a doorway leading into the cliff.
Inside, there's a very beautiful magical cavern. Like the cavern below - the one you've already come through if you walked all the way up - it has stalactites and stalagmites coming from the roof and floor in a strange profusion. They shift and change over the seasons, so the cavern never looks quite the same from year to year. What's different about this cavern, though, is that its walls, floor, and ceiling are all striated by seams of glittering silver rock. These bands of rock glitter and shimmer in the light - assuming you brought a light. When a magus enters the cave, they glow - enough to provide plenty of light for reading. With time, a magus can learn to calm that magical part of himself that the bands of rock are glowing in response to, so as to allow darkness for sleeping.
Under normal circumstances, "Circle of Beast Warding" and "Ward Against the Curious Scullion" (Covenants p104) have been cast across the various entrances to the sanctum.
Iosephus' Lab
Iosephus' lab is in a neighbouring cavern, very much like the one described. This cavern, however, opens out onto a wide rock ledge. Half of the lab is somewhat sheltered by the overhanging roof of the cave, and half is on the rock ledge, entirely exposed to the elements.
Size: +1 (Occupied -1)
Refinement: 0
General Quality: 0
Upkeep: +2
Safety: +2
Warping: +1
Health: +1
Aesthetics: +4
Specialisations: +1 Aq, +3 Au, +2 Te, +4 Mu, +1 Items, +1 Vis Extraction
Major Virtues:
Natural Environment: The lab has been constructed half-in, half-out of a cave at the top of the cliff behind the covenant. (+2 Aesthetics, +1 Aq, +1 Au, +1 Te)
Major Flaws:
Outdoors: Half of the lab extends out onto the wide rock ledge that hangs out from the cliff. This leaves it very exposed to the elements. (-1 General quality, +2 Upkeep, -1 Safety, -1 Health, -3 Aesthetics)
Free Virtues:
Superior Equipment (+1 General Quality, +1 Safety, +1 Vis Extraction) )
Superior Tools (+1 Safety, +1 Items)
Superior Construction (+1 Safety, +1 Aesthetics)
Mountaintop (-1 Safety, +1 Upkeep, +2 Aesthetics, +2 Au)
Idyllic Surroundings (+2 Health, +1 Aesthetics, +1 Te)
Free Flaws:
Deformed: the constant shifting of the lab walls often creates strange, inconvenient deformations in the shape of the lab (-1 Aesthetics, +1 Mu)
Disguised: the entrance to the lab is usually blocked by the raw stone of the wall. It has to be transformed into something else magically in order for Iosephus to enter (-1 Aesthetics)
Minor Virtues:
Spacious: The ledge is wide, and the cave is deep (+2 Safety, +1 Aesthetics) (Free due to size +1 not filled)
Magical Lighting: The cave walls are streaked with seams of silvery rock that shimmer in the darkness when a magus approaches, providing good light whenever necessary. (+1 Aesthetics, +1 Texts, +1 Im) (no space cost)
Lesser Feature : The shimmering, constantly changing stalactites and stalagmites count as a lesser feature (+1 Aesthetics, +1 Mu)
Minor Flaws:
Missing Equipment: as yet, the lab has no equipment for teaching or for binding a familiar. (-1 Upkeep)
Chaotic: The cave walls, floor, and ceiling grow, shrink, shift, and change over time. (-2 Safety, +1 Warping, +1 Experimentation, +2 Mu)
Lab Cost: Paying for 1 major virtue and 2 minor virtues (40bp)
Library
Summae
A Testament to the Power of the Heavens
(Auram Level 16 Quality 15) (31 bp)
The Stag, The Hound, and The Prince of the Seven Crowns
(Rego Level 16 Quality 15) (31 bp)
A Primer on Origination
(Creo Level 6, Quality 21) (27bp)
Alberich's Colloquy on Appearances
(Imaginem Level 6, Quality 21) (27bp)
Lab Texts
Lab texts for 50 levels of spells (to come) (10bp)
Total: 250 bp
75 Personal Build Points:
Summa: The Form of Man
(Corpus Level 16 Quality 15) (31 bp)
Lab texts for 220 levels of spells (44bp)