Table talk (Bibracte)

[amul]

@The Fixer

Now that I think of it, it would probably be a good idea to get hold of a "normal" 10th magnitude Aegis, to cast only on the covenant, should we be under attack.

My understanding is that the +3 levels of size increase is to cover the smallest coherent boundary both inside and out of the regio. What would this "normal" sized option cover?

@amul

Given our Rego resources here, this shouldn't be too hard to achieve. I strongly suspect that we'll be acquiring a library of such texts. The best bet would be to have everyone teleport to a nearby regio boundary, or a bunker inside the regio that is inaccessible from the covenant. That way you can use just the 1-league teleport. Base 25 +1 Touch +2 Group = 40, so without the Animal/Herbam reqs for clothing, I can make 6 of these charged items in a season. Perhaps we could bestow them as tokens of trust to our covenfolk?

I was actually thinking about an armageddon scenario, where Mons Electi is overrun and we have to flee. The further, the better. Like Novgorod further (No, Isen is not aware of the Mongol threat)
With a gate inside the covenant, a place where people gathered to flee.

Given that I know 7-league stride, if I do this as a doorway, I can do it to transport 100 people at AC range, with 3 charges. And requisites.

I was also considering an armageddon scenario. In which cases, you want as many people as possible to flee. So a lower magnitude spell that transports everyone to a specially-prepared defensive location allows us to save more people. Putting them in keepsakes which covenant members carry, rather than statues, means that we can save divergent groups even if they get isolated, and the transportation will be wherever people already are.

Oh. Or you could make Greater Invested Device/Statues which only accept mental commands, but offer unlimited uses. Or instead of mental commands, you could make them emotional triggers! A teleportation device which only works on people who are truly afraid!

@amul

Viscaria would recommend MuTe Quicksand Rings that transform ground into very viscous mud for an instant. "Magic resistance don't mean squat if your legs are buried in mud. Anybody that can Leap out of it won't be hindered by any hold person spell either."

I wasn't counting on them fighting magi or powerful creatures. These is ours to handle. In fact, some penetration is only useful if the target is possessed, and it doesn't need to be very high. If it does, we're in over our head anyway.

I thought about using an other art than Rego, but I prefer it, because it doesn't need targeting. Point, activate, hold. By the way, a spell to hold a target's body motionless continues to act even if she translocates, contrary to quicksand.

But you raise a valid point. Do we want a cadre of grogs with items allowing them to fight magi? Should we do it? Although this could prove very useful, it could also easily be turned against us, and would require us to train them in Finesse. I'm not sure this is a good idea. Of course, we could always hand them items that require penetration, to be used on attacking mundanes. Or non-killer items.

"Well, I concede that a general strategy of Rego-based defenses makes sense, given our aura, and it hadn't occurred to me that the spell would linger. That is certainly a point in its favor. On the other hand, it's not the cadre of grogs that worry me so much -- we do a generally good job of keeping them on our side, but the cadre of items lying around that worry me. Our Mentem sources are strong enough that it might be worthwhile to restrict our items to mental command only. But that increases the time and cost of those items measurably.

"It would be far cheaper if we restricted such items in certain other ways. For example, if we branded those we trust to use the items with a secret sigil, then it would be much cheaper to detect the existence of such a brand and limit usage to that group. However, that effectively gives permanent access, and would use Corpus or Intellego, neither of which we have in quantities worth considering.

We should use the materials we have in greatest supply for our defenses -- the chess pieces. The Rego Terram vis is plentiful and powerful. We effectively double the attack capacity of those wielding items made from it."

I had forgotten that! Ice Elementals!!! That's awesome!!!

Why fiona's help? She's our Muto specialist.
So we can create an elemental. And another. And another. And yet another.
And she can create an enchanted item that changes each of them into, say, a pebble. With Constant duration, so that it doesn't flicker. You don't want a full-sized elemental appearing in your purse at sunrise/sunset, however briefly.
So we need another effect, a Perdo Vim effect, to dispel that specific enchantment when we want it. Linked to a Rego effect that gives control of the elemental, so as to avoid being dependent on spellcasting.
Given the need and the Vis, we could each have quite a lot of elementals at our disposal in a few moments. Let our enemies face that.

"You over-complicate things. You just need somewhere to store the elemental and a device that summons and banishes it."

Structure would be fine... ... ... ... ... Kill me. Amul, you're my savior!! I had entirely forgotten about Structure, and it doesn't need to be a ritual, meaning I can enchant it, meaning, sure, people will be left behind, but we'll catch most of them!!! Thank you!!!

You'd still be grabbing everyone in the building, including any enemies.

[amul]

@amul

I came up with a description for the 2 rooks of Herbam that the Astingani found for us. Given the size of the find, and how scarce vis is supposed to be in Normandy, I decided to make it inside a regio that would be very hard to enter:

Essence of Wyrmwood, Herbam, 20 pawns
Physical form: thick narcotic poisonous oil, Season: Spring
Location: WyrmBone Regio, less than a day by mundane roads

The skeletal remains of a slain dragon has created its own pocket regio, inside which is a series of hills which are actually the bones of the dragon, covered by dirt and stones. The regio can only be entered by driving a spear into "the eye of the dragon" in the mundane world, and can only be exited by leaping off the dragon's tail. Trees grow along the hillside, thick enough to confuse and misdirect those who try to leave the hills by any other means. Near the dragon's shoulders grows a massive Wyrmwood Tree. If you collect the new leaves of the Wrymwood Tree during the spring, they yield a goodly supply of Herbam vis. Further refinement will actually increase the Herbam vis, whether by maceration to produce a wine, or use as hops in beer-making, but the greatest yield for shortest time is to extract the Essence of Wyrmwood Oil, which yields a thick narcotic poison worth 20 pawns. The Astingani covenant member who discovered this source had theorized that a much more elaborate tincture process would yield what she referred to as "Spirit of Wyrmwood."

Regarding the rumors of previous inhabitants of the regio, the Astingani magi simply insist that it is currently uninhabited.

Added to the Vis Inventory record, starting in 1222 (.1), since it seems Astingani dissolved during the Tribunal in 1221, as far as I can tell.

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

So, what do you think? Muto Herbam, with an Animal requisite?

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

@The Fixer

I'd like him, in the following years, to develop these, in relation to this:

• A charged portal with AC Group teleportation, in order for the covenant to escape if need be. Of course, this means we have a fall back place, which is out of his purview. Best pick would be a place very far and isolated, hopefully magical, but anything will do so long as it's safe.

Is Loch Ness far and isolated enough? Fiona has three fixed Arcane Connections to just outside Insula Canaria. (Well, she has two and the covenant has one, in the library.)

@The Fixer

• Rarefy spells, given a lab texts, in order to have as much elementals at our beck and call as possible. Once that's done, he'll need fiona's help.

Not quite sure what you mean by "rarefy" spells, or what Isen would need Fiona's help with regarding the elementals.

@The Fixer

• The Shrouded Glen, provided he has a lab text.

Wouldn't The Shrouded Glen do more harm than good? We're already fairly protected by having the important parts of the covenant in the Regio, and our mundane side relies on trade to survive, to some degree. Unless I'm totally missing something.

@amul

On this subject, we should probably spend some time figuring out how many Verditus are in Normandy and where they live, before the Tribunal.

Would this help?

@amul

Given our Rego resources here, this shouldn't be too hard to achieve. I strongly suspect that we'll be acquiring a library of such texts. The best bet would be to have everyone teleport to a nearby regio boundary, or a bunker inside the regio that is inaccessible from the covenant. That way you can use just the 1-league teleport. Base 25 +1 Touch +2 Group = 40, so without the Animal/Herbam reqs for clothing, I can make 6 of these charged items in a season. Perhaps we could bestow them as tokens of trust to our covenfolk?

May I suggest that we add a +1 for size in this, since we have at least one or two Size 2 people? (Same probably goes for the ReCo "Hold Person" type thing earlier.)

[amul]

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

So, what do you think? Muto Herbam, with an Animal requisite?

The library has a variation of Tireless Servant which is ReHe instead of ReCo, and assumes the same Lvl 40 for it -- which makes a robot-like automaton that can follow your orders. An Animal req would let it think like a horse. MuHe(An) would convert a shrub INTO a horse, wouldn't it?

Still, that is a b@d@$$ idea.

[amul]

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

@The Fixer

• Rarefy spells, given a lab texts, in order to have as much elementals at our beck and call as possible. Once that's done, he'll need fiona's help.

Not quite sure what you mean by "rarefy" spells, or what Isen would need Fiona's help with regarding the elementals.

