Source Regents And Arcane Courts

[Osprey]

OK, so here are some rule adjustments and clarifications I came up with, which I am proposing as additions / changes to the revised BRCS. The key skill for Source Holdings is particularly important, I think.

The Arcane Court is a different idea which I wanted to post and see if anyone likes the idea. Also, I propose a modification for Druids and Suurce holdings which allows them to directly compete with wizards and sorcerers, and thus protect the sources of natural power from the draining mages.

1. Druids and Source Holdings: Druids are very attuned to the flows of mebhaighal and sources of natural energy in Cerilia. This attunement allows them to tap into and protect the sources of earthpower that flow and gather within the land. However, unlike mages, they do not believe in drastically altering the flows of this energy, only using it to protect and enrich the surrounding wilderness. As such, druids cannot forge or utilize ley lines. All of their Realm Spells must originate directly from the primary Source holding that powers the spell. Otherwise, they can Create, Rule, and Contest Source Holdings using Knowledge: Nature as their key skill for determining synergy bonuses.

2. Source Holdings: To Create, Rule, or Contest Source Holdings, a regent uses his/her Knowledge: Arcana or Kn: Nature skill (whichever is higher) as the key skill for synergy bonuses, not Administrate. Typically, wizards and sorcerers use their Kn: Arcana, while druids use their Kn: Nature.

3. Ley Lines: Kn: Arcana is always the base synergistic skill used to Create Ley Line. Wizards and sorcerers can create ley lines, but druids cannot.

4. Arcane Courts: Normally, a source regent can only manipulate source holdings and ley lines as a Standard Action + Character Action. This is due to the fact that only blooded scions and elves can manipulate mebhaighal on a realm scale. Likewise, this precludes the use of Realm Actions regarding sources, as an unblooded court would be of little use regarding source holdings.
However, it is conceivable that a source regent could construct an Arcane Court. This might include a number of arcane casters and assistants, as well as various natural and supernatural assistants (unseen servants, summoned beings, fae allies, etc.). It is assumed that most of these are unblooded but have some arcane abilities, although a portion of the court might simply be ritual assistants and servants for setting up and transporting realm spell components, taking care of mundane provisions, etc.
To truly extend the reach of a source regent, however, requires mages capable of wielding true magic. To this end, the source regent must seek out and employ blooded (or elven) lieutenants. In fact, for every 2 levels of Arcane Court the source regent must invest 1 wizard or sorcerer as a lieutenant (usually an apprentice to the source regent).
To establish an arcane court, a wizard or sorcerer regent must possess one or more source holdings. The Arcane Court’s maximum level is equal to the regent’s highest source holding level. It is typically located in the same province or in another province connected to the highest source holding by a ley line. The effects of an arcane court are similar to a mundane court, but the available court actions and reputation pertain only to a limited audience (other arcane spell casters and source regents, the wilderness and its denizens surrounding the regent’s source holdings, creatures and spirits of the Shadow World, etc.). Arcane courts have far fewer personnel and facilities than their mundane counterparts, and thus require less money to maintain. However, the court members instead ask for small amounts of mebhaighal as “pay,” and thus arcane courts demand Regency Points as maintenance.

Arcane Courts
Court Level Effects
2-3 1 Arcane Court Action per domain round (per month)
4-5 2 Arcane Court Actions per round, +1 Arcane Reputation
6-7 3 Arcane Court Actions per round, +2 Arcane Reputation
8-9 4 Arcane Court Actions per round, +3 Arcane Reputation
10 5 Arcane Court Actions per round, +4 Arcane Reputation

-Maintenance: 1 RP + ½ GB per level of the Arcane Court
-Court level may not exceed the regent’s highest source holding level, and must be located in that province or be connected to it by a ley line.
-The court level may not exceed the regent’s arcane caster level.
-The regent must have one wizard or sorcerer lieutenant per 2 levels of arcane court. Thus, 1 lt. for a level 2 arcane court, 2 for a level 4 court, etc..
-The regent may only raise the court by 1 level per season. This requires an arcane Decree action, and costs (1 RP x new court level) plus 1 GB to recruit the necessary personnel. The regent may only raise his court level if all necessary prerequisites are already met (sufficient caster level, source holding, and lieutenants).

