Because each arcane connection requires a season to fix in the laboratory and there are a lot of covenants in the order, which would mean every covenant would have to invest a ton of seasons into setting up those Arcane Connections. Also, because magi are reasonably cautious folks who have enemies and are wary that other magi could very well use those arcane connections to do things like sabotaging your incoming communications, scry on them, plant false information, teleport to in case of wizard's war, etc. which would require further investments to keep the mundane messenger receiver safe, yet allow the communication to come in without an aegis. Bear in mind that investing in bandits to kidnap redcaps going to a covenant is a lot more effort for the average magi than learning Intangible Tunnel spells. And if you decide to setup attacks on redcaps, this can have political falloff with neutral magis and House Mercere as a whole that you wouldn't get from direct bullying of a covenant. So yes, I'm in the camp of this system possibly being used between 2-3 close covenants, but not the order as a whole. I'm not sure wizards in the same Tribunal trust themselves to a degree that they would distribute arcane connections to the dozen other covenants either. Additionally, any system of mass communication at a distance that involves every covenant getting a magical item can fail because of covenants deciding it's not a priority to invest their vis in when they can rely on a messenger that cost a little bit of silver.
Also keep in mind that a mundane will only live for an average of 55 years and you aren't going to trust someone under the age of 12 with your messages- probably older if you want to write them down. That means fixing arcane connections for every other covenant at 1 season per arcane connection every 30 years or so- with a minimum of 3 covenants per tribunal and an actual average closer to 10 this means between 35 and 119 seasons every 30 years fixing arcane connections. At the upper end this means four dedicated mages per covenant working every other season fixing arcane connections to maintain your network.
Interconnected mirrors or something similar which don't die would be more effective, but then you need an enchanted item for every covenant pairing...
You can do it with only one enchanted item per covenant, if you design the item to work through a slot-able arcane connection. There are a few examples of items that can work with different arcane connections, the teleporting doorway ("Gate of Countless Vistas", TME p.109) and "Unsubtle Knife" (TME, p.94) being such.
The "Unsubtle Knife" would make a good base for the design, though change it from a knife to something like a quill, stylus, or chalk holder. Distribute AC to a slate as receptacle/target and have the writing appear as chalk. Anyone with a copy of the item and one of the AC can write messages that appear on the slate for a day.
You would want to use a large slate and assign areas of it to different groups, so if multiple messages come in they are not overwriting each other. If every covenant maintains someone watching the board you could get away with lowering the Duration to Diameter which would allow fairly rapid communication without as much chance of an overwrite. Of course the slate and writing implement would have to be kept outside the AotH unless you build some narly penetration into it.
This still would require over 100 enchanted items of the same fundamental design... plus it only delivers unsecured short messages from covenant to covenant- vis, books, and private messages would still require personal delivery.
You could get away with shorter Arcane Connections like locks of hair renewed every few years.
It would still leave delivery of packages to the redcap network.
Sure, but people often forget that non-fixed ACs exist beyond a few weeks. It wouldn't be hard to maintain a network around locks of hairs - annual deliveries of locks would be enough.
Delivered by the Redcaps?
Sure! If the point is to facilitate more rapid communication, it doesn't invalidate the other functions of the Redcaps. You could have a intra-Tribunal fast communication network while the Redcaps deliver extra-Tribunal messages as well as packages, rumors and vis trading. Or a trans-tribunal but not comprehensive fast communication network of interested parties, with Redcaps handling all else.
I doubt the Redcaps would like it, but you could do it without fixed ACs.
My slight spin on a design was never meant to replace Redcaps, but to allow a means of extremely rapid communication across vast distances. As my first post in this thread shows clearly, I believe there is a broad and vast array of services which Redcaps perform beyond simply delivering messages.
All of those functions they perform are in general much more valuable to most Magi than their delivery of messages. I believe the creation of a true fast message system will have much the same effect on the Redcaps as the spread of phones had on mail (if the mail service also was a bank, travel agent, and information clearinghouse in addition to being a mail carrier).
The other issue with Redcaps with a bunch of Arcane Connections is safety.
We all know Redcaps, even with magic items, at the end of the day, they are mundanes.
For story purposes, set up Recaps with a bunch of ACs for better communication. Then have an alliances of magical foes who dislike the Order kill a bunch of redcaps to steal the arcane connections and use them to wage war on the order.
Which would be the one thing that would motivate the redcaps to use non-redcap mundanes for the fast communication system- anyone giving up AC's on a regular basis is going to be vulnerable to magical attacks. Having a "lower class" of redcap "foot soldiers" (compared to knighthood which serves the nobility being redcaps, with nobility as the magi) would not necessarily dilute redcap power. On the mundane side it would actually increase it.
Redcaps are educated and practiced. They can deal with and manage local mortal lords and commoners, faerie beings, and known road hazards.
They can spy the land and sort the news.
They act to carry vis and provide a conduit of commerce.
The House supplies itself with various magical items need for the duty. Furthermore, they are sworn by a deadly oath to be loyal to the Order, and are generally considered neutral. A Redcap will be allowed into most covenants, but will some grog of a distant covenant, with firm loyalties to their masters be allowed entrance?
IOS, Redcaps visit seasonally, usually, and with arrangement can express message. That's better than most messaging in period.
For magi there may be an assumption of privacy in a sealed letter hand delivered by a trusted magus with all the protections of the code rather than a message delivered to a wall, slate, or mind then written down again to be delivered to the recipient. There is an implicit lack of privacy in the latter that is not in the former. This doesn’t mean that this faster method isn’t useful but it may not be used for certain sorts of messages where interception by hermetic foes may be the issue.
Carrying messages is only part of what a redcap does. Its entirely practical and sensible for mages, probably led by house Mercere to develop a switchboard type of messenging system that bypasses Redcaps. But redcaps would still be necessary. I can actually see some good stories with the players trying to set up a new messaging systems to allow extremely rapidly communication between covenants.
Here are a few non-messenger uses of a redcap
- The most important. Gossip. This is the travellers obligation and why so many would be happy to host a traveller, they get to hear about whats going on far away. Covenants often will want to hear about whats happening politically in the realm in which they live, certainly before any repercussions arrive at their door. They want to hear about whats going on at other covenants. They want to know what the talk of in the ports is from far travelling merchants, what the latest fashions are in court and about whether the local bishop is entertaining thoughts of approving that new monastery nearby. Gossip is so vastly underated but its a key part of the redcap job and probably the main reason they exist. Especially since many covenants are out of the way and might not get many normal travellers stopping by.
- banking. As others have noted, House Mercere also acts as a bank and redcaps buy and sell vis. Very important for covenants to make up deficits in their vis supply.
- Identity building. As the approved messengers of the Order, their visits are a regular reminder of the orders existence and use. covenants are bound together by the redcaps, probably more than they are by the tribunals (albeit less formally).
- Trust. While there are many advantages to other magical messenging systems, many would prefer the personal touch. When a redcap says he got a message for you from xyz maga from xyz covenant, you can be pretty sure he did. When you "living outside the aegis to receive messages" grog receives a message in his mind/on his wall/from a talking bird from xyz maga, can you really be sure its actually from that maga and not an imposter? Sure, there are ways to fool redcaps, but not as easily, and not without consequence. Trust is a key part of feudal society, the personal is more important than the legal and redcaps are trusted to do their work.
Also keep in mind in all this the effects of the Gift. The redcap who visits you regularly will build up a familiarity that gives them resistance to its effects for the mages on his regular route. A switchboard does not accomplish anything of the sort, and does not provide the kind of familiar interface for interacting with mundanes.