Rarefy = create elemental from naturally occuring deposit of said material. In order to make, for example, a fire elemental, you need a naturally occurring source of fire. The size of the deposit determines the size/Might of the elemental

@amul

Given our Rego resources here, this shouldn't be too hard to achieve. I strongly suspect that we'll be acquiring a library of such texts. The best bet would be to have everyone teleport to a nearby regio boundary, or a bunker inside the regio that is inaccessible from the covenant. That way you can use just the 1-league teleport. Base 25 +1 Touch +2 Group = 40, so without the Animal/Herbam reqs for clothing, I can make 6 of these charged items in a season. Perhaps we could bestow them as tokens of trust to our covenfolk?

May I suggest that we add a +1 for size in this, since we have at least one or two Size 2 people? (Same probably goes for the ReCo "Hold Person" type thing earlier.)

That's a damn good point. You should bring that up in the defense discussion thread (or else V will )

[The_Fixer]

Peregrine: absolute thanks for the magi directory
Between this and the covenant directory, I wonder: How many other treasures like this do you have???

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

Is Loch Ness far and isolated enough? Fiona has three fixed Arcane Connections to just outside Insula Canaria. (Well, she has two and the covenant has one, in the library.)

It's perfect

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

Wouldn't The Shrouded Glen do more harm than good? We're already fairly protected by having the important parts of the covenant in the Regio, and our mundane side relies on trade to survive, to some degree. Unless I'm totally missing something.

It's not for everyday use, but to cast should open war come on us. If we have some time to prepare.

@amul

The library has a variation of Tireless Servant which is ReHe instead of ReCo, and assumes the same Lvl 40 for it -- which makes a robot-like automaton that can follow your orders. An Animal req would let it think like a horse. MuHe(An) would convert a shrub INTO a horse, wouldn't it?

We should check our books. There's at least 2 magi out there who have this kind of things: Hermanus, in Legends of Hermes, and Whatsisname, in the adventures book (the tytalus that was in twilight or else for a long time and comes back to the order)

[amul]

@The Fixer

Peregrine: absolute thanks for the magi directory
Between this and the covenant directory, I wonder: How many other treasures like this do you have???

The Apple version of Excel ("Numbers") doesn't handle "split panes or frozen windows," and so I may be missing versions. And when I went to the link, I got the covenant directory, not the magi one. ??

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

Is Loch Ness far and isolated enough? Fiona has three fixed Arcane Connections to just outside Insula Canaria. (Well, she has two and the covenant has one, in the library.)

It's perfect

tangent: I wonder if it'd be possible to enchant a tree so that it grew permanent Arcane Connections as fruit? Establishing a preferred drop-in zone for guests would have strategic uses.

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

Wouldn't The Shrouded Glen do more harm than good? We're already fairly protected by having the important parts of the covenant in the Regio, and our mundane side relies on trade to survive, to some degree. Unless I'm totally missing something.

It's not for everyday use, but to cast should open war come on us. If we have some time to prepare.

It seems to me that Shrouded Glen isn't useful for several reasons:

• It has range Boundary, whereas our Aegis covers an area that is Boundary+3, so it actually covers an area smaller than the area we want to defend. Although that Aegis covers both inside and out, so its possible that using this to hide our mundane mansion would be viable.
• I thought that it was defeated by previous knowledge of the location, but the text of the spell doesn't actually say that. As a Mentem effect, though, it would only work on people without MR, and those we don't seem to be too worried about.
• By extension, I'm having a hard time imagining when that would be valuable to do. A declared Wizard's War? Sadly, our enemies seem to sidestep such polite conventions.

@amul

The library has a variation of Tireless Servant which is ReHe instead of ReCo, and assumes the same Lvl 40 for it -- which makes a robot-like automaton that can follow your orders. An Animal req would let it think like a horse. MuHe(An) would convert a shrub INTO a horse, wouldn't it?

We should check our books. There's at least 2 magi out there who have this kind of things: Hermanus, in Legends of Hermes, and Whatsisname, in the adventures book (the tytalus that was in twilight or else for a long time and comes back to the order)

I have neither of these. It starting to feel like my collection is growing out of date. I bought the last two books -- Lion and Lilly, and Magi of Hermes, from e23 in pdf. Not gonna do that again. My eyes still hurt.

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

@The Fixer

Peregrine: absolute thanks for the magi directory
Between this and the covenant directory, I wonder: How many other treasures like this do you have???

At one point, being incredibly bored and organized, I started a directory of every book used in every online saga, starting with the ones that I was in. It kinda fell by the wayside, although I should probably get back to that someday.

@amul

The Apple version of Excel ("Numbers") doesn't handle "split panes or frozen windows," and so I may be missing versions. And when I went to the link, I got the covenant directory, not the magi one. ??

