text:
User talk:Clasqm

You've got a redirect from cheetah to the species name, and a new entry in felidae, but no page at the far end of the redirect. I'm hoping this just means you went to lunch; let me know if you need a hand here. Vicki Rosenzweig

No, I think it was my brain that went out to lunch ... clasqm

Re: Shri Aurobindo - It would help to have complete clarification here so any unknown vistor to an encyclopedia can discern exactly who, what, where is being talked about....DW

Hi Clasqm, As 'n blerrie kaaskop jou mag vra: could you please convert the page clasqm on af.wiki into a userpage? Af.wiki is now in its 3rd phase and we are trying to clean up and put in interwikilinks. Dankie af:Gebruiker:Jcwf Nog 'n vraag: is dit amptelik KwaZulu-Natal of Kwazulu-Natal? Andre Engels het dit naar 'z' verskuif en ek dink dis nie regtig nie.

South African Collaboration of the Week!
Hello, this is just a brief, friendly announcement to let you know that there is now a South African Collaboration of the Week where we vote every two weeks to select an article about South Africa that is either a stub or nonexistent and attempt make it featured article quality by the end of the week. Your comments, voting, and participation would be very welcome! PZFUN 17:48, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Article Licensing
Hi, I've started a drive to get users to multi-license all of their contributions that they've made to either (1) all U.S. state, county, and city articles or (2) all articles, using the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC-by-sa) v1.0 and v2.0 Licenses or into the public domain if they prefer. The CC-by-sa license is a true free documentation license that is similar to Wikipedia's license, the GFDL, but it allows other projects, such as WikiTravel, to use our articles. Since you are among the top 1000 Wikipedians by edits, I was wondering if you would be willing to multi-license all of your contributions or at minimum those on the geographic articles. Over 90% of people asked have agreed. For More Information:
 * Multi-Licensing FAQ - Lots of questions answered
 * Multi-Licensing Guide
 * Free the Rambot Articles Project

To allow us to track those users who muli-license their contributions, many users copy and paste the " " template into their user page, but there are other options at Template messages/User namespace. The following examples could also copied and pasted into your user page:

 * Option 1
 * I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:

OR
 * Option 2
 * I agree to multi-license all my contributions to any U.S. state, county, or city article as described below:

Or if you wanted to place your work into the public domain, you could replace " " with "  ". If you only prefer using the GFDL, I would like to know that too. Please let me know what you think at my talk page. It's important to know either way so no one keeps asking. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk)

af.Wikipedia
Ek sien jy was lanklaas op die Afrikaanse Wikipedia? Laaste wysiging op 21:30, 20 November 2001. Kom asb. terug! :D ► Adriaan90 ( Talk ♥ Contribs ) ♪♫ 10:24, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Skipstone

The article Skipstone has been proposed for deletion  because of the following concern:
 * unremarkable software product

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Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing  will stop the Proposed Deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. The Speedy Deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and Articles for Deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. RadioFan (talk) 13:17, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Articles for deletion nomination of Bread
I have nominated Bread, an article that you created, for deletion. I do not think that this article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and have explained why at Articles for deletion/Bread. Your opinions on the matter are welcome at that same discussion page; also, you are welcome to edit the article to address these concerns. Thank you for your time.Please contact me if you're unsure why you received this message. Valley2 city ‽ 07:07, 1 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I apologize for the automated notification, this is meant as an April Fools Joke. Valley2 city ‽ 07:09, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Your user page
Hello, I found your user page while doing some wikiarchaeology. . I have restored all of its earliest surviving revisions from old copies of the Wikipedia database, so they are available to everyone now. Hope you don't mind. Graham 87 06:40, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for January 29
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Nomination of Robot for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Robot is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Robot until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

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ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:51, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Invitation to join the Fifteen Year Society
Dear ,

I'd like to extend a cordial invitation to you to join the Fifteen Year Society, an informal group for editors who've been participating in the Wikipedia project for fifteen years or more.

Best regards, Urhixidur (talk) 02:35, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

Nomination of 817 BC for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article 817 BC is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/817 BC until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. 777burger talk contribs 22:20, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

Nomination of Raster graphics editor for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Raster graphics editor is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Raster graphics editor until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article until the discussion has finished. DavidEfraim (talk) 12:57, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

title: User talk:Clasqm


text:
User talk:Vicki Rosenzweig

I've archived a bunch of old talk from this page. --VR

More archiving, this of most of the current content. I'm not very active on Wikipedia these days, so please don't expect quick responses.

(And yes, this large, arbitrary archiving means that what's here is mostly one argument. ) Vicki Rosenzweig (talk) 19:37, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Mis quoting sources
I really have a hard time believing that you prefer a version of an article that mis-quotes the 'sources' cited. I am sure you love Mr. Nicoll's 'dry wit' and his 'byword in fandom', but please keep such Original Research to fan pages outside of Wikipedia, and let the  articles within Wikipedia contain reliably sourced, verifiable, and notable marterial. Thanks!207.69.137.27 15:43, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

 * No original research doesn't mean we can't use primary sources:
 * Point of information My tagging of OR and changes thereafter were based on the fact that the content of the 'source' was vastly different than the statements within the article. Taking the information that actually existed in the source and then extracting and embellishing to the extent of the statements that were within the article was the original research.
 * it means Wikipedia itself should not be a primary source, and we should think about what we're using them for, and why. If the question is what someone wrote, their own published writing is a reliable source. Or would you object to an article on William Shakespeare citing one of his sonnets rather than a literary critic's discussion thereof? Nor does the policy mean that online compilations are inherently unreliable: one question to ask about reliability is how the material was compiled, and another is whether the compilers had motivation for deception.

 * Also, I am trying hard to believe that your phrasing above was meant in good faith. Vicki Rosenzweig 17:44, 28 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Were your claims of vandalism when returning to the misquoted citations in good faith???SavingJDNfromthefilk 12:16, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Transnational Radical Party
Transnational Radical Party, an article you created, has been nominated for deletion. We appreciate your contributions. However, an editor does not feel that Transnational Radical Party satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion and has explained why in the nomination space (see also "What Wikipedia is not" and the Wikipedia deletion policy). Your opinions on the matter are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Articles for deletion/Transnational Radical Party and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes ( ~ ). You are free to edit the content of Transnational Radical Party during the discussion but should not remove the articles for deletion template from the top of the article; such removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. Avruch Talk 15:02, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

 * This posting was made automatically by Twinkle. For whatever reason, you showed as the creator (or first editor) of this article. TW notifies all article creators of an AfD using a generic AfD notification template. Avruch Talk 04:33, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

 * That makes sense. And in this case, there's no way of knowing who created it, so I can't point you at them. Vicki Rosenzweig (talk) 03:52, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

A Canticle for Leibowitz
Vicki, I see you've shown some interest in the A Canticle for Leibowitz article in the past. I'm interested in bringing it to GA status soon and am soliciting your help. A number of revisions have been made in the past few weeks to position it for a successful nomination process. Would you mind reviewing the article and making suggestions/changes to assist in the process? Any assistance you can provide will be appreciated. Thank you. Jim Dunning | talk  03:11, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

CH and ll
Greetings, Vicky. You asked this. I gave my feelings on the issue. Regards, Pallida  Mors  22:11, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

RE:American Central University
See WP:MINOR Vandalism reverts are considered minor edits —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alexfusco5 (talk • contribs) 02:27, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Early Infanticidal Childrearing
Remember that? A new editor, Cesar Tort, has done a major edit of the article and changed the title to Psychohistorical views on infanticide, but I still think it is highly problematic. I had a detailed exchange with him in which I set out my problems with the revised article and he responded, here - it would take some time to read through, but several years ago you had many valuable comments, and I would be grateful if you could look at the revised article and my comments, and those of others in sections below mine, and add your voice. Thanks, Slrubenstein  |  Talk 12:53, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

