Talk:Story : Supper in the West Room

From Ars Magica

Contents 1 Questions about the setting 2 Magic and masquerades 3 Grogs and NPCs 4 What the PCs know 5 Semi Random Latin Notes 6 Splitting Up 7 Mundane Knowledge of the Order

Questions about the setting

[GM - is there anythning else to add, and on the talk page you mention that you guys have some features we could examine including ring forts. So, what features has Marcus heard of that he could mention here. Aside from 'ring forts':-)]

The Long Mynd has a small hill fort (better suited to your purposes,) which has a steep drop on three sides, and thus pretty much only needed a wall on one side for safety. The earthworks are still extant, but little else.

Caer Caradoc has a really large hill fort. Due to terrain, the ditches have had to be made far more complicated in order to make it defensible, and so it has far more impressive earthworks, and has a much larger bailey.

The Long Mynd has other antiquities, such as barrows, old stones, and a greenway dating back to the time of the druids (British pre-history.)

--James\\^Talk 09:51, 22 March 2006 (PST)

Magic and masquerades

What level Perdo Vim would it be for "Masking the Odor of Magic" to essentially duplicate the effects of Gentle Gift temporarily? Is that even possible? It seems that if it could prevent the detection of "magic power in an item or being" from InVi, then it would be an even simpler matter to hide the Gift from mundane senses. --Eirlys 10:50, 22 March 2006 (PST)

If it was simple, then Gentle Gift wouldn't be a Major Virtue:-) I believe that such a thing is beyond Hermetic Magic at the moment --JBforMarcus 05:31, 23 March 2006 (PST)

Ah, but there's plenty of Flaws and Virtues that spells can duplicate, some of them major. Shapeshifter doesn't grant anything that you can't do with a MuCo(An). Entrancement doesn't do anything that a ReMe can't do. Effects of Giant Blood, Large, Small Frame, and Dwarf can all be duplicated with a MuCo. Animal Ken = InAn, Enchanting Music = Re/Mu Me, Magic Sensitivity = InVi... And then just about all the flaws. Personality flaws can all be inflicted with a Mu or Re Me; Blind/Crippled/Deaf/Dwarf/No Hands/Mute/Lame/Missing Ear can all be inflicted with PeCo. So being the effect of a major virtue doesn't necessarily mean it'd be impossible with magic. Perdo can destroy an aspect of something, rather than the entire thing. It'd make sense to me if Hermetic magi couldn't do it on the whole because they didn't understand the nature of the Gift enough to grant themselves Gentle Gift without destroying the Gift itself (hey, maybe that's what happened with Bonisagus and Mercere...) but that doesn't make it impossible :-) But that doesn't mean faeries can't do it... or that Diedne can't. --Eirlys 10:11, 23 March 2006 (PST)

Grogs and NPCs

There are some grogs and NPCs in this scene, and I thought I would just clear this up now before anyone gets confused. The first story was Magi-character story, and there was little danger of the grogs/NPCs doing anything noteworthy, so I was content to let them be written by the player's they were accompanying. This is also a Magi-centred story, assuming that the magi don't start throwing any more balls of abysmal public relations around.

The threads subsequent to this story will require grogs and NPCs to be played by people who do not have a magi character in that thread. I am happy, for the time being, for animal companions to be played by the magus/maga they accompany (this may change if they become familiars; I haven't decided yet.)

If one player introduces an NPC/grog to interact with (e.g. Mnemosyne and Geraldous in the first story,) there is nothing to stop you from asking to play that character at any point, providing you can post in a manner consistent with their antics up to that point.

It may take a story or two before we fine-tune our methods of assigning supporting characters, but as long as you all remember that supporting characters aren't really owned by any one player, and that it will sometimes be necessary to have a character played in place of someone who usually has in the past, then hopefully we won't have any significant problems.

I would like to hear about any preferences you have regarding grog assignment, as I imagine that from the range of options in the core rulebook, etcetera, we are probably used to completely different styles of troupe-play.

