General Table Talk

As far as I understand it, it all depends on the perceived power level of the hedge tradition, which depends on a lot of factors! :smiley:

If it seems powerful enough (say, a Gruagach), it can be asked to join. OTOH, I can't see the OoH bothering with, say, a Maestro.

The tradition's strenght factors somewhere in here, IMO: a single firecaster of Arnau's power level may stay outside, as he poses no threat to the Order or an individual magi. He's small fish.
Now, if there are hundreds like him, organised into a efficient fighting force, that's another matter and some magi, especially Tremere, may judge that this warrants action. After all, the war against Dav'nalleous showed that even hedge magi can be a threat to the order, if numerous and organised enough.

Is it a problem if I have read the city of brass already?

Not if, like me, you're old and senile: I've read it, I remember it's somewhere in the levant (I think. I'm not sure actually) and that there are jinns in it.
There are NPCs, I vaguely remember some of them and their roles (like if I said "there's a magus, his shield grog and the autocrat"...), but not what they think or else (Is the magus a pompous ass? Is the grog a traitor? Dunno!)

Sometimes, Alzheimer is just your best friend 8). I have to keep rereading my books since I forget everything all the time :laughing:

BTW, marko, I saw you listed as an author on Provence, that's so great!!! I'm very happy for, and proud of you :smiley:
Funny thing, I was reading the recap, and the bit about flambeau, I thought "that'd please marko", and then, I saw you :smiley:

Not at all :slight_smile:
I designed it as sort of a sandbox type encounter and have many ways to keep things interesting and original.

:mrgreen:
yep.
It was a chore and a half plus a task, but it is done. It was forged in fire and shall be, I feel, the best Tribunal book for fifth edition as of yet :smiley:

I'll bite and ask what you want to do and how you want to do it.

Vocis has two goals from this trip. The first is pretty nebulous - he needs to be 'known' in Transylvania. He's been there several times for visits, but now that he's up against the exarch glass ceiling he needs to start making friends in the only tribunal that matters. Who he meets and how he's received is up to you. I've considered not flying there just so he can take Mica.

The second is something we discussed via private message several months ago - he wants to add a permanent resident professor to Andorra's roster. I'm guessing/assuming the Tremere have some well-trained individuals with both university degrees and knowledge of the supernatural. Vocis plans to wheel and deal as needed to acquire one on Andorra's behalf. The idea we discussed previously (which I'll forward, if I can find it) was that something would come up while he's in Transylvania that would be a perfect mission/adventure for an experienced signaler looking to make a name for himself and earn a favor.

It sounds like Vocis will be holding down the fort while everyone else heads to the City of Brass, so this is something that would happen in a year or two.

What kind of professor do you need? I have a grog I created, but never used, for the Phoenix saga, he could maybe fill that role.

In short, he's a doctor of great skill and a natural magician, as well as somewhat knowledgeable in Philosophiae. And he's spanish! :laughing:

https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/here-there-be-grogs/5425/9

Thanks, but I've actually already written up the professor. He's fluent in Romanian, Latin, Greek, Italian, and Arabic, but he does most of his (frequent) cursing of foolish students in Magyar. :slight_smile:

Ok, no problem :smiley:

Names of some coworkers here in Chicago...
Domingo, Frenchie(Safwan), Dominic, Nayelli, Manuel, Stavros, Seng, Rafal...
All people born and raised in Chicago.
Names of people from other lands that work here...
Jacob, Bill (Jabill), Angel, Luis, Manny, George, Christian, Alex...

Granted, I dug around my memory for examples that fit the bill. We have plenty of locals named Mark, Peter, Cassie, Nate, and so on; plus out-of-towners named Farulein (a Mexican name), Ena, Akif, Sehad, Octavio, Patty, Juli, and so on.
:mrgreen:

Here is a list of Catalan Names that might be useful.
:smiley:

Many of you may not be aware of this, though I am sure Xavi is painfully aware of it. Francisco Franco, Dictator of Spain from aound WWII until the restoration of the monarchy, well, he was sort of a really bad man. In an effort to quell political opposition and separatist movements, Franco instituted a draconian nationalist policy that arbitrarilly chose what was and was not "Spanish" and promoted the one while oppressing the other. Subsequently, he made an effort to stomp down the Basque and Catalan languages in favor of Castilian.
Franco is gone, the land heals slowly, but the damage is done. Xavi has strong emotions concerning his cultural identity and his native language. He is cool about it, and is understanding of the misunderstandings and relabelings of we foreigners.

