TEXT: Sub Rosa 
  The Ars Magica Magazine 
  A Distant Lands Publication 
  www.subrosamagazine.org 
  Issue 14, February 2014 
  
  2 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Out Now and Coming Soon 
  Hooks 
  Authors: Christian Rosenkjaer Andersen, Jason Brennan, Richard Love, David Mac-
  Gregor, Xavier Requejo  
  Cover Artist: Christian St. Pierre  
  Stock Number: AG0307 | ISBN: 1-58978-143-0 | MSRP: $22.95 US  
  Format: 96 pages, softcover  
  Release Date: March 2014  
  Transforming Mythic Europe 
  Authors: Timothy Ferguson, Mark Lawford, Mark Shirley  
  Cover Artist: Christian St. Pierre  
  Stock Number: AG0306 | ISBN: 1-58978-141-4 | MSRP: $29.95 US  
  Format: 144 pages, hardcover  
  Release Date: December 2013 
  Tales of Power 
  Authors: Christian Rosenkjaer Andersen, Mark Faulkner, Timothy Ferguson, Lachie 
  Hayes, Mark Lawford, Matt Ryan  
  Cover Artist: Christian St. Pierre  
  Stock Number: AG0304 | ISBN: 1-58978-138-4 | MSRP: $27.95 US  
  Format: 144 pages, softcover  
  Release Date: May 2013  
  The Contested Isle: The Hibernian Tribunal  
  Authors: Mark Lawford, Christian Jensen Romer, Matt Ryan, Mark Shirley  
  Cover Artist: Christian St. Pierre  
  Stock Number: AG0305 | ISBN: 1-58978-139-2 | MSRP: $29.95 US  
  Format: 144 pages, hardcover  
  Release Date: September 2013 
  
  3 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Contributors 
  Publisher: Distant Lands Publishing 
  Contributors: David Agnew, Mark Baker, David Chart, 
  Jérôme Darmont, Mark Lawford, Ben McFarland, Mark 
  Shirley, and Gerald Wylie 
  Cover Art: Angela Taylor 
  Interior Artists: Angela Taylor, Jason Tseng,  
  Elizabeth Porter, Patrick Demo 
  Art Coordinator: Ben McFarland 
  Layout: Mark Lawford 
  Editors: Ben McFarland, Mark Lawford 
   
  Contact Sub Rosa 
  Email: subrosa@distantlandspublishing.com 
  Web: http://www.subrosamagazine.org 
  Twitter: @subrosamagazine 
  Snail Mail: 
  Sub Rosa Magazine C/O Mark Lawford 
  119 Royal Sussex Crescent 
  Eastbourne 
  BN20 8RJ 
  England 
   
  Legal Disclaimer 
  Sub Rosa is an independent publication not affiliated with 
  Atlas Games or White Wolf Gaming Studios. Distant Lands 
  Publishing is not affiliated with Atlas Games or White Wolf. 
  Ars Magica is © Trident Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games. Ars 
  Magica, Mythic Europe, Covenants and Charting new Realms 
  of the Imagination are trademarks of Trident Inc.  
  Order of Hermes, Tremere and Doissetep are trademarks of 
  White Wolf Gaming Studios. Ars Magica was created by 
  Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein•Hagen. 
   
  The intellectual content of Sub Rosa is © and held by the 
  authors. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any issue of Sub 
  Rosa for commercial use by any means without written 
  permission from the Publisher, except short excerpts for the 
  purpose of reviews, is expressly prohibited. 
   
  References to any Trademarks, Registered Trademarks or 
  Copyrights held by any company or individual in Sub Rosa is 
  for promotional and recreational use. Use of these terms should 
  not be construed a challenge to their ownership. 
  This Issue 
  Issue 14 
  February 2014 
  Contents 
  Under the Rose  ....................................................... Page 4 
  From the Line Editor ............................................ Page 5 
  By David Chart 
  The Path Less Travelled ...................................... Page 6 
  By Gerald Wylie 
  Verditius Longevity Devices ............................... Page 14 
  By Mark Lawford 
  Demography of the Order of Hermes ............... Page 24 
  By Mark Shirley 
  The Journal of Vulcan .......................................... Page 34 
  An Eternal Love ...................................................... Page 38 
  By Jérôme Darmont 
  Mythic Bloodlines .................................................. Page 52 
  By Ben McFarland 
  Three Good Men of Bréifne ................................ Page 56 
  By David Agnew 
  The First Lineage: The Inventors ..................... Page 66 
  By Mark Baker 
  Mappa Mundi ............................................................. Page 75 
  Contribute to Sub Rosa 
  Sub Rosa is made up of fan driven content. 
  Contributors receive a complementary copy of the issue 
  their work appears in. 
  To contribute articles or illustrations, visit the Sub 
  Rosa website (www.subrosamagazine.org) and follow the 
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  Thanks again to all who made this issue possible. 
  
  4 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Under the Rose 
  W 
  elcome 
  to 
  2014. 
  It 
  doesn’t seem that long 
  ago that we were looking back on 
  2012 but we’re already now 
  bidding farewell to 2013 and 
  looking ahead to a new year. 
  Last year was a great year for 
  supplements. First we had 
  Antagonists, then Tales of Power, 
  followed by The Contested Isle: The 
  Hibernian Tribunal, and  finally 
  Transforming Mythic Europe. Four 
  very different supplements 
  offering four very different 
  propositions. 
  Antagonists provided a number 
  of well-conceived and fully 
  detailed adversaries that you can 
  drop into your new and existing 
  sagas to provide instant story 
  content. 
  Again, Tales of Power presented 
  instant story opportunities 
  through a number of self-
  contained scenarios that explored 
  various corners of Mythic Europe 
  and the supernatural realms. 
  The Hibernian Tribunal book, 
  described by some as “Ars 
  Magica turned up to eleven” 
  gave a Fifth Edition twist to a 
  Tribunal that we know a lot of 
  Ars Magica fans have wanted to 
  see for a very long time. This one 
  gave those looking to start a new 
  saga a great starting point and the 
  Tribunal and its culture was built 
  from the ground up with conflict 
  and story in mind. This is not one 
  to be missed. 
  Finally, we had Transforming 
  Mythic Europe, just creeping in 
  before the end of the year. This is 
  one for any saga at any stage of 
  its life and it is a phenomenal 
  resource of new effects but more 
  importantly of grand ideas. Just 
  like the Hermetic Projects book of a 
  couple of years back, Transforming 
  looks at what magi could do if 
  they put their minds to it. While 
  Projects focused on the work of a 
  few or the individual, Transforming 
  looks at what the Order could 
  a c h i e v e ,  h o w  t h e y  c o u l d 
  transform the world in which 
  they live. 
  L o o k i n g  
  a t  
  t h e  
  b o o k 
  production itself, Cam Banks 
  seems to have made a very 
  positive impact by bringing new 
  artists on board. While we hope 
  that we haven’t seen the last of 
  Grey Thornberry’s work in the 
  Ars Magica line, Christian St. 
  Pierre has been a great find and it 
  has been a privilege to work on 
  s o m e  o f  t h e  b o o k s  h e ’ s 
  contributed to and to have seen 
  t h e  
  c o v e r  
  a r t  
  d e v e l o p 
  (christiannstpierre.com). And 
  Gabriel Verdon’s interior art 
  makes for a very bold injection of 
  quality (www.gabrielverdon.com). 
  Outside of the published line 
  we had a number of fan 
  enterprises. 
  CJ Romer started up the first 
  (as far as we know) podcast for 
  Ars 
  Magica in the Arcane 
  Connection series, and you can find 
  the complete series over at  
  arcaneconnection.podomatic.com. 
  Once again, we had very 
  successful Grand Tribunal events 
  in both the UK and the USA 
  attended by authors and players 
  alike. The UK event saw the usual 
  and very welcome Scandinavian 
  contingent trekking all the way 
  from Norway and Denmark to 
  their second home in the 
  increasingly charming Gas Green 
  church hall in Cheltenham. 
  Sub Rosa pushed the boat out 
  a little in 2013 and our monster 
  thirteenth issue took countless 
  views at the thirteenth House; 
  House Diedne. It was a project 
  long in the planning and we had 
  no fewer than seven published 
  line authors contributing content 
  directly concerning House 
  Diedne. It was certainly our 
  largest issue to date and we’re not 
  sure we’re fully recovered yet. 
  We also saw a great project 
  kick off over in the Atlas Forum. 
  Identifying a desire for a set of 
  vanilla covenants, the forum 
  regulars have started to build out 
  their own supplement (with some 
  impressive layout on display). If 
  you haven’t looked in on the 
  thread yet, you can find it here: 
  http://forum.atlas-games.com/
  viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21778. It’s 
  looking very good already and we 
  hope it continues. 
  So what about 2014? Well, we 
  know that the first book out this 
  year is Hooks, and it sounds great; 
  a book dedicated to leveraging 
  the story potential in other 
  published materials? A way to 
  make the books you’ve invested 
  in pay for themselves? Count me 
  in. 
  Other than that, who can say? 
  Will we get another Tribunal this 
  year? Will we see distant areas of 
  Mythic Europe and beyond 
  explored? We don’t know, but it 
  should be another great year for 
  Ars Magica. 
  
  5 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  From the Line Editor 
  T 
  he most recent book for 
  A r s  
  M a g i c a  
  w a s 
  Transforming 
  Mythic 
  Europe. 
  It 
  includes details on three ways in 
  which 
  magi 
  can 
  completely 
  change Mythic Europe, from the 
  simple (add a new island nation) 
  to the complex (start a magical 
  industrial revolution). This book 
  makes no changes to the official 
  background, 
  but 
  nevertheless 
  addresses 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  most 
  important problems in the game's 
  setting. 
  Fundamentally, Mythic Europe 
  makes no sense. Hermetic magi 
  have 
  enough 
  power 
  at 
  their 
  fingertips to do almost anything, 
  and so there is surely no way that 
  a recognisably medieval society 
  should have survived having the 
  Order of Hermes present for 
  almost 500 years. Why hasn't 
  everything changed? 
  Transforming 
  Mythic  
  Europe 
  recognises that creating a new 
  island is a project within the 
  reach of freshly-Gauntleted magi, 
  and 
  provides 
  support 
  if 
  a 
  troupe's players want to changed 
  everything. 
  In 
  other 
  words, 
  T r a n s f o r m i n g  
  M y t h i c  
  E u r o p e 
  explicitly recognises that magi 
  could change the world, and 
  provides help and support if you 
  want them to do it in your saga. 
  It provides the official answer to 
  the question "What stops magi 
  c h a n g i n g  
  e v e r y t h i n g ? "  
  T h e 
  answer is: nothing. They can if 
  they want to. Since the player 
  magi are the main characters in 
  your saga, however, they should 
  be the ones doing it, just as the 
  projects in Hermetic Projects were 
  designed on the assumption that 
  the player magi would undertake 
  them. 
  That raises the question of 
  why no magi changed Europe 
  before 1220. The real answer, of 
  course, is that a large part of the 
  point of Ars Magica is to enable 
  you 
  to 
  play 
  games 
  set 
  in 
  something that looks a lot like 
  medieval 
  Europe, 
  only 
  with 
  supernatural elements. However, 
  that is a meta-game answer, and 
  does not address the issue of why 
  it hasn't happened in the game 
  world. 
  Now 
  that 
  Transforming 
  Mythic Europe has been published, 
  we know that there is nothing 
  inherent to the setting preventing 
  it. So, why? 
  My answer is that, before 
  1220, no magi had done so. The 
  Order is small and thinly spread, 
  so a big change to society is 
  likely to require concerted effort 
  by several magi. Small things 
  could have changed history 
  through the butterfly effect, 
  b u t  
  i t  
  i s  
  p e r f e c t l y 
  legitimate to decide that 
  they didn't. A few magi 
  may 
  have 
  tried 
  to 
  make 
  big 
  changes, 
  but 
  for 
  whatever 
  r e a s o n ,  
  t h e y 
  f a i l e d .  
  M o s t 
  c o n c e n t r a t e d 
  o n  
  o t h e r 
  p r o j e c t s ,  
  s u c h  
  a s 
  Mystery Initiations, uncovering 
  Ancient Magic, or building the 
  ideal 
  covenant 
  library. 
  Most 
  people do not try to radically 
  change the world, and most who 
  do, fail. People with the power of 
  Hermetic magic are much more 
  likely to both try and succeed, 
  but it would still be a fairly small 
  minority. I doubt that even most 
  player magi will follow the paths 
  laid out in Transforming Mythic 
  Europe, after all. The Order is 
  small enough that we can say, 
  without 
  stretching 
  plausibility 
  too far, that no magi did enough 
  to change the world before 1220. 
  The 
  future, 
  however, 
  is 
  a 
  completely different issue. 
  By David Chart 
  
  6 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  W 
  riting 
  stories 
  for 
  roleplaying games is a 
  difficult thing. It doesn’t matter 
  whether your story is intended 
  for your regular troupe, a one-off 
  session, a convention setting, a 
  fanzine, or even for the published 
  line; it’s just plain difficult. There 
  are a lot of factors to juggle, from 
  setting, to plot, to background, to 
  enemies, and that’s before we 
  introduce the ultimate variables – 
  the players. 
  This issue, the Storyguide’s 
  Handbook looks at one particular 
  technique for planning your 
  stories that should help you to 
  provide your players with options 
  in even the most linear of plots. 
  Ease Factor 21 
  Why are RPG scenarios so 
  difficult? There are two principal 
  factors: 
  1) 
  The need to keep the 
  players engaged 
  2) 
  The unpredictability of the 
  players 
  Aside from the logic of the 
  story itself, the credibility of your 
  antagonists, judging the correct 
  level of threat, and injecting 
  sufficient peril, you need to cater 
  for and account for the players. 
  You may think you have a great 
  plot lined up, but how do you 
  really know that you have enough 
  content to keep the players 
  engaged until you play through it? 
  One of the great pitfalls is 
  misjudging the level of content 
  that you need to provide. It is 
  easy, as the one designing the 
  story, to get swept up in the 
  minutiae of the background, 
  expecting the players to naturally 
  want to discover all the detail you 
  have written down in your 
  gaming folder. It is equally easy 
  to over-write things. Remember, 
  action tends to stretch in play and 
  there is a danger of writing in a 
  run of necessary actions before 
  the players progress past the first 
  couple of scenes. 
  The Storyguide’s Handbook:  
  The Path Less Travelled 
  By Gerald Wylie 
  
  7 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Within those scenes, it is 
  important to provide actions 
  and/or opportunities for the 
  assembled players and their 
  characters. This is where knowing 
  your troupe and their characters 
  is important, but as you write up 
  your notes for what’s going to 
  happen over here in the ruined 
  priory or over there in the 
  flooded region, what are you 
  doing to make sure you are 
  providing points of interest for 
  each player? 
  For all your planning, it is 
  quite possible for the players to 
  decide upon what might seem to 
  you in the moment to be an 
  arbitrary course of action 
  unrelated to the set of notes you 
  have lovingly prepared. Seeing 
  those branch points, points in the 
  story where you haven’t given 
  sufficient guidance or too few 
  obvious options is not always 
  easy to see from a linear set of 
  notes. 
  What We Want 
  From Our Stories 
  Ars Magica, more than some 
  RPGs, inclines towards a 
  g e n e r a l l y  f r e e  a n d  o p e n 
  storytelling style. The broad 
  freedoms we enjoy with the 
  characters we play and the paths 
  they follow wants to influence the 
  way we design and run our 
  stories. Partly as a result of that 
  freedom, the characters each 
  player brings to the troupe are 
  often quite different, with 
  differing power levels, abilities, 
  and personal goals. Ars Magica 
  also has a very rich and complex 
  game world, which we’d all like to 
  explore and get the most from. 
  Finally, we also like to be 
  surprised; we like new things, so 
  anything we can do there helps to 
  enhance the game. 
  So, we want a story that is as 
  open-ended as possible with 
  regard to paths through it and 
  ways to resolve the central 
  challenges. We also want stories 
  that play to the strengths and 
  weaknesses of the characters we 
  bring, giving us moments to 
  heroically succeed or tragically 
  fail; either way, we want those 
  little spotlight moments. We want 
  our stories to reflect the game 
  world at least as far as our part of 
  that wider setting is concerned. 
  Finally, we want the next story to 
  differ from the last, to pose new 
  challenges and perhaps provide 
  different spotlights for different 
  characters. 
  That’s quite a lot to keep in 
  mind. 
  A Solution: Mind 
  Mapping 
  A mind-map is a diagram 
  consisting, typically, of words 
  representing ideas, people, places, 
  events, or other concepts joined 
  together by lines to form islands 
  of logically-related groups of 
  information. You typically start 
  with your central idea and put 
  that somewhere central on the 
  page. Then you start to add the 
  next set of subordinate or 
  secondary ideas and connect 
  them to your starting point. 
  These might represent aspects of 
  that central idea, or ways of using 
  that idea that you’re going to 
  explore. Then, for each of those 
  secondary ideas, add in a further 
  set of ideas, people, places, 
  events, etc. that you want to 
  explore or keep track of. You can 
  keep doing that at any point 
  within the diagram, exploring 
  specific islands and removing 
  others as you see fit. 
  As a technique, it is widely 
  us ed  across  bus in ess and 
  academia for its ability to 
  springboard ideas, allowing them 
  to be recorded and explored in a 
  very visual way. It’s hardly a new 
  concept in the storytelling or 
  RPG worlds either, but we’re 
  going to look specifically at how 
  we can use it to develop our 
  stories in an Ars Magica context. 
  At a high level, you start with 
  something you’re comfortable 
  with, perhaps the entry point to 
  your story, the main protagonist, 
  an event you want to happen, or a 
  goal you want your players to 
  reach. From there, you start 
  adding the story events and/or 
  locations that you want to include 
  or at least you anticipate your 
  players heading to. From there, 
  you can add further events and 
  locations, moving further away 
  from your starting point. 
  For each of those nodes, as 
  we’ll call them, you can add in 
  smaller offshoots that define 
  what you expect your players to 
  learn, find, or do at each point. 
  That’s all a little abstract, so 
  let’s look at a worked example; a 
  story outline built from scratch. 
  We’ll assume that you’re using 
  plain old paper and pencil, but 
  we’ll look at the options a little 
  later. 
  Start Point 
  Turn your paper so that it is 
  landscape and then draw in your 
  starting point somewhere in the 
  middle. Let’s assume that we have 
  a coastal covenant and we want 
  to tell the story of a flood. All we 
  do is start by writing down “The 
  Flood!” in the middle of the 
  paper. 
  We might come back to that a 
  little later, but for now that’s a 
  pretty stark statement of intent 
  and certainly enough to get us 
  going. 
   
   
  
  8 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Plot Points and 
  Locations 
  Once you know what your 
  start point is, start to add the 
  principal locations or events into 
  your diagram. However, just 
  looking at our paper, we don’t 
  even know what the cause is yet, 
  so let’s add a marker for that. 
  All we have in mind right now 
  is that we want a story of a flood. 
  We can either tell the story of 
  trying to prevent it or in dealing 
  with the aftermath, so let’s add 
  those options to the diagram. 
  We now have two solid paths 
  for the story to take. To be fair to 
  the covenant and the players, we 
  will probably favour the story of 
  how they prevented the flood and 
  saved the village… Save the 
  village! Actually, we should add 
  that as another node. So, we’ve 
  added a new path for Save the 
  Village, as the players may just 
  consider the flood unstoppable 
  and take the defensive route. 
  They might build a wall or 
  excavate a dyke to divert the 
  waters. We also need to know 
  how we’re going to prevent the 
  flood, so for that they will need 
  to know what caused it, so we’ll 
  develop that path with a suitable 
  node. 
  As storyguide, I don’t even 
  know the cause myself yet, so 
  let’s work that out. It could be 
  something gone awry with Seline, 
  the spirit of the moon, which is 
  causing a powerful tide. Sounds 
  interesting, but also hard to 
  interact with in any meaningful 
  way. So how about a war beneath 
  the waves? It’s an old idea, but 
  still an interesting one; we’ll pit 
  the faerie realm against the magic 
  realm. 
  Let’s take a look at where we 
  are. 
  We’ve coloured in the two 
  distinct paths that we’re planning 
  to develop and while we can see 
  that we still need to develop the 
  “dealing with the aftermath” side 
  it is also obvious that we haven’t 
  really added any detail to the 
  prevention side – we have a view 
  on what the players need to do, 
  but nothing specific as yet. 
  One other thing. We’re 
  probably done with that “What 
  Caused It?” bubble now; we’re 
  working on that elsewhere, so we 
  can scrub that. 
  Provide Player Options 
  By marking them on the story-
  map, you can see what you’re 
  asking the player characters to do 
  at each node and make sure that 
  you have included areas of 
  interest for each of your main 
  characters. For instance, if your 
  story is likely to include a magus 
  specialised in Vim, with an 
  interest in spirits, an enchanted 
  staff that lights up a room, and a 
  susceptibility to the Infernal, then 
  you have at least four things there 
  you might hang an event or 
  option on. 
  Developing that idea, if the 
  story takes you to the ruins of an 
  early church, you might make the 
  crypt particularly dark, calling for 
  the magus to light the room, or 
  you might provide a suggestion of 
  a regio to be discovered, or 
  stories of ghosts that haunt the 
  ruins. Another magus may be 
  
