Covenants Chapter Seven: Library
'Books are the way that magi, across the centuries and through the veil of death, pass their ideas on to their descendants. A book is an author’s wish; a library a repository of wishes. A book is a treasure; a library a treasury. A book contains thoughts; a library stores desires until they find new hearts and heads. To Hermetic magi, libraries are mystical spaces. The library is where the past waits to be remembered, and where the future waits to be dreamed.
The Manufacture of Books
In the last few decades, the book industry has developed in Europe to a size and complexity never before seen. There are many reasons that this new industry has emerged. The sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade bought many books into Italy, rekindling an interest in them. The rise of the cathedral schools and universities provides a steady pool of customers for a new class of merchants, called stationers, who provide writing materials.
Stationers are found in cities and major towns. They provide parchment of moderate quality and inks suitable for general clerical work. Many covenants use stationers to provide their materials for administration, and a steady supply of quills. This stationery can be used for Hermetic writing, but lacks the advantages of the vellum and inks available at Tribunal fairs or through House Mercere.
Most covenants prepare books in the same way that noblemen prepare their manor houses. Magi author books, but it is rare for them to physically write more than a single copy of each book, and many author their books by dictation. The author dictates his text to a notary, or writes notes himself. The speed of this writing, as described in ArM5, page 165, is based on the Communication + Language total of either the author or notary, whichever is lower.
This draft is sent to a scribe, who renders it into the beautiful calligraphy required for a finished book. Magical books require scribes with a variety of Abilities, like Magic Theory, to prevent corruption of the text. Many covenants speed this process by giving material to the scribe as the notary completes it, rather than waiting for the draft to be complete.
The scribe’s work, still on loose sheets, is next sent to an illuminator, who adds chapter headings, usually in red ink, and small pictures, which aid a reader navigating the text. They also check for scribal errors. These pages are then sent to a binder, who cases them in covers. Again, the binder may receive pages piecemeal, and prepare earlier portions for binding while the remaining text is being written and illuminated.
Covenants that want to create their own books must employ many specialists and laborers. To provide the raw materials they need shepherds, gooseherds, cowherds, tanners, and apothecaries. They require notaries and scribes, illuminators and binders. Many also employ merchants, who find rare inks for their works. Some members of the Order use magic as an alternative to mundane book production.
Writing Surfaces
Parchment is the preferred writing surface of Hermetic magi. Parchment is made by liming, stretching, and scraping animal hides. These membranes are scoured with pumice or chalk to produce smooth surfaces. Each sheet of parchment has a flesh and a hair side, which differ in color and graininess. Few covenants can supply their own parchment. A single sheep gives only one sheet of usable material. Parchment is expensive, but lightweight and very durable compared to its predecessors, papyrus and leather. Parchment is said to have been invented in Pergamum, a city in ancient Thrace. Its library rivaled the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, so King Ptolemy forbade the export of papyrus. This forced his rivals to develop an alternative.
The finest parchment, vellum, is made from the skins of calves and kids. The quality of vellum has steadily declined since the 8th Century because demand, both mundane and Hermetic, has driven parchment makers to use skins from increasingly undesirable animals. Different source animals provide different colors of vellum.
Papyrus is made from the reed rushes of Egypt. It was the favored writing surface in the early Empire, but was supplanted by parchment in the Fifth Century. It is cheaper than parchment, but thicker, stiffer, and far less durable, particularly when exposed to humidity. Some Hermetic works are written on papyrus, but its use is uncommon, even in the Tribunals that trade with Egypt.
Paper is made from mashed linen rags. It is cheap, thin, and flexible, but is not durable. University students often use paper to create temporary books of notes. It is not an acceptable alternative to parchment for permanent records, although covenants use it for administrative notes. The quality and availability of paper has been steadily increasing for about a century, and its price continues to fall.
Wax is made from honeycomb. It is used to make slates by fitting a shal low frame to a board, then allowing a layer of wax to cool upon the board’s surface. Boards are often strung together into books, filled with double-sided, wax slates. Wax slates are scored with a stylus to keep temporary notes. Apprentices practice their characters on wax, which can be heated and then reused. Mundanes simply press the wax back into shape with the spatulate end of their stylus.
Wax is a wonderful medium for Hermetic note-taking. Once a wax slate is fitted to a firm writing surface, the magus does not need to dip his writing implement into an inkpot, or sharpen it, so it is quicker than parchment. The magus need not prepare ink at all, so it is convenient when traveling. Some magi, aware of the usefulness of wax but wary of its impermanence, prefer to mold stone, metal, bone, or wood, as suits their Arts.
Ink and Paint
Hermetic magi use two different methods of making ink. The older method creates inks that coat the surface of the parchment, like paint. The newer method, known from the third century but only dominant in the last hundred years, uses tannins that soak into the parchment and stain it. Technically this isn’t ink at all — it’s a dye. Hermetic magi use both types when writing books, because the newer type cannot produce colors.
The older style of ink is composed of at least two substances: the pigment, which gives it its color, and the binding agent, which prevents the color from flaking off the writing surface. Most also contain a third substance, a solvent liquid, which allows the first two to mix and coat a quill. A traditional, cheap ink of this type contains soot as a black pigment, egg white as the binding agent, and honey as the solvent. The red most typically found in Hermetic and monastic manuscripts is made from vermilion, gum Arabic, and egg white. A safer form uses steeped brazilwood, gum Arabic, and vinegar.
There are many binding agents used for different surfaces, varying pigments, or because they are produced locally. The most common are glair, made from egg whites, and gum Arabic, made from acacia resin. Others include icthyocollon, made from fish, casein from milk, and gelatin, made by boiling old parchments. Some covenants in Thebes use gum Tragacanth, another plant gum, instead of the acacia resin.
An important class of alternatives to the natural substances used by mundanes are remnants, useful materials left over from other Hermetic activities. Vis remnants are the masses left when vis is distilled out of its natural forms. Laboratory remnants are the discards from other magical processes, such as the ash left after forging a magical sword. Some remnants can be used as pigments, binding agents, or solvents because they retain links to the vis they once contained or to the process they are the waste of, through the Law of Contagion. The remnants from vis sources based on mundane pigments are particularly prized. For example, the remnants from magical hawthorn berries make marvelous ink.
The newer type of ink, iron-gall ink, is made with a source of acid, a source of iron, and a handling medium. These inks seep into the surface of the parchment, so they do not rub or wash away as easily as the older inks. The typical iron-gall ink is made using oak galls as the source of acid (tannin, in this case), copperas as the source of iron, and gum Arabic, this time not as an adhesive but as a thickening agent. Hermetic magi are particularly keen to find iron-gall style inks in colors other than black, and to develop substitutes for the dangerous and rare ingredients.
