Ah yes, true. I think a better for had been "the author can be blocked from ..."
I've seen both practiced.
Let's see what Jonathan says - then everyone has chimed in I think 
I have no opinions. The Cow and Calf is really in that undefined space. It's mentioned, and left up to the troupes to figure out.
Praxiteles will probably write very few books.
Of course, a contract could be negociated in such a way so that the author would cede all rights to the buyer. But that would be unusual, IMO.
Nothing there to suggest to me that the author is losing the right to sell or give further copies.
But it is indeed left somewhat vague. I would guess this is on purpose, which is perhaps why it was shuffled off as a peripheral ruling from the Hibernia Tribunal (which has no sourcebook yet).
Petronius will write some tractatus, for sure. But he won't be a prolific writer, since the base Quality of his books will only be 8. And since he will spread his study amongst many Forms, he won't be specialized enough to reach scores high enough to warrant writing really good summae. Of his two strongest Arts, Terram is already well-covered in the library (with a L20Q8 summa), while for Rego we have limited sources of study.
Petronius will of course try to secure as much Rego vis as possible to improve his score there, as well as as many tractatus as he can find, but I doubt he'll reach a score high enough to scribe a really good summa. Perhaps L15Q8 over the course of the saga. And by that time, I doubt it will be useful to any of the other senior magi of the covenant. Might still be a reasonable asset for the covenant, though, for visiting magi.
Suits me fine - I'm not trying to give away rights, I just want to know.
And the specific context in which I had seen this done as standard, was covenants that demand some service of their members, and in the case of books written demanded the right of the Cow.
Kinda like if you work for a company and write a piece of software on company time, really.
Just so people know, I will be on vacation from January 25 (this Friday) to February 1st.
I won't have access to a computer during that time, so don't expect any post from me. I will be enjoying the beach instead. 
One doubts it's a nearby beach.
Indeed. We have beaches here in Quebec City, but right now they are quite frozen (-20 Celsius today).
The Caribbean should be much warmer. 8)
Enjoy 
I will. 
But the plane only leaves Friday afternoon, so I can still post until then. 
I'm back. Had a great time.
I see that you guys waited for me, nothing new since I left.
Are you ready to roll?
Work has become very busy, and I may not have much time to post over the next two weeks. 
I'm in the same straights, myself. Work is really kicking my but, and I caught a stomach bug that took me out of action for 3 days. I hope to engage here by the weekend.
That sucks a little, but hey, that's life. Hope things settle down soon for both of you.
In the meantime, it there anything further that I can do to advance the saga? Hmmm... I could start a new thread(s) to details mini-scenes that describe some of the locations around the covenant, through the eyes of the mundanes (grogs and specialists). For example, at the secondary site we have the tower for the aerie, and some farms. We also have the cooperage. Probably some warehouses for the wine business. The docks at Koblenz. A variety of ruins scattered in the forest.
Although each site may eventually be visited by the magi, in many case the mundanes will be more concerned about them. Others, like the ruins, they would probably be the first to stumble upon them. Many of them can provide hooks to start a story, either for one of the magi or for introducing a companion.
Archimedes, regarding the thread for the Lost Summa, can you give me some info regarding the location of the dog, and how we'd track it down? I can weave a narrative around that and do little scenes of traveling back towards Laurus Argenti.
Cheers!
Arthur,
First, welcome back; glad you had a nice break.
Second, sorry to delay the story. Eule will be able to give a general area, for the dog, closer to L.A. but she won't be able to help pinpoint the exact location. I don't have my notes with me tonight, but I should be able to give you a synopsis tomorrow, if you'd like? (Should I post it, PM it so no one else has spoilers? How much is enough for you to start writing?)
Hello folks 
I'm looking to stretch my wings a little and trying to find a Saga with room for another player. How does Via Experimenta fare? And, should there be room, what kind of spaces need filling? I've got a few vague ideas I could try to distill.
No problem for the break, these things happen in PbP format.
As to the story, I don't need any of the spoilers for now. I was just looking at the kind of information that Eule is able to provide from his spells. That way, I'll be able to weave some sort of narrative about the group's departure from Fengheld and travel back towards Laurus Argenti. So it is more about knowing what is known in-character about the location of the dog, and how they could track it down more accurately (just a quick run-down of information known at this point). Any kind of spoiler can wait until you have more availability.
Hi Makarion!
Before the holidays we discussed adding additional players at some point in the saga. What came out of the discussion was that, since we are just starting the saga after some months setting it up, it might be better to wait a little to let the founding magi to establish themselves in the covenant they created (and the players in the environment they spent so much time establishing).
That doesn't mean a flat "no", however. Bear with me and I'll try to explain.
