In my saga, the characters are inheriting some property which will be they're new covenant. There is a source of vis there that gives one pawn of vis per year in each of the 5 forms.
The covenant is located within a townhouse / warehouse on the docks of the city of Palma, on the island of Mallorca.
I think the source should be an old roman fountain(s).
Right now I'm considering the following, but am very open to ideas.
A fountain devoted to 5 aspects of Man:
Possibly 5 figures in one fountain, all intereacting with each other. Or perhaps 5 smaller fonts on the old Roman sea wall.
The vis/water would either emerge from or collect in the object in parenthesis:
Cr – healer (jar of salve)
In – philosopher (ink well)
Mu – senator (mouth) [illustrating the fickleness of politicians]
Mu (ALT) -- woman lover (crying) [illustrating the fickleness of a lover -- no insult intended to women readers, I'm just thinking classically is all]
Re – Soldier or emperor ("blood" on sword, or mouth)
Pe – A defaced image (still water)
Pe (ALT) -- mythical creature (blood / claws / teeth)
I invite your thoughts.
On a practical note, would a fountain so close to the sea use sea water? (This might explain why the water would not be drunk and therefore the vis not used)
Would it be more authentic to be 5 figures within one fountain, or 5 heads in bas relief? I would guess the latter.
I think it is too easy to just go there and collect vis for all 5 techniques (basically depriving the storyteller of a hook, because all things can be made with this vis).
complications:
it is difficult to reach (on a steep rock)
the timeframe is narrow (when this or that planet is reflected in the middle of the pool)
the person who can collect is limited (a pregnant woman for creo, a blind person for intellego, a transvestite/shapechanger for muto, a person who took a human life for perdo, and someone of noble birth for rego)
it is contested (by fairies, an infernal cult)
collecting it has unwelcome side effects
(creo - lust, intellego - jealousy, muto - treachery, perdo - wrath, rego - pride)
a spell or a lot of work is needed to create it (making it unpopular with grogs)
a welcome side effect (viagra effect, making the grogs VERY eager to be the ones collecting it)
I should clarify that this is a new covenant starting up, and this is the only vis source they have.
In your saga, are all the vis sources -- even "startup" sources designated by Covenant creation -- story driven? In my experience, we haven't done so for the "startup" ones. There may be a little research to discover how to harvest it, but that's about it. Otherwise, it's often just decided at the start, with a little color: The standing stones surrounding the hill with the level 5 magic aura each generate a pawn of vis on the winter solstice. The mistletoe that grows in the sacred grove harvests 3 pawns of herbam vis, etc....
I was going to assume that the vis that can be collected from the fountain is only available one night a year. Solstice perhaps, or a certain Roman Holiday.
That being said, I'm looking for other shapes and/or materials of the fountain. Just something to add a little color when it is introduced.
Story-wise, there actually will be a starter story on move-in day, regarding a couple of locals who've been using the creo / perdo vis in the past....
Depends on whether you want to "give" them the source, or they have to figure it out. Unless you want this to be part of the story again and again, they get it once and then it largely fades into the background as an "automatic", or at least as a narrative "And we do the fountain thing again this season" rather than anything that needs be played out. Or a quick vignette - every season, even every year might get old fast, esp for only 1 pawn/.
Just for bookkeeping, I'd go with 1 pawn/season of 4, and then 1 that is tougher to find and is less predictable. I think you could make a nice pairing of Cr:Spring, Muto:Fall, Perdo:Winter - Summer is not as clear to me - probably Rego, just because, and that leaves Intellego - which is the tough one.
(Alternately, on a high Roman magical holiday, it's all-or-nothing, they either get the 5 or the miss the bus.)
The form (small "f") these take? Something in the fountain - something grows in Spring, something changes in Fall, something rots in Winter. Different things each time. Something that moves around for Rego, and something that requires some perception for the random Intellego pawn.