Dragon in a box

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Now we all know that the Order has specific regulations stopping us 'molesting the fey' or having any real dealings with demons for fear of diabolic taints. This effectively prevents us from having a faerie in a jar as our own personal Vis source, or a demon in a cage.

This doesnt seem to extened to magicalk creatures one would presume. Those whose alignment is 'magical' in nature.

Now, many of us have become acorn farmers for our annual/seasonal Vis, or even collected the dung of unicorns et cetera... but I wonder. Has anyone ever gone so far in their campaigns as to actively capture magical creatures of some power in an attempt to secure a permanent Vis income.

As the title suggests, this might include trapping a dragon, by some stroke of good fortune, or setting up stables for unicorns etc. I would rather imagine any such attempts are doomed to failure and ruin, but I am always on the lookout for more interesting sources of Vis and new ideas. I am quite tempted to include a 'dragon in a box' trapped by diabolists as part of my next saga. Its presence in a demonic aura would obviously severly handicap it.

So - any stories you might have I would be interested to hear about them.

2

IMS we haven't, but I have heard of people havingherds of sheep in high auras and getting vis from the occasional weird offspring (the black sheep, for example).

Having a (magical) bee farm would be a good idea; it should be rather easy to get in negotiations with a (magical) bee queen so you provide (for example) a magical flower fuield, and she provides a part of their magical honey.

The interbreeding of magical animals to try to find a better all-magical version of the animal would be a nice investigation project IMO :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Xavi

3

A magical* bull that had Ignem Vis in its droppings...
Rabbits that have Animal Vis...
Birdlike lizards...working on that now...

4

Literally vis-farming... sure, why not? If you had the right magus, it could even be an interesting long-term plotline/experiment, whether they could breed more, and increase their "herd". Watch out fer dem rustlers!

5

Well, any regular source of vis can easily be described like this (and, IIRC, it already has happened).

Something like "there's this flock of hen. Every 6 months, one of them will lay up a golden egg, which produces 2 pawns of terram vis"

6

Well, there's a qualitative diff between "a flock of hens" and "a young dragon". Like who feeds them, and what.
:wink:

7

Old McDonald Ex Miscellanea, his pitchfork talisman and cow familiar ? :laughing:

8

Hmm so can we sing:

[i]Olde McDonald had a vis farm
V i, V i, sssss

And on this farm he had a source

V i, V i, ssssss

with a vis source here and a vis source there,
Here a source, there a source, everywhere a source source...

Olde McDonald had a vis farm
V i, V i, sssssssssss!"[/i] :laughing:

9

Anyone here an Auram specialist?
:angry:

10

need to pass gas? :wink:

11

Yeah sorry I was talking more of the mythic beast enslaved in a somewhat dubious and immoral way forced to 'breed' Vis, rather than the ubiquitous magical bee-keepers, black sheep etc.

Dangerous Vis sources.

12

As an aside, one of the sources of income for the Nurockrah saga was the breeding of magical horses - they could stand to be ridden by magi, and the manure, when concentrated, was animal vis.

Re: Dangerous Vis Sources

While there would be many magi amoral enough to try, I think a covenant would have to be truly desperate to try such a thing. While it may not strictly apply to the Medieval Paradigm (or, why my $.20 is not like your $.20), there is this thing called the point of diminishing returns. At what point does the risk outweigh the benefits?

Take a dragon, even a young one - MM25-35 or so. If you try to take it by force of arms or magic... good luck. Even with penetration multipliers and mastery, you'll need it. Of course, Magi never think small, so it gets worse Stellatus, from the RAW, is a MM50. Why stop there, and go after the Great Wyrm of the Pyrennes, or Sigusen of the Tome... :smiling_imp:

Of course, they could bargain. What would the creature want? I remember an adventure where in order to secure the release of some children from a drake, he wanted a cow. Given that there were no cattle in the area, this proved to be a most amusing night of roleplaying at the table. I think, for the most part, a true dragon would probably state "To Be left Alone, all of what you have that I think is valuable to me, and lunch."

The situation changes radically if the dragon is somehow already living on the covenant site, in which case older magi have already bargained with the creature, and the PCs will have to learn of this bargain and maintain it...

Without becoming lunch. :slight_smile:

Steve

13

In 3rd ed (2nd?), a "contested" vis source was that literally - something prevented the magi from harvesting it, or tried to at least. An example I remember was will-o-wisps, who had to be countered and distracted while the vis in their locale was grabbed.

Nothing all the different from this situation, except the "contest" here is a far more controlled one, perhaps even to the point of being a given. A few wards, some circular, some personal, and some ongoing maintenance, and it should all work out. ("Should" being the important word here. :wink: )

14

Wow, these threw up a great idea.

A regenerating troll (in the classic sense) shackled in the covenants catacombs, bound by magic shackles and circles. Its fed in frequently to keep it weak and its blood can be drawn as vis. Of course, it regenerates so taking its blood isn't going to damage it permanently.

Its also a lovely plot hook. Some foe of the covenant/daft grog/mad fae/etc gets in a frees it from its shackles, the magi, roused from their beds by the screams have to hunt it through their own home and rebind it.

15

See now thats more what I am talkin about. Although it feels a bit D&D, the principle of a regenerating monster is right on the money.

16

Like Sinews of Knowledge in the Greater Alps tribunal? :slight_smile: