I have been looking at the detailed work you guys have been doing on the wiki, and I just gotta say I am really impressed. Awesome work, just an incredible amount of detail you guys have scavenged and created and put together. Not just your own characters, but all sorts of little aspects of the saga and neat little details. This thing, between the forum and the wiki, has truly become a major landmark of the Ars Magica web. And I owe it all to you guys 
Yeah, it's pretty great
And it seems we have at least 3 valdarian lineages:
- Weapon Masters
- Spirit Binders
- Architects (line of Daern)?
I'll try to do a quick write up and write virtues/flaws from each lineage, it might be great to flesh out.
But another day, oday, I'm laaaaaate!!!
Weapon Masters is the original lineage
Spirit Binders was something Kyra diverted into, and she was Verditius and not Flambeau (secret-secret 
)
Daern's thing with Hermetic Architecture, it never went beyond him. His origin was in weapon magic, and that is what his lineage continued with. I think.
I just sorta make this stuff up as I go along and add the stuff you guys make up as you go along
This is why it is good to have a wiki to keep a log of our creativity
I've never been able to understand how this happened. How was Kyra allowed to go back to Verditius? She was carrying the knowledge of Iberian Runes, which (for Weaponmasters) is infinitely superior to Verditius Elder Runes. How did she defect from Flambeau without the other three Valdarians declaring Wizard's War on her?
It happened because when Fixer first joined the game, he wanted to create a Verditius with Spirit Magic fluff (not any of his virtues few of his spells actually involved spirits, he just wanted to be descriptive). I tried to sell him on the Valdarian idea, he liked it and incorporated it into his story, but called himself (and his mater) Verditius anyways and went with his own design anyways. Fixer is a master of story-fluff, and I have seen how it works for him and how to use it, and learned how to be flexible to what the players want to do with the story and saga.
So, that's the actual reason. Now for the story-fluff
koff-koff
Er, there was a split in the lineage. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Valdarius did his thing ("nyah! You guys suck! There is a war going on and you guys just sit here hiding selling weapons to both sides. Me, I'm taking a side and gonna fight along side my sodales and my amicus Delendos. Call me a Flambeau from now on. Peace! I'm out...")
[size=20](these are the actual words recorded by the scribes of the day)[/size]
After the war and the next generation, you have Daern. He's Flambeau by default, doesn't give a crap, and starts dabbling in other mysteries to fill the void of being cut of from the Verdi, and goes about his business. He has apprentices and so on, and that is where the line splits.
There has always been a consistent singular one-to-the-next lineage of hardcore Valdarians. Daern's filius called himself Valdaern and kept up the grudge. His other filius/fila (some unknown), their lineage was pretty much absorbed back into House Verditius. It is an established fact that Kyra is of Verditius (she still lives I think, ask Fixer).
Dimir-Taar (just did a quick review) had no Valdarian magic. He had Verditius Elder Runes, but I think he just went with standard rules and may have added Iberian Script for fluff later (because that's just the way he is 
).
So he is a Verditius magus, his mater is into spirit magic that she taught him. He later learns that in the history of his lineage, there is a splinter lineage of Flambeau with Verditius magic. So he thinks "Hey! Cool! These Guys rock! The other Verdi all badmouth them, so they gotta be wicked awesome and righteous indeed!
[size=20](he actually did not say anything of the sort, I am putting words in his mouth)[/size]
So he goes to Andorra, but sadly there are no Valdarian magi there. But we were all like "Wassup broseph? We got all kinds of books and lab texts and magic items of Valdarian magi. And if you are of his line, then you are just the guy we are looking for. See, we have this set of magic keys that only you can operate..
So Antonio inducted Dimir-Taar as a Knight of Seneca and they started exploring the secrets of the seven vaults.
That's right. Seven. You guys know of two of them, the Armory of Dimir-Taar (which I think Vulcanus rebuilt or built over or nearby, correct my memory please), and the vault within the Mecere Vault (or does that count as two vaults?).
Where do you get all this information from? There is a big book of secrets in the vault in a vault. Vulcanus has been flipping through it periodically when the SG needs a deus ex machine for him to learn something.
:mrgreen:
Ok, the first of Vocis's temporary teachers starts in Andorra in winter 1231. Working under the assumption that we'll find some way to utilize Sigmundo's offer, I'm planning to have him teach Profession: Scribe in spring 1231. I'm also considering having him teach some grogs Artes Liberales one season so we have more literate grogs. That leaves at least two seasons up for grabs. Are there any class requests? He's not statted out, so Marko will have to adjudicate what he can and can't teach.
After that we'll have two more teachers for a year at a time in 1232 and 1233. I'm accepting requests for areas of expertise. 
By 1234 Vocis hopes to recruit at least one full-time Hermetic-trained professor, who I will stat up at that time.
A Hermetic professor is interesting. What does that entail? How about a Latin teacher? Skilled in other languages too. A classic professor too, Artes Liberales & Philosophiae etcetera. And a Spanish sword master :mrgreen:
As long as his name is Montoya. 
Great news guys!
It appears I wasn't mad (not utterly, anyway).
This WE, I was skimming through my ars books, and found reference for a lot of things I'd been talking about
In TMRE p27, it says that "Normally the bound spell is cast immediately after the container spell is complete, but extended container spells exist that remain passive until linked to a spell — the passive duration is determined as for a normal spell, adding magnitudes to increase from a Momentary passivity."
This is further clarified in LoH p53: "Even Momentary duration is long enough to cover the next round." and "Casting of the sustained spell must begin while this spell lasts, or the next round for Momentary duration"
So, indeed, Momentary duration spell can last a little over a round, making the library enchantment I proposed possible... And other things, too!
