New Atlantis Covenant

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

I've also been running some numbers on finances, and it occurs to me that there ought to be some limit on regular grogs (after all, these are all people being given up from other covenants). So I'll say that you can have up to the following number of 'regular' (i.e., free) grogs:

Specialists: 10
Craftsmen: 10
Soldiers: 15 (just regular footmen)
Laborers/Servants/Teamsters: as many as required by Covenants (at least 30)
Horses: as many as you want (within reason)

This does not count grogs that you pay BPs for. They come in over top of this. Also, a magus' shield grog and one servant are free as well.

I'll assign who the grogs are on a first-come-first-served basis. Currently we have one specialist assigned (Granny Grizel, the chirurgeon). Remember that many of these grogs will have been chosen because they have supernatural abilities, so you're free to choose any reasonable supernatural ability you like, and need not fear that you're going over the top.

Oh, and one other thing that I can see is that I haven;t given you enough cash, 250 mythic pounds doesn't go very far when you're spending 120 of that to placate a dragon. So I'll give you a second normal revenue source, giving you a total of 350 MP/year. But that still doesn't mean that you shouldn't look for new sources of revenue. These both represent charity from other covenants. This charity is not infinite. They expect you to get on your feet eventually and support yourselves. It's just that you have some time to do that.

22

As you can tell by all my posts, I've been stuck cooped up inside all weekend and have been going over details of the game. I've just finished the basic accounting for the covenant and was surprised to see that we may top 150 people in the covenant! Once you account for 5 magi, 8 companions (including apprentices), 36+ soldiers, 10+ specialists, 10+ craftsmen, 30+ dependents (which is a low estimate), and all the servants and teamsters (=sailors in this instance) needed to support them, you've got a lot of people.

The costs of maintaining all these people (and their gear) is almost 250 MP (not counting the effects of craftsmen or specialists, which will lower it some). So you have enough cash, but not a whole lot extra. And we'll need those architects that House Tremere is providing to build enough houses (and barracks) to hold all of the people in the covenant. The temples only have so much room.

23

Good thing we've got those architects then huh? I for one thank our gracious friends in House Tremere for providing us with such a valuable resource!

Anyhow, it sounds like we'll really need to figure out a way to bring in income and fairly quickly at that. Fishing seems like a fairly decent option, we'll want boats built anyhow. Beyond that, we'll have a fairly steady supply of timber we could monetize. I'm sure we could figure a few other things out if need be.

24

I've assumed that an apprentice would understand their masters shorthand well after a fair amount of seasons. They are present for the work and then reviewing and translating the texts.

25

I suppose much like getting your House Virtue, it depends on how many one-on-one seasons an apprentice has with his master. Lots of seasons being a lab assistant? Sure. Seasons distilling vis and fixing arcane connections on his own? Not so much. So what do people think? I'd say five one-on-one seasons seems like a good mark for when an apprentice might learn his master's shorthand. Thoughts?

26

If it takes ten seasons of direct teaching (?) to learn a virtue (which is normally a big deal) then I'd say it would take less than five, but those seasons should be after the apprentice has the actual skill to scribe and speak Latin (not sure what skill level) however any lab activity or training should do.
Is that a better model? Or overly complex? Do we need to model this out?

27

If five seems too many, how about three? One seems too little.

My main reason for going with this as a rule of thumb is that it's simple,

As for prerequisites, I'd say that they'd be the same prerequisites for scribing, which is Latin 5 (or Latin 4 with a specialty in hermetic texts) and Artes LIberales 1.

28

1220 will see the establishment of the covenant on New Atlantis, so please complete your build point expenditures.

Also, it occurs to me that New Atlantis is the name of the island, Do we want to call the covenant something different? It could certainly be the New Atlantis covenant, but we could also come up with a different name.

29

Oh, and it occurs to me to to note that Magnus knows a level 30 Aegis of the Hearth while Andor knows a level 50 Aegis. The real question is how much Vim vis we'll have. But we can look into that once people have finished spending their build points. Suffice it to say that the covenant will have an Aegis. :slight_smile:

30

I did the numbers and prevailing loyalty is hovering around +2/+3 right now (I'm not sure of the stats of your Turb Captain yet.). So you're doing well.

It really helps that four out of eight Gifted members of the covenant have the Gentle Gift. And the steward and chamberlain that House Tremere provided don't hurt either.

Let me know if you're doing anything special to up Loyalty (paying better wages, using vis to heal injured covenfolk, etc.).

31

It occurs to me that any literate lab assistant who's been around for a while has a good chance to have picked up your shorthand over the years. I'm thinking of maybe allowing them to know your shorthand,

32

Meliai has +10 resources from a resource quest. I will spend them thusly:

2 pawns vis/yr in each art (150 BP)
level 10 tractatus in each technique (50 BP)
level 11 tractatus in each form (110 BP)

33

Now I have to make up fifteen vis sources. :open_mouth:

34

Well consider that as we found new Chapter Houses/Covenants, they need Vis Sources, so if we want to expand, we'll have to learn to share.

35

Converting the last of my BP into magical items and spending almost the entire stockpile of vis that I had from my cycles, the covenant now has the following items:

Ring of the Carpenter x4
ReHe 35
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group
As per The Mystical Carpenter
(Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +1 Flexibility, +10 Unlimited uses)

Ring of the Smith x2
ReTe 30
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group
As per The Phantom Blacksmith
(Base 2, +2 Metal, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +1 Flexibility, +10 Unlimited uses)

Ring of the Stonemason x4
ReTe 35
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group
As per the Mystical Carpenter, but for stone.
(Base 2, +1 Stone, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +1 Flexibility, +10 Unlimited uses)

Ring of the Stevedore x5
ReTe(An,Aq,He) 30
R: Voice, D: Conc, T: Ind
Like Unseen Arm (ReTe 5), but it can carry large objects such as crates. Roughly speaking, it has the capabilities of a team of very strong people (Str +9). The heavier the object is, the slower the ring of the stevedore moves it. If delicacy is required, high Finesse stress rolls (12+ or so) are needed. The spell can only carry inanimate objects, and cannot carry you. Given the casting requisites in the ring, it can move stone, wood, animal products, and water/ice.
(Base 3, +2 Voice, +1 Conc, +2 Force, +10 Unlimited uses)

Ring of the Flying Disk x4
ReTe30
R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind
This spell causes a stone slab (up to 300 by 300 feet) to fly at the running speed of a horse.
(Base 3, +1 Stone, +1 Touch, +1 Conc, +2 Size, +5 Item Maintains Conc, +5 24 uses per day)

These items when coupled with the resource creation rituals that Andor knows should make building structures and transporting goods and people a snap.

36

You might need some Finesse to control the slab at high speeds.

37

That's fine, the spell I pulled it from made no mention of it, but I can't say I honestly disagree with you. Besides, it's designed to be used by the Tremere Specialists with Finesse anyhow.

38

FYI Constantine and Artemis. we could use a Vim vis source(s) large enough to power the Aegis. :slight_smile:

39

Can you write up a final accounting of BP and vis for me to review?

40

Yup, give me a bit and I'll get it posted.