Has anyone got a stockpile of news that is distributed by the Redcaps?
I am presuming that among the plot-points that Redcaps deliver, there will be general news and gossip.
Only my imagination only takes me so far. Like Edward the White publishing a request for support to create a Meditteranean Tribunal.
How often is there news of Magi gauntlets, deaths, and disappearances?
No but this might give me an idea for the next "30 for November". packets of rumours from redcaps is a good idea.
For a starter: The covenant of Schola Pythagoranis in the stonehenge tribunal has finally paid of a fine of Vis to Blackthorne. Possibly they might be moving to a more pro-active stance against this covenant.
Lycaneon in the transylvanian tribunal as put out a notice for experts in Intellego Aquam to deal with some intriguing local water spirits. Generous compensation is promised.
The archmage Clara of house Ex Misc is belived to be in final twilight, For legal purposes a call is being made to contact her to make sure she might not have just wandered off. If after 3 years time she has not been heard of her heirs are encourage to gather at Duresca for the opening of her sanctum and distribution of her effects.
Bob
The last one leads me to think that one common question of Merinita magi would be "are they in twilight or arcadia?"
Use the posts from here for things that might come up.
Eg a redcap mentions a legal case that's sure to come up at the next Tribunal - ttp://forum.atlas-games.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9461
Use the various magic items people have put up in threads and have a verditius offering one for sale, and use this to gauge level of interest.
This is a neat idea and begs for a procedurally generated rumor mill. Like “A Redcap comes with word that a (realm) (thing) affiliated with (house name, tribunal, mystery cult, etc) is (verbing) a (noun), but a (realm) (thing) from (house, tribunal, mystery cult, etc,) is trying to (verb) them.
Redcap Madlib generator?
I'd so love to see the stuff this came up with. Someone make it, please.
That throws up some good story seeds! One I got I particularly liked: "A redcap comes with word that a love-struck knight is hiding in a haunted ruin"
I ended up using my imagination. Our saga is set in spring 1216. Most of these are throw-away lines, just to indicate the Stonehenge Tribunal is populated. A couple are tangential to our troupe. Feel free to use any.
・ A reminder that under Tribunal decision, Redcaps may no longer broadcast announcements originating from the Magi of either Blackthorn or Voluntas covenants, that consist of "scurrilous or derogatory" accusations against Magi resident of the Stonehenge, until the next regular Tribunal meeting.
・ A reminder of the Tribunal meeting 1215, held at Blackthorn Covenant, did decide upon the following:
“Promerion of Tytalus did accuse Rosemary Fairchild of Jerbiton of violating the Code regarding ...I will have one vote at Tribunal and I will use it prudently... by claiming that her Guardian Angel gave her voice greater moral authority. After 3 days of heated debate and closely examining every known utterance of Rosemary Fairchild of Jerbiton, the Tribunal concludes that claimed moral authority in voice, while imprudent in tone, does not alter one's vote at Tribunal.
Both Promerion and Rosemary Fairchild were censured for wasting the time of the 8 Magi who were brought forth to this Tribunal to act as witnesses. Together, in equal co-operation, they will compensate these witnessing magi 1 pawn of Vis of the type the attending magi requests, by mid-summer of 1216.”
・ Quincunx of Criamon, associated with Semitae covenant, accuses Rosemary Fairchild of Jerbiton of failing to abide by Tribunal decision, when she gave him a pawn of Vim vis rather than the pawn of Intellego vis due to him.
・ Durkon Treeslayer of Bjornaer, of the Loch Leglean Tribunal, is requesting information as to the whereabouts of his parens Callum Longarm of Bjornaer, as Callum has missed their scheduled meeting 3 years in a row, with no explanation or other communication provided. Magus Callum is thought to be residing somewhere in the Stonehenge Tribunal.
・ The covenant of Scholae Pythagoris reports that a plague pit under their control has resulted in their Covenant acquiring an excess of Corpus Vis, of unexpected provenence. They are willing to trade 10 pawns of untried Corpus vis for a similar amount of Perdo and Aurum vis.
・ A sanctioned Wizard War has been officially declared against Claradies of Ex Miscellanea by Paraxis of Tremere, over irreconcillable differences due to the death of Taraxis of Tremere and his honourable Certamen opponent, to start this coming full moon, somewhere in the region of Nottinghamshire.
・ To the Maga who left her visage emblazoned upon the burnished steel east of Norwich - as our Familiars have managed to amicably coexist when they sheltered during the blizzard last year, so too do I extend an offer to share sancta. Reply soonest via this Redcap.
・ An open letter from Edward the White, follower of Jerbiton, regarding arguments towards the formation of a new regional Tribunal, and a call for allies to present these arguments at the next Grand Tribunal.
・ Representatives of the Covenant of Ungulus have jointly declared "We aint'nt dead yet. You've been warned. More than you deserve".
Redcaps also carry news of the mortal world to magi, in case you are running thin on Hermetic news. Major things like wars, births of princes, deaths of kings, raging heresies, election of the Pope, plagues, famines, strange events, weird rumors, and funny stories.
(I'd think Redcaps are sometimes pestered by faeries, considering that they should be a prime source of vitality.)
IOS, a Redcap comes by every season or so, usually avoiding deep winter, and perhaps more often during summer. They probably should come by a bit more often, considering the weight of mail, and sometimes packages, they have to bear.
For news of the mortal world, I refer you to Wikipedia.
It seems to me that how often they come by will vary depending on amount of communication and where you are n their network. If you have a mercer portal at your covenant you are receiving redcaps constantly as they pass through to other covenants. If you have three magi who barely correspond with anyone outside the covenant maybe once every year...
I'm very late to the party here but I had a go at this idea of a procedural rumour generator (which is a great idea, imo) using Orteil's fantastic RandomGen tool:
I've quite enjoyed making it and will probably continue to add to it as I think of new stuff. There aren't many options at the minute so you start to see repetition especially for names. You can also view the generator source so if you want to customise it (like by adding NPCs from your saga to the name list for example) all you need is an account on somewhere like pastebin to make your own version.
p.s. if anyone likes it and would like to help improve it, message me lists of Ars related things (like lists of Magi names, covenant names, supernatural beings, locations, vis sources etc.) and I can incorporate them into the generator.
If it's just a randomizer we're looking for, those are pretty easy to write - though that one does look pretty sleek.