I figured at this point Fleur is one of the senior magi. She is an example of a maga withdrawn into obsession. Why do we need a super library? The one we have is great already. Is it hubris?
I have been playing & reading other games lately. I am fascinated by Mage the Awakening. Somehow it is more complex than Ars Magica. Anyway, an essential concept that intrigue me is Obsession. It is like a personality flaw specific to magi. Making progress in an obsession grants xp, but can also lead you down the path of wrong decisions. Obsession would make for an interesting Twilight Flaw.
Fleur's obsession over the library is actually a cover for her trying to develop new abilities rapidly with her network of writers. Useful for magic theory sure, but also for developing a new mystery cult lore...
though in terms of being a lab rat she does tend towards winter, except when she is looking for ancient inspiration for her discoveries, and while she is actively avoiding it she could get pulled into some house politics from her newfound prestige...
oh, and her long term plans to establish her own mystery cult to dominate the future of the order with a guaranteed lineage of apprentices...
Part of me would like to pick up where we left off, but it's been over a year for some of these threads and I don't think we have all of the same players that we had before everything went kaput.
"All Roads Lead to Africa" was being run by either Silveroak or Fixer. I forget . I totally screwed up in half the stories I ran (the other half were legendary).
As for the islands, I just right now imagined a scenario where Carlos tries to woo Fleur and by-they-way drop some ideas that may or may not have been suggested by Roberto concerning what would it be like if we formed our own covenant separate from Andorra.
I was running all roads lead to Africa. I was waiting on a response from a player which never came... if you want to pick that one up you could answer the Djinn... I'm not sure which characters were all in that game and how many of them would have to be made NPCs or left on the boat...
Just stopping by the say hi, as Marko suggested. I'm looking at the possibility of joining the revived saga. I'll be taking a look at the saga's wiki to familiarize myself with it before I start commenting on anything.
I don't currently have a character concept for a magus that would fit well with the remaining magi, but I'll give it some thought as well.
I'd like to give this a go as well. This is the first time I'm trying PbP, but I'm very experiended with ArM and rpg in general.
I'm thinking we need a quick roundup of:
Characters still in play, Marko already mentioned some of the data
What kind of stories will be run
The covenant and tribunal
How things are going to work in practice
(not necessarily in that order)
In order for us new players to join in, it'd be nice to know a little more about the other characters, in order for us to finds concepts that are useful and not something already done. Do we need any more magi FLambeau? Also the power levels, are we fresh from gauntlet or 50 years past?
The covenant we belong to and the Hermetic society is also IMHO an important point to know about, to tie the character into.
And what kinds of stories? It sounds like lots of adventure, but how much Hermetic politics, how much mucking about with mundanes, nobility, the church etc.
Agreed, Christian. I looked at the wiki wiki for the saga, but it seems out of date with the various story threads (the wiki only goes as far as 1229).
In the recruitement thread, Marko mentioned the active magi as being:
Vibria of Flambeau: dragon blooded, hero of the Transylvanian Dragon Wars, mother of three (?), played by Peregrine_Bjornaer.
Fleur of Bonisagus: researcher, sybarite, pillar of consistency, played by Silveroak
Arachne Ex-Miscellanea: aka the spider, eldest player-character mage, Rustician, spymistress, dedicated to the security and preservation of the Covenant, Pontifix Secundus, played by The Fixer (though Fixer prefers to run stories and rarely is a player)
Roberto of Flambeau: veteran of the Shadow Wars, quintessential Flambeau, renunciate veteran of the Reconquista (when he was an apprentice), adventurer, played by Marko Markoko
That leaves plenty of space for magi character concepts, but knowing where the troupe would like the saga to go is important. Speaking for myself, I don't feel like I can come here and tell you that. You have invested time and effort in it, so it would be unfair for me to decide how to change it.
What I can tell you is what I like and don't like when I play Ars Magica:
I would like to start with a magus less than a decade out of apprenticeship, so not very powerful. I've tried building older magi right from the start of a saga, and it is painfully long and not something I really enjoy. Introducing a young magus is sometimes challenging in a long-standing saga, as it can lead to difficulties in finding the right niche so that the character doesn't end up weaker in his specialty than a much older magus in a fringe area.
I like relatively small-scale stories, with the feeling that my character(s) are building something for the long term or at least doing something good.
