With Okeannetis return and the elections a couple of days later the covenant settles into the tart of a new normal though their relative isolation from the rest of the order means adventures from outside will either be rare or you will not be immediately aware of them.
Investigation of the aimated statues reveals that while Silas made the carpenters the others were made by other magi in other covenants and traded for carpenter automatons, but that historically Silas has been responsible for the maintenance of all of them- including 6 laborers, a mason, a smith, a jeweler, a glass blower, a leatherworker, a tinker, a chandler, a brewer, a cook, a percemanarius, an ink maker, a bowyer, and an armorer in addition to the carpenter that Silas built.
A routine is what Plasmatoris has been wanting - not that the Jerbiton was comfortable with routines, actually. He was happiest when he was breaking routines and exploring his own ideas, but for him to be able to do that he needed a routine to break free of. So Plasmatoris set himself to fixing the covenant's issues feeling like a lumberjack in a desert trying to plant trees.
When he isn't otherwise distracted by a brilliant artistic idea or a whim of fancy and study, Plasmatoris will set himself to learning what he can about the Covenant's inhabitants, its resources, and its patterns. He wants to get the get his new home running and functioning so he can return to being the lackadaisical layabout that he wants to be. A secondary goal would be coming more familiar with his familiar and the faeries who infest his personal sanctum.
As Plasmatoris acquires information pertaining to the functioning of the covenant, he will scribe it all down in his messy writing, and make it available to the other magi during the regular meetings. If he can manage it, he will push for a scribe to make copies for everyone, if a skilled scribe can be found.
Lares first makes sure all of the magi know a few key things:
Food is produced locally, so we are not acutely dependent on the oasis for that.
Lares’ son was visiting the oasis, and is expected back. There is a chance that he will not have been affected by the rejuvenation.
After that, he will focus on a few things.
First, getting the governing council with the leaders of the language groups set up – he is mainly interested, like Plasmatoris, in ensuring that the covenant runs properly despite the disruption.
Second, learning Berber by reading the book.
Third, getting to know his family better – he has supper with them every night.
Fourth, once the Cathars have elected a representative, he will try to see if they still know anything about the locations and gathering of the vis sources.
Since Lares is working in the same goals as Plasmatoris, he will come to realize that Plasmatoris is absolutely terrible at dealing with people. He is better than nobody trying to get things done at all, but is generally unimpressive in getting people to listen to him, even with his status as a magus.
(His Presence + Etiquette and Charm rolls are -3 after the Gift, and his Leadership comes in at -5.)
Within a week the covenfolk have gotten themselves reorganized and are fully functional. The Cathars believe they recall the locations of the vis sources- the fact that those who become Perfecti cease gathering the vis due to an abundance of caution of the potential for it being sinful means that the job tends to fall to younger Cathars, and thus the information is not lost.
They would like to send someone to the French tribunal to see if they can find any perfecti there who could join the covenant and restart their oral traditions.
The berbers and muslim groups don't have any special requests at this time but all three groups do have a set of relatively commonsense proposals for dealing with the disruption to covenant life (such as deciding who gets to use which crafting buildings, assignments of duties and so on) that they would like a magus to sign off on. They seem to expect Lares to take care of it but while surprised at Plasmatorius' interest are perfectly willing to run these issues based on his signature, as long as he promises to stand by his authorization if it comes to the mage council. (which means fundamentally that they won't be hung out to dry if the magi take exception to one of the plans when enacted)
Argentius spends his days in study to advance his understanding of Vim. In the early morning, the artificer often spends an hour at his forge, maintaining his crafting skills. His work at the forge is a kind of daily calisthenic, a discipline of practice.
As the day cools into evening, Argentius often walks the grounds, openly social with all the people of the covenant. He doesn't appear to favor one of Al Kufra's social groups over another, though he does show interest in seeking them out and asking them how their work is going.
Argentius also continues to investigate whether or not his ring would allow him to speak to the automaton craftspeople who work in the covenant.
The ring does allow him to speak to the automaton craftsmen, but aside from reporting what they have done at whose request the only novel information they report is their own condition with regard to need for maintenance, which does not vary significantly over a single season.
Silas spends most of the passing day inside his building, studying one of the tomes of parma. He leaves his little refugee from time to time to get any updates on the situation. Sometimes he asks a few questions – mostly centred about the covenants wood resource. How much wood is important and how often?
Silas also tries to meet Plasmatoris about a discussing and redrafting addendum, though the Jerbiton seems to be away at some other business. Perhaps its for the better he thinks and put of any thoughts regarding the addendum until another time or he’s approached himself.
