From Ars Magica

Anything that you post here will cause a yellow alert message to appear on my screen the next time I log in, or refresh/visit a wiki page. It's a good way to contact me if you would like me to be aware of something the next time I sit down to edit the wiki. Cheers, James.

Contents 1 Things for James to do 1.1 Short Term 1.2 Long Term 2 Unread 3 Read 3.1 Read and Answered 3.1.1 Creating Arcane Connections 3.1.2 Arcane Connections for the current story 3.1.3 Talking Holy Orders 3.1.4 Lodging at the Inn 3.1.5 Arcane Connections 3.1.6 Background Information 3.1.7 Marcus investigation 3.1.8 Languages 3.1.9 Who really knows anything? 3.1.10 Birds of Prey 3.1.11 Social reaction to Mages 3.1.12 Magical Animal Companion 3.2 New wiki

Things for James to do

Please add anything you'd like me to do here, such as reply to thread X.

Short Term

• Finish Eirlys's Faerie Animal Companion

- Add a power to it to balance it against Phaedrus's, once Phaedrus has chosen his companions ability (rules interpretation, not clear).

• Create Gruffydd's Animal Companion

- When this character enters play...

Long Term

• Create a Setting submenu. Discuss restructuring the background info with Nick.

- I will wait until after the location of the covenant has been decided, and divide the setting information on the basis of that.

• Create a User Suggestions page under Wiki for name tag, recent changes -> JS, etc.

- not suggestions from users, but suggestions for users, though anyone can contribute...

• Create an NPC's page, or a section on the character page...

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Unread

Where are the templates for users and languages listed out and demonstrated? Where are they defined so that we may edit them? --Rencheple 17:51, 5 May 2006 (PDT)

Read

Read and Answered

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Creating Arcane Connections

What do we need to do if we want our mage to perform some minor magical spell in-game? When Phaedrus asks for an arcane connection, I'd like Eirlys to do a little Muto Herbam to cause her staff to flower, and break off the flowers and give them to the other mages. Since the staff should be an arcane connection to her, I figure sprouts from them would be arcane connections as well, at least until the spont duration wears off and they go poof. --Eirlys 16:23, 27 March 2006 (PST)

When the spell duration wore off, wouldn't they be left with a piece of your staff? You are using Muto to alter what is actually there. For a tool to count as an arcane connection, you must give Phaedrus the whole tool, rather than a sliver of it.

I'm not sure if I like the idea of objects created with Creo counting as temporary arcane connections. It would make the use of Creo against other magi somewhat risky. The object thus created is neither personal, nor frequently used, nor an intrinsically intimate part of the magi, so I think that this, also, would not work.

How's that? --James\\^Talk 22:57, 27 March 2006 (PST)

Arcane Connections for the current story

If you decide that you want to give Phaedrus, or any other character, an arcane connection, then you can give them a physical thing which counts as an arcane connection of duration hours, days, or weeks without much risk of them being able to fix the arcane connection, and thus make it permanent. Given that the magi must erect their laboratories, and then spend a possibly conspicuous season fixing the connection (at a time when their sodales will have a million other things for them to do relating to the covenant...)

That said, given that your parma ratings are all so poor, I would still be reluctant, personally. --James\\^Talk 23:07, 27 March 2006 (PST)

Talking Holy Orders

I think I was intending to have Marcus disguised not neccessarily as a formally mendicant friar. If I recall correctly, Irish Catholicism and Monastacism had a different flavor than anywhere else. I had sort of envisioned him as travelling from place to place and dealing with his music but being very vague about exactly where he was from. Since Glendalough was destroyed in 1214, it is probably convenient for him to simply say that he was originally from there but is now travelling ... and imply permission to move about and deal in music. A quick glance at some websites gives me another idea as well, which is that Marcus can pose as a monastic lay-brother pilgrim, visiting the monastic houses and pilgrimage sites in turn. There seems to be a strong tradition of that in the Irish church. (Glad you like the "latin in use" stuff.) --JBforMarcus 07:23, 28 March 2006 (PST)

