It wasn't too difficult introducing elements associated with the Rivers of London book series for a player who was a fan (eg they have run into the ancient ghost of the daughter of the high priest of Glycon who drowned herself in a river hoping to unite with her god and now possesses/animates the statue of her god).
But in a possible new campaign will include someone with a tattoo of Calcifer from “Howl’s Moving Castle” and also someone who a fan of “Stardust” who have both indicated the want to catch/rescue falling stars.
I want to get people's ideas on how to modify the setting of Ars Magica to allow something not dis-similar from occurring?
There’s a lot of greek myths of so-and-so being turned into a constellation - perhaps, due to events, they fall back down? (In reality, it’s a Faerie taking the form of Cassiopeia or Orion). This might be due to internecine squabbles (Zeus has some beef with Orion and is ripping him out of the heavens) or due to the change from a pagan world to a Christian one - the stars cease to be ascended heroes and become just lights set in the firmament by God. And sure, it’s been a millennium at that point, but perhaps they had a particularly strong grip, refused to fall.
Comets and meteors were within the Lunar Sphere in actual medieval meteorology (the study of meteors…). So, it is relatively straightforward to move some, at least, of the stars to the top of the sphere of fire. They probably work best as magical or faerie beings. (Faeries could get vitality from people telling the stories of their constellation, for example. And maybe fall when people stop, so the players have to figure out a way to make the story of that constellation an important part of folk culture again.)
If you leave some stars on the outermost sphere of the fixed stars, then you might well be able to measure parallax against them for the "inner" stars. This is in paradigm, and would give the players an excuse to make a long journey.
The fallen star in Stardust, Yvaine, is a faerie being, and explicitly different from a meteor in the realm of Faerie than how she would be in mortal realms. This works equally well, or possibly better, in Ars Magica.
A magical fallen star is more a baetylus, a stone from the heavens and often a cultic object, which I have a partial list of if you’re interested.
A divine fallen star is, probably, actually infernal; they’re demons. I don’t know if angels are still falling in paradigm, but they might be in your saga.
Although Calcifer is a fire elemental in Ars those are unintelligent and without much personality. You’d be better off making him a Spirit of the Elements per RoP:M. Hermetic magic can summon spirits. And Hermetic magic can enchant tattoos – see the Criamon section of HoH:MC. Might also be a good idea for the character to take a Minor Virtue to have Calcifer as a magical friend.
Stardust can be translated pretty much exactly as a faerie story in Arcadia.
That is what I had been trying to recall, a baetylus! And if it houses a Genius Locii perhaps… That can form a Spirit pact.
So there is multiple sorts of falling stars? I am sure the potential players will want to be able to learn how to distinguish the ones they want (assuming one wants a magical Spirit of the Fire, and the other would want a Faerie), and not collect a demon.
Perhaps the secret of the Mystery of Meteorolgy. That is only taught by the masters of Stormhold.
Access by airship? Sky Pirates - Tempestria!
At first I thought the potential players wants and the Ars Magic setting to be incompatible, but then you provided so many Inspiration point towards a new Saga.
Interesting point. One thing to consider is if you are using beings that don’t fit the 4 Major realms, the default paranoid hermetic point of view is to consider such beings Demons. Since Intellego Vim spells will fail, this is only known to happen to Demons, therefore, such a being Must Be A Demon. Such paranoid magi are most certainly include Quaesitors.
In my own game, some beings that fall from the stars align with the relevant Realm, confusing matters. Sometimes, however, if they are from a distinct Realm altogether (i.e. Malfeas from Exalted), it’s a new realm that requires Hermetic integration for spells to align with that realm read it properly with intellego spells.