Meliai de Merinita

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: The Rise of Atlantis
21

arts and abilities after 4th cycle:

abilities:
Scottish 5(storytelling)
Area Lore:Caledonian Forest 2(hiding places)
Forest Sympathy 4()
Survival 2(forest)
Swim 2(running water)
Guile 2(keeping secrets)
Faerie Lore 3(forest faeries)
Latin 4
Faerie Magic 1
Magic Theory 8
Parma Magica 1
Artes Liberales 5
Philosophae 5
House Meriita Lore 1
Forest Lore 5
Teaching 1
Concentration 3
Weaving 4
Medicine 2
Tincture Of Gold
Finesse 4

Arts:
Creo 18
Muto 8
Intelligo 6
Rego 6
Perdo 6
Animal 11
Aquum 6
Aurum 6
Corpus 6
Herbem 15
Ignem 6
Imaginem 6
mentem 6
Terram 6
Vim 15

Ook:
might 25
Int 3
Magic theory 7
weaving 4
artes liberales 1
magic lore 4
area lore(forest) 4

22

correspondence correction: for seasons where correspondence bonuses might have applied which were not previously used:
Philosophae:+44
Magic theory:+19
Cr:1

new levels:
Philosophae: 7

others remain at previous levels

23

Cycle 5:

Library: Ig 6/21, Im 6/21, Pe:6/21, Re:6/21, Me 6/21, artes liberals 6/17, philosophae:6/17, magic theory:8/11, Vim 12/17, He:16/15, Te: 6/21, Aq:6/21, Au:6/21, Mu 10/19, In 10/19, Co 10/19, CR:24/11, medicine 6/17, finesse:5/20, Vi:16/15, An:18/13, He 20/11, VI: 18/13, Vim tractus:13, 2 magic theory tracti: Q:13
season: note: practice gains +2xp, adventure gains +3 xp and reading gains 3xp from book learner and independent study, correspondence with parens in philosophae, other correspondence in Magic theory and Cr, Mu and Vi

1: longevity ritual +20 (2xp magic theory, 1xp cr)
2: preinitiation quest (10 xp forest sympathy, 1xp CR)
3: preinitiation quest (10 xp forest sympathy, 1xp CR)
4: preinitiation quest (10 xp forest sympathy, 1xp CR)
5: initiation: invocation magic (1xp Cr)
6: covenant service (2xp forest sympathy, 1xp Cr)
7: read Cr summae (15 xp cr)
8: read Vi summae (17 xp vi)
9: read Vi summae (17 xp vi)
10: read Cr summae (14xp Cr, 1 XP Vi)
11: read Cr summae (14xp Cr, 1 XP Vi)
12: read Cr summae (14xp Cr, 1 XP Vi)
13: read Cr summae (14xp Cr, 1 XP Vi)
14: read Cr summae (14xp Cr, 1 XP Vi)
15: read Cr summae (14xp Cr, 1 XP Vi)
16: read Cr summae (14xp Cr, 1 XP Vi)
17: quest: learn something (16 xp Vi)
18: read vim tractus (17 xp vi)
19: read magic theory tractus (17 xp Magic theory)
20: read magic theory tractus (17 xp Magic theory)
21: lab: inventing feeding the font of the covenant +7 (lvl 60, lab total 71, 11 points towards creation: 3xp Magic theory) 11/60
22: lab: inventing feeding the font of the covenant +7 (lvl 60, lab total 71, 11 points towards creation: 3xp Magic theory) 22/60
23: lab: inventing feeding the font of the covenant +7 (lvl 60, lab total 72, 12 points towards creation: 3xp Magic theory) 34/60
24: lab: inventing feeding the font of the covenant +7 (lvl 60, lab total 72, 12 points towards creation: 3xp Magic theory) 46/60
25: lab: inventing feeding the font of the covenant +7 (lvl 60, lab total 72, 12 points towards creation: 3xp Magic theory) 58/60
26: lab: inventing feeding the font of the covenant +7 (lvl 60, lab total 72, 2 points towards creation: 3xp Magic theory) 60/60
27: read animal Summae (16 xp An, 1xp philosophae)
28: read animal Summae (16 xp An, 1xp philosophae)

