The reason I think it should work is other Form guidelines like "make a minor change" vs the higher level base "make a major change," you can always use the major change version to make a only a minor change (imaginem, mentem). The ReCo base guidelines have "move x distance" and they can alsays be used to move less than the total distance if desired, as the fluff indicates "...up to &". The PeTe guidelines sound put the different materials on different magnitudes to show that doing one is harder than another; without anything that specifies that metal specific spells must be separate from gemstone specific spells I'd think it should work.
OTOH i would not want a CrTe that produces a volume of metal to be able to create a volume of gemstone, but destroying things is simpler than making things. So a PeCo that can deal a wound to Fiona should also be able to deal the same wound to Korvin, and a PeIg that can extinguish a bonfire should also be able to put out a campfire, and a spell that can destroy metal should also be able to destroy dirt and stone.
@Arya
Your proposal and subsequent problem with it is something I've been wrestling with for some time. If it's applied selectively based on the technique involved that inconsistency is maddening. What you say about creation/destruction has some merit, however, all the canonical PeTe spells all affect a very specific material and don't vary to lesser materials. The only exception to the spells is Fist of Shattering, which is a base 4, to destroy rock, and the fluff says it is designed to destroy stone or weaker material, and an appropriate Form for the target is a casting requisite. Presumably, of you were to use this to destroy wood, you'd need Herbam, human bone Corpus, and animal bone, Animal, etc.
Not really analagous, as with the PeTe we're dealing with different kinds of terram; there's not really different kinds of ignem (well, maybe fire vs light) or corpus.
However, the base Individual for Terra varies by kind (and the Corpus example reminded me of this) - Dirt is ten cubic paces, stone is one cubic pace, base metals is a cubic foot, and precious metals is 1/10 of a cubic foot (or about 173 cubic inches).
Near as I can tell, the only Form that has various types is Aquam, and even that changes the size of the base Individual instead of adding magnitudes to affect the different types.
I am not really sure I like the idea of different "types" of Terram. It makes sense for different types of Vim (the four realms), but now that I think about it there's minerals that could be either stone or gemstones based on how you process it out of the ground, and that's where the idea breaks down. Because what do you do with lapis? Agate? Opal? Dust from carving those (precious)stones? Hell, raw diamond probably doesn't look anything like a rock you'd put on your finger.
I'm all over the board on this question. I looked for similar things in other Perdo forms. PeIm for example, at level 2 it is touch OR taste. at level 3 it is touch AND taste. In many cases fluff matters or it does not make sense to "stack" like PeCo. Something like PeAu it might. A base 15 level spell effects very severe weather phenomenon. It makes sense that the same spell would work on severe (level 10) and normal ( level 5 ) phenomenon. Unless the spell said something like stop a hurricane rather than stop all wind ( thus the fluff).
The background of my question has nothing to do with the Bibracte campaign. i was remaking a magic sword that we had in an older table top game ( for the magic weapon thread) and it had an effect of PrTe destroys metal. The "special effect" was only metal that touched its edge so it would have to slice a shield but not "disintegrate" it. It got me wondering if it would also be able to slice stone.
With the PeAu stopping winds, I would likely say that it stops all winds up to and including hurricane force winds (if the spell is powerful enough), unless it was designed otherwise.
For PeTe, I would go the opposite route. If you have a knife enchanted to slice through precious stones as easily as butter, then I would say it works just on gemstones and not iron, gold, or rock. Mainly because that just feels right to me. But this is also a very subjective answer, and it's likely going to be yet another ysmv issue.
To me it would go to the fluff.. If it were a knife that the magic had made amazingly sharp. sharp enough to cut gems. The spell is the same but the description has the magic working on the sword rather than the gemstones.
Yeah, for something like this, I'd be inclined to go with the magic only affecting the point at which the sword's edge touches the material and then allow it to destroy any material. This is really a variation of the Stonecutter's Knife, with increased magnitude. I might be inclined to do a complexity +1 or +2 to achieve an effect, or it's the result of some sort of lab accident/experimentation and the effect isn't explainable under hermetic theory (need some original research, perhaps).
This would be my call as well. The magic sword slicing through metal or stone is good RP, and so I'd let the variance slide. If the sword destroyed the entire object -- shattering shields or armor, then I wouldn't let it also destroy stone (because then the sword has been tuned to "arms and armor" sorts of metal, rather than "damage resistant" metals.)