The "saga" of Via Experimenta is a bit different from the usual PbP sagas. As its many implies, it is a bit of an experiment, where each "player" (participant) is actually writing the stories for his own characters. The covenant (Laurus Argenti) provides an environment to simulate the advancement of the magi, explore things that they might do and how they will evolve over time. Other participants can get involved in others' stories, helping build them and adding a degree of uncertainty, and helping adjuticate situations that could evolve in many different ways regardless of the wishes of the character (and player). In short, the saga is much more a story-writing exercice than a traditionnal role-playing experience.
So we don't really have a storyguide -- each of us are actually storyguides for our own stories, with some input from the others. Jonathan.Link initiated the project and is the moderator of this board, but each of us contributed into building the covenant. We also have a a wiki for the saga, that I manage.
What does this means for a potential participant who would like to join the saga? As a participant, it means that you should be willing to write your own stories (with some input from the others). To be able to do that, you would need to familiarize yourself with the environment we've created, and be at least somewhat familiar with the Rhine Tribunal.
Now, if the others agree, there's a few ways in which you could introduce one or more characters to the saga:
- You could play some grogs. Only a few have been fleshed out, so youâd been able to create your own. We could create a thread for day-to-day mundane interactions. This would allow you some time to become familiar with the covenant and its surroundings, and get a feel of what kind of character could be appropriate.
- You could play a short-term visitor to the covenant, either a companion or a magus. You wouldnât need to flesh him out completely, but youâd need a reason behind the visit.
- You could create a fully-detailed magus for a long-term visit as a peregrinator. This could eventually lead to becoming a member of the covenant, or not, based on how things evolve. Note, however, that since the âplayâ has just started, it could be some time before you are able to introduce the character. This could begin with an exchange of letters, or a short visit (before the character is fully fleshed out).
Note that right now two of the participants are currently unable to contribute much for the next few weeks due to a heavy work-load in real life, so it may be some time before they can provide input and approval on this. Still, there is nothing that prevents us from discussing it in the meantime. That is, of course, if you are comfortable with the concept of this saga and the constraints it brings.
But I want it to be clear that all current participants will need to agree before you can join play, particularly with a magus.
Cheers!
Thank you for your generous and considerate reply!
I was, in fact, hoping to play a character that was at least in part based out of the nearby city of Coblenz, more specifically the Basilica of Sankt Kastor. It may be a dangerous place for a magus, and it may be a dangerous place for a Waldensian even more so, but when the Lord calls.... In time, he could of course move into the Covenant, but that can certainly wait a fair while if it suits the troupe better. And being the main SG for my own characters' stories is not a problem - it's been too long since I spread my writing wings, and I could use the exercise.
Even so, I will gladly await your acquiescence. Should everyone be comfortable with another voice in the choir, I will start more detailed introductions.
An intruiging concept (I had to look up the Waldensians on Wikipedia), which could certainly fit into the current saga. Our saga starts in 1184, which may be a bit early for a Waldensian, as Peter Waldo began to preach in the streets of Lyon in 1177. So 1184 may be a bit early for the philosophy to have spread to Germany already, unless the character is an early "disciple" of Peter Waldo (which has some potential in itself). Also, I'm not sure how being a Waldensian would fit with the character being based at St. Castor Church (it is not a basilica yet).
Would this be a companion? (I don't see how this could be a magus, but I could be wrong.)
I was considering a young craftsman from the Vaudes valleys, working on murals in a church in Lyon and visiting Peter's sermons on lunchbreaks - and finding more holiness there than in the church he was working on. Then, one day, a strange merchant from Sardinia came by and bartered him away from his master and guild. I was thinking of calling it "Pride and Prejudice" 
On his return from the wilderness (and those nasty forges), he would travel to a nice cathedral city to do the Lord's work, preferably not too close to the Albigensian Crusade - he can see where that is going. [The Waldensians would get hit with their own pogroms once the Albigensian crisis was dealt with, in fact, and this simmered on for centuries.] Queue the organ music and some fine new artistry for the Church in Coblenz, which was undergoing renovations at the time. [The interior was much improved and beautified, as well as a story added each to the two towers.]
Central themes would be Temptation, of course (although being a very dedicated fellow, anyone can be tempted if an adversary tries hard enough), as well as Hubris (rather hard to avoid with the kind of training he would undergo) and Sacrifice/Salvation (I have a few ideas I would love to explore in a story). In fact, Hubris alone has enough flavours to tell a dozen stories. His main Hubris, though, would be his belief that his interpretation of the Word has primacy over that of the Church.
From a rules perspective, I am debating with myself whether the Holy Magic rules are worth experimenting with. They would fit the theme as well as many of the mechanics, but it would make regular inter-hermetic lab and ceremonial activities difficult (and he's mutually incomprehensible with most Hermetic magi for purposes of learning from books and so forth). It does grant a great flexibility in how auras affect his magic.