Tannins are mildly toxic substances found in plants. Oak galls, the finest source of ink tannin known to the Order, result when a moth lays its eggs into an oak tree. The tree defends itself by enclosing the intruder in a toxic, hard growth. This gall is harvested and then soaked in wine or vinegar to extract the tannins. The finest galls come from Aleppo in the Levant Tribunal. Other tannin sources used by magi include hawthorn twigs, and some poisonous mushrooms. These are stewed in wine, mixed with copperas, then dyed with a little soot, since the reaction that blackens the ink on the page takes a couple of days.
Writing Equipment
Most Hermetic pens are made from the flight feathers of geese. Up to five feathers can be taken from each wing of a goose to be converted into pens. The barbs of the feather may be removed for easier writing, if the user desires, but often only the first few inches are removed, where the scribe wishes to grip the pen. These feathers are plunged into hot sand to dry the membrane that surrounds the barrel of the feather so that it can scraped away. They are then heated in sand again, to firm the barrels.
Their tips are cut into nibs, which allow the ink to flow out of the barrel in a steady stream. When a nib is worn, the scribe repairs it by trimming with a penknife. Scribes taking dictation lack the time to resharpen their quills, so they prepare many in advance. A note-taker for Tribunal meetings often blunts sixty pens in a day. Pens wear quickly so, although some writers claim to be able to complete an entire book with a single pen, few small covenants raise enough geese to meet even modest needs. Pens made from other
Ink and Paint IngredientsThe pigments available to mundane Europeans include those from both mineral and organic sources. The mineral sources tend to last longer, but many react with air to change color over time. The plant sources are cheap and safe, but some fade if left in sunlight for extended periods. Many common ink and paint pigments are listed below. birds, like swans, are common and some are used for particular tasks. The thin pens from crows, for example, are used to write miniature books. Pens from magical birds have stronger sympathetic connections to texts. Red: vermilion (made by heating mercury and sulphur), brasil (extract of the brazilwood tree), honey, madder (root extract), clay (an ochre), realgar (arsenic mineral usually found with orpiment), minium (lead mineral), kermes (insect) Orange: juniper (berries), orpiment (mineral, used for false gold) Yellow: weld (flower extract), clay (an ochre), hawthorn (berries), honey, saffron (flower part), eel galls (diseased growths in fish), massicot (mineral, used in flesh tones) Green: copper, hawthorn (berries), clay (particularly from France), malachite (mineral) Blue: lapis lazuli (semiprecious stone), woad (fermented leaf balls), elderberries, corn flowers, fish galls Purple: bilberries, whortleberries, huckleberries, ostrum (shellfish), turnsole (berries) Brown: umber (a clay), many berries containing tannin, boiled wood White: lead, chalk, eggshells Black: soot, burned bones, charcoal, walnuts |
The pen replaced an earlier implement, called a calamus, which is a slitted reed, about two hundred years ago. Before that time, some scribes used quill and reed pens in conjunction. The calamus was used for the capital and decorative letters in books, the smaller pen for standard letters. The calamus is more durable than the pen, but less flexible. Some Hermetic magi still use reeds, created magically out of unusual materials.
A stylus makes its characters by deforming the surface on which it writes. These are used on wax tablets. Styluses are also used to guide the work of the scribe on the parchment, by ruling lines, laying out areas for decoration, or giving instructions that will be drawn over. Some scribes use a plummet, a lead point, instead of a stylus for this. Members of the Order have created some magical styluses, which etch metal or stone, and used them to create truly remarkable literary works.
Many surfaces can act as ink receptacles, and the choice often reflects the personality of the scribe. Criamon used seashells for the many inks required to tattoo his students. Bonisagus used a pair of inkhorns, one for red, the other for black, made from walrus ivory. Jerbiton used a little pot from Greece, which had once held votive oil for the priests of a shrine to Aphrodite. The most convenient con tainers are inkpots and horns. They can be resealed to prevent the ink from drying.
A concern for every scribe is the stability of his inkpot, since an upturned container might mar an entire work. Some mages use pots that slot into their writing lecterns, either into holes in the surface, or into wire loops on the dominant hand’s edge of the desk. Others use pots that have bases far broader than their tops. Some have freestanding inkpots, similar to candleholders in construction, which stand beside the lectern.
Writing Implements as Gifts
Hermetic magi offer the tools of literacy as gifts to honored sodales, even those from militant Houses. To give a gift of stationery to a magus is to acknowledge that his thoughts are important to future generations of magi, and to encourage the magus to record them. This is particularly true of magi from militant Houses, who cannot be certain to live the fifteen years required to raise an apprentice. It is usual, however, to give violent magi penknives, rather than rare inks or parchments.
Varieties of Manuscript
To a Hermetic magus, a book is any lengthy composition. The word comes from byblos, which means papyrus. Books may be split into many parts, like the ancient books that were kept on many rolls of papyrus. These parts are called volumes. Several books may also share a single codex (see below), bound together like the many books of the Bible. A sheet is a single piece of parchment. These are used for letters and official documents. These items are not used for study in libraries, but are often stored there. A tablet (tabulata) is a sheet which has had its edges folded over a board, then attached. This creates a display used for learning aids, maps, group-ritual spells, and significant documents, like charters.
Sheets and tablets are often sealed, to demonstrate their genuineness. A seal is an impression on a circle of wax, used as a signature. The pope uses lead instead of wax and some Hermetic covenants have seals with unusual colors, designs, or materials. Sometimes the seal dangles from a tag of parchment, cut from or attached to the tail of the document. The Vatican uses silk cords for important documents and hemp cords for routine messages. Covenants have a variety of ribbons, some of which are enchanted.
A roll is a single, long strip of writing surface, usually secured at each end with a handle. Most rolls in Mythic Europe are sewn together from rectangles of parchment. Roman rolls, called volumina, had columns of writing along the roll, but medieval scribes write across rolls. Scribes only write on the flesh side of the parchment. Each roll is usually fitted with a tag that described its contents. This hangs toward the viewer when the roll is shelved.
As an example of length, the Iliad, when written on rolls ten inches across, is 300 feet long. This is approximately 12 rolls, as each is between 20 and 30 feet long. If the magus chooses to separate his words with spaces, which is an unusual habit, the length increases by ten percent. Since ancient times, the appropriate way of carrying a bundle of related rolls through a library has been to place them in a leather bucket.
Rolls persist among the mundanes, in Britain particularly. Rolls tend to be used for archival records, particularly those where it is useful to add notes to the end of a document by adding a new sheet to the roll. They are also used when a secretary is required to make rapid notes, and for formal documents. Rolls also have ceremonial functions. A covenant or town charter is always a roll, never a codex, for example.
