Ars Magica: Lumen Montis, A Covenant in the Alps [OOC]
- Thread starter Cerebral Paladin
- Start date
My apologies for being out of touch; having a month to generate 175,000 words does that to a person.
Marcus is perfectly happy with appointing Merin to the librarianship, and will appoint Fionuala to the vis custodianship if she'll accept the position.
The decision on whether to accept the non-Gifted scribes is up to the librarian, but Marcus is of the opinion that good is better than fast.
Am I correct in my belief that the current season is summer 1221?
Marcus is perfectly happy with appointing Merin to the librarianship, and will appoint Fionuala to the vis custodianship if she'll accept the position.
The decision on whether to accept the non-Gifted scribes is up to the librarian, but Marcus is of the opinion that good is better than fast.
Am I correct in my belief that the current season is summer 1221?
Thanks!redhound said:
Tsaran, largely irrelevantly, is of the same opinion. With respect to the season, I'd thought the expedition was taking place in the spring, with the Monthey group spending the spring getting things going in the valley while the Lemannus group copied out texts.
Incidentally, it looks as though it may take us more than one season to get the covenant established. If it turns out to require two seasons from each of us, do we want to modify the terms of our charter to require new members to likewise give two seasons of service in their first year? <grin> And how do we apply that to Karl, if he joins us?
Grogs: Abelard and Gisele
I decided to take up Adam's challenge and design some grogs, so I built one of the couples. Abelard is a cheerful young soldier with a roving eye and a thick skull; his wife Gisele is a miller's daughter with a passion for sticking her nose in other people's business and a knack for failing to understand said business.
On the practical side, Abelard is an adequate custos; Gisele is a good baker, and will probably be involved in the cooking and supply end of things in the covenant.
ABELARD (age 22)
Int -1 Per -1
Str 0 Sta +2
Pre 0 Com -1
Dex +1 Qik -1
Carefree (+1)
Tough (+1)
Weakness (pretty faces) (-1)
Deep Sleeper (-1)
Athletics 2
Brawl 2
Carouse 2
Charm 3
Climb 1
Hunt 2
Ride 2
Shield & Weapon 4
Siege Equipment 1
Single Weapon 3
Speak French 4
Speak German 1
Stealth 2
Wagoneering 2
GISELE (age 20)
Int +1 Per -3
Str 0 Sta 0
Pre +2 Com 0
Dex 0 Qik +1
Busybody (+1)
Self-Confident (+1)
Obese (-1)
Soft-Hearted (-1)
Bargain 3
Brawl 1
Carouse 2
Charm 2
Chirurgy 2
Craft (baking) 5
Craft (milling) 3
Leadership 2
Legend Lore 1
Sing 1
Speak French 4
I decided to take up Adam's challenge and design some grogs, so I built one of the couples. Abelard is a cheerful young soldier with a roving eye and a thick skull; his wife Gisele is a miller's daughter with a passion for sticking her nose in other people's business and a knack for failing to understand said business.
On the practical side, Abelard is an adequate custos; Gisele is a good baker, and will probably be involved in the cooking and supply end of things in the covenant.
ABELARD (age 22)
Int -1 Per -1
Str 0 Sta +2
Pre 0 Com -1
Dex +1 Qik -1
Carefree (+1)
Tough (+1)
Weakness (pretty faces) (-1)
Deep Sleeper (-1)
Athletics 2
Brawl 2
Carouse 2
Charm 3
Climb 1
Hunt 2
Ride 2
Shield & Weapon 4
Siege Equipment 1
Single Weapon 3
Speak French 4
Speak German 1
Stealth 2
Wagoneering 2
GISELE (age 20)
Int +1 Per -3
Str 0 Sta 0
Pre +2 Com 0
Dex 0 Qik +1
Busybody (+1)
Self-Confident (+1)
Obese (-1)
Soft-Hearted (-1)
Bargain 3
Brawl 1
Carouse 2
Charm 2
Chirurgy 2
Craft (baking) 5
Craft (milling) 3
Leadership 2
Legend Lore 1
Sing 1
Speak French 4
Cerebral Paladin
First Post
First, as to date, Redhound and Malacat are about equally right. The expedition is taking place during the spring; the people who stayed behind and wrote books are (more or less) at the beginning of summer. We'll start summer once the expedition is resolved, which may involve the people back at Lemannus if (as Malacat suggested) the expedition travels back to consult them.