aging roll: +5(age 50-59)-3(strong faerie blood)-2(bronze cord)-20(longevity ritual)=-20
age: roll
50: -13
51: -14
52: -11
53: -11
54: -20
55: -11
56: -11
no apparent aging

vis hunting= 17 pawns He
Vis accounting: 7 yrs at 4 vis (Vi) per year+3 (covenant service)- 31 Vi Vis 7 yrs at 3MP per year+2 covenant service: 23 MP
Longevity ritual: -60 vis (10 Co,10 He, 20 An, 20 Vi), -40 MP
totals: 32 pawns vim, 40 pawns He, 21 Co Vis, 48 An, 75 MP
2 seasons service- apothecary: ability+attribute:15= 45 LP per season, 252 LP of apothecary ingredients

Ook's advancement:
exposure Magic theory: 20 xp
book reading Magic theory: 28 xp
adventure experience: 21 xp
free seasons:16: 80xp
flexible xp: 101: 75 to legerdemain, 25 to area lore (forest network), 1 to magic lore

TBC

24

So, can any Mystery Cult initiate you into any mystery virtue? I thought the cults were generally limited in what virtues they could grant.

Also, is the LR purchased or devised in the lab?

25

The LR is purchased
Technically as written a good enough mystagogue can initiate any mystery, the target is simply raised if they themselves do not already have the mystery initiated themselves. I wouldn't have minded searching for additional mystagogues but the rules indicated that could only be done once. The mysteries however do stay within a theme of pagan nature based abilities, so it could simply be a more exotic mystery cult that has developed in this direction...

26

I have to admit, my knowledge of mystery cults is no what it could be. I had thought that the mystery cult Meliai was in was House Merinita (or a subcult in Merinita). Maybe that is the case.

I hadn't put in the option for multiple mystagogues because I didn't think it likely that a person could realistically be part of more than one mystery cult.

But I guess they are in the same generally pagan vein. So, they should work.

So is she going through all of these initiations, gaining how many virtues, without a single Flaw gained?

27

In the end 7- 1 from transformation and 6 by initiation.

28

Wouldn't Meliai want more than just one Area Lore in order to be able to use her regio network? As it is, she only knows how to find regios in Scotland.

29

Her forest lore allows her to commune with the forest, I was assuming it could be used as an alternative...

30

I"ll have to read up on that.

31

under the description of nature lore "For one thing it can be used as Area Lore for the place in which the maga learned it."
It does indicate the ability should be considered 3 lower outside of the 'home' area, but I'm not sure how a home area is defined when you also have region networks and have been exploring forests throughout mythic Europe for over 20 years...
of course she would be able to add the faerie sympathy to forests as well...

32

I'm always very leery of that kind of argument in a point-based game. I think of a player who puts no points into local Area Lore but then argues they lived in the area for decades and should know something about the area. Sorry, if you didn't put points into it, you didn't get to know your area very well. You can't use the "it's been x many years" argument to trump the fact that you didn't put points into it.

Here we have an intersection of two things that probably were never foreseen by the authors. I agree that Forest Lore should help out with this. But I don't like the idea of Forest lore being an uber ability that far overshadows any other ability, mystery origin or not. It does an awful lot already. Allowing one Virtue to be a free Diameter teleport to anywhere in the world seems to be just a bit much to me. There has to be some limit on this Ability-Virtue combo. I don't want the Forest Lore tail wagging the Ability dog.

