Design and discussion of Castra Piscis

A couple of points regarding this covenant-

  1. while it is part of Novgorod I feel like it is close enough to Thebes to be considered for the Tribunal Border hook
  2. correspondingly while the normal logistical reasons to not have as many books would not apply so much in this instance, a few which would:
  3. your nearest tribunal uses Ancient Greek as its primary language, which means your books would largely need translating (or you would need to commit to ancient Greek and reduce your potential books from other sources)
  4. warping affects books, including warping from the aura if they are not clarified. Which tend to make it difficult to maintain them for long periods of time when they gain warping at 1/season. Developing Ancient Sumerian as your magical language could be an interesting solution, but source texts for learning would be hard to come by.

I would have made it further east but I thought I couldn't. That said, I don't mind the tribunal border hook.

I hate that Thebes has a separate language for their books, but it's canon so I suppose I just have to suck it up. What's the deal with Ancient Sumerian books? Do they not warp? Where is that written up? That could actually fit.

Ancient Sumerian is what they warp to, given the patterns established for the covenant aura. There may be other irregularities as well... further north would have removed it from being a Tribunal Border, and it being a story based hook it is not required- if Thebes is not trying to recruit them it won't matter how close the covenant is.

They kind of need to be on the Black Sea for the basic idea of the covenant to work. (as the only large salt-water body in the tribunal except for the Baltic sea, which is too close to the other covenant). Given that Abraxas used his influence in the Byzantine Empire to get the rights to the fort, some kind of entanglement with the Theban tribunal does make sense. I just feel like they have a lot of hooks already, and they're all pretty integral to the concept.

How long does the Warping take to change the text to Ancient Sumerian? Are there other flaws?

at warping 1 (5 seasons) it becomes as if written by someone who was incomprehensible as an author- study totals are halved. at warping 3 (30 seasons, 7.5 years) it is unreadable as it is in Ancient Sumerian gaining the flaw useless abilities. If the book is scraped and reused as pampilset any text written on it will convert to ancient Sumerian within a season. If it is retained for another 45 seasons from having warped to Ancient Sumerian it will become awakened, but only attempts to communicate in Ancient Sumerian, primarily be erasing and rewriting the words on its pages. There are rumors that trying to study such book will result in madness.

I will assume that any books bought with Build points have been clarified, and correspondingly have a raised maximum source quality by 3.

of course, you do realize that at aura 9 anyone who is not Gifted and raised in the covenant will be transformed as much as possible by the aura by age 19...
if you assume they spend 1/2 their lives outside the aura (such as working days) that doubles the time required...
though that need not mean fully transformed, if the new moon rituals increase their warping beyond that...

I re-read, I was thinking about cap at 10, not 5, my mistake. Though there is time out of aura for fishing etc.

I will dial it down to Aura 8 so the warping fits a little better with the transformation speed I was envisioning.

I'm assuming the Archons* have supernatural abilities, and they are the ones doing the rituals, not everyone in the town. They are probably spirit votaries or something similar, dedicated to Dagon.

How much extra BP is it to have a Specialist with a supernatural ability? Or to recruit Magic People?

*Actually they shouldn't be Archons anymore, I was calling them that to fit in with the history of the real place that's no longer connected.

That would be the hedge tradition major boon.

For the Archons? Or to recruit specialists with supernatural abilities? I'm just talking about finding a scribe or a language teacher that has second sight, or something like that.

If the Archons are a hedge tradition, they're not exactly friendly. They coexist peacefully but only as long as nobody pries into their business.

there is a hedge tradition hook as well...
having people with supernatural abilities is generally covered by boons and hooks rather than build points. Or of course they can be created as characters. Even a grog may have a minor supernatural virtue, and may well simply support the covenant without entering actual play. Or may be unexpectedly picked up by someone wanting to participate in a story that was not otherwise involved...

I took a minor boon for inhuman inhabitants; mostly drowned "men" and orphan-born that were quietly recruited from around europe to come live in a non-christian sanctuary.

Wasn't sure if we have to pay double for technique vis/vis sources, by the book we don't, but I recall it was discussed (couldn't find the discussion though).

Otherwise, covenant is updated. Still have 395 BP unspent but saving that for adjustments and other people to spend if they want.

it does not cost double
orphan born teacher should cost 17 BP
the drowned men should be 8 points apiece

meaning you have spent 1038 BP

Putting the final touches on the covenant, I just realized that I built with 1500 bp, max 300 on books, but the wiki says 2000 bp, max 250 on books. I don't know where I saw the other set of numbers, but just want to confirm which is right.

At Flåm we build with 2000 BP and 250 BP on books. Flåm is about 50 years old, allowing it go to the limit. Younger covenants will have a lower cap from Cov.

The cap is from Silveroak, not Covenants. Specifically, the library and specialist caps.

There are two caps, but let's be precise:

Ok. I don't know where I was getting the 300 from. Probably is 1500 from youth of covenant.

@silveroak I have the build in final now.

Made some tweaks to library and vis, as well as finishing specialists.

With 4 magi income is 700 MP, not 1000.
Not that this should be a concern- I haven't calculated weapons cost yet but my current estimation is costs of 122 MP per year... (obviously labs are not finished for that calculation either)