More on Laboratories

the style of the individual magus and this project assumes him to be a fully-fledged shipwright.

Laboratory Rules

The Covenants supplement provides full rules on designing and modifying laboratories. In short, laboratories have a series of Characteristics, Virtues, and Flaws. The characteristics determine how large the laboratory is, how aesthetically pleasing it is, how much it costs to maintain, and what impact it has on the health of the magus. The laboratory also provides a number of specialties: bonuses to certain Arts or activities. These are usually gained through taking Virtues. Virtues are paid for through spending time (one season for a Minor Virtue, two for a Major Virtue), money, and the acquisition of Flaws to balance the new virtue.

The steps described as follows provide enough information for the magus to follow the project and build an Hermetic shipyard.

of his sprawling laboratory. This laboratory has the Missing Sanctum Marker flaw, as even if the magus was careful to display the sign somewhere in the yard, it can easily be missed.

Note: Covenants, page 109, states that a Hermetic laboratory must occupy a single chamber. But in this case, the shipyard encompasses one or more central work sheds and a number of outbuildings. This is represented by the Exposed free structure flaw.

Establish the Basic Laboratory

A magus can establish a basic Hermetic laboratory by spending two dedicated seasons setting up the workspace. A standard laboratory has no intrinsic virtues or flaws, and characteristics of 0. The default size for a laboratory is a space of 500 square feet housed in a single chamber protected from the elements. But the physical size of the laboratory can be chosen freely when the laboratory is first constructed. The laboratory size chart (Covenants, page 110) shows that a laboratory of size +6 provides 2000 square feet of space, a good size for a shipyard. Building a laboratory in the form of a shipyard naturally grants a number of Virtues and Flaws, due to the exposed nature of the space, the proximity to water, and the large area it occupies.

After two seasons of preparing the site and providing laboratory equipment, costing 15 pounds of silver, the new laboratory has the following statistics and requires 3 pounds per year to maintain in good order. The base cost will be used throughout, though heavy usage may increase this. The upkeep sections in Covenants, pages 64 and 111, explain these costs.

Virtues and Flaws: Spacious; Exposed, Missing Sanctum Marker, Empty x3, Damp

Characteristics: Size +6 (+1), Refinement 0, General Quality 0, Upkeep +2, Safety 0, Warping 0, Health –6, Aesthetics –5

Specializations: +1 Auram, +1 Aquam

Equipping the Shipyard

With the infrastructure now complete, the magus must equip the many areas of the shipyard. This is represented through acquiring the Greater Expansion Major Outfitting Virtue. Major Virtues take two seasons to gain and the magus spends this time overseeing the construction of outbuildings and providing equipment. All this activity costs 18 pounds of silver to complete.

At the end of this period, the laboratory has the following statistics and requires 21 pounds per year to maintain in good order. The activity has also removed the Empty flaws that the laboratory had upon its founding. The Greater Expansion also provides two points of specializations, which are used to give a +2 bonus to Ships, used for the enchantment of ships and sailing paraphernalia and the designing of spells concerned with ships and sailing.

Virtues and Flaws: Greater Expansion, Spacious; Exposed, Missing Sanctum Marker, Damp, Empty

Characteristics: Size +6 (+4), Refinement 0, General Quality +2, Upkeep +6, Safety –3, Warping 0, Health –4, Aesthetics –2

Specializations: +2 Ships, +1 Aquam, +1 Auram

At this point, if not before, the purpose behind the construction will become clear. There is little that can be done to disguise a shipyard, and the local shipwrights' guild will become very interested in anyone trying to operate as a shipwright outside of their authority. The Hermetic shipwright now finds that he needs to make an accommodation with the guild in order to operate.

The guild presses for the magus to join, under oath, and submit to all rules and conditions set by the guild. Refusal sees the guild use all its power to prevent the magus doing business. The magus may

see a parallel with the Order's own rarelyused "join or die" mantra, and there is an opportunity to run such events alongside each other during your saga.

Improving the Working Conditions

Being so close to water the laboratory is continually damp and decidedly unhealthy. The following item can help, and as the effect has more than 20 levels, it can be used to improve the laboratory's Health characteristic by +1.

The Soak

ReAq 24

Pen: +0, Constant Effect

R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Structure

This wooden sewer grate about the size of a large shield is installed in the deepest point of the boat shed. It draws all uncontained water currently within the structure to it, where it falls through the grate and into the sewer to be flushed away. The effect is subtle, so as not to unnerve the craftsmen and laborers who work in the boathouse. The effect is also restricted to the inside of the boat shed so that rainfall is not unnaturally affected.

The device needs three pawns of Rego or Aquam vis and a laboratory total of 48 to complete in a single season as a lesser enchanted device, otherwise the device needs to be opened for enchantment with eight pawns of vis.

(Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +3 Structure, +1 subtle effect; +1 for two uses, +3 triggered at sunrise/set)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (48), 2 seasons (36), 3 seasons (32), 4 seasons (30)

The laboratory at this point provides a +1 bonus to Aquam effects, which benefits this device. Experimentation may provide a bonus given that the side effects are likely to be inconvenient rather than dangerous.

At the end of this period, the cost of upkeep has been reduced to 15 pounds

Hermetic Projects

per year and the laboratory has the following statistics.

Virtues and Flaws: Greater Expansion, Spacious; Exposed, Missing Sanctum Marker

Enchantments: The Soak (+1 Health)

Characteristics: Size +7 (+4), Refinement 0, General Quality +2, Upkeep +5, Safety –3, Warping 0, Health –3, Aesthetics –2

Specializations: +2 Ships, +1 Aquam, +1 Auram

Setting the Focus

As a shipyard, all the activities are geared towards building, repairing, and refurbishing ships. The central boat shed needs to be equipped to handle large vessels, and this forms the central feature of the laboratory.

It takes two seasons to install the necessary winches, cranes, and scaffolding inside the boat shed, and to align them with the magical energies that will ultimately flow through them. This grants the Greater Feature Virtue, which is balanced by taking the Major Focus Flaw. The Upkeep has risen again, meaning the work undertaken costs six pounds of silver and the yearly upkeep now costs 21 pounds of silver.

This gives the shipyard the following statistics:

Virtues and Flaws: Greater Expansion, Greater Feature: boat shed, Spacious; Greater Focus: ships, Exposed, Missing Sanctum Marker

Enchantments: The Soak (+1 Health) Characteristics: Size +6 (+4), Refinement 0, General Quality 0, Upkeep +6, Safety –3, Warping 0, Health –3, Aesthetics 0

Specializations: +9 Ships, +1 Aquam, +1 Auram

At this point the shipyard provides a significant bonus to all ship and sailing-related magical effects.

Tools of the Trade

There are two Free Virtues that the Hermetic shipwright would do well to gain for his laboratory. Given that his shipyard already has provision for external workshops, talented mundane craftsmen should be engaged and retained on-site in order to provide Superior Equipment and Superior Tools (Covenants, page 116). As these are Free Virtues, no seasons are spent in acquiring them but they should be the result of a story event:

• • Interacting with a guild to find the best craftsman in town
• • Appealing to a patron saint of craftsmen for inspiration (Saint Dunstan, for instance)
• • Stealing away a famous craftsman from a nearby noble, town, or covenant

If the craftsmen can be brought into the shipwright's covenant, they impose no additional upkeep burden on the laboratory. For the purposes of this laboratory's statistics, it is assumed that this is the case. The bonuses for these Virtues are included in the statistics later.

The craftsmen may become troupe characters and, given their level of ability, the rules in City & Guild, from page 63 onwards, are particularly useful. And of course, once the craftsmen have been recruited, they may become targets for other magi also keen to use them.

Much of the work undertaken in the shipyard involves heaving large planks and beams of wood from one place to another, occasionally with some delicacy. The following effect further improves the laboratory by making these tasks easier.

The Wheel

ReHe 30

Pen: +0, Unlimited Use

R: Touch, D: Concentration, T: Individual

This is a horse-driven wheel connected to a number of chains, ropes, and pulleys that feed into the main boat shed. These ropes can be connected to the vari-

ous cranes and winches that are used to lift and move the great wooden beams from which the ship is formed.

The wheel provides motive power, which allows fewer craftsmen than normal to construct the ship, which in turn adds +1 to the ships specialization, and adds +1 to a Rego specialization. The horse is entirely incidental; it is there simply because mundane visitors would expect it.

(Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Concentration, +2 size; +5 device maintains concentration, +10 unlimited use)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (60), 2 seasons (45), 3 seasons (40), 4 seasons (38)

Three pawns of Rego or Herbam vis and a laboratory total of 60 is required in order to create this as a lesser enchanted device. The alternative is to open the device for enchantment with eight pawns of vis.

Acquiring the equipment, tools, and installing the wheel device increases the laboratory's Upkeep and costs 24 pounds of silver initially and 45 pounds of silver each year.

The Wheel is installed as a Minor Feature, which gives the laboratory the following statistics:

Virtues and Flaws: Greater Expansion, Greater Feature: boat shed, Lesser Feature: Wheel, Spacious, Superior Equipment, Superior Tools; Greater Focus: ships, Exposed, Missing Sanctum Marker

Enchantments: The Soak (+1 Health), The Wheel (+1 ships, +1 Rego)

Characteristics: Size +6 (+5), Refinement 0, General Quality +1, Upkeep +9, Safety –2, Warping 0, Health –3, Aesthetics 0

Specializations: +10 Ships, +1 Enchanting Items, +1 Rego, +1 Aquam, +1 Auram

Adding the Gallery

The increase in Refinement releases another Virtue slot, which is used to provide a gallery as per the Minor Virtue. The gallery consists of a raised walkway around the inside of the boat shed, high enough that it provides a view over the entire construction. It is separate from the scaffolding that supports the ship while under construction.

After the season spent constructing the gallery and improving the drainage (to remove the Damp Flaw), the laboratory Upkeep has reduced and now costs 36 pounds of silver each year. The laboratory has the following statistics:

Virtues and Flaws: Greater Expansion, Greater Feature: boat shed, Gallery, Lesser Feature: Wheel, Spacious; Greater Focus: ships, Exposed, Missing Sanctum Marker

Enchantments: The Soak (+1 Health), The Wheel (+1 ships, +1 Rego)

Characteristics: Size +6 (+6), Refinement 0, General Quality +1, Upkeep +8, Safety –2, Warping 0, Health –1, Aesthetics –1

Specializations: +10 Ships, +1 Enchanting Items, +1 Rego, +1 Auram

This is the last stage in the construction of the Hermetic Shipyard, a task that has taken 11 seasons, assuming one each for the Soak and the Wheel, from breaking the ground on the new shipyard to completing the gallery.

The laboratory suffers for its specialization, with penalties to Safety, Health, and Aesthetics, but these could be further improved with additional work. The final build cost for this laboratory is 214 points.