Functions of an Arcane Court:
1. Arcane Realm Actions: When Creating, Ruling, or Contesting source holdings, a regent with an arcane court may spend additional arcane Court Actions to affect more than one source holding at a time. The regent first initiates a Standard Action, and then spends one Court Action for each additional source holding affected by the same action. Furthermore, it requires the Character Action of one blooded or elven mage for each source holding affected.

Ex.: A source regent with a level 4 Arcane Court (2 Arcane Court Actions per round) decides to Rule 3 eligible source holdings. He has 3 blooded apprentices, and since he doesn’t wish to use his own Character Action for this, designates one lieutenant for each of the 3 sources being ruled, and uses his 2 arcane court actions for the round. Each lieutenant uses his/her Kn: Arcana to determine the synergy bonuses (if any), and the regent decides how much RP to spend on each source being ruled. The action will cost 3 GB to initiate (one per holding ruled).

2. Arcane Decree: The regent may spend an arcane court action to make a decree to the people and beings affected by his or her source holdings. This may be used to raise the regent’s arcane court level, announce a job opening for a mage lieutenant (which would then require a Diplomacy roll by the regent or his court), or any other announcement or minor action affecting the regent’s arcane domain.

3. Mundane Court Actions: If a source regent has high-level holdings that grant him Virtual Guilds, he may use his arcane court as a mundane court wherever he has virtual guilds. For example, a regent with a source(8) [and thus a Virtual Guild(4)] could Muster Troops in that province (up to 2 GB in a month) by spending an Arcane Court Action.


Hope this is of interest to the BRCS team!

Osprey

[Osprey]

There is one piece of the Arcane Court I left out for the sake of discussion here on BR.net. Arcane Realm Actions: should there be a limit based on geography? I don't think realms as defined by the landed regent's domain should affect source holdings and Realm Actions.

Should all targeted source holdings of a Realm Action be in adjacent provinces? This would make a kind of sense as the mebhaighal extends from one province to the next. But it also makes the Realm Actions even more limited than I already made them (which is pretty strict, requiring the character action of a true mage for each source affected).

Curious as to what others think of all of this (not just the BRCS team).

Osprey

[Birthright-L]

Osprey recently posted his system of arcane courts and such, but the

formatting didn`t come out so well on my mail server. It seemed to come out

okay on BR.net, but I don`t think the formatting came out right on the list

so I`m reposting it from the list. I hope nobody minds.



> This post was generated by the Birthright.net message forum.

> You can view the entire thread at: http://www.birthright.net/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=36&t=1943





OK, so here are some rule adjustments and clarifications I came up with,

which I am proposing as additions / changes to the revised BRCS. The key

skill for Source Holdings is particularly important, I think.



The Arcane Court is a different idea which I wanted to post and see if

anyone likes the idea. Also, I propose a modification for Druids and Suurce

holdings which allows them to directly compete with wizards and sorcerers,

and thus protect the sources of natural power from the draining mages.



1. Druids and Source Holdings: Druids are very attuned to the flows of

mebhaighal and sources of natural energy in Cerilia. This attunement allows

them to tap into and protect the sources of earthpower that flow and gather

within the land. However, unlike mages, they do not believe in drastically

altering the flows of this energy, only using it to protect and enrich the

surrounding wilderness. As such, druids cannot forge or utilize ley lines.

All of their Realm Spells must originate directly from the primary Source

holding that powers the spell. Otherwise, they can Create, Rule, and Contest

Source Holdings using Knowledge: Nature as their key skill for determining

synergy bonuses.



2. Source Holdings: To Create, Rule, or Contest Source Holdings, a regent

uses his/her Knowledge: Arcana or Kn: Nature skill (whichever is higher) as

the key skill for synergy bonuses, not Administrate. Typically, wizards and

sorcerers use their Kn: Arcana, while druids use their Kn: Nature.