AfD's
I've just nominated American Freedom Coalition and World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations for deletion. Steve Dufour (talk) 23:10, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Your user page
Hi Vicki, I've gone ahead and history merged your user page, which I found while browsing some old Wikipedia edits. Hope you don't mind. Graham 87 09:42, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Merge
I've just proposed merging Unification Church and antisemitism (which you worked on) into Divine Principle. Please join in the discussion, if you like. Steve Dufour (talk) 15:44, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Nomination for deletion
Please see: Articles for deletion/Unification Church and antisemitismBorock (talk) 04:10, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Wheelchairs
Hello Vicki. I noticed you changed a lot of instances of "wheelchair-bound" into some variation of "wheelchair user". I don't know your reason for doing this, but I expect it is because you find wheelchair-bound to be somehow offensive/insensitive to wheelchair users. While "wheelchair users" is common to refer to people in a wheelchair, referring to the act of being in a wheelchair as "wheelchair-using", is not (at least not quite as common as wheelchair-bound). I've also never heard of the notion that wheelchair-bound has negative connotations, but I'd happily be proven wrong. I've reverted your edits where you changed to wheelchair-using and where I found that your version of the text was needlessly evasive with regards to the wheelchair. If you can convince me of the need to avoid all use of "wheelchair-bound", then I'll revert back to your version. Cheers, --Atlan (talk) 15:22, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

 * As I noted on your page, it's a combination of offensive and misleading: a wheelchair is not a prison, it is a device that increases the user's mobility and options. Vicki Rosenzweig (talk) 00:44, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

 * I replied to you both on my talk page. In short, I'll accommodate by altering the text to something that doesn't say wheelchair-bound, rather than simply reverting myself. Bear with me though, it might take a few days as I'm rather busy right now. By the way, are you part of this campaign to rid Wikipedia of the term wheelchair bound?--Atlan (talk) 09:36, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

 * Nothing that organized, but a friend of mine noted that she was working on this, and asked people she knows who are (or have been--I'm not very active these days) Wikipedia editors to help out, and I happened to have some free time. Vicki Rosenzweig (talk) 16:03, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm in a wheelchair, and although this is the first I ever considered the phrase, "bound" is slightly offensive for its negative connotation (in fact wheelchairs are quite liberating, considering the alternative). In the right context, where one is trying to emphasis negative connotations of being in a wheelchair, bound would be OK. For example "The wheelchair-bound man was trapped by stairs in the burning building" is better than "The wheelchair user was trapped by stairs". We have to be careful about removing a phrase entirely for political reasons without considering context; language is a great thing and Orwell taught us the dangers of limiting it for political purposes. However for NPOV Wikipedia purposes, bound is going to be rarely appropriate. Green Cardamom (talk) 07:34, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

King John
From wheelchairs to something completely different.. Many years ago you were the first to create the article John, King of England, back when Wikipedia was in its infancy, not unlike the early days of Anglo-Norman England, one could say. Well now it's NINE YEARS later (feeling old?) and guess what.. the seed of the article has evolved and now is currently under review for Featured Article status (and what a great article). Thought you'd be interested since you started it off. Green Cardamom (talk) 07:34, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

MSU Interview
Dear Vicki Rosenzweig,

My name is Jonathan Obar user:Jaobar, I'm a professor in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University and a Teaching Fellow with the Wikimedia Foundation's Education Program. This semester I've been running a little experiment at MSU, a class where we teach students about becoming Wikipedia administrators. Not a lot is known about your community, and our students (who are fascinated by wiki-culture by the way!) want to learn how you do what you do, and why you do it. A while back I proposed this idea (the class) to the communityHERE, where it was met mainly with positive feedback. Anyhow, I'd like my students to speak with a few administrators to get a sense of admin experiences, training, motivations, likes, dislikes, etc. We were wondering if you'd be interested in speaking with one of our students.

So a few things about the interviews:
 * Interviews will last between 15 and 30 minutes.
 * Interviews can be conducted over skype (preferred), IRC or email. (You choose the form of communication based upon your comfort level, time, etc.)
 * All interviews will be completely anonymous, meaning that you (real name and/or pseudonym) will never be identified in any of our materials, unless you give the interviewer permission to do so.
 * All interviews will be completely voluntary. You are under no obligation to say yes to an interview, and can say no and stop or leave the interview at any time.
 * The entire interview process is being overseen by MSU's institutional review board (ethics review). This means that all questions have been approved by the university and all students have been trained how to conduct interviews ethically and properly.

Bottom line is that we really need your help, and would really appreciate the opportunity to speak with you. If interested, please send me an email at obar@msu.edu (to maintain anonymity) and I will add your name to my offline contact list. If you feel comfortable doing so, you can post your nameHERE instead.

If you have questions or concerns at any time, feel free to email me at obar@msu.edu. I will be more than happy to speak with you.

Thanks in advance for your help. We have a lot to learn from you.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Obar --Jaobar

Invitation to join the Ten Year Society
Dear Vicki,

I'd like to extend a cordial invitation to you to join the Ten Year Society, an informal group for editors who've been participating in the Wikipedia project for ten years or more.

Best regards, — Hex    (❝  ?!  ❞)   11:19, 22 November 2012 (UTC).

 * Cool! (and, congrats!) Wikipedia serves as somewhat of a reminder -- to me, at least -- that a lot can happen in 10 years. :-) --Mike Schwartz (talk) 23:59, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

Nomination of Aristotle for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Aristotle is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Aristotle until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Mr. Guye (talk) 21:19, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:51, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Notification of pending suspension of administrative permissions due to inactivity
Following a community discussion in June 2011, consensus was reached to provisionally suspend the administrative permissions of users who have been inactive for one year (i.e. administrators who have not made any edits or logged actions in more than one year). As a result of this discussion, your administrative permissions will be removed pending your return if you do not return to activity within the next month. If you wish to have these permissions reinstated should this occur, please post to the Bureaucrats' noticeboard and the userright will be restored per the re-sysopping process (i.e. as long as the attending bureaucrats are reasonably satisfied that your account has not been compromised, that your inactivity did not have the effect of evading scrutiny of any actions which might have led to sanctions, and that you have not been inactive for a three-year period of time). If you remain inactive for a three-year period of time, including the present year you have been inactive, you will need to request reinstatement at WP:RFA. This removal of access is procedural only, and not intended to reflect negatively upon you in any way. We wish you the best in future endeavors, and thank you for your past administrative efforts. MadmanBot (talk) 00:30, 1 January 2016 (UTC)

 * Since I don't know whether this edit counts as an action, am now going to poke at my watchlist. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vicki Rosenzweig (talk • contribs) 00:47, January 1, 2016 (UTC)
 * Good to see you still here. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Prescription_drug_prices_in_the_United_States#Proposal_to_fork_some_content_into_general_article_for_.22drug_prices.22 User:Fred Bauder Talk 18:54, 1 August 2016 (UTC)

Two-Factor Authentication now available for admins
Hello,

Please note that TOTP based two-factor authentication is now available for all administrators. In light of the recent compromised accounts, you are encouraged to add this additional layer of security to your account. It may be enabled on your preferences page in the "User profile" tab under the "Basic information" section. For basic instructions on how to enable two-factor authentication, please see the developing help page for additional information. Important: Be sure to record the two-factor authentication key and the single use keys. If you lose your two factor authentication and do not have the keys, it's possible that your account will not be recoverable. Furthermore, you are encouraged to utilize a unique password and two-factor authentication for the email account associated with your Wikimedia account. This measure will assist in safeguarding your account from malicious password resets. Comments, questions, and concerns may be directed to the thread on the administrators' noticeboard. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:33, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

A new user right for New Page Patrollers
Hi.

A new user group, New Page Reviewer, has been created in a move to greatly improve the standard of new page patrolling. The user right can be granted by any admin at PERM. It is highly recommended that admins look beyond the simple numerical threshold and satisfy themselves that the candidates have the required skills of communication and an advanced knowledge of notability and deletion. Admins are automatically included in this user right.

It is anticipated that this user right will significantly reduce the work load of admins who patrol the performance of the patrollers. However,due to the complexity of the rollout, some rights may have been accorded that may later need to be withdrawn, so some help will still be needed to some extent when discovering wrongly applied deletion tags or inappropriate pages that escape the attention of less experienced reviewers, and above all, hasty and bitey tagging for maintenance. User warnings are available here but very often a friendly custom message works best.

