From: lwl@graphics.cis.upenn.edu (Lydia Leong)
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 12:11:34 -0400
While trying to figure out "needed" vis sources for the Vespers Saga, I realized something rather ugly:
The Concilium currently can get 35 pawns of vis a year:
Intellego (5 pawns, from dolphins) Muto (5 pawns, from snails) Aquam (5 pawns, from penguins) Auram (5 pawns, from crystals) Herbam (5 pawns, from leaves) Ignem (5 pawns, from blackrock) Vim (5 pawns, from extraction)Alanus, Tariq, and Cain, at the very least, have hit middle age. Once they cross that 35 + Stamina line, they're going to start needing longevity potions.
Now, here comes the bad news.
You need: Intelligence + Intellego + Corporem + Magic Theory + Aura >= 20
That's not too bad, and you only need to spend a Season doing this invention once, and the potion lasts until you fail an aging roll. (Though Alanus and Tariq better raise those 0 Corporem scores sometime soon... which reminds me, did we ever decide how the Covenant library is organized? Do we have one book at Level X, or several books of differing levels?) Though hoo boy, does that Aura help... but you want your total to be as high as possible initially (or you'll want to reinvent the potion later, since the modifier to your aging roll is based on the total).
What really slams you is the vis requirement: you need a pawn of vis for every 5 years (or fraction thereof) of your age, which means 7 pawns at age 35 (or 8 pawns at age 36).
The vis must be Creo, Corporem, or Vim... all unavailable.
I foresee three somewhat desperate magi looking to vis-hunt sometime soon. ;) (not to mention some Certamens over the Corporem book, if there's only one.)
-- Lydia