True of course but then we are subservient of the guilds need and wants. And if we want to influence it we need further spies and social engineering.
Craft magic, applied with subtlety, can also ease the efforts for a large project. As for the mason's guild I would expect that rather than compete with them we would be hiring a large number of their members to help with the work- it was the architects which would travel after all, rather than the stone masons, carpenters, and other craftsmen who could be sourced locally, though where they would represent a massive increase in work available, they might have a few specialized craftsmen who would travel with them.
I'm not closed off to other ideas, but it does also seem like "traveling performers" is the most overused way to conceal any group of adventurers, and we should be able to figure out something that better fits our situation.
The other thought I have is any form of merchant (using the term broadly) which might move in to provide the comfort people were used to getting from the church, for a price of course. We would want to be careful not to spawn any infernal auras however...
Of course if we have a covenant with sirenes and Orphic mages then we might as well pay to our strengths, especially if they are gently Gifted.
I agree that entertainers is an overused cover story and that perhaps we should avoid it as such. Travelling mason is certainly fresher and might be more interesting in many ways.
Personally, I am just afraid that mobile mason is such a strong theme that it outshines the interdict idea. Basically, it needs a lot of investment. We would need to invest heavily in it. Dedicated magi, dedicated covenfolk and so on.
Investment level depends on a lot of things. Real world an architect (not mason) would travel with under 20 people, and like I said hire a lot of local talent (plus people who would relocate for the work), so how much magical versus mundane effort is required is mostly a matter of design. The concern I would have honestly is the high degree of visibility- an architect in the middle ages does not just quietly arrive in town, it would be more like Harold Hill arriving in The Music Man.
The up side might be that even if he's Gifted, it wouldn't be a deal breaker. As long someone else speaks for him most of the time.
In regards of visibility, we probably have to determine Meddling rules in the Roman Tribunal no matter what shape we take. Magvillus is pretty close-by at all time after all.
I don't think designing and over seeing construction of buildings counts as Meddling. We would have to be careful with our dealings with the Church, but that's true for all Tribunal
Probably not. But trying to prolong it might be. Same with making churches fall or damaging them so repairs is needed.
But I suppose it doesnât matter since we will be on the Meddling side of things no matter what. Since attempting to promote interdicts seems like a pretty clear case.
We don't need to do it ourselves... That's what minions are for. Or agents.
I am not sure what you mean? In a harsh tribunal you canât meddle even if its through mundane means. It only matter if its discovered or not.
But I think the Roman Tribunal is probably pretty lax on such legal actions. Magvillus and the tribunal legal arm at large is probably trying to settle the Traditionalists / Transitionalists debate. Finding Transitionalists allies should be relatively easy. They are usually thinks its fine to meddle if the purpose is the defence of magic resources. Which arguably is what we are doing.
Also that right there is fertile ground for political stories. Which is something to be celebrated! having a source of conflict is, in my opinion, a good thing.
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Do Divine Auras suppress Magical Vis sources? If so, then even knowing when an Interdict is likely to be placed, or lifted, can be info we can sell some of the covenants in the Tribunal, allowing them to harvest the vis, and maybe we can earn a small fee.
I suspect it varies depending on the vis source, but if a divine aura is no longer suppressing a magic aura the fluctuation table from the magic aura rising would certainly indicate that it would be generating vis. I think we would be better off harnessing it ourselves though.
We could, unless it's registered to one of the covenants. If it isn't, then it's 'fair game', though if it's close enough to a covenant, they could make a case to the Tribunal, and it's likely that the tribunal will make a judgement on this. But it will be fun to see it happen.
true, though the odds of that being the case in a city are fairly low.
I believe I saw in one of the books that at least in some Tribunals, all Vis sources within a certain distance from a Covenant are technically it's property. I can definitely see Magvillus push for some such law, if we Interdicts become common, and they can see such an action to block interloper magi from 'stealing' Vis they could collect. And most Covenants will likely vote for it.
The key question would be what distance. 5 miles is the horizon from ground level, 50 miles is about a day's journey on horseback, 30 miles is the distance you can see from the top of a 30' tower and 80 miles is the approximate width of the Italian Peninsula... At the standard 50 miles there would be overlap between the covenant a Rome and a hypothetical covenant in Naples, and Harco would dominate the East Italian Alps. Italy is 116,348 sq miles and a 50 mile radius circle is over 7500 square miles, so if ideally packed that would allow for 15.5 covenants, but they would not be able to be ideally arranged.
Having vis decided territorially could snk the whole concept for the game if we can't benefit from doing what we do, though on the other hand having political game between covenants scrambling over limited resources while the real income is dominated by trade seems very 13th century Italy...
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Based off of a map I found online with the official covenants of the Roman Tribunal, per the 3ed book. I have the territory they would have around them if the limit was 30 mile radius, or 50 mile radius.
While the 50 km radius does cover much of the map, it still leaves quite a few places to go to. And the 30 miles leaves a lot of places to go to.
Vis sources claimed by distance is a Normandy Tribunal thing, isnât it? They have some mundane runner methods. I agree that such a ruling might make sense, but perhaps we should avoid it to make the Roman tribunal a little bit more unique. I sorta like all the tribunal handling the loss of magical resources in different ways. I imagine vis from other tribunals is way more important to Roman than their own dwindling sources. In a similar vein to ancient Rome and how it had to rely on northern Africa for its wheat at its hight. Thus automatically claiming sources might not be a concern since a steady customer base is way more important. Also I like the idea of the Roman Tribunal to be pretty crowded still (mostly due to being founded in better times). So there might be more covenant than those in canon.
As a side not I think we should decide that the Carthage Covenant isnt canon anymore. Or maybe it fell early or something. Since it doesnât really fit into the lore anymore (with The Cabal of the Shining Eye, and Sahir promises of not settling Africa until 1225 and so on). Could be an interesting political sotry later on as the Tribunal tries to ready itself to plunder the african coast for resources.
I am fine with the Carthage Covenant gone. But especially with dwindling resources, the Roman Tribunal might, at least by the next Tribunal, make a ruling regarding vis sources in interdict areas.
I think it could make for a fine story.
Also, one thing I do like to keep from the 3e book, and that's how lenghty the Tribunal meetings are. It is said they usually last for most or all of the season.
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