I favour a strong degree of realism, or at least as much realism as a magic-based RPG can provide. This is particularly true in the area of interaction with people (NPCs and PCs alike). I am not generally a fan of grand-standing theatrics, though they can be fun occasionally.
I tend to integrate my other hobbies into my characters, which can make me a bit annoying about some details. For example, I started doing blacksmithing a bit over 3 years ago. So a story where a mundane smith makes a sword by himself in a week would raise some objections from me. I've been a traditionnal archer for over 25 years, including arrow-making and a bit of bow-making, done armored fighting, brewing, and a variety of period activities.
So, there it is for me.
What about you all? What are you looking for going forward?
Fleur's major goal is to develop fertility magic while she is still young enough to use it to have a magus child. After that she has some pretty big plans for a mystery cult dedicated towards generating uber-magi.
I also explained how we (I) am having difficulty in getting stories going again. I suggested an idea something like a circle, where we each run something for another player. Or a line, since Fixer prefers to run slow burn stories (that are well worth the time they take). and Arthur said he is not quite ready for the challenge.
You know, if I would have done it as a slow burn, I might have done a better job at City of Brass. But slow burns are difficult when the whole troupe is involved and other stories are being held up by it. I admit my faults and am expressing a willingness to improve our situation. I am very grateful that you guys stick with me.
How about this idea, to get us restarted again.
Fixer is currently running a story for me.
I can run a story for Christian.
Maybe Christian can run a story for Silveroak?
Silveroak has his Africa story that Peregrine will play in.
Maybe Peregrine can run something for Arthur? If he wants. Or if not, he can jump into Africa or a TBD story.
As for concepts, don't worry about a niche. It is more about personality and character than pattern stereotypes.
Apart from the House and concept of the other magi, Iād like to get a grasp of the magic specialities and power levels, so I donāt design a young magus with a fun speciality overshadowed by an older magusā low Arts.
I donāt mind designing an older magus, it just takes time. Iāll start with a working design at gauntlet and then add, not just design one with lots of exp. I feel a design needs to have worked at gauntlet.
I like my magi to have long term goals, big goals. But I need to see some progress, just little things, so I know Iām going in the right direction. So thatās something the SG and I need to be on the same page about.
I can work with stories in most any segment of gage setting, I just like to know in advance of the design which are going to be major themes. So I donāt design a character incompetent or uninterested in it.
As a SG I like to run stories where characters need to make major choices, which affect the course of the saga. I suppose Iād like that as a player as well.
And I like a non isolated saga where the magi interact with Hermetic society as well as mundane individuals and organisations.
I like Flambeau magi but Iām unsure if I can design one to fit this saga.
Iād also like to try out either an elementalist concept or to work with trees.
Back in an old, long running 4th saga I played an ice flambeau maga. Ice wall Iāll defined back then. Her pater was a bonisagus who figured out ice was powerful, and bested Flambeau champions to prove it. And he switched house. My maga was trained as a lab rat initially , but ended up having to adapt to a fighting life style. She eventually became a bad ass hoplite. She was a cool character to play. Pun fully intended.
What is the covenant and locale like?
I need to work out an angle, a reason to join, as well as to figure out what magus to design. The two things are connected
For me the magical speciality is an important part of the concept, because it sets a course for what the magus spends time doing and how he does things.
My idea of working with trees, changing and controlling them, I canāt seem to tie into a House - none offer any synergy.
Fleur is a healer in addition to researching fertility magic, and would like to find some more caves with ancient fertility rite remnants to research- though she got quite a boost early on from an unusual faerie regio that connected to a magic regio...
part of the situation is going to be figuring out where the saga is timewise at this point since Fleur was in the middle of a lot of long term plans when things ground to a halt...
Brief recap of history...
Flambeau had two surviving apprentices. Everyone knows about Apromor. Magi not from Iberia or Provencal believe the party line as expressed in Societas. But magi closerto the source know the truth. Or have at least heard of the alternate opinion.
Flambeau's other apprentice was Delendos. He was the only survivor of Flambeau's final battle. After that, he and Apromor destroyed all evidence and purposefully blurred the records of history. The reason was to protect Elaine, the daughter of Flambeau and a Sahira. The final battle was a result of peace negotiations gone wrong.
