Covenant Organization

Thank you Mike.

No I didn't mind the fact you did it separately...not at all. I think it was good of you to sacrifice your time to handle that...

Mark,

I would give a bonus if the character had a higher area lore than the person 'leading'; I would also give a bonus for applicable virtues or skills. I said companions, but any characters can go--but most of the grogs have other duties, and the magi other interests. It is a seasonal activity, so you can go whenever you like.

Grogs can use any items that are made for their use---the catch is, you probably don't want a grog with a flaming sword terrorizing the mundanes. Sharpening his sword is one thing, and not so obvious---but obvious magic is what will get you in trouble.

The raid actually occurred in the Fall, hence Jason's sarcastic response to my post. As Dave said, I made the decision that since the raid was secret, to resolve it at our leisure. The alternative was to end the session for the night at that point.

As to your other questions....Guillo can answer those

Mike,

You give a bonus for each person sent along...what if there is more than one person with area lore? Will this improve the chance of finding something? You also said COMPANION...

I think both my guys are good for this one...I think I would like to do this...summer maybe?

Also: Will someone please tell me what items we need for the Grogs..!! BEN: Is this legal??? Can we provide magical devices to our grogs and not break the code????

Jason, its funny, but I had go back and reread to make sure, but your last post is almost IDENTICAL to my post...thats kinda scary that we both view Daves ideas in the same light.

Dave, so far you have voiced only on YOUR topic....what about my ideas? Does anyone else have any ideas to throw out for consideration....or are we the only ones paying attention???
As for willingness to do Guard duty...You nver said a thing about it!
You also never mentioned a cattle raid...WTF are we doing a cattle raid in the middle of winter!!!?????? :
Edit: ahhh Fall...that makes sense.

Hearing about cattle raid two weeks late:

It looked like my character was the only one willing to be involved with the guard duty. We didn't want to take 20-40-60+ minutes away from the whole group that Saturday, so Mike suggested we meet in between sessions to handle the cattle drive. That happened this past Wednesday night, so you heard about it As Soon As Was Possible, thanks to the magic of the internet.

Four seasons:
Yes, Jason is 100% right. I'm suggesting four seasons of service. Service includes things like distilling Vis for the Aegis. What I'm suggesting is that we put a temporary halt to things like copying books, reading books, and other activies that don't directly and immediately apply to goals #1-5:
1) Improve wealth
2) Deal with Sir Owen
3) Keep/Get More Grogs
4) Faerie Relations
5) Better Buildings & Defenses

There is no going back in time; part of life is learning and adapting--same in the campaign. There is a (really big) hurdle to overcome--but it is not insurmountable unless you want it to be. And the eventual payoff is a better place to live and study. That being said, it is still the Winter season

if there was no going back in time then how are we hearing about the cattle raid now two weeks after we played out that season?

Dave, to answer your questions concerning the time we spend devoted to the Covenant (other thread)-
It is completely unrealistic for us to spend ALL our time working the "fields". We have to maintain our defenses....that means we must distill Vis for the Aegis. this roughly means two plus seasons of work.
I think the lack of response from the others sums up what they think

dave only wants everyone giving service for 4 seasons a year. im sure that includes vis distillation.

The raid would likely take about 2 weeks.

If you are going on a raid in the first place, I'm not sure what concern there is about breaking the code by kidnapping some thralls

There is no going back in time; part of life is learning and adapting--same in the campaign. There is a (really big) hurdle to overcome--but it is not insurmountable unless you want it to be. And the eventual payoff is a better place to live and study. That being said, it is still the Winter season.

Some captives will likely try and escape; some will be resigned to their fate. Making their way thru the Highlands alone without supplies is never an easy task.

The Scottish King doesn't collect taxes where you are. The Earl of Lennox owes him military service, should the Earl choose to honor his oath. Baron Owain likely owes his lord service. If you want to set up as brigands, Glasgow is only a short little way to the southeast.

I have already outlined magic as a labor contributor and have sent notes to players who wanted to learn more. Spontaneous magic isn't likely to be a huge contributor, but formulaic magic and items have great potential.