  9 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  fluent in multiple languages, have 
  spells to calm the enraged or 
  distraught, or have a fear of dogs. 
  You can build one or more of 
  those elements into the story 
  somewhere along the way. 
  Provide Clear Decision 
  Points 
  The players will decide how 
  they want to tackle each event 
  and option that you provide. You 
  can try to guide them, of course, 
  but rather than simply open the 
  door they might choose to blow a 
  hole in the wall. Ultimately, each 
  node in the diagram is a stepping 
  stone to the next part of the 
  story. Provide one or more 
  logical exit points onto one or 
  more story nodes. Your players 
  should not be left looking for the 
  next part of the story; they 
  should be able to see the options 
  you’ve laid out for them. 
  Accepting that it is difficult to 
  account for things you don’t 
  anticipate, the diagram should 
  help you to at least understand 
  where you want to send your 
  players and ensure that the routes 
  are open and easy to see. 
  In my experience, players tend 
  not to take the unexpected route 
  if you put a choice between two 
  or more clear options before 
  them. The difficult tangent is 
  only really drawn either when the 
  players are being expected to do 
  all the work or they don’t like the 
  single road opening out before 
  them. 
  If you do have a single road 
  that you want your players to 
  willingly go down then you’ll 
  need to provide an incentive. 
  Want the players to go back to 
  t h e v illa ge t h e y w er e at 
  previously? Then you might give 
  them something to chase back in 
  that direction, or find something 
  that they feel duty-bound to 
  r e t u r n ,  
  o r  
  r e c e i v e  
  n e w 
  information that casts their 
  previous interactions in a 
  different light. This kind of 
  incentive to move from one node 
  to another is a key part of this 
  process, and should be applied to 
  all exit points, but is made all the 
  more important when trying to 
  guide the players down a single 
  path. 
  Is this a Real Diagram 
  or Just in your Head? 
  You could keep this all in your 
  head if you have experience with 
  the memory palace technique, but 
  it is probably best to draw it out. 
  Firstly, it allows you to see the 
  shape of your story (more on that 
  later), but it also lets you see 
  what areas of the story are a little 
  thin, which areas need more 
  options for player agency or lack 
  points of interest. 
  It’s easier to see than just plain 
  text. A traditional write-up works 
  well to record lots of procedural 
  detail, such as background 
  information, character stats, or 
  more complex instructions that 
  you need to refer to during play, 
  but a diagram on a piece of paper 
  allows you to keep a very clear 
  track on where you are in the 
  story and where you’re going. 
  That’s harder to do with a few 
  pages of typed notes. 
  You can modify it on the fly. 
  Looking at our latest map, it 
  doesn’t make sense for the 
  “protect the covenant” and “save 
  the village” nodes to hang off the 
  “Discover the cause” branch, so 
  let’s move those out. They now 
  form perfectly valid responses to 
  the warning signs heralding the 
  flood. 
  But what if we are in play? 
  What if the players decide to do 
  something that you haven’t 
  accounted for? Perhaps they 
  decide that the threat is larger 
  than they can handle, perhaps 
  
  10 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  even to the wider Tribunal. As a 
  result, they go looking for a 
  specialist. As the process of mind
  - m a p p i n g  p r o m o t e s  r a p i d 
  plotting, you can simply draw a 
  new line from “The Flood” to a 
  new node called “Get Help”. You 
  can assume they go to a 
  “Covenant”, perhaps one they 
  already know, but you might 
  think that’s a little safe, so how 
  about redirecting them to a hedge 
  wizard, an “Elementalist”. The 
  Elementalist may feel unable to 
  h elp , p er h aps  he is  o ld , 
  imprisoned, a drunkard, or any 
  other challenge that the players 
  need to overcome in order to get 
  him on side. Of course, all that 
  can just come naturally; you don’t 
  need a diagram to do that, but by 
  writing it down there and then, 
  along with the connections, you 
  let the paper do the remembering. 
  Adding Detail 
  With the flow of the story 
  plotted out, you can go ahead and 
  write out any notes you need to 
  cover the specifics. For instance, 
  you might need some stats for the 
  faerie tritons or the magical 
  merfolk. You may be inclined to 
  write your own, or you could just 
  add a note to the sketch pointing 
  at the relevant pages in Realms of 
  Power: Faerie and Magic. 
  How detailed you go is down 
  to you. You might add Ease 
  Factors, combat stats, reminders 
  of appropriate spell guidelines, 
  
  11 
   
   
   
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  even Damage Levels of doors or 
  other obstacles that you might be 
  asking the players to get past. It 
  is quite possible to add all the 
  detail you need to run a story into 
  the one sketch; it’s your sketch 
  and you’re going to be using it, so 
  give yourself whatever you need. 
  If you are going to use the 
  sketch as your main source of 
  notes, you may consider defining 
  the more detailed encounters in 
  their own sketches. Once a sketch 
  becomes quite large, you’re 
  fighting against the confines of 
  space and/or usability and there’s 
  nothing wrong with flipping to 
  the appropriate sketch on 
  entering a new scene or branch of 
  the story. 
  Giving your Stories 
  Shape 
  Putting the diagram on paper 
  allows you to see the shape of 
  your story. By shape we mean how 
  the journey through the story is 
  made up by the points of interest 
  in your diagram. Shape is 
  important to visualise as it tells 
  you, as the storyguide, what 
  you’re in for. If you have a fairly 
  linear structure, with one node 
  leading to the next, then you 
  know you need to make those 
  transitions clear and obvious. If 
  on the other hand you have a 
  more distributed shape, then you 
  know you need to ensure you 
  have a good level of detail 
  planned across the various 
  options. 
  Linear 
  A linear story starts at one 
  point and travels through a set of 
  expected story nodes with few 
  opportunities to branch out. 
  There is nothing wrong with a 
  linear story; it’s all about how it 
  is executed. Challenges may be 
  posed in succession and the fun 
  of such stories is in trying to 
  overcome each challenge as it is 
  presented. Quite often in linear 
  stories, the aim is to make the 
  players work towards the ultimate 
  goal, to present them with a 
  series of tasks and have them 
  work through each task in order 
  to reach the next. 
  In planning events in a linear 
  story you should consider making 
  the route to the next stage fairly 
  obvious, even foreshadowing 
  later stages so that the players 
  understand where they are 
  supposed to go. Linear stories 
  tend to work best when each 
  node presents an interesting 
  challenge, different to those 
  already encountered. That’s 
  where all the preparation is in 
  stories with this structure. 
  Branching 
  A branching story is pretty 
  typical and we’ve all run and 
  played them. From a starting 
  point, the players are presented 
  with choices of what they might 
  do and where they might go. At 
  each node, the path splits into 
  one, two, or more new branches, 
  each of which provides an option 
  for progressing the story. For 
  instance, let’s say that the players 
  need to take 40 pounds of silver 
  to a magus in a distant covenant 
  in settlement of a debt and 
  prevent a Wizard War. 
  The king’s tax collectors have 
  just arrived at the nearby castle, 
  but then there are rumours that 
  the bishop’s palace is richly 
  adorned with gold, silver, and 
  gems bought from his own 
  scourging taxes. Or there was a 
  casting tablet for a ritual to create 
  enough silver to settle the debt, if 
  only the magi can find it. 
  From those quick ideas, it is 
  clear that there are three different 
  routes to take and once the 
  players start down one route they 
  are unlikely to backtrack. Bearing 
  that in mind, try not to create 
  dead-ends. If you do create a 
  dead-end, don’t make the journey 
  down that branch too long before 
  the players hit it. 
  A branching story can be quite 
  difficult to write effectively as 
  you have to anticipate the major 
  routes through the story that the 
  players might take, so provide 
  strong clues as to what the 
  options are. 
  Bubble 
  The bubble story is an 
  interesting and rewarding gaming 
  experience. Early on, you present 
  your players with a set of 
  objectives, a checklist of sorts, 
  each of which can be achieved in 
  any order without dependency on 
  the others. Each of these 
  objectives can have their own 
  structure, but they provide 
  discrete islands of incident. Let’s 
  use another example. The 
  covenant needs to cleanse the old 
  catacombs of an evil that has 
  been there for generations. They 
  need to find the divinely 
  enchanted knife, learn the secret 
  of the old ritual, identify the 
  living embodiment of the 
  pestilence from among the 
  catacomb rats, and clear out and 
  re-consecrate the ritual site. 
  Should be simple enough. 
  Each of those acts can be 
  pursued in any order. The players 
  may even decide to run them 
  concurrently if they are given to 
  splitting the party. Each of those 
  acts provides their own set of 
  challenges and possibly different 
  tonal elements. 
  In some respects, the bubble 
  approach is quite easy to write 
  for; you have a set of story 
  islands, each of which you defines 
  some particular challenges for, 
  and then you have a wrap up 
  where it all comes back together 
  
  12 
   
   
   
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  again. It is also quite suited to 
  one-off games as the structure 
  implies a defined set of paths to 
  follow and a defined end-point. 
  The challenge with these stories 
  is that there may be less agency 
  for antagonists and other NPCs; 
  the world tends to wait for the 
  players to complete their actions. 
  You can overcome this by having 
  actions in one area influence the 
  activities of those concerned with 
  another area. For instance, using 
  the example above, choosing to 
  learn the secrets of the old ritual 
  first might alert the spirits 
  inhabiting the old holy ritual site 
  and thereby increase their 
  preparedness. Alternatively, 
  g a i n i n g  t h e  k n i f e  b e f o r e 
  attempting to re-consecrate the 
  site might prove to be beneficial. 
  Railroading 
  Railroading is the removal or 
  limiting of player choice and that 
  is a danger no matter the shape of 
  the story you’re telling. 
  However, there is a difference 
  between presenting a linear story 
  and railroading. Parts of the 
  Calebais scenario are really quite 
  linear, but the players enjoy a 
  degree of agency in how they 
  confront the challenges placed in 
  their way. And that’s the key. You 
  can guide your players from place 
  to place as long as you don’t take 
  their options away. You might 
  guide them to a hall of nervous 
  and aggressive Hrools, but the 
  players should have the option as 
  to whether to attack outright or 
  try to gain their trust and benefit 
  from their knowledge of the old 
  fallen covenant. 
  Important Nodes 
  Once you start joining the 
  story nodes together, you’ll start 
  to see which nodes are most 
  important. You are almost certain 
  to have points in your story that 
  you expect the players to move 
  through regardless of decisions 
  made earlier in the story. Pay 
  attention to these nodes and 
  ensure that you plan enough 
  detail into those encounters. 
  Not All Roads Lead to 
  Rome 
  A word to the wise; it may 
  make structural and thematic 
  sense to start a story during the 
  j o u r n e y  t h r o u g h  F r a n c e , 
  expecting the players to play out 
  the natural conclusion on the way 
  back through after they have 
  gained world experience and had 
  time to take on board the events 
  of the first part, but you can be 
  almost guaranteed that the return 
  journey will actually occur by sea, 
  or through the Rhine, or a faerie 
  trod; anywhere except following 
  the reverse route back through 
  France. 
  Don’t expect the route 
  between nodes to be pre-
  determined unless you, as the 
  storyguide, take that element of 
  control away from the players and 
  cut from one place to another. 
  That is a fair approach to take; 
  treat the journey as a narrative 
  under the storyguide control. But 
  given that the players are within 
  their rights to assert their own 
  narrative, you are best-served by 
  ensuring that there is an incentive 
  of some kind to justify the route 
  you have chosen for the players 
  to follow. 
  Granularity 
  As we know, stories can play 
  out in a matter of hours, across 
  multiple sessions, across game 
  and real-world years, and even 
  entire sagas. So what is the 
  appropriate level of granularity 
  for this approach? There really is 
  no upper limit to how broad a 
  sweep you give your diagram, but 
  the chances are that you are going 
  to be best served by creating 
  different story maps for different 
  levels. For instance, if you start a 
  saga wanting to tell the story of 
  House Ex Miscellanea planning a 
  new Schism War, then you’re 
  going to need quite a high level 
  view on what major events you 
  foresee your troupe engaging in. 
  If you’re telling the story of the 
  rise and fall of a covenant from 
  foundation, through the seasons 
  to winter and its fall or rebirth, 
  then at the very least you will 
  want to map out the foundation 
  years, the passing seasons and the 
  events that describe them, and 
  the key challenges that decide 
  whether the covenant falls or 
  survives. 
  So you can create very high 
  level story maps with some very 
  high level branches in there (for 
  instance, does the covenant side 
  with Ex Miscellanea or House 
  Tremere?) and these provide the 
  points to aim at as you develop 
  your saga. 
  However, you can take a step 
  down from that to plan out 
  significant plots, perhaps plots 
  relating to individual magi, or the 
  development of the saga across 
  each season of its life. Doing this 
  at a magus level also has a very 
  distinct use; it keeps things 
  distinct. Assume you have four 
  player magi to deal with. You can 
  assume that at some point, each 
  magus is going to look for a 
  familiar. Even at the early stage 
  of the saga, you can put an event 
  on the story map for each magus 
  for that familiar. You might not 
  have a story in mind relating to 
  each or to any, but you have a 
  marker. As you learn more about 
  each magus, you can revisit that 
  story map and that familiar node 
  and keep making notes around it. 
  You can start to see the story 
  elements that you might include 
  for one magus and ensure that 
  
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  Sub Rosa 
  the familiar nodes for the other 
  three magi look different. 
  The lowest level you probably 
  need to go to is at the individual 
  story level, which is principally 
  what we’ve been looking at across 
  this article. 
  Playing for Time 
  How long should you spend 
  defining each scene or node in 
  the path? There’s no right answer 
  to that other than as long as you 
  need. The mind-map that you 
  create is unlikely to be the end of 
  the process as you will want to 
  source stats for adversaries, 
  design things such as books, vis 
  sources, supernatural effects, etc., 
  and provide guidance for yourself 
  for when your players make their 
  way through the paths that you’ve 
  defined. The intention is that the 
  mind-mapping up front should be 
  light and fluid; a good way to get 
  to the crux of the story you want 
  to tell and to make sure that 
  you’ve accommodated all the 
  elements you wanted to. 
  How long should each node or 
  branch in the mind-map take to 
  play through? Again, that all 
  depends. The branches in your 
  mind-map sketches are unlikely to 
  be correctly proportioned against 
  time, although they might well be 
  proportioned against importance. 
  One branch may play out over 
  seasons, while a longer and more 
  involved branch may play out 
  more quickly while involving 
  more incident. 
  Mind-Mapping 
  Tools 
  You could use paper and pens 
  to work out your structure but 
  there are a number of dedicated 
  software options beyond the 
  basics such as MS Word or other 
  word processor packages or even 
  MS Visio. Of course, many 
  applications are also available for 
  mobile platforms, such as IOS, 
  Android, and Windows 8 and we 
  recommend you to search 
  through the relevant app stores. 
  To get you started, we’re picking 
  out just three solid applications 
  below, but there is much more 
  information available at the Mind 
  M a p p i n g  
  S o f t w a r e  
  B l o g 
  (mindmappingsoftwareblog.com). 
  Scapple 
  S c a p p l e  
  ( a v a i l a b l e  
  a t 
  www.literatureandlatte.com/
  scapple.php) is a light-weight 
  mind-mapping application from 
  Literature and Latte, the same 
  company behind the well-received 
  Scrivener authoring tool. Scapple 
  is clean and simple and available 
  for both Windows and Mac. The 
  application doesn’t try to impose 
  any kind of structure or 
  hierarchy, which just allows you 
  to get on with the business of 
  mapping out your saga or 
  scenario. 
  Currently desktop-only, the 
  maps are exportable to PDF, 
  image, plain text, rich text, and a 
  couple of others. 
  Freemind 
  F r e e m i n d  ( a v a i l a b l e  a t 
  freemind.sourceforge.net) is a 
  free Java application, with 
  arguably more features than 
  Scapple at this stage. It does tend 
  to impose a little more structure 
  than Scapple, which increases the 
  learning curve slightly, but the 
  price can’t be beaten. 
  Mind Meister 
  For the online and mobile 
  amongst you, there is Mind 
  M e i s t e r  
  ( a v a i l a b l e  
  a t 
  www.mindmeister.com), a cloud-
  b a s e d  m i n d - m a p p i n g  w e b 
  application that is equally at 
  home on a desktop browser, on 
  an iPad, or an Android tablet (or 
  phone, come to that). 
  It is not a free service, 
  however, but it is well supported. 
  Ultimately though, the level of 
  visual polish achievable through 
  Mind Meister may be wasted on 
  plain old story plotting. 
  Giving it a Go 
  Mind-mapping your way 
  through a story design allows you 
  to quickly see your story’s shape 
  with greater clarity than pages of 
  text. It helps you to see which 
  areas need more detail and 
  because it is a freeform method, 
  you can add any detail you like to 
  the diagram, including ability 
  checks, ease factors, rewards, 
  page references, etc.; anything 
  you need to run that part of an 
  encounter you can conceivably 
  add. 
  The diagram makes a great 
  reference while actually running 
  the story as you can mark it up as 
  you go, keep track of where 
  things are, see what’s left, and 
  even change things on the fly 
  including adding or removing 
  content as the story dictates. 
  You can also use it to describe 
  the various levels of your saga. 
  You might define the large sweep 
  of where you want to take the 
  covenant, the Tribunal, the 
  Order, or even the cosmos in one 
  high-level diagram, and then use 
  others to map out the lives of 
  individual characters, and then to 
  i n d i v i d u a l  s c e n a r i o s  a n d 
  encounters themselves. 
  As a technique, give it a go for 
  your next scenario and see how it 
  works out for you. 
  
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  M 
  agi of House Verditius are 
  seasoned craftsmen with a 
  magical heritage steeped the 
  enchantment of powerful devices 
  often beyond the capability of their 
  colleagues in other Houses. Their 
  Minor Mysteries allow them to create 
  tools far superior to mundane 
  craftsmen, to enchant magical casting 
  tools that enhance their own magic, 
  and to bind the power of spirits and 
  beasts into magical devices. Their 
  deeper Mysteries cover malign 
  magics, the reforging of broken 
  devices, and the creation of 
  automatons; beings of matter and 
  magic that sit at the very edge of 
  sentience. They are not, however, 
  noted for any particular affinity with 
  magics designed to extend their 
  lifespans. The Verditius Mysteries 
  described below seek to redress this. 
  This article introduces two new 
  Verditius Mysteries designed to give a 
  particularly Verditius feel to the 
  commonly-known Hermetic process 
  of extending a character’s natural 
  lifespan. The intention is to make 
  these new Mysteries immediately 
  useful to characters who will not have 
  been designed in advance of these 
  rules seeing the light of day but for 
  whom they are thematically 
  appropriate. For this reason, there are 
  practitioners of the first of these new 
  Mysteries currently operating out of 
  the Roman covenant of Verdi on the 
  island of Sardinia. They can be 
  approached either for their services in 
  creating a longevity focus or to act as 
  mystagogues in initiating a magus into 
  this Mystery. 
  The other is perhaps more 
  difficult to find, but for reasons that 
  we’ll explore below, significant power 
  may be opened up relatively quickly 
  once the magus gains access to the 
  hidden knowledge. 
  Finally, we present some story 
  material to help players and 
  storyguides wanting to introduce 
  these new Mysteries to their sagas. 
  Verditius Longevity Devices 
  By Mark Lawford 
  
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  An Overview of 
  Longevity 
  The aging rules are detailed from 
  ArM5, page 168 onwards and 
  Longevity Rituals in the same book 
  from page 101 onwards. 
  In short, once a character reaches 
  35, they start making Aging Rolls 
  each winter. 
  AGING TOTAL: 
  Stress die (no botch) + age/10 
  (round up) 
  – Living Conditions modifier 
  – Longevity Ritual modifier 
  This roll is compared against the 
  table on ArM5, page 170. In essence, 
  a total of 3 or more results in the 
  character’s apparent age increasing by 
  one, while a roll of 10 or more results 
  in the rigors of aging applied to the 
  character’s characteristics as Aging 
  Points, which also build a 
  Decrepitude Score, just like 
  experience points towards an Ability. 
  Once a Decrepitude Score reaches 
  5, mortal death is not far off and 
  cannot be forestalled further by any 
  known means. 
  Hermetic Longevity Rituals act as 
  a negative modifier to the Aging Roll, 
  as per the formula above, serving to 
  reduce the possibility of looking and 
  feeling older. 
  There are two factors involved in 
  creating a Longevity Ritual: 
  1) 
  A Creo Corpus Lab Total, 
  providing a +1 bonus for each 
  five levels of the Total 
  2) 
  The expenditure of one pawn 
  of vis for each five years of the 
  character’s age 
  These are clearly limited by a 
  number of scores (Arts, aura, Magic 
  Theory, Stamina, help in the 
  laboratory, etc.) for the Lab Total and 
  the character’s Magic Theory Ability 
  score specifically for the second item. 
  We are told that there is a great 
  deal of flexibility in the form a 
  Longevity Ritual takes, from a 
  traditional potion to a brief rite, to a 
  device that might be carried. This 
  item or practice is termed a focus. 
  The Longevity Ritual remains 
  effective, providing its bonus to 
  Aging rolls, until the character 
  experiences a Crisis as described in 
  ArM5, page 168. At this point, it is no 
  longer effective and must be recreated 
  and the number of pawns of vis 
  expended increased in line with the 
  character’s new age. 
  Some Terminology 
  Throughout this article will use the 
  term longevity focus to mean any item, 
  rite, or practice that provides a 
  longevity bonus. Typically, this is the 
  longevity ritual itself, but in the case 
  of the Verditius practices described 
  below, this may be a little more 
  diverse. 
  The Mystery of the 
  Phylactery: 
  Enchanted Devices 
  as Longevity Rituals 
  The Minor Hermetic Virtue of the 
  Hermetic Phylactery is a mystery not 
  widely known in House Verditius, but 
  books that describe its use are 
  available and any with a House 
  Verditius Lore Score of 3 or more can 
  likely recall if not the details of the 
  phylactery then certainly where those 
  details were written down. 
  In short, a Verditius magus 
  initiated into this Mystery replaces the 
  standard rules for Longevity Rituals 
  with a single requirement: A device 
  may be created and opened for 
  enchantment as normal in a single 
  season, and the crafter’s Dexterity + 
  Craft Ability Score becomes the 
  bonus applied to the character’s 
  Aging Rolls in direct replacement for 
  the Longevity Ritual bonus. 
  Longevity Bonus: 
  Crafter’s Dexterity + Craft 
  Ability Score 
  As an additional option, you can 
  allow additional bonuses to this based 
  on the crafter’s workshop and any 
  assistants that they employ in crafting 
  the device. City & Guild, page 67 
  provides details on what other factors 
  you can consider including. 
  The device must be opened for 
  enchantment with at least one pawn 
  for every five years of the character’s 
  life, so a character who constructs a 
  Hermetic Phylactery at the age of 40, 
  must open the device for 
  enchantment with at least 8 pawns of 
  vis, while a magus of 150 years of age 
  must have a device opened with 30 
  pawns of vis. 
  Minimum Vis Capacity of the 
  Opened Device: 
  Character’s Age/5 
  All the usual rules apply for 
  opening the device for enchantment, 
  including the maximum number of 
  pawns that can be used in a given 
  season and its Magic Theory 
  limitation. The discount that Verditius 
  gain due to their score in the craft 
  Ability used to create the device is 
  Example: 
  After being initiated into the Mystery of 
  the Hermetic Phylactery on the island of 
  Sardinia, the magus Vico Murino sets about 
  creating a belt. While the belt has a leather 
  base, it is adorned with numerous silver 
  panels. This gives it a capacity of (base 6 x 2 
  size) 12 pawns of vis. He has a Dexterity of 
  +2 and Craft: Silversmith of 5, and so must 
  expend a minimum of 7 pawns of vis to open 
  the device for enchantment. At the end of the 
  season, he has a silver belt that has both a 
  capacity to receive 120 levels of enchantments 
  and provides him with a +7 Longevity 
  Ritual bonus. 
  In the next season, he enchants the belt 
  with an effect designed to allow him to fly; 
  ideal for reaching the top of the tower in 
  which his laboratory is housed. 
  