Already Forest Lore can potentially:

  • Give you an understanding of any forest in the world.
  • Allow you to perceive the boundaries of magical regiones within any forest in the world.
  • Allow you to locate vis in any forest in the world.
  • Allow you to communicate with denizens of any forest in the world
  • Give you the ability to get all supernatural residents of any forest in the world to to act neutrally towards you.
  • Allow you to sense danger in any forest in the world.
  • Allow you to potentially order about denizens of any forest in the world
  • Allow you to mentally communicate with the denizens of any forest in the world.
  • Allow you to summon help mentally in any forest in the world.
  • Give you an Arcane Connection with any forest in the world.

All this without a single roll. That's pretty damn good for any supernatural Ability. To add the capability to move around the entire world effectively instantly with just the addition of a single Virtue seems to be pushing things with respect to fairness to the other players.

Yes, you devoted a lot of xp to making Forest Lore good. But how does it compare to someone with that many points in Charm or Leadership or Single Weapon or Shapechange? If it's way, way out of balance, then I think there's a problem of fairness to other players.

As for the note that Nature Lore is considered three less outside of your home region, that's specifically mentioned in association with the none listed Uses of Nature Lore. I interpret that rule as being narrowly for purposes of the uses of Nature Lore specifically listed in the box on p 103 of HoH:MC, not broadly for any use of Nature Lore, e.g., replacing Area Lore in the area that you learned it. I think that's a reasonable interpretation of how the rules are presented.

I'm curious, though. What do the other players think of silveroak's broad interpretation of the use of Nature Lore? At the end of the day it's the feelings of the other players that I'm most concerned about.

33

My interpretation/feelings of Forest Lore ahead:

First (Land) Regio Network doesn't let you travel to and from anywhere in two minutes. You need to get into the Regio network first. The two minutes bit is only the time spent inside the Regio. In terms of balance its main benefit is being able to bring people with you otherwise teleporting+flying around is probably better. That said, I'm pretty sure that forest lore only works as area lore " for the place in which the maga learned it." And that's a defined area since its learned when you initiate it. Third a Forest Regio network won't have any links to Atlantis. Fourth, Area Lore Mythic Europe is a thing and the designers seem to almost always forget that when they use it in a formula, so its not like it is a good combo with (Land) Regio Network anyway.

So can a spell.

I'm a little worried about how this is getting calculated for the pregame. Second, the vis might not be unclaimed or particularly safe to get. Third it shouldn't locate vis in a forest without any. And if you apply the third point a good combination of spells could do the same.

Eh, you can get this in a lot of places. Most people aren't being stabbed by supernatural beings.

I would interpret that more closely. You can learn of major dangers of a forest after spending a couple hours inside. The lore 4 note specifies signs and the behavior of supernatural creatures. And again it only lets you know when danger is near or nature is disturbed.

Go squirrels go!

With an ability of 11. 330 xp. A connection to one forest isn't particularly impressive.

Finally the Houses of Hermes mystery virtue mentions commanding and getting obedience. This seems worrisome.

If your concerned about balance I would make a few rulings. First that you do need to roll to use Forest Lore like most other abilities. In basically every other ability it mentions what you can do, but you still need to roll. Exceptions are called out normally. Living language says its not rolled. Bargain makes no mention and it is rolled. In fact, page 37 of TGotF does in fact specifically mention ease factors. Two I would call those guidelines. If a mighty Archangel lives in a forest no commanding it, even if you have Forest Lore 12. Nor would I say its absolute against counter measures. For example if someone kills every animal in the forest and kills every magic tree nothing is coming to your aid. A magically controlled animal will obey the controller.

tl;dr: A Regio network isn't a big deal. Just remember getting to the Regio can still be a challenge. For the other aspects of Forest Lore, require rolls, let counter measures work, and don't let unreasonable things happen. No making vis appear in a forest that has none etc.

34

HOH:MC defines Forest lore as spirit of trees and other flora. To go beyond this in a forest you would need a complementary lore such as Animal Lore. So you can detect danger/communicate/find vis associated with flora, but not fauna. This does narrow the effect somewhat.

