meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Dec 12, 2006 8:39:28 GMT -5
WHAT ? can you repeat..? It sounded like youve been hit bad.. what is youre locate now? Oh shit thats nearly two hundred kliks.. keep in touch, Get in touch with the Rangers- youve got good standing with them havnt you ? they could perhaps help out.. Bugger, this is a major incident - any casualties?
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Dec 21, 2006 9:54:56 GMT -5
two hundred ks.. up and down twisty mountain roads - or about 150 as the crow flies..
Meg calculated, summon up a big spirit then fly.. she could make a 1 1/2 hour journey with a bit of a problem a two hour trip with ease - or be faster with more hassle from summoning -- she should really learn how to ride one of those big heavy bikes... a taxi.. out of the question, so under her own steam it had to be.
Why though..? well an investment of 25,000 creds for the gold and another 10,000 for the other metals wasnt really a huge amount, but it was all that they could release immediately 25 kilos of gold bearing rock.. diddnt the stuff come in pure nuggets? the rest of it was more raw ores, veined rock carefully hacked out - no explosives, no taint.. nearly a ton ! it looked like tourist crap, it was!
Collect the gold ore in sight of onlookers, and fly it away again - would take the pressure off the bus, word should spread that the witch had claimed her own, and the bus would be left alone. Brilliant psychology. (hah! best laid plans of mice and Megs..)
now for a method of transport.. her and some ore.. a bathtub sized tub...
Out in the yard - now being filled with plants and herbs under the tarpaulin.... plenty of big plas-tubs made for mini-haulers to cart dirt and big-ish amounts of gear around..
Firstly the spirit, being careful Meg chose an easily controlled one (F3) still it could give her a small headache if it went wrong. Care and preparation. summoning the force of a mist spirit - close to the sprinklers to help it along.. ahhh four services, plenty. reserve anything extra for the drain... no problems..
the tub, a levitate cantrip... easy peasy.. she covered up for the trip, settling for the easy option seemed wise. A few nutri-bars and coffee for the journey, and her outdoors kit. Up it wobbled, the opaque light blue plas seemed appropiate for the journey, sustaining that, then casting camoflauge neatly tucked it out of sight of onlookers... too small for radar and she was driving.. it wobbled at top speed of 18m 25kph whahoo! then ordering the spirit force to move her to her commands trebled the speed - a solid 75kph in a plastic tub over land sea and mountain... it was probably easier by a fly-wing!
Meg settled down reading the road map - Angel Falls.. keep route 90 in sight then hang a left .. shouldnt be too much trouble....
oh dear, oh dear oh dear....
Her tub was driven high through town - most pedestrians diddnt notice - the ones that did tended to be bright-eyed children looking for interesting unbelievable things... the air vehicles shot past far too fast to notice, and she flew low to avoid a collision.. high wiring, pedways blimps and draped advids all easily avoided - the ground cars were mostly faster than her !
bird things took a vage interest, but the flying tub was too big to eat..
what sort of thing could take an interest in a magically propelled flying tub, supported by a spirit.. none you may say as barley anyone noticed, well, only those who knew what it might be.... or were attracted by the presence of magicks....
Now THAT looks interesting.....
oh dear oh dear
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Dec 22, 2006 7:07:37 GMT -5
Flying was OK - Meg liked to be closer to the earth - one such thought trickled through her mind when the spirit she summoned was unexpectedly removed from around her..
WAAAhhh
she guided the tub onto the closest rooftop below her, covered in wind turbines..
WHAP.. the levitate spell was dismissed - she was defiately under attack.. what the..
The plas-tub broke the fall - spilling her out onto the rooftop amidst the wet detrius and her own belongings, being whipped up by the howling gale on the rooftop. Meg staggered against the blast, disorientated from the fall the crashlanding and the magiks being ripped off from her unexpectedly..
Middle of the day stranded on a sodding rooftop hit by a surprise magical assault.. bugger.
What else could go wrong.
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Jan 2, 2007 16:23:29 GMT -5
She woke bleary eyes, tongue thick with.. YEkk.. spitting out the foul taste, drawing her hands up to wipe out the bits, she spat again. Focussing through the wire mesh at the blurring image in front was difficult, quickly checking the spirit planes too.. Jeeze a powerful spirit, elemental, no an elemental spirit -- a sylph they were classed as..