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  Sub Rosa 
  applied normally. In addition, if the 
  magus has been initiated into the 
  Mystery of the Elder Runes, as 
  described in Houses of Hermes: Mystery 
  Cults, they can take advantage of the 
  increased vis usage that Mystery 
  allows. 
  At the end of the season, the 
  device is a permanent Arcane 
  Connection to its intended recipient 
  and begins to operate as a Longevity 
  Ritual with a bonus equal to the 
  crafter’s Dexterity + Craft Ability 
  Score as described above. 
  While a phylactery is typically a 
  small wooden box containing 
  devotions scribed on parchment and 
  worn strapped to the arm, this 
  Hermetic Phylactery may be as small 
  or large as required, made of any 
  materials determined by its creator, 
  and of any shape. It may even be a 
  compound device consisting of 
  multiple individual parts designed to 
  increase its vis capacity or utility. 
  There is no requirement that the 
  device’s target remain in contact with 
  the device or even have any regular 
  contact with it. Once the initial 
  season is past, the device and its 
  recipient may remain at an arbitrary 
  distance with no detriment to its 
  Longevity bonus. 
  Enchanting the 
  Phylactery 
  As a device opened for 
  enchantment, the Phylactery may be 
  enchanted with any standard device 
  effect, including those dependent on 
  any Mysteries known to the 
  enchanter. Filling a device with 
  enchantments has no detrimental 
  effect on its use as a longevity focus. 
  A failure of the longevity focus 
  also has no harmful effects upon any 
  enchantments it carries. The only 
  exception is that any effects that rely 
  on the Arcane Connection to target 
  its recipient start to fail unless that 
  Arcane Connection is subsequently 
  fixed through spending a season and 
  pawn of vis as usual. 
  Limitations 
  The device acts as a constant 
  enchantment, in the same way that a 
  regular Longevity Ritual does. This 
  means that the recipient gains one 
  Warping Point each year that he gains 
  the benefit of such a device. 
  The opening for enchantment of 
  such a device causes the failure of any 
  pre-existing Longevity Ritual affecting 
  the target recipient – the two effects 
  cannot stack. 
  Any attempt to create a normal 
  Hermetic Longevity Ritual for the 
  recipient of one of these devices fails 
  all the while the recipient continues to 
  benefit from an Aging Bonus 
  bestowed by the device. 
  If the device is investigated in the 
  laboratory, an Intellego Vim Lab 
  Total equal to or greater than the 
  longevity bonus x 5 is needed to 
  determine that it currently provides or 
  has provided a longevity bonus. 
  A device that has already been 
  opened for enchantment cannot then 
  be made to provide a longevity 
  Story 
  Seed: 
  A 
  Political 
  Statement 
  A Verditius magus known to the 
  player Verditius enquires after books 
  or other materials as touch upon the 
  House Mystery of the Hermetic 
  Phylactery. The player Verditius finds 
  reference to it in some 
  correspondence but it says nothing 
  concerning the nature of the Mystery, 
  only that some believe it is being used 
  as a symbol of defiance against the 
  House. 
  Is this Verditius magus wandering 
  blindly into a political struggle? Or is 
  the magus trying to find out where the 
  player Verditius stands on the growing 
  animosity between Verdi and Domus 
  Magna. 
  
  17 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  bonus. Similarly, a device that has 
  been opened to provide a longevity 
  bonus cannot subsequently be 
  attuned as a talisman or otherwise 
  have its vis capacity altered in any 
  way. 
  A device loses its ability to provide 
  a longevity bonus when it is broken, 
  as described in City & Guild, page 79. 
  Hermetic Phylactery 
  (Minor House Mystery) 
  A magus initiated into this Mystery 
  may make for himself or for another a 
  longevity focus by simply opening a 
  prepared device for enchantment. 
  Until the magus suffers an Aging 
  Crisis or the focus becomes broken, 
  the recipient enjoys a longevity bonus 
  equal to the vis capacity of the 
  opened longevity focus. The focus 
  operates as an Arcane Connection to 
  the recipient and may be enchanted 
  through any Hermetic means 
  available to the magus. 
  Initiation Script: Mystery 
  of the Phylactery 
  Ease Factor: 15 
  Script Bonus: +10 
  Script Details: The initiate first 
  serves the mystagogue as a laboratory 
  assistant for a full season (+1), after 
  which the initiate must swear 
  allegiance to the cause of Verdi over 
  Ingasia, gaining the Vow Flaw in the 
  process (+3). At the end of the 
  season, the initiate must travel to 
  Ingasia and there proclaim their 
  allegiance at the usurper Domus 
  Magna (+3), before returning for a 
  season’s tuition under the mystagogue 
  (+3). Those undertaking the quest to 
  Ingasia gain a reputation; Supporter 
  of Verdi (House Verditius) 4. 
  The initiate must have a score of 3 
  or more in Verditius Cult Lore before 
  undertaking the initiation. 
  This is not the original initiation 
  script for this House Mystery. It was 
  revised in the years following the 
  Primus’ decision to snub the 
  covenant of Verdi and instead make 
  the covenant of Ingasia in the Thebes 
  Tribunal the new Domus Magna of 
  House Verditius. The new initiation 
  script represents the growing 
  animosity between those loyal to 
  Verdi and the supporters of Ingasia. 
  The Mystagogues 
  Like so much now in Verdi, the 
  control of access to this Mystery lays 
  in the hands of resentful and hubristic 
  magi, angered at the continuing insult 
  perpetrated upon them by the magi of 
  Ingasia and the Primus. 
  It may be possible to find another 
  mystagogue who knows the Mystery 
  of the Hermetic Phylactery away from 
  Verdi with access to the original 
  initiation script. It is thought that one 
  such individual took up residence in 
  the Greater Alps over a century ago 
  and if she no longer lives then 
  perhaps her library may still contain 
  the script. 
  The Mystery of 
  Credne: Physical 
  Augmentation 
  While the Mystery of the Hermetic 
  Phylactery is a House Mystery known 
  to a few in House Verditius, The 
  Mystery of Credne (pronounced 
  CREY-nya) is peculiar to Hibernia 
  and may in fact now be lost. While 
  the Hermetic Phylactery acts as a 
  longevity focus external to the body, 
  this Mystery provides the power to 
  replace parts of the magus’ body with 
  enchanted devices in order to act as 
  longevity foci. 
  Some of this may sound familiar 
  to those who have read the 
  Inscription on the Soul Mystery, as 
  described in The Mysteries: Revised 
  Edition, page 69. That particular path 
  has a very different aim, however, and 
  the two forms of magic are unrelated. 
  
  18 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Origins of the Mystery 
  Nearly two centuries ago, the 
  magus Colla mac Morna, already 
  advanced in years, suffered an aging 
  crisis from which even Hermetic 
  Magic seemed unable to protect him. 
  Fearing the end, he called for 
  members of the Coill Trí (The 
  Contested Isle: The Hibernian Tribunal, 
  page 112), who conferred with the 
  Tuatha Dé Danann (The Contested Isle: 
  The Hibernian Tribunal, page 124). One 
  night, the ancient healer of the 
  Tuatha, Dian Cécht, arrived to seek 
  audience with mac Morna. While 
  there, he discovered that mac Morna’s 
  arm, withered and infected through 
  age, was the source of the crisis. He 
  proposed the Fate of Nuada; the arm 
  would be removed and replaced with 
  one crafted by his own hands from 
  silver. Colla mac Morna agreed. 
  Dian Cécht summoned the smith 
  Credne, who called for as much silver 
  as the covenant could muster and he 
  worked until dawn in the forges of 
  the Verditius magi. Finally, as the 
  cock crowed, the arm was completed. 
  With much ceremony, Colla mac 
  Morna’s arm was severed and the 
  silver arm created by Credne was 
  magically attached. Within moments, 
  Colla mac Morna’s strength returned 
  to him and he could use his new arm 
  with as much dexterity as he had ever 
  possessed. 
  In return for his trust in the old 
  ways, Dian Cécht granted Colla mac 
  Morna the knowledge to perform the 
  same service to others. For his part, 
  mac Morna counted himself an ally to 
  the Tuatha Dé Danann from that day 
  on. 
  Creating Airgetlámha 
  The devices created through this 
  Mystery are called Airgetlámha (areyd
  -LAHW-ah), literally meaning Silver 
  Hands after the silver hands crafted 
  both for King Nuada of the Tuatha 
  De Danann and for mac Morna. The 
  Verditius spends a season crafting the 
  Airgetlám (areyd-LAHW) and opening 
  it for enchantment, just as with the 
  Mystery of the Hermetic Phylactery. 
  The Airgetlám can be of any material, 
  but it must act to directly replace a 
  part of the human body and so must 
  be of broadly appropriate shape and 
  construction. 
  The restriction on the number of 
  pawns with which the device also 
  remains; i.e. it must be opened with a 
  minimum of character’s age/5 pawns 
  of vis. 
  Similarly, the longevity bonus is 
  also calculated in the same way as for 
  the Hermetic Phylactery, i.e. the 
  creator’s Dexterity + Craft Ability 
  Score. 
  In practice, there are only four 
  parts of the individual that cannot be 
  replaced. These are the liver, the 
  gallbladder, the spleen, and the brain, 
  as these correspond to the natural 
  humors, as described in Art & 
  Academe, page 38. 
  The restrictions on the number of 
  pawns that need to be used are 
  exactly as for the Hermetic 
  Phylactery. 
  The airgetlám is attached to the 
  recipient through a Hermetic ritual, 
  described below, during which the 
  original body part is removed and the 
  airgetlám joined with its host. It is 
  then a natural extension of its bearer, 
  enjoying all faculties of motion and 
  sensation as did its predecessor. 
  Attaching the 
  Airgetlám 
  Once the work of Credne has 
  been done and the airgetlám created, 
  the Rite of Dian Cécht can begin and 
  the airgetlám can be attached. In 
  Hermetic terms, this is a ritual spell 
  reliant on knowledge of the Mystery 
  to design. 
  The ritual itself is designed as a 
  general level spell and is fully 
  described in the nearby box. 
  In the event of a Casting Tablet 
  detailing this ritual being found, 
  confident magi may attempt to follow 
  its instructions without knowing the 
  underlying Mystery. 
  New Flaw: Monstrous 
  Appearance 
  Major General Flaw 
  This Flaw repackages the Monstrous 
  Appearance Major Magical Inferiority, 
  as described in Realms of Power: Magic, 
  page 42, as a Flaw that characters 
  unable to take Inferiorities can take. 
  Having become simultaneously both 
  more and less than human, the 
  character’s appearance is considered 
  monstrous to others, resulting in a –6 
  penalty in all social situations, or to any 
  rolls involving the trust or loyalty of 
  others. This stacks with any penalty 
  imposed by the Gift and the character 
  is treated as having the Blatant Gift for 
  the purposes of calculating prevailing 
  covenant loyalty. 
  Shape-changers and 
  Airgetlámha 
  Shapechanging magic is common 
  across the Order, and in Hibernia in 
  particular. Those bearing airgetlámha 
  may still utilize shape-changing spells 
  as normal, including the heartbeast 
  power possessed by those of House 
  Bjornaer, but while the airgetlámha 
  change shape to accommodate the new 
  form, they remain obviously objects of 
  artifice. 
  For instance, a magus bearing an 
  airgetlám in the shape of a mechanical 
  bronze leg turns himself into a stag to 
  better explore the woodland. The 
  resulting stag also has an obviously 
  bronze mechanical leg, which gives it a 
  Monstrous Appearance. 
  
  19 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Effects of the 
  Airgetlám 
  A bonded airgetlám functions in 
  every way just like a natural extension 
  of the recipient’s body; a direct 
  replacement for the natural organ or 
  limb that it replaces. 
  The recipient of the airgetlám 
  suffers from the effects of the 
  Monstrous Appearance Major 
  Magical Inferiority, as described in 
  Realms of Power: Magic, page 42. 
  Each airgetlám provides a +1 
  Form Bonus against Corpus effects. 
  A recipient of an airgetlám can no 
  longer gain longevity bonuses from 
  either the common longevity ritual 
  practiced by the Order or from the 
  Hermetic Phylactery known to House 
  Verditius. Once an airgetlám has been 
  bonded with the bearer, no other 
  longevity magics will work for him.  
  Beyond this, the airgetlám has a 
  number of effects over and above the 
  Hermetic Phylactery described above. 
  Airgetlámha and the 
  Longevity Bonus 
  A magus gains a longevity bonus 
  equal to the number of pawns used to 
  open the airgetlám for enchantment. 
  However, the magus may have more 
  than one active airgetlám at any one 
  time, in which case the bonus is equal 
  to the highest value focus, plus one 
  for each other active airgetlám 
  possessed by the magus. An active 
  airgetlám is one that has not yet failed 
  through Crisis, as described below. 
  Airgetlámha and Aging 
  Points 
  While the magus may still gain 
  Aging Points, while bonded with an 
  airgetlám functioning as a longevity 
  focus, any Aging Points gained are 
  not applied to the character’s 
  characteristics. They still contribute to 
  the Decrepitude Score as normal, 
  however. This results in further 
  protection against the ravages of time. 
  Airgetlámha and Crisis 
  An airgetlám cancels the effects of 
  a Crisis incurred as a result of the 
  next failed Aging Roll. The Aging 
  Crisis still causes the longevity focus 
  to fail, leaving the magus potentially 
  unprotected against further aging, but 
  any other deleterious effects of the 
  Crisis are avoided. 
  As described above, a magus may 
  benefit from multiple embedded and 
  bonded airgetlámha. When subject to 
  Crisis, the highest value active 
  longevity focus is cancelled. This may 
  not leave the magus unprotected, 
  however. If there are more than one 
  Faerie Airgetlámha 
  This article looks at the Mystery of 
  Cedne as practiced by House 
  Verditius, but the same service can be 
  secured from the Tuatha Dé Danann. 
  There are physicians and craftsmen 
  still within that Tuath who can both 
  craft and attach these airgetlámha, if 
  they can be found and bargained with. 
  The following powers represent these 
  ancient gifts. 
  The Craft of Cedne 
  The faerie crafter creates an 
  airgetlám for a specific recipient. The 
  longevity bonus is based on the faerie’s 
  Dexterity + Craft Pretence Score and 
  it costs the faerie 1 Might Point per 
  point of bonus. So, a silver arm 
  providing a longevity bonus of 10 
  costs 10 Might Points (which is the 
  maximum possible using this power). 
  Points spent in this way can only be 
  regained by consuming faerie vis 
  associated with the form of Vim, or in 
  taking back and destroying the 
  airgetlám. 
  This Ritual Power costs the faerie 
  two Ritual Power Virtues to buy. 
  Costs 50 levels. Special, (R: Touch, 
  D: Momentary, T: Individual, Ritual) 
  The Faerie Rite of Dian Cécht 
  At the cost of 10 Might Points, the 
  faerie with this power can attach a 
  specially crafted airgetlám to a 
  recipient. The maximum longevity 
  bonus that the airgetlám can provide is 
  10. Anything beyond this is too potent 
  for this power and the ritual fails. 
  Points spent on this power can only be 
  regained by consuming faerie vis 
  associated with the form of Corpus. 
  This Ritual Power costs the faerie 
  two Ritual Power Virtues to buy. 
  Costs 50 levels. Special, (R: Touch, 
  D: Special, T: Group, Ritual) 
  The Rite of Dian Cécht 
  MuCo General, ritual, Mystery 
  R: Touch, D: Special, T: Group 
  This ritual, cast with casting 
  requisites as appropriate for the target 
  airgetlám, binds the airgetlám to the 
  host. During the rite, the limb or organ 
  to be replaced is excised or severed 
  and the replacement attached. The 
  removed organ is burned, destroying 
  its essence entirely, and the body and 
  the new airgetlám become one. 
  The ritual’s level must equal or 
  exceed five times the longevity bonus 
  granted by the airgetlám, so a level 50 
  Rite is required to attach an airgetlám 
  granting a longevity bonus of 10 to a 
  recipient. 
  The new base effect for this is 
  essentially: 
  Base 
  Bind an airgetlám to a 
  host where the level of the spell equals 
  (five time the longevity bonus) + 30 
  levels.  
  It is not necessary to design a 
  unique ritual per airgetlám or recipient.  
  (Base, +1 Touch, +4 Special 
  Duration, +1 Part) 
  
  20 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  active longevity foci, then the next 
  lowest is then used to determine any 
  longevity bonus for future years. 
  Airgetlámha and 
  Warping 
  A magus may have multiple 
  Airgetlámha, and while they act as an 
  active longevity focus, they each act 
  as a constant magical effect upon the 
  host, each in turn providing 1 
  Warping Point per year. In the event 
  of an Aging Crisis or damage causing 
  an airgetlám to cease functioning as a 
  longevity focus, the airgetlám no 
  longer causes warping. 
  When a character bearing 
  airgetlámha gains the scars of twilight 
  or other warping effects, the 
  airgetlámha are also directly affected. 
  They may become enlarged, or 
  discoloured, or even grow new detail 
  that was not present before. 
  Airgetlámha and 
  Damage 
  Airgetlámha have Damage Levels, 
  as described in City & Guild, page 77. 
  They do nothing to alter the number 
  of body levels their bearer possesses, 
  but they are themselves subject to 
  damage in stressful situations. 
  Whenever the bearer of an 
  airgetlám suffers a Medium Wound or 
  greater, a Damage Check must be 
  made to the airgetlám. If the roll fails, 
  the airgetlám loses a Damage Level. 
  As a rule of thumb, most airgetlámha 
  have two Damage Levels (Standard 
  Quality construction and size -1, as 
  described in City & Guild, page 77). If 
  you don’t have City & Guild available, 
  the nearby box gives you a quick 
  guide on judging Damage Levels. 
  Where more than one airgetlámha 
  are carried, then the Storyguide 
  should decide which device is 
  affected. 
  Once an airgetlám loses all its 
  Damage Levels, it is broken. Any 
  enchantments in the device cease 
  working immediately and it no longer 
  contributes a longevity bonus. It also 
  ceases to function as a limb or organ. 
  The Mystery of Cedne 
  (Major House Mystery) 
  While the magical knowledge 
  behind this Mystery ultimately stems 
  from the Tuatha Dé Danann, it is 
  considered a Verditius House Mystery 
  as none outside of that House have 
  ever learned it. 
  A magus initiated into this Mystery 
  gains the power to create airgetlámha 
  and bind them to their recipients 
  through the Rite of Dian Cécht using 
  the rules above. They have knowledge 
  enough to create their own versions of 
  the Rite, allowing for different levels 
  of effect. They may also act as 
  mystagogue to others seeking this 
  power. 
   
  Initiation Script: Mystery of 
  Cedne 
  Initiation into this mystery always 
  involves the initiate becoming bonded 
  with their first airgetlám. 
  Ease Factor: 21 
  Script Bonus: 21 
  Script Details: The initiate must 
  first gain the blessing of the Tuatha Dé 
  Danann by undertaking a quest at their 
  behest (+3). Once the Tuatha Dé 
  Danann grant their blessing, the 
  mystagogue can proceed and he 
  spends a season crafting and opening 
  for enchantment an airgetlám for the 
  initiate (+3), forged in the ashes of the 
  initiate’s talisman (+6). At the 
  culmination of the season, the Rite of 
  Dian Cécht is performed and the 
  initiate bonded with the airgetlám, 
  going through the ordeal of gaining the 
  new Monstrous Appearance Flaw 
  (+9). 
  The initiate must have a score of 3 
  or more in Verditius Cult Lore before 
  undertaking the initiation.  
  This initiation is unusual in that the 
  mystagogue may be either a magus of 
  House Verditius who knows the 
  Mystery, or it could be one of the 
  Tuatha Dé Danann who possess the 
  requisite powers. If a member of the 
  Tuatha Dé Danann acts as the 
  mystagogue, the initiate must have a 
  score of 3 or more in Area Lore: 
  Hibernia before undertaking the 
  initiation. 
  Appropriate Airgetlámha 
  There may be a temptation to create 
  a multitude of airgetlámha as each 
  active longevity focus at least provides 
  a bonus of +1 to the final resulting 
  longevity bonus. Eager players may 
  seek to replace individual digits with 
  airgetlámha, or even individual joints 
  within those fingers, or perhaps 
  individual teeth. However, these are 
  not appropriate. 
  The magic of airgetlámha works on 
  the principle of significance; a tooth is 
  not significant, but a jaw is. A finger is 
  not significant, but a hand or an arm is. 
  Hair is not significant, but a skull is. 
  The troupe should be a sensible arbiter 
  on these, but a decent rule of thumb is 
  whether the loss of that body part 
  might be the cause of a Flaw, such as 
  Missing Hand, Missing Eye, Afflicted 
  Tongue, or Lame, for instance. 
  But remember also that the more 
  airgetlámha a character has operating 
  as active longevity foci, the more 
  warping that character gains each year. 
  There is a definite balance to be had 
  and characters could consider adding 
  further airgetlámha only when the 
  beneficial effects of a previous 
  airgetlám cease. 
  