--James\\^Talk 11:06, 21 March 2006 (PST)

I'd like to play Aloysius even after he becomes a familiar. His personality is much like Sano (my much-missed ferret and friend), if Sano could talk. --Eirlys 12:16, 21 March 2006 (PST)

What the PCs know

I'm having a difficult time finding anything to add to this bit of the story, as I don't know what my character might know of the area. She has some faerie lore, but since I don't know what you have planned, I don't want to start making stuff up for her to talk about and have it be wrong. If you could give me a quick list of any pertinent information she'd have to input, I'd be glad to contribute to this story. --Eirlys 10:38, 21 March 2006 (PST)

I'm aware of the problem, and dealing with it, though it won't be finished til tomorrow. The unhappy combination of a massive surge in workload at the very end of the academic year, combined with a problem that only I can resolve... I have three hooks planned for the threads, but need to do a little more work before I can post...

Apologies, --James\\^Talk 11:06, 21 March 2006 (PST)

Not a problem, take it easy and have fun :) Do you teach English to Japanese kids? I always wanted to do that, but my Japanese is atrocious these days. It used to be decent, but I get no practice, and I've forgotten so much. --Eirlys 12:14, 21 March 2006 (PST)

I've issued two hooks, and am writing the third. Hopefully you will see one, or possibly both come into play soon. I do teach English to Japanese children, and my Japanese is fairly awful, though I've been making much more of an effort lately. :D You will know when the spring holiday arrives, because you will see a massive burst of activity from me (effectively Sunday morning until the 2nd of next month.) I can't wait! :D

--James\\^Talk 01:36, 22 March 2006 (PST)

Semi Random Latin Notes

Salve is singular, if one is addressing multiple persons, Salvete is correct. Likewise, the singular nominative of Sodales is Sodalis, not Sodale. So, "Salve Sodalis!" or "Salvete Sodales!" I corrected it on the first page. --JBforMarcus 05:36, 16 March 2006 (PST)

Hmm, I thought singular was "sodalus"? --Eirlys 13:41, 16 March 2006 (PST)

Nope. "Sodalis, -is" making it a 3rd declension noun. I looked it up. Twice:-) --JBforMarcus 08:28, 17 March 2006 (PST)

Can you give some contextual examples? Thanks. --Rencheple 11:37, 20 March 2006 (PST)

sodalis (m.), comrade

Case	Ending	Declined Form	English
Singular
Nominative	–is	sodalis	(a, the) comrade
Vocative	–is	Sodalis!	(The) Comrade!
Genitive	–is	sodalis	of (a, the) comrade
Dative	–ī	sodalī	to, for (a, the) comrade
Accusative	–em (ref 1)	sodalem	(a, the) comrade
Ablative	–e (ref 2)	sodale	by, with, from (a, the) comrade
Plural
Nominative	–ēs	sodalēs	(the) comrades
Vocative	–ēs	Sodalēs!	(The) Comrades!
Genitive	–ium	sodalium	of (the) comrades
Dative	–ibus	sodalibus	to, for (the) comrades
Accusative	–ēs (ref 3)	sodalēs	(the) comrades
Ablative	–ibus	sodalibus	by, with, from (the) comrades

The following alternate endings are also possible:

1. Accusative singular, –im, declined sodalim
2. Ablative singular, –ī, declined sodalī
3. Accusative plural, –īs, declined sodalīs

--OldNick\\^Talk 11:54, 20 March 2006 (PST) Cribbed and alterered to Sodalis from Wikipedia Latin Declension

--Nominative case is for subjects, genitive is possessive, accussative is direct objects, dative is indirect objects, vocative is direct address and ablative is sometimes called adverbial. (All of the above more or less. So - concrete examples.

• Maga sodalem amat. (The/a) (female) magician likes/loves (the/a) comrade. - Sodalis in the accusative singular.
• Sodalis magam amat. The comrade loves the (female) magician. - Sodalis in the nomnitive singular. (Could be genitive but the sentence would make no sense.)
• Maga magam sodalis amat. The (f.) magician loves the (f.) magician of the comrade (or the comrade's magician). - Sodalis in the genitive singular.
• Maga summam sodali donat. The (f.) magician gives (a/the) summa to the comrade. - Sodalis in the singular dative.
• O sodalis, magam amo. O comrade, I love the (f.) magician. - Sodalis in the vocative.
• De sodale cogitamus. We are thinking about the comrade. - Sodalis in the ablative with the preposition "de".