Moving to and fro in front of the wire cage front, pacing at a rate of knots, the effect was like a cloud of strings – fish swarming in one then the other direction.. smallish for something that had been able to destroy her own small mist spirit in a blink.
So where was the antagonist.. was this just the jailer summoned by a more powerful master.
Meg took her eyes off the spirit and looked around the wide roofspace. Arials – small and large wind turbines, wave dishes and a tall central mast covered with beacons of all sorts.
Must be atop one of the many hab blocks, thirty or forty stories of humanity below her, up here however, where only maintenance personnel and bots roamed, humanity seemed very far away.
She sat back in the shelter – the floor covered in, erm guano – bird shit.. some old cage for birds, unused for years. The wind howled at her back, shaking the small structure, forcing the turbines to shrill
Megwanthelpmysheensbreakin up against the mesh the spirit jumped, chattering off a stream of lisping speech – questions from a spirit, it wanted a sheen, a machine breaking..
‘I am Meg spirit, what do you want of me ?’ a textbook pronouncement and styled question ..
IknowMegknowhermagicknowherjourneywantingsheenbreakinmadeagen
Made again.. mending the machine, and just how did it know who she was..
Youdonothavetheskillstoaidmebutfreddydohandworkerwant
Freddy..? Meg checked her chron – two hours she had been out.. mind probe possession? Violation. She lost her rag – shaking on the mesh she yelled
Get me out of here you bag of shit get your fraggin master NOWW.
The meshing gave way to her assault, to her surprise she found herself toppling forward and being tugged at by the wind
nonoMeggetblownawayintohouseintohousesafesafe
she scrambled back into the hut built into the side of enormous vents, shocked at realizing she was being protected from being blown away off the gently sloping roof.
nomasterformeyouknowmyformIreadofitinyurthoughts
IknowyouMegbutthoughtslipawayIwantmadeagaindododoformeIsaveyoufalling
Save me? Who pulled me down? Who could have killed me? You - you ripped me from the sky to help you.. with the machines..
The Sylph swarmed in a blaze of speed
Yesyesyesmendformeotherscouldnotwouldnot
Others.. why me? Though she could guess at the answer . a flying awakened being would be more likely to help a kindred spirit, even if it took some persuading – It knew about her, so, some sort of mind magics, but it didn’t seem to retain the information.
I am awakened, magic, I can fly – are we agreeable? More textbook cause and negotiate statements
Agreeagreewhenyoumendsheensseelookseee
The spirit raced around a broken turbine, sails stuck, another with a distinct limp a third felled into the muck that clung to the rooftop.
And to seal the pact?
Workmendsheensthenpact
Hmm work first then stick it on the tab? The sylph would know that was not the way, so the deal should be struck once her kind offer was accepted and payment arranged.. birdshit by the sackfull? Wind powered electricity from thirty-year-old generators? A rooftop hideaway? Problem here was to find out what could be bargained..
The sylph itself, sell itself into drudgery..no An undertaking or two? Put that on the tab too Something of value to her up here in the air..? she needed the sylph to tell her what it had to bargain in return for fixing the machines. Anything of real worth would have been stripped long ago – like the lead off church roves in the olden days
Sylphs – or any free spirits – it had to be free as it wanted the tasks to be done, not someone else..- so a free spirit. It wouldn’t have much interest in things other than its own domain – the high air. It wanted to remain and knew it needed help, so it didn’t contact people much if at all, but could .. mind read? Possess? These were the only ways it could know so much. My mouth is dry and dusty – what have you helped me with?
FoodeatnourishgoodforpeopleeateatIfeedyou
Meg looked at the scoops of guano from the floor, it had possessed her, and tried to help by feeding her nourishing bird squat. Mmmm still it was more information – the creature could possess, and if her, how about others.. why not just possess people until it found a tecchie to make the repairs.. because it didn’t get in touch with people – it probably just played up here on the rooftops spinning the windmills till they broke. With beamed power these old things were obsolete, and a structural survey was more than likely carried out by bots.
Leaving it bugger all to bargain with. And selling itself into slavery was out of the question. So what else could it do? Some spirits could conjure up gold and jewels, or be sent off to do tasks, she could see guano and a not too impressive spirit.