3. Ley Lines: Kn: Arcana is always the base synergistic skill used to Create

Ley Line. Wizards and sorcerers can create ley lines, but druids cannot.



4. Arcane Courts: Normally, a source regent can only manipulate source

holdings and ley lines as a Standard Action + Character Action. This is due

to the fact that only blooded scions and elves can manipulate mebhaighal on

a realm scale. Likewise, this precludes the use of Realm Actions regarding

sources, as an unblooded court would be of little use regarding source

holdings.

However, it is conceivable that a source regent could construct an Arcane

Court. This might include a number of arcane casters and assistants, as well

as various natural and supernatural assistants (unseen servants, summoned

beings, fae allies, etc.). It is assumed that most of these are unblooded

but have some arcane abilities, although a portion of the court might simply

be ritual assistants and servants for setting up and transporting realm

spell components, taking care of mundane provisions, etc.

To truly extend the reach of a source regent, however, requires mages

capable of wielding true magic. To this end, the source regent must seek out

and employ blooded (or elven) lieutenants. In fact, for every 2 levels of

Arcane Court the source regent must invest 1 wizard or sorcerer as a

lieutenant (usually an apprentice to the source regent).

To establish an arcane court, a wizard or sorcerer regent must possess one

or more source holdings. The Arcane Court’s maximum level is equal to the

regent’s highest source holding level. It is typically located in the same

province or in another province connected to the highest source holding by a

ley line. The effects of an arcane court are similar to a mundane court, but

the available court actions and reputation pertain only to a limited

audience (other arcane spell casters and source regents, the wilderness and

its denizens surrounding the regent’s source holdings, creatures and spirits

of the Shadow World, etc.). Arcane courts have far fewer personnel and

facilities than their mundane counterparts, and thus require less money to

maintain. However, the court members instead ask for small amounts of

mebhaighal as “pay,” and thus arcane courts demand Regency Points as

maintenance.



Arcane Courts

Court Level Effects

2-3 1 Arcane Court Action per domain round (per month)

4-5 2 Arcane Court Actions per round, +1 Arcane Reputation

6-7 3 Arcane Court Actions per round, +2 Arcane Reputation

8-9 4 Arcane Court Actions per round, +3 Arcane Reputation

10 5 Arcane Court Actions per round, +4 Arcane Reputation



-Maintenance: 1 RP + ½ GB per level of the Arcane Court

-Court level may not exceed the regent’s highest source holding level, and

must be located in that province or be connected to it by a ley line.

-The court level may not exceed the regent’s arcane caster level.

-The regent must have one wizard or sorcerer lieutenant per 2 levels of

arcane court. Thus, 1 lt. for a level 2 arcane court, 2 for a level 4 court,

etc..

-The regent may only raise the court by 1 level per season. This requires an

arcane Decree action, and costs (1 RP x new court level) plus 1 GB to

recruit the necessary personnel. The regent may only raise his court level

if all necessary prerequisites are already met (sufficient caster level,

source holding, and lieutenants).



Functions of an Arcane Court:

1. Arcane Realm Actions: When Creating, Ruling, or Contesting source

holdings, a regent with an arcane court may spend additional arcane Court

Actions to affect more than one source holding at a time. The regent first

initiates a Standard Action, and then spends one Court Action for each

additional source holding affected by the same action. Furthermore, it

requires the Character Action of one blooded or elven mage for each source

holding affected.



Ex.: A source regent with a level 4 Arcane Court (2 Arcane Court Actions per

round) decides to Rule 3 eligible source holdings. He has 3 blooded

apprentices, and since he doesn’t wish to use his own Character Action for

this, designates one lieutenant for each of the 3 sources being ruled, and

uses his 2 arcane court actions for the round. Each lieutenant uses his/her

Kn: Arcana to determine the synergy bonuses (if any), and the regent decides

how much RP to spend on each source being ruled. The action will cost 3 GB

to initiate (one per holding ruled).