--JBforMarcus 08:15, 21 March 2006 (PST)

Would you like me to add 'OOC Latin' to the sidebar menu?  :) --James\\^Talk 08:47, 22 March 2006 (PST)

Splitting Up

I am perfectly happy for players to split up into seperate threads. I would prefer, at this stage, that there be no more than three seperate threads.

James, can we start up a thread for Warren? Others can join in as their character's actions permit. --Rencheple 11:35, 20 March 2006 (PST)

Yes, that solves my third site hook problem nicely. I think you'll like what I have in mind.

Ok - I'll let you start the thread off and UI'll jump in as soon as it's up. --Rencheple 09:17, 22 March 2006 (PST)

I would like players to request grogs that they wish to accompany their magi characters, and then I will assign those to players who aren't in your thread.

Regarding sites - groups can head to specific parts of larger geographical features, such as ring forts, 'the eastern side', the crest, valleys, etc. It is up to you where you want your covenant, though the features of a wide-range of locations have already been determined by Samuel, Tim, and I.

Have fun, --James\\^Talk 03:53, 19 March 2006 (PST)

Mnemosyne would like to be accompanied by Geraldous. Otherwise, I presume the grogs we have are those we brought with us? These are...?--Perikles 04:12, 19 March 2006 (PST)

I would suspect that most of us would like our usual grogs to acccompany us, which in Marcus' case would be Diarmait--JBforMarcus 10:27, 20 March 2006 (PST)

While Llewys is an NPC, Ambrosius is without a shield grog and would be happy to have one assigned to him. - --Rencheple 11:34, 20 March 2006 (PST)

Mundane Knowledge of the Order

Bedo posits, "What do we tell him, or any of importance who we approach, of the order, or our aims in settling here? Even if, for the start, we are only looking for a temporary home while we search for a suitable place, we need a reason we can give them for our presence which will cause no alarm or offence."

This is a good question, and since I do not have access to my book here at work, I would ask. Is the knowledge of the Order of Hermes much like the "crazy" court magicians that claimed they could turn lead into gold in RL? How is the Order viewed by people who would have likely have heard of them, like our bailiff?

Of course, this could be something that Marcus or Warren might even approach the Bailiff and probe him (verbally, not IntVim!) about. --Rencheple 07:31, 22 March 2006 (PST)

Bedo's comment is an in character comment which fairly closely fits with my player viewpoint - as I'm not playing a reckless character his in-game voice will urge caution. If we take that route, if James's view is that the order is much more visible we'll be slower getting started than we need, if it's similar to mine we'll not get 'bitten' too badly. Of course that's fine for me - but for players of more reckless characters it would mean that we take things more carefully than we need.

My player viewpoint comes from a feeling that in the small intimate world of the rural English C13, any group of strangers would be treated with extreme caution unles they came with 'credentials' - orders from a liege lord or the King, or personal knowledge of them. Strangers who are 'strange' as well would be even less welcome. Yes - the people know mages exist - as do faeries and demons, but apart from hedgies I ssuepct most of them have never actually met one, let alone a group such as ours.

The good news to balance that, is that although all the land is accounted for, and ownership is publically known, it is not all used. Much of Shropshire was still forested - and permission to create an assart in a quiet area from someone in authority over that land would be the very best I would expect we could hope for - and I would expect that we would have to make him some payment as well. The problem comes should he ask us to swear fealty to him.

The other interesting point is the role of the bailiff. He's an official of the landlord - and we don't know how much autonomy he is allowed. He may be able to grant us land as tenants, he may not. It's not clear if he is the bailiff of the manor or the hundred yet - someone needs to talk with him to find out his limits. --OldNick\\^Talk 08:21, 22 March 2006 (PST)

I think if we choose a suitably out of the way place then we should not have any trouble about ownership of the land. If we do, it should not be a particularly difficult matter to melt the person in questions mind and get them to agree to an amicable settlement which makes them happy and keeps us out of trouble. Look into my eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, into the eyes... You are perfectly happy to grant us a hundred year lease to the land in return for us keeping the threats of giants away from this area...--Perikles 06:48, 23 March 2006 (PST)