The Flying Covenent

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

So I have a Verditius Mage with an insane goal: Create a flying Covenant.

The only feasible way this can be accomplished is to create a Covenant using the Conjure the Wizards Tower Ritual and then opening the whole damn thing as a Greater Enchanted Device.

He is nowhere near powerful enough to do this yet but I would like set up the ground work for this, his life's work.

My question is this: On the size and materials table for enchanting devices, the material score would be 4 for the stone, but what would the size be? A small room is 5. Would something with the dimensions of the Wizards Tower be considered 6 or 7?

2

There are guidelines in The Mysteries for enchanting HUGE stuff - it's the mystery of Sacred Architecture. Note that without the mystery ability, you have to be able to fit the entire tower within your lab to enchant it!

Personally, I think there are cheaper alternatives to enchanting a whole tower. Why doesn't the character invent a spell that makes a cloud solid (while still buoyant) and then you build a castle on top of it? Or use a variant of Wings of the Soaring Wings the affects the air around a whole ship rather than around a single individual?

3

Actrually, there are several ways to achieve that.

If he creates a large disk of stone (for example) and enchants it to fly, he can putr whatever he fancies on top of it and still have a flying covenant.

he can also create a flying castle. More complicated than a bare mystic tower, but morte stylish as well.

He can enchant a ship to fly

He can enchant a CLOUD to be solid and act as a surface where you can put stuff....

Quite an achievement in any case :slight_smile:

4

Actually I was thinking of setting up the lab inside the tower, but I will take a gander at Sacred Architecture. The disk is not feasible as there are many other enchantments I would still want to invest in the tower after the initial ReTe.

Enchanting a cloud? Not sure if it will fit in the lab....

Getting the Covenant to fly is just the first step. Transplanting the Aura is a whole new kettle of fish and creating an Aegis of the Hearth that travels is equally a pain in the butt.

5

Of Course you could always make some intgral part of the building an enchanted item such as the lintel stone of the main hall.

Open that for enchantment and then make the 'fly' spell with Target structure and enough size modifiers.

Of course, how easy it would be to 'fly' a covenant I don't know. Equally, like people, Covenants under constant Spells gain warping. I'd hate to think what happens to an adaquately warped covenant!.

I'm petrified our covenant will become sentient and get annoyed then go rampaging through the covenant like a big stone Hulk.

A

6

As for Aura, if a flying covenant doesn't acquire a Magic Aura in a few years, I don't know what would!

7

One of my old posts focused on flying cities, have a look

[url]https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/silly-but-fun/1823/1]

Perhaps a little larger scale than you were thinking of, but it might give you some ideas.

I'd avoid hermetic architecture if you can. Its massively expensive in terms of vis and time. and pretty much the only bonus it grants you is to enchant boundaries.

8

Supernatural Tether? :wink:

9

I can see the way to "enchant" a cloud, first he must make a way for catch the cloud an he could work with that, a Mu(Re)Au spel or Enchanted item making the cloud of the size necessary. The he could enchant the cloud with MAu(Te) object tha could make the flying tower.
Here is the possible spells:
Cath the Heavenly Mists ReAu30
Take down a cloud
Base: 4, Target: Individual, Range: Sight, Duration: Diameter, +2 Size Level 30
Bottle of Pretty Cloud: Mu au
Objetive: Individual, Range: Touch, Duration: Sun
Take a Cloud in the bottle like a little
(Mu(Re)Au Base: 3, +1 Touch, +2 Sun,+2 Complexity, +2 Size), +1 Two uses diaries 26 effect level
Olimpic Mason´s Dream:
Mu(Re)Au(Te)
Make a tower from a little part of a cloud.
(Mu(Re)Au(Te) Base 4, +1 Requisites,+0 momentary, +1 part, +1 Touch, + 1 Complexity, +3 size) Use Limitless +10,-Level 50
What yoo¡u tihink?

10

You do not enchant the cloud as a device. You make a device (or learn a spell) that makes clouds solid. E.g. (assuming you can reach a cloud in the first place):

The Cloud as Solid as Earth, Mu Au (Te) 10
Range: Touch, Duration: Sun, Target: Individual
Makes a cloud as solid as packed earth, leaving all its other properties unmodified.
(Base Level 4, change one element into another, -1 magnitude affects only one property of air, + 1 magnitude Touch, + 2 magnitudes Sun duration - compare with Rain of Stones)

A device with Conc duration (-1 magnitude) that maintains concentration (+5 levels), with a single use/day would also be level 10 (a 1 pawn lesser enchanted device - ideal work for apprentices).