If you have any questions about this user right, don't hesitate to join us at WT:NPR. (Sent to all admins) .MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:48, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter - February 2017
News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2017). This first issue is being sent out to all administrators, if you wish to keep receiving it please subscribe. Your feedback is welcomed.

Administrator changes
 * Gnome-colors-list-add.svg NinjaRobotPirate • Schwede66 • K6ka • Ealdgyth • Ferret • Cyberpower678 • Mz7 • Primefac • Dodger67
 * Gnome-colors-list-remove.svg Briangotts • JeremyA • BU Rob13

Guideline and policy news
 * A discussion to workshop proposals to amend the administrator inactivity policy at Wikipedia talk:Administrators has been in process since late December 2016.
 * Pending changes/Request for Comment 2016 closed with no consensus for implementing Pending changes level 2 with new criteria for use.
 * Following an RfC, an activity requirement is now in place for bots and bot operators.

Technical news
 * When performing some administrative actions the reason field briefly gave suggestions as text was typed. This change has since been reverted so that issues with the implementation can be addressed. (T34950)
 * Following the latest RfC concluding that Pending Changes 2 should not be used on the English Wikipedia, an RfC closed with consensus to remove the options for using it from the page protection interface, a change which has now been made. (T156448)
 * The Foundation has announced a new community health initiative to combat harassment. This should bring numerous improvements to tools for admins and CheckUsers in 2017.

Arbitration
 * The Arbitration Committee released a response to the Wikimedia Foundation's statement on paid editing and outing.

Obituaries
 * JohnCD (John Cameron Deas) passed away on 30 December 2016. John began editing Wikipedia seriously during 2007 and became an administrator in November 2009.

Discuss this newsletter • Subscribe • Archive

13:38, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

ArbCom 2019 special circular

This message was sent to all administrators following a recent motion. Thank you for your attention. For the Arbitration Committee, Cameron11598 02:02, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

Administrator account security (Correction to Arbcom 2019 special circular)
ArbCom would like to apologise and correct our previous mass message in light of the response from the community.

Since November 2018, six administrator accounts have been compromised and temporarily desysopped. In an effort to help improve account security, our intention was to remind administrators of existing policies on account security — that they are required to "have strong passwords and follow appropriate personal security practices." We have updated our procedures to ensure that we enforce these policies more strictly in the future. The policies themselves have not changed. In particular, two-factor authentication remains an optional means of adding extra security to your account. The choice not to enable 2FA will not be considered when deciding to restore sysop privileges to administrator accounts that were compromised.

We are sorry for the wording of our previous message, which did not accurately convey this, and deeply regret the tone in which it was delivered.

For the Arbitration Committee, -Cameron11598 21:04, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

Invitation to join the Fifteen Year Society
Dear ,

I'd like to extend a cordial invitation to you to join the Fifteen Year Society, an informal group for editors who've been participating in the Wikipedia project for fifteen years or more.

Best regards, Urhixidur (talk) 16:43, 6 June 2019 (UTC)

Nomination of Dogbert's New Ruling Class for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Dogbert's New Ruling Class is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Dogbert's New Ruling Class until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. DemonDays64 (talk) 18:17, 9 October 2021 (UTC)

Invitation to join the Twenty Year Society
Dear ,

I'd like to extend a cordial invitation to you to join the Twenty Year Society, an informal group for editors who've been participating in the Wikipedia project for twenty years or more.

Best regards, — Preceding unsigned comment added by Weaveravel (talk • contribs) 12:58, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

Administrators will no longer be autopatrolled
A recently closed Request for Comment (RFC) reached consensus to remove Autopatrolled from the administrator user group. You may, similarly as with Edit Filter Manager, choose to self-assign this permission to yourself. This will be implemented the week of December 13th, but if you wish to self-assign you may do so now. To find out when the change has gone live or if you have any questions please visit the Administrator's Noticeboard. 20:07, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

How we will see unregistered users
Hi!

You get this message because you are an admin on a Wikimedia wiki.

When someone edits a Wikimedia wiki without being logged in today, we show their IP address. As you may already know, we will not be able to do this in the future. This is a decision by the Wikimedia Foundation Legal department, because norms and regulations for privacy online have changed.

Instead of the IP we will show a masked identity. You as an admin will still be able to access the IP. There will also be a new user right for those who need to see the full IPs of unregistered users to fight vandalism, harassment and spam without being admins. Patrollers will also see part of the IP even without this user right. We are also working on better tools to help.

If you have not seen it before, you can read more on Meta. If you want to make sure you don’t miss technical changes on the Wikimedia wikis, you can subscribe to the weekly technical newsletter.

We have two suggested ways this identity could work. We would appreciate your feedback on which way you think would work best for you and your wiki, now and in the future. You can let us know on the talk page. You can write in your language. The suggestions were posted in October and we will decide after 17 January.

Thank you. /Johan (WMF)

18:12, 4 January 2022 (UTC)

New administrator activity requirement
22:53, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

NYC Wiknic, June 26
Hold the date. Meetup/NYC Wiknic in Crotona Park, Sunday June 26.

Watch Meetup/NYC/Wiknic June 2022 for further details as they become available.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:33, 3 June 2022 (UTC)

June 22: ONLINE WikiWednesday Salon NYC
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--Wikimedia New York City Team 14:53, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

Sun June 26: Bronx Wiki-Picnic
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--Wikimedia New York City Team via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:48, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Thu July 14: Astoria Beer Garden Wiki-Picnic
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--Wikimedia New York City Team via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:39, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

July 27: WikiWednesday Salon NYC (+Aug in-person for Wikimania)
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--Wikimedia New York City Team via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:45, 26 July 2022 (UTC)

Fri/Sat/Sun Aug 12-14 with Saturday flagship Wiki World's Fair at Queens Museum
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--Wikimedia New York City Team via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:03, 6 August 2022 (UTC)

Ways to improve Dactyl (moon)
Hello, Vicki Rosenzweig,

Thank you for creating Dactyl (moon).

I have tagged the page as having some issues to fix, as a part of our page curation process and note that:

"Hello, you have created an article with no citations. I'd rather not send it to draft or deletion, however since it is in main space currently, could you please add three citations?"

The tags can be removed by you or another editor once the issues they mention are addressed. If you have questions, leave a comment here and begin it with. Remember to sign your reply with. For broader editing help, please visit the Teahouse.

Delivered via the Page Curation tool, on behalf of the reviewer.

Netherzone (talk) 00:16, 11 August 2022 (UTC)

 * It's been long enough that I have no memory of this article. Vicki Rosenzweig (talk) 01:23, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

Aug 24: WikiWednesday Salon NYC (+Sep annual meeting)
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--Wikimedia New York City Team via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:47, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

Sep 28: Wikimedia NYC Annual Election/Members Meeting (+October 2 picnic)
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license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:Vicki Rosenzweig


text:
Calcite

Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, based on scratch hardness comparison. Large calcite crystals are used in optical equipment, and limestone composed mostly of calcite has numerous uses.

Other polymorphs of calcium carbonate are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite over timescales of days or less at temperatures exceeding 300 °C, and vaterite is even less stable.

Etymology
Calcite is derived from the German Calcit, a term from the 19th century that came from the Latin word for lime, calx (genitive calcis) with the suffix -ite used to name minerals. It is thus a doublet of the word chalk.

When applied by archaeologists and stone trade professionals, the term alabaster is used not just as in geology and mineralogy, where it is reserved for a variety of gypsum; but also for a similar-looking, translucent variety of fine-grained banded deposit of calcite.

Unit cell and Miller indices
In publications, two different sets of Miller indices are used to describe directions in hexagonal and rhombohedral crystals, including calcite crystals: three Miller indices $h, k, l$ in the $$a_1, a_2, c$$ directions, or four Bravais–Miller indices $h, k, i, l$ in the $$a_1,a_2,a_3,c$$ directions, where $$i$$ is redundant but useful in visualizing permutation symmetries.

To add to the complications, there are also two definitions of unit cell for calcite. One, an older "morphological" unit cell, was inferred by measuring angles between faces of crystals, typically with a goniometer, and looking for the smallest numbers that fit. Later, a "structural" unit cell was determined using X-ray crystallography. The morphological unit cell is rhombohedral, having approximate dimensions $a = 10 Å$ and $c = 8.5 Å$, while the structural unit cell is hexagonal (i.e. a rhombic prism), having approximate dimensions $a = 5 Å$ and $c = 17 Å$. For the same orientation, $c$ must be multiplied by 4 to convert from morphological to structural units. As an example, calcite cleavage is given as "perfect on {1 0 $\overline{3}$ 1}" in morphological coordinates and "perfect on {1 0 $\overline{3}$ 4}" in structural units. In $$\{hkl\}$$ indices, these are {1 0 1} and {1 0 4}, respectively. Twinning, cleavage and crystal forms are often given in morphological units.

Properties
The diagnostic properties of calcite include a defining Mohs hardness of 3, a specific gravity of 2.71 and, in crystalline varieties, a vitreous luster. Color is white or none, though shades of gray, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, or even black can occur when the mineral is charged with impurities.

Crystal habits
Calcite has numerous habits, representing combinations of over 1000 crystallographic forms. Most common are scalenohedra, with faces in the hexagonal $\overline{3}$ directions (morphological unit cell) or {2 1 4} directions (structural unit cell); and rhombohedral, with faces in the $\overline{1}$ or $\overline{1}$ directions (the most common cleavage plane). Habits include acute to obtuse rhombohedra, tabular habits, prisms, or various scalenohedra. Calcite exhibits several twinning types that add to the observed habits. It may occur as fibrous, granular, lamellar, or compact. A fibrous, efflorescent habit is known as lublinite. Cleavage is usually in three directions parallel to the rhombohedron form. Its fracture is conchoidal, but difficult to obtain.

Scalenohedral faces are chiral and come in pairs with mirror-image symmetry; their growth can be influenced by interaction with chiral biomolecules such as L- and D-amino acids. Rhombohedral faces are not chiral.

Optical
Calcite is transparent to opaque and may occasionally show phosphorescence or fluorescence. A transparent variety called "Iceland spar" is used for optical purposes. Acute scalenohedral crystals are sometimes referred to as "dogtooth spar" while the rhombohedral form is sometimes referred to as "nailhead spar". The rhombohedral form may also have been the "sunstone" whose use by Viking navigators is mentioned in the Icelandic Sagas.

Single calcite crystals display an optical property called birefringence (double refraction). This strong birefringence causes objects viewed through a clear piece of calcite to appear doubled. The birefringent effect (using calcite) was first described by the Danish scientist Rasmus Bartholin in 1669. At a wavelength of about 590 nm, calcite has ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices of 1.658 and 1.486, respectively. Between 190 and 1700 nm, the ordinary refractive index varies roughly between 1.9 and 1.5, while the extraordinary refractive index varies between 1.6 and 1.4.

Thermoluminescence
Calcite has thermoluminescent properties mainly due to manganese divalent (Mn(2+)). An experiment was conducted by adding activators such as ions of Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ag, Pb, and Bi to the calcite samples to observe whether they emitted heat or light. The results showed that adding ions (Cu+, Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Ag+, Bi(3+), Fe(2+), Fe(3+), Co(2+), Ni(2+)) did not react. However, a reaction occurred when both manganese and lead ions were present in calcite. By changing the temperature and observing the glow curve peaks, it was found that Pb(2+)and Mn(2+)acted as activators in the calcite lattice, but Pb(2+) was much less efficient than Mn(2+).

Measuring mineral thermoluminescence experiments usually use x-rays or gamma-rays to activate the sample and record the changes in glowing curves at a temperature of 700–7500 K. Mineral thermoluminescence can form various glow curves of crystals under different conditions, such as temperature changes, because impurity ions or other crystal defects present in minerals supply luminescence centers and trapping levels. Observing these curve changes also can help infer geological correlation and age determination.

Chemical
Calcite, like most carbonates, dissolves in acids by the following reaction
 * CaCO3 + 2 H+ -> Ca(2+) + H2O + CO2

The carbon dioxide released by this reaction produces a characteristic effervescence when a calcite sample is treated with an acid.

Due to its acidity, carbon dioxide has a slight solubilizing effect on calcite. The overall reaction is
 * CaCO3(s) + H2O + CO2(aq) -> Ca(2+)(aq) + 2HCO3-(aq)

If the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide drops, the reaction reverses to precipitate calcite. As a result, calcite can be either dissolved by groundwater or precipitated by groundwater, depending on such factors as the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. When conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement rock grains together and can fill fractures. When conditions are right for dissolution, the removal of calcite can dramatically increase the porosity and permeability of the rock, and if it continues for a long period of time, may result in the formation of caves. Continued dissolution of calcium carbonate-rich formations can lead to the expansion and eventual collapse of cave systems, resulting in various forms of karst topography.

Calcite exhibits an unusual characteristic called retrograde solubility: it is less soluble in water as the temperature increases. Calcite is also more soluble at higher pressures.

Pure calcite has the composition CaCO3. However, the calcite in limestone often contains a few percent of magnesium. Calcite in limestone is divided into low-magnesium and high-magnesium calcite, with the dividing line placed at a composition of 4% magnesium. High-magnesium calcite retains the calcite mineral structure, which is distinct from that of dolomite, MgCa(CO3)2. Calcite can also contain small quantities of iron and manganese. Manganese may be responsible for the fluorescence of impure calcite, as may traces of organic compounds.

Distribution
Calcite is found all over the world, and its leading global distribution is as follows:

United States
Calcite is found in many different areas in the United States. One of the best examples is the Calcite Quarry in Michigan. The Calcite Quarry is the largest carbonate mine in the world and has been in use for more than 85 years. Large quantities of calcite can be mined from these sizeable open pit mines.

Canada
Calcite can also be found throughout Canada, such as in Thorold Quarry and Madawaska Mine, Ontario, Canada.

Mexico
Abundant calcite is mined in the Santa Eulalia mining district, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Iceland
Large quantities of calcite in Iceland are concentrated in the Helgustadir mine. The mine was once the primary mining location of "Iceland spar." However, it currently serves as a nature reserve, and calcite mining will not be allowed.

England
Calcite is found in parts of England, such as Alston Moor, Egremont, and Frizington, Cumbria.

Germany
St. Andreasberg, Harz Mountains, and Freiberg, Saxony can find calcite.

Use and applications
Ancient Egyptians carved many items out of calcite, relating it to their goddess Bast, whose name contributed to the term alabaster because of the close association. Many other cultures have used the material for similar carved objects and applications.

A transparent variety of calcite known as Iceland spar may have been used by Vikings for navigating on cloudy days. A very pure crystal of calcite can split a beam of sunlight into dual images, as the polarized light deviates slightly from the main beam. By observing the sky through the crystal and then rotating it so that the two images are of equal brightness, the rings of polarized light that surround the sun can be seen even under overcast skies. Identifying the sun's location would give seafarers a reference point for navigating on their lengthy sea voyages.

In World War II, high-grade optical calcite was used for gun sights, specifically in bomb sights and anti-aircraft weaponry. It was used as a polarizer (in Nicol prisms) before the invention of Polaroid plates and still finds use in optical instruments. Also, experiments have been conducted to use calcite for a cloak of invisibility.

Microbiologically precipitated calcite has a wide range of applications, such as soil remediation, soil stabilization and concrete repair. It also can be used for tailings management and is designed to promote sustainable development in the mining industry.

Calcite can help synthesize precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) (mainly used in the paper industry) and increase carbonation. Furthermore, due to its particular crystal habit, such as rhombohedron, hexagonal prism, etc., it promotes the production of PCC with specific shapes and particle sizes.

Calcite, obtained from an 80 kg sample of Carrara marble, is used as the IAEA-603 isotopic standard in mass spectrometry for the calibration of δ18O and δ13C.

Calcite can be formed naturally or synthesized. However, artificial calcite is the preferred material to be used as a scaffold in bone tissue engineering due to its controllable and repeatable properties.

Calcite can be used to alleviate water pollution caused by the excessive growth of cyanobacteria. Lakes and rivers can lead to cyanobacteria blooms due to eutrophication, which pollutes water resources. Phosphorus (P) is the leading cause of excessive growth of cyanobacteria. As an active capping material, calcite can help reduce P release from sediments into the water, thus inhibiting cyanobacteria overgrowth.