"A perfectly reasonable request. The only problem I see is that we have decided to keep the covenant's situation to ourselves for the time being, lest any enemies decide to take advantage of the situation. I think, however, that if the envoys are sworn to secrecy and the matter is presented with sufficient discretion to the prospective perfecti, we can allow this. Do you agree, Plasmatoris?"
"Excellent ideas. Thank you for being so quick in bringing order to the covenant. You have my permission - do you agree, Plasmatoris?"
Plasmatoris is unreasonably delighted that the covenfolk are happy to speak to him regarding such matters. It was unexpected! He nods to himself, pondering a long moment before answering. "The concept seems good on paper. I lets you and I give it a brief review to make sure we're looking at the same thing, then we can enact it on a probationary level, reviewing it in a month to hammer out any troubles that were unforseen?"
The Jerbiton's schedule is best described as inconsistent. He actually seems to have trouble keeping to a schedule. He often is up early to enjoy the dawn and it's sights, and then sometimes he stays up late and stays in bed late - a dangerous thing for a magus perhaps - the Jerbiton is most regularly contactable in the early mornings if he wasn't up late the night before.
wood is quite scarce at the covenant, all of it being shipped in from the coast, and most of that is imported from Europe or down the Nile. Some scrub wood can be used for fuel, but generally dried animal dung is a more available resource for most fires, with wax and oils being in common use where a more sanitary solution is required.
Since Plasmatoris does not object to the Cathars' request, Lares brings their request to the others. He suggests that the envoy to France be allowed to appease the Cathars. The conditions would be, however, that the envoy(s) is someone who was born in the covenant and whom no one in Europe therefore knows (so the rejuvenation cannot be recognized) and that they swear to secrecy.
Though Plasmatoris didn't seem worried at first, when the council of magi talk, he chews thoughtfully at his lip. "I like this plan, but I also think it's probably going to cause a lot of trouble," he observes. "The big reason I like it has nothing to do with the Cathars. it gives us a good chance to gather information about the outside world."
“I don’t know sodales. Isnt it a bit strange? These Cathars – whatever they are – moved quite some distance away from France. Surely there must have been some reason for that. And now they suddenly want to go back? They might not return, or they might bring back more people to strengthen their own position here. Both seems undesirable. Though we might not be in a position to refuse them.”
“I suppose the advantages outweigh disadvantages but let’s ensure it’s a small envoy and that there is some maximum on how many they can bring back. I am unease about it though… Maybe we really should send a magi.”
"My instinct tells me something along the lines of what you're afraid of, Silas, that there may be a good reason they're so far away from home, and perhaps just sending them back to France to look for others of their faith without an accompanying magi isn't the best option until we know more. I'm inclined to see what can be done to help them, whether that's a trip to France, acquiring some written lore about the Cathar faith, or something else, however."
"Well, I think the reason they want to send someone is because they have lost all of their elders. The elders held the knowledge, hence it must be reacquired. Consider what we would do at a time like this if our knowledge wasn't written down."
"As for the magus... the ones not participating in casting the Aegis, I believe, are Plasmatoris, Silas, and Tastheus. The others are needed here. I am not opposed to sending a magus, if one of these three volunteers."
[OOC: Tastheus' player has been awol for a while, so if he doesn't come back, this might be a chance of saying "he went to Europe and never came back". Or it might be an adventure for them if they reappear. @Heaven_s_Thunder_Ham , you still there?]
"There is also the alternative of waiting until Aetherius has re-established his capacity for instantaneous travel. Given the substantial travel time to Europe, this is arguably not much slower than going by foot and boat. It is certainly much safer, and having a mage accompany them would not pose problems. Should we ask the Cathars how they would feel about such a solution?"
"It's a possibility, I suppose, once I get there. I could try and get contacts through the redcaps to see what we can learn about the Cathars." Aetherius looks at Plasmatoris, Silas, and Tastheus "Or do any of my sodales feel an expedition would be worth it?"
Argentius leans forward after listening to the discussion.
"Sodales, I think we need to be much more cautious on answering the ask of the Cathars." The artificer sits back.
"The servant who works in my sanctum is a Cathar. She told me that her people were brought here because they were fleeing The Inquisition. I'm not sure what that is exactly, but it sounds like an aggressive effort of The Church to pursue this sect of Christians. They were fleeing somethin, fleeing it so much that they came into this desert. That is the last memory of this group, yet decades have passed by. This Inquisition may have eradicated the sect. They may be in hiding. Our group of Cathars may be the last remaining members of the sect. There may not be Elders of the Cathars left anywhere."
Argentius looks among the others.
"I think we wait. We need to rebuild our strength together without revealing our situation. I have great empathy for the Cathars and their situation. But we need to carefully find out the current situation of their sect in this timeline. The risks are high. Too high to send a team to the continent on this topic. Why not simply send out an inquiry via the Redcaps first."