  21 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  A shattered airgetlám eye no longer 
  sees and a broken airgetlám becomes 
  lame. The bearer gains an appropriate 
  Flaw to model this damage.  
  Repairing Airgetlámha 
  Damaged airgetlámha may be 
  repaired. A dedicated season spent by 
  a craftsman repairing an airgetlám 
  automatically restores any Damage 
  Levels that have been lost. The 
  season may be treated as a season of 
  Practice, for book-keeping purposes. 
  A broken airgetlám may be 
  repaired, but this requires a magus of 
  House Verditius initiated into the 
  Mystery of Reforging Enchanted 
  Items (Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, 
  page 125). Reforging the device 
  restores its intended function (a 
  repaired eye can see; a repaired hand 
  can grasp) and the associated Flaw is 
  removed. Its function as a longevity 
  focus is not restored, however. 
  Enchanting 
  Airgetlámha 
  As with any other opened device, 
  airgetlámha may be enchanted using 
  any standard or Mystery magics know 
  to the enchanter. 
  They have one advantage over 
  other devices, one shared by 
  talismans; the enchantments may use 
  the Personal range to affect the bearer 
  to which the airgetlám has been 
  bonded. 
  Constant effects, whether they are 
  designed to affect the bearer or the 
  airgetlám itself, are a source of 
  warping as described in ArM5, page 
  168. 
  Restrictions 
  Airgetlámha may be created only 
  for those with the Gift or with some 
  form of Supernatural Might.  
  Once the airgetlám is bonded to 
  the host, it becomes part of their 
  essential nature and cannot be 
  removed without injury or 
  consequence. Any wound left through 
  removing an airgetlám may be healed, 
  but the removed limb or organ 
  cannot be replaced through Creo 
  Corpus magic; the essential nature is 
  now such that it may only be replaced 
  either by re-bonding the removed 
  airgetlám or through some other 
  magic to replace the missing limb 
  with another of the same material as 
  the removed airgetlám. 
  Example: 
  Airgetlámha 
  and 
  Aging 
  Finn, a 35 year old magus, 
  undergoes initiation into the Mystery 
  of Cedne, gaining a mechanical bronze 
  arm in the process. Created by a 
  master craftsman, the bronze arm 
  gives him a longevity bonus of 12 
  (Dexterity +3 and Craft: Smith +9). 
  He also gains one point of Hubris. 
  At the end of his 35th year (which 
  we’ll call Year One), he makes an 
  Aging Roll. His bronze arm provides 
  such a longevity bonus that he suffers 
  no ill effects from aging, but he does 
  have the Monstrous Appearance Flaw 
  and he does begin to suffer a constant 
  one warping point per year. He 
  continues untouched by the ravages of 
  years until the age of 58, at which 
  point he has an apparent age of 38, but 
  during a freak winter experiences a 
  Crisis. He suffers no ill-effects from 
  the crisis thanks to his airgetlám but it 
  no longer provides a longevity bonus. 
  Now reliant on his own 
  craftsmanship, he creates a new 
  airgetlám, an iron leg. He opens it for 
  enchantment with a capacity of 15 
  pawns of vis, which exceeds the 
  required minimum of 12, and, with 
  help, conducts the Rite of Dian Cécht. 
  He now has an airgetlám providing a 
  longevity bonus of +8 (Dexterity +2 
  and Craft: Carpenter +6). 
  In order to provide a further 
  longevity bonus, he sacrifices his other 
  leg, creating a second iron airgetlám. 
  After going through the ritual, he now 
  has a total longevity bonus of +9 (8 
  for the first active airgetlám, +1 for the 
  second). 
  By the time he reaches 100 years of 
  age, he has suffered no further aging 
  crises and has an apparent age of 71. 
  He has gained fewer than 10 Aging 
  Points, giving him a Decrepitude Score 
  of 1. 
  Casting Tablet: Rite of Dian 
  Cécht 
  It is possible that a casting tablet 
  detailing the Dian Cécht may be 
  found. If it is, it may be written down 
  in vernacular Gaelic instead of Latin 
  to disguise its true purpose. 
  One way to introduce the Mystery 
  of Cedne into your saga quickly is to 
  have a pre-existing airgetlám found 
  along with a casting tablet of the Rite 
  at a level suitable to use. This gives 
  players and characters the opportunity 
  to explore this magic based on the 
  deeds of ancient Tuatha Dé Danann 
  heroes. 
  The tablet may purport to be an 
  accurate description of the Rite 
  actually carried out by the physician 
  Dian Cécht himself. If true, that 
  would make a potent trophy for any 
  Hibernian covenant. 
  Assessing Damage 
  An airgetlám loses a Damage Level 
  if the bearer fails a Dexterity + 
  Finesse Stress roll against Ease 
  Factor 15. The roll gains a bonus 
  equal to the magnitude of effects 
  enchanted into the device. 
  On a botch, the airgetlám is struck 
  from the bearer’s body instead of 
  losing a Damage Level. 
  
  22 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Airgetlámha and 
  Hubris 
  Replacing natural body parts with 
  devices of artifice is a hubristic act. 
  Unsurprisingly, Verditius magi who 
  undertake this path gain Hubris, as 
  described in Houses of Hermes: Mystery 
  Cults, page 118. The nearby table 
  shows the number of experience 
  points gained for various airgetlám-
  related activities. In addition, he can 
  also add his Hubris score when 
  enchanting an airgetlám. 
  Reusing Airgetlámha 
  The ritual used to bond the 
  airgetlám to the individual ensures 
  that the airgetlám becomes part of 
  that individual’s essential nature. This 
  means that the airgetlám does not 
  need to have been built, opened for 
  enchantment, or even enchanted for a 
  particular individual. If a magus finds 
  an existing airgetlám, it can be 
  removed from its host, living or dead, 
  and bonded with another host. This 
  bonding is performed through the 
  ritual described above and all the 
  same restrictions apply. 
  The new host treats the airgetlám 
  as a longevity focus providing a 
  bonus equal to the number of pawns 
  of vis used to open it for 
  enchantment. Additionally, existing 
  effects enchanted into the airgetlám 
  that use the Personal Target now 
  affect the new host. 
  This means that for a magus 
  initiated into the Mystery of Cedne, 
  the finding of old and already 
  enchanted airgetlámha is a potentially 
  potent means of not only gaining a 
  significant longevity bonus, but also a 
  number of additional enchantments. 
  As these unusual devices may be 
  taken from the living or dead and 
  reused for full effect, those who bear 
  airgetlámha would do well to be 
  suspicious of those who enquire after 
  them. 
  Character Sheet  
  A supplementary character sheet 
  would be useful to record the 
  airgetlámha bonded to the character. 
  The included example indicates 
  which body-parts have been replaced, 
  the Aging Bonus that each airgetlám 
  provides, the number of damage 
  levels each has and their status, and of 
  course any enchantments that they 
  might contain. 
  Increasing Hubris 
  These additional behaviours 
  should be considered alongside the 
  table on Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, 
  page 120. 
  Behaviour 
  Experience 
  Points 
  Gaining an airgetlám 
  1 
  Crafting an airgetlám 
  for another 
  3 
  Enchanting an airgetlám 
  1 
  A 
   bonded airgetlám functions in every way 
  just like a natural extension of the 
  recipient’s body; a direct replacement for 
  the natural organ or limb that it replaces 
  
  23 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
   
  Location: 
          
  Arm/Hand 
  Longevity Bonus:  
  Damage Levels:  
  □□□□□ 
  Description: 
    
   
  Enchantments: 
    
   
    
    
  Location: 
                    
  Guts 
  Longevity Bonus:  
  Damage Levels:  
  □□□□□ 
  Description: 
   
   
  Enchantments: 
   
    
    
    
  Location: 
            
  Leg/Foot 
  Longevity Bonus:  
  Damage Levels:  
  □□□□□ 
  Description: 
   
   
  Enchantments: 
   
    
    
    
  Location: 
                      
  Ears 
  Longevity Bonus:  
  Damage Levels:  
  □□□□□ 
  Description: 
   
   
  Enchantments: 
   
    
    
    
  Location: 
                      
  Eyes 
  Longevity Bonus:  
  Damage Levels:  
  □□□□□ 
  Description: 
   
   
  Enchantments: 
   
    
    
    
  Location: 
          
  Arm/Hand 
  Longevity Bonus:  
  Damage Levels:  
  □□□□□ 
  Description: 
   
   
  Enchantments: 
   
    
    
    
  Location: 
     
  Heart/Lungs 
  Longevity Bonus:  
  Damage Levels:  
  □□□□□ 
  Description: 
   
   
  Enchantments: 
   
    
    
    
  Location: 
            
  Leg/Foot 
  Longevity Bonus:  
  Damage Levels:  
  □□□□□ 
  Description: 
   
   
  Enchantments: 
   
    
    
    
  Airgetlámha Record Sheet for: 
  
  24 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  T 
  his article intends to draw 
  together what is known about 
  the size and demography of the Order 
  of Hermes from Ars Magica Fifth 
  Edition sources, and use this 
  information to make predictions 
  about the Order’s past and its future. 
  These predictions rely on 
  mathematical principles that I employ 
  in my day job, but I have tried to keep 
  the main article algebra-free. All the 
  details of the predictive models has 
  been left to the end of the article, as a 
  point of interest for anyone wanting 
  to see the assumptions made. 
  Current Size and 
  Age Profile 
  In its 453rd year (1220 AD), the 
  Order of Hermes numbers some 
  1240 magi. This number is obtained 
  from the three Houses of Hermes books, 
  which state (in two cases 
  approximately) the size of each of the 
  12 extant houses (see the nearby box). 
  There is no need to treat the 
  unGifted redcaps (who make up 
  about 12% of the Order) as any 
  different from a Gifted magus. They 
  have a 15 year apprenticeship just like 
  the rest of the Order, and thanks to 
  longevity rituals supplied by their 
  House, redcaps can expect a life as 
  long as any other member of the 
  Order. 
  We can also gain an idea as to the 
  age distribution of the Order. 
  Amongst the Tribunal books written 
  for Ars Magica Fifth Edition there 
  are 261 magi with their ages listed. 
  I’ve divided these into five age 
  categories. Spring magi are those 
  fresh from apprenticeship. Summer 
  magi are burgeoning powers. Autumn 
  magi are at the zenith of their Arts. 
  Winter magi are beginning to show 
  their age, and Deep Winter magi are 
  the venerable sages close to Final 
  Twilight. 
  The third column of this table 
  gives the distribution as listed in the 
  Tribunal books. The first thing to 
  note is that there is a notable lack of 
  Spring magi. However, in most sagas, 
  this role is assumed to be taken by 
  player characters, so I’ve added a 
  covenant of 5 Spring magi to each of 
  the tribunals and recalculate the stage 
  distribution. The result is shown in 
  the rightmost column.  
  What is immediately noticeable is 
  that the Order of Hermes is 
  dominated by Summer magi, with 
  Autumn magi being the second most 
  numerous. Truly ancient magi in 
  Deep Winter are scarce at less than 
  half a percent: only 4 magi are 
  anticipated to fall into this category in 
  the whole Order.  
  Historical Events 
  Affecting 
  Demography 
  There are three events in the 
  history of the Order of Hermes that 
  would have influenced its speed of 
  growth: the formation of House Ex 
  Miscellanea, the corruption of House 
  Tytalus, and the Schism War. First we 
  should start with the initial conditions 
  in 767 AD, when the Founders of the 
  Order first met at Durenmar. 
  Demography of the 
  Order of Hermes 
  By Mark Shirley 
  House Population at 1220 
  Bonisagus 
  81 
   Jerbiton 
  102 
  Bjornaer 
  79 
   Mercere 12 + c. 150 
  Criamon 
  94 
   Merinita 
  68 
  Ex Miscellanea c. 180  
  Tremere 
  92 
  Flambeau 
  114 
   Tytalus 
  96 
  Guernicus 
  98 
   Verditius 
  74 
  Age Distribution of the Order 
  Stage 
  Age Range 
  Observed 
  Observed 
   
  incl. PCs 
  (percent) 
  (percent) 
  Apprentice 
  0 – Gauntlet 
  – 
  – 
  Spring 
  Gauntlet – 35 
  14.20 
  23.00 
  Summer 
  36 – 70 
  42.50 
  38.10 
  Autumn 
  71 – 120 
  34.10 
  30.60 
  Winter 
  121 – 180 
  8.80 
  7.90 
  Deep Winter 
  181+ 
  0.40 
  0.30 
  
  25 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  The Founding 
  The Order was founded by 
  thirteen wizards: the twelve Founders 
  and Trianoma. From the information 
  in the three Houses of Hermes books, 
  we can estimate the ages of the 
  Founders. 
  Birna, Tremere, and Trianoma 
  were probably Spring magi. 
  Bonisagus, Criamon, and Merinita 
  were probably Autumn magi, and the 
  remaining seven magi (Diedne, 
  Flambeau, Guernicus, Jerbiton, 
  Mercere, Tytalus, Verditius) were 
  likely to be Summer magi. Although 
  Pralix (and perhaps other apprentices 
  such as Notatus) were present from 
  the start of the Order, they would 
  have been included in the first batch 
  of recruits as they could not have 
  commenced Hermetic training prior 
  to the Founding. 
  House Ex Miscellanea 
  In 817 AD, House Ex Miscellanea 
  was formed from Pralix’s Ordo 
  Miscellanea. This rival to the Order of 
  Hermes consisted of the hedge 
  wizards that Pralix had assembled in 
  order to defeat Damhan-Allaidh, plus 
  those wizards who fought with The 
  Spider who Pralix was able to recruit 
  after the battle. We know that when 
  House Ex Miscellanea joined, this 
  doubled the size of the Order at that 
  time (Houses of Hermes: Societates, page 
  101). 
  The Corruption of 
  House Tytalus 
  In total, seventeen magi were 
  Marched when the Corruption of 
  House Tytalus was discovered in 967 
  AD (Houses of Hermes: Societates, page 
  74). We can probably assume that 
  some, if not all of their apprentices 
  were killed as well. 
  The Schism War 
  The Schism War was perhaps the 
  most traumatic event in the Order’s 
  history. The entirety of House Diedne 
  was Renounced and exterminated, but 
  they did not go quietly. We know that 
  House Diedne was the largest house 
  in the Order at that time (Houses of 
  Hermes: True Lineages, page 40), and so 
  we can conservatively estimate that a 
  full twelfth of the Order was a 
  member of this house (leaving 
  11/12ths of the Order to be divided 
  between the remaining twelve 
  houses). Houses Flambeau and 
  Tremere were heavily involved in the 
  fighting, and perhaps lost a third of 
  their members in the eight years of 
  the war. We are told that four other 
  houses strongly opposed House 
  Diedne: Bonisagus, Ex Miscellanea, 
  Guernicus, and Jerbiton. Maybe a 
  quarter of each of these houses were 
  killed. Finally, the remaining six 
  houses would not have escaped 
  unscathed, and perhaps lost a fifth of 
  their numbers as well. Overall, this 
  translates to just over 3 in every 10 
  magi perishing; a massive effect on 
  the Order’s numbers. 
  Mundane 
  Demography of 
  Mythic Europe 
  Trends in demography of the 
  medieval period in Europe can be 
  divided into five basic phases. 
  Between 400 and 1000 AD the 
  population was stable at a relatively 
  low level of about 30 million. 
  Between 1000 and 1250 AD there 
  was a boom period of rapid 
  expansion, followed by a hundred 
  years of stable population size at a 
  relatively high level of around 80 
  million. The Great Mortality 
  (nowadays called “The Black Death”) 
  caused a steep decline from 1350 AD 
  onwards, killing an estimated quarter 
  of all humans in Europe. Following 
  1420 AD there was a slow expansion 
  as Europe repopulated; this growth 
  gained momentum during the 
  sixteenth century. See figure 1. 
  Predicting the 
  Growth Rate of the 
  Order 
  A stage-structured mathematical 
  model was created to predict the size 
  of the Order of Hermes through time 
  and to predict future trends. The 
  details of this model are given later, 
  but in essence it uses a standard 
  technique from the ecological 
  sciences to model the passage of 
  individuals from Apprenticeship to 
  the Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, 
  and finally Deep Winter Stages. At 
  each life stage, individuals will 
  produce new apprentices, and either 
  remain in the current stage, advance 
  to the next stage, or die. The three 
  events mentioned earlier – Formation 
  of Ex Miscellanea, Corruption of 
  Tytalus, and the Schism War – were 
  simulated at the appropriate time 
  points. 
  The advantage of this type of 
  predictive model is that, since it 
  models stages rather than ages, it 
  doesn’t rely on assumptions about 
  Numbers of Magi at Each Life Stage 
  Stage 
  Predicted 
  Predicted 
  (number) 
  (percent) 
  Apprentice 
  360 
  – 
  Spring 
  309 
  24.4 
  Summer 
  509 
  40.2 
  Autumn 
  323 
  25.5 
  Winter 
  108 
  8.5 
  Deep Winter 
  16 
  1.3 
  
  26 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  longevity rituals and living conditions 
  modifiers. These things can be highly 
  tribunal- and saga-dependent. 
  However, in this model, the age of 
  each magus is not simulated, just his 
  or her life stage. Each stage has a 
  given duration and the last stage of 
  Deep Winter holds all magi until they 
  die.  
  The model started with the 
  thirteen magi in 767 AD, and 
  predicted population numbers every 
  seven years. Sixty-five of these time 
  steps brought the Order of Hermes 
  to 1222 AD, and a final population 
  size of 1267 magi. The breakdown of 
  number of magi in each stage are 
  shown in the nearby table. 
  Note that the 360 Apprentices 
  were not included in the denominator 
  for the calculation of the percent 
  population in each stage, allowing 
  direct comparison with the survey 
  earlier. The predicted percentage of 
  the Order at each life stage from the 
  model matches pretty well with the 
  observed percentages obtained from 
  the Fifth Edition tribunal books, 
  after adjusting for presumed player 
  characters. The Order is still 
  dominated by Summer magi, with 
  Autumn and Spring magi following 
  behind with similar numbers. A 
  greater proportion of Deep Winter 
  magi is predicted than observed; but 
  this may reflect the tribunals 
  surveyed; for example, the Tribunal 
  of the Greater Alps could have a 
  greater proportion of ancient magi (it 
  certainly did in the Fourth Edition 
  book Sanctuary of Ice). 
  Implications for the 
  Order of Hermes 
  Since the outputs match in both 
  total population size and stage 
  distribution, we can have confidence 
  that the parameters and assumptions 
  of the modelling produce a plausible 
  representation of the Order’s 
  demography. On this basis, some 
  inferences about the Order can be 
  drawn based on the results of the 
  model. Some of these implications are 
  detailed in this section. 
  Population of House 
  Ex Miscellanea 
  According to the predictions of 
  the model, when House Ex 
  Miscellanea joined the Order, the 
  Order consisted of 109 magi. The 
  Ordo Miscellanea must have 
  therefore consisted of at least 100 
  wizards, since the size of the Order 
  was said to have doubled by the 
  joining of the thirteenth house. Yet, 
  despite a twelve-fold increase in the 
  size of Order over the next four 
  hundred years (109 magi in 816 AD 
  to 1267 magi in 1222 AD), House Ex 
  Miscellanea does not even double in 
  size in this time (100 magi to 
  approximately 180 magi). What’s 
  more, by the time the Schism War 
  happened, a mere two hundred years 
  after Pralix, rather than growing 
  House Ex Miscellanea had shrunk to 
  Figure 1: Total European population from the Dark Ages to the 
  Renaissance. Data from McEvedy & Jones (1978) 
  
  27 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  the size of the other twelve houses — 
  between 60 and 70 members. It is 
  clear that House Ex Miscellanea did 
  not thrive in its early days within the 
  Order of Hermes. 
  One explanation for this is that 
  the vast majority of the new House 
  never adapted to Hermetic magic, and 
  did not train Hermetic apprentices. 
  This might be due to intractable 
  magical traditions, but it is also quite 
  likely that a fair proportion of Pralix’s 
  army of hedge wizards was unGifted, 
  and therefore could not train 
  Hermetic apprentices. Playing with 
  the model shows that if only a third 
  of the Ordo Miscellanea were Gifted 
  wizards in the Summer stage, then 
  these 33 new magi will have grown to 
  62 in the two centuries between the 
  founding of House Ex Miscellanea 
  and the Schism War. 
   
  Casualties of the 
  Schism War 
  At the eve of the Schism War 
  there were 861 magi in the Order. 
  Under the assumptions detailed 
  above, 295 magi perished including all 
  72 members of House Diedne. For 
  simplicity, it is assumed that any 
  apprentices of slain magi (including 
  those from House Diedne) were 
  adopted by other members of the 
  Order of Hermes; still, the Order’s 
  size was reduced to the numbers seen 
  70 years previously. 
  Heterogeneity of the 
  Order across Mythic 
  Europe 
  Not all the tribunals have an equal 
  size or mundane population. From 
  the data in McEvedy & Jones (1978) I 
  determined the population of Mythic 
  Europe by approximate tribunal in 
  1220. 
  It is clear from the nearby table 
  that there is a huge difference 
  between population sizes in the 13 
  tribunals; but the assumption has 
  tended to be that the Order is 
  relatively evenly split, with just under 
  100 individuals per tribunal. There are 
  a number of reasons why magi might 
  seek to spread themselves out evenly 
  amongst the tribunals. For a start, 
  sparsely populated tribunals are likely 
  to be rich in magical resources since 
  the Dominion will not be so all-
  encompassing. If a tribunal is small in 
  terms of magi, then the share of 
  resources — magical, mundane, and 
  political — per magus is large; this 
  encourages settlement in that tribunal, 
  which reduces the share per magus. 
  In the absence of constraining factors 
  (such as rules on establishing new 
  covenants or joining pre-existing 
  ones), this process would continue 
  Figure 2: Growth of the Order of Hermes since its inception to the current day. The axis in red on 
  the right and the red line on the chart indicate the mundane population during this time. 
  