Natural occurrence
Calcite is a common constituent of sedimentary rocks, limestone in particular, much of which is formed from the shells of dead marine organisms. Approximately 10% of sedimentary rock is limestone. It is the primary mineral in metamorphic marble. It also occurs in deposits from hot springs as a vein mineral; in caverns as stalactites and stalagmites; and in volcanic or mantle-derived rocks such as carbonatites, kimberlites, or rarely in peridotites.

Calcite is often the primary constituent of the shells of marine organisms, such as plankton (such as coccoliths and planktic foraminifera), the hard parts of red algae, some sponges, brachiopods, echinoderms, some serpulids, most bryozoa, and parts of the shells of some bivalves (such as oysters and rudists). Calcite is found in spectacular form in the Snowy River Cave of New Mexico as mentioned above, where microorganisms are credited with natural formations. Trilobites, which became extinct a quarter billion years ago, had unique compound eyes that used clear calcite crystals to form the lenses. It also forms a substantial part of birds' eggshells, and the δ$\overline{1}$C of the diet is reflected in the δ$\{2 1 1\}$C of the calcite of the shell.

The largest documented single crystal of calcite originated from Iceland, measured 7 × and 6 × and weighed about 250 tons. Classic samples have been produced at Madawaska Mine, near Bancroft, Ontario.

Bedding parallel veins of fibrous calcite, often referred to in quarrying parlance as beef, occur in dark organic rich mudstones and shales, these veins are formed by increasing fluid pressure during diagenesis.

Formation processes
Calcite formation can proceed by several pathways, from the classical terrace ledge kink model to the crystallization of poorly ordered precursor phases like amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) via an Ostwald ripening process, or via the agglomeration of nanocrystals.

The crystallization of ACC can occur in two stages. First, the ACC nanoparticles rapidly dehydrate and crystallize to form individual particles of vaterite. Second, the vaterite transforms to calcite via a dissolution and reprecipitation mechanism, with the reaction rate controlled by the surface area of a calcite crystal. The second stage of the reaction is approximately 10 times slower.

However, crystallization of calcite has been observed to be dependent on the starting pH and concentration of magnesium in solution. A neutral starting pH during mixing promotes the direct transformation of ACC into calcite without a vaterite intermediate. But when ACC forms in a solution with a basic initial pH, the transformation to calcite occurs via metastable vaterite, following the pathway outlined above. Magnesium has a noteworthy effect on both the stability of ACC and its transformation to crystalline CaCO3, resulting in the formation of calcite directly from ACC, as this ion destabilizes the structure of vaterite.

Epitaxial overgrowths of calcite precipitated on weathered cleavage surfaces have morphologies that vary with the type of weathering the substrate experienced: growth on physically weathered surfaces has a shingled morphology due to Volmer-Weber growth, growth on chemically weathered surfaces has characteristics of Stranski-Krastanov growth, and growth on pristine cleavage surfaces has characteristics of Frank - van der Merwe growth. These differences are apparently due to the influence of surface roughness on layer coalescence dynamics.

Calcite may form in the subsurface in response to microorganism activity, such as sulfate-dependent anaerobic oxidation of methane, where methane is oxidized and sulfate is reduced, leading to precipitation of calcite and pyrite from the produced bicarbonate and sulfide. These processes can be traced by the specific carbon isotope composition of the calcites, which are extremely depleted in the 13C isotope, by as much as −125 per mil PDB (δ13C).

In Earth history
Calcite seas existed in Earth's history when the primary inorganic precipitate of calcium carbonate in marine waters was low-magnesium calcite (lmc), as opposed to the aragonite and high-magnesium calcite (hmc) precipitated today. Calcite seas alternated with aragonite seas over the Phanerozoic, being most prominent in the Ordovician and Jurassic periods. Lineages evolved to use whichever morph of calcium carbonate was favourable in the ocean at the time they became mineralised, and retained this mineralogy for the remainder of their evolutionary history. Petrographic evidence for these calcite sea conditions consists of calcitic ooids, lmc cements, hardgrounds, and rapid early seafloor aragonite dissolution. The evolution of marine organisms with calcium carbonate shells may have been affected by the calcite and aragonite sea cycle.

Calcite is one of the minerals that has been shown to catalyze an important biological reaction, the formose reaction, and may have had a role in the origin of life. Interaction of its chiral surfaces (see Form) with aspartic acid molecules results in a slight bias in chirality; this is one possible mechanism for the origin of homochirality in living cells.

Climate change

Climate change is exacerbating ocean acidification, which may lead to lower natural calcite production. The oceans absorb large amounts of CO2 from fossil fuels emission into the air. The total amount of artificial CO2 absorbed by the oceans is calculated to be 118 ± 19 Gt C. If a large amount of CO2 dissolves in the sea, it will cause the acidity of the seawater to increase, thereby affecting the pH value of the ocean. Calcifying organisms in the sea, such as molluscs foraminifera, crustaceans, echinoderms and corals, are susceptible to pH changes. Meanwhile, these calcifying organisms are also an essential source of calcite. As ocean acidification causes pH to drop, carbonate ion concentrations will decline, potentially reducing natural calcite production.

title: Calcite


text:
Ars Magica

Ars Magica is a role-playing game set in 'Mythic Europe' – a historically grounded version of Europe and the Levant around AD 1200, with the added conceit that conceptions of the world prevalent in folklore and institutions of the High Middle Ages are factual reality (a situation known informally as the "medieval paradigm"). The players' involvement revolves around an organization of magi and their allies and foes both mundane and supernatural. The game was originally developed by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen, with its first edition published in 1987.

The current edition (the game's fifth) was written by David Chart, and published in 2004 by Atlas Games, who continue to develop new material for it.

Ars Magica was one of the first examples of a troupe system. Early editions recommended that the players collaborate to create the campaign world and story with:
 * Each player having an opportunity to be Story Guide. (e.g. alternating by play session, 'chapter' of a story, or at the whim of the troupe)
 * Each player having more than one character; when the primary character lacks opportunity or reason to participate in a session (typically due to laboratory or library activity), a secondary character is played.

The Story Guide scheme has been de-emphasised in recent editions; in Fifth Edition it is relegated to an optional play style described at the back of the book. Alternatively a troupe may select one player as the primary story guide responsible for the overall plot, and one or more secondary story guides who run peripheral sessions and/or stories.

To enhance the 'authenticity' of the historical setting, the game uses medieval Latin for a number of key terms, particularly in the game's most prominent feature, a system of Hermetic Magic.

History
The first two editions were published by Lion Rampant Games, with several modules published by Atlas Games. In 1991, Lion Rampant merged with White Wolf Magazine to form White Wolf Game Studio. White Wolf published several adventure modules for the game before adding its Third Edition rulebook, co-authored by Rein•Hagen with Ken Cliffe. This revision greatly expanded the settings and peripheral rules while leaving the core system intact. White Wolf then released at least a dozen supplements for Third Edition, including the addition of Divine and Infernal mechanics, rules for shamanic magic, beginning the Tribunal series and completing the 'Four Seasons' tetralogy of stories begun by Lion Rampant.

In 1994, publishing rights for the game were sold to Wizards of the Coast, who brought in Jonathan Tweet and started development on a fourth edition. The company published one supplement for the upcoming edition while republishing two supplements for the older edition. Development fell behind schedule, and on December 5, 1995, Wizards of the Coast announced they would leave the tabletop role-playing business altogether, although this turned out to be a temporary departure. The next year the rights were sold to Atlas Games, who published the 4th edition developed by Tweet and Jeff Tidball. The core book was nominated for the Origins Award in 1996 for Best Roleplaying Game. Continuing to develop the line, Tidwell added several new stories, continued to expand peripheral material and released an extensive line of Tribunal books.

Atlas then assigned David Chart as line developer and released a 5th edition in 2004. This release made extensive changes to the system, especially the mechanics for combat, experience, and character creation. Many players felt that the alterations to the combat system were long overdue, especially the rules for armour, which in previous editions made wearers much more likely to die in combat. This edition won the Origins Award for Best Role Playing Game of 2004.

