I took the liberty to make some changes to the description of our Creo source included by @Reminiscent and to add a description for "The Petrified Serpent".
For our current reserves, how does this sound:
Vis Reserves
Creo
3
Animal
Ignem
Intellego
Aquam
Imaginem
Muto
7
Auram
Mentem
Perdo
Corpus
Terram
Rego
3
Herbam
2
Vim
6
My reasoning: From the initial 20 I've discounted 2 pawns used by Regulus to pay for his travel to Confluensis a couple of seasons ago. Otherwise, our main sources (The Oak and the Serpent) have been taken into consideration for what vis we should have, plus enough Vim vis for our Aegis.
And there is just barely enough vis for the one magus who wants a Longevity Ritual (probably requires about 7 of the 9 Cr/Co/Vi vis). I suspect we'll need to work on vis income.
There should be a few more short stories about vis sources, as well as some additional sources that are simply harvested. Those just need to be described more fully (they were described in the notes that Leonardus left behind and which were passed by Julius.)
Just remember that about a fourth of the vis sources should be clearly located in the territory of each of the neighbouring Tribunals.
Some time ago I've marked several covenants and points of interest in Google Earth. I can share the KLM file if someone thinks it's worth. My objective was not to have a precise location for the covenants, but a rough location within a few miles.
The red circle is a 60 mile radius (about 1 week to go there and return by foot). The Tower of Ashes is the home of Jacinta of Flambeau (4th edition maga from the Great Alps).
I think Dankmar and Jacinta can be good options for a contested source. The closest covenant in Normandy is Cunfin, about 10 days away.
An idea about having a contested vis source between us and Jacinta at Bern. Bern was founded as a military outpost less than 15 years ago (in 1191).
Plausibly, this could mean that Leonardus never got around to updating his notes on how to harvest the vis source before passing into Final Twilight in 1196.
Part of the adventure might be finding where in the new town the vis source is, or how it changed. (E.g. a thematic option might be something like a bear vis source slayed at Bern’s founding turned into a rug that cries aquam vis at Bern’s founding anniversary. Getting it from the Duke’s bedroom would be the problem)
Sounds like a good idea, although Bern is clearly within the Greater Alps. So the covenant's case to retain this source is weak should it be discovered by Jacinta -- and having a source contested by an Flambeau archmaga may be dicey for Tugurium.
Something a bit closer, within the valley of the Aare river for example, might be a bit easier to manage. But hey, what do I know.
Does one of you feel like developping the Tower of the Ashes and Jacinta a little bit as a recurring story element? She could certainly have strong links to Wolfgang, as a fellow Apromor, but also be both an ally in some stories and an opponent in others.
Same is true of Dankmar, for that matter...
So if one of you feel like staking a claim on a covenant or a major npc, feel free to do so!
This is a proposed arrangement for our vis sources (since we are about to advance a few years I'm thinking we should have a better view of them). I've listed the sources we have already agreed on and arbitrarily set an amount for some of them. I have also put a few that ha been mentioned, but not fleshed out or discussed. Nothing here is meant to be definitive, we can change whatever we want.
I have put around 15 pawns in each tribunal and about 40 pawns that are "solidly" in our covenant grounds (meaning, at most 3 days to go and return). This totals up to about 85 pawns, but don't forget we pay 1/4 of this to the heirs every year, so we will have about 63 after "taxes".
Thoughts:
maybe only one source in Rhine, amounting 9~11 pawns? I'd put it to the north, midway between Colmar and Basel. I'm finding it hard to justify more than one source in the Rhine tribunal because Basel lies in that direction, and Dankmar is close by. Can't help but think most sources are taken.
we could also settle for only two sources in Normandy and/or two in the Alps (each giving more vis), just so we don't need to have that many sources to track.
SOURCE
DESCRIPTION
HARVEST
TYPE
LOCAL
Oak of Promisses
A thousand year oar.
12
Herbam
Covenant
Oak of Promisses
Promisses under the oak become vis
3
Rego
Covenant
Petrified Sea Serpent
A sea serpent around a roman galley
7
Muto
Covenant
Roman Galley
A sea serpent around a roman galley
3
Vim
Covenant
Healing Waters of Underswyler
2~3
Creo
Covenant
The Light in the Cave
A shining block of ice in winter
5
Ignem
Covenant
Pierre Perçu
A rock with a hole in Porrentruy
4
Terram (F)
Covenant
Clendy Alignment???
6
Vim
Great Alps
4
Great Alps
10
Great Alps
7
Rhine
6
Rhine
3
Normandy
8
Normandy
4
Normandy
The (F) notation is meant to design faerie tainted vis. I propose we use the same notation in case of infernal or divine vis.
We don't. I doubt Father Luc would agree to teach Latin at the covenant (he doesn't really have time anyway).
Adeline would be able to teach some Latin (she has a score of 4 and Com +2) at least a season per year, now that things are settling down for her. She'd even get better avor time, developping her Teaching score.
Julius the Steward is also a decent teacher. He has Latin at 6, Ancient Greek at 4, Magic Lore at 4, Artes Liberales and Philosophiae at 2. He even has a decent Teaching score of 3, with a specialty in teaching languages, and has Com +1. His availability would probably be limited to one season per year.
Julius hasn't had an incentive to teaching Latin to covenfolk, because he has the Gift of Tongues. So he already understands and is able to speak to anyone.
I believe so. We can also introduce an hermetic eremite. There are about half a dozen eremites in Normandy according to tL&tL, maybe one of them is close to us. An alpine eremite is also possible, I think there is nothing in law that directly forbids that... But just as in Normandy he might not enjoy some of the protections associated with being in a covenant.
No. It is meant to be a quirk, not a major liability. So the longer you "imprint" an area, the more stable it remains.
For example, if you were to spend a season or two away from your sanctum, the worse that might happen is that you find a new window has opened or an existing one has migrated from one wall to another.
If you leave for a year or two, then perhaps a colony of mice has built a small suspended city in the rafters.
If you are absent for a decade or more, then you might find that your lab has changed a lot.
But that is not a small deal... if a window moves and leaves your laboratory in the dark, or causes that an element that depended on it to stop working (such as an astrological object), it can mean a lot.
And if instead of a window, a beam or column moves, say goodbye to your sanctum xD
So, as i understand it, you can lose lab virtues or obtain lab flaws randomly if you go away one or two seasons
I'd say that this is much less problematic than the window above xD I mean, having a colony of mice is something normal in middle ages. And you can just solve it with a spell or two
It won't. Those are just examples. Note that a window moving (not disappearing) won't change your lab's virtues and flaws.
The point is that a season or two will only result in cosmetic changes. A year or two might (or might not) result in a new minor virtue/flaw (or combo) appearing. A decade could mean some major changes.
The pace of change is also all weighted by how long you've occupied the space. So changes will be slower if you've been there for several years and have spent several seasons customizing your space, than if you've only lived there for a couple of seasons.
My impression is that his effect is largely intended to add flavor to the fact that the location is in a powerful aura site aspected towards Muto. Not really to create a penalty but more just to make the presence of that raw magic in the location be somewhat that is felt a bit and colors/adds character to the overall feel of the Covenant. I think it is a positive influence / aspect to the game if all of that is accurate.
