Highest quality of life Area in 1220?

Hitting? I thought we were discussing spotting someone attempting a stealth landing. And attempting one of those at night on an unknown island in unknown waters is a good way to scuttle your ship.

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Which is why you wouldn't land the ship, but send soldier over in a rowboat in small groups. Seriously, don't operate on the assumption that enemies are stupid so you can get away with simple solutions. As to "the islands most magi will be occupying" those islands biggest draw is likely to be what kind of magic aura they have, and first you have to locate those auras, which suggests a certain level of traffic to be able to locate them. You don't have to be wealthy to be in a strategic location. Indeed for a couple of centuries Malta's main income was as a port for pirate ships operating on behalf of Sicilly...

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Malta is far larger and would not make a good point if the Magi wanted to be the controlling power of the island. But that is beside the point.

The point I was trying to make was not that islands are immune to invasion. It is that they are more resistant to being caught up in a random war and its effects. Yes if a military force decides to invade and take it there is little you can do (well, little a mundane could do). A pirate force could land and attack. Warfare could disrupt trade from your primary supply lines.

But holding a small island makes those things less likely. Armies need a reason to attack you and the logistics to reach you, rather than just as a target of opportunity. Pirates have a harder time sneak attacking you than a merchant ship or coastal town, making you a less attractive target. If your normal trade ports are blocked, there are others you can use (often in the opposite direction of the war).

Reducing chances to zero are nearly impossible through in game actions without existing in a pocket dimension with no external connection. I was trying to point out the reason that many people throughout history would choose to live on an island for safety. Picking an island in the area with the best environment is a plus if you are looking for quality of life, but there are many islands on the boarder of ME that would see little if any traffic over the life of a Saga.

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Islands come in a large variety of shapes, sizes, and locations, and it would be very hard to say definitively that Islands are at advantage or disadvantage compared to, for example, a mountaintop or any other remote sounding location, but the fact is that remoteness is a common feature of many covenants which is aside from the point of this question- you could safely establish a covenant in a regio in Toulouse with a backdoor mercere portal to bring in resources and be in less danger than sitting on Corfu, for example, which is most definitely an island.

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Take a look at Jean de Joinville's LIfe of Saint Louis, chapter 2, for an account of the types and actions of ships built with the purpose of landing a crusaders' army in Egypt.

In the middle ages, threats by pirate squadrons and fleets to islands and coasts in the Mediterranean were very real: the pirates were too fast to move sufficient troops in time to their landing sites, and too numerous to make fortifying coasts and islands practical.

Roads were rather moved further inland to protect merchant trains from pirate attacks. The cistercian monks settling the Isles d'Hyères around 1150 were carried some years later into slavery by Maghrebinian raiders.

This changed when Tangiers (1471) and Tunis (1535) were attacked and taken, and afterwards French, Tuscan and Maltese galleys began to raid the Maghrebinian coasts and the shipping there. But there was also the conquest of Otranto in 1480 by an Ottoman army landing at the coast and staying in Italy for over a year.

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Going to put in a word for the Venetian Republic, particularly the city itself and outlying lagoon islands. Successive Doges tended to maintain a degree of independence from the Papacy; they made a point of suppressing piracy to preserve trade routes; mainland possessions came and went, but the lagoon itself is pretty secure. Some of the islands are still farmed today, seafood is plentiful, a system of quarantine applied to incoming ships to limit plagues (not always successfully) and attackers historically struggled to navigate the lagoon’s shifting shallows, seldom if ever actually reaching the city. The republic exports all its mundane wars throughout its history, and flows with money from trade up until a sea route to India is discovered around1500.
Issues include the aforementioned reliance upon trade routes, a strong dominion aura around the principal settled islands (although how this might be affected by relations with the Pope, not to mention whether any of the relics held in the city are actually genuine) and various practical issues to do with living in a brackish swamp, such as weather, mosquitoes and of course flooding (though less so than in recent history). However the Venetians managed, for example developing a type of rainwater-filled cistern to provide year-round fresh water. Magic could doubtless do more.

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The black plague (Boccaccio plague) between end of 1347 and May 1349 is estimated to have killed about 60% of the population of Venice. Despite the quarantine, Venice could not escape major epidemics, being a packed city living from trade.

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I would still suggest bringing a good Ignem summa though. And some Ignem Vis if possible.
The winter is long and dark there.

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@OneShot I agree, but plague death rates of 50%+ were not unusual in major cities in the 1340’s; yet cities existed before and were repopulated afterwards, so city Covenants remain an option for magi who find such an environment otherwise suitable.
However the original question was about quality of life in 1220, and I stand by the list of factors mentioned, both positive and negative. Besides, if the same Magi are still active in the 1340’s then they would have an existential threat worthy of their capabilities by that time!

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And if even one of them has a decent CrCo, then they have a very good chance to keep the disease away from their covenant, by giving everyone there a +12 or higher to resist the disease. A bit of warping compared to death is a better option.

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I tried using search engines for help, and after a lot of articles about surviving architecture I found an article claiming Iceland was peaceful in medieval times.
It also mentions a bit about rituals of submission being important in peacemaking, and a little about Scotland.

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Depending on your campaign, it is possible that Venice was placed under interdict in 1203 when they redirected the fourth crusade to invade Zadar, and then the interdict forgotten about since there is no suggestion it was lifted. If that is the case then depending on what it means to your campaign for a city to have been under a forgotten interdict for 17 years, you could well have a covenant inside a magic aura inside the city with no impinging divine aura. YSMV is kind of a given here... but during the plagues the countryside is much safer than any city. Of course during a war a city is much safer than the countryside, so...

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Wow guys, lots of very, very interesting discussion.

Regarding Iceland, I believe it was peaceful in the sense of no wars, but not peaceful in terms of day to day crime. They are one of the only countries where you can sell your right to sue someone else for damages caused to you.

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Iceland was pretty much a settlement that had more to worry about from the weather than from people. I know Greenland was pretty well abandoned and then faded, possibly merging with the Innuit population (which may not exist in Mythic Europe). Iceland kept better contact with Norway though...

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but what a weather it is to worry about though!

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Still easier than inside a volcano. For example. Although if you are setting up a covenant in iceland for safety putting it inside a volcano would be the ultimate protection- they have to make it through the North Sea, Icelandic cold, and then into the heart of a volcano do disturb your solitude!

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again this is rather poor comfort. In fact I would consider "easier than inside a volcano" to be several steps below the minimum acceptable level for ease of living.

And as hinted at by @Heaven_s_Thunder_Ham Iceland in the old norse period was famous for its violent crimes and bloodfeuds. Though a covenant may be able to navigate around those it might also easily get caught up in feuds.

Regarding living in iceland in the past the climate is cold, there will be periods of near permanent darkness in the winter, extreme storms, regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and assuming that the lifestyle involves some degree of fishing (which it most likely will) then the arctic ocean is no joke.

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By 1220 the "Old Norse period" was over and the region had been, at least officially, Christianized with bishops having established their relative territories for over a century. Certainly nobody was going vikinging, and I'm pretty ure blood feuds were at least frowned upon.