But this last bit might make Xavi shake his head and roll his eyes. To my ears, an uncouth barbarian Yank, it sounds almost the same to me. That is, the Catalan tongue and Castilian the way it is spoken in Spain. American Spanish as spoken by Mexicans and Southwesterners, has a harsher accent and bolder pronounciation. Very simmilar to the pattern of differences between British and American English. Spanish spoken in Spain sounds sweeter, spoken with a sort of a lisp. Catalan has a similar sound. Now remember, I know scant few words, and if spoken too quickly and/or with an accent, they are harder to detect and discern.
Which leads me to this tangential tale :slight_smile:
One time waiting for the train, I encountered a couple conversing in a foreign language that sounded almost familiar. Some kind of Latin. Not Italian, that accent is very distinct. Not French, same deal with the accent. I was recognizing one out of every twenty words, like "pello" and such. She was talking about her hair I guess. I figured it must not be Spanish, but something similar. So, being bold as I am, I directly asked them if they were speaking Catalan. And of course, as usual, I was wrong :mrgreen:
They were speaking Spanish, but they were both from the Barcelona region. They spoke regular English too (with an accent), and in English the each mentioned that they also spoke Catalan. And these two friends did not until then realize that the other spoke Catalan. So they started to do so, and they were laughing and enjoying it. And it sounded the same to me. Same accent, Latin based, words I can barely figure out. Then they told me a little bit about life in Spain and such, since I am always curious. Then the train came, they went one way and I the other.
The End.

Sorry, Xavier. Didn't knew the bit about Spanish (nor, actually, the difference between all these languages).
If I remember the name (I won't...), I shall thus call him... Antoni. Is this better? If not, tell me, really.

And thanks for the tale, marko.

Marcus has invited me to join this game- I am working up a mage with a certain flare for healing, teaching, and building up others, and I'm considering an artistic companion with a knack for interacting with faerie...

I have proposed the existence of a covenant in Marsielle called the Covenant of Canem de Mere, which Fleur would be from.

Is using the covenant raised childhood with the covenant raised flaw okay with everyone?

Mark, Markp, Markos, or maybe Markus.
There is no letter "c" in Greek. Marcus is my cat's name.

:smiley:

Cats have their own initiative, you already knew that. No wonder he invited new people to join the game behind your back :mrgreen:

:laughing:

Joking aside...

Covenant Upbringing is perfectly fine for any character who was raised up at a covenant from birth/early childhood. Maybe even since a young apprenticeship. Regardless, it is a Flaw and you have to play out the effects of the Flaw. You find the social and political structure of the outside world to be very odd. You are from a large old covenant that had little contact with the outside world.

Is this the nature you propose for your background?

Yes.

Then go for it :slight_smile:

Tell us a little bit more about the proposed character. What House? Ethnicity and gender? Philosophical, political, and religious views? How do they dress? What were the dramatic turning points in their life?
And remember, the outside world is strange to you and your covenant was mostly isolated from it. How does the character react to it? How do they cope? Even twenty years down the line after gauntlet, it will still be something that bothers you and affects your ability to socialize.
How do you feel about mundanes? How do they feel about you? What is the nature of your gift?
Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party? Beatles or Stones? Which is more important; the right to vote or the right to free speech?
What is the air speed velocity of a laden swallow?

Fleur de Bonisagus was born in the Covenant Canem de Mere, and as such she was recognized for her gift at an early age, in part when she started experiencing visions, despite having the gentle gift. She reached puberty during her apprenticeship, discovered sex and found a magical cat which has become her fast friend ever since. I wasn't planning on taking her 20 years past the gauntlet at this point, in fact I was considering her having been freshly gauntleted if that will work okay for this game.

In terms of mundane society, she has never been exposed to it. Her parens was heavily focused in the laboratory, and the covenant had everything she could want, so she never experienced religion, she heard a few covenfolk mention going to church from time to time but never thought much of it. Outside of a covenant environment (or possibly within some she will be seen as being excessively forward and lacking in 'womanly modesty'. She is not Christian, or Pagan, or anything really- she would simply answer that she didn't specialize in divine studies so she isn't comfortable answering the question. She could neither accept nor deny the moral authority of the church, she would be interested in listening to their arguments when she has some time however...

She believes that women are in fact the greater gender, but to her the only real difference is the ability to bear new life. She has heard of monogamy and considers it a strange concept. Someone did try to explain marriage to her once and she kept getting confused over which was the master and which was the slave since clearly one must own the other...

She is wanting to do research into fertility magic, but the caves near her old covenant have long ago been picked clean of inspirational material, she is hoping that in time she can fid some closer to Andorra, plus she has heard the mages in Andorra have greater freesom and that certainly sounds like something she would be interested in.

Her view of mundanes is currently limited to her view of covenfolk, and as such she understands that there are ranks within the mundanes, but believes that mages are simply naturally at the top of the chain of command, with the exception that some apprentices may be of lower status than select mundanes, especially early in the apprenticeship. Aside from the question of 'natural status' and the clear difference in ability towards magic she doesn't see any difference between gifted and mundanes.