I'll say tentatively I can agree to one season's work being necessary to discover how to make use of at least some vis sources. Salutor, I gather you think that's too long?
Scott
I wouldn't want it to be the case for all vis sources (but I don't think that's being proposed, anyway). It seems reasonable for some of the more obscure ones. And I suppose it's not that unusual for magi to spend a season distilling vis, which is likely to have a far smaller long term benefit.
What happens if the season spent in study turns out not to be the season of the year the vis is produced?
I'd say that it works no matter what season it is, though there could be a lab total or die roll involved. Having to play guessing games with it is a little too much for an off-stage activity, for my taste.
Scott
Yes, I'd say that the season of work essentially creates the "lab text" for how to extract the vis from the source, it doesn't actually attempt to extract the vis, merely decipher the recipe.
I think it would be reasonable to let it extract the vis if the proper time happens to fall near the end of the season in question (or if there's no specific time that it has to be done).
Scott
Covenant Development
I'm going to make a lot of assumptions. Shout if people think they're unreasonable.
My understanding is that at the start of the covenant, we have:
- Enough dressed stone to create one more building.
- A convenient local forest.
During the first season, Gregorius successfully creates a group of average quality seasoned wood. I'm going to assume this is sufficient for the beaming on one house. This is possibly slightly generous (base individual is one cubic pace, so there are 10 cubic paces worth of wood).
According to City and Guild (pg 68), a carpenter can construct two townhouses a season. Due to shortages of materials, and lack of fully trained assistants (who I'm assuming are mostly the "teamsters"), I'm going to assume our craftsmen take a season per house. I'm also going to assume that houses are either constructed entirely out of wooden frames and daub (i.e. no stone), or stone with wooden beams for things like the roof (i.e. wood and stone). Mostly the latter.
I'll assume wood takes one year to season to building quality, so wood cut in Spring 1226 will be ready for use in Summer 1227. For the purpose of simplicity, I'll also assume that one season of woodcutting produces enough wood for two seasons of construction. Ditto stone produces enough in one season to build two houses. I have very little idea what actual production rates are, so this is wild guessing hopefully on the side of miserlyness.
We're also getting the quarries up and working. My understanding is that we'd decided to start at a new site, to avoid people carting stone past the magi's laboratories. There are also plans to try and meet up with the main quarry, and essentially drain off the flooding. They'll try to site the new quarry with that in mind. I'm assuming, again, that at least initial one season quarrying provides enough stone for one season's building.
One consequence of this is that the quarry is probably going to be outside the Aegis. This is less than ideal; on the other hand, it's not as though the forestry isn't inevitably going to be as well.
To try and minimise potential disasters, and to aid in locating veins of stone, Niketas will be brought in to dowse every now and again. Specifically, he's being brought in to dowse for water to check the miners aren't going to flood anything they weren't expecting to. Dowsing total is Dowsing 5 + Per 3 + Aura (2?) + die (probably simple in this case) = 8 + Aura + die, so he should be able to locate water (ease factor 9) reliably.
I'm assuming that the Carpenter has Profession: Woodcutter experience and the Autocrat can both build and quarry.
Autocrat (Mason)
Spring 1226: Autocrat begins quarrying operations. Initial work doesn't produce any useful stone (getting to quality rock).
Summer 1226: Quarrying production under way.
Autumn 1226: Directs team to construct forge for blacksmith.
Winter 1227: Quarrying production under way.
Spring 1227: Quarrying production under way.
Summer 1227: Quarrying production under way.
Autumn 1227: Directs team to construct carpenter's workshop.
Carpenter
Spring 1226: Carpenter directs initial tree felling. Wood mostly used up by Gregorius.
Summer 1226: Carpenter directs tree-felling operations.
Autumn 1226: Carpenter assists in building forge for blacksmith.
Winter 1227: Carpenter directs tree-felling operations.
Spring 1227: Carpenter directs tree-felling operations.
Summer 1227: Carpenter directs tree-felling operations.
Autumn 1227: First lot of seasoned timber ready. Assists in building carpenter's workshop.
At the end of the period, we have 3 lots of timber and stone ready to build things with - the project is just about to take off.
Plans for future buildings:
- A infirmary for Petrus. The storeroom he was using can then be changed into a guest lab, and the patients can get out of the cave with the negative living conditions modifier.
- A proper workshop for the mason, probably down near the quarry.
- A barracks
- A stables? Damianos is pushing for one, although there isn't much actual need yet.
- A sanctum for Gregorius.
- Assorted other sancta for visiting magi.
- A dedicated library.
Yes, there's some stone that comes from the rubble of the old covenant, and that hasn't been removed by the locals because Theodoric has been watching the place. And yes, there is a forest.
It sounds fine to me.
I'll need details of where and how you're doing this.
Scott
On the quarry siting:
It's going to depend a bit on the exact layout (and I also lack any actual knowledge OOC on how to site a quarry). However, general points:
- Being near the river is going to be desirable, both for transporting the stone once it's an income source, and possibly draining the caves. On the other hand, we don't want to risk the river flooding the quarry - hopefully this shouldn't be a problem, as I understand there's a fairly decent incline.
- If draining the caves, the quarry wants to be fairly close to the covenant site (this is obviously desirable anyway).