Since 2014, the 4th Edition has been distributed for free at Warehouse 23 fronted by Steve Jackson Games.

Many characteristics of the Storyteller system developed by White Wolf can be traced to Ars Magica and the fact that the Storyteller system was developed by one of Ars Magica ' s co-authors; White Wolf's Mage: The Ascension was envisioned as "Ars Magica in the Modern World", and many of the changes in the 3rd edition of ArM were to make the game-worlds more compatible.

On the 12th January 2024, Atlas Games announced that a new product in the line, Ars Magica 5th Edition Definitive, was in production and would be crowdfunded later in the year.

Setting
The setting, Mythic Europe, is primarily based on Europe of the 12th and 13th centuries; the geography is the same, and the mundane (non-magical) politics are practically identical. However, in Ars Magica the "Medieval paradigm" – the way the world was described or understood in that time period – is the literal truth. In this setting, Faeries actually do steal lost children, Demons cause disease and crop failure, Angels help the righteous, and dragons and other Magical creatures are real (though perhaps forgotten or hidden). In 3rd edition, to tie the game into the World of Darkness line, this was reality because of the beliefs; other editions distance themselves from this interpretation, simply taking place in a world where those beliefs happen to be true.

Player characters typically alternate between the role of a magus (plural magi; female maga/magae), and a companion (Consors). Companions are select skilled non-magi who help wizards conduct their affairs (as magi tend to be distanced from "mundanes" due to the effects of their magical "Gift"). Additionally, there are a number of Grogs (usually skilled peasants, often bodyguards or watchmen) who can be controlled by any player. (As of the Third Edition, Grogs are also a viable player 'class'; the Fifth Edition has added an entire supplement dedicated to 'fleshing out' Grogs.) The wizards generally gather in specialized strongholds called covenants, which are often built in places of power. A covenant is typically a 'home base' where the magi are in charge (though they may travel Mythic Europe for reasons of politics, resources, study or even leisure). Some consider the covenant to be the central character of the game, and the official rules encourage troupes to develop the covenant along those lines.

The Order of Hermes
Standard player-character magi belong to the Order of Hermes, a society of magically "Gifted" humans which was inspired in 767 A.D. by the witch Trianoma and magus Bonisagus after the latter developed a breakthrough in communicating and manipulating magic (termed 'Hermetic Magic' for its roots in both the Greek deity Hermes, upon which the ancient Roman Cult of Mercury was based, and the works of the legendary figure Hermes Trismegistus). While magicians at this time were scattered, rarely social and highly distrustful of each other as a rule, two factors strongly favored mutual co-operation. One was Trianoma's political vision of an organization that would unite the Gifted for their mutual benefit. The other was Bonisagus' second breakthrough, the Parma Magica (loosely translated as "magic shield"): a highly efficient and easily taught personal ritual which could allow these disparate individuals and traditions to meet on common ground with some assurance of safety. Over subsequent centuries, with very few exceptions, magi who quit or refuse to join the Order have been hunted down and destroyed, giving the Order a definite monopoly over magical resources within its 'jurisdiction'.

While each of the Order's twelve Houses maintains a distinct baseline or tradition in pursuing and transmitting knowledge and power, the Order is also divided into Tribunals, each defined by a geographic region of Mythic Europe. Each Tribunal holds a gathering of its magi once every seven years; attendance is not mandatory, though it is essential for certain procedures (e.g. those who have completed their apprenticeships are formally presented for official membership; the Quæsitores judge the types of disputes deemed beyond simple inter- or intra-covenant resolution). Once every 33 years, each Tribunal sends a representative to the Grand Tribunal at the site of the Order's founding in the Black Forest.

The Tribunals loosely correspond to groupings or portions of modern-day nations; each has a distinct cultural and historical flavor which is expanded in the Tribunals of Hermes series. For example, the Roman Tribunal is a densely populated area with a shortage of magical resources, offering highly politicized plot-lines (both within and without the Order itself); Novgorod features vast areas of harsh wilderness, where pagan tribal warfare and magical beasts are significantly more common than elsewhere.

 * Greater Alps – including Switzerland with the Alpine regions of Austria and northern Italy.
 * Iberian – the precursors to Spain and Portugal; note the Reconquista as current political climate
 * Normandy – Northern France and what will soon be known as the Low Countries
 * Provençal – Southern France
 * Roman – Italy
 * Theban – Greece, Bulgaria and Western Asia Minor
 * Transylvanian – what will become the Balkans
 * Rhine – centered on the Rhine River, core of the Holy Roman Empire
 * Novgorod – the broader cultural region known as Rus', including Poland
 * Stonehenge – England and Wales
 * Loch Leglean – Scotland
 * Hibernian – Ireland
 * Levantine – lands of the Eastern Mediterranean known as the Levant

As with any system of borders not contingent on clear demarcation such as a river or wall, the territory of each Tribunal is rarely defined with precision; this is partially illustrated (via the Fifth Edition Covenants book) with the 'Tribunal Border' characteristic, which situates a covenant in a location that could place it in more than one Tribunal (depending on political favors, conflicts over resources, and so on). Such ambiguity can exist even with "clear" borders such as rivers or mountain ranges, since incorporating supernatural aid or power into the structure (and perhaps the constituency or lifestyle of its inhabitants) can allow them to thrive even in the middle of either such feature.

Realms of Power
The overarching premise of the Ars Magica setting is that the "mundane" world of ordinary, physical existence is a place where four great supernatural forces have varying degrees of influence and presence.

 * The Divine realm: This is the supreme, holy force of Creation – God as represented by the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions, and his agents in the world. Divine influence diminishes anything not attuned to it (i.e. anything of a Faerie, Infernal or Magical nature) and is categorically opposed to all things Infernal.  One of the Order's struggles is in reconciling their avoidance of mundane politics with the inexorable spread of the Dominion (Divine influence permeating the land as more land is settled by Christian and Muslim nations and more centers of Divine worship are constructed).
 * The Infernal realm: Satan and his demonic forces. In the medieval context, this includes everything from Satan himself to illnesses and bad smells.  Demons are compelled to corrupt, destroy, and tempt all mortals to sin; while the Order of Hermes refuses to explicitly name the Infernal as their enemies (which it is assumed would draw too much attention and wrath to the Order), they have been forbidden from entering into agreements with Hell's minions ever since a corruption scandal nearly ruined House Tytalus in the 11th century.  As the evil/negative counterpart to the Divine, Infernal power also weakens the effects of any Realm not attuned to Hell or other forsaken spaces.  Infernally tainted forms of magic do exist, usually of great deceptive or destructive power, or acquired too easily for understanding, especially in order to tempt magi.  Anyone in the Order found guilty of diabolism is expelled and hunted down.
 * The Faerie realm: Creatures of traditional fairy tales. These creatures are often capricious, sometimes malicious, but invariably addicted to (even dependent upon for their very existence) human attention, emotion and creative expression.  Despite such considerations, Study of the Faerie realm can be rewarding to some.  Magi are allowed to associate with the Fae (in fact, one House of the Order has become increasingly dominated by its members' pursuit of 'Faerie Magic') as long as they do not incur their wrath and thereby endanger their fellows.
 * The realm of Magic: A mysterious arcane force, to which all magi (among other rare entities) are inherently attuned. This is the power almost exclusively used to cast spells and enchant objects.  Magic and Faerie have some positive resonance with each other, reflected in either aura's benefit to the other realm's powers, and in that remote or lost pagan traditions can have connections with either (in some cases, Faerie entities seem to have 'replaced' Magical ones when the devotees of the latter either lost their way or became extinct).

Additionally, a "Realm of Reason" appeared in the Third Edition. This was associated with skepticism and empirical observation, and its "rational aura" challenged most supernatural effects. Many fans of the game consider this to be paradoxical and inconsistent, since applying reason and rationality to the world of Ars Magica should really lead to the conclusion that magic does exist and fairies are real, etc., and yet the "True Reason" promoted by this fifth realm posited the contrary, and thus resembled a delusional (yet effective) state of mind rather than a rational one. The realm of Reason had additional counter-intuitive effects – for example, imposing penalties on wizard's magic use when in prominent mundane libraries, despite the predominant portrayal of Hermetic Magic as a scholarly pursuit.