Some members of House Criamon use a unique variety of the roll. It is created by sewing together the edges of a series of folded pages. This creates a roll that folds into a rectangular shape like a conventional codex. They attach covers to the first and last pages, which are held in place with ribbons or a wooden case. A codex is a collection of pages between covers. It is made from gatherings. Folding rectangles of parchment down the middle creates gatherings. In early bookbinding, these gatherings are sewn along the fold. The average gathering, called a quaternion, has four sheets of parchment, which creates eight pages with sixteen faces. Binders carefully ensure that the flesh and hair sides of parchment are never facing each other.
The gatherings are then bound together. This creates the text block: the sum of the written pages. Flyleaves are added to protect the final pages of the book. The gatherings are stitched together in cheap books, or are bound together on a book loom to create properly made codices. The book loom leaves the gathers bound together by thick cords that run across the spine of the block.
The cords are then sewn into the cover. The cover is usually made from two thin boards and it is from these boards that the codex, which means tree-trunk in Latin, takes its name. Books have only recently been bound in covers slightly larger than their pages. The boards are separated by a connecting hinge wide enough to allow for the width of the block, made of leather or a thin board. The end flyleaves are pasted down to hide the internal join. The cover is enclosed in leather or fabric, then decorated. The weight of the cover’s boards inhibits the natural tendency of parchment sheets to develop waves.
IlluminatorsIllumination adds little to the quality of mundane books, but is required if the sponsor of a Hermetic book wants resonant materials to be included in its inks. Members of House Jerbiton, who are interested in the mundane arts, claim that the burgeoning trade in books allows new methods and technologies of illumination to be tested. They believe that great illuminators, unparalleled in the history of Europe, will emerge in the next few decades. They see great promise in certain ornamental books given by nobles as gifts. Some believe, and many more hope, that within a century Hermetic books will include complicated maps, intricate mystical diagrams, and realistic drawings that will make them unparalleled instructional aids. |
Many cover decorations are practical. Spine inscriptions give the title on newer books, and also occasionally list authors. Clasps keep the pages pressed against the covers to minimize warping. Small metal plates, called bosses, protect the book from rubbing against rough surfaces, while corner pieces protect the edges of the book from damage. Hotpressed insignia mark ownership of the book. Fabric jackets, looped over the top of the book, keep dust away.
Extended Suggestions on the Quality of Books
Ars Magica contains a system for measuring the usefulness of books as study aids. It assumes that books vary in usefulness only because of the skill of the author. This section presents a more complicated system, which allows troupes to improve covenant libraries through play and construct great tools of learning.
In this system, Hermetic books are mystical objects that gain their quality from several sources. The author provides the text of the book, the scribe the expression of that text, and the binder the final seal upon the text, making it a book in the mystical sense. Once the text has become a book, the materials used in the construction of the book resonate sympathetically with the text, allowing magi to study the book more easily.
A book’s creators sometimes deliberately reduce its quality. This occurs when the book’s role as a study aid is compromised by another consideration, typically due to an unusual style of use. Damage can also reduce the quality of a book. The book’s quality declines sharply if the damage makes the book so incomplete that the mystical elements incorporated into it no longer resonate with the text.
Resonances
The mystical nature of Hermetic books allows their readers to gain benefit from the resonances between the materials from which a book is constructed and its subject. A book’s quality can be increased by one point if the book incorporates resonant materials that the covenant purchases. A book on the art of Aquam, for example, might gain an added point of quality if bound in eel skin and decorated with pearls.
A second quality point can be gained if the book contains resonant materials acquired through stories. A fine Ignem text, for example, might have two firedrake scales as its boards, be bound with cured strips of the creature’s ankle ten dons, and employ its tongue — flattened and rolled — as bound-in registers. Players using resonant materials of either type in crafting a book must describe the materials employed and their usage in detail.
A third point of Quality can be gained by clarifying a book. Clarification allows a magus to enchant a book concerning an Art or Arcane Ability so that it expresses its resonances more vividly. This allows readers to grasp the book’s contents more rapidly. A magus must have a score of 15 or more in the Art relevant to the book, or mastery of the relevant spell, before he can clarify a book.
To perform clarification, the magus opens the book to enchantment as an invested device. The book must then be left in a Magical aura for (12 / aura strength) years, during which time the book sheds the mundane matter it contains, replacing it with purer, more relevant materials from the surrounding aura. Such books often develop a translucent appearance. They crumble away into sand and dust if removed from a Magical aura. A magus of House Bonisagus discovered this technique in 1126; many older books have not been clarified.
Potentially Resonant Book ComponentsThe inks The pages The flyleaves (the blank pages at the end of the book) The cover boards The leather or cloth over the boards of the book The binding ribbons across the spine The strings, traditionally ox-gut, into which the gathers are bound The catches that hold the book closed Ornamentation on the cover of the book The bookplate The registers (ribbons) that act as place markers |
Summary of Quality RulesCore RulesSumma Source Quality: Author’s Communication + 6 + bonuses due to Virtues + bonus for writing to level less than half of Art score. Quality may not exceed 2 x (Communication + Virtue bonuses + 6). A summae’s level may not exceed half its author’s score in an Art at the time of writing. It may instruct a magus until his Art equals the book’s level. Tractatus Source Quality: Author’s Communication + 6 + bonuses due to Virtues. A tractatus can only be read once for benefit. Extended RulesMaximum Summa Quality: Author’s Communication + 3 +1 for skilled scribe +1 for skilled binder + 1 for skilled illuminator + 3 (or less) due to mystical resonance + bonuses due to Virtues + bonus for writing to level less than half of Art score + 3 for non-magical subjects. A summa may instruct a magus until his Art equals the book’s level. The effective maximum quality for Art summae is (35 – level), and most books have scores below this. The quality bonus due to reducing a book’s level may not exceed 2 x (Communication + Virtue bonuses + bonuses due to skilled artisans + 3). Maximum Tractatus Quality: Author’s Communication + 1 for skilled scribe +1 for skilled binder + 1 for skilled illuminator + 3 (or less) due to mystical resonance + bonuses due to Virtues + 3 for non-magical subjects. The effective maximum quality for Art tractatus is 17, and most books have scores below this. A professional is considered to be skilled if she has a Profession score of 6 or more. Mystically resonant materials add to quality in books on Arcane Abilities or Arts. A material is resonant if it appears on the Shape and Material Bonus Table (see ArM5, page 110) with a bonus appropriate to the text. Troupes may also judge other materials to be resonant. Resonant materials add +1 to quality if they are purchased items, +2 if they are rare items only to be gained from stories. Clarification of a book using resonant materials (see below) adds a further +1, for a maximum possible bonus of +3. Books about non-magical subjects (that is, subjects other than Arcane Abilities and Arts) are easier to make than mystical books, so they have an automatic +3 quality bonus. They may not have resonant materials. |
Secondary Functions
Many Hermetic books have their quality compromised by a consideration, other than their use as a course of instruction, which influenced their author or construction.
Damaged books are used because the covenant chooses not to accept the expense of repairing or replacing them. There are many sorts of damage that a book might suffer, most of which can be repaired by a skilled binder and scribe. Magic is sometimes used to repair minor book damage. All books age over time, but the rate at which a book ages can be slowed by storage at constant temperature, with moderate humidity, in darkness.
A book that has deteriorated so far that it is no longer a codex, in a mystical sense, loses its quality bonus due to magical resonances. It also ceases to be a legitimate target for spells designed to affect books.
The statistical adjustments for damage vary enormously.
Editions de luxe are usually created as gifts, particularly for nobles and churchmen. These versions of books are decorated ostentatiously and are larger than usual. This makes them heavy, fragile, and unpleasant to study from, although they are beautiful expressions of the scribal arts. The text is complete and other artisans can make working copies from these gorgeous books. An edition de luxe has its quality reduced by up to (Profession: Scribe + Profession: Binder + Profession: Illuminator) / 2, but the greater the reduction the more sumptuous, and suitable as a gift, the book becomes. A related type is the treasure-bound book. This has the external features of an edition de luxe, but does not have the unusual internal decoration. Many Hermetic books that incorporate resonant materials are, to mundane scholars, treasure-bound editions.
An epitome was originally the finest, and final, work on a subject by a Hermetic author. In the modern Order, it refers to books that have been enchanted as magical items. For the purposes of enchantment, a book has a material level of 2 and a size multiplier of 4. Books have many shape bonuses: some of these are +6 for changing thoughts, +6 for changing images within the book, +4 for numerology, and +3 for divination. The resonant materials of an epitome are the only ones that may be used to assist in its enchantment as an item. Books on mundane subjects do not suffer this restriction.
Ex libris books are cheap copies created by those libraries that allow large numbers of visitors or copyists. Ex libris versions lack resonant materials, as they are considered likely to be stolen, worn, or abused by readers. Many are damaged, which reduces their quality, and those that require complicated repairs are often instead sold or given to young covenants.
Exemplars are miniature books created as templates for distant scribes and illuminators. Exemplars are extremely cheap to make, and very easy to transport, compared to full-sized books. An exemplar has a –3 modification to quality.
Flap-bound books have leather flaps instead of boards as their covers. They are usually smaller than books with board covers. Their pages develop waves, since they lack a firm cover to provide pressure. Their covers are tied closed to prevent gaping. Flap-bound books were popularized by Redcaps, are created in surprising numbers within the Order, and are sometimes used in lieu of exemplars.
A flap book has a quality modifier of –1 and cannot have resonant materials incorporated as cover ornamentation. As they age, flap books usually buckle, which damages them, further reducing their quality.
Holographical books are those scribed by the author. These are usually poorly prepared, compared to those completed by a professional scribe. Holographic books retain an arcane connection to their author for a year, although this is severed if the magus’s opinion, encapsulated in the book, changes. A season of study on the book’s subject, for example, destroys this connection.
Huge codices are physically immense. Each contains vast amounts of information, often many books, but requires magic or assistants to turn the pages. The biggest codex in the Durenmar Library is a treatise on Mercurian rituals. It is so large that its diagram for Wizard’s Communion, to be performed by between three and 12 magi, is life-sized, with the participants standing in designated circles upon the surface of the book.
A huge codex extremely expensive to create, but can be read normally if the wizard has magical methods or servants to compensate for its vastness. Scribes and illuminators prepare huge codices normally, provide they have assistants to turn the pages. Many huge books are epitomes.
Some huge works, called congregationals , are designed to be read by several magi simultaneously. A congregational has text commensurate with the book’s size — the reverse of an exemplar. Scribes and illuminators find these extremely easy to create, although the coloring is time-consuming. Several magi of similar Intelligence and talent can study from a congregational simultaneously, but these books are used, more often, as collections of communal casting tablets (see below).
Some covenants permit departing apprentices to make copies of minor works from their libraries. These copies, called Juvenilia, are poor study aids: they are transcribed swiftly as models for later, working copies of books. Juvenile copies are scribed by apprentices (their typical lack of a Profession: Scribe score resulting in a –3 quality penalty), are not illuminated, and are usually not bound (no Profession: Binder bonus, no resonances). A literate person may make 15 levels of juvenile copy in a season.
Palimpsests are books that have had their original text scraped away so that their vellum can be reused. Hermetic palimpsests retain applicable resonances, and the +1 binding bonus, unless rebound. The scraped text of a palimpsest often re-emerges, as the ink on the pages continues to darken. This creates a codex containing two texts, which overlap each other. A reader may study either text, but the re-emergent text loses its +1 scribal bonus and has a quality penalty of –3. The newer text also has a quality penalty of –3.
Unbound books are simply a series of sheets that have not been bound. Many copyists deliver books in this form to their clients, who then pay a binder to complete the work in the dress of their library. Unbound books lack resonances and are very easily damaged.
Opus Types
An opus is, literally, any work by an author. An opus’s type defines the style of book it is. The core rules detail summae and tractatus, which are expanded below.
Casting Tablets
A casting tablet contains a simple series of instructions for casting a particular spell. Magi who have not learned the spell’s intricacies through laboratory research may use a casting tablet instead. Casting from tablets is dangerous, because the magus is calling on power that he cannot control accurately. Casting from tablets is also an inflexible style of spellcasting.
A magus casting from a tablet does not understand the spell’s workings, and so may not tinker with decisions made by the author. The Range, Duration, and Target of the spell; the exact amount and Art of raw vis consumed; and any single type of arcane connection to be used, are specified by the author at writing. The author either designs the spell for ceremonial casting or for non-ceremonial casting. Spells cast from tablets do not have Penetration bonuses unless they are built into the spell’s level by the author.
Rituals may be cast from tablets. It is possible, but dangerous, for a magus with a tablet to lead a Wizard’s Communion. A botch by any member of the group causes the leader also to botch. An odd effect of casting from a tablet is that the sigil of the writer is preserved in the spell, and is visible along with the sigil of the caster.
When casting from a tablet, a magus determines his casting total according to the following formula, then subtracts the spell level from the casting total and looks up the result on the table that follows.
| Casting Total | Stamina + Form + Technique + Aura + Stress Die (Modified By Virtues, Flaws And Requisites) |
Casting Total – Spell Level Result:
- 0 or more Spell cast, lose one Fatigue level.
- –1 to –10 Spell cast, lose two Fatigue levels.
- –11 o –20 Spell cast, lose three Fatigue levels.
- –21 to –30 Spell cast, gain one Warping Point, lose four Fatigue levels.
