Hi guys,
I dug out my old notes to look into some things, and I found a lot of unfinished/untested minor mysteries that I was playing with. Here is one of them, it was actually planned for mundane craftsman, but anyone could theoretically do it.
Minor supernatural virtue – Mercurys Blessings.
Over a season a craftsman can use various materials and create two identical items which allow messages to be passed between them. Sounds which one hear are transmitted to the other one.
During the season many prayers to Mercury are intoned as the craftsman works on the devices. These prayers are accompanied by sacrifices of vis – 1 pawn each full moon, for a total of 3 pawns over the season. Due to the prayers and the nature of the work, the craftsman loses 1 long-term fatigue during each season he works on the pair.
A workshop total of at least x is needed
x – words sound hollow and distorted (hearing rolls -6)
x+3 – words sound hollow but discernable (hearing rolls -3)
x+6 – words are easily diastinguishable
x+9 – as if the other person was in the room
This is considered to be something of a house secret, as it is an unquestionably pagan practice. After all the trouble with Diedne, the house is keen to avoid any visible ties to pagans.
There is an ongoing research effort to turn this into a hermetic virtue, or bring it entirely in line with hermetic magic. So far it has been unsuccesful.
The house maintains a chapter-house which houses one half of many of these devices. The other halves are scattered all over europe and used to keep the house informed when time is critical.
In the chapter-house, there are rooms with many shelves where the items are catalogued. The rooms are always monitored, and when one of the items makes a noise it is quickly moved to a private room. There is always a scribe on stand-by to copy the conversation.
The house has maintained a strict policy of 1 master who trains 2 apprentices at the same time. One apprentice will inherit the position, the other will serve the house another way. Only the legitimate master is allowed to pass on the skills to his apprentice. In this way, even if the master dies, there is always someone ready to take his place, and the line has remained unbroken since the days of Guorna.