  28 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  until an equilibrium is reached; where 
  the benefits of a new tribunal are 
  rated equal to the benefits of a 
  resident tribunal. At this point 
  immigration matches emigration, and 
  is independent of resource availability. 
  If there is an assumption that The 
  Gift is homogeneously distributed in 
  space and that it is present in a 
  particular proportion of the 
  population (see later), then the supply 
  of apprentices is likely to be low in 
  some tribunals in comparison to 
  others because of the smaller 
  population sizes. This might explain 
  the social mobility of magi compared 
  to the mundane population — Sicilian 
  magi could easily be members of 
  covenants in Scotland, since the Loch 
  Leglean tribunal produces very small 
  numbers of Gifted children every year 
  compared to the Roman Tribunal. 
  Magi in sparsely populated tribunals 
  might source their apprentices away 
  from home; and those tribunals 
  where supply outstrips demand might 
  exploit this resource by exporting 
  Gifted children, perhaps in exchange 
  for services or resources rare at home. 
  For example, the Rhine tribunal is 
  rich in people (and therefore 
  presumably in Gifted children) but 
  not in vis. The Hibernian Tribunal 
  might be the reverse 
   
   
  Supply of Apprentices 
  and Prevalence of The 
  Gift 
  An assumption of the model is 
  that there is an unlimited supply of 
  Gifted children to become 
  apprentices of Hermetic magi. Some 
  interesting conclusions emerge from 
  examining the required supply of 
  apprentices to the Order. 
  To support its current rate of 
  growth, the Order will require 186 
  Gifted children (approximately 14 per 
  geographical tribunal) over the next 
  seven years (this number can be 
  obtained from the cross product of 
  the current age profile of the Order 
  and the production rate of new 
  apprentices). With about 63.8 million 
  inhabitants in Mythic Europe in 1220, 
  the Order requires a density of The 
  Gift of at least one individual per 
  343,000. However, The Gift must be 
  more common than this if it is not a 
  limited resource; furthermore, there 
  are other traditions in Mythic Europe 
  that have Gifted members. Let us 
  assume that for every apprentice the 
  Order takes, there are three Gifted 
  children accepted into hedge 
  traditions, and another three that 
  remain untrained. This results in a 
  prevalence of The Gift of one 
  individual per 49,000 in every seven 
  years, or one birth per 7000 per year. 
  A potential problem lurks on the 
  horizon: the Order is growing faster 
  than the mundane population. In 850 
  AD there was one new Hermetic 
  apprentice for every 768,000, by 950 
  AD this ratio had decreased to 
  1:395,000, and by 1150 AD it was 
  1:353,000. If the prevalence of The 
  Gift remains constant, then there may 
  come a time when there are 
  insufficient Gifted children to fulfil 
  the needs of those magi wishing to 
  take an apprentice. Before this point 
  is reached, the number of magi able 
  to train an apprentice will decline as 
  the difficulty of finding a Gifted child 
  increases as they become more scarce. 
  The Order of Hermes may come into 
  conflict with hedge traditions over the 
  availability of apprentices, and/or the 
  average age at Opening the Hermetic 
  Arts might increase as masters are 
  more willing to take on Gifted 
  individuals who were missed as 
  children. As a result, the rate of 
  growth of the Order of Hermes may 
  gradually decrease over time to match 
  the availability of resources, a 
  phenomenon known as ‘density 
  dependent growth’. 
  Future Trends 
  Assuming that this density 
  dependent growth does not occur just 
  yet, we can forecast the future growth 
  of the Order of Hermes. After 
  another 100 years (14 more time 
  steps), the Order has 1787 members, 
  a growth of about 40%. The growth 
  of the Order of Hermes is only 
  sustainable if it is able to found new 
  covenants, develop the Arts required 
  to train apprentices, and locate 
  individuals with The Gift. Putting 
  aside the looming problem of locating 
  new apprentices mentioned above, 
  without sufficient resources for the 
  development of masters and the 
  training of apprentices, the Order’s 
  growth will slow. The mundane 
  population in Mythic Europe is 
  expanding almost as rapidly as the 
  Order, and is bound to be applying 
  societal and population pressure to 
  the Order. To support this level of 
  mundane population growth, larger 
  Heterogeneity of the Order across Mythic Europe 
  Tribunal 
  Millions 
  of people 
  in 1220 
   
  Tribunal 
  Millions of 
  people in 1220 
  Greater Alps 
  1.3 
   Provencal 
  5.8 
  Hibernia 
  0.6 
   Rhine 
  10.4 
  Iberia 
  6.9 
   Rome 
  7.8 
  Levant 
  3.5 
   Stonehenge 
  2.8 
  Loch Leglean 
  0.3 
   Thebes 
  4.3 
  Normandy 
  6.8 
   Transylvania 
  4.8 
  Novgorod 
  11 
   
   
   
  
  29 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  and larger areas of Mythic Europe 
  have to be placed under cultivation, 
  and the fourteenth century is one of 
  mass deforestation. This could affect 
  the magical resources of covenants, as 
  Magic auras become more scarce and 
  vis harder to find. The Normandy 
  Tribunal is already facing these issues 
  in 1220 AD, and it may be only a few 
  decades before other tribunals start 
  feeling the pressure. 
  Assuming that your saga roughly 
  follows real history, there is the 
  spectre of the Great Mortality lurking 
  in the future (no-one in the medieval 
  period called it “The Black Death”). 
  Major casualties begin around 1360 
  AD, and it ravages nearly all of 
  Europe for fifty years. In affected 
  areas, up to a third of the population 
  is affected, and a quarter killed. 
  Assuming that the Great Mortality 
  is a natural disease, magi are more 
  likely to survive it thanks to their 
  Corpus Form bonus, if nothing else. 
  However, recruitment to the Order 
  will take a major hit since Gifted 
  children die with the same frequency 
  as the unGifted. The chart below 
  shows the projected effect of the 
  Great Mortality on the Order’s 
  growth. The default assumption is 
  that magi were not immune to the 
  effects of the pestilence, but all stages 
  suffered increased mortality of an 
  intensity proportional to that suffered 
  by the mundane population (see later 
  for more details on the modelling). 
  That is, magi still died of the Great 
  Mortality, but at lower rates than the 
  mundane population. The dashed line 
  shows the effect on the Order’s 
  population if magi are wholly 
  protected from the increased 
  mortality of the disease, and instead 
  only suffer problems in finding 
  Gifted children to train as apprentices 
  for the duration of the Great 
  Mortality. 
  The ability of the Order of 
  Hermes to alter the course of the 
  plague as a whole is probably limited 
  as things stand, although individual 
  sagas may of course differ. The 
  biggest problem is organisation; it 
  would need a coordinated action of 
  multiple tribunals to have any chance 
  at halting the inexorable creep of the 
  Great Mortality across Europe, and 
  the Order is limited as to what 
  resources it can use. A covenant 
  might be able to save a few towns, 
  but in the grand scheme of things 
  their impact is likely to be minimal. 
  Historically, Europe recovered 
  well following the Great Mortality. 
  Once the disease had ran its course, a 
  phase of repopulation followed. 
  Population growth was slowed by 
  further waves of less virulent disease, 
  nevertheless it took only a century to 
  restore the losses due to the 
  pestilence. 
   
  Figure 3: Future trends in the size of the Order of Hermes. As before, the red line 
  and axis shows the mundane population during this time. 
  
  30 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  About the Model 
  The model was a stage-structured 
  population model called a Lefkovitch 
  matrix model. This model is 
  particularly appropriate in these 
  circumstances because it is simple, 
  with few parameter estimations 
  needed. It also works particularly well 
  for a population which is growing 
  unconstrained by resources, and 
  which has little spatial variation, 
  neither of which assumptions is 
  violated by the presumed 
  demography of the Order of Hermes. 
  A stage-structured model keeps 
  track of the number of individuals in 
  each of several pre-defined stages; 
  which in this case were Apprentices, 
  and then the five stages of a magus’s 
  life detailed above: Spring, Summer, 
  Autumn, Winter, and Deep Winter. 
  Each stage lasted a variable amount 
  of time; for simplicity’s sake it was 
  assumed that Apprentices were 
  twenty years old when they complete 
  their Gauntlet and become Spring 
  magi. The model charted the changes 
  in the numbers of individuals in each 
  of these classes in each time step, 
  based on three variables: the 
  probability that an individual moves 
  into the next stage in a time step, the 
  probability that an individual dies in a 
  time step, and the probability that an 
  individual takes a new apprentice in a 
  time step. The time step chosen was 
  seven years; the time between 
  tribunals. These variables are 
  assembled into a transition matrix, 
  which is multiplied by the vector of 
  populations in each stage to get the 
  new population. 
  Variables 
  Lefkovitch matrix models require 
  three sets of variables to make 
  predictions. The first is the 
  production rate, which is the number 
  of new individuals in the first stage in 
  each time step. The second is the 
  survival within stage, which is the 
  proportion of individuals in each 
  stage that remain within that stage in 
  each time step. The third variable set 
  is the advancement to next stage, 
  which is the proportion of individuals 
  that move to the next stage in each 
  time step. 
  Production Rate 
  The production rate is the 
  proportion of magi in each stage who 
  took a new apprentice in each seven 
  years. Obviously, apprentices are 
  incapable of training new apprentices, 
  and the definition of the Spring stage 
  was based on them having 
  insufficiently high Arts and Teaching 
  Ability to effectively train an 
  apprentice. Magi had to be in the 
  Summer stage or higher to have a non
  -zero production rate. It was assumed 
  that one third of Summer and two 
  thirds of Autumn magi were capable 
  or willing to be train an apprentice. 
  This proportion declined to one fifth 
  and one tenth for the Winter and 
  Deep Winter stages respectively. 
  These proportions include those who 
  have apprentices as well as those who 
  want them, so to convert these 
  proportions to a production rate, one 
  must restrict this proportion to only 
  those who are able to take on a new 
  apprentice in each seven year time 
  step. Seven fifteenths of all fifteen 
  year apprenticeships will end every 
  seven years. Apprentices are assumed 
  to be ‘born’ at the age of 5, and thus 
  the duration of apprenticeship is 15 
  years. 
  The proportion of magi in each 
  stage with an apprentice may appear 
  to be quite low. Even the assumption 
  that only two thirds of Autumn magi 
  have or want an apprentice might 
  cause some surprise. These 
  proportions were derived heuristically 
  — various proportions were tested 
  until a set that produced an 
  appropriate population size and age 
  structure for the Order was obtained. 
  The proportions in each stage is not 
  vital, as long as the same proportion 
  of apprentices per magus in the Order 
  is produced in each time step (so 
  there might be a few more Summer 
  magi with apprentices at the expense 
  of one of the other stages). For those 
  who believe that the benefit of an 
  apprentice is too great, and that any 
  magus capable of training one should 
  have one, should consider the 
  following: 
   
  A magus loses a season of 
  study or laboratory activities 
  every year to teaching; 
   
  It may be several years before 
  Variables 
  Stage 
  Age range 
  Production 
  Rate 
  Survival 
  rate 
  Proportion leaving 
  stage 
  Survival within 
  stage 
  Advancement to 
  next stage 
  Apprentice 
  5–20 
  0 
  0.93 
  Jul-15 
   
   
  Spring 
  21–35 
  0 
  0.97 
  Jul-15 
  Survival rate 
  Survival rate 
  Summer 
  36–70 
  0.33 × 7/15 
  0.94 
  Jul-35 
  × 
  × 
  Autumn 
  71–120 
  0.66 × 7/15 
  0.85 
  Jul-50 
  (1 – Proportion 
  leaving stage)  
  Proportion leav-
  ing stage  
  Winter 
  121–180 
  0.20 × 7/15 
  0.76 
  Jul-60 
  Deep Winter 
  181+ 
  0.10 × 7/15 
  0.45 
  0 
   
   
  
  31 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  the benefit to lab work shows; 
  apprentices may start with 
  penalties to Intelligence due to 
  their age (ArM5, page 29) and 
  will have mediocre Magic 
  Theory for much of the fifteen 
  years; 
   
  Many magi, particularly older 
  ones, won’t be willing to put 
  up with successions of childish 
  behaviour, pre-pubescent 
  mood swings, and adolescent 
  infatuation. 
  Survival within Stage 
  To obtain survival rates it is 
  necessary to examine mortality rates 
  in medieval Europe. 
  Apprentice Mortality 
  Pre-adult mortality was high in 
  medieval Europe. Ascadi & 
  Nemeskeri (1970). report that 20% of 
  children who had survived the first 
  year of their life (which itself had a 
  25% mortality) died before age 20. 
  This corresponds to an average of 50 
  deaths per thousand in a five year 
  period, or 69 deaths per thousand in a 
  seven year period. While it is true that 
  magi can lessen the risk of death by 
  disease and starvation for their 
  apprentices, the status of a Hermetic 
  apprentice is inherently more 
  dangerous than that of other children 
  in Mythic Europe. It is therefore 
  assumed that this mortality rate is 
  applicable to apprentices. 
  Magus Mortality 
  To get an idea about survival rates 
  for magi, the survival for the nobility 
  in the Medieval period was examined 
  as a start point. Hollingsworth (1985) 
  published a life table for English 
  peers in 5 year intervals:  
  The survival rates of a magus 
  should demonstrate a similar pattern 
  to nobility, except magic extends life 
  beyond a mortal span. In deference to 
  the Hermetic longevity ritual (where 
  every point of a longevity ritual 
  negates one decade of one’s age) it 
  was assumed that these five-year 
  mortality rates corresponded to an 
  entire stage. A Spring magus has the 
  mortality rate of a 30-year old peer, a 
  Summer magus is the same as a 35-
  year old peer, an Autumn magus 
  equivalent to a 40-year old peer, a 
  Winter magus to a 50-year old peer, 
  and a Deep Winter magus to a 60-
  year old peer. 
  Survival Rates 
  These raw mortality rates, for 
  apprentices and magi, are expressed 
  as deaths per 5 years. Since the time 
  step of the model is 7 years, the 
  mortality rates must be inflated by a 
  power of 7/5ths to account for the 
  difference, and converted into a 
  survival rate (rather than a mortality 
  rate) by subtracting from 1. Finally, 
  the survival rates must be multiplied 
  by the proportion of magi remaining 
  in the stage in each seven years to 
  obtain the survival within stage. 
  Advancement to Next 
  Stage 
  The final set of variables needed 
  for the Lefkovitch matrix model is 
  the proportion advancing to the next 
  stage in each 7 year time step. The 
  proportion moving to each stage is 
  equal to 7 divided by the stage 
  duration. However, this proportion 
  includes those magi who will die in 
  the stage rather than remain in the 
  stage, so this needs to be multiplied 
  by the survival rate calculated above. 
  Events 
  The model simulated the effects of 
  historical events of the Order of 
  Hermes. These events were not part 
  of the standard algorithm, but were 
  interjected at the appropriate points 
  in the simulation. 
  Initial Conditions 
  The initial condition of the model 
  has already been stated: 3 Spring magi 
  (Birna, Tremere, Trianoma), 7 
  Summer magi (Diedne, Flambeau, 
  Guernicus, Jerbiton, Mercere, Tytalus, 
  Verditius), and 3 Autumn magi 
  (Bonisagus, Criamon, Merinita) 
  Immigration 
  As well as internal recruitment (i.e. 
  the training of apprentices), there is 
  also recruitment from outside as the 
  Order adopts wizards trained in a 
  different tradition. In the early years 
  of the Order recruitment was 
  assumed to be high, since the “Join or 
  Die” indictment was rigidly followed. 
  An estimate of 14 new recruits per 
  seven year time step was used (an 
  average of 2 per year). In modern 
  times, recruitment was assumed to be 
  a much rarer event, about 1 Order-
  wide per seven years. Between these 
  two extremes, a sigmoidal decline was 
  assumed centred about the troubled 
  times of the eleventh century. All 
  immigrants were presumed to be 70% 
  Spring and 30% Summer, on the 
  Magus Mortality 
  Age of 
  Peer 
  Deaths 
  per 1000 
  Deaths per 1000 
  (7 year) 
  Equivalent 
  magus age 
  30 
  23 
  32 
  Spring 
  35 
  45 
  62 
  Summer 
  40 
  111 
  152 
  Autumn 
  45 
  176 
  237 
   
  50 
  179 
  241 
  Winter 
  55 
  304 
  398 
   
  60 
  437 
  553 
  Deep Winter 
  
  32 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  understanding that younger wizards 
  will more readily adapt to Hermetic 
  magic; whereas old wizards, as well as 
  being less common, were less likely to 
  adapt to new ways. Immigrating magi 
  were added to the new population in 
  each time step, after which time they 
  are assumed to have assimilated into 
  the Order and are treated as any other 
  Hermetic magus. 
  House Ex Miscellanea 
  In time step 7 (corresponding to 
  816 AD), the size of the Order was 
  doubled. 
  The Purge of House 
  Tytalus 
  In time step 28 (963 AD), the 
  Order lost 7 Apprentices, 6 Spring 
  magi, 7 Summer magi, 4 Autumn 
  magi, and 1 Winter maga (Tasgillia 
  herself). These numbers have no basis 
  other than what seems reasonable; the 
  seven apprentices are those assumed 
  to be in training from the other magi. 
  The Schism War 
  In time step 35 (1012 AD), each 
  stage was reduced by 30.2%. This 
  corresponds to the loss of all of 
  House Diedne (one twelfth of the 
  Order), plus the loss of a third of two 
  houses (Tremere, Flambeau), a 
  quarter of four houses (Bonisagus, Ex 
  Miscellanea, Guernicus, Jerbiton), and 
  a fifth of the remaining six houses. 
  Each of the non-Diedne houses was 
  assumed to constitute an equal 
  proportion of the remaining eleven-
  twelfths of the Order (once Diedne 
  had been removed). 
  The Great Mortality 
  Between time steps 84 and 92 
  (1355 -– 1411 AD), the production 
  rate was reduced to 75% of its 
  previous value to represent a 25% 
  mortality in the general population 
  (and thus fewer apprentices available 
  for training). Mortality rates for each 
  stage were recalculated based on an 
  increase of 25% in all deaths per 
  thousand. 
  This is an oversimplification of the 
  mechanism of the Great Mortality, 
  which did not affect all of Mythic 
  Europe at the same time, nor did it 
  affect it equally. However, it 
  represents a worst-case scenario with 
  respect to the impact of the Black 
  Death.  
  Sources of Data 
  Ascadi, G & Nemeskeri, J. (1970) 
  History of Human Life Span and 
  Mortality. Akademiai Kiado, 
  Budapest. 
  Hollingsworth, T.H. (1985) A note 
  on the medieval longevity of the 
  secular peerage 1350 -– 1500. 
  Population Studies 29 (1) 155 – 159 
  McEvedy, C. and Jones, R. (1978). 
  Atlas of World Population History. 
  Penguin, Harmondsworth.  
   
  
  33 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Appendix: Population Size of the Order of Hermes over Time  
  Year Size  
  Year Size  
  Year Size  
  Year Size 
  767 
  13 
   
  998 740 
   1229 1300 
   1460 1923 
  774 
  26 
   1005 764 
   1236 1332 
   1467 1967 
  781 
  40 
   1012 558 
   1243 1365 
   1474 2016 
  788 
  53 
   1019 579 
   1250 1399 
   1481 2065 
  795 
  65 
   1026 599 
   1257 1433 
   1488 2115 
  802 
  78 
   1033 619 
   1264 1470 
   1495 2168 
  809 
  92 
   1040 640 
   1271 1506 
   1502 2221 
  816 200 
   1047 660 
   1278 1544 
   1509 2275 
  823 214 
   1054 678 
   1285 1581 
   1516 2331 
  830 229 
   1061 700 
   1292 1622 
   1523 2389 
  837 247 
   1068 720 
   1299 1661 
   1530 2448 
  844 264 
   1075 741 
   1306 1703 
   1537 2509 
  851 282 
   1082 761 
   1313 1744 
   1544 2569 
  858 303 
   1089 784 
   1320 1787 
   1551 2633 
  865 322 
   1096 804 
   1327 1833 
   1558 2699 
  872 341 
   1103 825 
   1334 1876 
   1565 2765 
  879 362 
   1110 848 
   1341 1924 
   1572 2832 
  886 383 
   1117 870 
   1348 1971 
   1579 2901 
  893 403 
   1124 892 
   1355 1967 
   1586 2972 
  900 424 
   1131 916 
   1362 1940 
   1593 3046 
  907 446 
   1138 940 
   1369 1901 
   1600 3121 
  914 468 
   1145 964 
   1376 1860 
   1607 3197 
  921 491 
   1152 989 
   1383 1819 
   1614 3276 
  928 515 
   1159 1013 
   1390 1778 
   1621 3355 
  935 538 
   1166 1038 
   1397 1737 
   1628 3437 
  942 561 
   1173 1066 
   1404 1700 
   1635 3523 
  949 585 
   1180 1093 
   1411 1663 
   
   
   
  956 609 
   1187 1120 
   1418 1671 
   
   
   
  963 616 
   1194 1148 
   1425 1701 
   
   
   
  970 639 
   1201 1177 
   1432 1741 
   
   
   
  977 663 
   1208 1207 
   1439 1785 
   
   
   
  984 689 
   1215 1238 
   1446 1831 
   
   
   
  991 713 
   1222 1267 
   1453 1876 
   
   
   
  
  34 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  B 
  eing 
  the 
  journal 
  of 
  Vulcanis Argens of House 
  Verditius, discovered during the 
  Vernal Inquisition after the fall of 
  Donum Chanuti. Let its secrets 
  inform the Order:  
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  I have experienced an epiphany. 
  Golias of Tytalus, magus of 
  Blackthorn, player of chess, healed 
  me of my wounds. Though I could do 
  little to help him in his ritual, we did 
  pick up a discussion started, as I 
  reminded him, seven years ago at the 
  last tribunal. 
  Golias has trouble finding chess 
  opponents as those in his covenant 
  seem to take little interest in the 
  game. Those few opponents he does 
  know live some way distant, too far 
  for a regular game. He has been 
  reduced to playing against visiting 
  Redcaps, the few mundanes of rank 
  who visit Blackthorn, and even an 
  erratic familiar with pretensions 
  above its station. 
  I consider that I can solve his 
  problem, given a little time and the 
  required resources. However, while I 
  now have a plan to work to, I did take 
  the wrong path at first. 
  I had initially proposed a device 
  that would allow him to play against a 
  given opponent many leagues distant. 
  But the only way I could imagine the 
  device working was through 
  sympathetic connections. In essence 
  the boards or some part of the device 
  would be linked to another identical 
  item. As the chess pieces were 
  moved, so the movement would be 
  replicated on the other board. It was a 
  sound prospect and the device would 
  have been a wonder to behold and a 
  joy to enchant. 
  There are a number of ways in 
  which this could be done, of course, 
  from physically moving the pieces, to 
  enchanting a mundane seated at the 
  table, to creating the illusion of the 
  chessboard and all the pieces in its 
  entirety. 
  But the cost of any of these 
  options would be too high. The time 
  to enchant such a device would be 
  long and with little future benefit to 
  myself beyond the possible gratitude 
  of one magus in one covenant. There 
  would still be difficulties in using the 
  device with a player sitting some way 
  distant. Either the players would need 
  some means of communication cast 
  alongside their game, or the device 
  itself must allow the same. Then there 
  is the matter of operating through not 
  just one but potentially two Aegis of 
  the Hearth rituals. The thought of my 
  device being seen as so weak that it 
  must be granted a casting token in 
  each of the two rituals cannot be 
  countenanced. I confess to a moment 
  of despondency. 
  Then the thought occurred. What 
  if I could make a device that could 
  learn? The device could, and almost 
  naturally would, start with no prior 
  knowledge of the game, its pieces, 
  rules, objectives, or strategies, but 
  would learn through exposure to the 
  games of a master. As it learned, it 
  would pose an increasing challenge to 
  that master. 
  Enchanting a device to move 
  From the Journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens 
  