- –31 or less Spell not cast, gain Warping Points equal to the magnitude of the spell, lose five Fatigue levels. If the caster gains two or more Warping Points he must check for Twilight. (A magus with scores of zero in the Arts, negative Stamina, casting in a strong Divine aura, could have a penalty of more than 30 to his stress die.)
Magi can only author casting tablets for spells they have mastered, although magi can copy tablets written by others. A character spending a season as an author or copyist may create laboratory texts and/or tablets from the same pool of levels. Many options concerning casting, like range or vis use, are foreclosed by the author while writing the casting tablet. Casting tablets do not aid magi to learn spells the way laboratory texts do. Casting tablets purchased at covenant creation cost two Build Points per five levels of spells.
Other Opus Types
Commentaries are books about other books. A student may not study a commentary until he has studied the summa to which it relates for at least a season. Commentaries are written in the same way as tractatus, and purchased in the same way during covenant creation, but have a +1 quality bonus which does not affect their Build Point cost.
Correspondences are collections of letters that focus on a subject, bound together in chronological sequence. A magus can participate in many correspondences, but can only gain benefit from one per season, which must be on a theme that is associated with the magus’s research or reading. Each magus must read the previous letter in the sequence, from his or her correspondent, before responding, and must receive at least one letter in a season to claim experience. A magus gains an extra experience point in each season in which he is engaged in useful correspondence.
Bound correspondences contain at least 24 topical letters from each magus, representing around two years’ worth of correspondence. These are read — and purchased at covenant creation — as tractatus with a quality equal to the sum of the two participants’ Communication scores. Lengthy bound correspondences are useful as research materials, described below. If both correspondents were experts on a topic, and the collection contains at least one hundred and twenty letters from each, the collection’s value as a research aid increases one level. See the research rules below.
Florilegia (singular florilegium) are anthologies on a topic created by binding together tractatus on Arcane Abilities and Arts. Each tractatus is still read separately, but each gains a quality bonus to reflect its mystical interaction with surrounding texts.
ScriptoriaA scriptorium is a room where books are copied and illuminated. Many monasteries include scriptoria, because the Rule of Benedict makes service in the scriptorium compulsory. The library is the source for the templates that the monks copy and then disseminate. The armaria of monasteries are often kept in, or in attics above, scriptoria. The private libraries of the wealthy often lack scriptoria. Scribes are hired as needed, particularly in those cities with cathedral schools and universities. These scribes work from home, borrowing their patrons’ books for a time. They are usually paid per page. Some stationers speed up the production of books by dividing them into gatherings and hiring separate copyists to duplicate each, binding them together once all are complete. Other nobles do not have books copied, but instead buy popular titles kept in stock by booksellers. Hermetic covenants sometimes have scriptoria. Many covenants trade books frequently and, preferring to keep copies of the volumes they barter away, employ a copyist permanently. These copyists usually have Magic Theory and Realm Lore scores so that they can create incorrupt copies (see ArM5, page 166). Those covenants that use hired copyists typically prefer that they don’t carry books of the Art outside the covenant walls. Magi, when they write, generally prefer the comfort of their sancta to scriptoria. |
The bonus depends on the editor who assembles the collection, and the materials with which he can work. An editor can only collect as many tractatus into a single florilegium as he could write on that subject (half his score in an Ability, one fifth of his score in an Art). He must have access to a collection containing at least twice as many tractatus on the subject as he plans to include in the florilegium, and a score of at least six in the relevant Ability, or 20 in the relevant Art. If these minima are met, the tractatus all gain a +1 bonus to quality. The bonus increases to +2 if the editor is an insightful authority on the subject of the florilegium (has a score of at least 10 in the Ability, or 35 in the Art) and is working from a library with a peerless collection on a subject (having at least five times as many tractatus as the editor plans to include).
An editor may create as many florilegia as he wishes, but each assemblage takes a season. Florilegia express resonance, so their qualities cannot — yet — be improved with resonant materials or clarification, although young Bonisagus magi sometimes study this problem. Florilegia are purchased, at covenant creation, as copies of the included tractatus, including quality bonuses for scribing, binding, and illumination.
Folios: Every seven years, one society within House Bonisagus issues a publication, called a folio, that contains the best laboratory texts and tractatus presented for possible inclusion. More details can be found in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages.
Glossed books are those that have been written upon by a reader. Some glossers are skilled magi whose incisive observations make the book a superior study aid. The majority of glossers are simply vandals: their opinionated commentary, little jokes, and personal notes obscure and crowd the text.
Glossing, by a reader at least half as skilled as the book’s level and with a superior Communication score to the author, adds 1 to the quality of a book. It is performed during a season of reading. Although books may be glossed many times, this does not improve their quality beyond the first point. Glossed texts are bought as books of equivalent quality during covenant creation.
An inspeximus is literally a book that has been re-read by its author to ensure accurate transcription, but in the Order the term is used for a book which the author has revisited after developing greater experience, and annotated to increase its study level.
A magus who annotates his summa takes one season to reread and gloss his work, which increases the level of his book by one-third of the difference between his current Art score and the Art score he had when he wrote the summa. Many books lack sufficient page space to be annotated in this way, so the magus makes notes which a scribe then inculcates, usually in red ink, or offset from the page’s edge in a new codex. Inspeximuses are purchased at covenant creation as summae of their quality and level.
Pictorial works are designed primarily for reference. A pictorial work requires at least a year’s work from an illustrator who is also a specialist in the skill that the work concerns, represented by scores of at least six in two appropriate Abilities. Pictorial works are purchased in batches, at covenant creation. A group of pictorial works raises the collection’s usefulness for research, in the rules given below, by one level. This costs ten points per Ability.
Pamphlets are brief works, circulated unbound. They are not usually used as study aids. Hermetic magi sometimes dispatch them to encourage their sodales to support them in Tribunal. Primers are summae written for students of little skill, like apprentices. Calling a magus’s opus a primer is a deep insult, except if the work really was intended for inexperienced students.
Magical Libraries
Hermetic scholars cannot be sure when the first magical library was founded. The Primus Fenicil of Guernicus, the Order’s most famous historian, claimed that the tradition of magic was eternal. He confirmed that the Temple of Imhotep in ancient Egypt contained a library. Hermetic scholars are sure, however, that there is no collection with an unbroken history older than Durenmar. The preceding traditions of the Order — the Cult of Mercury, druidism, and shapeshifting — did not have libraries in a style similar to that of Hermetic covenants, but nevertheless, their writings still interest Hermetic magi.
Ancient Magical Writing
The Cult of Mercury used religious ceremonies to cast magic. Legend records that Plentarch, Pontifex of the Pompeii Temple, collected these rituals in the second century and carved them into 38 golden tablets, which have been lost. Two of these rituals have been adapted for use by the Hermetic magi, becoming the spells Vision of the Scrying Pool and Aegis of the Hearth. The rest were lost, although House Guernicus claims Fenicil rediscovered some of these rituals, which they retain to assist in the dispensation of Hermetic justice. Hermetic magi scour Europe for traces of the Order of Mercury. They are certain that the other rituals would easily convert to Hermetic practice.
The druids did not have an equivalent to formulaic spellcasting, although they did cast great rituals. The Schism War obscured the druidical origin of Hermetic rituals. Many magi suggest that Calling the Council of Trees is a druidical spell, but Merinita magi claim it for their Founder. Some magi believe the preHermetic druids did keep libraries, carved in Ogham at sacred sites, daubed on the walls of initiatory caves, and reflected in the songs of the faeries. The magi of the Order cannot agree whether they should seek these spells.
Bjornaer learned magic orally. Her stories pass intact between generations in her House. Some of the Order’s weather and transformation rituals derive from ideas she gave to Bonisagus. A few of her descendants seek détente with the Pomeranian tradition, which still exists. They fear their Founder rebelled against her tradition before she learned all of its rites.
Many magi search for the remains of other ancient libraries. The libraries of Trajan in Rome, Cleopatra in Egypt, and Eumenes at Pergamum might have contained magical rolls. Even if they lacked useful magical writing, they would still contain invaluable texts. House Mercere, for example, has offered any magus five pawns of vis every year for 20 years in exchange for a complete copy of the lost Geographica by Ptolemy, whichgives the exact longitude and latitude for hundreds of legendary sites, many of which contain vis. Some magi feel that 100 pawns of vis is a paltry payment for such a treasure, but the Mercere point out that the finder could copy if first, then give it to them. When the race for the vis sources in Geographica begins, they want to start out at least an equal second.
Hermetic Libraries
The earliest Hermetic libraries followed models provided by mundane society. Many Hermetic collections, however, were larger and more diverse than any mundane equivalent. The rise of the book trade in the 13th century, however, has given birth to mundane libraries that are similar in size to the larger Hermetic collections. These libraries look similar to the Hermetic collections they postdate because they face similar problems with similar resources. Furthermore, some transmission of Hermetic methods of librarianship has occurred, possibly to the Church and nobility through interaction with House Jerbiton.
Small Covenant Libraries
Small covenant libraries are similar to those of small monasteries. Such libraries usually contain only sufficient books for each magus to have something instructive to read. The library is shelved in a common room, for example the council chamber, or is stored in a book closet.
The amarius, or book closet, holds books flat and keeps the air around them dry, insulated, and dustless. Armarii can be locked, and usually have a list of their contents pasted upon them, to aid magi searching for particular books. Armarii are usually double-doored to limit the amount of floor space that must be kept free about them. Mundane armarii each hold only a score of books, shelved with their front covers showing, but Hermetic magi shelve their books differently, which saves space. Small collections, or those which are regularly transported, are kept in chests instead.
The library of a small covenant is often near the council chamber for a second reason: it is the room most likely to have glazed windows. Magi have the ability to create smokeless, heatless light, but visitors to covenants usually lack this ability because of the Aegis of the Hearth. It is convenient to place libraries where natural light is available.
Librarians for collections of this size are usually responsible for a more important task to which the library is relevant, and take care of the books in the quiet moments of their primary profession. Many monastic librarians, as an example, are precentors — choirmasters — who care for hymnals and by extension all other books. In small Hermetic covenants, the librarian is often the autocrat, the body servant of a senior magus, or an apprentice. They air the books occasionally, and fetch them for magi who do not wish to collect them personally. If the library is kept in a room rather than a series of armarii, the librarian must also stoke the fire that warms the room, and dust.
In libraries large enough that a single row of armarii does not suffice, it becomes inconvenient to require the librarian to unlock each case before using a book. Mundane libraries of this size, which may be thought of as having between 100 and 500 books, use an architecture where each book is chained to a rod that runs across the top of a series of lecterns. The lecterns are sometimes arranged like the pews of a church, so that the back of each row of seats forms the lectern for the row behind it. Other libraries save space by having their lecterns back to back, with a row of shared pews running between each lectern pair. This shape of furniture makes libraries obvious to those observing buildings, because each lectern pair is usually perpendicular to a window, so libraries have more, and narrower, windows than other rooms. Hermetic libraries use this system occasionally, but many covenants prefer an alcove system.
A book alcove is created by building a small room or corridor lined with shelves that are made by carving niches into the walls, then placing boards across the niches. Book alcoves can be kept warm with small fires or minor enchantments, which prevents the books from being damaged by the cold weather experienced in much of Europe. Some covenants use freestanding shelves instead of niches in the walls. These look bizarre to mundane people.
The books in small libraries are usually fundamental or intermediate works in the subjects covered. The owners of small libraries are usually keen to expand their collections by trade, purchase, or less scrupulous methods of acquisition. Small libraries often have many more books on mundane subjects than magical ones.
A Note on TermsIn this book, an attempt has been made to keep obscure medieval terms to a minimum. The term “armarius” has been used here because the English term for these book closets is “book press.” To avoid confusion with a printing press or binder’s press, the Latin term has been used, although, in Mythic Europe, an armarius is any sort of locked cupboard. A related, modern, English term is armoire, borrowed from the French. |
Medium Covenant Libraries
The libraries of Summer covenants are similar to those of minor nobility. The library has its own room, which is well-ventilated but warm. The room has a series of niches around the walls, each containing books on a particular subject. These niches may have doors, which might lock, or might depend instead on the room being locked. The room is kept warm by fires, magic, or hypocausts. The center of the room is sometimes a scriptorium or bindery. Some covenants, alternately, use the center of the room for their councils, or to keep mementos of their battles. Mundane theft is deterred by several methods, including locking the room, chaining the books to the shelves, placing curses over the doorways, and keeping a staff member permanently busy in the room.
The books in Summer covenants are usually informative texts on a broad range of Arts and mundane topics, surrounding a few treasures that are pride of the col lection. These key holdings are rarely the result of trade. Many are the opuses of the founders of the covenant. Others are riches seized from dangerous locations, or were constructed with materials obtained with great daring. Libraries of this size sometimes also contain voluminous lab notes written by the members of the covenant during years of research.
The covenant pays a person to care for the library. Her tasks include dusting, airing the books, and making minor repairs. This person may have a second responsibility that accompanies her role as librarian, but as the collection increases in size, it holds less of her attention. Larger Summer libraries may have several staff, in multiple roles: bookbinder, copyist, illuminator, tanner, and apothecary.
Large Covenant Libraries
The libraries of powerful Summer, many Autumn, and some Winter covenants are similar to those of cathedral schools or universities. Libraries that follow this model have the following characteristics, but some large libraries remain similar to those of Summer covenants. The library is physically divided into smaller collections, by topic. These collections may share a single building, but more commonly are distributed around the covenant, close to the sancta of their most frequent users. The library has a central office, which stores the library’s catalog.
Large Hermetic libraries contain books whose subjects overlap. Their materials include works of graduated complexity on many Arts. The books also include notes on obscure areas of magical practice. Autumn libraries contain the collected papers of famous magi that have passed away.
The collection appears disjointed because it serves many roles. The library is a teaching aid, with material suitable for apprentices and young magi. It is a research tool, with material suitable for senior magi. The collection is a source of income, with copying of mediocre texts by outsiders permitted, perhaps encouraged. The library is an historical repository, a source of pride, and a display of power. Access to the library is a pawn in internal political struggles, and a way of showing favor to outsiders.
Libraries of this size have many staff. They perform all of the functions of the staff of smaller libraries, but the complexity of their collection requires an extra set of duties involving finding and retrieving materials for those who request them. To do this, they catalog and shelve the library’s collection with a degree of precision not found elsewhere.
Unique Hermetic CollectionsMany of the domus magnae have excellent libraries, focused on areas that fascinate their Houses. The greatest collection of magical lore in Europe is housed at Durenmar in the Rhine Tribunal. It contains copies of most of the books written by Bonisagus magi, and many written by magi of other Houses. The Library of Valnastium holds a vast collection concerning mundane arts, sciences, and theology. The Library of Harco contains a useful melange of facts from across Europe, which assists House Mercere’s commercial efforts. Many older covenants have libraries which, in their own particular fields, surpass all other collections.
The Hermetic Book CycleThe book cycle describes the life of each book within a Hermetic library. In overview, it begins when a text is selected for inclusion. A copy of the text is then acquired. Next, this copy is prepared for its role in the collection, a process called accessioning. The book is then used; it is read, studied from, perhaps used as a bargaining chip if it contains rare or valuable information. Finally, when no longer useful to their owners, books are selected for disposal, and disposed of. SelectionA covenant’s librarian might seek particular texts to add to a Hermetic library for a variety of reasons. The first task for many young covenants is to assemble collection of sufficient breadth in Arts that it is possible for the covenant’s magi to train new apprentices. On the other hand, covenants whose member magi are particularly interested in specific theories of one particular Art usually find their library developing a depth of books on that particular topic. Beyond these trends, the specializations of a library reflect the interests, current or historical, of the magi of the covenant. Magic is rarely used in book selection, although some of the spells described in later sections can assist a magus to peruse a library and find the works he would like copies of. Standard TextsFor nine of the Arts, there is a basic text that, over time, has come to be accepted as the preferred primer for a magus seeking the competence necessary to train an apprentice. These texts, called the Roots of the Arts, are widely and cheaply available. A Redcap can arrange the delivery of any of these texts, for a very small consideration. In eight of the Arts, there are summae that are widely accepted as the finest works yet produced. These works, called the Branches of the Arts, are sometimes purchased by young covenants from established libraries, but this is unusual. In the ritual of the Order it is accepted that these, the purest expressions of the Arts they concern, should be given as gifts, because the information they contain is of such great value that they cannot be met in kind. It is, however, a delicate matter for a younger covenant to convince an older one to patronize them with such a valuable gift and, surreptitiously, they often offer payments and services in exchange for the gift of one of these summae. Many magi seek to pen a standard text, but fail to produce a work that gains this highest level of acclaim. Many libraries contain these informative, but non-definitive, works. Some are excellent but lack the historical romance that has made foundational texts definitive in the minds of magi. Two Roots of the Arts have been superseded, each time by a magus of renown and intelligence. The Branches of the Arts have changed over time, as Hermetic magic has gradually increased its reach. Some of these titles hold such awe, however, that the works that have replaced them have retained their original titles and nominal authors. There are no standard tractatus, but dedicated students of various subjects consider certain florilegia worthy of particular note. These books are far rarer than the Roots and Branches, but can be accessed in libraries that specialize in the florilegium’s theme, or magi can pay for a copy while the text is being created . Certain magi consider the root and branch symbolism employed in the advertising of standard texts to be a vestigial druidical practice. They refer instead to the Foundations and Pillars of the Arts. AcquisitionThe Order of Hermes supports a vibrant book trade through two main branches: sale of finished books, and scribal hospitality. Books are sold through the Redcap system, supplemented by exchanges that occur at Tribunal meetings. The use of magic to support the Redcap network is considered more fully in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, page 101. Scribal hospitality occurs when a magus is allowed to copy from the library of a covenant to which he does not belong. Hospitality is usually offered in exchange for a payment or service. The Sale of Hermetic BooksMany Hermetic books are sold through exchanges of letters, carried by Redcaps. Some Redcaps provide other ancillary services to the book trade. Some assess goods for sale on behalf of distant clients, or act as neutral parties between a pair of interested vendors. A few act as procurers, finding desired materials for a small fee. House Mercere’s covenants also sometimes act as scribal centers. There are four main methods of postal sale. Sale by public offer occurs when covenants make known the catalog of books they have available, and invite buyers. Public offers often persist over lengthy periods. Some covenants, for example, provide their sodales with a list at each Tribunal meeting. Some public offers specify the price the seller requires, others invite negotiation. Sale by tender occurs when a covenant circulates the desire to possess a certain work, or books of a particular type, and invites contact by potential suppliers. These offers are usually accompanied by an indication of the price the covenant would consider fair, but it is not unusual for a potential seller to contact the tendering covenant and suggest an alternative price or method of payment. Alternately, covenants who do not wish to advertise their requirements can usually hire a Redcap to discretely ask nearby covenants if they have a particular book available. Negotiations for sale by tender can be complex and protracted. It is common for several covenants to answer each call, and the tendering covenant may hold a glacial auction by mail, pressuring the sellers to reduce their price. Sale by exchange occurs when a covenant advertises that it wishes to trade one class of text for a second class of text. This sort of barter can lead to extended negotiations, on delivery dates and confirmation of the quality of the copies to be traded by a third party trusted by both vendors. Even the choice of quality assessor is often a matter of haggling. Sale by subscription occurs when a magus announces his intention to create a spell or device and invites magi to pay, in advance, for access to a Lab Text when it becomes available. Some magi seeking subscriptions offer a flat price, for example, a pawn of vis per subscriber. Other magi, performing more difficult and expensive research, sometimes encourage the formation of purchasing consortia by offering proportional payments. For example, a magus might agree to release his new Ritual in exchange for twentyfive pawns of vis. Covenants spread across Europe may form a buying cartel, splitting the costs in various ways. These consortia are maintained by side agreements. For example, a vis-rich covenant may pay a large proportion of the price in exchange for a series of political concessions, acts of assistance with vexing problems, and payments in kind. This allows poor, Spring covenants to join purchasing consortia. No matter the method of sale, books are often sold at Tribunal. Many of these sales are pre-arranged, by the methods that are described above, and completed at the Tribunal meeting, when each party has the opportunity to inspect the goods of their correspondent. Other covenants bring surplus copies to sell to whoever desires to buy. Many covenants, not wanting the possible expense of unsold stock, create exemplars and take orders during tribunal for later delivery. These books are prepared to a series of informal standards, with the finer books, intended to be used for study, commanding higher prices than those intended as originals, from which working copies are to be made.
Many Hermetic books are sold under a condition called the Cow and Calf Oath. This refers to a ruling from the Hibernia Tribunal that has not been ratified by the Grand Tribunal. It is an agreement that the purchaser of a book will not sell, or freely give, copies of that book without the seller’s permission. Some magi approve of the Cow and Calf Oath, while others despise it. The prices given below, aside from those for mundane books, assume the characters have sworn the Oath. Prices may be far higher for books that will rival their parents and reduce the income of the original covenant. Mundane BooksThe mundane book market is a cash market. Any magus with a spare pound can have any standard text from a stationer in a large city. Less common books still cost a pound, but it takes season for the stationer to arrange for a copy to be produced and delivered. Cheaper versions, unbound and written on paper, are also available, for half a pound. Commissioning books takes longer for covenants remarkably distant from civilization, or poorly served by the Redcaps. Books Concerning the Arts and Arcane AbilitiesThe Hermetic book trade is essentially a barter market. Most covenants can create so much mortal money that it isn’t valuable enough for them to use as a medium of exchange for rare items. This makes pricing books an art, subject to a lot of haggling. The value of the book for sale, and of the things that might be traded for it, can be disturbed by events. A second magus might offer a similar book at any time, lowering the first book’s value. A covenant might decide it has too much vis for one Art, and seek to trade it for others. This lowers the value of all vis of that Art, which would make a book’s seller ask for more. Least Expensive BooksThe cheapest books available are damaged and discarded surplus books from major libraries. Inexpensive Hermetic books are not systematically produced for sale. Any established covenant could theoretically make them, but no established covenant needs them. There are few buyers for cheap books, and no covenant wastes the effort of creating a book on something that might not sell for years. Characters wanting damaged and discarded books can often arrange for them to be added to other trades as sweeteners. A covenant wanting to purchase damaged summae with vis can usually find a seller for about a pawn of vis per book, but could arrange other services instead. It is unusual for a seller to have a pile of damaged tractatus to sell for a pawn of vis, but after a library flood or some similar calamity, a buyer might get somewhere between three and nine to the pawn, depending on the degree of damage. Vain BooksBooks of the second-lowest level of quality exist because their authors chose to publish them despite their comparative lack of worth. Such authors are usually proud of their books, and some give them as gifts to their friends and allies. Characters can usually purchase vain summae for half their level in pawns of vis, less if the author is particularly susceptible to flattery. Vain tractatus cost about a pawn each. Characters attempting to acquire a vanity book from someone other than its author often find that they must pay for it as if it were sound. The amount of labor and material involved in copying a book does not change simply because the buyer insists on a poor title, and the time taken to copy the poor book could instead be used to copy a good one for another buyer. Sound BooksBooks of the level of quality that make up most Hermetic libraries are the most difficult to price. There are many possible sellers, so buyers have some opportunity to compare prices and force competition. Generally, the lowest prices can be found at covenants that have staff permanently copying books. These charge a number of pawns of vis equal to the book’s level, if the purchaser is willing to wait a season for the copy to be produced. A surcharge of up to 20% is added if there is a spare copy available for the impatient. Sound tractatus cost around two pawns to order, or three for the impatient, but trade of equivalent, sound tractus remains very common. Excellent BooksMost books of the highest quality cannot be purchased. Covenants receive them as gifts in exchange for exceptional service, and almost always under the conditions of the Cow and Calf Oath, that the book will never be copied without the permission of the originating covenant, or magus. House Bonisagus does allow magi to copy books of exceptional quality, as part of its members’ obligation under the Oath of Hermes. Durenmar does not sell copies of these texts, but does limit copying to one magus at a time, selected by the Primus’s representative. Durenmar uses a version of the Cow and Calf Oath to insist that copies of these finest works not be sold, because it is an insult to the authors of the book to value their work against mundane possessions. They may only be given, and with ceremony. In the end, however, there is little the Bonisagus magi can do to prevent gifts from being reciprocated, beyond applying social pressure. House Tremere is eager to sell, or buy, copies of excellent books. A difficulty is that Coeris is an extraordinarily rich covenant, so simple offers of vis do not interest the Prima. In the past, she has accepted transfer of ownership over valuable vis sources in exchange for books. House Tremere takes the Cow and Calf Oath very seriously and sometimes champions it at the request of others. Scribal HospitalityMany Hermetic covenants allow visitors to stay for a time, and study or copy works from their library, usually in exchange for payment. Hermetic magi call this scribal hospitality. Hermetic study tends to be strongly affected by astrological factors, so most guests measure their stays in seasons. The facilities available to guests vary, depending on the wealth of the host covenant and their desire to pay for luxurious quarters. Many covenants that engage in the book trade employ a stationer. Those covenants that trade away many copies of their books usually allow the stationer to co-ordinate the production and purchase of scribal supplies, the scribal process, and the dispatching of books to purchasers. Those covenants that sell scribal hospitality usually charge for materials like quills, vellum, and ink, and the stationer is responsible for ensuring the availability of these supplies. Stationers often have frequent dealings with Redcaps. A reading room is a portion of the library that is sectioned off from the collection, in which visitors are permitted to peruse books. It is usually appointed with comfortable chairs and lecterns (literally “reading stands”), since magi prefer to read books that are resting on a sloped surface. Some covenants permit scholars to dine in the reading room, the slope of the lectern forcing them to keep their food and books on separate tables. Many reading rooms are sun-lit. There are many styles of reading room; the different structures are responses to varying Hermetic views on how to prevent visitors from harming staff and damaging books. One model, which is traditional in some of Durenmar’s collections, involves visitors requesting materials by sliding a wax slate down an incline in the wall, into an adjoining room. The book is then slid down a similar incline onto a padded table in the reading room. This prevents eye and voice contact between the visitor and staff, reducing the possibility of casual mind control. These measures have probably been unnecessary since the invention of the Aegis of the Hearth centuries ago, but the tradition remains. As a counterexample, the reading rooms for the covenant of Valnastium lie on a lawn in a section of the gardens. These are intermittently protected by weather magic. All reading rooms contain some measure to reduce the possibility of theft.
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