There are also size modifiers listed, but I am missing how they affect (if any) the use of the Mystery.

35

I terms of Forest Lore as a substitute for Area Lore at a -3, it's got to be restricted to things the forest has encountered and perhaps in a context that the forest understands and not the practitioner. Ask a tree about specifics and it won't likely know much.

I also think Home means where you live; it is the origin/focus of the lore, not any forest. I always thought the lore and the powers were written for a protector type character for a specific forest, grove, etc. Sure the skill is probably transferable but it will suffer the penalty.

As an Ability Forest Lore is exceedingly powerful. But I'm afraid that penalising the player too much for maximising an OP power isn't fair either. Frankly idgad if his character can do all that funky stuff with forests, that's his narrow specialist focus.

A Mmf would garner huge advantages too and the time taken to learn the ability at a high level could just as easily been spent inventing spells to do the same thing.

36

Those are for a different mystery- Awakening (which is where Ook comes from)

As to Atlantis let me be clear that Meliai intends to create a forest in or near Atlantis after it has been raised.

37

Cycle 6

Library: Ig 6/21, Im 6/21, Pe:6/21, Re:6/21, Me 6/21, artes liberals 6/17, philosophae:6/17, magic theory:8/11, Vim 12/17, He:16/15, Te: 6/21, Aq:6/21, Au:6/21, Mu 10/19, In 10/19, Co 10/19, CR:24/11, medicine 6/17, finesse:6/17, Vi:16/15, An:18/13, He 20/11, VI: 18/13, Vim tractus:13, 2 magic theory tracti: Q:13, Order of Hermes Lore:5/20, Merinita organization Lore:5/20, penetration: 4/18, intrigue:4/18, leadership:4/18, teaching:4/18, dowsing: 4/18, Magic Lore:4/18, Faerie Lore:4/18, Te:16/15, Ig:16/15, Me:16/15, Aq:12/17, Re:12/17, Mu 12/17
season: note: practice gains +2xp, adventure gains +3 xp and reading gains 3xp from book learner and independent study, correspondence with parens in philosophae, other correspondence in Magic theory and Cr, Mu and Vi

1: pre-initiation quest - 10xp forest lore, 1xp magic theory
2: initiation: Hermetic Theurgy, 1xp magic theory
3: covenant service: 2 xp forest lore, 1xp magic theory
4: Read Merinita Lore (23) (1xp Vi)
5: Read Merinita Lore (23) (1xp Vi)
6: Read Merinita Lore (23) (1xp Vi)
7: Read Re Summae (20xp) (1xp Vi)
8: Read Re Summae (20xp) (1xp Vi)
9: Read Re Summae (17xp) (1xp Vi)
10: Lab: invent Invoke the Pact of Lasa Vegoia (ReVi):45 (lab total: Re:12, Vi:20, Int:3, Aura:7, MT:9, Familiar: 3+8 total:62 development:17/45) (Re:2xp, 1 xp mu)
11: Lab: invent Invoke the Pact of Lasa Vegoia (ReVi):45 (lab total: Re:12, Vi:20, Int:3, Aura:7, MT:9, Familiar: 3+8 total:62 development:34/45) (Re:2xp, 1xp Cr)
12: Lab: invent Invoke the Pact of Lasa Vegoia (ReVi):45 (lab total: Re:12, Vi:20, Int:3, Aura:7, MT:9, Familiar: 3+8 total:62 development:finished) (Re:2xp, 1 xp CR)
13: buy teaching faerie magic (15xp faerie magic, -2 MP) (1xp Cr)
14: buy teaching faerie magic (15xp faerie magic, -2 MP) (1xp Cr)
15: buy teaching faerie magic (15xp faerie magic, -2 MP) (1xp Cr)
16: Lab: learn Invoke the Pact of Hathor (using Lasa Vegoia for 18 vis) Level:60 (1xp Cr)
17: Read Me Summae (15 xp me) (1xp Cr)
18: Read Me Summae (15 xp me) (1xp Cr)
19: Read Me Summae (15 xp me) (1xp Cr)
20: lab w/ texts: Lord of the Trees & Ward Against Wood (Lab Total: Re:12, He:15, Int:3, aura:7, MT:9, Familiar 3+8 total:57) (Re:2xp, 1xp Mu)
21: lab w/ texts: treacherous spear & twist the living tree (Lab Total: Re:12, He:15, Int:3, aura:7, MT:9, Familiar 3+8 total:57) (Re:2xp, 1xp Mu)
22: resources quest (10 xp forest lore, 1xp Mu)
23: information quest (10 xp forest lore, 1xp Mu)
24: read teaching summae (21 xp teaching, 1xp Mu)
25: read teaching summae (21 xp teaching, 1xp Mu)
26: read leadership summae (21 xp leadership, 1xp Mu)
27: read leadership summae (21 xp leadership, 1xp Mu)
28: apprentice quest (13 xp forest lore, 1xp Mu)

