Lion Covenant

Ars Magica: The Scilly Saga
GM
Mark
Game Start
Anno Domini MCCXX, hiems A.D. 1220, winter
Game Year
Anno Domini MCCXX, aestas A.D. 1220, summer
Magi of Leo
Eos of Tytalus Llwyd of Bonisagus Merlor of Flambeau Rissa of Merinita Lady Shona of Ex Miscelanea
Companions
Erne Matteus de Taranto Robert, the Steward
Other Characters
Grogs · Villagers Languages Spoken
The Covenant
Covenant Library · Vis Sources Magical Items · Mundane Wealth Stonehenge Tribunal
Other
Scilly Saga Chargen Rules Ars Magica House Rules
Player Resources (PDFs)
Experience Point Worksheet Character Sheet (Variant 1) Character Sheet (Variant 2)

Modern-day Gweal seen from Bryher

Symbol: TBD
Motto: TBD
Season: Early Spring
Aura: Magical 5
Founded: A.D. 1220
Magi: 5 (1 Bonisagus, 1 Ex Miscellanea, 1 Flambeau, 1 Tytalus, 1 Merinita)

Conventus Leonis (The Lion Covenant) is an early spring covenant located in the Scilly Isles off the Cornwall coast. It was founded in early 1220 by intrepid magi looking for an unclaimed home in the Stonehenge Tribunal. The covenant's name is a play on Lyonesse, Arthur's mythical kingdom which sank beneath the waves of the Atlantic of which the Scilly Isles are supposedly the last surviving remnants.

The four founding magi met while guests at Nova Semitae and discovered that a fairly powerful covenant was once located in the Scilly Isles and disappeared mysteriously in 1168 without a trace. No other covenant has bothered to come looking or salvaging due to its relatively remote location.

The covenant itself is looking to be established on Gweal, a small island just west of Bryher. Just large enough for a tower and a few buildings, its close enough for easy travel to Bryher, even on foot during low enough tides. It would seem that a strong Magic Aura has manifested on the island making it ideal for a covenant.

Wizard's Tower

A perfectly circular tower carved entirely from a single piece of stone that forms the bedrock of the islands. Result of Conjuring the Mystic Tower when the covenant was founded. Located on the southern-end of Gweal. A staircase, created as part of the tower's construction, circles up the tower with landings on the 3rd, 5th, and 7th floors.

• Floor 8: Shona's lab. Accessible only from an internal staircase from Floor 7.
• Floor 7: Shona's sanctum. Internal staircases up to Floor 8 and down to Floor 6. Accessible by external staircase.
• Floor 6: Eos's lab. Internal staircase down to floor 5 and up to floor 7.
• Floor 5: Eos's sanctum. Internal staircase up to floor 6. Accessible by external staircase.
• Floor 4: Rissa's sanctum. Internal staircase down to Floor 3 and up to floor 5.
• Floor 3: Library floor. Internal staircase up to floor 4. Accessible by external staircase.
• Floor 2: Llwyd's lab. Internal staircase down to floor 1.
• Floor 1: LLwyd's sanctum. Internal staircase up to Floor 2. Accessed from ground floor entrance.
• Basement: Merlor's sanctum. A door from the ground level leads to an internal staircase going down into the basement level. Internal staircase down to sub-basement
• Sub-basement: Merlor's lab. Internal staircase up to basement.

Covenant Mechanics

Boons and Hooks

Hooks and Boons in bold are default. Note, Boons need to be purchased by Hooks.