That sounds good to me. :) Thanks for the information. --James\\^Talk 09:46, 28 March 2006 (PST)

Lodging at the Inn

The first page suggesed a private room for Llewys and Alicia, but the latest page suggests that Llewys slept in a common room. Which is correct? Since Alicia has a forced shapechange coming at sunrise, it's rather important to me to know if she's in a private room or not ... --JBforMarcus 06:01, 27 March 2006 (PST)

A player responded to your request in a gruff way regarding the meal, but said nothing about room. There are no private rooms in an inn like this, and even the presence of communal rooms is a good thing. Either Alicia changes form, and hopefully evades notice, or she flees the inn as she feels it coming on, and finds somewhere out of sight to change. I'd suggest the latter, as it is far more interesting - though the stable yard might be a good route to take. Hopefully, we can conjure an interesting just-got-away-with-it feel. What do you think? --James\\^Talk 08:43, 27 March 2006 (PST)

Fine by me. Shall I take it on morning page? --JBforMarcus 07:28, 28 March 2006 (PST)

Arcane Connections

Would it be a reasonable assumption that the Muto vis of Eirlys' discarded shoes would serve as arcane connections to her? If so, how long would they remain A.C.'s after being removed from her hooves? --Eirlys 13:52, 27 March 2006 (PST)

While the arcane connection is, physically, a substantial object which can either be considered to be a tool or a body part, it is also vis, which has come from Eirlys's body directly. I think it would qualify as 'years'. Though it could be argued that the duration is 'months' or 'decades', the description of 'years' arcane connections contain a number of approximate equivalents for the goatshoes. --219.174.96.24 14:40, 27 March 2006 (PST)

Background Information

Is the Quendalon/Myanar rift in House Merinita something I can play with? I've been working on a journal entry where Eirlys is talking about an argument with her parens; I'd like to develop a backstory that involves Drystan being a blood descendant of Myanar. His first parens would have been a Bjornaer, of the line of Myanar-faithful Merinitae who left the house after Quendalon's return. Drystan would have eventually ended up back in House Merinita because he couldn't manifest a heartbeast (haha, what a loser!) Would that be okay? --Eirlys 13:52, 21 March 2006 (PST)

Right, I've read a little about the rift, and I can't help but wonder why a follower of Myanar would take a faerie as an apprentice, when the fae are the very cause of the rift. Eirlys represents everything the parens has fought against, and would no doubt be looking to an apprentice which can recieve their natural curiosity about the natural world, and their focus on the natural world to the exclusion of all things fae.

--James\\^Talk 05:28, 25 March 2006 (PST)

The rift was caused by a power struggle between two people; it had less to do with who wanted what focus for the house and more to do with "Get out of my chair, this is MY house" "You can't come back, I'M Primus" "But I was here first" "No you weren't, you're not the real primus, you impostor!" My idea for this is that Drystan cares more about the direction of the house than who sits in the Primus' chair; he wishes to shift the focus of the house away from the "study OF faerie" and back to the study of nature. (Drystan himself is formidable with Herbam, Animal and Auram.) He sees the way to shifting Merinita's focus where it belongs (in his opinion, of course) is to train apprentices who are largely fey themselves, and unlikely to be interested in studying their own navels. While Eirlys and Drystan argued quite a bit, it's because she was headstrong, so he played quite a bit of reverse psychology on her. This was extremely calculated on Drystan's part, as Eirlys turned out very much the way he wanted her to. This is why I had a problem making him into a Tormenting Master - most of the strain between them is an affectation on his part; he's far more clever than he reveals. The only genuine strain between them is that he wants her to study more Herbam-- she hasn't yet developed a passion for it (but he will be working on that). He does have a hard time dealing with other Merinita who are lightly fey-blooded, but that's because they're the ones who tend to be snooty and condescending to mundane-blooded Merinitae, with an attitude of "well what could YOU know about magic, I bet your parens had to inflict warping on you to initiate you into the Mystery!" Drystan himself is not opposed to Faerie Magic, but he believes it should be used as a tool in exploring the power of Nature, rather than exalted as an end unto itself. That sound okay? --Eirlys 16:19, 27 March 2006 (PST)