Reason proved an unwelcome addition to the game; neither Fourth nor Fifth Edition have included this 'Realm', and all references to it have been stricken from the canonical setting.

Die-rolling conventions
There are eight Characteristics: Intelligence, Perception, Strength, Stamina, Presence, Communication, Dexterity and Quickness. Each one is generally rated from −5 to +5 for humans and a Characteristic of 0 is considered 'average'. To perform a typical action, one of the Characteristics is added to a relevant Ability, and a d10 is rolled. The total of Characteristic + Ability + die roll is compared to a target difficulty or Ease Factor; the action succeeds if the rolled total is greater than or equal to the target number.

If the action is routine or trivial and nothing in particular is at stake, the roll is read as 1–10 and simply added to the total (this is called a "Simple roll"). If there is an opportunity for exceptional success or failure, the die is read as 0–9 and is called a "Stress" roll. For Stress rolls, results of "1" and "0" have special significance. A '1' is rerolled and the result doubled (consecutive "1"s redouble the eventual "non-1", with consecutive '1's each redoubling the result again). A roll of '0' is also re-rolled (more than once in cases of especially hazardous activity) as a Botch roll. If any botch die also comes up '0', the action has been botched: failed in some disastrous way. Otherwise, the roll merely equals zero, and the character is assumed to have been unsuccessful at whatever they were trying to accomplish.

Magic system
The centerpiece of Ars Magica is the system of Hermetic Magic devised by Bonisagus. It consists of 15 Arts, divided into 5 Techniques and 10 Forms. This is sometimes called a "Verb/Noun" system: the Technique is the verb (what effect the magic has), and the Form is the noun (the entity, object or substance that is affected or brought forth). These 'verb-noun' combinations can be used to cast both Formulaic spells (which are recorded in texts, are learned through study and mastered through experience, and have known, fixed effects) and Spontaneous spells (which a caster improvises with no prior knowledge other than the Arts themselves, giving the potential results greater flexibility but lower potency). Every apprentice (with a few Ex Miscellanea exceptions) is "opened" in all 15 Arts before fully joining the Order; each Art begins with a Score of 0 and a mage may usually only increase one of them during a season (see below).

Each Technique is named by a first-person singular present tense indicative Latin verb:
 * Creo ("I create") brings objects and substances into existence from nothing, or makes an already-existing target a "more perfect" version of itself (e.g. healing magic, as healed bodies are nearer perfection than wounded bodies).
 * Intellego ("I perceive") detects or reveals, enhances a target's natural senses or conveys supernatural ones.
 * Muto ("I transform") alters the nature of a being, object or substance, adding unnatural traits and/or removing natural ones.
 * Perdo ("I destroy") decays, disintegrates or otherwise diminishes the target, making something a worse example of its kind (i.e. the opposite of Creo).
 * Rego ("I control") involves manipulation of the target in any way that does not alter its nature, e.g. direct a target's movement, put a creature to sleep, or force a tree to bear fruit out of season. This is the main Technique used in spells of protection or 'warding'.

Each Form is named by a singular accusative Latin noun:
 * Animal affects "all natural living things that are not plants or humans, doing to animals what Mentem and Corpus spells do to people" as well as "things made with animal products" such as leather, wool, cheese, silk, etc. Since bacteria were unknown in medieval times, illness (e.g.) was considered either a form of possession or an imbalance of 'bodily humors'; thus, magic dealing with disease is relegated variously to Creo, Mentem and/or Vim effects.
 * Auram affects lightning, wind and gaseous substances; other weather effects typically require an Aquam requisite (see below).
 * Aquam is used for any liquid, with the exception of blood (which requires Animal or Corpus magic to affect); non-liquid forms of water will involve requisites (see below).
 * Corpus (the incorrect declension Corporem was used in older editions) applies to the human body, making it crucial to longevity formulas.
 * Herbam primarily involves plants, but applies equally to any organic matter, living or dead, that is not of animal origin.
 * Ignem involves light and heat, and is heavily represented in the fire spells of House Flambeau.
 * Imaginem (previously Imagonem) deals with images, sounds, and other sensory stimuli (thus is involved in most illusionary effects).
 * Mentem deals with emotions, memories, thoughts and spirits.
 * Terram involves earth and minerals: mere soil is the simplest target, while stone, metal and gems require progressively greater investment of spell levels to achieve the same effect.
 * Vim ("power") involves magic itself, as well as demons (the overlap is not widely understood, but the fact that there is one is a significant obstacle to the Order's 'public relations', particularly concerning the Church).

A mage's skill when casting a spell is the sum of their scores in the appropriate technique and form.

Some spells involve more than one Technique, and/or more than one Form at once; each Art used in addition to the basic pair is called a requisite. All relevant Art Scores are compared: the caster's lowest Technique and lowest Form are used, reflecting the limiting of the caster's magical knowledge.

Regardless of how high one's Art Scores may rise, there are outer boundaries to the application of Hermetic Magic (whether Formulaic, Spontaneous or even Ritual). Bonisagus's theory outlines a set of inherent Limits, similar in concept to the laws of physics; the two central, 'Greater' Limits are: There are also eleven 'Lesser Limits' (addressing more specific 'blind spots' such as aging, creation, time and the soul) which are generally thought either to derive from the two Greater Limits, or to be flaws in Hermetic Theory which may eventually be 'corrected'.
 * 1) Magic cannot influence a pure manifestation of the Divine; while earthly Relics (however sacred) and agents of the Divine (anything "separate from the mind of God") may be resistant to magic they are not immune, but it is impossible to (e.g.) interfere with a Miracle (which may be prayed for by an agent or supplicant, but is itself a direct intervention by Divine will).
 * 2) Magic cannot permanently change a target's Essential Nature (the implications of which vary depending on the target in question).

Additional statistics for every spell (which have been redefined in nearly every new edition of the game) are Target (what or whom the spell is directed at), Range (how far the Target may be from the caster), and Duration. For reasons of balance, some spells require the expenditure of "vis" – magical essence in physical form – which all magi and covenants tend to make a point of hoarding and/or trading. No Creo effect, for example, can be permanent unless vis is consumed during the casting. Some Formulaic Magic is so effective that it can only be achieved with vis and an elaborate, time-consuming ritual (hence, Ritual Spells). This automatically applies to any spell of a greater Level than 50, any spell with a Duration of 'Year', and any non-Imaginem spell with a range of 'Sight'.

Character development
All characters (magi, companions and grogs alike) improve their Abilities by applying experience which can be earned through Exposure, Practice, Training or Study. Magic, however, is stressed as a multifaceted discipline with a greater variety of avenues for improvement. Magi are expected to spend months at a time with books and/or laboratory equipment: inventing new spells (or learning or modifying existing ones), strengthening their Arts, enchanting items, and so forth. Ars Magica includes rules for magical research within the game's standard 'advancement' timescale of 3-month seasons.

These seasonal activities generally concern either study of a text or laboratory activity. Although participating in adventures, missions and other endeavors outside of seasonal activity gives characters Story Experience, the most substantial progress (and the raison d'etre of many in the Order) is nearly always from the seasonal activities of magi. Hence, time in an Ars Magica campaign may pass much faster than in other RPGs (if, for example, all player-characters are engaged in seasonal activity, standard "roleplaying sessions" are unnecessary for that period) but is also more 'accounted for' (since regular and exact periods of activity give highly defined benefits). To accommodate this, many magi prolong their lives with unique (to each individual) longevity formulas (generally called "longevity potions", though the form one takes is not always a potion); this only delays the aging process, however; beyond a certain point one's longevity formula will have no effect at all and must be reformulated (preferably with increased knowledge of the appropriate Arts and/or greater quantities of vis). The increased longevity has led to a prevalent attitude among members of the Order that Companions in general (and Grogs almost invariably) will come and go – perhaps killed in action, occasionally living long enough to retire – while the Magi carry on. Magi may concoct longevity formulas for non-magi, but this is a rare consideration, less effective than devising one's own personal formula, and is an expensive prospect in time and resources in any case.