The Covenant Directory is Sheet 1, and the Magi Directory is Sheet 2. My Tribunal Listing, which has the sourcebooks that I have and what color the pushpins are on my covenant map of the world, is Sheet 3.

I actually use OpenOffice, and saved them as .xls. It's possible that you were only able to access one sheet, which I've noticed happens when I upload spreadsheets to GoogleDocs. For example, the Vis Inventory spreadsheet actually has two sheets: one that has the current Vis inventory, and one that has all our Vis sources so that I can just copy and paste into the Inventory page, and go in and add the year. It can also save the sheet as .dif, .dbf, .slk, .csv, .html, .pxl, and .uos if you think any of those would be more accessible.

[The_Fixer]

Peregrine: I would never, ever, have the strength to do this. I'm quite impressed

@amul

It seems to me that Shrouded Glen isn't useful for several reasons:

• It has range Boundary, whereas our Aegis covers an area that is Boundary+3, so it actually covers an area smaller than the area we want to defend. Although that Aegis covers both inside and out, so its possible that using this to hide our mundane mansion would be viable.
• I thought that it was defeated by previous knowledge of the location, but the text of the spell doesn't actually say that. As a Mentem effect, though, it would only work on people without MR, and those we don't seem to be too worried about.
• By extension, I'm having a hard time imagining when that would be valuable to do. A declared Wizard's War? Sadly, our enemies seem to sidestep such polite conventions.

1. the greatest problem, although, as you say, it might still be useful
2. Penetration, Penetration, Penetration
3. As I said, it's not for everyday use, nor is it useful against a surprise attack. But should we face another Schism war, we'll be happy to have it.
   I'm not saying it'll be the ultimate weapon. Just something that'll add another layer of protection to our covenant. We're better of with than without. IMO.

For the books, I have the 2, I'll try to check.

[Jonathan.Link]

#3 has other options. It's subtle, but it has been mentioned once...

[Jonathan.Link]

I'm guessing it's going to be quiet for the remainder of this week. Gencon is this week, and I'll bet Amul and jebrick are going to be there for some/part of it while qcipher and Peregrine are still on vacation. I just finished up a pretty big work project, so it figures.

[Jonathan.Link]

And a little something happened recently.

We recently passed Light of Andorra for the most posts in a pbp saga. And this saga has just passed its one year anniversary.

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

Woohoo! Party time! insert gratuitous Pinkie Pie picture here

[The_Fixer]

Impressive, although it also makes me sad, given the emotionnal and time investment Marko had in it.
Still, I think that we have a good team here, and it shows.

[qcipher]

@Jonathan.Link

I'm guessing it's going to be quiet for the remainder of this week. Gencon is this week, and I'll bet Amul and jebrick are going to be there for some/part of it while qcipher and Peregrine are still on vacation. I just finished up a pretty big work project, so it figures.

I'm back from vacation and am now recovering from it, pretty busy, but I figure I'll be all caught up and can post some tomorrow, maybe a little today.

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

And I'm currently in Houston for a couple of days, and I'll be skimming stuff (since the 'net where I was at in Austin went down Thursday sometime), with the intent of answering the vital stuff. I'll be back home Monday afternoon (US time), and will be able to dive headfirst into stuff over the couple of days following.

[jebrick]

@Jonathan.Link

I'm guessing it's going to be quiet for the remainder of this week. Gencon is this week, and I'll bet Amul and jebrick are going to be there for some/part of it while qcipher and Peregrine are still on vacation. I just finished up a pretty big work project, so it figures.

I did not make it to GenCon this year. I was actually really busy with a problem/bug at work which required a lot of concentration and reading. Shifting gears from coding to Ars takes some time which I did not take. Had a bit of a break through this morning so I will be back to writing more letters soon.

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

And I'm back home, after a better (for the most part) flight back than I had down...except for having to get up at 3:45 this morning. I should be able to start getting caught up over the next couple of days.

In a semi-related tone, I have a meeting with the personnel guy at McDonald's tomorrow, so it looks like I'll be headed back to work soon...within the next week or two. Which means I'll have money coming in, kinda. But it also means getting up at 3am pretty much every day, too. Which is sucktacular.

[The_Fixer]

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

In a semi-related tone, I have a meeting with the personnel guy at McDonald's tomorrow, so it looks like I'll be headed back to work soon...within the next week or two. Which means I'll have money coming in, kinda.

That's great! I'm happy for you.

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

But it also means getting up at 3am pretty much every day, too.

That, OTOH, sucks big time T-T