Covenant Discussions (OOC)

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: The Heir of Laimunt Valley
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I'm trying to work off of this to see if I can get some good momentum going in this direction... What if this Jerbiton grew up here in this valley. He returned out of nostalgia; that's why he chose here of all places to make beautiful. He could have made an agreement with the local rulers (the knights) that he would work to improve the area, from which they could then profit, if he would have a place to build. Or, if it's just a smaller house, he could have just built the place on a plot of land without needing really special permission.

I was thinking similar: a manor house built over (to hide) a cave entrance, with caves underneath it. Great minds think alike, right?

Yup. I'm in favor of a clear overt thing, such as creating a beautiful place, alongside something more covert which is unknown to the characters at the start.

37

Though the characters would not know, I'd like the players to be aware of at least the essentials of whatever "covert" element is.

38

I missed this thread, somehow, sorry about that. Reading through, I had an idea, which may be cool or may be wacky.

What if each magus, or at least each magus who wants to, has a pretty individual sanctum, checking several of those boxes; and we present ourselves as chapterhouses within the various tribunals, as a way of keeping valid claims to the vis sources within each? It could have been set up by the original guy, as a way to keep hold of his vis, but maybe he didn't have a chance to complete recruitment, so ended up passing on the half-finished project to his heir, who has done the recruitment (and found magi with ties to the various tribunals).

So we have a manor house, but we also have some ruins, a tower, a cave, or whatever else seems idiosyncratically interesting to someone. Main library/council rooms in the manor house, of course.

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I thought about this too, but it significantly complicates our Aegis of the Hearth if we split up too much.

40

it can still cover the area of the valley, and just be bigger...

I don't necessarily think we have to go with my idea, but I don't think Aegis is a good reason not to, there are ways to work around that.

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Another possibility is that, in his old age (perhaps due perhaps to previous Twilight experiences), the magus was getting a bit strange. Every time he visited the valley he would commission a new building, or a new wing to the manor house, or a tower. Only to change the focus on the next visit.

So now the covenant has a scattering of buildings, some nearly finished, some half completed, others having fallen in disrepair because there weren't enough covenfolk to maintain them all.

So we get the decrepit part, the diversity of styles and buildings, all within range of a single Aegis.

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I didn't mean to shut the idea down, I just wanted to bring up a complication. I kind of like the idea of needing to maintain a few different remote outposts around the valley for somewhat arbitrary political reasons.

This idea is very cool. It's very reminiscent of something like Gormenghast to me. It let's us at least put together a really eclectic building with some good potential to suit our various tastes.

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Oh man someone else has read Gormenghast?!?!?!!!

awesome!

How separated do the buildings need to be for us to call them chapterhouses? Or will that just not fly?

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Love the idea of lots of seperate areas to claim. Lab personalization is a lotta fun for me and its unlikely I'll be content with one of many cramped labs in a single building.

I'm fascinated by the multiple chapterhouse angle but suspect it complicates our lives more than would just choosing one tribunal. Could be a fun complication to have...just hope we have SG's excited to push those kind of stories to take advantage of it.

45

Regarding chapterhouses - wouldn't the distance between them need to be more than just say 500 feet from each other inside a single valley? I mean my understanding of chapterhouses is a central covenant and then other buildings making up the chapterhouses anywhere from 5 to 100 miles away.

I think with a bit of delicacy we could have a few "different" ways of making a lab at the same central site - a villa as our abode for library, councilchamber etc, and then maybe caves, a small patch of woods nearby, a waterfall, maybe a single small tower adjoining the villa

46

I think the distinction about chapterhouses is a semantic one really. Do we want to have a decentralized covenant spread throughout the valley, or do we want to stick to a central location? I imagine if we want to spread through the valley, we might add in the vast aura boon

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I believe that adding chapterhouses is just an added complication to the already complicated situation of a border covenant.

The goal of recruiting magi for the covenant is to help defend those resource. Spreading yourselves thin over several locations just makes you more vulnerable, IMO.

Think of the site as the place the old magus for some peace and quiet, or to build something, or his secret "gold mine" for raw vis. Would it make sense for him to have spread himself all over?

A vast magical aura that would cover all of Laimunt valley isn't really feasable, since there are way too many mundane communities there (with churches and chapels). However, there can certainly be multiple pockets of magic scattered through the valley. Only one of those would be strong, though. That's where the covenant is, and where the old magus built his sanctum.

Now, if after play begins one or more of you want to build his lab in another of the magic places, for whatever reason, I am good with that. But that secondary site will come with its own challenges (size, exposure, access, etc.) and will have to be built from the ground up.

48

I like the idea of a bunch of different wings/buildings as he kept restarting. That sort of eclectic set-up could also allow for each of us to have a building/wing of a style we think is cool.

I see some problems with chapter houses without a bunch of changes to the tribunals. Greater Alps would require membership, and the vis would go to one of those covenants; they don't do chapter houses the same as others. Normandy doesn't recognize chapter houses at all, though they do create covenants aligned to others. The Rhine does have normal chapter houses. If we do manage this somehow, we should keep in mind that we would be stating that certain vis sources belong in certain Tribunals, which would need to be kept in mind if we try to join a single Tribunal. It could be interesting, but could also be a bigger mess than desired.

