direction of the Covenant

This thread is for a discussion of the direction the players want to be taking the covenant- what sort of goals they want the more mundane operatives to be pursuing and so forth. For example, we have an instructor who has the ability to teach a class of up to 25 students in subjects such as artes Liberales and Latin, and right now Itallian and French are vying for dominant language- which the magi can leave alone or try to push one way or another... or any other directives that the magi wish to include. I assume that recruiting and training replacements as characters age goes without saying... or training more people to meet any expanding requirements of the covenant...

Well with the recent Norman conquests and the Saracen raids I think it's imperative we work on consolidating and securing all of our gains, ensure that our Vis sources are protected from the various nearby covenants upset with our expansion, and that our various mundane operations are protected from the Saracens.

Beyond that I think we should work on establishing ourselves as a centre of wealth for the region, continuing hoarding vis, further expand income sources and probably pursue trade adventures which I will probably create a companion for at some point.

In terms of other magical adventures consolidating should include exploring the regio within our covenant and ensure that it will no long be a threat to our expanding operations.

I agree with crawfs about direction.

If we want to set ourselves up as a center of wealth among the mundanes, we might also want to start exploring some trade routes around the Mediterranean. But this might come later, if we have current concerns about raiders.

Who are our neighbors? Knowing who else, both mundane and magical, share this end of the peninsula and the nearby islands might help us determine additional avenues.

Those are great goals, but this is more along the lines of general directions to be given to Julianne for governing the internal workings of the covenant.

"Cause no trouble citizen"

You do understand that, as Autocrat, Julien will be the one who makes a lot of low level decisions about how to use and manage covenant resources, and as such your directions to him can have a signifigant impact on what resources you have available when you either send someone off adventuring or go yourselves...

Well yes, the actual answer is "I haven't thought of anything"

Adding something productive to the thread, Julien should probably be told to perform actions in line with what was mentioned.

Send out patrols to guard any trade routes, make regular audits of our income sources to make sure grogs aren't slacking off too much/pocketing cotton and other moderately valuable raw goods and of course ensuring everyone has the equipment they need to do their jobs, ordering more if necessary and organising food/feasts etc.

Is this what you were looking for or do you want something more detailed?

I was more looking to see if the magi had anything they wanted to do with overproduction and seasons that could be diverted to other forms of productivity or if they would rather convert all excess into cash or anything of that sort... you know, guidance policy...

So we decided on Cotton and salt for our income sources didn't we? In the case of overproduction/time to do other things I suppose we could have the grogs survey the land for any evidence of valuable mineral deposits that we could mine.

Additionally I don't believe we've discussed ships of any kind, perhaps as a coastal covenant we can put any additional funds towards building a fishing fleet.

You want to send cooks and inkmakers out to survey land and build ships?
If you have city and guild you might refer to the possible usages of labor points in that text....

Right, fair point.

At a glance it looks like labor points can be spent to improve the quality of an income source so presumably just put points towards doing that?

It can, but that doesn't really apply. Labor points can also be converted into silver for crafts, or be invested in financial investments or in improved connections and relationships...
They can also be used to improve workshops and to free a craftsman up for a season- either to improve a workshop or for some project not related to just maintaining the covenant- studying, making artwork, etc.

When the instructor has an apprentice student, should they teach a full class or focus on the one student (keep in mind that the current teacher at least is immune to the Gift. Single Student SQ is 22, or he can teach a class of 25 with a source quality of 16.)

Probably one on one, a lot of the apprentices probably won't be starting at exactly the same time

no, but grogs and apprentices can be taught in the same class, which raises the literacy of the covenant faster...

silveroak, since you are rolling for aura variations, for 1138 Gloriana casts 4 of the enhancement Rituals, spending 20 vis total, + Aegis of the Hearth, of course.

In 1141 Winter, Gloriana performs vis extraction. Aegis of the Hearth is performed, as well, don't know if anybody else performs a Ritual.