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Thread: Mebhaighl

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    Site Moderator kgauck's Avatar
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    Sources have been making a shift in my thinking away from just the origin of
    realm wizard`s power, to reflect a more magic-of-the-land concept. Druids
    and Sorcerers therefore are the characters who use sources, while clerics
    and wizards use temples or academies. Others have made similar points.

    What I was thinking about was creating a few interesting exceptions. Holy
    sites that would allow regular temples to add sources to temples. Things
    like the spot where Emperor Arianus IV, infused with the spirit of Haelyn,
    defeated Nugato, the Necromancer and his army of living dead. We know of
    the small chapel where the Book of Laws appeared in Diemed. The Orchid
    Chapel in Talanie might be more than just a temple holding, but a temple and
    a source, reflecting the imprint of Haelyn`s visions to Fitzalan.

    Kenneth Gauck
    kgauck@mchsi.com

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    Senior Member Trithemius's Avatar
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    Kenneth says:

    > Sources have been making a shift in my thinking away from
    > just the origin of realm wizard`s power, to reflect a more
    > magic-of-the-land concept. Druids and Sorcerers therefore
    > are the characters who use sources, while clerics and wizards
    > use temples or academies. Others have made similar points.

    Uh oh...

    I, as most of you will recall, don`t feel very good about divorcing
    magery from mebhaighl. I believe that it is a major motif of the
    setting, so much so that I have included Wilderness Lore on my revised
    list of class skills for wizards in BR. However, I do think that it
    makes sense that Druids get source-holdings (representing the power o`
    the land) as well as temple-holdings (representing the social powers
    that druids have in certain nations, especially in Rjurik). Also,
    insofar as I allow only sidhe or sidhe-blooded sorcerers (and
    dragons...) I think that it is reasonable that sorcerers too have access
    to source-holdings.

    My big problem comes from this idea of an academy- or conclave-holding.
    I simply do not believe that there is enough magically able people to
    make a `living RP battery`, especially when in all nations except among
    the Khinasi wizardry is at best distrusted and at worst hated unto
    death.

    My alternatives are these:

    (a) The New Holding Approach. Have a new holding called a conclave (or
    covenant, if you want to be sued by Atlas Games :)). This holding has
    two limitations on its size, the first is the province level (this
    represents the `tech` needs of such an organisation) and second is the
    magical potential (because I feel that magery cannot possibly be
    divorced from mebhaighl without the setting becoming something other
    than BR). The conclave will produce RP and a trifling amount of GB. This
    GB is not profit or hard currency, but can be considered to be the
    "discount" off the cost of research or spell-casting gained by having
    the support network. It can be loaned out to others to represent minor
    magical assistance, whether the locals accept such sorcery is dependent
    on the region. This approach presents a number of problems, not the
    least of which are that the size of these holdings are severely
    restricted. For those that are interested, this is almost exactrly what
    it is like for magi in Ars Magica - they are caught between a need for
    mystical resources that are destroyed by the proximity of civilisation
    (of the church in fact) and the need for more mundane resources like
    food, glass, tools, books and potential apprentices.

    (B) The Roleplaying Approach. Sidhe spell-casters and druids both prefer
    to control sources in as natural a way as possible, living in
    synchronicity with the land and tapping its power with respect. Human
    wizards however know that they have been gifted the lands magical
    resources by their gods (esp. Ruornil/Vorynn) just like they have been
    given the rest of Cerilia. It is their`s to use as they need. This puts
    them at odds with Druids (at least, those druids of Erik) and irritates
    the sidhe (who, being arrogant themselves, dislike arrogance in others).
    The key difference in this approach is how each `camp` sees what they
    are doing. Druids share their power with the land and vice-versa, the
    sidhe ARE the land at least if you ask them. Human wizards see the land
    as something to be in command of. Instead of pseudo-worship ceremonies
    the human wizards utilise magical rituals which enforce their mastery
    over the mebhaighl, linking it to them. Mechanically it is identical.
    However Erik`s druids may feel that wizards do not have proper respect
    for the land, while wizards might feel that Druids do no use the power
    of the land in an efficient way. I would see the druids who follow
    Ruornil trying to explain to the Erik`s druids that the wizards are not
    contemptible upstarts and trying to educate those wizards that truly
    lack proper respect. If a GM then really wanted to make a `conclave`
    holding-type to represent the more tangible resources of a group of
    wizards this would be possible (and might balance the access to
    temple-holdings that druids have), however I would say that in BR there
    are few enough of these organisations (one in Anuire, a handful in
    Khinasi, a defunct one in Brechtur) that they could be represented by
    building (as per the free action) a large structure and then undertaking
    diplomatic (as per the action) measures to find students and create
    lieutenant actions to find staff.

    > What I was thinking about was creating a few interesting
    > exceptions. Holy sites that would allow regular temples to
    > add sources to temples. Things like the spot where Emperor
    > Arianus IV, infused with the spirit of Haelyn, defeated
    > Nugato, the Necromancer and his army of living dead. We know
    > of the small chapel where the Book of Laws appeared in
    > Diemed. The Orchid Chapel in Talanie might be more than just
    > a temple holding, but a temple and a source, reflecting the
    > imprint of Haelyn`s visions to Fitzalan.

    The idea of having `super-sites` is pretty neat, I am not sure that I
    would link them to source-level though. Especially since these sorts of
    places are often heavily settled (low source) or are battle sites (which
    also lowers the source).

    --
    John Machin
    (trithemius@paradise.net.nz)
    -----------------------------------
    "Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."
    Athanasius Kircher, Ars Magna Sciendi.

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    John 'Trithemius' Machin
    The Other John From Dunedin (now in Canberra)
    "Power performs the Miracle." - Johannes Trithemius

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