For exemple, a ring that makes you invisible so long as you wear it, nd other "only when worn" items, like a Helm of True Sight. These are not doable with Hermetic Magic. The closest you can do is D: Conc, Item maintains concentration, with the item dropping it should you take of the ring. And you still need unlimited uses (unless it works only a few times), so why restrict it that way when, for the same cost, you can make your entire turb insvisible? But with D: Mom and unlimited uses, it is (as it should be) cheaper, and works nicely, save if you're a magus.
For the Talisman maintaining concentration on Spells, some where unsure this could be done
Enter LoH p 65: Maintain the Caster's Spell: This is an invested Maintaining the Demanding Spell used by an item on a caster spells, so yes, doing this is pretty much RAW.
Also, there's absolutely no mention of any difficulty to do that, no more than with Consumate Talisman (TMRE p90, this has your talisman cast MuVi effects on your spells).
But!!! It was errataed ("This effect was invested in Fortunata's Talisman, and takes advantage of a Talisman's closer connection to the maga who created it. It cannot be used by any other magus, although laboratory investigation does reveal its existence and nature") so maybe the fact that neither this nor the Consumate Talisman mentions a concentration check is because both are invested in a talisman, and you'd need one with a "normal" item.
And, why was I into my Ars books like that? Because, since the discussion with Ruy, I've thought of a Mercurian Summoner/Conjurer and stated up one for him, I'll post her when I get into it. She's not optimised, yet has gotten to a point where you don't want to piss of the mercurian
Off-topic question, but... why can't a magus instill such effects into his talisman normally?
YES!
...Can she be in this saga? I know you've already got a mage but I'd dearly love to see such a character in action.
I have an idea.
Change the membership rules. Journeyman status isn't 7 seasons, it can be up to seven years. Think long term.
Meaning, if you guys want, we can have primary and secondary characters. Our original characters are the Masters, and have it easy. The secondary characters are Journeymen, and get the short end of the stick. Play up the hierarchy system.
My main motivation is, not only does this Mercerian specialist sound cool (and having a resident Mercere magus is the hook that will keep the Mercere lodge intact for sure I would imagine); but also because I myself have a character that needs a new home.
My plan is for the 'Hermetic' professor to have the basic academic abilities (Latin, AL, Phil, other languages) and various Lores as well. Not a magus, just a covenant-trained professor. And we have a Spanish sword master - his name is Fausto. He's already avenged his father, which is why he has Lingering Injury.
Yes yes, now I remember Fausto
Can he teach Carmen how to fight? She is fierce but weak as a kitten.
He can certainly try, but she's not strong enough to use anything more than a club or hatchet.
I have a Jerbiton merchant laying around from when you first proposed the satellite covenant on Majorca.
In other news, I finally picked up a copy of ToH:Iberia, so in a few days I should be able to follow most of your Flambeau stories.
Pretty good question.
Out of game, I think it's a way to nerf the power of Muto Vim, or else, we'd see every magus do guillaume-like tricks.
In game, as far as I can tell, the fluff is that there's always a bit of customisation when casting a MuVi spell (so Wizard's reach on a PoF is subtly different from Wizard's Reach on a BoaF) and that "normal" talismans are unable to do this.
Err... If you want, but she wasn't designed with this in mind, she's mostly a proof-of-concept.
She was designed mostly with hard and fast RAW: 1 wasted season per year, 30xp per year, lab time costs 10xp per season, no exposure, plus about one lab season per year. I only departed from this in assuming some lab texts, but not all: She spend a year designing a Summon spell she needed.
I can redesign her with andorran rules, though, now that I know where XP goes. I can even [strike]probably[/strike] make her worse, now that I know what I'm doing. As it is, she's 40 years PG, but I can probably fit her in 20-25 years. Although, I do like the idea of a maga who, despite being older hermetically speaking, is weaker than some andorran magi. Not unlike Gardaitis, in fact: he is a great character for that.
The worst problem I see is this: This is not a character I can see having the time to play much, but having her in the background would bolster Andorra's strength considerably, especially considering the sinergy between her and Arachné (Remember Hermanus?). This is not a problem for me, mind you, since, due to my time problems, this is the kind of things I wanted to do, but I prefer to warn.
I do like the idea of having a secondary team of journeymen, this is great. Having them in a satellite covenant designed to extend andorra's influence and to bolster its power is also doable 
Now, what is there in Majorca that could bring us to open a chapterhouse there? ^^ And, this may be seen as a “We’re opening a covenant here. Serve well as journeymen, and you may join Andorra one day”. Yes, this is great! Marko, do you want me to brainstorm for ideas?
Well, you are pretty clever so I bet you know what I am up to.
:mrgreen:
Some players have fell off the to the wayside, which is normal. Cunning Rat, AG, and Callen are pretty much faded away. But we still have a healthy group. We just have some room as we were designed for a larger crowd.
So a group here or at a satellite/sister covenant, all these are good ideas.
Just remember to read it with a filter
It is a great book. But it does have some glaring flaws. Yet it is still a classic. The Flambeau origin story is priceless
That could be a lot of fun! I just made a character for another saga that turns out I can't use (Bound to Magic was integral to the character concept, and then the SG decided to keep a 3 Aura). I would totally throw that character over at a chapterhouse! She's a former Flambeau who was disowned by her parens and then joined Jerbiton. Perdo monkey, ice focused. She has to try and strike balance between her desire for adventure, socializing, and excitement, and the fact that she dies if she leaves a strong magic aura for more than a little bit at a time. Would be a lot of fun, and being stuck at the covenant all the time could be a good reason that she doesn't get to venture out very often.
What if we set up a chapterhouse in the salt caverns? Say that there is a Regio there with a strong aura but unhealthy attributes (as it is a salt cave).
Chapterhouse is a status below Journeyman !