On the one hand, if Arnau works for the mundane ruler, by impeding him, Roberto is interfering with mundanes, although, if this doesn't bring ruin upon his sodales, he may very well go unpunished for it.
OTOH, Arnau and all are making public displays of magic that may very well be blamed on the order and roberto: By doing nothing to stop this despite knowing it, Roberto could also be "bringing ruin upon his sodales". The Join or Die isn't an option when powerful wizards are concerned too, and Roberto doesn't know if there are gifted people around. There's also the question of what happens if Arnau wants to attack hermetics.
=> Roberto's stuck between a light rock and a soft place. But I don't see him being marched for either of this, not yet at least, although he could get a fine.
Also, there's the question of how much Arnau knows about the internal working of the order. Even assuming he knows about interference and marches, would hermetics let a hedge wizard begin a prosecution for a March against one of them? I doubt it. Arnau or his superiors would, IMO, have to work through an hermetic ally.
As it is, if there's a whole tradition of hedge mages blatantly using magic in service of mundanes, I don't see the OOH letting them do as they please, due to the risk of blacklash. The existing hedge traditions survive because they work for the OoH or are under its radar, not because they are rival armies.
The problem here is not about the action of mundanes for mundanes over mundanes (Clear case, you don't have to interfere), but of hedge mages for mundanes over wizards, possibly hermetic ones.
If working for a mundane was enough to protect you from hermetic wrath, not only would we see a lot more hedgies blatantly working from mundanes (there's a story seed about this in one of the recent Books. Antagonists, I believe), but it would be a common defense for Marched magi.
Likewise, hermetics couldn't defend themselves when attacked by mundane forces, which seems unlikely (There's a similar story in Antagonists about a cabal of magi working with a mundane, destroying a covenant and later attacking the PC covenant).
I think you may be overstepping things here, and Marko is, IMO, pretty right about Arnau's knowledge of the OoH's internal workings.
Assuming the king gave such an order, I don’t think the order would take it well.
Although this is an unspoken agreement, the non-interference works both ways: The order leaves the mundanes alone, but the mundanes also let the hermetics in their own little corner. War would be ugly for everyone.
Should a mundane ruler begin to boss around hermetics and give them orders, would all hermetics say “sure, no problem”? Say, the king of France pulls out a Templar and orders all Normandy covenant to disband and give him their riches? I don’t think so.
Arnau may have a mandate to hunt down Moorish wizards, but I believe that the moment he infringes upon hermetic society, neither the King or the OoH are going to take well the fact that he pits the one over the other.
Good question.
I think most, if not all of them could be bought as Mercenaries, and there must be something for that in Covenants or Lords of Men). If their price is vis only, how could mundanes afford them? Since dealing with a Wizard, which means more choice, the firecasters might prefer vis, of course. These might be negociated separately (1 pawn = x mythic pounds), or for the entire company who just sucks it up for the higher-ups benefits.
Checking the LoM table of contents, I'd advise to look p19 for scutage, or better, p103 for Mercenary Budget: IIRC, there's a nice table cost table there
Price would depend on the buyer. Mundanes pay in silver. But they know about magi and use magic items (the guys that turn invisible, for example), so they prefer to be paid in resources that only magi can get. I do the same at work (charge different prices for the same services to different clients) so I guess this would be pretty normal.
Marko is making me an offer, but I am away from my books, so I cannot know if he is being stingy or not. I have medieval rates for mercenaries (standing at 40-80 florins per lance of 3 men, aprox)
We are pre-black death here, so I will assume a price equal to that of post-bnlack death (40 florins/year for each man in a Lance). Since we are infantry we will make it 30 (I might be getting over-generous here). That is 9 pounds per man. 9*24 men = 216 pounds + the services of a firecaster.
Given the price opf 1 pawn = 10 pounds that would mean 22 pawns + firecaster.
That sounds a tad expensive. It might be that the price given for mercenaries in Ars is lower, since I do not recall such a large pricing. Does anyone has the pricing for mercenaries in Ars?
your price estimate is way off. It does not take into account 200 years of inflation, or the plague cutting the labor market and driving prices for wages up. The 200 year gap is a very important and game-changing 200 years. It is unfair to make comparisons of anything between these two eras.
I am taking my prices straight from the Inhabitants Points system from Covenants. Roberto, nor the covenant, has the funds to pay what you are asking. It simply can't be done, and it is nowhere near worth it.
You know, I've been playing this edition for nine years and I never caught that? I always rolled extraordinary results for just the season I experimented. Thank you.
If I had stopped to think for even five minutes before I started crunching numbers, I would have calculated how many points above necessary I'd have with minimal rolls, and counted up how much Penetration I could expect to get, and then experimented both seasons and figured out the penetration total.
Maybe you can argue that Vulcanus would have done so given his Hubris?
As far as the rules, well, there are a ton, and I forget half of them. I just remember that one because I'm botch averse with most of my magi.
As I mentioned a while back, Vocis has arranged for mundane teachers to teach a few classes at the covenant in 1231-33. The first knows Prof: Scribe, the second is more of a politician with social skills, and the third is whatever Mark decides he is. Vocis is claiming them for one season in each of those years (noted on the google doc), but the teachers are free the other three seasons. Feel free to make use of them.
Mark, what is the source quality for these teachers, assuming one-on-one teaching?
I saw that, and my first thought was Vibria saying, [color=red]"What do you mean, you really think I should take some of those 'social graces' classes?"
The first guy can teach Scribe, Artes Liberales, Latin, and Greek. The second guy can teach all kinds of Social skills; Bargain, Charm, Etiquette, and Intrigue. The third guy is a teacher of history and lore; Magic Lore, Faerie Lore, Order of Hermes Lore, and Mythic Europe Lore.
