I looked up the definitions of chamberlain, steward and autocrat on Wikipedia, and frankly I think chamberlain is the more appropriate in the context of a covenant. He's basically the mundane head of the household, which in this case is about 80 mundanes. EDIT: But we can change his title if people feel strongly about this. It's the function that matters, IMHO, not the title.
He may have a few deputies for specific functions (like the captain of the grogs and the head cook) or locations (the secondary site), but I think that would be about it.
I'll leave it to someone else to flesh out Laurent. I don't think he needs complete stats, but knowing his personality and skillset would be useful.
I don't have a problem with that. But as we have only a few specialists right now, I think the same person could hold both offices for the moment, if he is able.
The steward could also be Praxiteles, who speaks the native language rather well. If we count the companions who are part of our income stream in that mix, having Praxiteles close by in Koblenz makes some sense. And then on a periodic basis, Praxiteles comes to visit the covenant and ask the other specialists how they're doing...
It could be that way. But I'm not sure it would really work, or that Praxiteles is the right person for this.
How often will he be at the covenant proper? Will he want to be bothered with the specialists coming to see him requests for resources? (Supplies, tools, helpers to perform some work, money, etc.) Much of it is simply day-to-day management, and I think that a magus wouldn't want to be bothered with it, or that someone who is away much of the time would be able to do a good job at it.
Both Gregor and Amelie, who manage our sources of income, can essentially manage their own turf. I was seeing these sources of income as just requiring an occasional update and accounts verification, so they would seldom need us to get involved directly. We provided the capital for the businesses, and will provide help as needed, but we try not to interfere too much.
The main and secondary sites needs much more attention, as there are buildings to maintain, supplies to purchase and store, equipment to be maintained, fields to be tended, people to be taken care of, etc.
Again, I'm saying steward, as in the specialists only. We make Laurent the chamberlain who handles all of the servants.
Praxiteles practices sufficiency, he's not going to be all that busy. Unlike other magi I make, he'll have seasons where he does nothing (maybe practices Finesse, but treat it more like exposure or something... It might take him a couple of years to make a spell to move the boulder sized pieces, for example. So, I think the time is there for him...
Don't. Each of the roles of Steward or Chamberlain are actual jobs, meaning 2 seasons/year.
Now, we're small enough to have an autocrat run things, but only because we're so small. But unless you fancy spending a season each year dealing with mundanes, no stories just exposure, that's a bad idea.
Well... Having a magus do this initially in a spring covenant makes some sense. Maybe the chamberlain can be trained to do the steward's role, or maybe should be redesigned to do it. But having a magus intimately involved early one can help make the covenfolk understand magi are people, despite how their Gift affects their interactions. We have two Gently Gifted magi...and Praxiteles believes in sufficiency, he wants Laurus Argenti to be successful, so some sacrifice for a few years to get there isn't unreasonable. And could also satisfy covenant service requirements.
I added the items to the build points list on the wiki, and added a page for the Bowl of Quick Disposal, but the Library does not appear to by updating. I'll try adding the Chamberpot soon.
Yes, the library not automatically updating is a recurrent problem. When you know something new has been added and doesn't show, just edit and save the page (or any section in it) and the item will be appear.
I corrected the effect and enchantment levels in the description.
I have reworked the wiki page for Koblenz, to add some information about locations of interest, mainly the three main churches but also some information on the castles and the mint that once existed in Koblenz. I'll keep working on this as I find some addiitonal information.
For now, all of the information is based on historical facts. At some point I may begin adding some saga-specific fiction to this.
Here is a first run at stats for the forest ghosts, should we like to investigate further:
Koblenz Forest Ghosts Magic Might 3 (Mentem) Characteristics: Int -2, Per +1, Pre -2, Com -3, Str 0, Stm +1, Dex 0, Qik 0 Size: 0 Age: varies (The apparent age of the ghosts vary from one individual to the next/) Decrepitude: Already dead Confidence Score: 0 Virtues and Flaws: (Cyclic Might? On nights of the new moon, especially in summer, their might score increases to 5.) Personality Traits: none Reputations: Terribly scary (local) 2 Combat: n/a The ghosts are not physical, so cannot harm others or be harmed in physical combat. Abilities: ??? Equipment: none Powers: Frighten2 pts, Init 0, Mentem: The ghosts can create the thought of vague whispering or peripheral movement in the mind of a person via touch. Cause fear: 4 pts, init 0, Mentem: The ghosts (during periods of increased might) can create fear by touch with a momentary duration (as the level 30 ReMe Visions of Infernal Terrors, but at level 15) Vis: As the early summer new moon begins waxing, the ghosts’ might levels return to 3, and they leave cobwebby trails that contain vis. Appearance: The ghosts are invisible to characters without an appropriate virtue. When seen, they are still indistinct, little less than human-shaped blobs. When their might increases, they appear more substantial, taking on the form of peasants and farmers of various ages, clothed and equipped as if from 100s of years ago.
This might work for the more individual ghosts that stil inhabit the forest. Although their power probably have too high a Might costs to be of any threat to someone with any magic resistance at all. There is also the fact that when they have such a low Might Pool that they can only use the frighten power once before they need to recuperate Might Points, and the Cause Fear not at all in their usual state.
As for the ghostly spirits that haunt the forest, I would have rather kept them mysterious until one of the magi has taken the time to investigate them fully. But considering the nature of the saga, here goes my ideas on the subject...
The ghostly spirits are a bit non-standard so stats are mostly irrelevant, but they feed off the living energy of humans, which gradually unbalances their target's emotions and generates feelings of fear, paranoia and/or agressivity. They are no threat individually, with an individual Might of 1, and their single power is a level 1 Mentem/Corpus effect (with a cost of 0), but as more of these spirits latch on unto an individual to feed from its energy, their Might and effect level add up, creating greater and greater effects. There are literally thousands of these spirits within the forest, but only a few are encountered at a time. The longer one stays and travel within the forest at night, the more of them latch unto you. They cannot be seen, but unprotected humans can sense them as a slight buzzing sensation, a glimpse out of the corner of one's eye, or a wordless faint whisper.
These spirits are no longer sentient at all, they are simply attracted to living energy and drift through the forest is search of sustenance. They leave animals mostly alone, although large animals may contain enough energy for a few of them to latch unto it to feed weakly. This makes animals uncomfortable and skittish, but otherwise unarmed (since the spirits' power are in Corpus/Mentem).
A human or animal with any Magic Resistance at all is completely protected against them, since they cannot latch unto such an individual (and thus cannot stack their power). There is also a way for unprotected humans to mostly ward off the spirits -- by sacrificing the living energy of another creature (animal or human). This is done by killing it and spilling its blood in a pool for the spirits to feed from. Easy access to the blood means that most of the spirits ignore the living creatures, although their presence can still be felt and make one nervous.