About the grogs' virtues and flaws...
Every grog and companion needs a social class virtue or flaw. For these, they probably have the +0 virtue, Standard Grog, but it's worth noting.
Thanks to Redhound for posting them. Others who are interested in the character creation game are encouraged to do so as well.
About the grogs' virtues and flaws...
redhound said:
Every grog and companion needs a social class virtue or flaw. For these, they probably have the +0 virtue, Standard Grog, but it's worth noting.
Thanks to Redhound for posting them. Others who are interested in the character creation game are encouraged to do so as well.
Writing Low-Level LQ's
Post summary: It'd be good to skip 0 level LQs and go straight to 2nd (or 1st) and, if we can manage it, 3rd level LQs.
_____
I've just been thinking about the writing of low-level LQ's, and I think we should avoid writing any 0-level LQ's. Assuming a minimum quality of 10 (author's communication + scribe of 4 or higher + the base 6 for writing an LQ), and assuming readers have intelligence+concentration of at least 4, reading an LQ should yield at least 14 XP. Bearing in mind the 3 full levels limit, 14 XP would be wasted on a level 0 reader:
XP from LQ of... Lv0 Lv1 Lv2 Lv3 Lv4 Lv5
0 to 3: 6 XP ...... 14 . 9 .. 4 .. 0 .. 0 .. 0
1 to 4: 9 XP ....... 9 . 14 . 9 .. 4 .. 0 .. 0
2 to 5: 12 XP ..... 4 .. 9 . 14 . 9 .. 4 .. 0
3 to 6: 15 XP ..... 0 .. 4 .. 9 . 14 . 9 .. 4
Thus, there is never a case where it's better to have a level 0 than to have a level 1 LQ.
If the author is at least level 6 (capable of Lev2 LQ's), a case could be made for writing a level 2 LQ (with a yield of 16 instead of 14, level 2 LQs bring 0-levels to 3rd, 1st-levels to 4th, and 2nd, 3rd and 4th level readers to 5th). This, however, brings up the question of what the reader will need next. Assuming our authors of higher-level texts are capable of slightly better quality work, I've gone with an average yield here of 15 XP.
XP from LQ of... Lv3 Lv4 Lv5 Lv6 Lv7 Lv8
3 to 6: 15 XP .... 15 . 10 . 5 .. 0 .. 0 .. 0
4 to 7: 18 XP .... 10 . 15 . 10 . 5 .. 0 .. 0
5 to 8: 21 XP .... 5 . 10 . 15 . 10 . 5 .. 0
6 to 9: 24 XP .... 0 .. 5 . 10 . 15 . 10 . 5
Note that with the Lvl 1 LQ, all readers (who can benefit from it) will wind up 3rd or 4th level. With the Lvl 2 LQ, the spread is from 3rd to 5th level. With a Lvl 3 LQ as a second reading assignment, the 3rds go to 6th level and the 4ths and 5ths go to 5th with 1 XP to go (though with a yield of 16, everyone goes to 6th level). With a Lvl 4 LQ (which requires the author to be at least Lvl 12), 3rds go to 5t, 4ths and 5ths go to 6th (5ths with 1 XP to go and 6ths hit 7th). Once we get to talking about readers higher than 5th level, things get much saner, but the upshot of all this is:
For bootstrappers such as ourselves, the best course might be to produce LQs at 1st or 2nd level (the higher we can manage), particularly in arts wherein we don't have anyone who can write an LQ of higher level. Even in the arts where someone can write a higher-level LQ, it'll probably be 3rd Lvl, which (with reasonably good yield) combines with the 2nd Lvl one to put people at Lvl 6.