Good stuff. I look forward to seeing it revealed in the stories. --James\\^Talk 08:24, 6 April 2006 (PDT)

Marcus investigation

Do you want to kick off the next morning for Marcus? I'm planning on seeking out the bailiff more or less first thing, although any information I can glean from the priest about the bailiff beforehand would be great. Or, if I can make some assumptions about where I'd find the bailiff, I can kick it off. --JBforMarcus 07:49, 24 March 2006 (PST)

As it is Sunday, I daresay the most natural course of action for a chap like Marcus would be to attend church at the manor, and bump into the bailiff thereabouts. He has to go to church, and it is very unlikely he'd go to any other church. Which service might be an issue, but given Marcus's intent on learning more about the community, there is probably no better way to ensure he has seen pretty much every living human within a decent walk of the church, than to attend all services throughout the day. I'm not clued up on medieval services yet, barring monastic ones, but will make a point of doing so as I write that thread.

--James\\^Talk 09:15, 24 March 2006 (PST)

Sounds good, and I'll poke around in my library as well. --JBforMarcus 09:55, 24 March 2006 (PST)

Languages

Eirlys is from a faerie regio, close to the heart of Arcadia. Her grandmother was Welsh. Given that, I'm not even sure her native language would be Welsh. What language would be spoken in Faerie?

I don't really know, but languages are a dynamic. If you learnt Olde Welsh from a woman who retreated from the world a long time ago, and raised you in seclusion, then you will be speaking a quirky, out-of-date form of Olde Welsh at best. If she was your sole source of Welsh, then your vocabulary will be limited by her manner of speech, rather than being broadened by exposure to a wide-range of people. I can't say I know much about faerie, the realm, so I wouldn't like to guess as to their manner of speech. It is something you can research... :P

She's had more contact with the Gaelic-influenced fey than the Welsh, as her patron deity is an old Scottish legend. --Eirlys 11:18, 19 March 2006 (PST)

The Gaelic languages are different, though how different in the 13th Century, I don't know.

Who really knows anything?

Regarding the [Story_:_Supper_in_the_West_Room] scene; can you let any relevant players know anything they might want to add to contribute to the information. Marcus has been around for a few days and been social. Longinus was advised on this area by his parens. Eirlys and Bedo were originally from Wales, so may have some knowledge of the area. Ambrosius is from Shropshire, so may also have some local knowledge. Phaedrus I'm not sure about. Mnemosyne has no local knowledge, though I suppose something may have attracted her to the location other than its distance from Northumland, which she hates. Not sure what relevent abilities the various characters have, but that's your bag and your dice Mr Storyteller. Do your stuff :P --Perikles 04:07, 19 March 2006 (PST)

Well, the resident Mercere magus knows far more than he can let on, and I'll be flinging some information to him at some point.

Basically, between Tim, Sam, and I, we have created a number of sites that the players might find and explore. These sites can be mapped onto equivalent geography, in many cases, so the players can look at pretty much anywhere, and potentially find a site.

Local rumours are fairly vague about locations - for instance, being told that stuff occurs on the Long Mynd is a massive area encompassing a lot of diverse geography, ruins, and the like. There are other hills on the far side of the valley... lots of varied places to choose from.

I'll try and create a mix of vague and specific rumours, so that the players have little difficulty finding a site that appeals, geologically speaking. Of course, the other features of the site make make it utterly undesirable, but that's life. --James\\^Talk 04:36, 19 March 2006 (PST)

Birds of Prey

Would it be reasonable to have Kuari spot and capture some rodent during the evening?
In case I want to cast spells, the dominion aura is not above 3, right? --Samuel 14:12, 17 March 2006 (PST)

In the evening, in 'The Three Lions', the aura in the inn is at 2, but earlier in the day, before sunset, the aura is 3.

