Table Talk - Development

I also don't need to experiment to get Wings of Daedalus. :wink:

I may have phrased things inelegantly. What I want at the end of this is for Lucas to have a spell mastered with a mastery level in a Mercurian Mastery, and Roberto to do the same with Boosted Mastery.

It is sad that so many of my spells can't be taught to anyone else because of B, H, and T. :frowning:

Hopefully it'll annoy Lucas so much that he tries to integrate the masteries into orthodox Hermetic theory! Because Frederika would be all over your notes if you managed that :mrgreen:

Alright so it seems like we're planning on a multi-year jump in the nearish future. But that means we should probably figure out Vara and Cecilio's official place. I think Back to Bel will be a good thread for Vara to bring up that. (She already has tried to put the idea of library access out there), but the city of Brass story looks like it has away to go, so if we want to avoid cramming something quick in I should maybe start something in Chapter IV?

So, since it looks like Lucien is going to be a Flambeau, anyone fancy giving a Mercere apprentice a go? Peregrine, didn't you say that you were interested, at least a little bit?

I need to check in True Lineages, but I think gaining access to Mastery abilities is as simple as sharing lab texts, even if the mastery skills are not in there.
I propose that Lucas and Roberto exchange a season teaching each other spells. If I am correct, that alone should give each of us access to the mastery sills of each other.
Or just write out some Lab Texts.
Also, the Lab Text to Antoine's Flying Carpet. Is he willing to write that out and share with the covenant?

Do we have craftsmen skilled enough for me to take Superior Equipment and/or Superior Tools without increasing the Upkeep? (I.e. Craft ability of six or more.)

I don't remember saying I was interested in a Mercere magus.

I could give it a shot! By the time 1242 rolls around, think the character should be about 15 and roughly 5 years into apprenticeship...?

The only problem is that I didn't account for five seasons of teaching during the leap. I might be able to squeeze in a season or two, though that would likely be at the expense of making my talisman.

There's also the question of when the troupe would want him introduced.

Would you need to teach personally? For the first 5 years or so, it's just going to be a lot of Latin and other such abilities. And we've been setting up a whole mess of classes and teachers to handle that.

My guess that this part of the Peripheral Code was added at the First Tribunal, and is thus part of the Order as a whole, and not part of a regional Tribunal's Peripheral Code (which Andorra does not have). I suppose it's a YSMV issue.
Not personally teaching for a season in a year is considered a low crime (probably clarified in HoH:True Lineages).

That's that then. It wouldn't be hard to revise the age down to 10, and officially take an apprentice in 1242. I don't believe there's any need for Lucas to actually go out and find his apprentice - being Mercere, it's just all parties and jubilation when someone with the gift is born into the family, no? Though if he does need to do something, it does all dovetail nicely with his season of message running.

So the timeline would be come to Andorra five years ago > spend that time being tutored (Latin, artes, magic theory, etc) > then get formally taken as an apprentice when the campaign reopens.

My only concern here is that a character that young, there's less opportunity for independent adventure. At least outside of the covenant.

JL beat me to it. I think the only "exception" to this is the fostered apprentice concept the Bonisagus have, but they basically make up for it by teaching double when they have both apprentices.

There is the option to identify someone as an apprentice (but not open the arts) and have them start learning Latin, Artes Liberales, and the like, before opening their arts. This means you could have them getting taught for a couple of years by covenant teachers without having to dedicate a season per year out of the magus' time. One of the major disadvantages with this is that during that time ANY magus (not just a Bonisagus) can claim the child as an apprentice, and the original magus has absolutely NO claim to refute that since .

The other problem that Apprentices mentions is that most teachers do not like teaching Gifted children, because of the effects of the Gift. I think Apprentices actually says that the negative effects of the Gift actually negatively affect the teaching source quality. Obviously the Gentle Gift would nullify this, but nothing else would other than the teacher having Unaffected by the Gift, or a magus sitting in on the class and sharing his Parma (which pretty much defeats the purpose).

After checking, you're completely right about the Gift penalising the source quality of teaching, aye! Good catch - and definitely something to keep in mind.

As for identifying gifted youngsters - and the worry that they can be snapped up by another mage - are these still considerations for House Mercere..? As I understand it, Mercere mages are all family and always on the lookout for their kids showing signs of the Gift. So identifying a potential apprentice will have happened, de facto, very early on. Likewise for the safety of the potential apprentice re: being claimed by another mage. Would that actually happen in this case? I might be mistaken in my characterisation, but I sort of got the feeling that if a non-Mercere tried to take a potential Mercere mage out of the family? They would be blacklisted by every redcap from Andorra to Thebes or worse.

My opinion is that you are probably right. But legally, there is no recourse for the magus who had identified the child, nor for House Mercere. Practically, yes, the House could make life difficult for the magus in question. And I would doubt that anyone at Andorra would do such a thing. But a pissed off Verditian who just lost his apprentice to a Bonisagus who resides at Andorra; now that might be a different issue all together :imp: .

Now there's a story hook!

(Vulcanus will come for me in my sleep...! Someone hold me - I'm scared)

That could work, actually.

Consider that Vulcanus could Open the Arts of the child, and then upon attempting to teach the child the secrets of Valdarian magic, his Gift becomes suppressed (Apprentices story flaw). Perhaps the blood of Mutantes runs true within the child, and Verditius/Valdarian magic is incompatible with that bloodline. The child is then cast out by Vulcanus, who is then apprenticed within Redcap corps. During Redcap apprenticeship his Gift reasserts itself, and then he's taken on by Lucas. Indeed, Lucas may have been responsible for his being an apprentice Redcap, after being cast out by Vulcanus.

Or something.

Still needs to resolve who owns the apprentice, Vulcanus, or whomever takes over his training once his Gift has manifest again (presumably Lucas).

If someone grabs a potential Mercere magus, I don't think anyone would object to a Bonisagus snatching the kid right back. Then either donate the kid to the Mercere or have a Mercere magus teach the kid along with the Boni.

The apprentice tug'o'war is real.

You could even simply play an apprentice who's Gift didn't manifest until later. Nothing wrong with a 15 yo starting out. That's the age Thomas started out.

Just so long as I get an apprentice at the end of the day ...

Except, that, it's really bad form to take an apprentice if any one of the following are true

  • A Bonisagus with an apprentice should not take another apprentice
  • A Bonisagus should never take more than one apprentice from a single (emphasis mine) magus
  • A Bonisagus should never take an apprentice to replace a dull or unworthy apprentice
  • A Bonisagus should exercise this right no more than once every three years.

If Fleur hairs off after acquiring one apprentice from Vulcanus, she's violating Bonisagus protocol in three specific places. The right is, as yet, unlimited, but there is a protocol here to prevent abuse, and from it being limited under the Code. Violating the protocol risks making it an issue at something like a Grand Tribunal, and would be a huge rebuke to the entire House. The Prima Bonisagus, even though she sets the agenda, may end up having to put it on the agenda, due to other reasons, such as horse trading for votes on other issues already on the agenda.