  35 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  pieces around a board is child’s play; 
  an apprentice could do it within a 
  season. But for the device to hold and 
  use tactics, a strategy even? How 
  could it be done? 
  Unfortunately, I know of no 
  secrets held by my House that would 
  allow such a thing, indeed, all my 
  knowledge suggests that many have 
  tried and failed such a thing. The 
  automata, one of our most valued 
  secrets, are limited constructions 
  more suited to the expression of 
  hubris than to the creation of a 
  reasoning entity. 
  But what if I could succeed where 
  others have failed? 
  There are some within Verditius 
  and beyond that could bind spirits 
  into devices. I could learn from them 
  and bind a spirit into a form made to 
  look human but moved by magic 
  under the spirit’s guide. The device 
  would have some capacity to learn, 
  though not much as I understand, 
  and would be able to respond 
  instantly to its opponent’s moves as 
  required. 
  I am not comfortable with that on 
  both moral and professional grounds 
  as well as for self-preservation 
  reasons. Such a course seems cruel to 
  the spirit, entirely at odds with my 
  craft, and likely to bring heavy 
  retributions when whatever tortured 
  spirit I bind into the device eventually 
  works its way free. I cannot guarantee 
  that the spirit will turn its attentions 
  to the game and not to escape or 
  vengeance. I should not like to read 
  of Golias being murdered in his sleep 
  by his own chess set. Such news 
  would surely be detrimental to my 
  reputation and to the prospect of 
  future commission. 
  No! I have to find a way to give a 
  device its own cognition. The device 
  must, in itself, have awareness of 
  itself, its boundaries and its function. 
  It must possess the power of thought 
  so that it can conceive strategies and 
  see them through, and it must have, 
  at its core, the ability to learn. It must 
  have the capacity for improvement. 
  How else will it pose the unexpected 
  challenge that Golias so desires? And 
  how else will I create a device to 
  confound my house and secure my 
  reputation? 
  My mind whirls with the prospect, 
  but I find myself with so many things 
  to attend to that I must fight now to 
  remain focussed. 
  There is first the commission I 
  need to enchant, that great burrowing 
  beast able to dig lengthy tunnels 
  underground. My success in that will 
  fund my future work. For this I need 
  some knowledge of carpentry as the 
  device is to be made of wood and 
  while I can shape iron and make steel, 
  the last time I took chisel to plank I 
  near skinned my thumb. 
  I have also promised a suit of 
  armour of some kind to Benedic in 
  return for his support. It was for 
  support already given, but I secured 
  that with the promise of the armour. I 
  intend to secure his vote and support 
  again when I actually deliver it. I have 
  not yet told him that I first need to 
  learn both the art of making armour 
  and the Verditius art of bringing out 
  its inner quality. 
  This I feel I must do before 
  learning carpentry. I must set my 
  plans and keep to them. So, I must 
  first study with Junius. He will teach 
  me the last I need to know of the 
  House secrets and then teach me how 
  to bring out the inner natural quality 
  of items. That, I think is the next two 
  seasons fully described. Then it is to 
  armoury and then it is to the armour 
  itself, and then it is to bringing out its 
  quality. 
  This time next year I shall seek out 
  the covenant’s master carpenter. I 
  shall study under him for a season. 
  Then I shall construct the Beast that 
  Dwells Within the Firmament. 
  But after that, plans must be put 
  in place. What knowledge has been 
  lost and what is yet to be found? 
  More importantly, where might I find 
  it? 
   
   
   
  
  36 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  The tribunal has concluded. Few 
  were upset that Cad Gadu had not 
  attended and most seemed satisfied at 
  our explanation, though I think there 
  were raised eyebrows at the mention 
  of the heirs to Gwrhyr having claimed 
  the island. 
  I detected a murmur of respect 
  when my efforts were described. 
  Though I seek renown within my 
  House, as a master of my art, I do not 
  think I am comfortable with so many 
  others knowing my name, at least not 
  when it comes to adventurous 
  matters. However, I hope at least that 
  it might aid my efforts to be 
  commissioned in future. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  I have returned at last from 
  studying under Master Junius. It has 
  been some months since I last saw 
  my journal and I greet it now as a 
  changed man. 
  I mean that literally. My magic has 
  been recommitted to the mysteries of 
  House Verditius and it is only now 
  that I appreciate just how limiting 
  Bonisagus’ grand theory of magic has 
  been. There is so much more beyond 
  mere Technique and Form, wonders 
  and knowledge that the Order has 
  lost. Simple spells now feel so limiting 
  and if the knowledge I have gained 
  through just this first initiation into 
  the mysteries of my House may be 
  used as a marker then what power 
  and capabilities lie beyond? 
  The power to bring out the 
  inherent quality of a tool, as all things 
  are, from weapon to hammer to 
  plough to cloak to crown, to make 
  the wielder of that tool more 
  proficient in their tasks, is a wondrous 
  thing indeed. With just a season of 
  effort, I can make a shield grog excel 
  in his duties, take a craftsman from 
  journeyman to master, or turn a 
  prince into a king. 
  However, these lofty ambitions 
  have been hard-won. I have spent 
  many weeks learning lore about the 
  founding of my House and master 
  Verditius’ powers from before the 
  Order. There is no doubt that what 
  Junius told me is true and while I 
  cannot commit his words to this 
  journal it is enough to say that I have 
  gained further respect and love for 
  my House and its founder. 
  I spent a further season in creating 
  a minor enchantment. It was a small 
  silver balance, similar in form to one I 
  use for most projects within my 
  laboratory. It was enchanted with a 
  simple effect to allow the user to 
  sense all the mundane properties of 
  an object placed upon one plate and 
  then counterbalanced by a set of lead 
  weights. I created a mundane partner 
  to this balance, casting both from the 
  same batch of silver. 
  Junius oversaw, though did not 
  participate in the enchantment 
  process. 
  I had not expected it, but we then 
  journeyed to Verdi where we were 
  apparently expected. While the ritual 
  there, which resulted in the loss of 
  both the balances I had created, will 
  not be described here, I will say that it 
  was a day of great solemnity. The 
  next day however was given over to a 
  celebration and I even had the 
  opportunity to become reacquainted 
  with old friends I had met during my 
  years away from Donum Chanuti. 
  House Verditius wrongly has a 
  reputation for in-fighting, petty 
  squabbles, jealousy, and unrestrained 
  pride. I saw none of these things 
  during my time at Verdi. My 
  ascension was rightly welcomed as a 
  blessing to the House and not a 
  threat. No doubt word of my heroism 
  at Cad Gadu had reached them. 
  I did however detect some 
  consternation among the elders of the 
  House, though I was not privy to the 
  nature of the discussions. 
  On my return to Donum Chanuti, 
  I have found that Halbert has 
  maintained my forge and laboratory 
  well enough in my absence. I have 
  had to give him correction on only 
  four items. 
  
  37 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  The talk around the covenant is 
  that Valeria is intent on finding an 
  apprentice. My feelings on this are 
  conflicted. I find myself unexpectedly 
  jealous of her in that neither my Arts 
  nor my attention is currently suitable 
  for the raising of an apprentice. It is 
  my duty to do so and I shall learn and 
  gain much from the experience, but 
  my work keeps me occupied to the 
  point that I cannot yet conceive of 
  taking a child into my confidences 
  and my forge. 
  Also unexpectedly, I find that I 
  wish her well in her search. For 
  Donum Chanuti to survive it must 
  embrace the future. For all their 
  power and insight, neither Charonicus 
  nor Legalitus are forward-thinking. 
  Their bitter dispute serves only to 
  undermine the covenant, something I 
  shall avoid when I am Princeps. A 
  new apprentice in the covenant 
  would, I think, be a cause for 
  celebration. Now, if I could convince 
  a Bonisagus to take the apprentice 
  before gauntlet we can avoid swelling 
  the ranks of House Guernicus 
  further. 
  We had a visit from the redcap 
  this last week, which prompted 
  Halbert to recall events that had 
  happened during the seasons of my 
  absence. My forge is well-placed that 
  a man taking a well-earned break 
  from the working of metal may sit 
  outside and observe southwards to 
  the tower and northwards to the end 
  of the village and to the jetty upon 
  which the ferryman hitches his punt. 
  Halbert innocently observed 
  Bellatorius handing the redcap a 
  number of sealed letters, apparently in 
  a secret and furtive manner. 
  Bellatorius has not disclosed being 
  in communication with any other 
  magi beyond the covenant. Indeed 
  despite my observing the same 
  phenomenon this last week he made 
  no attempt to explain his actions. 
  With Benedic there seems little 
  change. He spends far too much time 
  alone in the woodland upon our 
  island, alone with nobody but his dog 
  and whatever spirits he can conjure 
  forth from those woods. 
  It seems a little insular to me and I 
  do wonder upon what topics he and 
  his spirits converse. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  I have spent the season since last 
  attending to my journal working in a  
  series of mundane workshops in both 
  Rye and Winchelsea under two master 
  craftsmen. The first was to gain an 
  understanding of leatherworking, but 
  the body of learning was from a 
  Winchelsea armourer who taught me 
  enough to create a competent leather 
  cuirass for Benedic. 
  Though I am more used to 
  working with iron and steel, I should 
  not like the job of making mail by 
  hand. I think I should rather create a 
  spell to achieve the same in future. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  Benedic’s armour is finished at last 
  and I am pleased with the outcome. It 
  is of a stout leather construction, but 
  that leather is scored with a pattern of 
  leaves, trees, and vines, and the 
  pattern filled with silver which shines 
  brightly in the presence of light. 
  By the Mysteries of my House, the 
  armour is as strong as steel and will 
  give Benedic the protection he craves. 
  I have convinced Benedic that our 
  former deal still stands and that his 
  support is mine when the time comes, 
  and I think that time draws very close 
  indeed. 
  I also took the time to make 
  myself a new chisel in preparation for 
  the carpentry that I have in front of 
  me. Perhaps, in making and 
  sharpening my own it will be less 
  inclined to turn against its master and 
  attempt the removal of my thumb. 
   
  
  38 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  T 
  his scenario is not a typical 
  Ars Magica story, a game 
  that reaches its full potential when 
  campaigning. It has indeed been 
  specifically designed for a one-shot 
  game, in convention and/or for 
  initiation. Initially published in the 
  French fanzine Ars Mag sometime 
  last millennium, when the current 
  edition of Ars Magica was the third, 
  it is available for the first time in 
  English, and for ArM5! 
  Introduction 
  The theme of this story is revenge. 
  Characters are confronted with the 
  way revenge obsesses men to their 
  demise, never allowing them any rest, 
  even when that revenge has been 
  satisfied. 
  Carel of Miglos is burning with 
  hatred for his brother the baron, who 
  sent him to crusade more than fifteen 
  years ago. He only dreams on taking 
  revenge from him and usurping his 
  title in retaliation. Herios, the hedge 
  magician, bears a grudge against the 
  magi of Hermes who formerly 
  mocked him, humiliated him, 
  doubted of his sorcerous skills before 
  refusing to admit him into their 
  Order. Évrard d’Ange himself might 
  succumb to wrath and seek to avenge 
  the death of his beloved, while other 
  characters retaliate on the mercenaries 
  who mistreated them… 
  Act I: Tarascon’s 
  fair 
  Tarascon’s fair, if not the most 
  important in the area, still attracts a 
  lot of traders from the whole county 
  and beyond. Quinault, the covenant’s 
  autocrat, can find here anything the 
  Covenant needs: food, cattle, drapery 
  and even glassware that can be used 
  in a maga’s lab. During this first day, 
  let the characters explore merchant 
  stalls, muse in the motley crowd 
  (barkers, beggars, acrobats…) 
  throughout the city. If you wish so, 
  roleplay Quinault’s shopping, keen 
  negotiations, etc. 
  In the early afternoon, the Baron 
  of Miglos shows up at the fair. He is a 
  barrel-chested man with a reputation 
  for being hot-headed. He generally 
  displays a fierce air and his disheveled 
  beard does not make him more 
  agreeable. In this occasion, the baron 
  is accompanied by all his family, 
  including his daughter Diane and his 
  brother Carel. This is a great 
  opportunity for the Storyguide to 
  describe all the protagonists of this 
  story, and for Évrard to approach 
  Diane of Miglos at last! However, skill 
  and subtlety are required not to alert 
  her irascible father. Moreover, Diane 
  is surrounded by her mother’s 
  companions. A simple diversion can 
  nonetheless help the young lady give 
  Évrard a message… 
  Note: Characters are very free 
  during this first day. The Storyguide 
  will have a difficult task not to favor 
  anybody by focusing, for instance, 
  only on the most important 
  characters, i.e., magi. So that 
  everybody has fun, other characters, 
  and particularly grogs, must have their 
  share of exposure. Good roleplaying 
  opportunities include, for instance, a 
  minor dispute with young, drunk 
  An Eternal Love 
  By Jérôme Darmont  
  Presentation 
  (to read to the players) 
  “You are all members of the Covenant 
  of Bentalone, located in the Provencal 
  Tribunal. On this beautiful spring day in 
  the year of our Lord 1215, you have been 
  traveling for three days through the 
  County of Foix, heading to Tarascon-sur-
  Ariège’s fair, which is held again this 
  year, despite much agitation in the area 
  (the Albigensian crusade rages and 
  Raymond-Roger, Earl of Foix, fights it 
  fervently). Your mission is to provide the 
  Covenant with food and various supplies, 
  whose stores are dangerously low. The fair 
  is also an opportunity for easing off, 
  especially for Évrard d’Ange, who has 
  been singing the beauty of his beloved 
  Diane of Miglos ever since you left 
  Bentalone. 
  “You reached Tarascon-sur-Ariège late 
  last night. There, a whole room was 
  booked for you at the Three Ducks Inn. 
  At dawn, the small city is already 
  humming with activity. You can bet it will 
  become quiet again only when the fair 
  ends, in three days from now on.” 
  Diane’s message 
  Évrard, my love. We have been apart 
  for too long. I am burning with the desire 
  to meet you again. My father will be 
  away from Miglos tonight. Some pressing 
  matter calls him at the earl’s and he will 
  only be back tomorrow. Come and meet 
  me in my bedroom in the keep after dusk. 
  I am yours for eternity. 
  Diane. 
  
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  people on the fair field, or Éthaine 
  the apprentice witnessing a beggar kid 
  being bullied by two bigger boys, etc. 
  Act II: Romantic 
  Rendezvous 
  In the evening, Évrard d’Ange 
  must go to Miglos to meet his belle. 
  He probably takes with him a couple 
  of companions, who can undoubtedly 
  be of great help. It is indeed not so 
  easy, even for a magus, to sneak into 
  a well-guarded fortress. Any help 
  (magical, diversion…) is welcome. 
  The Storyguide must nonetheless 
  ensure that Évrard can eventually 
  meet Diane. Miglos castle is about 
  three miles south of Tarascon-sur-
  Ariège, ideally located at the top of a 
  hill dominating the surrounding 
  valley. 
  While Évrard d’Ange sneaks into 
  Diane of Miglos’ bedroom and lovers 
  savor their reunion, the characters 
  who came along may notice 
  (Perception + Awareness roll of 6+) 
  that the soldiers defending the castle 
  are quite few. Visiting the stables 
  helps confirm that a fair number of 
  steeds are missing. By cleverly spying 
  on the remaining guards, the 
  characters may realize that all the 
  baron’s knights, as well as most of the 
  foot soldiers, are on duty at the Earl 
  of Foix’. Some are worried about the 
  castle’s security, for bands of 
  mercenaries from all over Mythic 
  Europe have recently arrived in the 
  area to give the crusaders a hand. The 
  characters also probably notice Carel 
  of Miglos and his friend Herios 
  coming and going. More particularly, 
  they can be seen walking on the 
  northern rampart twice this night. 
  Two hours after midnight, stupor! 
  The baron is back earlier than 
  Map key: 
  1) 
  Keep. On the first floor, an 
  entrance hall can become an 
  arms room in case of siege. 
  Food supplies are piled up in 
  the cellar below. The castle’s 
  great hall lies on the second 
  floor. The baron’s knights usu-
  ally sleep here. The third floor is 
  used exclusively by the baron’s 
  family. It is subdivided into a 
  half-dozen bedrooms (Diane’s 
  is on the east side, fortunately 
  for Évrard). At the crenelated 
  top of the tower sits a wooden 
  hut where guards shelter when 
  the weather is bad. There are 
  always two guards here, scruti-
  nizing the surrounding valley. 
  2) 
  Press. 
  3) 
  Oven and mill. 
  4) 
  North turret. This small round 
  tower, 
  crenellated 
  and 
  thickly 
  walled, is actually a wheat silo. 
  5) 
  Ramparts. They are equipped all-
  along with crenels and a covered 
  way. Rounds occur every hour. 
  6) 
  Chapel. 
  7) 
  Commons (kitchen, 
  servants’ 
  quarters, etc.) 
  8) 
  Courtyard. In clay (i.e., a mud field 
  when the weather is wet), it bears a 
  well in its center. 
  9) 
  Stables. 
  10) 
  Postern. Two square towers frame 
  the drawbridge and portcullis. 
  11) 
  Guards’ quarters. 
  12) 
  Moat. It is ten feet deep and partly 
  filled with water when it rains. 
  
  40 
   
   
   
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  expected! He and his entourage look 
  exhausted and get in the fortress 
  without a din, so that Évrard and 
  Diane cannot hear them (remember 
  that Diane’s windows open to the 
  outside of the castle, to the east). 
  Their friends may attempt to warn the 
  lovers, but it is already too late… A 
  couple of minutes after entering the 
  keep, the baron errupts into Diane’s 
  bedroom. Mad with rage, he brutally 
  catches Évrard d’Ange and throws 
  him out manu militari. The baron 
  being a strong fellow, we can bet that 
  Évrard cannot resist much. To 
  reassure the young magus, the 
  Storyguide should mention that the 
  baron does not draw his sword. 
  Évrard ends up wearing only his shirt, 
  and is ruthlessly thrown into the moat 
  from the drawbridge (damage +3). 
  The baron, who had not spoken at all 
  until then, leaves him with a laconic 
  warning: “Don’t you ever lay your 
  hands on my daughter, bastard!” 
  Note: If Évrard wonders how the 
  baron could come upon him, 
  although he was quite discreet, let him 
  wonder. In fact, Herios, Carel of 
  Miglos’ advisor, felt his presence with 
  his magic (Intellego Mentem) and, by 
  sheer wickedness (Diane of Miglos 
  does not like him very much), 
  “incited” the baron to check whether 
  his daughter was sleeping alone. The 
  tired baron easily succumbed to the 
  hedge magician’s spell. 
  Meanwhile, at the Three Ducks 
  Inn (let us not forget the other 
  characters who might have stayed 
  here), a party goes on. The 
  atmosphere is friendly and drinking 
  rounds succeed to one another, while 
  a troubadour pleases his audience 
  with songs and tales. Then, around 
  ten o’clock, a whole troop of German 
  mercenaries (half a dozen overall) 
  comes into the inn. They are 
  apparently already quite drunk, and 
  very vindictive. They verbally attack 
  anyone coming too close to the bar, 
  before provoking the bard, who sings 
  sissy songs to their taste. They are so 
  unbearable that a fight soon breaks 
  off in the inn (maybe caused by the 
  characters). Damages should only be 
  material (at the innkeeper’s great 
  distress; he desperately tries to save 
  his endangered furniture), or benign 
  for the characters, unless one of them 
  draws a weapon, in which case the 
  mercenaries do the same. In all cases, 
  the party is spoiled and everybody 
  goes back home, more or less 
  sickened, while the mercenaries leave 
  the place laughing out loud, delighted 
  by this “good fight”. 
  Act III: A Rough 
  Awakening 
  Late at night, all characters 
  probably join together at the Three 
  Ducks for a few hours of sleep. At 
  about half-past four in the morning, 
  Évrard d’Ange has a disturbing 
  dream. The Storyguide may describe 
  it only to Évrard’s player. Diane of 
  Miglos, or rather her image, for she 
  looks translucent, appears to Évrard. 
  She bends over his bed and speaks. 
  Her voice is strange, toneless. She 
  tells Évrard she loves him, always will, 
  and never wanted to leave him. Her 
  gaze is full of sadness. Évrard wakes 
  up sweating at this point, and realizes 
  Diane still stands in his room. As 
  soon as he tries to talk to her or come 
  closer, her image vanishes, leaving the 
  young magus distraught and unable to 
  fall asleep again. 
  The other characters only rest for 
  a couple of hours too, for they are 
  also waken up at dawn by dull noises 
  and shouts (long-term fatigue, if any, 
  is not recovered). If they have a 
  glance by the window, they realize 
  that the inn is literally assaulted by a 
  troop of a dozen men (yesterday’s 
  Germ an m er cenar ies, with 
  reinforcement!). If the characters can 
  hear their conversation with the 
  terrified innkeeper (Perception + 
  Awareness roll of 9+; words are 
  stifled), they realize they are searched 
  for. And certainly not for good deeds! 
  The characters must react swiftly 
  to be able to run away, but a little 
  magic should help. Then, the 
  mercenaries chase them mercilessly; 
  they have been paid very generously 
  to catch Évrard d’Ange. The 
  characters may also decide to surprise 
  the assailants and confront them on 
  German Mercenary 
  Characteristics: Int -1, Per +1, Prs 0, Com -1, Str +1, 
  Sta +2, Dex +2, Qik +1 
  Size: 0 
  Age: about 20 
  Personality Traits: Bold +1, Greedy +3, Rude +2 
  Reputation: Lawless (Local, Tarascon-sur-Ariège) 2 
  Combat: 
  Fist: Init -2, Atk +5, Def +4, Dam+1 
  Long Spear: Init +1, Atk +9, Def +6, Dam +8 
  Short Bow: Init -3, Atk +8, Def +4, Dam +7 
  Soak: +5 (Partial Leather Scale) 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Inca-
  pacitated (16-20) 
  Core Abilities: German 4, Langue d’Oc 2, Brawl 3, 
  Great Weapon 4, Bows 3, Carouse (Drinking) 1 
  Encumbrance: 3 (7) 
  
