I posted this in the wrong spot. My apologies 
Very difficult to fix from my phone. I will fix it in the future.
Fleur is trying to get a summae on craft:pottery, should we assume she can locate one (or more) through the bookstore in Barcelona (and if so what level and quality) and it will e paid for, or do we need to do something more?
If we can do this in an idealized fashion, (assuming limits from Covenants) she would pick a L:4 Q:33, she would want books at levels 3,5,6,7 and 8 at maximum quality for the level... starting at the lowest level if this will take a while...
I doubt you will find pottery books as premium as that. I will let the troupe argue for or againt your wishes. But I would imagine that, in general, the best would be L3/Q10. A skilled professional with good teaching skills and clear comminication, and top physical quality.
Most books on the subject would be L2 or lower with Q6 or less. These lesser books are a trivial expense and you can get then for a dozen dinars each. The top one I mentioned earlier is premium and worth a pound.
Now if you wnt something even better than that, talk to old Carles of Jerbiton in Barcelona. The others are easy to find. What you want is a good book written by a craftsman from the classical age. The Greeks and Romans were just better at writing maybe? Or perhaps a book that highly specialized in an obscure skill is so uncommon, one has to increase the "sampling" to a much wider range in order to locate it.
[color=green]It would be easier for me to find a pristine copy of The Key of Bonisagus or the Art of Apromor! How advanced a volume do you seek? I can put forth inquiries and might have to get a translator to copy from Greek or Arabic. I may require a Pawn or two of Intellego as compensation for my efforts. But let me ask around first.
I would currently like to make an appeal for assistance. We have a goon number of players. I always accept more, but we are functional and effective.
My request is thus. I want someone to run Solomon. I can handle Antoine and Sharkman as NPCs and/or write them out. But Solomon is to important to write out. And to play him as an NPC puts too much power in my hands.
Specifically I want to ask Trogdor. Others are worthy, but he has been here longest.
I assumed she would ask Carles of Jerbiton, but certainly lets purchase the L:3 Q:10 unless he can find better quickly.
That feels an awful lot like min-maxing and/or munchkinism to me. To get to Q:33, the author would (if I'm understanding the expanded rules from the inset on p. 88 of Covenants) have to have a Com of 5; a skilled scribe, illuminator, and binder; max out on the resonances; Good Teacher; and writing to less than her maximum possible level. Even then, I only get it to a possible 24, I think.
Rules reminder: resonant materials can't be used on mundane subjects.
That is true. And a bunch of oter stuff. But I have a handel on it. I also imagine that, since there is little if any skill overlap, potters are not usually the best writers. Or readers. There may be someone talented in both and also got around to writing. So I offered up L3 Q10. Because Carles is the best book dealer up and down the Street of Books. Could there be something better? Maybe. It will take time and effort and resources to find it though.
But it will not max out nearly as high as all that above.
JL, you should join the game. There are NPCs and loose magi you can pick up on the temp if you don't want to commit to a full character.
But if you want to do that, even outside the covenant, there are many interesting things starting to develop.
I wouldn't mesh well. I've tried a couple of times, remember? That, and my job keeps me pretty busy. I'm also working out some heavy house rule changes to Ars, with plans to start a saga, either PbP or a hangout based one. Thanks for the invite, though.
Not at all, if the writer has high skill for a summae they can trade level for quality. So someone who can write at level 8 for an ability but chooses to write at Level 4 would get +12 to the quality for the tradeoff, and have a book which could train someone to a lower level very quickly which would also take less time to write.
Carmen will purchase the book and eventually ask the academics to 'enhance' the library on the subject, if they get around to it beyond other more significant projects (I'm not sure how much another 4 tractatus on magic theory are needed after the first 8, or in what kind of time frame...)
Ah. On further review, I missed that Abilities get 3x the difference and not the difference for "dumbing it down".
I can see pushing the limits on Academic and Arcane abilities somewhat. There is a crossover in desired skill and ability.
But who is this Master Potter with a score of 16? The requirement for writing a L8 summa or gaining a low level bonus from below that point.
Who is he? Where did she come from? When? Whar uber-master artifacts did they create? Were they literate? All ducks in a row?
Find me an example of this best of best pottery and a feasiable book, and I will make a judgment and an adventure out of it.
Can I distract you with the fertility caves I discovered in Ibiza? Once the center of activity of an ancient Phonecian/Cartheginian fertility goddess, but perhaps origins are older still.
Certainly, can she explore them without interrupting the longevity potions she is working on?
Depends. If it is just a quick recon as opposed to an in depth exploration, you can fit it between seasons. Don't expect a major adventure unless you invest the time. But even a minor one will be interesting and set some ground work.
Timing is important. I noticed a thread date of Summer 1242. The end of summer is when the Exarch takes place. So either the side story tkes place at the start of summer, or if at the end she misses out on the Exarch story. Not that she cares I am sure.
She isn't really in the exarch story, so she will miss it.
I would figure the Orders books are probably the best for basically all subjects. Higher literacy rates, high mobility, access to longevity, stat boosting magic, relative meritocracy and a culture of valuing books? You'll get higher skill in the Order's covenfolk, and they'll be more likely to write.
Going down to the local bookstore is probably cheap and easy, but it won't get you Order grade books.
The "local" bookstore in question is run by a Jerbiton... and presumably some Verditius somewhere has used pottery for enchantment...
Perhaps maybe, somewhere sometime. or maybe not? And were all conditions optimal?
If you put some adventure and effort into it, you may find something cool. Not super maxed out. But cool.
Why do you want this pottery book anyway?
Even for Hermetic books, I wold shy away from the top 1%. So there is that. Give me a cause and a reason and a motivation. Something to inspire me.