2. Arcane Decree: The regent may spend an arcane court action to make a

decree to the people and beings affected by his or her source holdings. This

may be used to raise the regent’s arcane court level, announce a job opening

for a mage lieutenant (which would then require a Diplomacy roll by the

regent or his court), or any other announcement or minor action affecting

the regent’s arcane domain.



3. Mundane Court Actions: If a source regent has high-level holdings that

grant him Virtual Guilds, he may use his arcane court as a mundane court

wherever he has virtual guilds. For example, a regent with a source(8) [and

thus a Virtual Guild(4)] could Muster Troops in that province (up to 2 GB in

a month) by spending an Arcane Court Action.





Hope this is of interest to the BRCS team!



Osprey

[Landsturning]

I've long felt the court rules were too landed-ruler-centered, and that temples and guilds and especially wizards should be Different.

One concern is: "...for every 2 levels of Arcane Court the source regent must invest 1 wizard or sorcerer as a lieutenant ."
Birthright source material said there were only about a hundred true wizards on the continent.

Will there be enough wizards to go around with all these courts? Or will this has the effect of just generating a bunch of additional wizards and blurring one more distinction between Abyernis and other worlds?

My preference is to emphasize the mystic tie of the regent to holdings from their divine heritage as specifically Birthrightish, and place less emphasis on courts *** in Cerilia. ***

Running the Birthrightish mechanics in order worlds I'd emphasize courts and collective actions more and individual bloodlines less. For instance the various magical secret societies in the Zakharan birthright article (Scions of the Desert, Dragon Magazine # something ...) would go well with arcane courts.

[Osprey]

One concern is: "...for every 2 levels of Arcane Court the source regent must invest 1 wizard or sorcerer as a lieutenant ."
Birthright source material said there were only about a hundred true wizards on the continent.

I can't see that number as being very accurate. I'll bet that there are around 50 wizard regents (just a rough guess) in Cerilia, and I would guess that there are several times that number who don't control source holdings. Especially when you consider the number of elves still around, whose favored class is wizard...the total number including elves would definitely be higher than 100.

That being said, I really only wanted arcane courts as an option that allows source regents the ability to compete with other types of regents. The differences in reach become pretty striking when running a party of mixed regent types - source regents require character actions for everything, so why not allow them to make better use of their apprentices? As it is, I would imagine arcane courts to be rather rare, although it definitely makes sense for the elves and perhaps the Royal College of Sorcery if they ever gained control of any sources. Once upon a time they might very well have had this soutrt of capabiltity.

Osprey

[void]

Originally posted by Osprey@Sep 11 2003, 05:34 PM

1. Druids and Source Holdings: Druids are very attuned to the flows of mebhaighal and sources of natural energy in Cerilia. This attunement allows them to tap into and protect the sources of earthpower that flow and gather within the land. However, unlike mages, they do not believe in drastically altering the flows of this energy, only using it to protect and enrich the surrounding wilderness. As such, druids cannot forge or utilize ley lines. All of their Realm Spells must originate directly from the primary Source holding that powers the spell. Otherwise, they can Create, Rule, and Contest Source Holdings using Knowledge: Nature as their key skill for determining synergy bonuses.


If druids are opposing mages because they drastically alter the flow of mebhaighal in the form of casting realm spells, shouldn't they give up casting realm spells altogether if its so disruptive to the land?

It just seems kind of hypocritical to me.

I agree that it makes sense that druids using sources instead of temples should be able to oppose wizards for control of the sources, i just think they should have a better reason for doing so (gaining more personal power counts).

[Osprey]

If druids are opposing mages because they drastically alter the flow of mebhaighal in the form of casting realm spells, shouldn't they give up casting realm spells altogether if its so disruptive to the land?

It just seems kind of hypocritical to me.

I agree that it makes sense that druids using sources instead of temples should be able to oppose wizards for control of the sources, i just think they should have a better reason for doing so (gaining more personal power counts).

