Well yes it does seem to be Paradox. But a Paradox is an apparently contradictory statement that still might be true. It may well be true that CrAq spells do need appropriate requisites but Spells to create cobra venom, beer, rapeseed oil, ambergris, vitriol or any number of other natural liquids are still CrAq without any need for requisites. You just have to think for a moment that "appropriate requisites" might mean something more dramatic then having origins in another Form.
So for example Beef Stew is mostly liquid but contains large, visible and most importantly solid chunks of animals and vegetables. So it would be appropriate to have a Create Beef Stew spell be CrAq(An,He). If that's what the author meant by appropriate requisites then their is no contradiction between that term and the example spells.
Oil (petroleum) should not fall in the realm of Terram, just because it comes out of the ground. The same with poisons - some naturally occurring liquids are poisonous but not derived from Te/An/Aq (petroleum being one of them). Heck, if you distilled alcohol down to 100% purity (or close enough) I'd call it Aquam only too, just as if you rendered all the water out of blood the Corpus requisite would be gone. Beer smells and tastes of barley, hops and yeast, it clearly betrays its origins.
This kinda highlights one of the reasons why I like the if it's liquid it's Aquam option. When a character is trying to make a liquid that is clearly a plant product and everyone knows how it's made they get slapped with a requisite. I don't like the idea that if a character tries to make something that few people at the table have experience with and the storyteller is not clear on how Mythic Europeans would get there hands on it the spell doesn't need a requisite.
In Mythic Europe Beer is usually made from some grain (not always barley) wich may or many not be malted, a flavoring (gruit most commonly, but hops is gaining in popularity, also acorns, pine needles, mint, and innumerable other fruits herbs and spices) yeast (though that's not clearn in the 13th century) and water. It made in a crafty process that amounts to basically making a sweet wheat soup and letting it ferment. So of course even though it's a liquid it's got plant stuff in it, so an (He) req sounds reasonable.
Now flammable oil in Mythic Europe, to my knowledge your most likely your talking a processed plant oil or rendered animal oil. Petroleum oils where known at the time so it is possible that's what the spell is producing. But even if it was how was it made at the time? It was sometimes made from naturally acuring liquid petroleum (Tar, crude oil, asphalt if you wanna call that liquid) but was just as likely made from solid terram sources (Oil shale, coal, asphalt if you wanna call that solid) but at the time if my understanding is correct they also used ammonia salts (either a Te or An/Co product) and Vitreol (sulfuric acid which at the time is quite clearly made from rocks) in the process. So someone who knows that might say hey your oil either comes from rocks or it has rocks added to it so obviously you need a (Te) Req. Just like beer is water with plant stuff added to it.
As far as Poisons go what mineral based poisons where used in the Middle Ages? The poisons I know of are almost entirely plant based. Yew, Mistletoe, Hemlock, Castor Beans. I'm assuming they harvested venoms from snakes and other toxic creatures in 1220 Europe aswell. But even if they did make poison from mineral sources how is that process going to look and feel different then making a processed liquid out of grapes, barley, milk, or soup bones. A man made liquid produced from rocks would also need a Te req if a man-made liquid produced from plants requires an Herbam req.
I still can't see essentially penalizing players because the ST sorta knows what's in beer and wine and how it's made, but Rewarding players whenever the troupe is vague on how oil, acid, and poison where manufactured in the middle ages.
Hermetic Magus. I'm not even kidding. The benefits of four free seasons per year are so great that I wouldn't trade them for anything, not even a second and free Major Hermetic Virtue. Like, this Virtue makes The Gift cry. I would play an unGifted character with this Virtue before I'd play any Gifted character without it. (Of course, you can't actually get Hermetic Magus without The Gift, but the comparison is there)
... Life Boost is also pretty freaking sweet. Who needs to last for multiple spells when you can punch through the entire obstacle with one? Cautious with (insert weapon skill here) is also pretty amazing for any character fighting with a weapon, Magus or otherwise.
As for worst, hm... Lesser Purifying Touch hasn't ever been worth anything in my games, but that's probably just been due to not using it right. It really all depends on what the character's going to be doing.
Debatable. Given the existence of un-Gifted hedge wizards and the Order's Join or Die policy I find it hard to believe it's never happened before. Also given the temperment of some of the wizards who make a habit of delivering that ultimatum (cough flambeau) some pretty marginal cases have probably been inducted into the order.
Johnny the Excitable fire Magus: Thinking Hey that guy's using magic. -FWABOOM!!- Blows up nearest structure in village then bellows, "Join The Order of Hermes! Or DIE !!!" Please say no Please say no.
Lydia the Village Dowser: "Oh for the love of God yes whatever you say just don't hurt me"
Johnny: Aww that's the third time this summer "Oh well repeat after me. I, (state your name), hereby swear..."
20 YEARS LATER
Silas ex Jerbiton: "So Lydia what, (under his breath) as if I don't know, where you planning on for covonant service this year?"
Lydia ex Misc: "I was thinking I'd find another well"
I'm not used to people enforcing the Code quite so strictly. Good for Johnny, I guess. (Actually, wait. I could've sworn there was something in HMRE saying that the Order usually doesn't even accept unGifted people outside of rare circumstances such as a mostly-Gifted tradition having an unGifted member or two and them wanting to join as a group. Oh well, whatever)
... Actually, good for Lydia. Enjoy your four free seasons, girl! And you aren't even hated by all the grogs when you first meet them!
Well It's one of those things. I've never really gotten the impression that Magi who get all "join or die" are the type to always do due diligence. The oath doesn't say a thing about the Gift and once you swear to it your in and fully protected. So even if an inductee doesn't have the Gift who is going to scry on them to check it out. There are probably way's to deal with situations as extreme as this but some people will slip through the cracks.