That's because there are a lot of people concentrated in the in during the day, the village of Church Stretton generaly has an aura of 2, right?

The reasons he is aware of are:

1. The importance of this hamlet/village far outstrips its size.
2. It has an important church whose congregation incorporates the residents of several local settlements, including Little Stretton and All Stretton, which has been the site of continuous worship for as long as anyone cares to remember.
3. The building is an inn, rather than a tavern, and frequented by locals from a small community. It is most definitely not somewhere where significant vices are entertained. News travels fast in such a community, and being in the inn is like being in public.

The general aura of Church Stretton is 2, under normal conditions, plot not withstanding.

Hawks hunt during the day, I think, so your animal companion has already eaten. Assuming that coooked meat is fine for birds of prey, you could always give her a bit of his supper if you want. --James\\^Talk 20:20, 17 March 2006 (PST)

I was more thinking about adding some pieces to the story than worrying about it's food. Ohh.. I should have added "inside the west room" to that question.

Aye. I thought you might appreciate a reason to interact with her more inside the tavern, while also mentioning general feeding for your use in later stories. :) --James\\^Talk 07:22, 27 March 2006 (PST)

Social reaction to Mages

By the way, is my view of the apperance of magic (from 'Basic assumptions') correct? To expand on it a little, my expectation of how magicians and the Fae are met/treated would be something like how the Jews was treated, and as differing between places and people. I guess that simile would work for frequency also. Is that correct? --Samuel 15:00, 16 March 2006 (PST)

The way people respond to fae characters is wholly different from the way that they respond to magi. I suggest you peruse the section on 'The Gift' in the main book again, as the effect on mundanes is actually really bad, rather than slightly bad. As for fae, you will see that in-game.

Yea, I have read about The Gift. But how would people react if they saw Marcus doing some obvious magic? Or someone else w.o. The Gift making them biased, or the results of magic w.o. interacting with the mage, thus not getting affected by The Gift.

Well, it would ruin his alternate 'monk' identity. Once news got back to the church, they would view you in an extremely suspicious, and probably hostile, light indeed. Monks don't cast magic; maybe Marcus is a demon in disguise? This wouldn't be the first time they have impersonated those who have taken holy orders. Given how well the church know Marcus, making an enemy of them would be a bad idea. --James\\^Talk 08:12, 27 March 2006 (PST)

Fae: Phaedrus has lived in Mythic Europe for a long time, and talked to a lot of people while trading with his parents, I think he should have _some_ idea how people react to the Fae. Or are you telling me that meeting the Fae is so unusual that he has not met anyone who met them?

Phaedrus has not sought to learn very much about his unusual ancestry, but he knows more than the church would like. He knows people's typical reactions to fae, and how in some rural parts the people have simple arrangements with the fair folk. He also knows a few stories, some of which aren't true, or only partly so. He can see that this village is heavily Norman influenced, and firmly dominion orientated. He knows that iron is their weakness, and may know some common folk traditions relating to the fae, though nothing particularly localised. --James\\^Talk 08:12, 27 March 2006 (PST)

Magical Animal Companion

I just realized that I know to little about my companion, the Kestrel, the only thing I _know_ is that it has human inteligence and probably has a Magic Might of 14. Does "Magical animal companions" usually speak? In that case I should be introducing Kuari when greeting people. --Samuel 14:12, 17 March 2006 (PST)

Your animal companion has 10 - size Magic Might, which is around 14/15, and an Intelligence characteristic, rather than Cunning. However, it is unlikely that it can produce human sounds. You could give it a special power with 0 cost that aided communication though, or higher if it worked at range. I'll generate the creature for you before it is taken out on adventure. --James\\^Talk 13:49, 18 March 2006 (PST)

New wiki

Hello James. This wiki has moved to arsmagica.wikia.com. Please add your name to Ars Magica:Licensing if you agree to release your edits under a free license so your work can be used on the new wiki. Thanks. Angela 22:42, 7 May 2006 (PDT)