Covenant Hooks:

• Poverty (Minor): The covenant is starting with very modest means.
• Centralized Kingdom (Minor): The Isles of Scilly are part of the Kingdom of England, and every square inch is answerable to some feudal lord, who will have to be dealt with sooner or later
• Magical Disaster (Major): Some catastrophe took out the previous covenant. The magi are the first who are industrious enough, or crazy enough, to go digging.
• Ruined Covenant (Major): The former covenant is here somewhere and waiting to be discovered
• Hangout (Minor): Tavern on Bryher. All the good quests start in a tavern!
• Vis Salary (Minor): Vis allocation is contingent on covenant service
• Gender Imbalance (Women, Minor): A recent pirate raid has depleted the isles of able-bodied men, and women are filling in roles that men once did

Covenant Boons:

• Difficult Access (Minor): It's the island of Gweal, adjacent to Brayer (modern name: Bryher)
• Hidden Resources (Minor) x3: 750 build points is salvagable... somehow. (From the ruined covenant)
• Hidden Resources (Minor) x2: There are a lot of resources available for an entrepreneurial covenant.
• Healthy Feature (Minor): Healthy sea breeze, +1 to aging rolls
• Magic Aura (Minor) x2: The island of Gweal has a Magic Aura 5, ideal for covenants
• Vivid Environment (Minor): Probably an artifact of the Magic Aura, the area's environment and view lends itself to keeping the covenfolk satisfied.
• Right of Wreckage (Minor): Due to the amount of ship wreckage, the recent loss of working men, and a historical lack of anyone to actually take advantage of wrecks, the local lord will soon grant this right to the covenant, which will become a legitimate income source

Free:

• Island (Free): The covenant is on the island of Gweal
• Sailor Covenfolk (Free): Island folk are largely sailors and fishers as their main industry

Resources

Selected by Adam: (100 build points)

• 100 pounds Mythic silver (10pts) {It’s going to take money to start anything real.}
• 50 Pawn/Form (10pts) {A little bit of everything’s good for starting off.}
• 3 Pawn/year Vis Source (15pts) {A little something till we find what the old covenant used}
• Magic Theory Summa “Basic Laboratory Design” L5 Q10 (25pts) {Figured this would be useful for starting}
• Celling Fan [Minor Laboratory Virtue Au +1] (10pts) {Thought I’d bring this along after skimming the Lab Design book}
• Fair Weather Boat [See Magic Items] (26pts) {We are going to islands, after all.}
• Lab Text "River’s Transverse" (4pts) {Shortly after seeing how close Gwael and Bryher are, I went back to Nova Semente got a scribe to copy this one.}

Selected by Tim: (100 build points)

• 100 pounds Mythic silver (10pts) {It’s going to take money to start anything real.}
• 1 Rook/Technique (10pts) {A little bit of everything’s good for starting off.}
• 1 Rook – Corpus (2pts) {It’s always good to have a stock of Corpus Vis on hand.}
• 1 Rook – Animal (2pts) {Having a spell to attract fish to the island could be useful.}
• 5 Pawns – Ignem (1pt) {Eos’ private stock}
• Corpus Summa “Basic Magical Healing” L10 Q15 (25pts) {A book given to Eos by his Pater. Not sure if it was a deliberate insult or not…}
• Vim Summa “The Ties that Bind” L15 Q10 (25pts) {Having a Vim book is always a good thing to have! May or may not have been pilfered from a certain Magus’s house…}
• Vis Source: 5 pawns of Corpus Vis every year. (25pts) {Not entirely sure how this would come about, but since Corpus vis is highly sought after (longevity rituals being what they are) this would make the covenant fairly profitable and powerful if it came down to it}

Selected by Mark: (50 build points)
(Tentative)

• Laboratory Texts: 50 levels of spells (10 BP)
• Vis Source: Uncontested source 4 pawns/year (20 BP)
• Muto Summa: L10 Q10 (20 BP)

Hidden Resources Uncovered

There are 1250 build points of hidden resources. This section lists those discovered by the magi.

• 4 points - 20 pawns of Corpus vis in teeth

Prevailing Loyalty

Base Loyalty: Shona (0, No Gift) + Merlor (-30, Gift) + Eos (-105, Blatant Gift) + Llwyd (-30, Gift) + Rissa (-30, Gift) -195 / 5 = -39

Prevailing Loyalty:

Base Loyalty: -39
Vivid Environment: +20
Healthy Feature (Aging Modifier +1): +10
Standard Equipment: +0
Standard Wages: +0
Steward: +8 (Robert, Presence + Profession: Steward, 2 + 6)

Prevailing Loyalty: -1 = Loyalty to Covenant -1