As far as Lydia goes she doesn't quite get 4 free seasons since she ended up in a covenant that require seasons of service. But since in two decades they haven't gotten much more then more fresh water out of her she's doing okay with 3 commitmentless seasons. She uses the time to spend with her many healthy and happy grandchildren. Ah the life of the (mostly) idle rich.
I think this will have happened. And I think there will be peripheral code provisions for it. Like, you can move out of the OoH on friendly terms if a tribunal agrees to it. precisely to avoid this kind of thing. Otherwise I can see a tytalus offering a few hundred people with a su`pernatural virtue to join and then hoarding their votes to dominate a session of tribunal passing a series of directives. And then, as a last point, forcing a vote to ban join or die introductions of people that are not fully Gifted and he votes in favor of that, of course.
Allowing ungifted people to join and exercise their vote opens a very large can of worms for the OoH, one that is unlikely to go unnoticed for any period of time.
I'm pretty sure both joining the Order and voting are things that you aren't allowed to magically compulse others to do. And once they're officially Hermetic Magi, threats of physical violence won't hold any water either. "By the Code, join the Order of Hermes or die by my hand!" is significantly more compelling than the implied self-backstabbery of "if you don't vote my way, then damn the Code, I'll kill you!" At least from my perspective.
Not to mention, there'd likely be several layers of stigma attached to them even trying to exercise their vote. I mean, Redcaps are highly respected within the Order and are even considered equal citizens by the Magi, but even they are traditionally expected to sit on their hands during votes. Imagine the reaction when a bunch of unGifted noobs (who can't even learn Parma, so they might be too hateful of the people voting to even go inside) coming in and making uneducated, blind votes. There might be an emergency ruling by the head Guernicus just to get them out of there.
... In other news, on the topic of the thread, I would also say Entrancement is pretty terrible for a major Virtue if you follow the guidelines for people getting bonuses to resist. It might be better on a character completely dedicated to it, but on a Magi it's just not going to bear fruit at any time where it will matter to you any more.
I think the big limit on unGifted entering the order in large numbers is the idea of Vagrancy. Magi are legally required to be members of a House. The general assumption for Hedge Wizards inducted into the order is they end up in exMisc. My Guess is that if an unGifted with significant power (Mythic Companion, or even Companion and member of a non-hermetic tradition) was sworn into the order exMisc wouldn't bat an eye at snatching them up. ExMisc also might charitably adopt the occasional oops un-gifted one trick pony or arrange for them to be politely but nonviolently released from their oaths.
If someone tried to bring in a bunch of unGifted types as a voting block they'd have to induct them into their own House to maintain control over them. Not something I see Tytalyns doing. They take house membership pretty seriously. Same with almost all the other usual suspects most wouldn't want there House sullied. ExMisc might be okay with the idea of unGifted but they already are the most numerous house.
Indeed there is, see UnGifted Hedge Wizards (HMRE, page 6; or thereabouts).
No, the big limit is the idea that the unGifted are not proper wizards. There is a bit of wriggle-room in that magi might mistakenly think that an unGifted character with powerful supernatural capabilities is Gifted, and the existence of unGifted Redcaps do create a precedent for how unGifted magi should behave if any are accidentally (or deliberately) accepted into the Order (i.e. do something useful and sit on your hands during Tribunal votes).
However, Redcaps don't really create a precedent for how other magi should treat unGifted Hedge Wizards who somehow find their way into the Order. Unless an unGifted magus has powerful Hermetic allies, he should be treated with utter contempt. From the perspective of other magi he's just a grog with pretensions. Plenty of grogs have supernatural powers (Animal Ken, Second Sight, Skin-Changer, etc), but no magus in their right mind is going to start asking all such useful covenfolk to 'join or die'.
Yes and that's exactly the wiggle room I'm describing. When it comes right down to it if they both display magic powers how can you tell the difference between a Gifted and unGifted character without scrying on them.
If they're hanging around the Order, The Gift doesn't much matter - either you're scrying on a mage or on a "magical companion" (small "c") of magi, so either is frowned upon.
I'm guessing that any non-Gifted Hedge Wizard that gets inducted into the Order keeps a very low profile in Ex Misc, as they would quickly realize that both Certamen and Wizard's War suck if you're not Gifted. If someone who was offended at your existence challenges you to Certamen, they could take the "once I win I can cast a single spell on you" clause to scry you, and determine that you're non-gifted...at which point you get a Wizard's War declared on you. Which, unless (as Richard Love mentioned) you have some serious Supernatural Virtues backing you up, you're screwed.
Of course, none of these prove that a character is unGifted. He could just be a Gifted and hopeless hedge wizard. Either way it raises questions about whether he should be in the Order.
Also, although it is against the Code to scry on a suspect Hedge Wizard who has joined the Order, there is nothing (except Magic Resistance or an annoying Aegis, etc.) from preventing a magus who cares from nonetheless doing so. There are just consequences for getting caught. Just because you have confirmed to yourself via scrying that a hedge wizard "magus" is unGifted, doesn't mean that you have to tell anyone about the scrying. Just start spreading the rumour that the hedge wizard is unGifted.
Even if you are caught scrying on a suspect hedge wizard, you are only definitely in real trouble if you were wrong (and he is actually Gifted). Otherwise, which is worse? Pretending to be a magus or scrying on somebody pretending to be a magus; a case for the Tribunal.
I suppose the contra-example to that would be a Hedge Wizard that IS gifted, but has so many Supernatural Virtues already that he can't have their Gift opened, or learn any more Supernatural Abilities. In that case, I suppose the magus would be justified in calling them a "hopeless Hedge Wizard", but may still be allowed into the Order. Out of pity I guess, but hey - they could potentially become a source of Insight, or something...