Vis expenditures: 18 Vis

forest found vis: 19 He

accounting: 7 years at 4 vis (vi) per year+covennt service=31-18=13+32(stores)=45 Vi Vis, 19+40=59 He vis, 48 animal vis, 21 Co vis 7 yrs at 3MP/yr+2 covenant service=23 MP-6MP=17+75=92 MP

aging: -20 until 60, then -19
aging 57-63: 1D10 = [7] = 7
1D10 = [9] = 9
1D10 = [9] = 9
1D10 = [5] = 5
1D10 = [9] = 9
1D10 = [5] = 5
1D10 = [7] = 7
1D10 = [10] = 10
1D10 = [5] = 5
1D10 = [1] = 1
age 63 exploding: 1D10 = [4] = 4

no apparent aging

Ooks advancement:
3 seasons reading Merinita Lore: 60 XP
6 seasons lab: 12xp Magic Theory
4 quests (31 xp)
2 seasons read teaching (36 xp)
2 seasons read leadership (36 xp)
7 seasons free (35 xp)

66 points quest + free time: 26 xp magic theory, area lore: Mythic Europe (forests) 30 xp, 10 xp artes Liberales

2 seasons service: apothecary: ability +attribute=16, 48 LP per season 96LP+252=348 LP apothecary ingerdients

38

Oops, forgot post cycle 5 abilities and arts:

Abilities:
Scottish 5(storytelling)
Area Lore:Caledonian Forest 2(hiding places)
Forest Sympathy 5()
Survival 2(forest)
Swim 2(running water)
Guile 2(keeping secrets)
Faerie Lore 3(forest faeries)
Latin 4
Faerie Magic 1
Magic Theory 9
Parma Magica 1
Artes Liberales 5
Philosophae 7
House Meriita Lore 1
Forest Lore 5
Teaching 1
Concentration 3
Weaving 4
Medicine 2
Tincture Of Gold
Finesse 4

Arts:
Creo 23
Muto 8
Intelligo 6
Rego 6
Perdo 6
Animal 13
Aquum 6
Aurum 6
Corpus 6
Herbem 15
Ignem 6
Imaginem 6
mentem 6
Terram 6
Vim 19

39

Sorry to be late with this, but I'm still catching up.

Are we assuming, then, that familiars get the same xp as their masters for adventures? I must admit, I hadn't thought about that.

Also, had I said something about 5 xp/free season for familiars? That sounds like something I would have said.

And what does the "flexible xp" refer to?

40

flexible xp means xp from sources that are non-deterministic. For example if a familiar gains experience from a book the magus is reading then it has to be in the subject the master is reading about. Adventure experience, unoccupied seasonal experience would be 'flexible' because there isn't a pre-defined ability it has to go into.