  41 
   
   
   
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  the spot. With luck, they might well 
  get rid of them, but this fight might 
  also make them unwanted in 
  Tarascon (especially if they make use 
  of blatant magic, which is formally 
  forbidden by the Code of Hermes 
  anyway). The brawl may also end up 
  with Évrard’s capture if the characters 
  do not manage very well. Other 
  characters but Évrard, whom the 
  mercenaries are not interested in, 
  must then free him, for instance when 
  he is transferred to Miglos. 
  If the characters can run away 
  from the inn and the town, they must 
  still find a way to get rid of the tough 
  mercenaries. They have several 
  solutions, including the following 
  (non-exhaustive list): 
   
  Ambush them on favorable 
  terrain; 
   
  Penetrate into a forest and try 
  to lose the Germans (a mean 
  of taking a panicked Éthaine in 
  the woods must be found); 
   
  Seek shelter in a church (a 
  solution that would greatly 
  displease Martin, and that 
  would be temporary anyway 
  for the mercenaries would 
  simply “besiege” the holy 
  building – unless the characters 
  find a way to leave under 
  disguise); 
   
  Run back to Bentalone to 
  request the protection of the 
  Grand Council, which 
  dispatches grogs to take care of 
  the mercenaries, but orders the 
  characters to sort this all out, 
  and without attracting outside 
  attention to the Covenant, this 
  time! 
  Map Key: 
  1) 
  Dining Room 
  2) 
  Stable 
  3) 
  Innkeeper and wife’s bedroom 
  4) 
  Kitchen 
  5) 
  Hall (where poor customers 
  sleep) 
  6) 
  Individual Bedrooms 
  7) 
  Dorm 
  8) 
  Characters’ Dorm 
  Horst, Mercenary Captain 
  Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1, Prs 0, Com -2, Str +2, 
  Sta +3, Dex +2, Qik -2 
  Size: +1 
  Age: 30 
  Confidence Score: 1 (3) 
  Personality Traits: Brave +2, Ambitious +1, Greedy 
  +2, Harsh +1 
  Reputation: Cruel (Local, Tarascon-sur-Ariège) 2 
  Combat: 
  Fist: Init -4, Atk +5, Def +1, Dam +2 
  Pole Axe: Init -3, Atk +14, Def +5, Dam +13 
  Soak: +10 (Full Metal Scale) 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: -1 (1-6), -3 (7-12), -5 (13-18), Inca-
  pacitated (19-24) 
  Core Abilities: German 4, Langue d’Oc 3, Fist 3, Great 
  Weapon 7, Hunt 3, Ride 3, Leadership 3 
  Encumbrance: 2 (9) 
  
  42 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
   
  If the characters manage to 
  capture a mercenary, they can learn 
  some pieces of information. The 
  Germans have been hired by the 
  Baron of Miglos to bring Évrard 
  d’Ange back to the castle. The baron 
  indeed holds him responsible for the 
  death of his daughter Diane, who 
  threw herself down from a tower. 
  That’s all the mercenaries know. 
  Some Explanations 
  for the Storyguide 
  Diane of Miglos is really dead. Her 
  ghost actually paid a visit to Évrard 
  this morning. After her father threw 
  her lover out of Miglos, the young 
  lady was furious. Locked in her room, 
  her door watched by two guards, she 
  was steaming against so much 
  injustice. She decided to talk to her 
  father to convince him to accept her 
  love for Évrard. Knowing he was 
  busy by the stable despite the late 
  hour, she fooled her guardians and 
  took the north covered way. That is 
  where she interrupted her uncle Carel 
  discussing with Horst, the mercenary 
  captain, who was down the walls. She 
  quickly understood they were plotting 
  an attack against the castle, taking 
  advantage of the small number of 
  defenders available. Horrified, she 
  was about to walk back when Herios 
  stood in the way. She had just been 
  the witness of a very embarrassing 
  transaction. Thus, Carel and Herios 
  coldly decided to throw her down the 
  north turret… This was meant to 
  look like a suicide. It was half-past 
  four in the morning. 
  Carel of Miglos and his brother 
  the baron have quite different ideas 
  about politics. Although both agree 
  on preserving their domain from the 
  crusade, their opinions about how to 
  do it vary widely. The baron, as his 
  overlord the Earl of Foix, considers 
  Cathars benevolently and considers 
  crusaders as invaders, while Carel 
  would prefer to compound with the 
  stronger party (the crusaders) to save 
  his fief. Yes, his fief! He never 
  forgave his brother for sending him 
  on crusade (in the Orient, this time) 
  fifteen years ago. He came back 
  wounded, both in his flesh and soul, 
  with the firm will to take revenge and 
  usurp his brother’s title (he thinks he 
  deserves it more than him, anyway). 
  On the way back from the Orient, in 
  Greece, he met his henchman Herios. 
  Herios, considered as a hedge 
  magician, was chased by members of 
  the Order of Hermes from the 
  Theban Tribunal. He took the 
  opportunity to fly away with Carel, 
  seduced by his promises of power in 
  the distant land of Languedoc… 
  For now, Carel of Miglos’ plans 
  are gravely jeopardized. The baron 
  indeed entered a mad rage when he 
  learnt of his daughter’s demise 
  (Herios did not even need to “help” 
  him with his sorcery). The problem is 
  that, dismissing his principles, the 
  baron hired Horst and his 
  mercenaries at a high price to bring 
  Évrard d’Ange back to Miglos (he 
  needs his own soldiers to defend the 
  place). Since the bounty offered by 
  the baron was much bigger than 
  anything the moneyless Carel of 
  Miglos could pay, Horst opted for 
  short-term profit, especially since it 
  looked a priori much easier to capture 
  Évrard d’Ange than seizing the 
  fortress of Miglos! 
  Act IV: Return to 
  Miglos 
  At this stage, the characters must 
  go back to Miglos and investigate. 
  Some of them are probably not 
  willing to. If necessary, push Évrard’s 
  player to convince them. If Évrard 
  himself is discouraged, have Diane’s 
  ghost intervene to beg him to come 
  to Miglos. Then, the characters must 
  imagine a cover to enter the castle. 
  For instance, they may stand as 
  entertainers, who are generally 
  welcome everywhere, even 
  (especially?) in these troubled times. 
  Évrard must nonetheless shift his 
  
  43 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  appearance not to be recognized. 
  Once inside the fortress, the 
  characters must uncover the 
  circumstances of Diane of Miglos’ 
  death. Here are a couple of possible 
  leads. 
  By questioning castle guards or 
  servants, the characters may learn that 
  Diane of Miglos threw herself from 
  the north turret. Carel of Miglos, the 
  baron’s brother, heard her shout and 
  arrived first on the spot. Something 
  should make the characters think 
  twice. Why did Diane of Miglos 
  throw herself from the north turret 
  instead of her room’s window? What 
  was her uncle doing in the area right 
  in the middle of the night? 
  Diane of Miglos’ body lies in the 
  chapel. Since she committed suicide, 
  Father Valeray, by order of the 
  bishop, refuses to give her Christian 
  sacraments (thence, her ghost still 
  wanders this earth). This put the 
  baron into rage, but he could not deal 
  with the issue, being summoned to 
  Foix again for an emergency. It is 
  probably the sole opportunity for 
  Évrard to use his Whispers Through 
  the Black Gate spell and discover 
  how his beloved died. It should also 
  strengthen Évrard’s will to unmask 
  Diane’s murderers so as she rests in 
  peace. 
  Quinault the autocrat may have a 
  vision of the murder if he walks on 
  the north rampart. Then, he falls into 
  a trance and “witnesses” the terrible 
  end of Diane of Miglos. 
  All these clues should lead the 
  characters to take interest in Carel of 
  Miglos and Herios. Skilfully spying 
  their conversations or a possible new 
  meeting with Horst shall eventually 
  confirm the characters’ suspicion. But 
  beware! Herios might detect spies 
  magically (Intellego Mentem). If he 
  has the slightest suspicion, Carel of 
  Miglos and he will first try to 
  Carel of Miglos 
  Characteristics: Int +1, Per -1, Prs -1, Com +1, Str +1, 
  Sta +2, Dex +2, Qik 0 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 35 
  Confidence Score: 1 (2) 
  Personality Traits: Bitter +5, Vengeful +6, Treacherous 
  +4, Scornful +2 
  Reputation: Bitter (Local, Miglos) 1 
  Combat: 
  Long Sword & Shield: Init -1, Atk +13, Def +11, Dam +7 
  Short Bow: Init -4, Atk +9, Def +4, Dam +7 
  Soak: +8 (Partial Chain Mail) 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Inca-
  pacitated (16-20) 
  Core Abilities: Langue d’Oc 4, Arabic 3, Single Weapon 
  7, Bows 4, Ride 4, Intrigue 4 
  Encumbrance: 3 (7) 
  
  44 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  incriminate the characters in the 
  murder, and then, if they fail, try to 
  eliminate them, and eventually, run 
  away. 
  When the baron is back two days 
  later, a good way to bring the light on 
  the whole story and convict Carel is 
  to find Horst and convince him to tell 
  what he knows. Paying him well will 
  definitely work, but threatening him 
  might also do the job. However, 
  accusing the baron’s brother without 
  proof is a very bad idea… 
  If the characters are really lost and 
  cannot understand what happened, 
  have Diane of Miglos’ ghost guide 
  them. For instance, she can push 
  them toward her uncle or Herios. If 
  Herios realizes what the characters 
  are doing at this stage, he will 
  probably decide to use Diane’s ghost 
  against the characters. He can indeed 
  control her with the help of the 
  Incantation of Summoning the Dead 
  and Coerce the Spirits of the Night 
  spells, and make her decoy the 
  characters toward the German 
  mercenaries. 
  Act V: Untying 
  If everything goes well, the 
  characters should have restored the 
  truth regarding Diane of Miglos’ 
  death when the baron returns. Even if 
  Carel of Miglos escaped, he is now in 
  disgrace, while Évrard d’Ange, by 
  allowing Diane’s Christian burying, 
  instates in the baron a new esteem for 
  him. The whole troupe is invited by 
  the baron to stay a couple of days in 
  Miglos. 
  There is still an issue remaining, 
  though. Even after Diane of Miglos’ 
  burying, her ghost keeps haunting 
  Évrard every night at half-past four in 
  the morning. The lady’s soul cannot 
  depart for Diane cannot bear leaving 
  her great love. Only Évrard can 
  appease her and allow her to rest in 
  peace, at last. He knows a spell for 
  this sake (Lay to Rest the Haunting 
  Spirit) and it should be easy (the Spirit 
  Might of Diane’s ghost is 10). As the 
  Storyguide, try to bring a lot of 
  emotion into this end scene and make 
  it as moving as possible. 
  Assessing player 
  success 
  The following points help evaluate 
  the degree of player accomplishment 
  in this story (but not roleplaying feats, 
  though) in a convention context. 
  They are enumerated in order of 
  importance. 
  1) 
  The circumstances of Diane of 
  Miglos have been uncovered. 
  2) 
  Carel of Miglos has been 
  delivered to his brother. 
  3) 
  Herios the hedge magician has 
  been put out of harm’s way. 
  4) 
  Diane of Miglos’ soul has been 
  appeased. 
  5) 
  Magi did not infringe the Code 
  of Hermes and, notably, did 
  not make flagrant usage of 
  magic among mortals. 
  6) 
  The covenant of Bentalone has 
  been, despite all these events, 
  correctly resupplied. 
  7) 
  The German mercenary troop 
  headed by Horst has been 
  disbanded. 
  Herios the Hedge Magician 
  Characteristics: Int +3, Per +2, Prs -3, Com +1, Str -1, 
  Sta +2, Dex +1, Qik 0 
  Size: -1 
  Age: apparently 40 
  Confidence Score: 1 (3) 
  Personality Traits: Deceitful +3, Brave -3, Unctuous 
  +2, Mischievous +2 
  Reputations: Weird (Local, Miglos) 1, Hedge magus 
  (Hermetic, Tribunal of Thebes) 3 
  Combat: 
  Fist: Init +2, Atk +7, Def +7, Dam -1 
  Dagger: Init +2, Atk +9, Def +7, Dam +2* 
  Soak: +3 (Partial Fur) 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: -1 (1-4), -3 (5-8), -5 (9-12), Incapaci-
  tated (13-16) 
  Core Abilities: Greek 4, Arabic 4, Langue d’Oc 3, Folk 
  Ken 2, Brawl (Defense) 6, Entrancement 5, Philosophiae 3, 
  Magic Lore 3, Order of Hermes Lore 1, Penetration 
  (Entrancement) 5 
  Powers: Magic Resistance 20, Equivalent of the 5 Tech-
  niques 0, Equivalent of Mentem 20, Mentem spells up to 
  Level 25 (inevitably casted by chanting a heady recitative**) 
  * The blade is covered with poison. Any wounded char-
  acter must roll a 9+ Stamina stress die every round. In case 
  of failure, the victim loses one fatigue level. When all fa-
  tigue levels are lost, more and more serious wounds are 
  suffered. One single successful Stamina roll stops the ef-
  fects of poison. A botch directly renders the victim inca-
  pacitated. 
  ** Which lowers Évrard d’Ange’s Parma Magica. 
  Encumbrance: 2 (2) 
  
  45 
   
   
   
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  Évrard d’Ange, Magus of House Jerbiton 
  Characteristics: Intelligence (Quick-witted) +3, Per-
  ception (Carefree) -2, Presence (Handsome) +2, Commu-
  nication (Beautiful voice) +1, Strength (Frail) -1, Stamina 
  (Alert) +1, Dexterity (Legerdemain) +1, Quickness 
  (Nonchalant) -1 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 26 
  Confidence Score: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Hermetic Magus, The Gift, Gentle 
  Gift, Quiet Magic, Subtle Magic, True Love (Diane of 
  Miglos), Deficient Technique (Perdo), Flawed Parma Magi-
  ca (when the spell caster chants), Weak Enchanter 
  Personality Traits: Passionate +3, Frivolous +2, 
  Proud +1, Brave +1 
  Reputation: Penniless (Local, Nobility of the County 
  of Foix) 2 
  Combat: 
  Short Sword: Init -1, Atk +8, Def +5, Dam +4 
  Soak: +1 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Inca-
  pacitated (16-20) 
  Core Abilities: Langue d’Oc (Poetry) 4, Latin 5, Artes 
  Liberales 3, Magic Theory 4, Order of Hermes Lore 1, Par-
  ma Magica (Rego) 2, Music (Love songs) 4, Folk Ken 
  (Nobility) 1, Stealth (Moving silently) 2, Single Weapon 
  (Defense) 4, Ride (Parade) 3, Etiquette (Nobility) 1, Coun-
  ty of Foix Lore (Nobility) 1, Code of Hermes (Interactions 
  with mundanes) 1, Charm (Courteous love) 1 
  Arts: Creo 3, Intellego 4, Muto 8, Perdo 0, Rego 5, Ani-
  mal 0, Aquam 0, Auram 0, Corpus 10, Herbam 0, Ignem 0, 
  Imaginem 0, Mentem 10, Terram 0, Vim 0 
  Spells: 
  The Call to Slumber (ReMe 10) +16: makes the target 
  fall asleep (p. 151) 
  Arm of the Infant (MuCo 20) +19: shrinks the target’s 
  arm (p. 131) 
  Confusion of the Numbed Will (ReMe 15) +16: confus-
  es the target (p. 151) 
  Rise of the Feathery Body (ReCo 10) +16: makes the 
  target levitate (p. 134) 
  The Chirurgeon’s Healing Touch (CrCo 20, ritual) +17: 
  heals wounds (p. 129) 
  Whispers Through the Black Gate (InCo/Me 15) +15: 
  allows speaking with the dead (p. 130) 
  Disguise of the New Visage (MuCo 15) +19: modifies 
  the target’s appearance (p. 131) 
  Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit (PeMe 20) +11: appeas-
  es a spirit, a ghost (p. 150) 
  Thoughts Within Babble (InMe 25) +15: allows under-
  standing foreign languages (p. 149) 
  Aura of Ennobled Presence (MuIm 10) +9: makes the 
  target look more credible, stronger (p. 145) 
  Wizard Sigil: A couple of melodious music notes 
  Vis: 3 pawns of Corpus 
  Encumbrance: 1 (1) 
   
  Description: In one word, you look great! The way you 
  carry your head and your costly, fashionable clothes leaves 
  no doubt about your noble origin. You are said nice, warm 
  and easy going. Moreover, you have no disdain for socializ-
  ing with commoners, which fuels your popularity. Your 
  elders of the Grand Council view you as carefree and frivo-
  lous, but you can be serious when it turns necessary. 
   
  Background: You have been a member of the Cove-
  nant of Bentalone for almost one year now. After passing 
  your gauntlet and becoming a full magus at the 1214 Pro-
  vencal Tribunal, you scrupulously selected the Covenant 
  closest to Miglos and managed to be accepted. Your only 
  goal was to live close to your beloved, your life’s true love, 
  Diane, daughter of the Baron of Miglos… You met her 
  while travelling with your master Tancrède le Bel, minstrel 
  and, of course, Jerbiton magus. Although Diane and you 
  were both very young at that time, you deeply fell in love 
  with each other. Until you could at last choose your own 
  destiny, you could only meet Diane when Tancrède’s trav-
  els brought you to Miglos, but the strength of your love 
  never waned. 
   
  Motivation: When the Grand Council declared that the 
  covenant needed supplies and that someone should go 
  with Quinault the autocrat to Tarascon’s fair, you immedi-
  ately volunteered. Not that the company of Quinault is 
  particularly fun or that you like bargaining for cattle or oth-
  er supplies, but Tarascon-sur-Ariège is only half a league 
  north of Miglos! Here is an unexpected occasion to meet 
  Diane, who will certainly be at the fair too. The other 
  members of the expedition perfectly know why you accept-
  ed this chore. It is indeed difficult to hide when you look 
  so happy and keep singing Diane’s beauty along the road! 
   
   
  (Continued on page 46) 
  
  46 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Relationships with the Other Characters: 
   
  Carélia: She has been your shield grog, your person-
  al bodyguard, ever since you joined Bentalone. She 
  was imposed by the Great Council, which judged 
  that your expeditions among mundanes could be 
  dangerous for you. You were quite offended, but 
  there was no way to disobey. Eventually, Carélia 
  proved discreet, devoted, and in more than one oc-
  casion useful to help you out of trouble. You ended 
  up esteeming her and granted her your friendship. 
   
  Éthaine: What a naughty kid! If she was not Mar-
  tin’s apprentice, you would have beaten her up long 
  ago! You wonder why Martin keeps praising her 
  magical skills and her intelligence; you cannot stand 
  her. She always bothers you with her silly jokes and 
  inept babbling. 
   
  Gailhard: He is a Turb (Covenant guards) sergeant. 
  He is a little crude, but he is a competent soldier. 
   
  Martin: He is the only magus in the Covenant you 
  can call a friend, presumably because he is younger 
  than the members of the Grand Council. Of course, 
  he spends all his time in magical studies, while you 
  prefer living among mundanes, but you both got 
  along right from the start. You often chat for hours 
  about your respective views of magic but you had a 
  really hard time convincing this incorrigible lab rat 
  to come with you to Tarascon’s fair to take some 
  fresh hair. 
   
  Quinault: He is the Covenant’s autocrat (steward). 
  A too serious man who does not appreciate that you 
  sing for the grogs… Avoid him, or boredom will 
  catch upon you! 
  (Continued from page 45) 
  
  47 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Carélia, Évrard’s Shield Grog 
  Characteristics: Intelligence (Slow) -2, Perception (On 
  her toes) +1, Presence (Masculine) -2, Communication 
  (Taciturn) -1, Strength (Strong shoulders) +2, Stamina 
  (Iron constitution) +3, Dexterity (Sure-footed) +2, Quick-
  ness (Good reflexes) +1 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 23 
  Confidence Score: 2 (5) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Custos, Self-Confident, Puissant 
  Ability (Single Weapon), Covenant Upbringing, Du-
  tybound, Oversensitive (Disagreeable remarks to women) 
  Personality Traits: Brave +3, Devoted +3, Spiteful +1, 
  Quiet +2 
  Reputation: Not to be trifled with (Among grogs) 1 
  Combat: 
  Fist: Init -1, Atk +4, Def +5, Dam +2 
  Spear & Round Shield: Init +1, Atk +13, Def +12, Dam 
  +7 
  Soak: +10 (Full Metal Scale) 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Would Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Incapaci-
  tated (16-20) 
  Core Abilities: Langue d’Oc 4, Brawl (Immobilize) 2, 
  Awareness (Ambushes) 3, Athletics (Climb walls) 3, Single 
  Weapon (Close protection) 7+2, Swim 2, Leadership 
  (Intimidation) 1 
  Encumbrance: 2 (10) 
   
  Description: You certainly cannot be described as the 
  incarnation of womanhood. When you are fully equipped, 
  armor and helmet included, many even mistake you for a 
  man. You generally do nothing to disabuse them. You do 
  not care what others think. 
   
  Background: Your father was already part of Benta-
  lone’s Turbula (guards). He had brought you to this place 
  so that you had a roof over your head and regular meals. 
  He died during a far-away expedition with magi. You were 
  only five years old. You never knew your mother who, you 
  think, died when you were born. Thus, you have been 
  raised at the Covenant. You were probably meant to be-
  come a maid, but you were more attracted by martial train-
  ing than menial chores. The Turb captain noticed you and 
  encouraged your inclination. After being a simple soldier, 
  you now occupy, thanks to your courage, the envied posi-
  tion of Custos (favorites among the grogs) and shield grog 
  (magi personal bodyguard). 
   
