General Table Talk

Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Light of Andorra
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Covenants of Iberia
There is a total of 10 covenants in Iberia. Though Jafariya was recently destroyed, the establishment of La Sagra in New Castile balances this out. Andorra, with the simple name of the land it was founded in, does not count as one of these ten. The activities of Antonio and the Knights of Seneca have given Andorra more of an Iberian focus in the past century, their immediate interests in and around the Pyrenees keep them attached to Provencal as well.

Below are brief descriptions of the covenants presented in HoH-Iberia (except for Jafariya, which was corrupted by infernal powers and had to be destroyed). Also listed are the other covenants I invented for the Tribunal. Those are not set in stone. They are set in sand actually :laughing: . If you guys have any ideas or suggestions for better names, by all means let me hear them. I know nothing about th Provencal tribunal. I even lost my list of names. I know that Mistridge, Doisettep, and Val-Negra are located there. Other than that, I have no idea. I need someone to volunteer for Provencal Storyguide :smiley:

Barcelona – There is no demon in Barcelona. I will not trick you with a demon in Barcelona at a later date. IMHO, I think Barcelona is an awesome covenant if the demon is done away with. Jerbiton is my second favorite House :smiley:. For those that don’t know, Barcelona consist of all Jerbiton magi, and the tribunal has ruled that they have Hermetic Jurisdiction over the whole city. The members all live in different locations maintaining “secret identities”. They also forged a treaty with the Kabbalists of the Jewish quarter.

Duresca – Located in the Galatia region of Leon, Duresca lies just off the road to Santiago de Compostella. They consist entirely of Quaesitores and Hoplites of House Gurnicus. The Gurnicus magi originally came to research the discovery of the so-called Duresca scrolls, which they declared a forgery. They eventually took over and the original members were marginalized and moved away. What kind of covenant was Duresca before the Q’s took over? The region is right for House Diedne, but the description of the old covenant before the discovery of the scrolls doeas not have a Diedne feel. And what about those Duresca Scrolls?

Estancia es Karida – Located in Granada, they consist of Hermetic Sahirs, Islamic Jerbiton magi, and others of House Ex-Miscellanea. They have an alliance with the Knights of Seneca, and one of their members is an Islamic Flambeau Sahir and a member of the Knights of Seneca. I want Jarkman to create this character.

Campomartes – Locates near Zamora in Leon, they are a covenant of martial magi, mainly Milites from Houses Flambeau and some members of House Tremere. They have little outside interests, and care mainly about the perfection of their art. They serve as an elite training center, charging a small fee for their tutelage. This is the covenant Karandos of Flambeau was a member of at the time of the Shadow Wars.

Casa de Mericoles – Located in Burgos, they are the central hub for Redcap activity in Iberia. They pose as a secular militant order for older and retired warriors. They do in fact provide charity to veterans, and also recruit from them as well.

Gibralter – This is a covenant of primarily Sufi members of House Criamon and some House Ex-Miscellanea Hedge Wizards. The dwell in a transcendental regio.

Vaetrix – Located in southern Portugal, Vaetrix always consists of three Merinita magi and one apprentice, all female. They are named after the sorceress that founded their covenant, Vae Tricia, who was forced to join the Order along with her sisters during Flambeau’s “Join or Die” recruitment drive. In her latter years, she was a major supporter of Quendalon.

La Sagra - In the midst of Sierra de Segura & Sierra de Tabilla, La Sagra is the newest covenant in the Tribunal. Not much is known about them, but they just submitted their charter (fuero de Hermeica Covena? Xavi? Little help with th fancy naming? :smiley: )

Two more???

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Can I have a size +3 and a size +6 toledo steel sword ? :wink:

Naming is OK, I would say. If it fits you, English speakers. Gibralter should be Gibraltar, and Mericoles sounds weird as a name (unless it is Latin) but appart from that I would say it is OK.

I would put a covenant in Valencia or the Balearic Islands (I always found that the Baleatric islands would be perfect for a covenant.

In fact a Balearic islands covenant can hold a grudge against andorra easily if Antonio killed on of their main vis sources to gain his archmage robe. I find this cool as an idea. Name: Mare Cerulis? (Deep blue-green sea)

Valencia also deserves a covenant. Probably a mix of arabic and christian magi. They might be trying to revive the glorious past of the covenant or be a scion that was founded by other members of the old covenant when the original one desintegrated: not everything has gone to andorra for sure! Maybe located in a more southern location, like in Alicante. Rumors say they retain the key to control the djinni of Valencia, and have started to use them for some other things than mere agricultural helpers.... Name: Sapientia Lares (protectors of the wisdom or something like that: probably awfully translated). I find that Andorra represents more a Christian covenant. having a more mosleem-oriented covenant as a second scion from Valencia seems appropiate.

I find that the Campo Martes (BTW: Martes is Tuesday in Spanish :wink:) can easily make a good business selling awfully well trained grogs to other covenants. They might even be one of those spots that Castra Solis looks positively for recruits.