Study is primarily achieved with texts, each designed to enhance an Ability, Art or specific Spell(s). A respectable covenant inevitably requires either a respectable library or sufficient commodities to exchange for the use of other libraries, since the dominant form of Hermetic Magic is a scholarly pursuit. Magi who are able to write useful books or teach well can use these as commodities, trading with other magi for books or training (though the Code of Hermes places limits on what its members may sell to 'mundanes').

Lab Projects concern projects to enhance one's repertoire of spells or magical artifacts. All projects have a level of effect to which the character compares their 'Lab Total': Intelligence + Magic Theory ability + sum of a Form and Technique + other bonuses (which may be from local Aura, quality and specialization of lab, assistants, special knowledge, sympathetic connections from items, and in some circumstances an additional Ability). Some merely require a Lab Total to match the Level of Effect; more extensive endeavors simply add up each Lab Total in 'points' until twice the Level of Effect are accumulated.

The following Lab Projects are the most commonly pursued:
 * Invent Spells. The magus invents a new magical effect from scratch.  A variation of a known spell is easier to invent than a completely original one.
 * Enchant Device. The magus may create a magical artifact which may hold a magical effect like those of Spells.  These can be used by even nonmagical individuals.  Usually they cost vis to make, but the Lab Total gets a bonus based on the sympathetic Shape & Material bonus of the material used; e.g. if one is enchanting a staff, the fact that it is a staff gives a bonus when the chosen effect is 'controlling things at a distance'.  They can be made as Charged Devices (which cost no vis but have a limited number of uses), Lesser Devices (which may only hold one effect, and must have a Level of Effect that the Lab Total can reach in a single season), or Invested Devices (which require additional preparation in advance and thus must be enchanted over several seasons, and may hold several effects based on size and material).
 * Enchant Talisman. A Talisman is a personalized form of Invested Device with many additional features.  Talismans have a much higher capacity for effects with which they may be enchanted, and are easier to enchant.  However, should a Talisman fall into the wrong hands, it leaves the magus very vulnerable.
 * Longevity Ritual. A Creo Corpus effect that prolongs the magus' life by granting a bonus for Aging Rolls, making it more likely to avoid the deterioration of age which typically begins after 35 years.  Thus may a magus live two centuries or longer, barring other mishaps.  Magi often pay specialists to devise this ritual for them, to get a better effect than they can personally achieve.
 * Bond with Familiar. The magus may form a powerful mystical connection with another creature.  Usually this will be an animal which is thematically attuned to the magus' personality and/or specialty: an Auram magus might bond with a bird, or a Herbam magus with a squirrel.  The Bonding process is long and hard, but may very well be worth the effort.  The animal learns to communicate with the owner, and while it does not become intelligent per se, it is almost always brighter than a normal animal of its type.  One major benefit of the bond is that the Familiar can be invested with many enchantments (with restrictions as to target and activation), but the primary, unique benefits are from the Bond Scores: the Gold Cord concerns magic, and helps the magus avoid magical botches; the Silver Cord concerns the mind, helps keep the magus focused and if strong enough may permit speech and telepathy between the two; and the Bronze Cord concerns the body, making the magus more enduring and tough.

Sourcebooks, first edition

 * Whimsy Cards (1987)
 * Covenants (1990)
 * The Order of Hermes (1990)
 * Saga Pack (1990)
 * Faeries (1991)

Adventures, first edition

 * The Broken Covenant of Calebais (1988)
 * The Stormrider (1989)
 * Tales of the Dark Ages (1990)
 * The Tempest (1990)

Supplements, second edition

 * Houses of Hermes (1994)

Reception
Stewart Wieck reviewed Ars Magica for White Wolf #11, rating it 10 out of 10 overall, and stated that "I really don't think I can praise "Ars Magica" highly enough. This is simply one of those games that you must get."

In the December 1988 edition of Dragon (Issue 140), Ken Rolston was effusive in his praise, calling Ars Magica "a distinctive, original, and intriguing treatment of magic for fantasy role-playing games... earnest, colorful, and meticulous in its development of a magic system with a plausible, coherent rationale. Its attempts to integrate this magic into a historical context are persuasive, and the game master notes and staging tips are wonderfully perceptive." Rolston concluded, "This is the most interesting and original fantasy role-playing system and setting I've seen in a long time."

Six months later, Rolston revisited Ars Magica for a more in-depth review in the July 1989 edition of Dragon. Rolston noted that "the quality of writing, editing, and presentation is first-class", and he admired the "storyguide" system of role-playing: "This emphasis on the dramatic and narrative elements of role-playing produces some distinctive and thought-provoking perspectives on commonly accepted conventions of role-playing gaming." Although Rolston gave good marks for the game mechanics, character creation system and combat rules, he was especially drawn to the magic, which he said "has elegant tone and atmosphere." He also liked the quasi-historical medieval setting. He concluded with strong recommendation: "The Ars Magica game features an original and exciting game system, a coherent and satisfying treatment of magic, a convenient and imaginative exploitation of a historical medieval setting, and an explicit and appealing presentation of a role-playing style that emphasizes the common development of the setting, narrative, and PC-group activity over the personal expression of the individual PC."

In the March 1989 edition of Games International (Issue #3), Paul Mason believed that this game "truly encourages joint creativity." He also admired the game mechanics based around single rolls of a ten-sided die, although he found the rules added some unnecessary complications. He suggested that "combat was the weakest part of the game", finding the game mechanics were too "war-gamey". But he called the magic system "the centrepiece of the game." He concluded by giving this game an above-average rating of 4 out of 5, saying, "If you're looking for a new game to take you away from mechanics and 20th century rationalizations, back into the lands of mystery and enchantment, then this is it."

In the October–November 1989 edition of Space Gamer (Vol. II, Issue 2), J.M. Caparula commented that "In the end, Ars Magica is a superb roleplaying game, one that furthers the gaming art in a positive direction."

In the February–March 1990 edition of Games International (Issue 13), Dave Morris applauded the change in the second edition from four types of dice rolls — something he had initially complained about in the first edition — to only two types of dice rolls. He also admired the re-organization of the magic system, and pointed out that rather than a sample scenario often found in other RPGs, Ars Magic offered a sample setting. Morris called this "a more productive inclusion in the main book than a scenario." He concluded by giving the second edition an excellent rating of 9 out of 10, saying, "it's worth buying for the ideas and the imaginative vision of its authors, even if you don't plan to play it."

In his 1990 book The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games, game critic Rick Swan liked the extensive magic system, but thought "The game's biggest flaw is its combat system, which is far too complicated for an RPG that downplays physical encounters." Swan concluded by giving the game a rating of 3.5 out of 4, saying, "Though the magic rules are fascinating, they're probably too sophisticated for newcomers. But for experienced players, Ars Magica is one terrific product; this is wizardly role-playing at its finest."

In a 1996 reader poll conducted by Arcane magazine to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time, Ars Magica was ranked 19th. Editor Paul Pettengale commented: "This is a fantasy game for the thinking player – although there's plenty of scope for action, too. A first success for Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen, who both went on to even bigger things, Ars Magica includes one of the most flexible, highly-regarded magic systems in the roleplaying hobby. The game, which places heavy emphasis on storytelling, is extremely popular with fans who have followed its troubled history through four different publishers. With Atlas just about to produce a new edition, those fans are currently feeling suitably optimistic."

Other reviews

 * White Wolf #19 (Feb./March, 1990)
 * White Wolf #39 (1994)
 * Valkyrie #15 (1997)
 * Pyramid #24 (March/April, 1997)
 * Arcane #15 (January 1997)
 * Backstab (Issue 2 – Mar/Apr 1997)
 * Dosdediez (Número 3 – Mar/Abr 1994)
 * Pyramid – Fifth Edition

Awards

 * Winner of the Gamer's Choice Award for best FRPG for 1987
 * Nominated for the 1988 ORIGINS Best Role-Playing Rules
 * Ars Magica 5th edition won the 2005 Gold Ennie Award for "Best Rules" and the Silver Ennie Award for "Best Production Values".

title: Ars Magica