- If it looks like it's not going to be practical, at least without a considerable cost to something else, I'm fully prepared to drop the cave draining idea. It's not like we (necessarily) couldn't drain it through something that wasn't our quarry if we wanted to later anyway.
- Obviously, access to decent stone is vital.
On the how, I'm hoping that the mason will have some idea how to site the quarry. Niketas will also be roped in, although he's going to have difficulty working in daylight (he'll probably have to resort to twilight. Failing that, really overcast days). Niketas should hopefully be able to check that there's the right type of stone under the topsoil (by getting a sample piece of what they need and then dowsing for it), and possibly getting an idea of how close to the surface it is, although that's not explicitly within the capabilities of dowsing.
Once the mine is up and running, Niketas is going to be brought in to dowse for water every few days. This should be quite a short process, and not interfere with his normal seasonal activities.
Do you want me to make any rolls? If so, what and how many (and, if relevant, what characteristics should I assume for the mason)? Am I right in assuming they'll all be simple?
Just make a couple of Craft + Int stress rolls for the mason, with two botch dice each--I'm just looking here for either a botch or a particularly good result.
Scott
Die rolls are 9 and 5 (invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3283090/). That's before the addition of Craft and Int, as I'm not sure what values to use for those as a specialist (I'd guess probably 6ish for Craft? As he's the autocrat, he's probably at least in his 30's, and specialists' scores tend to be determined by their age).
6 sounds reasonable. The work goes as planned, with nothing exciting happening.
Scott
Agreed.
I need to know what the lab total is before describing the vis acquisiton method. The higher the total, the easier the method is going to be (I had three ideas, and this is how I decided to choose between them).
What TeFo combination?
Scott
I thought we had agreed it was either InVi, or the research rules on Covenants, pg 98
InVi (in the current crappy lab) will be In 6 + Vi 5 + Int 4 + MT 8 + Aura 5 + Lab Bonus (actually, familiar bonus) 8 = 36.
Research total will be Int 4 + Faerie Lore 5 (assuming the specialty "faerie lords" applies) = 9 or Int 4 + Philosophiae 2 = 6; you'll have to look at the library to decide what bonus would apply there.
Scott
I had meant for you to pick one for each effort.
Assuming you pick the Lab Total for the vis source, Viola discovers that the Perdo vis can be harvested in October, when the moon is three days waning past half-moon (a very precise date on the lunar calendar, and yet one devoid of lunar significance), by ritually abusing the male figure reposing on the altar. First, you fill his mouth (his mouth on this day appears to be gaping open, frozen mid-scream) with the stagnant water from around the dais. Then, one must choke him with seaweed, or some other cord made from the bounty of the sea, while also striking the statue with your fist. Although not strictly necessary, the process takes slightly less time if you shout vitriolic insults against Neptune's sexual prowess while doing this.
After sufficiently torturing the statue, the water in his mouth will turn into a disgusting, fetid and odorous black sludge, which contains the Perdo vis.
(I can't find the original post where we decided how much Perdo vis it yields).
Researching Faerie Lore(lords) for the waterfall, Viola confirms that the temple has been cursed by Poseidon, after the affront by Neptune and the Oracle of the temple. The waterfall will only work if Poseidon is somehow appeased, or possibly if the temple is re-dedicated to Neptune. Viola also learns that the disaster which fell upon the temple happened on the day when the Perdo vis can be collected.
We said it was for you to decide. Anywhere between 1 and 3 pawns a season would be reasonable.
All of this takes two seasons, right? Though this is a Faerie regio, would I be right in assuming that (per canon) both these entities are Magic? Does Viola have any idea how Poseidon might be appeased? Can she locate her guide again and quiz him?
Scott
Call it 3 vis.
Yes, I based the answers I gave on your declared Seasonal Activity. I'm unfamiliar with the canon you refer to, so I should probably read whatever book that's out of.
The guides can probably be summoned in the same way they were earlier brought in. I see that we have a vis source which requires sacrifice on that same altar, so a) we probably discovered the vis source when that first party was held, and b) they probably show up every time we make that sacrifice.
I'm hesitant to let you interact with them as a part of this down time, as it is meant to be an RP thing. I'll give you this much, though:
*Poseidon is a right angry bastard who can hold a grudge for eons.
- It's pretty clear by now that the temple was destroyed when Poseidon discovered his high priestess was sleeping with Neptune. It isn't too much more of a leap for Viola to figure out (if she hasn't already) that Halia was the high priestess.
The issue of pagan gods is I think discussed in both RoP: Magic and RoP: Faerie, and Greek gods in particular are covered somewhere in The Sundered Eagle.
To the first question, yes, and the second question is yours to answer. 
And what kind of fellow is Neptune?
Scott
Neptune started out a bit whiny for a Faerie Lord. Has a huge chip on his shoulder. He came into being as the Greek sailors turned into Romans (who spent far less time at sea and more time on rivers). He initially coveted the grand domains of Poseidon. Really, he coveted everything that Poseidon has. Then he finally got his game together and started taking his role as a River Lord pretty seriously, and has earned himself a reputation among the smaller fae as one of the most even-handed and compassionate Lords that the world has ever seen. Not tempestuous at all, like Poseidon so often is.
Actually, no one has really met Neptune in a few hundred years. He seems to be working mostly through proxies this century. You'd guess that Aral or Don River would be the vassals in charge of this area.