As for finding tombs/barrows/interesting things to plunder:
I am going to treat this similarly to a magus who wants to go "wild" vis collecting. The companion leading the expecition rolls a stress die, 9+ succeeds. Modifiers:
+Highlands Area Lore
+Communication
+1 for applicable other virtues
+1 each additional person sent along

If success, roll a stress die on Discovery Table:
Botch: Something bad happens to the discovering group
0 - 4 Site has been looted
5 -6 Site contains only common items, spoiled
7-8 Site contains some valuables (500d worth)
9+ Site is unbreached, but going in might be.....difficult without backup. Go in and face any guardians or traps, or come back next season as a story.

Hey, Hey! Don't everbody answer at once!

1) How long is this raid going to take????

2) If we are going to raid them, and free 'our' clansmen, why don't we just take some prisoners of our own??? Is this against the code? Can we get away with it??? Slaves/serfs are cheap...well cheaper than hired help. Our mercs will then be able to justify their pay by guarding the captives.

3) I think we should do it (assumption here) first thing in the spring. I don't agree with going back in time...

4) When does the King collect his taxes? We could intercept the taxes from the local lord....

5) Have the 'Teacher' (Nate) knock off a few copies of the Bible to sell to high paying Nobles/Churches. With his scibe totals, can he do multiple copies in a season?

6) Have the Autocrate do some dowsing! He can find stuff underground...let him. I mentioned before that we should check the old burial grounds around here...

7) You said Nate could do plant magic, so can he clear the land? The timber he cuts down will certainly provide cash...

Dave, to answer your questions concerning the time we spend devoted to the Covenant (other thread)-
It is completely unrealistic for us to spend ALL our time working the "fields". We have to maintain our defenses....that means we must distill Vis for the Aegis. this roughly means two plus seasons of work.
I think the lack of response from the others sums up what they think...

If you want me to make items, tell me what you want....
If you want hoes, I can make the shafts and join them to the blades, but I will need the blacksmith to make the blades. The same would be true of anything else- rakes, plows, shovels etc.

Covenant Priorities

Sodales,

Here is what I think our short-term priorities should be, in this order:

1) INCREASE WEALTH
Here is a quote from an email from the all-powerful GM:
"You guys are beyond dirt-eating poor. If there was a neighborhood trailer park, they would look down on you all as trash ;)"

However, Mike the Magnificent has given us options to get on the path to respectability:
a) Improve the land so it yields more
b) Get more people so there are more hands working the land

We've discussed several ways to do this. Let's get going on them.

2) DEAL WITH SIR OWEN
We need to be PROACTIVE in how we want to manage our relationship with the Norman Knight. Ally him? Kill him and substitute a doppleganger? Control his mind?

Let's decide on the best course of action.

3) FIGHTING GROGS
How to handle the French mercs? Let them go? Give them (forged?) land grants to stay? Increase our wealth so much that we can afford them over the long term?

Also, we need more trained fighting men. We need to think about the next generation. Take young men and train them to be loyal covenant custos, not mercenaries who will walk away some day.

This is the Wild West. We are going to be fighting. We need more grogs so all you guys can stop complaining that you don't have a favorite Shield Grog.

4) FAERIE RELATIONS
Scotland is reknowned for its high faerie activity. I suspect the part of the code about "not antagonizing the faeries" is more important here than in many other places. We need to know where we stand with the Fey Folk. I suspect Ambrose/Ambrosia-of-indeterminate-gender will be in charge of this one.

5) OUR PHYSICAL BUILDINGS
Once we get more wealth, we need better buildings & defenses. However, I think we need to be careful about attracting undue attention to ourselves. Building walls & towers & castles might be too conspicuous.

Ambrose/ia can create a spell to circle the hill with a wall of thorns if we detect our enemies approaching.

We also need better housing. Having our sancta in sod hovels is an embarrassment.

YOUR THOUGHTS?

Do you agree with these, and especially their order of importance?

What needs to be added?

i say we leave the ghost be his appearance might have some connecion to the vis.

Jason,

Ghosts are the realm of Mentem.

You might be the most appropriate person for this one.

-DC

COVENANT NAME

I had a new idea.
Let's not name the covenant until we find out the name of the Magus ghost that we witnessed. I think we should name it in his honor.

