Hi folks (and good chrismas holidays for everyone )
After reading most of the nice book City & Guild I had the idea of this thread: a place for all magical and non-magical idead of income sources for covennats.
I wont list the many goods (gems, gold, safran, pepper, pearls) that could be created with Creo magic, this would be too easy I think. And such things as a gold/alun/copper/turbinium-mine or just many farms with many grain to sell are so obvoius I doubt that should be listened too.
But lets start:
The Ear of Amber
Possible Points: Eastern Sea, Baltic Coasts
The covenant has some magical devices that allows the wearer to "hear" pieces of amber, that are arround him. With this tool some grogs of the covenant can find much, much more amber on the coast line than normal searchers. And they can even find them under water, a place which cant be harvested normally.
White Gold
Possible Points: On every sea coast, the best point would be near a future Hanse city
The covenant lies direct on the coast, possible on an island. They have some transport ship and own some of the coas of their place. At some (well guarded and posisble hidden) point, there are great stone holes in the ground that can be flooded easily. After floding it with saltwater and covering the hole with something that have small holes in it too (to make it a Room target) a ReAq spell that turns the water isntantly into steam is cast by a magus or an item. The steam flows through the small hohles away, leaving behind the salt. This can be redone many times a day and costs nearly nothing.
Hidden Valley
Possible Points: away from the big trading routes for oriental products, somewhere in the mountains or in a regio
Inside a hidden vally in high mountains many exotic plants like pepper, safran, weihrauch/olibanum, cinnamon, exotic fruits, dragonblood and so on grows. This is because of the many Auram (for the weather) and Ignem (for the temperature) spells that are cast by the nearby covenant. Because of the long usage of this spell the valley developed a magical aura of 1, which makes the fruits (that can be harvested at every time of the year) look even more delicious.
Perhaps the plant that grow in this valley is unique (some kind of fearie or magical plant) and even people from India need this plant for something.
Smell of Money
Possible Points: at every point with many flowers
A very thrustworthy grog of the covennat has a special duty during the spring and summertime: equipped with a magical device that collects the smell essence of flowers without harming the plant he travels around in the area and collects very precious flower essences that are needed by everyone who wants to make perfumes and many alchemists (and magi) of course need them too.
Pearls of the Beautiful Folk
Possible Points: a place with a nearby fearie underwater regio
The copvenant have a pact with the leaders of a fearie kingdom that lies underwater. For something the fearies need and want (growing things like bread or bear, kids, the destruction of roads/villages, musicans, magical items that producemusic and so on) they trade some of their pearls that are bigger and better than even the best arabian pearls.
Christs Net
Possible Points: near the ocean or a big sea
A device that attarcts even the largest swarm of fish is used by the covenants fishermen to cath so much fish that not only everyone in the covenant can be feed, there is so much fish left that it can be sold for high prices in the nearby towns.
Little Hands, Big Price
Possible Points: Everywhere
The covenant has achieved to trick a whole bunch of fearies (like the Heinzelmännchen of german myth) to work for 777 years for the covennat and produce their finest craft products: shoes, clothes, wood produtcs ect. But of course these products look like if they wwerent made by a human hand and perhaps the fearies want to trick the magi in order to escape from their duty.
Second Alexandria
Possible Points: a city in a rich region (north italy, netherlands)
The covenant owns a own university and libary with many good teachers, students and good contacts to the local churchmen. The whole structure of the university is enchanted with many different spells (and because of this some teachers and long time studens might be warped) that increases the amount of things learned in a season (most of them mentem spells) and somethims even magi from the covenant or supernatural beeings like fearies or dragons (hidden in human form of course) study and teach there, so this university is very popular in europe and even people from arabia and india come to study there.
Because of this the income (and the contacts and the books available) of the university and libary is more than enough for the covenants member to live a good life.
Please discuss this and add more ideas for income sources.