It had known her mind, so that was of use… a couple of truths and an open question…
I have gold and silver awaiting me spirit, I have knowledge from my lodge, can you better my search?
The sylph squirmed, agitated.. Meg was no longer scared, the shock had worn off, it had surprised her but now she had it’s measure, it was fast but weak, in fact she should be able to fight it off quite easily.
But it wasn’t often that one encountered a free spirit – so that in itself was unusual and intrigued her. And the textbooks said that free spirits could be bargained with – power for tasks – there was mileage in maintaining friendly relationships here, as spirits were the stuff of majck.
Let us agree then, in return for mending your sheens, you will let me and mine fly here and gas with you in a friendly manner. We can bring you gifts and you may wish to help fix things for me. You know that I will be true, do we have a bargain?
May I call you Ariel – it seems most appropriate to you… A maintenance droid or an engineer for an afternoon could fix up the old turbines – and Meg could visit and study the spirit.. Attempting to crowbar it into an unwilling slave would be pointless, but as a reasonably willing partner, together they may find each other very useful.
yesMegyouwillbetrueIwillhavemysheensagainsoonsoonsooon
her negotiation backed up by her knowledge of majick had allowed her to drive a good bargain – the spirit would know that too.. what had gone on for the two hours she had lost..?
The engineer was already making his way to the rooftop - the lady had said to bring repair equipment for windmills and had promised a bonus.
Meg flew off, already her mind hazed over, a sense of dullness - the wind spirit would have been pleased with itself, but all it wanted was to play amongst its cherished machines.. the lone witch had attempted to gain a hold over it - fat chance!
She quickly regained control again in the plas-tub she ensured that she was alert, no more near misses for her on this trip. She checked her chron ... Where the hell had two hours just gone to - and just WHAT was that taste...
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Jan 8, 2007 16:36:08 GMT -5
( I wanted to have a breif encounter where an 'accident' leading to an encounter diddnt have to turn out well for the cha! The spirit possessed her, used her to get the job done while finding out what she would do - strike a bargain.. It couldnt be bothered with that sort of thing and sent her on her way. Sometimes all you end up with is a nasty taste in your mouth)
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Jan 24, 2007 14:24:45 GMT -5
Piloting the tub took most of her general concentration - she could have put a hire car on cruise, and snoozed in the back, instead she was wrapped up against the elements hurtling along just over tree level. Nice thing was that anything fast would overshoot and miss her, anything slow she could outrun or just stay above the trees - so mechanical defences or military sightings would fall into the disbelievable speed range if they spotted her signature - too fast for a paracritter, too slow for a mechanical, no elec for a drone! just steer the tub and stay away from powerlines.
Following the road map - the river as a guide, hamlets on the way, an with a couple of stops at particularly beautiful sight sites for tea from a flask - an a jammy kibber biscuit - she eventually upped over the rise to see the outskirts of Angel Falls. A sharp turn inforest and land down into a clearing, she guided the tub at near ground level in the dark of the forest deeps towards the noise of the campsite..
She would soon sort out the problems the others had encountered, and be back tomorrow tea-time! Thinking about tea, the last cupfulls had tasted pretty vile, had the tealeaves got mouldy..?
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Feb 18, 2007 19:04:18 GMT -5
Sorry folks I needed a place to get the dice roller wotking and as I was in this a while back.. I used the In a Barren Waste Lans scenario to do the rolls...
With the festivities over she gets down to the first stage of the project.. as a reminder, she wants to produce a finished journeyman peice as proof of her ability and commitment to the alchemical arts - consolidating her claim to be able to provide a practical education to future alchemy students - outside of corp control.
a number of stages - turn the raw materials into refined ones. She trids the processes for educational support..
Refine requireds a check TN of 4 vs 10 days (Meg checks the Magic in the Shadows book, and decides that there would never be any alchemy unless there was a capability to use successes to reduce alchemy time.. this includes production of any powders and fetishes which are soooo cheap compared to any realistic earnings.. send me a PM if you want a heated debate! or read the earlier discussions)
Alchemy 6 [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]
plus Talismongering/2 [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]
well, 5x successes gives 2-3 days to refine a batch of INT (7) loads she is able to refine the lot in a month easy. but needs to sort out the necessary ones quickly in a week.
leaving her with 3 gold 8 silver 8 copper 8 mercury 8 iron 8 tin 8 crystal 8 semi 8 precious That is a lot of bog-standard work to crack out all of the impurities using kiln and mortar/pestle these go with the stones she gathered herself earlier - now refined and radicalised into a batch of select shapes an sizes..