Let's say we find his name is "Max", just as an example.

Some names might be:

Max's Stand
Max's Glory
Max's Rest

Can anyone summon or speak with Ghosts?

-DC

Just a summary of things:

We are on a hill with an old fort at the top. There is a +5 magic aura at the top of the hill. There is a Ring of (mostly) standing stones at the top. The ring is magical.
Lower on the hill we have the cave (faerie +5?), and the town. the aura here is 3. Below the hill is the farmland (north). To the east is our water source. Timber is found all about.

Questions:
Whats up with the ring of stones? Is it important?
We know the cave will be important....but how?
We need income. Do we have a viable commodity in the timber?
Can we set up some sort of 'fish farm'? Will this feed us? Will this be profitable?

Any opinion about this Magi ghost? Ideas?

I choose "Your Thoughts"!

Nate--

The fort is a remnant from a race that predicts the Picts; they built most of the monoliths and other structures in Scotland. There is a good chance that the aura is here because the fort is....or was the fort placed here because of the aura? In any event, it is at worst a pile of annoying rubble.

Gents,

It just occurred to me that we need a name for the Covenant. Something catchy, and worthy of our membership.

Ideas:
"Abundance of riches" - Nah, that would make other covenants want to raid us...

"Beacon Outpost" - A slight acknowledgment that we are carrying the light of civilization (at least as how the Quaisitors see it) to this barbarian land.

"Kelly's Heroes"

"Don't worry about us" (or it's Latin translation perhaps? )

Your thoughts?

Let's try to get this one nailed down here so we don't have to spend 30+ minutes of game time discussing it.

-DC

Mike,

OK, sounds good. One less thing for us to worry about. I'm already getting sucked into spending too much time on these things... :roll:

I'm still willing to take a turn at GMing, if you'd like to have some Troupe-style play. And I suspect some of the others in the group would volunteer too...

-DC

if the fort isn't usable is it big enough taht we're building inside it's boundaries? what role is it playing in our covenant?

The players shouldn't worry about the Hooks and Boons; some will be hidden at start, others will be obvious. Most of your selections above are likely Boons and Hooks.

The magical aura is uniform over the hill, within the boundaries of the hill fort. The faerie aura is nested in a regio.

The fort itself isn't useable as such; it was abandoned almost three thousand years before the start of the game.

We've made a lot of progress in establishing the covenant. However, it seems we skipped over the Hooks & Boons section of the covenant development chapter (pages 72-74).

Let me try to summarize where I think we're at.

HOOKS

Beholden - Minor. (-1)
I assume our sponsorship comes from the Domus Magna of House Guernicus: Magvillus covenant in the Roman Tribunal. We are not strictly controlled by them, but they've given us our start-up resources and we owe them a certain level of service.

Faerie Regio - Minor / Major?
Major if stuff will come out and cause trouble for us.

Unknown (-3)
I for one would be willing to volunteer to take a turn at GMing at a future date if Mike would like to have that option open.

BOONS

Fortification - Minor (+1)
We are taking over an ancient abandoned hill fort.

Aura - Minor x2
My reading of the book is that the base aura for a covenant is 3. Since we've got a 5, it can be said we've taken this one twice already.

Magic Regio - Minor / Major?
Minor if several ways to enter. Major if outsiders must be guided to enter.

Seculsion - Minor (+1)
I believe we qualify for this one, but I'm not exactly sure. I think we are in a remote location with little pass-by traffic.

Mike, clarification please...
What is the relationship between the hill fort and the magic regio? Do the coven folk live in the fort, and the magi live separately inside the regio? If the covenant is not located inside the Magic regio, it is a Hook (-1), not a Boon (+1). I'm confused, now that I'm thinking about it more...

So, it looks like we need some GM rulings to see how the Hooks & Boons balance at the end of the day.

Discussion & comments please.

As I have stated, I would like to start at the basement, and see what we can build...
March up to the hill top, kick out the critters or the stray monsters, and start building...
Mike has stated that he will run a 'long time' if we want, so I see no reason to skip to chapter 12 of the book...lets start at chapter 1.