After wandering alone and forgotten for many decades after, Delendos settled here at Andorra.
Miscellaneous stuff happens as years go by. The covenant dwindles and almost fades away.
Then comes the era of Antonio of Flambeau, the Lightning Lord. He was a hero and a jerk and a lech. He also started a feud with some Afrit. He reinvigorated the covenant and set it on its current path. His sodale Rodrigo of Mercere (fellow member of the Cult of Mercury) is the one that established the Mercere quarter, which is what makes us strong.
House Mercere leases some of our space, where they have established a Vis vault and a portal hub.
Recently, 1230ish (we are in the mid to late 1240's at this point), while some of the magi were away, the covenant was attacked by a rogue criminal magus named Valten IV. Just about everyone was wiped out. Antonio was presumably sent into Twilight. Arachne and Carmen were away atthe time. Carmen was in Valencia recruiting Vibria when they were attacked. Vibria got her clothes burned off but she is immune to fire herself (it was a running gag for a while).
They and the other players at that time started rebuilding. And have done a great job at it.
Sometime in the mid 30's, Barcelona covenant discovered a potent Vis resorce on the island of Sa Dragonerra in the Balerics. We found out more about it, and learned of a complex regio network. So in partnership, we formed a chapterhouse there. Fleur and Roberto are both on Ibiza. Fleur joined just after that and is a pilot member of said chapter (though she is now of status where she has rights to claim a tower at the main covenant). Roberto, he was already there, and was sort of drafted in an offer he couldn't refuse. He still resents that and quietly (but not silently) wishes he could kick us out of his island.
What happened next? Lots of stuff yeah, but I am trying to focus on major details that the order at large would have heard about. Lemme think...
The former Primus of Mercere was murdered (or committed suicide). That was never sewn up. A great idea is that Lucus (Trogdor's character) was tapped to become the new Primus.
Then the Flambeau convocation and schism. Garus died, and there was a political struggle over his successor. I dropped the ball on that one because of severe emotional trauma. I was drawing parallels with the 2016 election, then the unthinkable happened when a traitor was elected.
I never finished that story, and maybe now I could. We were to host a convocation in a nearby valley where the Flambeau would meet and decide by vote or contest who would be primus.
Val-Negra is not far away. We know where it is. Archmagus Pietro of Flambeau wants to revive it and make it Domus Magnus once again.
A shapeshifting dragon lives nearby and is an ally (and Vibria's grandfather). Sigmundo, Dragon of the Tome, Scion of SuGarr. He has a copy of every book that has ever been in our library, and helped us restore it after the fire of 1230. He has a fascination with pretending to be human. And is powerful enough that he can walk right through our Aegis without flinching.
(As a house rule, the Aegis and circle wards do not require penetration, he is just that that of our league powerful).
Memories are coming back to me. New blood reinvigorates me.
That came off sounding like a vampire LoL!
Andorra is a very powerful Autumn covenant, but honestly it is on the verge of slipping into Winter.
Doisettep is a powerful ally (aka Aedas Mercuri from Faith & Flame), as is Duresca and Barcelona.
Oh! I just remembered about Estancia Escarida! Fleur has a copy of (forgot his name)'s great work that integrates Alchemy into standard magic theory. She and (Jebrik's Criamon mage) are supposed to review and disseminate it.
Roberto is in an undersea city working out issues with his love life.
Arachne is cooking together a plot to lure Valten to Val-Negra and ambush him. And unlikely ally in that is Metron.
Vibria's husband Jacsic is the half human son of Smaug Vavalski. So all of her kids are also half human and half dragon. He cannot shapeshift, nor can the kids. But she can. Just learned how not long ago.
Vibria was generated just from Gauntlet, but many years have passed since then. Roberto was also generated straight from gauntlet, but has been in two previous PbP sagas run by others on these forums. One of those sg's, Jonathan Link, has free license to comment and contribute here.
I am randomly writing things as I remember them. This alone is proving to be a great motivator and refresher.
There have been other Ars authors that have played here with us, but they requested that I not reveal who they were and they used pseudonyms.
Fleur was generated only a few years out of Gauntlet I think. 10 years or so?
I created a HR system for advanced CharGen that makes creating experienced magi much easier and inhibits min-maxing. But there is always space for young magi. I am not big on artifical balance. I am also notbig on correcting spelling and typos LoL.