Xavi

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Sure, made of Ice :wink:

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Xavi,

I dig your Tribunal ideas! People, pile ideas on me. I am trying to refrain from canabalizing too much of my old game, which in part canabbalized two or three other Iberia saga web sites from the 1990's (Prospectus Locus is still up out there).

A new Valancia and a grudge holding covenant in Majorica, they are in like flynn. I wanna do something with Estancia es Karida too. I prefer spelling it Estancia Escarida, because it looks more Hispanic. Xavi, does Karida mean anything in Spanish, or is it an Arabic word (or, as I suspecy, a Bhuddist temple just like Doisettep was)?

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I’d be very interested in beta or gamma storyguiding. :smiley:. My history/geography/living in Europe aren’t excellent, but eh, I can make stuff up :stuck_out_tongue:

I really like Iberia, and I’m glad you people who know a lot about it are fleshing it out.

Also, Xavi, I realized I came across as a bit waspish over in the general forum. I actually like your idea and think it’s really cool, but I felt I had to play devil’s advocate. I'm really interested to see what you come up with!

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what, did you start stinging people? nyuck nyuck!

Thanks for volunteering! I myself and plenty of others will be glad to help with the history. Just focus on a good story when the time comes :smiley:

We have plenty of existing hooks, and I reserved a few unknowns for people too. The main reason I put a Dragon and a Giant so close by is that I wanna test out RoP: Magic, which should be in the stores soon :smiley:

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I'm not cool with this rule. I had plans to create a number of original spells for my character.

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I think he means you can’t make up new spells, say they’re already in Andorra’s library, and then just learn them from lab texts without putting any work into it. If you want new spells after Gauntlet you have to invent them the old fashioned way.

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LOL, go ahead and make all your own spells in development. I am talking about what is in the library already, not what your character puts there. Your inventions would not logically be in the lirary already. And you can list spell wiki spells in your choices as well. Post to the wiki first and pull a tfast one on me, I encourage it!

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Thats not the sense I get from his statement.

For one thing, my character did not apprentice or gauntlet at Andorra so he would have had no reference (or knowledge of) Andorra's library and secondly he would have invented at least a handful or more of spells related to his own magical path and role both during apprenticeship and during the 16 years post-gauntlet.

Oh and to let you know Marko, my character's magical training will not have followed canon Hermetical training insofar as his celtic druidic influences and his prophetic function (ala the cabal trying to pull his strings) would have demanded 20 years of apprenticeship as per historic druidic practice. So he may be slightly older than most other characters. I have him at around 43 years old when he reaches Andorra.

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This is indeed what I meant :slight_smile:

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ok, but thats not how it read. No new spells generally means no new spells (i.e. you can't invent any of your own).

I'll worry about that when i get to that stage in my reworking.

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Estancia escarida probably is just "arabic sounding" gibberish knowing the sources of history of the line at the time the tribunal book was written.

Looking online for a definition I ended up finding that.... it was actually catalan :open_mouth:

Transalation: Decoration-less, raw, naked.

Estancia being "room", it would be Catalan for "Decoration-less/empty Room". Weird meaning. Does fit Criamon magi, though.

Additionally "Querida" means "beloved" in Spanish if you want an alternative. No idea about Arabic meanings. Estancia Querida would mean "Beloved Room". Having a multi-meaning covenant name in diverse languages sounds like proper Criamon Naming Technique (TM) to me.

Cheers,

Xavi

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and here I thought Estancia meant stand :laughing:

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In South American Spanish Estancia is also a ranch. I just learned 2 words in my mother languages. You can only be amazed at what lengths Ars Magica can culture you :laughing:

It can also mean "stand", but it would be a rather weird use of the word. "Room" isd the most common usage by far, but in this case "ranch" sounds about right.

bartleby.com/61/91/E0219100.html

Xavi

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:smiley:

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Iberian Tribunal
I am still looking for a volunteer to handle all affairs of the Provencal Tribunal. Whomever wishes to take up this task has a pretty free hand. I have three stipulations: There is a Covenant of Mistridge, don’t touch Val-Negra, and Castra Solis is in there somewhere. Oh, and Jarkman has Doisettep covered.

Anyways, I will manage Iberia, and though we have ties in both, this is where our principle interest lies at first. As a work in progress, here is the list of the 10 Iberian covenants thus far. I am still open to ideas and better names :laughing:

Barcelona – Barcelona is one of the most splendid cities of Mythic Europe, outclassed only by the likes of Constantinople and Baghdad. Barcelona covenant consists only of magi of House Jerbiton, and they have been given Hermetic jurisdiction over the whole of the city by a ruling of the tribunal. The six members live in different parts of the city and maintain mundane identities. Odo of Montpellier is the titular head of the covenant, and manages the Silver Rooster Inn. He succeeds Farusca, who now poses as a wealthy widow in the city. Carles filius Quiffara runs an occult bookshop with his apprentices, and together with Florenzo the three form the core of the Quill of the Eye (a Jerbiton league dedicated to libraries, literature, and the scribal arts). Constans Hispanus, Franc Severel's hardnosed, mercantile focused Theban heir, keeps in close touch with his mentor (Franc faked his death and moved somewhere else). And finally, Erus Pavo “The Peacock Lord”, is a vain young Jerbiton troubadour magus with Catharist sympathies.