Post summary: It'd be good to skip 0 level LQs and go straight to 2nd (or 1st) and, if we can manage it, 3rd level LQs.
_____
I've just been thinking about the writing of low-level LQ's, and I think we should avoid writing any 0-level LQ's. Assuming a minimum quality of 10 (author's communication + scribe of 4 or higher + the base 6 for writing an LQ), and assuming readers have intelligence+concentration of at least 4, reading an LQ should yield at least 14 XP. Bearing in mind the 3 full levels limit, 14 XP would be wasted on a level 0 reader:
XP from LQ of... Lv0 Lv1 Lv2 Lv3 Lv4 Lv5
0 to 3: 6 XP ...... 14 . 9 .. 4 .. 0 .. 0 .. 0
1 to 4: 9 XP ....... 9 . 14 . 9 .. 4 .. 0 .. 0
2 to 5: 12 XP ..... 4 .. 9 . 14 . 9 .. 4 .. 0
3 to 6: 15 XP ..... 0 .. 4 .. 9 . 14 . 9 .. 4
Thus, there is never a case where it's better to have a level 0 than to have a level 1 LQ.
If the author is at least level 6 (capable of Lev2 LQ's), a case could be made for writing a level 2 LQ (with a yield of 16 instead of 14, level 2 LQs bring 0-levels to 3rd, 1st-levels to 4th, and 2nd, 3rd and 4th level readers to 5th). This, however, brings up the question of what the reader will need next. Assuming our authors of higher-level texts are capable of slightly better quality work, I've gone with an average yield here of 15 XP.
XP from LQ of... Lv3 Lv4 Lv5 Lv6 Lv7 Lv8
3 to 6: 15 XP .... 15 . 10 . 5 .. 0 .. 0 .. 0
4 to 7: 18 XP .... 10 . 15 . 10 . 5 .. 0 .. 0
5 to 8: 21 XP .... 5 . 10 . 15 . 10 . 5 .. 0
6 to 9: 24 XP .... 0 .. 5 . 10 . 15 . 10 . 5
Note that with the Lvl 1 LQ, all readers (who can benefit from it) will wind up 3rd or 4th level. With the Lvl 2 LQ, the spread is from 3rd to 5th level. With a Lvl 3 LQ as a second reading assignment, the 3rds go to 6th level and the 4ths and 5ths go to 5th with 1 XP to go (though with a yield of 16, everyone goes to 6th level). With a Lvl 4 LQ (which requires the author to be at least Lvl 12), 3rds go to 5t, 4ths and 5ths go to 6th (5ths with 1 XP to go and 6ths hit 7th). Once we get to talking about readers higher than 5th level, things get much saner, but the upshot of all this is:
For bootstrappers such as ourselves, the best course might be to produce LQs at 1st or 2nd level (the higher we can manage), particularly in arts wherein we don't have anyone who can write an LQ of higher level. Even in the arts where someone can write a higher-level LQ, it'll probably be 3rd Lvl, which (with reasonably good yield) combines with the 2nd Lvl one to put people at Lvl 6.
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Koping with Karl
In addition to bribing Karl to leave, challenging him to certámen, or starting a Wizard War, it might be possible for us to share the valley with him. Cerebral Paladin, is the area in the valley with the strength 5 aura large enough to hold both our covenant and Karl's sanctum? I quote:
> Celeste looked up at this. "None have challenged your claim, you say.
> But have any recognized it?"
>
> "I do not need the recognition of any to establish my sanctum where it
> will, so long as it is not within another's covenant. Lemannus may have
> asserted some claim on this valley, but you would agree, I feel sure, that > they have not established their covenant here."
Suppose we were to recognize his claim, provided he agreed to recognize ours, provided that both sides agreed to share the area in the valley with the strongest magical aura, and provided that both sides agreed to a peace between Karl and our covenant?
The difficulty with this option is that it depends on Karl being willing to go along with it. This means that if we choose to try to pursue this option, we'll need to pick one of the other options as a fallback.