I've always imagined that druids use a different technique than mages do when dealing with mebhaighal. I would imagine the effects to be very similar to the way the elves do it. Only elves do it intuitively (it is part of their very nature), while druids channel divine energies of nature with a similar result.

I think not using ley lines is a big part of not disrupting the mebhaighal. I see ley lines as far more disruptive and overtly manipulative of the mebhaighal than simply controlling and drawing regency from sources.

When a druid casts a realm spell, he is using the local energies of the land. Also, druidic realm spells have specifically nature-aligned effects (such as Summon Nature's Allies). That's actually one of the only druidic realm spells in the BRCS, but I think the list could definitely be expanded.

I think the key is that druidic realm magic shouldn't be out-of-harmony with the natural powers of nature. But that is how their normal spell lists are arranged, so why not Realm Spells?

[kgauck]

My own idea on druids and sources is related to the idea that in each

culture a dominant class has expanded beyond the holding type most

associated with it. So that in Rjurik lands, druids have both temple and

source holdings. This increases druidical power there, as well as crowding

out any wizards, who are not welcome in Rjurik lands. In Anuire, landed

regents consistantly control both province and law holdings. In Brectur,

guilder regents consistantly control both guild and law holdings.



Kenneth Gauck

kgauck@mchsi.com

[Osprey]

My own idea on druids and sources is related to the idea that in each
culture a dominant class has expanded beyond the holding type most
associated with it. So that in Rjurik lands, druids have both temple and
source holdings. This increases druidical power there, as well as crowding
out any wizards, who are not welcome in Rjurik lands. In Anuire, landed
regents consistantly control both province and law holdings. In Brectur,
guilder regents consistantly control both guild and law holdings.

Kenneth Gauck
kgauck@mchsi.com


This is pretty much identical with my interpretation of Cerilia. I would add the prevalence of land & law-holding mage regents in Khinasi, where wizards are greatly respected.

I would imagine that many guilders in Brechtur are also the landed regents, yes?

On a related note, I am definitely looking forward to the completion of the D20 Atlas of Cerilia, as I never owned most of the supplements concerning the lands and regents outside of Anuire, and would rather have an updated version of these anyways. Keep at it, folks! :)

[kgauck]

----- Original Message -----

From: "Osprey" <brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET>

Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2003 11:45 AM





> I would imagine that many guilders in Brechtur are also the landed

> regents, yes?



That should be rare, as it would unite three holding types, allow cross

support of holdings eliminate one kind of ruler, and generally make Brecht

guilder/dukes too powerful. Lets look case by case.



Danigau- Erik Danig is a wizard, so I`d take away his law, so Erik has

provicnes and sources. He`s powerful enough with that. I might let him

keep 2 law holdings in Blackruft. The Redbedtehrs control the guilds, and I

would have them control the law as well, in proportion to their guilds more

or less.

Dauren- Colier has province, law, and guild, but the text describes him as

an engaged guilder and a reluctant governor, so he should subcontract the

state and focus on the guilds. I`d invent a province holding lieutenant.

Kiergard- Special case, the Gorgon is not a typical Brecht realm and

Spaekhaert should control land and law.

Wierech- I would let Kiel Adler keep the law that`s listed, and assume that

the unclaimed law was actually held by Copper & Coke and Moonshine Sailors.

Massenmarch- not a typical Brecht realm.

Rohrmarch- civil war situation, the prince and the king are going to use law

as part of their fight, but neither holds very much. I`d put the

"unclaimed" law in the hands of the guilders.

Berghagen- I`d put the unclaimed law in the hands of the guilders.

Mueden- A tricky situation since they wanted to split the law between the

count and Melisande Reaversbane. I`d dial back both of their law holdings a

bit (probabaly the count more than the captain) and regard the captain`s law

to be the intersection of the Seelundkaufen and the Sailing Song with some

guarantees and protections for the needs of the fleet.

Rheulgard- needs quite a bit of re-working. More than there is room for

here.

Grevesmuehl- guilds should have all the unclaimed law



Kenneth Gauck

kgauck@mchsi.com