Duresca – Located in the Galatia region of Leon, Duresca lies just off the road to Santiago de Compostella. They consist entirely of Quaesitores and Hoplites of House Gurnicus. The Gurnicus magi originally came to research the discovery of the so-called Duresca scrolls, which they declared a forgery. They eventually took over and the original members were marginalized and moved away. What kind of covenant was Duresca before the Q’s took over? The region is right for House Diedne, but the description of the old covenant before the discovery of the scrolls does not have a Diedne feel. But maybe not all Diedne fit the stereotype. And what about those Duresca Scrolls?
But anyways, times are changing, and maybe it is time that Duresca opens up and for the Quaesitors to spread out through the tribunal.

Estancia es Karida – Located in Granada, they consist of Hermetic Sahirs, Islamic Jerbiton magi, and others of House Ex-Miscellanea. They have an alliance with the Knights of Seneca, and one of their members is an Islamic Flambeau Sahir and a member of the Knights of Seneca. I want Jarkman to create this character :smiley:
They have a connection to Andorra as well. Andorra was revitalized by the Knights of Seneca, bringing with them the resources from the dissolved Covenant of Valencia. The Sahirs of Valencia, driven out by Almorovides, brought their share of the Valencia treasures to Estancia es Karida and recharged them so they could resist the Almorovides and come to an understanding with them. Estancia es Karida later came under pressure from the Almohades, but again, they were able to resist and pacify the invaders.

Campo de Marte (Camp of Mars) – Locates near Zamora in Leon, they are a covenant of martial magi, mainly Milites from Houses Flambeau and some members of House Tremere, and a few members of other Houses. They have little outside interests, and care mainly about the perfection of their art. They serve as an elite training center, charging a small fee for their tutelage. Flambeau and other martial magi throughout the Order take advantage of these services, and Castra Solis (the Domus Magnus of House Flambeau) likes to recruit young magi who were gauntleted here (either apprentices of the members or apprentices of others that are boarders under a fostering agreement).
This is also the covenant Karandos of Flambeau was a member of at the time of the Shadow Wars.

Casa de Mercurio (House of Mercury) – Located in Burgos, they are the central hub for Redcap activity in Iberia. They pose as a secular militant order for older and retired warriors. They do in fact provide charity to veterans, and also recruit from them as well. The Mercere House that Andorra hosts maintains a Portal to the main lodge in Burgos.

Gibraltar – This is a covenant of primarily Sufi members of House Criamon and some House Ex-Miscellanea Hedge Wizards. They have mingled and mixed with the waves of Berbers, recruiting apprentices from their Gifted children. They also claim to have recruited the very first Marabout into the Order. Marabouts are mysterious Berber Hedge Wizards that claim to be hereditary saints and are fanatically Islamic, and this claim is yet to be verified. In fact, some think Enrico the Redcap is exaggerating.

Vaetrix – Located in southern Portugal, Vaetrix always consists of three Merinita magi and one apprentice, all female. They are named after the sorceress that founded their covenant, Vae Tricia, who was forced to join the Order along with her sisters during Flambeau’s “Join or Die” recruitment drive. In her latter years, she was a major supporter of Quendalon. Vaetrix was not always located here., they were originally up in Austuria, but they migrated south to avoid the Schism War.

La Sagra - In the midst of Sierra de Segura & Sierra de Tabilla, La Sagra is the newest covenant in the Tribunal. Not much is known about them, but they just submitted their charter.

Mare Cerulis (Deep blue-green sea) – This is a mobile covenant that consists of four ships of various size that operate in and around the Baelric Islands. They maintain a few sites (hideouts), and have a common lab on land (on Majorica, their only officially registered site). They hold a grudge against Antonio because he killed one of their major assets when he killed the Baelric Dragon to earn his Archmagus status. We don’t know this, and Antonio has no idea who they are to begin with.

Sapientia Lares (protectors of the wisdom) – Located in Alicante, south of Valencia, these magi represent what was left of the Covenant of Valencia after the Knights of Senecas and the Sahirs of the Stance parted ways after the death of El-Cid. They are descended from the few magi that remained behind, and inherited many of the treasures that were left behind. Though Islamic, they were driven out of Valencia by the Almohades. Rumors say they retain the key to control the djinni of Valencia, and have started to use them for some other things than mere agricultural helpers....

And then I need to figure out what the past covenants of Ieria have been; Valencia, Aqualonia, Destridius, and so on.

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If yo8u want the Spanish names, they would be

  • Campo de Marte
  • Casa de Mercurio

Xavi

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Thanx :smiley:

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Sloooowly setting up a wiki with all relevant info, I'll tell you when it's ok :smiley: