Story Seeds for Finding a Shipyard Location

The following story seeds may be useful when looking to secure a location for a shipyard.

Mundane Title

Having found the ideal location, the Hermetic shipwright and his agents must secure title to the land. But the monastery that owns the land has discovered the magical truth behind the approach and are now reluctant to sell. The shipwright must find a way to convince the monks of his good character.

Hermetic Negotiation

The shipyard's future site comes with only one small problem: a vis source contested by two rival covenants. How can the shipwright secure the land without making powerful enemies? Does he petition to join one or other of the covenants, challenge for rights over the site, or look for political leverage to use at Tribunal?

A Supernatural Presence

The Magic aura is home to a small water dragon, no larger than a hound, that lives and hunts in this stretch of water. It poses little threat to the magus or his shipyard. It could perhaps make an interesting subject for a magical menagerie, or a familiar for an ambitious Flambeau. It could be bound to some device by a skilled Verditius, or even put to death with little effort and its vis taken. But then its mother awakens from her centuries-long sleep. What is her reaction to how the magus has treated her child?

The Lovers Parted

The magus re-routes the river in a mastery of magic over nature. But in the following weeks, the covenfolk report hearing the sounds of a ghostly weeping coming from beyond the river's new course. What is it that weeps so mournfully, and why? As the sadness spreads across the land, can the magus be persuaded to mend a broken heart at the cost of changing his own plans?

The Heir, Apparently

As the spell to dredge the river completes its work, a body bubbles to the surface. It is the remains of a nobleman, unlawfully slain so that his inheritance passes to a treacherous usurper. Do the magi lay the now-awakened spirit to rest, help it find and confront its murderer, or simply send it on its way to do its own vengeful bidding?

used to move the vessels. But while such facilities are less obvious than those by the sea, they still draw at least mundane attention. It is possible to build a shipyard deep within a forest, which allows easy access to raw materials, while being easy to protect by redirecting unwanted visitors. Other magi may choose to site their shipyard high in the mountains, making construction difficult but almost guaranteeing secrecy.

Shipyards that have no easy access to rivers or the sea, or even capable portage routes, need enchantments to launch their ships. A slipway, like the example device that follows, can be enchanted to transport the fully-formed ship and its crew from the site of its construction to any waterway to which the device has an arcane connection. Note that alternatives, such as using the common Hermes Portal ritual, cost 30 pawns of vis to establish a connection for just a year.

The Distant Slipway

This slipway, formed of two long wooden runners secured into the ground and spanned by sleepers angled to take and support a hull, is first prepared by soaking the wooden structure in water from a target distant waterway and processing it with a pawn of vis in order to fix the arcane connection. This takes a dedicated season, after which the device can be opened for enchantment. The large wooden structure provides a capacity of (2x5) 10 pawns. This is sufficient for the version represented here but other parts of the device, such iron fastenings or runners, provide additional capacity.

The arcane connection is fixed into this device for simplicity, as it is designed to send ships to a single remote location, though this detail of the device can, of course, be changed.

Sight of the Distant Slipway

In(Cr)Im 35

Pen: +0, 1/day

R: Arcane Connection, D: Concentration, T: Special

This effect collects sight and sound from the target arcane connection and projects these senses around the lower end of the slipway, making it appear that the slipway extends out into the remote location. Once activated, the illusion is maintained by the device until canceled.

This effect is similar to the commonly known spell Summoning the Distant Image, with an additional Creo requisite to create the appropriate species around the device.

This device effect is required to survey the site before launching the ship to the remote location. This helps to avoid the catastrophic accidents that could occur when blindly pushing several tons of ship into the remote sea.

(Base 2, +4 Arcane Connection, +1 Concentration, +2 Special based on Room, +1 Creo requisite; +5 device maintains concentration)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (70), 2 seasons (53), 3 seasons (47), 4 seasons (44)

ReHe (AnAqCoTe) 55

Pen: +0, 1/day

R:Touch, **D:**Momentary, **T:**Structure

This effect transports the target vessel, launched down the slipway, to the distant waterway associated with the arcane connection bound into this device.

Although the intent of the effect is to transport the ship, the effect design is based on the Rego Corpus guideline to transport an individual to a location identified through an Arcane Connection. This base effect is used by analogy to affect the target ship, represented by the Structure target.

Any crew present on board are simply taken with the ship when it is transported thanks to the free requisites. This particular device effect does not have Penetration built in, though others might to allow

ships containing bound spirits or other resident supernatural entities to be transported. Vessels larger than a medium-sized cog will also need a different launch with an additional +1 magnitude to account for the ship's size.

(Base 35, +1 Touch, +3 Structure)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (110), 2 seasons (83), 3 seasons (74), 4 seasons (69)

The Distant Drydock

A similar device can be enchanted and installed at the waterway to allow ships to be sent back to the remote shipyard. The effects are the same, providing a view of the distant slipway and transporting the vessel and its crew, though the arcane connections and triggering actions are different and the ship is deposited on the slipway rather than in the water.