Covenant Development

Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Base Camp
101

There was some presenc before (in the 10th century) but after that you have to wait until the 14th century before another stronghold is built there.

I didn't see anything in the 13th century. Since the territory at the time was nominally Cuman, who are nomads, there wasn't much emphasis on strongholds.

And we can always play a little with history. There's so little info on the island that it's really not hard to do that!

Now, as for being situated a bit too much to the west...

You may be able to get there fairly quickly (1-2 weeks by ship), but how do you get back? No mundane ship will wait for you there, and they can't go upriver on the Diepner (there are 7 areas with rapids between the coast and Kiev, not to mentions the swamps). If you have to wait for weeks before another ship big enough to transport you, your party and your loot, wouldn't you rather do it in a covenant with a lab and a library? For that matter, you can plan you're next expedition from there and save a month's travel time.

While I agree that Novgorod may have little interest in the area per see, setting up a covenant there to act as a base camp allows the tribunal to get the benefits of exploration in the area while still claiming the territory itself (and thus preventing others from exploiting it). The certainly wouldn't want the Rhine tribunal trying to claim it (there's a lot of enmity between the two tribunals). To a lesser extent, that's can also be true with Thebes and Transylvanian tribunals, I believe.

I simply need to know. Are we taking this location or not? I think we can have it make sense, and build the stories accordingly. But if people prefer that I move thing east, I can do that. But I looked a bit at the north side of the Sea of Azov, and the land didn't look promising there. And it's deep in Cuman lands and very far from any support structure -- you're adding weeks of travel to get there, and don't gain much more variety to the territory to be explored.

I just need to know before I invest more time in the proposed location by building up the magical aura, rationale for it, local secrets, resources, etc.

102

I was thinking it more as a restriction that applies to visitors, not members. You want to protect your servants from outsider, because if they are damaged, traumatized or become bitter, you're to one who will have to live with them, or replace them. They're an asset to the members, after all.

103

For those who think the covenant should be located more to the east, I've found a potential alternate site. The ruins of the Greek city of Tanais. It is on the western tip of the Sea of Azov, technically outside the boundaries of Novgorod..

It was an important trading city in ancient times, was devastated by the Goths in AD 330, rebuilt but abandoned in the end of the 5th century. Settlements reappeared in the 8th century, but not on the same site as the ruins, which have been preserved to this day.

It is in the delta of the Don river, considered to be the border between Europe and Asia and a major trading route.

The terrain is less interesting. South is the delta (marshlands), while north are the steppes. No big forests nor mountains close by, but small woods and hills are possible.

104

It's actually quite close to (the original) Cherson/Chersonesus (modern-day Sevastopol, more or less), on the western side of the Crimean peninsula, and that's probably the most important port on the north side of the Black Sea.

OK, let's see what everyone says.

Scott

105

Since the text allows for the Council to pass ordinances, those could be used to establish rules for the covenfolk,and for the enforcement of those rules.

Scott

106

Arguing a charter might take weeks (been there, seen that). Can't we simply take the one from Covenants (also freely available from the Atlas Games website)?

107

We needed a special one because of the nature of the covenant. I think we're done at this point, though.

Scott

108

I'm happy with where we are on it, I think.

I'll have a go at writing up part of the library. Any requests?

109

I don't have specific requests, but plenty of general ideas about the library:

  • Don't put too much emphasis on Arts. At least basic Summae on all Arts, with maybe a few higher-level ones. A good number of Tractati.
  • Lots of translated Lab Texts for spells, some for enchanted items.
  • Good books on Academic abilities (Artes Liberales and Philosophia, Medecine, etc.)
  • The library should also be rich in books on Arcane abilities. Not only Magic Theory, but the various lores. Provides many seeds for adventures, and help visitors research items, creatures and other stuff they meet during their previous explorations.
  • Some books on the academic languages (Latin, Greek, Arabic) are a must, IMHO.
  • My primary magus can't do Ritual magic, so these hold no interest to him. But we should still have a sizeable library of those, including Aegis of the Hearth at different levels.
  • Maybe a lot of the books were copied quickly for the covenant (ArM5, page 166) so could have a lower Quality. (BTW, can a book that was written quickly be later recopied as a regular book, restoring the Quality?)
  • Have wild variations in the Quality of the Tractati.
  • I buy the idea that most Summae (particularly the low-level ones) have copies of the best Quality books around. But maybe for that reason, a covenant is off-loading a copy of a lower-Quality one, since they now have a better one? Saves them the trouble of copying a new one.
110

So, what do you say all?

Do you prefer Berezan Island or the ruins of Tanais?

I'm waiting to hear from all the troupe.

111

Sorry for the delay on this (and thank-you for all the work you've put into investigating them). I'm going to express a preference for Tanais, but it's not a strong preference, and I'm happy to go with Berezan Island if other people do feel strongly.

112

I'm happy with either. It won't make much of a difference to me. Tanais is further east, though, not further west. I had a little trouble finding it until I payed more attention to the description of the location.

As for the library, I think a lot of mundane academic stuff makes sense because they're relatively readily available and magi would tend to want them.

For rituals it can make some sense to have casting tablets, but probably not a lot of them. And don't forget lab texts for spells - other than that I think Arthur has good suggestions.

Chris

113

I've edited my description to change west for east. My mistake!

I'm not familiar with casting tablets. Remember, I'm coming back to the game after a lot period of absence, so I don't have all the books. Which supplement are they from? Just so I can add it to my shopping list... :stuck_out_tongue:

114

Casting tablets are in Covenants. It's a really nice book. Running games, I would put it at the top of my list. Playing in games, I would move the HoH books above it.

Chris

115

Covenants, which also has a number of other book types, and extended library rules. Casting tablets let you do what you used to be able to do with casting from a text.

Scott

116

A few questions about the ruined covenant we are rebuilding:

  • How big was it? How many magi, how many mundanes?
  • How long was it there? What season was it in when it was destroyed/disappeared?
  • Who were they? How much do the Order know about them?
  • What kind of trace did they leave? Ruined buildings? Weird spells still active? Nothing at all?

All of this would help me describe the site. Ideas are welcome.

117

I may offer ideas later, but for right now, you have my permission to use your imagination. Since the covenant was on the fringes of the Order, though, I'm guessing it wasn't there for very long.

Scott

118

Get us mastery texts with the rituals. An unmastered ritual is suicide.

119

I would assume maybe 5 or 6 magi, and appropriate mundanes. I think it would be more interesting if it was experienced magi, rather than a bunch of newbies. The traces....Well, I was assuming that most of the buildings (or caves, or whatever) would be intact enough that we could reinhabit the labs fairly easily by installing new equipment. Beyond that, exactly what things look like now depends on what happened, I haven't decided on that. Are you going to do that, or am I? At the very least, the cause of the covenant's fall should be ambiguous.

Scott

120

Ok I received the following responses up to now:

  • Scott (MTKnife): Seemed to prefer further east, so I would guess Tanais.
  • Salutor: Slight preference for Tanais
  • callen: No preference

I've had no response from the others. As far as I could tell by going through the messages, I'm missing answers from Arya, JeanMichelle, Flux, Ivan (Domazhir Slipoi), wardenj, Wits.

If you don't have a preference, simply say so. I'd like at least a few more answers before I go forward with one site or the other. This is a troupe-style saga, so let's hear it up! :slight_smile: