Covenant Rules Resources

Resources

The Boons and Hooks in this section influence the covenant’s wealth. They are to be used in conjunction with the covenant economic system presented in Chapter 5: Wealth and Poverty. Troupes should carefully consider the source of the covenant’s wealth. It determines the occupations of many of the covenfolk, influences the structure of the covenant’s community, and provides inspiration for many stories. The covenant’s source of wealth, and the many details which follow naturally from its selection, provide a counterweight, in many sagas, to the fantastical elements provided by other Boons and Hooks.

Major Resources Boon

• Wealth: The covenant is fabulously wealthy. One existing Typical source of income is upgraded to Legendary, providing enough money for the most sumptuous of quarters and the purchase of the most expensive materials and equipment. The fortunate magi of such covenants can live in kingly luxury, as can the covenfolk.

Minor Resources Boons

• Hidden Resources: The covenant has 250 Build Points of resources that are not immediately available to the player characters. These might actually be lost within the covenant, or represent sections of the library that are only open to more highly-ranked magi. This Boon may be taken multiple times.
• Right: The covenant has been granted the right by some powerful individual or organization (usually a noble) to collect income from a privileged source. Examples include the right to collect the flotsam of shipwrecks, seize a portion of all smuggled goods found, exploit a royal monopoly, harvest timber in a royal forest, fish a certain river (or keep the royal fish, the sturgeon), or collect tolls on a road or at a village gate. The right is often vested in a companion, to separate the covenant from feudal obligation. Note that this Boon does not provide an extra source of income, it merely ensures that one existing source enjoys a measure of protection and legitimacy that it otherwise would not have.
• Secondary Income: The covenant is blessed with an additional Typical source of income. This source of income is completely distinct from the covenant’s mainsource of income. As well as increasing the covenant’s total income, this diversification provides a measure of protection — should the main source of income fail, the magi will still be able to provide for themselves without serious difficulty. This Boon may be taken multiple times.
• Vis Grant: The covenant gives out a portion of its vis to each member each year as a right. It must have sufficient supply to meet this demand. This Boon is not appropriate where vis is held in common by the covenant, or if the covenant demands service for a vis share; for the latter, use the Vis Salary Hook instead.
• Wealth: The covenant is wealthy, even by the standards of other magi and the nobility. One existing Typical source of income is upgraded to Greater, providing enough money for the magi and covenfolk to live very comfortably, with a large surplus for spending on luxuries.

Major Resources Hooks

• Indebted: The covenant owes a vast sum that appears to be beyond its ability to repay. The yearly interest due on the debt alone amounts to about three quarters of the covenant’s entire income, crippling its resources. If the debt repayments lapse, a powerful creditor will doubtless come calling.
• Indiscreet Resource: Gathering one of the covenant’s resources involves overtly criminal acts. If these deeds are uncovered by the relevant authorities (who may be either mundane or Hermetic), severe punishment for the player characters is the likely result. This may be avoided by the successful completion of a story every five years or so. An example of such a source of income is banditry, and an example of such a vis source is the blood from a trapped and tortured faerie.
• Natural Disaster: Within the first five years of the saga, a natural disaster seriously alters the economy (and possibly the landscape) of the entire region in which the covenant is located. The covenant’s principal source of wealth is lost. The covenant needs to find new sources of food, supplies, and income, and undertake major reconstruction, either at the covenant itself, or further afield. Example disasters include crop blights such as ergotism and rust, plagues, droughts, earthquakes, and volcanoes. This Hook may be combined with the Flawed Resources Hook, if part of the covenant’s infrastructure is also destroyed.
• Poverty: The covenant has no sources of income at all and no mundane resources to speak of. Even providing daily food requires stories. Note that this will set the tone of at least the beginning of the saga.

Minor Resources Hooks

• Contested Resource: Access to one of the covenant’s accessible resources is contested with someone, or something, else. Thus, getting the resource requires a story. As a rule, one story means that the resource is available for five years. The resource in question should be of sufficient importance that the magi will want to bother with the story. This Hook may be taken multiple times to cover multiple resources. This Hook may be Unknown when the saga starts, and only become known when the first contest comes due.
• Dwindling Resource: One of the covenant’s resources, usually a source of income or vis, is dwindling, providing an ever-smaller harvest. This could be a mine that is becoming exhausted, a lake or river that is drying up, or a population that is dying off or moving away. The resource loses 10% of its original value per year, meaning that it will be completely exhausted within ten years unless some kind of action (or story) is undertaken to halt the decline. This should be taken for one of the covenant’s more important resources, else the magi may not care that it is dwindling. This Hook can be Unknown, but it will likely be noticed before too long.
• Flawed Resource: The covenant has 250 Build Points of improvements that likely will not last, for example, a building that will collapse, a library that will burn down, or covenfolk who will die or mutiny. The loss of these resources will constitute a story. If this story is successfully concluded (for example, a fire in the library is extinguished before it is totally destroyed), up to half of the potential losses may be saved. If the story is botched, however, the losses may be doubled. This Hook can be Unknown and may be taken more than once.
• Illusory Resources: The covenant has 250 Build Points of improvements that do not really exist. This might be an actual illusion (a building, books, or covenfolk that are not really there), resources that have been promised but which never arrive, or otherwise due to false accounting or deception. When the characters attempt to use the illusory resources, a story will likely result as they discover and investigate the cause of this phenomenon. This Hook can be Unknown and may be taken more than once.
• Indebted: The covenant owes a fairly large sum of money, vis, or something else of value to another person or institution, such as a noble, merchant, magus, or covenant. The wealth might have been borrowed either to invest in the covenant or a scheme that provides resources for the covenant, or to cover some shortfall or emergency. The yearly interest due on the debt is equal to about one quarter of the covenant’s income, enough to be a noticeable drain. Repayment of the debt in full will require either saving over several years or some kind of story. This Hook can be Unknown at the start of the saga, if the covenant has (or had) previous inhabitants with unpaid debts.
• Indiscreet Resource: Gathering one of the covenant’s resources necessarily attracts unwanted attention amongst a certain group, such as the mundanes, nobility, faeries, or the Quaesitores. As a rule of thumb, this results in a story once every five years. Examples of indiscreet sources of income include the selling of enchanted wine or running a protection racket; examples of indiscreet vis sources include the harvesting of bones from a cathedral crypt or the hunting of faeries.
• Natural Disaster: Within the first five years of the saga, a natural disaster seriously alters the economy (and possibly the landscape) of the entire region in which the covenant is located. The covenant’s principal source of income is then halved in value (apply the Slump income modifier). The covenant may need to find new sources of food, supplies, and income, and undertake major reconstruction, either at the covenant itself, or further afield. Example disasters include crop blights, such as egotism and rust, plagues, droughts, earthquakes, and volcanoes. This Hook can be Unknown. It may be combined with the Flawed Resources Hook, if part of the covenant’s infrastructure is also destroyed.
• Poverty: The covenant has only one Lesser source of income, with little or no surplus. This may suffice for day to day matters, but resources for major expenses require a story. This Hook can be Unknown, but probably not for very long. It may not be taken with the Secondary Income or Wealth Boons.
• Regional Produce: The covenant, or nearby lands, produce goods that are remarkable, if not unique. These goods bring in money, but are also significant because of the Reputation they generate for the region. It encourages wealthy visitors, influences the reputations of people identified as being from the region when they travel, and plays a central role in the community’s festivals. Examples include regional wines, cheeses, and luxury meats.
• Vis Salary: The covenant members get no vis as a right; instead they must earn a share of the resources by performing services for the covenant.