Tsaran will propose (and support) the sharing option with a clearly defined fallback position, but his preference isn't very strong. As a fallback, he's ambivalent between bribing Karl to go away by letting him read some of our lesser texts (not the powerful ones that it'd be dangerous for the world to know we have) and driving him off with certámen, but he is slightly more inclined toward certámen. He was equally ambivalent about killing Karl, but now opposes that option on the grounds that it would unduly upset Celeste (there is also the practical objection that Wizard War takes a lot longer than does, say, certámen). If the sharing idea is unfeasable or unpopular, he will favor either certámen or bribery (with reading privileges).
If it comes to a choice between certámen or Wizard War (the latter of which he will vote against out of respect for Celeste's feelings), Tsaran will point out that if the covenant chooses Wizard War, it will also have to decide who will participate in the War; he is willing to do it, but he does not want to assume that the Certámen Champion is also the War Champion.
He strongly opposes any solution that involves joining Karl's despotic covenant or settling for a weaker aura. He moderately opposes giving up vís or other non-replacables to Karl.
On an unrelated point, I think a description of Volakula cheese may be in order, as it's been mentioned several times. Tsaran and Naja are both very fond of it, but others may not find it to their tastes (we're lucky that Karl did, though it seems he'd have found anything edible to his taste). It's a fairly soft cheese, somewhere between brie and Swiss cheese in consistency (though without large holes), and is on the sour side. It's pale yellow with amber striations, and is usually stored in large wheels of medium-brown wax. Tsaran shares it cheerfully with others, but his belief that he's bestowing a special treat may not be shared by all recipients.
In addition to bribing Karl to leave, challenging him to certámen, or starting a Wizard War, it might be possible for us to share the valley with him. Cerebral Paladin, is the area in the valley with the strength 5 aura large enough to hold both our covenant and Karl's sanctum? I quote:
> Celeste looked up at this. "None have challenged your claim, you say.
> But have any recognized it?"
>
> "I do not need the recognition of any to establish my sanctum where it
> will, so long as it is not within another's covenant. Lemannus may have
> asserted some claim on this valley, but you would agree, I feel sure, that > they have not established their covenant here."
Suppose we were to recognize his claim, provided he agreed to recognize ours, provided that both sides agreed to share the area in the valley with the strongest magical aura, and provided that both sides agreed to a peace between Karl and our covenant?
The difficulty with this option is that it depends on Karl being willing to go along with it. This means that if we choose to try to pursue this option, we'll need to pick one of the other options as a fallback.
Tsaran will propose (and support) the sharing option with a clearly defined fallback position, but his preference isn't very strong. As a fallback, he's ambivalent between bribing Karl to go away by letting him read some of our lesser texts (not the powerful ones that it'd be dangerous for the world to know we have) and driving him off with certámen, but he is slightly more inclined toward certámen. He was equally ambivalent about killing Karl, but now opposes that option on the grounds that it would unduly upset Celeste (there is also the practical objection that Wizard War takes a lot longer than does, say, certámen). If the sharing idea is unfeasable or unpopular, he will favor either certámen or bribery (with reading privileges).
If it comes to a choice between certámen or Wizard War (the latter of which he will vote against out of respect for Celeste's feelings), Tsaran will point out that if the covenant chooses Wizard War, it will also have to decide who will participate in the War; he is willing to do it, but he does not want to assume that the Certámen Champion is also the War Champion.
He strongly opposes any solution that involves joining Karl's despotic covenant or settling for a weaker aura. He moderately opposes giving up vís or other non-replacables to Karl.
On an unrelated point, I think a description of Volakula cheese may be in order, as it's been mentioned several times. Tsaran and Naja are both very fond of it, but others may not find it to their tastes (we're lucky that Karl did, though it seems he'd have found anything edible to his taste). It's a fairly soft cheese, somewhere between brie and Swiss cheese in consistency (though without large holes), and is on the sour side. It's pale yellow with amber striations, and is usually stored in large wheels of medium-brown wax. Tsaran shares it cheerfully with others, but his belief that he's bestowing a special treat may not be shared by all recipients.
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