(OOC her manuals say that each batch shouls weigh a certain amount -however the batch used may consist of a much smaller amount and some 'spoil' which the alchemist rejects)
She is waiting for the herbs and shootlings to begin to mature outside.
Next stage is to produce radicals..
Now Meg knows that there are eyes upon her - - Aztechnology for one, and the universities around the world that she has contacted as well. Her plan is to buck the system and produce her journeyman peice fast - so she catches them all on the hop and can force her own demands down their throats .. rather than them all dictating standard terms. She knows she is good and is willing to prove it.
condensing down refined materials into radicals is something different, it does take time - generally a month to distill the essences. As she really wants to steal that march over the institutions, she is willing to sacrifice results for time..
The standard minerals can wait Meg wants gold, silver mercury and copper radicals - to create oilicalcuram the magical oil which is an absolute must for creating a weapon.
She could take an easier route and just manufacture a Power focus quickly, but she wants to make an impression to demonstrate her capability...
the important one first:
3 units of gold radicalised by forge and furnace.. alchemy 6 [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]
supported by talismongering 6/2 [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]
( x6 successes = 6x3units=18 radicals of purest gold-looking gold essence youve ever seen. absolute base street value, 750,000)
use 4 units of the other elements but halve the time by applying x3 successes to the time - TN 4 x successes (-3 0f them) = units created per week ! This is costly - as Meg is missing out on turning refined copper into x16 or x20 units of radical copper - sacrificing quantity for time. She is looking to get the lot completed in 8 weeks instead of 20 weeks.. in order to show she 'can do' under pressure.
silver x4 = 4 units copper x6 = 12 units mercury x4 = 4 units
of radicals.
problem now is to shift the radical gold on the 'market' good job Meg has got the contacts - if she diddnt have the contacts, no way could she think of selling the stuff - you HAVE to be in the biz to even appreciate the value of this stuff.
Course the street value of the finished article is reasonably well known - a fraggin 'standard' blade for those in the know, is reach+1 x 100,000 F absolute basic plus the linking force required from the weilder - and the street markup of around 200% makes a blade cost around 500, 000 yen , but Meg wishes that the end users would appreciate how much flippin real hard slog goes into just getting the basics together.
Why does it cost so much, well a big reason is that she can make a power focus F2 (standard) for 200, 000 (+) why? well because...
YOU DONT HAVE TO USE BLOODY ORICHALCUM THATS BLOODY WHY
and that stuff costs 100,000 a shout. (at least)
You may now understand why 'magical items' are bleedin hard to come by - you either HELP to make it - or have LOADS of cash floating around - if the seller wants cash of course -
a lot of mystic stuff is traded and bartered for other hard to garner materials.. cash is merely an indicator of the kind of trouble the buyer has to go to to actually close the deal.
Meg knows that barter is the main route for exchange of materials - either magical or obscure items. Cash is not a confirmation that you could 'buy' your way into magic.
There are further stages to complete before the weapon focus that Meg wishes to complete , is ready. For now she has the prepared materials.
ANother reason to move quickly is to have everything in place before the potential buyers or dealers are ready - preempting their plans. Meg knows that word will be around that there is a specialist practitioner up and coming, Aztechnology needs sidestepping and the academic institutions need bringing on board fast in order to provide some security.
the whole process would generally take 30 weeks plus.. she is looking to have it completed in 10
For the orichalcum it takes 10 - Magic (6) = tn4
talismongering support [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6] alchemy [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6]
five successes to distill orichalcum.. Thats half a mill ! - or it goes straight into her creating a F4 weapon focus, needing four of the five distillations...
Meg has planned this for a long time - the stones she gathered months earlier is natural and she entwines the pair into two wide copper bracelets with silver filligree that she can make easily - something she can wear continuously - otherwise she would be making polearms.. (There has to be an advantage in karate at some point)
Enchant TN6 + F4 + OR3 = TN 13 eek! minus handmade -1 virgin -2 three materials -4 oil x1 units -1
=TN 2 30 days base talis [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6] alchemy [dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6][dice=6] Enchanting the items 30/4 = 8 days - lovely and smooth so far
then the first bonding.. this is where I veer from the rules - I will use standard bonding cost 3+reachxF with an advantage for an Enchanting bonus rather than 8xF (you may as well make poleaxes- still cheap!) otherwise noone would ever conscider making the things. see my earlier arguments.