It is more about character and personality than power. I am generous with xp because I really insist on certain minimal scores.
I also suck at 1st level adventures. I scared the crap out of some players facing a dragon, so I had Carmen cast a lightning bolt to weaken it so they could take it on. Stupid exploding die killed it with one shot. Anticlimatic. I redeemed myself by a sequal adventure, facing the daughter of that dragon, a slightly weaker dragon that the PCs took down without NPC assistance.
Whatever methods works for you. My style is to figure out who the person was before they became a magus. Why does this magus want to work with trees? Did his parens teach him that? Or is it a personal interest? The disconnect there can be an interesting angel. Perhaps he was taught by a rigid Tremere to serve the hierarchy, but he always wanted to be an orchard keeper like his grandfather. Or maybe a Bonisagus from the Black Forest who is just fascintated by studying the magical properties of different trees.
Also Fleur has discovered Fertility Lore, which is a big thing with the Mercere house since it helps with figuring out who is and is not a descendant of Mercere, as well as this being developed as a vis source with a nearby brothel having women uninterested in children contribute their fertility charms, which can be used for a pawn of creo vis leaving the women in question sterile. House Mercere has expressed interest in contributing resources to Fleur's research into fertility magic in hopes of generating more bloodline mages.
The more I think, the more I want to play a Flambeau magus in this saga. I like the House, and this seems like a fitting place to try some things out.
If I understand Mark's vision of House Flambeau correctly, in brief:
House Flambeau is as 5th ed Societates, but not as "noble, chivalric, and organized" - they are more "wild, with the spirit of fighters, and loyal to each other/the Order in their own way" as pre 5th ed?
Also, the history of the Founder, especially his demise, is as the earlier verisions.
Although I trace my ArM knowledge back to when 2nd ed was new, I never actually got around to playing it until 4th ed. I have the 4th ed (or is is for 3rd ed?) Houses of Hermes book, and the way magi Flambeau are described, they are easily interpreted as flame-wielding psychopaths, and that is a stigma not easily cast off. I never saw them that way, but it is a common misconception. Also, they are described here as "easily carried away by their fighting spirit, giving a certain reputation, which they do little to disprove".
Then, once 5th ed Hoh:Soc came out I enjoyed how the House was made more 'edible' by toning down the wildness and giving them a purpose and organization, of sorts. They never occured weaker or tamer to me, but I can see why some people would think that. I took little notice of the Founder's history, and it wasn't until Mark explained what his beef was that I got that.
Anyway, I've always liked the Flambeau concept, and found the edition changes minor ones easily adapted to.
I think maybe I should create a new thread, with ideas and concept for my magus, and see how it fits into things.
I think one of my past magi crossed paths with Roberto in Bibracte, where Jonathan Link asked me to do a guest appearance. Do you remember Petronius of Bonisagus, the Terram ritual specialist who raised the various towers for the Tribunal meeting as well as transporting a huge stone to craft a pegasus?
How do you want to proceed with the saga? Continue some of the existing threads or clean restart a few years later? (These aren't mutually exclusive.) Perhaps the covenant has slipped closer to Winter because some of the magi left and the remaining magi (PC) are trying to revitalize it by attracting new blood? Focus on the main covenant or on the chapter house? Simplify some of the stuff or keep it all?
As for character concepts, I have a few in mind but haven't settled on anything yet:
I have a very perceptive dwarf Bonisagus whose pater had an inflated opinion of himself and was so focused on Vim that he ignored almost everything else in his teaching, despite this specialty not being really suited to his apprentice's natural talents (still undecided with those would be).
A Verditius, either a blacksmith or a potter, with the Elementalist virtue.
A Guernicus who joins Andorra to investigate to attack on the covenant.
A Bjornaer with a ram heartbeast, which woul tie in weel with the covenant's mountainous surroundings.
I can start a topic to discuss character concepts to avoid cluttering this one.
It is more a matter of time management for me at this point. I may only be able to dedicate a couple of hours per week to the saga.
I like running stories, particularly what you call "1st level adventures" for young magi. Just so long as they don't involve too many PC characters at one time, I could run some. My only difficulty is not knowing enough about the vicinity of the covenant to accurately portray it right now. There are still ways for me to run stories, of course.