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I'm perfectly happy to drop the chapterhouses idea, it was just a thought, if it would make it easier to defend claims against vis sources by other tribunals. I also like the idea of a "folly" with a bunch of very different additions to the manor motivated by a twilight-crazed Jerbiton architecture buff. I'd even be up for full-on Gormenghast, though it probably wouldn't work for reasons of mundane relations/interference.

I have a question, though, hopefully not opening old wounds - are we on the border of 4 tribunals? I'm not sure of the real town (I couldn't find Laimunt and I recall there is a different contemporary name), but given the distance to Basel, doesn't that put us close-ish to the border of Normandy and Provence as well? Though given the way those two are they might have a border very well-defined with legalities, they're both into that.

Looking again, we may be northerly enough that Provence is not an issue, I'm really just asking, in case we're missing that. Maybe four tribunals would be too much anyway.

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Normandy, Greater Alps, and Roman Tribunals actually have a shared point. Provencal is actually even further south than Roman at this longitude.

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I had to look up Gormenghast as I was not familiar with it. The covenant wouldn't be anything so elaborate, though the feeling can certainly be there. Remember that this was built over only a few decades by the impetus of a single magus, not a whole city generations old. So only a very small-scale Gormenghast and a bit less gothic.

Still :grin:

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I've been looking around to see if I can find some fantasy art with a cool, eclectic manor. Not an easy search. This is one of the better ones I've found with notably different sections:

Manor picture

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I was thinking of flexing my artistic skills and rendering up floor plans and a sketch/painting once we get to that point.

2 Likes
54

So are we agreed on the "shape" of the covenant?

I propose the following description. Let me know if you are in agreement by liking this post.

The magus, when he first discovered the valley, initiated the construction of a manor house at the spot where the aura was strongest, adjacent to a small waterfall. Construction continued over the years, expanding the manor house with additional structures for the mundanes who lived there permanently, but also room for additional magi for a future covenant.

But then, before construction was finished, the magus suffered from an experience that affected his mind permanently (perhaps Twilight). It made him confused over the overall plan. He had the workers stop some of the work, adding differents wings or buildings that sometimes made little sense, tear down parts of the structure and add some independent buildings with no apparent purpose, as well as create decorative elements that clashed with each other.

The result is a fairly chaotic collection of buildings centered around a manor house that sprawls out in erratic ways, with a confusing floor plan. Corridors that circle around a room to reach its door, a flight of stairs that lead nowhere, a half-finished square tower, columns, terraces and gardens (that are either bare or growing unchecked) are all elements of the structure. With so few mundanes present, an ever-changing focus to their work and the absence of full-time occupants, certain parts of the covenant have fallen into disrepair.

There is a magical oak tree of huge proportions growing in the valley, lumpy and twisted. The magical aura is strong there, but strangely enough this is not where it is strongest. That occurs about sixty paces away, near the waterfall. A narrow opening in the cliff face lead to a large cave (the opening is now inside the manor house). There are a few tunnels leading to secondary caves, but one does not notice them immediately.

For on the jumbled rocks to one side of the cave is a something completely incongruous - a Roman galley, broken in half. Wrapped around it is a petrified sea serpent, its body as thick as a man is tall and its head raised in a soundless roar.

:grin:

6 Likes
55

Excellent, it looks like everyone agrees! :smiley:

Now, let us come back to covenant boons and hooks. Here's a list that I think would be appropriate. I put the one that are almost unavoidable in blue. The rest are just suggestions.

Let me know what you'd like added, removed or modified.

  • External Relations:
    • Tribunal Border (major hook) - Obviously.
    • Local Ally (minor boon) - The old magus had made a deal with the Telsberg family, providing some magic (perhaps even a minor longevity ritual) in exchange for their assistance and rights to build the covenant where it is. The family remains an ally of the Heir (and thus the covenant), though they might expect some occasional magical help.
    • Beholden (major hook) - Technically, from a Hermetic standpoint, the assets of the covenant (buildings, vis sources and source of income) belong to the three filii of the old magus. If we want them to have a strong role to play in the saga we could pick this hook.
    • Favors (minor hook) - If we want the three filii of the old magus to have a minor role to play in the saga we could pick this hook.
  • Site:
    • Aura (minor boon) x2 - I think an aura of +5 makes sense, considering the remote location of the covenant and the plentiful vis sources.
    • Poorly Defensible (minor hook) - The chaotic buildings and the fact that the covenant is at the foot of a cliff make it difficult to defend the covenant against mundane attacks.
  • Fortifications:
    • Manor House (free) - The main building.
    • Important Buildings (minor boon) - To represent the additional wings, the towers, etc.
    • Crumbling/Outbuildings (minor hook) - Several parts of the covenant are in poor condition. Plus, the covenfolk live in their own houses near the covenant buildings, adding to the confusing state. I don't think those issues warrant seperate hooks, so I would suggest combining them into a single hook.
  • Resources:
    • Vis Grant (minor boon) - This is how the Heir recruited the magi of the covenant, by promising them a share of the raw vis harvested by the covenant.
    • Right (minor boon) - Our main source of income is recognized by mundane authorities and secure.
    • Contested Resource (minor hook) - At least one of the vis sources is known to magi of the nearby Tribunals and they try harvesting it before we do. This could be taken multiple times.
  • Residents:
    • Peasants (free) - The villagers of Chastellion can be called on to defend the covenant.
    • Veteran Fighters (minor boon) - A small cadre of experienced grogs is the core of the covenant's defenders.

If we only take the blue boons and hooks, it balances out.

1 Like