3+reach0 xF4 = 12 karma reduction due to oil 1/unit -1 x3 materials -4 first bonding Alchemy successes max of +3 = base value of Force to be paid =4
Meg has completed the process in 8 weeks, has 750,000 worth of radical gold, four units of Mystic oil worth 400,000 and a F4 weapon focus attuned to her worth 500,000. maybe she does need some better security once she is up and running. She will call a F3 spirit to be on call. Yow.. how about Oil = Force of weapon, will reduce surplus oil and make items more expensive!
Next stop is to claim her Doctorate in Magick from her college. Book the flight and contact the John Dee collegiate. She has the process on trid and some of the evidence with her. After that it is getting in touch with Gottal the Aztechnology rep.
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Feb 18, 2007 19:17:48 GMT -5
Has anyone come across the seeming useless martial arts techniques that are easily overcome by someone with a pike or a poleaxe ? reach bungs on a very valuable extra - but what if you get in close, bypass the pointy end and grab him by the lapells - does his reach 3 pike - OK his reach 2 poleaxe still get a +/-2 in his favour?
I can see that if someone draws a blade then they are initiating combat and can get the blame, a simple action to draw and a later complex(full turn in the round) action to attack means whoever has their blade drawn should get an unoposed strike, as the opponents blade isnt out yet so what is the point in fisticuffs, apart from some low level brawling skill. I suppose you can never have your fists checked in at the door!
long reach weapons should have some disadvantages - the lasnschneks knew about this and threw in sword weilding nutters - if they got into the ranks of pike/spear, they cut them apart
but I cant see there is anything in the rules for this. Saying so, the melee is skimpy!
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Post by wolflet59 on Feb 21, 2007 18:10:10 GMT -5
What? it has been eight weeks, you erm you couldnt have , erm shouldnt have, we were expecting another two month at the inside... and you shall inform us upon your arrival, well Megan, the colegiate council can be drawn up but upon your head be it, you realise that your processes will be scrutinised and that I will be taking a big gamble.. how do you mean? Yes I understand if you are that proficcient they will be in the keeping of a field leader, and if not then a three year tenure will be enforced by the college authorities. I can call an extrordinary college meet at short notice. Good grief, this is most unexpected.
We either lose a promising student to presumption and greed, or we gain a proficient tutor, that was Megan Fredericks burser, she has been making applications to apprentice students for a year and a day... our college terms would be for three years, with them working for two of those for us and we break even. If she could possibly deliver,and she may as she was such a bright student herself, then we could reduce our overheads for the unit by two thirds. Ten students at 200,000 each year in costs - that is a saving of four million. I amsure we can negociate with her over funding living accomodation and fees.
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Feb 22, 2007 16:50:52 GMT -5
Everyone is out for something, there is a currency and currently that is yen - like it or lump it. The amount that one party pays or gains is determined by potential future profitability, so any business venture has to be sustainable.
Megan is well aware that if she sets up the Snake Oil company and then trades through that, then if things dont work out she can pullout. problems arise only when either party feels they are being hard done to - or getting a raw deal. You can under certain circumstances make a 'leader' loss - big promo loses money but you get it back over time.
the thing about being self employed is you can pick up and drop whenever you want - your customers will know this too - it has all been done before! - so they have to have some form of commitment - are you providing what you say you are providing? - at the price we came to agree.
Single uints are also exposed to a wild variety of external influences, as tey have little support.
risk
Big corps absorb the risk and divert resources, smallones can't.
But if Meg can ensure that the servisce she provides is economically sound, and has the ability to deliver, then she should be able to attract clients.
This is where the negotiations for payment come into effect.. what is the track record..? does it provide what is required? what happens if it all goes tits up?
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Feb 23, 2007 18:36:55 GMT -5
So here is the problem for anyone buying into a new deal, there has to be the track record - can the thing be done by this new company? Is there backup and continuity if key personnell go missing? Are the end results worth investing in?
