This topic is used to track the description, resources and details of the covenant. No discussion should be done here - that should be done in the Covenant Discussions (OOC) topic.
Some of the messages will be configured as wikis so that all players can edit them.
This message will serve as a table of contents:
Leonardus of Jerbiton, when he first discovered the valley, initiated the construction of a manor house at the spot where the aura was strongest, adjacent to a small waterfall. Construction continued over the years, expanding the manor house with additional structures for the mundanes who lived there permanently, but also room for additional magi for a future covenant.
But, before construction was finished, Leonardus apparently suffered from an experience that affected his mind permanently (perhaps Twilight). It made him confused about the overall plan. He had the workers stop some of the work, add differents wings that sometimes made little sense, tear down parts of the structure and add some independent buildings with no apparent purpose, as well as create decorative elements that clashed with each other.
The result is a fairly chaotic collection of buildings centered around a manor house that sprawls out in erratic ways, with a confusing floor plan. Corridors that circle around a room to reach its door, a flight of stairs that lead nowhere, a half-finished square tower, columns, terraces and gardens (that are either bare or growing unchecked) are all elements of the structure. With so few mundanes present, an ever-changing focus to their work and the absence of full-time occupants, certain parts of the covenant have fallen into disrepair.
There is a magical oak tree of huge proportions growing in the valley, lumpy and twisted. The magical aura is strong there, but strangely enough this is not where it is strongest. That occurs about sixty paces away, near the waterfall. A narrow opening in the cliff face lead to a large cave (the opening is now inside the manor house). There are a few tunnels leading to secondary caves, but one does not notice them immediately.
For on the jumbled rocks to one side of the cave is a something completely incongruous - a Roman galley, broken in half. Wrapped around it is a petrified sea serpent, its body as thick as a man is tall and its head raised in a soundless roar.
(placeholder)
Creo: Root summa (L5Q15)
Intellego: Summa (L18Q12)
Muto: Root summa (L5Q15)
Perdo: Nothing
Rego: Root summa (L6Q18)
Animal: Root summa (L6Q20)
Aquam: Nothing
Auram: Nothing
Corpus: Root summa (L5Q15)
Herbam: Root summa (L5Q15)
Ignem: Summa (L15Q15)
Imaginem: Root summa (L5Q15)
Mentem: Root summa (L5Q15)
Terram: Root summa (L5Q15)
Vim: Root summa (L5Q15)
Magic Theory: Summa (L5Q15)
Corpus: Gentle Caress of Aesclepius (CrCo 30), The Inexorable Search (InCo 20)
Vim: Scales of the Magical Weight (InVi 5), Sense the Nature of Vis (InVi 5), Piercing the Magical Veil (InVi 20), Wizard’s Communion (MuVi gen/15), Wind of Mundane Silence (PeVi gen/20), Aegis of the Large Hearth (ReVi gen/25, includes a +1 Size magnitude), Maintaining the Demanding Spell (ReVi gen/20), Gather the Essence of the Beast (ReVi 15)
Vim: Aegis of the Large Hearth (ReVi gen/25, includes a +1 Size magnitude), Wizard’s Vigil (MuVi gen/20)
The peasants who live in the villages nearby know about the oak at the entrance of the valley. They say it was the druids that planted it a long time ago. They say the oak tree witnesses promises and rewards those who keep them. This makes it a popular spot for young lovers and for outdoor marriage vows exchanged between peasants. It is said that if you come back years after a vow you have kept, the tree rewards you with a golden acorn. This only works for vows that mean something, not for silly little promises.
Every year the villagers of Chastellion hold a festival under the oak, at the summer solstice. This festival is a popular time to make promises and oath under the boughts of the Oak. When he was present, Leonardus encouraged the practice and sometimes attended the festival, gifting the villagers with small items from his travels -- such as sweets for the children, nice fabric for the women, or cegs of ale for the men. The villagers are hopeful that the Heir and his coterie of strange people will continue this tradition, much to the dismay of Father Luc, the local priest.
The raw vis comes in the form of acorns. Each person who makes a promise during the festival takes one home and keeps it until the next festival. If they kept their promise, the acorn turns golden and contains a pawn of Rego vis, which the covenant buy from the villagers. If the promise isn't kept, the acorn dries out and turns brown.
At the winter solstice, the covenant also collects a few acorns from the oak that clings to the bare branches, for they contain Herbam vis.
Under the disorganized buildings of the covenant there is an extensive and not fully explored network of caves, that can be reached through a narrow tunnel under the mountain side, hidden behind a thick wooden door reinforced with bands of black iron. The narrow passage gives way to a larger and smoother tunnel, where the walls are damp and the air is cold, large enough for two man to easily walk side by side. The tunnel twists and branches, leading to several caves, natural and artificial.
The main cave of the complex seems to be the origin of the magical aura in the Laimunt Valley. There lies a Roman galley, broken in half. Wrapped around it, a petrified sea serpent, its body as thick as a man is tall and its head raised in a soundless roar.
While to mundane and magic examination it appears inanimate, the serpent sheds it's scales, each almost as large as a human hand, resembling large flakes of mica. Collected through the year this amounts to a sensible amount of Muto vis.
There is a fountain inside a cave, about 10 miles west of the covenant, near the village of Underswyler, to which the locals attribute many miraculous healings. The water flows as a trickle from a stalagmite into a shallow pool. On the Assumption of Mary, 15th August, it's possible to harvest 2 or 3 pawns of Creo vis from the water.
In the last years the cave has become a pilgrimage site, and the people from Underswyler have been going there for Mass, under the direction of their priest.
| Vis Reserves | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creo | 3 | Animal | Ignem | ||
| Intellego | Aquam | Imaginem | |||
| Muto | 7 | Auram | Mentem | ||
| Perdo | Corpus | 3 | Terram | ||
| Rego | 3 | Herbam | 3 | Vim | 1 |
Recent Transactions:
Notes:
Needs to add pawns from our other sources for year 1205 and remove the amount due to the heirs of Leonardus for the same year.
The covenant derives its incomes from the village of Chastellion, mostly in the form of foodstuff and goods produced there, although the watermill and the village smith provide a bit of coin as well. At the very least, the covenant runs little risk of starving even with its booming population.
However, the maintenance of the buildings is quite uneven, due to a lack of both funds and workers. The covenant has a quarry and a resident stonemason (with her family), as well as a carpenter, but this is far from enough to take care of the multitude of structures which compose the main coumpound. To make things worse, the magical nature of the site makes improvements more difficult to coordinate, as the layout inside the buildings seem to change on its own. So a leaking roof that is repaired can end up in a different part of the covenant after a few seasons.
The lack of hard income is bound to become worse as the magi start using their labs, with all of the expensive ingredients that they use.