There's also the notion in Terram of shaped and un-shaped elements. Any terram material that has not been shaped by the hand of man can be rarefied into an Earth Elemental, with one spell. Wielding the Invisible Sling doesn't care what the object is, even, so long as it can be thrown in a rock-like way.
Would you let a CrTe spell create a knife with a stone handle? With gemstones embedded in it?
To get back to the original question, I don't think information you provide is enough to make a decision, based on how complex Terram is compared to other forms. Intent and style matter a great deal, and I've never been one to spend a lot of time thinking about the math behind it all.
Once you describe it as a PeTe spell which causes a blade to slice cleanly through any metal (without MR), then I nod and agree that it can cut anything "up to metal."
I'm going to try adding all the grogs and specialists onto the wiki over the next two weeks. However, my understanding of the geography is severely hampering my initial efforts. What are the different geographic areas that constitute Mons Electi and environs?
Really, all I need are page names and urls. Maybe a single sentence describing the area.
What I have so far:
Regio
-Manor
--Sanctums: Appolodorus, Fiona's Cottage, Iosephus/Viscaria's cave
--Vis Source Location: Mulberry Trees
-Tribunal Field
-Various known boundaries worth mentioning
Mundane side
Manor?
Gatehouse?
Steadholders (including Wilhelm)
It seems obvious that the wiki tree can begin with Mons Electi, and then divide into Mundane and Regio, and then split beyond that. Any help on this project would be appreciated.
I've been deliberately vague about geography, allowing players to have sufficient leeway to design desirable sanctums and residences as they saw fit. Their is a traditional manor house on the mundane side. Inside one of the rooms on the second floor is the entrance to the regio, which is within a castle (as pictured on the wiki). There are several halls in that castle, and sufficient room for Fiona to have a cottage in the courtyard area (PB can correct or move this). Up the path is Viscaria's sanctum, outside of the castle, proper, but still able to be enclosed within the Aegis.
The boundaries on the magical side are that the terrain is all but impassable beyond the demesne on the magical side, although Viscaria's bridge will alter that equation significantly. Note, I said earlier that one could make their way to the best spot for the tribunal field, but that presumed some path building would take place instead of, or in addition to, the bridge being built.
Apollodorus and Alexei had sancta within the castle, Apollodorus' was not far from the regio entrance.
There are gatehouses and a wall in some disrepair on the mundane side. The walls serve as a border for the Aegis (Boundary +3 size) but are not of any military value in their present condition.
There is plenty of room for grogs on the magic side castle or the mundane side manor house. Also, I believe that there are outbuildings (boon) but these are all on the mundane side, workshops for the percamenarius.
The top of Mont Beuvray is .75 square miles, so there is quite literally tons of room on the mundane side for grogs servicing the industrial side of things. Personal servants, there's plenty on the magic side of the regio. I've handwaved that there are a sufficient number of percamenarius (Arya you can correct me on the plural, and I'll edit it), shearers, butchers, etc to finance the industry of the covenant. Raw wool is shipped up to Flanders for processing, as there aren't any local weavers.
Coming back to this, I would like to claim dibs on one of the exploration threads, set in 1222.1 (spring? winter?). We could pick back up on the day afterward. I'd like Thera, Vin and Wen (and possibly her parents)
Others are welcome, but I don't want to claim everybody in case other magi want their own threads.
Possibly, Chastity and Patience would come with as well, though I have no idea if Chastity's has any knowledge of ores or refining.
Well, by and large, none of the threads involve me[1]. I'm setting the stage, and I don't mean to rush any particular thread, but I needed to open up 1222.2e up to allow everyone to come back together. To me, the the game, that's more important, as I don't want any individual player to feel like they are being held back by the events in any one thread. My entire philosophy of PBP SG'ing is to minimize impact of players on each other while striking a fine balance of allowing enough player interaction.
1222.2b can continue as long as players wish to discuss things. 1222.2e is ready for anyone and everyone to participate. I just kicked it off so everyone could participate.
I'll add one other thing that can happen in 1222.2b, if there's interest in continuing that thread for a while.
[1] Of course, I may have to adjudicate knowledge rolls, and the like, inform and shape what the players know, but beyond that, unless Marcus is invited into the council meeting (and he's not a member of Mons Electi) then there's little for me to do in those threads, and what the players do is negotiate and decide how they're going to act.