A question has come up in another thread about what we finally decided for rulership.
Does New Atlantis have a king or regent? Was Aquarian ever named king or regent? Or did the whole canton system and the Council of Magisters overtake that?
My understanding (Magnus' understanding) was that we had decided on the Council of Magisters to rule the island instead of a Regency Council/Regent. Under that understanding, we have no king; instead, the Council of Magisters has supreme authority. But I could have grabbed the wrong end of the stick. What do the rest of you think?
Did we agree to have a regent? Was Aquarian appointed regent?
"One question has arisen in my mind," Magnus says at one of the council meetings. "How will we equitably divide the labor in this effort, and the fruits of that labor? We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I hope that everyone will contribute to the greater good of the island. But even for those of us who do work for the betterment of New Atlantis in general, there will be different results. Constantine and I have been sitting in the lab working on spells and rituals to benefit the whole island, while other have been out searching for vis, recruiting colonists for their cantons and other things."
"Now, I don't want to be selfish, but it's hardly fair to any magus who devotes their time to helping the whole island if the benefits of their work go to everyone, but the benefits of the other people's efforts goes in whole or in part to them. For example, anyone who spends their time looking for vis gets the first harvest for themselves. And anyone who recruits colonists will presumably bring them to their own canton. What incentive is there, then, for a magus to do anything that benefits the entire island, whether it be in the lab or in politics? We should have some way of recognizing work that benefits the entire island, lest the magi stop performing such good works."
Atolycus looks pensive as Magnus speaks, letting the question hang in the air for a bit before responding. "You raise a valid concern Magnus, how should we reward those who place the needs of our community as a whole above themselves?" His tone turns harder for a moment and a brief flicker of anger can be seen on his face as he rebukes Magnus slightly. "However, on a personal note, I'd hardly call spending half my year in service to the larger Order... how did you phrase it? Ah yes, 'other things'. I'd ask you to watch your words more carefully my friend." His moment of anger over, Atolycus' tone quickly returns to normal and his visage softens as he continues. "However that aside, I do agree that we should find a way to reward those who are working hard to ensure our continued survival and growth. Perhaps a vis grant of some sort for those that spend time in service to the Covenant? You mention finding vis, saying that those who end up finding it are rewarded with the first harvest, so the precedence is already there. Perhaps a pawn or two of vis to any Magus whose work benefits the Covenant as a whole in a given season?"
Meliai frowns "I spent seasons aiding as well, ensuring we had food, and wood. It may not have been a grand gesture involving seasons of lab word and huge expenditures of vis, and honestly I only went searching for inhabitants when the issue of needing income was raised by others."
"I'm uncertain on this. I had assumed we should all be contributing to the greater whole; and thus far for the most part I think it has been. I also assumed that we founders would draw a vis salary from the covenant; and the work is its own reward. So Perhaps an effort based reward is warranted too if you feel it is warranted. "
"Can we consider setting the value to a low amount? I'd rather we save a central pool of vis for so many of the projects which still need it. "
"After these first few years it's my intent to travel and find inhabitants too, and have them return to the island. From there they live where they please. "
"And we should also recognise the political and social works are a very large contribution to our greater whole. We are running short on time to find and persuade the representatives of the grand tribunal. That task is probably the most significant we will face in the next decade, as so much hangs upon it. "
"Perhaps we should start by discussing who has what degree of influence in which tribunal? My time has not exactly been spent building up a network of influence, though if nobody else has contacts in Novgorod perhaps I should go there to appeal to their better natures, by which I mean self interest of course."
Atolycus chuckles slightly. "I don't think we ever settled the matter of vis salaries at all. If I may, given our current income, perhaps something like three pawns of form vis will be given a year, with another pawn given per season of service to the Covenant? It would hardly bankrupt us, while allowing us to retain significant stockpiles for projects, yet still reward those who are performing covenant service. Thoughts?" He pauses and looks around the room, waiting for input before addressing the other issue. "But on to the other matter, Grand Tribunal. I'll be blunt, unless we act swiftly and decisively, we won't become a Tribunal, period. Meliai's suggestion isn't a bad one, though I think that everyone should spend the next year or so using what clout they may posses to attempt to sway support to our side. We can take stock next year and figure out a plan of attack once we have a better feel for the political landscape."
"I don't know. Quite frankly, a few pawns of vis for a season of work is a joke. Maybe a magus just out of gauntlet might find it reasonable compensation, but I could extract a rook of vis in a season if I tried. We should all be willing to dedicate our time and effort because we want this to work, not for some minuscule reward. Honestly, I think such a small payment would be worse than none at all. A small stipend for personal projects each year is fine, and larger expenditures can try and get council approval? Does that make sense? Plus time spent learning new spells doesn't exactly mean you get no reward. You get spells! Anyway, most of the people I have contact with are on the fringes of the Order. Dankmar proper never really did anything for us. They made copies of my writings to meet that whole sharing requirement of the Oath, but that's about it. Wait, they represented everyone in the Branch House at Tribunals too, but that just meant they voted for us. This is supposed to be a secret, but I know some people in the Green Cockerel. I bet some of them would be open to the idea of a tolerant island, although I doubt support would be entirely string free." Artemis let's that last point hang
"For this to be an issue, someone will have to raise it for vote at the Grand Tribunal. Each Tribunal gets to bring three items to vote. Worst case is for someone to try and annex us, though arranging votes to suppress this should be relatively easy, since only the one tribunal benefits. Whether another tribunal could modify such a vote to allow the option of us being our own Tribunal without using one of their issues would be the next question- I have no idea if that can be done or not, but if so it would be easier, I think than trying to get a tribunal to directly promote for us being a tribunal of our own and using one of their issues in so doing. If they have to use one of their three for us then I expect we will have some major favors to owe them, probably having to use our own issues in the future to assist them."
Ooc: we were looking at the upcoming tribunal meetings and wanted to know which were in which season or close to each other. From that we need volunteers and a plan.