Meg has set up a year's worth of study rota, most of it supervised by her. She has the track record for being able to deliver an academic course, as she has been delivering committee reports for a few years. Is it worth it? well six million was available for the university course for three years, so if she can come in under that budget, then it works.. as long as the students come out with their journeyman peice and their portfolio records. That is six mill for three years, eighteen million total, and the tutor pay, a round twenty mill that was currently invested...
The college bursar points out that this would be for the college three year plan, three lots of students would cost sixty million over the standard three years - much of which would be gathered through corporate sponsorship aimed at recruiting the brightest once they graduate.
As long as the funding continued to flow, and they could strike a deal regarding the three areas of concern, then Meg would be a viable prospect.
So what happens if the course or she gets interrupted and she cannot continue with it, are there others who could carry the baton? If not, which personnell should they have on her site as backup, who could report with a favourable slant to the college in order to protect their investment. Someone who could protect the college interests.
As a recap, outsourcing was good, as long as it delivered, and on time. Potential problems to overcome would be loss of key personnell, so someone or two would have to participate as observers. And how much to pay for this service? and could they hive off ten of their own students, or ought they provide just a few, as an experiment. Keep their own departments running just in case.
Not that Megan was percieved as a threat, though a rival independant alchemical college would be outside of their juristiction, maybe an associate membership, which provided advice and guidance and retained her allegiance to Cambridge University, also aiding with the setup and provision of college aid in times of trouble. Yes - most appropiate.
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Feb 23, 2007 19:10:28 GMT -5
She had been pondering the problem of another leader for the year ahead, Meg knew a lot of people academically, much depended on the college needs and wants. There would have to be another specialist alchemist who could watch over the budding course, a college or even a corp flunky who would be reporting back on everything, so security was shot straight off.
She wanted to take in twelve students, six or seven from the colleges and the others from elsewhere. Her idea was to skew any funding to a sliding scale - but the college wouldnt committ its best - each year would roll out up to a dozen qualified students, soaked into the corporates to create blades for their black-ops teams, they had the yen to splash around.
Sh ewas going to maintain a high startup cost with amounts per student.. Her contacts around the world had replied favourably but all eyes were on Cambridge, her own college. If they ran with it, then interest would be generated.
The first year would be the key, deliver the goods correctly then everyone would fall in line - to set up their own academies... oooh, she would become a victim of her own success. Everyone would set up academies of their own and sod her! unless the money said that it was not as good a venture as first thought, but better than the college route. How to spend money and keep academic supremos satisfied?
Pitch it differently - an outward bound course - practical skills not just the academic side, something that the college tutors wouldnt do..
Meg needed to make some enquiries - find a few places where she and a dozen could go - hire on some local guides, specialists
God's teeth, it was getting bigger and bigger, she'd need a staff of half a dozen...and access to matrix accounts, and god knows what else... no wonder the college fees were so high!
Where to start.. she needed her own academic team. In fact she needed more than that, a trustworthy manager to run the whole thing.. like that existed!
But there were some excellent committee organisers who practically did the work for most of the senior management...
Suddenly spending money diddnt seem too difficult after all.
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Feb 23, 2007 19:57:35 GMT -5
A semester broken into lunar months, most, ha ha ha regular,
Working backwards, the final thirteenth month is allocated as a period in which the student may tie up loose ends, do you think this is advisable? lf they do not have the wherwithall to complete, then will a final lunar month make a difference?.. Oh, it includes at least two weeks to visit sponsor companies - fully paid travelling expenses too, my congratulations!
12 complete final piece, leaving little for ceremony and.. ah again the final month allows for this too.
11 10 9 alchemical profficiency - lab work I presume. Our students would spend a month maybe at their tasks, how do you envisage maintaining student concentration - will there be a 'Union Bar'?
I see there are field trips - to where? and to garner the basics for talismongering and then conjouring materials. Do you think this too basic ? Your notes here indicate use of spirits for this - do you think this wise?
refine, radicalise of mineral herb and liquids and then look towards creation of, good grief, you would have them complete the preparation and distillation of the essence within the three month! This alone is a journeyman creation.... Ah yes, a great many do indeed fail as they do not have the ahmmm the correct application required.