I am still curious about the buoyancy thing. If you place some weight on a (solid, but otherwise normal) cloud, would it sink accordingtoMythicEurope*physics? I'd say yes, though perhaps not very quickly. So you'd need something to make the cloud more buoyant.
Now, you could do it with Rego (the base level for controlling a normal weather phenomenon - the cloud - is 3, brought up to level 15 for Touch Range and Sun Duration, plus an extra magnitude for great strength - the castle on top!), but I'd go again with Muto and snip 5 levels:

The Cloud as Light as Fire (Mu Au (Ig) 10 - same guidelines as above, except Ignem in place of Terram; note that the two spells probably qualify as "similar")
R: Touch D: Sun T: Ind
Gives a cloud the same buoyancy as if it was made of Fire. Fire tends to climb higher than Air so the cloud will tend to climb unless weighted down (note that this is not hot air being lighter than cold air, a modern concept - according to Aristotelian physics the "natural" positions of the elements, to which they all tend, is Earth at the bottom, Water on top of Earth, Air on top of Water, Fire on top of Air).

This does put you into an unstable position - you probably need to carefully manage ballast! That's not too difficult, though:

The areonaut's magical ballast (Cr Te 4)
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind
Creates 10 cubic paces (a few dozen tons) of sand. Have the grogs throw the excess off board.
(Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Sun).

Of course, you probably want propulsion too. CrAu 4 will create a nice, solid wind blowing in the direction you want for as long as you maintain Concentration (Base 2, +1 Touch, +1 Conc); for longer trips, you'll probably want to boost it up one magnitude to Sun.

Note that this is all apprentice level stuff. The last two spells (ballast and propulsion) could be managed spontaneously without fatigue with only a modicum of study. An experienced wizard might manage even the first two spontaneously without fatigue!

11

Actually, I'd love to enchant a cloud. Wonderful idea. Will naturally need to capture it and get it into the lab and keep it together... ah well, a little help from the grogs and this will go just fine.

scheming ensues

Hmm. Material base points would probably only be 1 (or less). Rats. 3-6 enchantment spaces is a bit tight.

Ah-ha. Charged item, clouds of summer snow. Ought to get a good form/material bonus on that one.

I can just imagine the legends such a project would create among the local mundanes... :slight_smile:

12

Sure, it flies... but what about things like water, food, accessing other raw resources such as timber, cloth, metal, or worked goods?

Once you've got this flying covenant, how do you keep it supplied in such a way that doesn't have the magi perpetually generating devices or leaving those devices in the hands of the grogs? (Where hilarity would ensue, in our saga)

I think something more along the lines of Semita Errabunda-- where it opens out into a number of locations, or just actually exists somewhere remote and manages Hermes Portals to places where the supplies exist, is more managable...besides, if it's been enchanted to fly, then it can be disenchanted to crash. I'd hate to imagine what performing the Aegis on such a flying covenant would entail. What happens to your aura when you enter an area of Dominion?

I'm not saying it isn't possible, or not cool...I'm just saying that it sounds fairly impractical from a sustainable standpoint-- and that's not a concern every game has.

-Ben.

13

Looks like its back to the drawing board for this project...

...maybe a flying Lab...

14

... In a previous campaign (4th ed), the covenant was stuck in Novgorod. One of the members, a Bonisagus of Trianoma, wanted to create a forum, separate from official tribunal, in which issues could be discussed. She, for story reasons, needed to be able to be able to have these forums on short notice and with participants covering the geography of the entire Order. The solution was to create a flying ship. The insides of the ship would be standard for cargo, but magically re-configurable for meetings (and lodgings befitting many magi). It was rendered invisible from onlookers below and came with a crane system for getting to the ground without making a water landing. The covenant split the costs with her on condition that they be able to use the ship for income. As I recollect, the ships actual motion was done magically, and I think it had a preservation effect to avoid decay.

I had meant to write the whole thing up for Hermes Portal (complete with ship maps... gamers love maps :wink:) years ago, but never found the time. Maybe later for Sub Rosa.