Much of your endeavour seems to depend upon the correct choce of site to gather materials, and later on the ability to apply knowledge to creating the correct flux.. yes i do agree that this is exactly what they will encounter, and this is indeed a specialist outward-bound learning on the hoof course.
I will however require some ofour own body to be present in order to further evaluate the effectiveness of this course, apart from this, I and the board can see no obstacle to one of our students taking up the baton and furthering the collegiate goals in the endeavours to persue the higher echelons of the great art.
Our thanks to John
(this last is a reminder that John Dee was associated with the devil, and to thank God may further extend torment in the pits.)
Down to business, I will hand your details over to our college bursar, Thank you Megan, in light of confirmation of your current talents of the journeyman piece which you have created, I am certain that there will be many interested parties clamouring at your doors in the near future. We would be happy to take you into the collegiate, upon the understanding that these initial years are fruitful in your enterprise.
Meg was quite happy with getting the course plan passed as it meant there would indeed be a good chunk of field trips involved, and lots of radicals produced, albe they of cheap materials that the students would use up later on. The expensive stuff, she would demonstrate, and the students could use.
One big problem was - how to fill in the 'spare' places. Meg diddnt know many people outside of the academic world, she had thought about some kind of school for waifs and strays, but all of her time would be taken up with this project, so how to find other willing students?
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meg
Shadowrunner
Meg
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Post by meg on Feb 25, 2007 15:44:50 GMT -5
How to assemble a college team too! Some of the costs involved would be high, the going rate to hire an alchemist was around 40 to 50000 a month, at least half a mill each year! so really she needed either someone who would be willing to tap out weapons all day every day in order to cover their cost, or a way of having the cost lowered.
A college alchemist would fit the bill, they could monitor progress and cover some of the work. Problem was again that security and therefore independance went out of the window.
A freelancer who could perform in a similar manner- slightly better security wise in one respect worse in others.
Would she need someone there permenantly though.. maybe a visiting representative who could be asked to fill in if needs be, and in reality what security measures would she be losing anyway.. the college students would undoubtedly be reporting back in any case.. so see if she could have a professor attached as a visiting officer.
The others would be easier to gather together, short term contracts to cover the specialist periods they would be demonstrating. Standard freelance contracts 20 to 25000 a month with something specific on for six months that was 150,000
All of this diddnt even begin to include costs. , she had seen the budgets for the college, at least three mill for a dozen students each year for three years, close on ten million. Nearly a million for each student who finished the course! Meg's original intention was to hit the college for at least one and a half million, but revising the costs involved for key personnell it looked like three million would need to be collected . Still a third of the college costs, and negociations to come. If she could employ the college attachee she could drop a million and he would still be tied to the college.
Listening to herself just throwing numbers around shocked her back to her senses.. but thats what corporates did, if they could squeeze the cash, then they did! Knowing something of the end results and the value of the training meant she could cost out what she would have to pay and compare it to what she knew was currently being paid, anything inbetween was bunce!
Hiring in an accountant to put her case would be unfiting as the site head, but an accountant would be required to balance the books.. more personnell ! She was still on the lookout for a PA who could organise all of this.
She knew how the college systems worked and what happened to wage mage alchemists too. In fact some of the people she wanted to invite were past students on a salary. The entertainment budget would have to be high, and security upped to protect visiting VIPs. It never ends!
She thought about it all on the plane over. First close the deal to everyone's satisfaction, then hire in the people to get it all running in time for the first week of term.
It rested on two and a half million a year and an attached college visiting officer, or a permenant liason. Or up the cost to three million and she hires someone herself.
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meg
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Meg
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Post by meg on Feb 28, 2007 16:00:11 GMT -5
The flight over took time, nowhere to go, just time to think and plan ahead. Ten college students, a fixed cost of half a mill then about two hundred thousand each per year to cover the cost of an alchemist worth his salt for a year. some sliding scale involved too,
the college looked at a dozen each year for three years - what happened if they wanted only six? Well there were other colleges, the British were not the only ones, the Scottish colleges were known to Meg too.. in fact she had connections with most world colleges, so she knew a lot of the sponsors too - the big corps looking for researchers and weaponsmiths.
Meg could easily take on some non paying apprentices - a couple of kids for three years who would help out and get taught on and off.
Allin all it seems like any secrecy - real secrecy was doomed to failure
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