  Motivation: You are part of the expedition to Tarascon-
  sur-Ariège to protect the magi (Évrard d’Ange and Martin) 
  and, but not as much, their apprentices (actually Éthaine). 
  You must ensure that nothing bad happens to them. How-
  ever, since this is no dangerous expedition, you should be 
  able to enjoy the fair and have a little fun. Such occasions 
  are so rare! 
   
  Relationships with the Other Characters: 
   
  Éthaine: She is Martin’s apprentice. You do not 
  always understand her jokes, but she is a nice girl, 
  overall. She is sometimes cruel to you, but when she 
  realizes, she soon asks for forgiveness. Maybe she is 
  a little jealous of you being so close to Évrard? 
   
  Évrard: You are his regular shield grog. Ever since 
  the first day, you have been loving him. You were 
  imposed to him, and he did not like it, but you were 
  able to become indispensable at his side. Now, he 
  has accepted you. You know that your love is im-
  possible, for Évrard loves the beautiful Diane of 
  Miglos. Anyway, you suffer in silence and do every-
  thing to make him happy. 
   
  Gailhard: He is a Turb sergeant, and your immedi-
  ate superior. He does not like a woman to be a Cus-
  tos like he and regularly lets you know. But as long 
  as the Turb captain backs you up, you have nothing 
  to dread from him. 
   
  Martin: He is a magus and as such, you must pro-
  tect him. However, if you had to choose who to 
  save between him and Évrard, you would not hesi-
  tate for a single second. Actually, you do not know 
  Martin very well, because he practically never steps 
  out of his laboratory. 
   
  Quinault: He is the Covenant’s autocrat (steward). 
  You do not deal with him any more since you joined 
  the Turbula. In the Covenant, he is reputed to be 
  extremely strict. 
  
  48 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Martin, Magus of House Bonisagus 
  Characteristics: Intelligence (Brilliant) +4, Perception 
  (Attentive) +1, Presence (Retiring) -1, Communication 
  (Stammers often) -1, Strength (Weak arms) -1, Stamina (Wilful) 
  +1, Dexterity (Clumsy) -1, Quickness (Alert) +2 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 33 
  Confidence Score: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Hermetic Magus, The Gift, Life-Linked 
  Spontaneous Magic, Hermetic Prestige, Personal Vis Source 
  (Vim Vis all over the body), Inventive Genius, Fast Caster, Great 
  Characteristic, Learn Magic Theory from Mistakes, Necessary 
  Condition (Gestures), Dark secret (took his master in Final Twi-
  light), Noncombatant, Susceptibility to Divine Power 
  Personality Traits: Curious +3, Obstinate +2, Faithful +2, 
  Ambitious +1 
  Reputation: Inventive (Hermetic) 3 
  Soak: +1 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Would Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Incapacitated 
  (16-20) 
  Core Abilities: German 4, Latin 5, Artes Liberales 3, Magic 
  Theory (Spell invention) 7, Order of Hermes Lore (Heroes) 4, 
  Parma Magica (Perdo) 3, Langue d’Oc 4, Finesse (Precision) 2, 
  Penetration (Rego) 2, Philosophiae (Magic) 2, Concentration 
  (Long periods) 3, Certamen (Rego) 2 
  Arts: Creo 7, Intellego 7, Muto 6, Perdo 5, Rego 13, Animal 5, 
  Aquam 5, Auram 5, Corpus 5, Herbam 5, Ignem 5, Imaginem 5, 
  Mentem 5, Terram 5, Vim 12 
  Spells: 
  The Ear for Distant Voices (InIm 20) +13: distance listening (p. 
  145) 
  Gather the Essence of the Beast (ReVi 15) +26: distillates the raw 
  Vis contained in a dead creature (p. 162) 
  Freeing the Striding Tree (ReHe 30) +19: animates a tree (p. 139) 
  Sense of the Lingering Magic (InVi 30) +20: detects magical resi-
  dues (p. 158) 
  Weaver’s Trap of Webs (CrAn 35) +13: projects a giant spider 
  web (p. 117) 
  The Unseen Porter (ReTe 10) +19: helps move heavy objects, 
  such as a chest (p. 156) 
  Wall of Protecting Stone (CrTe 25) +13: creates a stone wall (p. 
  153) 
  Suppressing the Wizard’s Handiwork (ReVi 35) +26: suspends a 
  spell (p. 162) 
  Lamp without Flame (CrIg 10) +13: creates light (p. 140) 
  Wizard Sigil: Geometric perfection 
  Vis: 3 pawns of Creo, 3 pawns of Intellego, 3 pawns of Rego, 5 
  pawns of Vim 
  Encumbrance: 0 (0) 
   
  Description: You are average-sized, quite emaciate and a little 
  clumsy. Your robes are frequently stained with the sometimes 
  explosive results of your magical experiments. But anyway! Ap-
  pearance is of little importance. Gossipers will soon shut up 
  when your experiments allow you to have Bonisagus’ magic the-
  ory make a huge leap forward (which should come soon with 
  your last experiments going so well). 
   
  Background: Your apprenticeship took place in the Rhine 
  Tribunal, under supervision of Archmagus Ecilius. After you 
  passed your gauntlet in 1207, you came to Languedoc with your 
  master, who thought he could find in the rich local libraries capi-
  tal information to pursue his research. As he was about to reach 
  his goal, you made a tiny manipulation mistake that sent you 
  both in Twilight. You came back enlightened on some aspects of 
  magic theory that eluded you up to now, but Ecilius succumbed 
  to final twilight… Quaesitores did not even think you could be 
  held responsible, you, a disciple of Bonisagus. You surely did not 
  delude them. Rather than coming back to the Rhine Tribunal, 
  where you would have had to provide embarrassing explanations, 
  you remained at the Covenant of Bentalone, which you have 
  been a member of since 1210. 
   
  Motivation: You are not used to going to Tarascon-sur-Ariège 
  for resupplying the Covenant. Évrard d’Ange considerably insist-
  ed that you “get out, breathe a little fresh air and forsake your 
  dear laboratory for a couple of days”. You finally agreed. You 
  suspect he wants you to help him meet his beloved, Diane of 
  Miglos. Moreover, it is true that your apprentice Éthaine has 
  never left the Covenant since she entered apprenticeship three 
  years ago. At that age, one cannot constantly remain inside a lab. 
   
  Relationships with the Other Characters: 
   
  Carélia: She is Évrard’s shield grog (bodyguard). She was 
  imposed to him by the Grand Council, which was a fortu-
  nate decision, for she helped him out of several critical 
  situations. 
   
  Éthaine: She is your first apprentice and reveals very 
  promising. You feel a great potential in her. Évrard often 
  complains about her behavior, while she is always quiet 
  and focused with you. She probably unwinds out of your 
  laboratory. So much the better! 
   
  Évrard: He is your only true friend in the Covenant. 
  Members of the Grand Council are much older than you 
  and certainly do not share the same preoccupations. 
  Évrard and you have very different views regarding mag-
  ic, but it is fascinating to hear him dissert about the 
  “magic” of art and other mundane things. 
   
  Gailhard: He is a Turb (Covenant guards) sergeant. You 
  know him by sight, but it is the first time you really deal 
  with him. He is certainly a skilled fighter. 
   
  Quinault: He is the Covenant’s autocrat (steward), a seri-
  ous man who can be counted on. When you need a rare 
  or costly ingredient, he always manages to deliver it to 
  you in reasonable time. A precious man! 
  
  49 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Éthaine, Martin’s apprentice 
  Characteristics: Intelligence (Studious) +3, Perception 
  (Curious) +1, Presence (Cute) +2, Communication 0, Strength 
  (Thin) -3, Stamina (Determined) +2, Dexterity 0, Quickness 
  (Restless) +2 
  Size: -1 
  Age: 13 
  Confidence Score: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Apprentice, Gentle Gift, Puissant Art 
  (Rego), Animal Ken, Apt Student, Gossip, Necessary Condition 
  (Gestures), Animal Companion (Zorg the dog), Delusion 
  (Évrard d’Ange loves her), Compulsion (Jokes) 
  Personality Traits: Merry +1, Practical joker +3, Serious +1, 
  Jealous +3 
  Combat: 
  Fist: Init +2, Atk +2, Def +5, Dam -3 
  Soak: +2 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Would Penalties: -1 (1-4), -3 (5-8), -5 (9-12), Incapacitated (13
  -16) 
  Core Abilities: Langue d’Oc 4, Latin 2, Artes Liberales 1, 
  Magic Theory 2, Order of Hermes Lore (History) 1, Parma Magi-
  ca 1, Brawl (Defense) 2, Stealth (Hide) 1, Legerdemain (Food) 2, 
  Athletics (Climb trees) 1 
  Arts: Rego 4/6, Animal 3, Corpus 2 
  Spells: 
  Eyes of the Cat (MuCo/An 5) +4: helps see at night (p. 131) 
  The Gentle Beast (ReAn 25) +13: calms an animal (p. 120) 
  Wizard Sigil: Small ephemeral stars 
  Encumbrance: 0 (0) 
  Description: You are a pretty young woman, now. And if any-
  body, relying on your freckles, your black plait and your small 
  size, came to treat you like a girl, he’d better take care, for you 
  are now almost a maga and you would soon turn him (inevitably 
  him) into a pig! 
  Background: You have never been happy at your peasant 
  parents’. They preferred your brothers and sisters and used to 
  have you do the most repellent chores. Without reason, they 
  often threatened you to lose you in the forest and get rid of you, 
  the good-for-nothing. Your brothers and sisters were even 
  worse, always pulling your hair, throwing stones at you and steal-
  ing your food. Your only true friend was your dog Zorg, a bald-
  ing bastard nobody wanted. You finally understood, when you 
  were 8, that you actually frightened them. Thence, you immedi-
  ately put these vexations to an end, but your family became even 
  more mistrustful. Your tenth birthday was meant to be as sad as 
  the others, when you met in the fields a curious man who was 
  staring at you. That evening, when you came back home, he was 
  talking to your father. The mysterious stranger gave your old 
  man a rather big purse, then stood up and took your hand. Dur-
  ing the scene, your mother’s gaze never left the purse… The man 
  was called Martin and, while taking you far away, introduced 
  himself as a magus. He hard perceived in you what he called the 
  Gift and wanted to make you his apprentice. You have been 
  studying the art of magic for three years under his guidance now, 
  within the Covenant of Bentalone. You quickly came to like it, 
  even more so you are much better treated here than you ever 
  were at your parents’. 
  Motivation: You have never left the Covenant since your arri-
  val, three years ago. You are very excited about going to 
  Tarascon’s fair. Of course, Martin will be here to watch over you, 
  but the gorgeous Évrard d’Ange will be there too… And there 
  will be tons of exciting things to do! 
  Relationships with the other characters: 
   
  Carélia: This big girl is Évrard’s shield grog (bodyguard). 
  Fortunately for you, she is not a serious rival: she is both 
  ugly and dumb! You sometimes play the worst jokes on 
  her, but she always forgives you, so that you envy her a 
  little less for being so close to Évrard. 
   
  Évrard: The first time you saw him, you immediately 
  knew you would love only him! He is gorgeous, intelli-
  gent, sensitive… in one word, marvelous! You quickly did 
  anything to be noticed by him, but without much success. 
  Évrard still seems to consider you as a little girl, rather 
  than as the young lady and apprentice maga you became! 
  But he will realize, sometimes… 
   
  Gailhard: He is a Turb (Covenant guards) sergeant, a big 
  guy with a moustache, and not the kind of accommodat-
  ing guy. Fortunately, you never deal with him. 
   
  Martin: He is your savior and your master of magic. He 
  revealed your own Gift to you and taught you how to use 
  it. He is an awesome teacher and each of his lessons is a 
  new occasion to marvel at. He told you once that he 
  would made you the greatest maga of her generation… 
  You will be eternally grateful to him for all that. 
   
  Quinault: He is the Covenant’s autocrat (steward). All 
  grogs, as well as other apprentices, fear him. But not you. 
  You indeed caught him in the cellar one day, emptying a 
  bottle of wine from the magi’s reserve. He saw you and 
  turned all red. Since then, he takes great care of not an-
  noying you. 
  Zorg the Dog 
  Characteristics: Cunning 0, Perception +2, Presence -4, Com-
  munication 0, Strength 0, Stamina +2, Dexterity +1, Quickness 
  +2 
  Size: 0 
  Personality Traits: Loyal (to Éthaine) +6, Brave +2 
  Combat: 
  Bite: Init +2, Atk +8, Def +7, Dam +1 
  Soak: +2 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0/0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Would Penalties: -1 (1-3), -3 (4-6), -5 (7-9), Incapacitated (8-
  12) 
  Core Abilities: Athletics (Endurance) 3, Awareness (On 
  guard) 3, Brawl (Bite) 3, Hunt (Tracking) 4 
  
  50 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Quinault, the Covenant’s Autocrat 
  Characteristics: Intelligence (Pragmatic) +2, Perception 
  (Finicky) +1, Presence (Severe look) -1, Communication 
  (Strong voice) +2, Strength 0, Stamina (Tireless) +2, Dex-
  terity (Rusty) -1, Quickness (Phlegmatic) -2 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 37 
  Confidence Score: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Covenfolk, Educated, Common 
  Sense, Piercing Gaze, Visions, Compulsion (Drinking), 
  Obsessed (Serving magi well) 
  Personality Traits: Severe +3, Melancholy +2, Faithful 
  +3 
  Reputation: Severe (Local, Bentalone Covenant) 2 
  Combat: 
  Short Sword: Init +5, Atk +8, Def +6, Dam +1 
  Soak: +4 (Partial Heavy Leather) 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Would Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Incapaci-
  tated (16-20) 
  Core Abilities: Langue d’Oc 5, Latin 3, Artes Liberales 
  (Arithmetic) 4, Philosophiae 3, Folk Ken (Grogs) 2, Single 
  Weapon (Defense) 6, Carouse (Drinking) 3, Leadership 
  (Grogs) 4, Etiquette (Magi) 2, Bargain (Lab supplies) 5, 
  Ride (Harnessing) 1, Common Law (Local laws) 1 
  Encumbrance: 3 (4) 
   
  Description: You are rather tall, slim but not meager. 
  Your austere face and your piercing gaze make people un-
  easy, which you do not dislike. Your temples start turning 
  gray, as does your beard, which is always neatly trimmed. 
   
  Background: You come from a family of traders. Your 
  father accidentally died when you were very young. The 
  family business was then held by your uncle Victor, who 
  sheltered you and your mother, and raised you as his own 
  son. Your destiny was straightforward: you would work for 
  your uncle, and then for your cousin Gaspard when time 
  came. But one day, as you were traveling along a Pyrenean 
  road (the very same road where your father died, you dis-
  covered later), you had your first vision… It was your fa-
  ther! Leading a cart convoy, he was descending toward the 
  valley. Suddenly, your father nodded and fell on the cart’s 
  bench. A man had subdued him from inside the cart! As 
  the man whipped the mules to panic them, you recognized 
  him immediately… Victor! He had always told the mules 
  had been scared by falling rocks. He had always claimed to 
  have jumped off the cart right in time, while your father 
  wanted to save the shipment at all price. Deeply disturbed, 
  you talked to your mother, but she would not listen, and 
  then to your uncle, who got mad and drove you out. But 
  you knew. His gaze betrayed him. Then you got to drink. 
  You were nothing but a bloodless wreck when a magus 
  from the Grand Council of the Bentalone Covenant ap-
  proached you and asked you to become the autocrat. It is a 
  position you are now proud of, and you are forever grate-
  ful to the magi. You still sometimes drink, usually hiding, 
  but you always take care that it does not jeopardize your 
  position. 
   
  Motivation: Your duty is to supply the Covenant with 
  various furnishing, as well as food. It is natural for you to 
  go to Tarascon’s fair. However, you wonder why the 
  Grand Council sent the two youngest magi in the Cove-
  nant with you. You would have managed everything fine 
  without them. Their elders presumably wish to train them 
  at leading grogs. Anyway, this fair will allow you drinking 
  without anybody being upset, once your job is done. Some 
  kind of tradition… 
   
  Relationships with the Other Characters: 
   
  Carélia: She is Évrard d’Ange’s shield grog. She 
  interposed more than once between he and you, 
  whereas this young whippersnapper distracted grogs 
  from their tasks with his futile poetry. 
   
  Éthaine: She is Martin’s young apprentice, a naugh-
  ty kid who spends her free time playing stupid jokes 
  to grogs and stealing food from the kitchens. Martin 
  should better watch over her. 
   
  Évrard: He is the youngest of the magi. He seems 
  to spend most of his time writing poems and sing 
  them. The problem is that he believes everybody 
  should enjoy his poetry, and he keeps on distracting 
  grogs from working with such frivolities. 
   
  Gailhard: He is a Turb (Covenant guards) sergeant, 
  a skillful and serious veteran. 
   
  Martin: Unlike Évrard d’Ange, Martin is a young 
  but serious magus. He only appeals to you when it is 
  strictly necessary, and for reasons that are always 
  approved by the Grand Council. You know for sure 
  that he is about to become a member of this noble 
  assembly. 
  
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  Gailhard, Turb sergeant 
  Characteristics: Intelligence (Stubborn) -1, Perception 0, 
  Presence (Scars) -1, Communication (Gruff) -3, Strength 
  (Strong arms) +3, Stamina (Barrel chested) +3, Dexterity 
  (Precise) +2, Quickness (Massive) -2 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 34 
  Confidence Score: 3 
  Virtues and Flaws: Custos, Warrior, Lost love, Depend-
  ent 
  Personality Traits: Brave +3, Cruel +1, Loyal +0, Vio-
  lent +3 
  Reputation: Skilled warrior (Local, Among grogs) 1 
  Combat: 
  Fist: Init -3, Atk +8, Def +4, Dam +3 
  Great Sword: Init -1, Atk +15, Def +8,  Dam +12 
  Long Bow: Init -5, Atk +10, Def +2, Dam +11 
  Soak: +12 (Full Chain Mail) 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Would Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Incapaci-
  tated (16-20) 
  Core Abilities: Langue d’Oc 4, Brawl (Head-butts) 6, 
  Awareness (Stand guard) 2, Folk Ken (Soldiers) 2, Great 
  Weapon (Body guarding) 8, Bows (Still targets) 4, Ride (In 
  battle) 2, Chirurgy (Cuts) 4, Leadership (Group Combat) 3 
  Encumbrance: 1 (10) 
  Description: You are tall and muscular, and always wear 
  your impeccable chainmail armor. Your face has been 
  made little agreeable because of multiple scars, and your 
  bushy mustache does not make you less frightening. You 
  do not care. It impresses adversaries and prevents you 
  from being bothered by pedlars when you walk in town. 
   
  Background: You were born at the Covenant of Benta-
  lone, where your parents were grogs. Since you were very 
  young, your father has been training you in martial arts. 
  You were destined to a great future within the Turbula 
  (Covenant guards). Everything was running fine. At 18, 
  you even married a distant cousin from a nearby village. 
  She gave you two gorgeous daughters. Unfortunately, your 
  duties at the Covenant left you little time to enjoy family 
  life. While you were on a mission with some magi, some-
  thing terrible happened at the village. And band of thugs 
  brutally attacked the village, plundered all its food supplies 
  and slayed many inhabitants… including your wife and 
  eldest daughter. When you came back, an immense wrath 
  prevented any sorrow in you. You did not speak to anyone 
  before having put to the sword the last of the bloody brig-
  ands. Then you had to care for your youngest daughter, 
  who had stayed alone all this time. You did not want her to 
  live at the Covenant, with soldiers always all around the 
  place. You could not have her stay at the village without 
  protection any more. Thus, you decided to trade your ser-
  vice to the Covenant. The Turb captain, knowing your situ-
  ation, accepted to hire you as a mercenary. However, this 
  arrangement certainly affects your advancement. While you 
  could probably have ended Turb captain, you are still a 
  sergeant, with little hope for a promotion. 
   
  Motivation: You must ensure that the expedition to 
  Tarascon’s fair goes well. You are in charge of protecting 
  everybody, in particular magi (Évrard d’Ange and Martin). 
  From your point of view, the soonest it is over, the soonest 
  you can go back home and take care of your daughter. You 
  wonder what kind of gift from the fair would please her... 
   
  Relationships with the Other Characters: 
   
  Carélia: She is Évrard d’Ange’s shield grog 
  (bodyguard). She is quite young to already be a Cus-
  tos (favorite grog) like you (sigh)… 
   
  Éthaine: Martin’s apprentice. She is just a kid. You 
  still must protect her as if she was already a maga, 
  and probably even more, given her minx reputation. 
   
  Évrard: He is a magus of House Jerbiton, as he 
  says. He spends a lot of time with normal people, 
  and gets along very well with commoners. Despite 
  his “too much” side, you like him. 
   
  Martin: This one is a true lab rat! He never leaves 
  on an expedition. You hardly know him. 
   
  Quinault: He is the Covenant’s autocrat (steward). 
  A skilled man who often speaks in your favor at the 
  Grand Council. Grogs find him severe. This is prob-
  ably true. So what? 
  
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  F 
  or magi, the Mythic Blood 
  Virtue 
  offers 
  a 
  fantastic 
  benefit. As a Major Virtue, it grants 
  the character fatigue benefits when 
  casting formulaic spells, a magical 
  power with no limitation on use and a 
  maximum total level of 30, a Minor 
  Magical Focus, and a minor 
  Personality Flaw. Additionally, this 
  establishes a birth legacy for the 
  character, opening the door to the 
  possibility of blood-siblings who 
  share their heritage and may serve as 
  potential allies, rivals, or enemies. 
  Such a background gives easy hooks 
  for Storyguides to tie in the lost 
  projects of powerful sorcerers, 
  enemies who simply wish to eliminate 
  a wizard’s lineage, or grudges born by 
  unaging creatures and transferred to 
  the player magus. However, for those 
  seeking a source for their character’s 
  Mythic Blood, hunting down suitable 
  ancestors can prove challenging. To 
  ease the search, we offer this series. 
  The summaries provided below 
  are very brief, and are not meant to 
  substitute for a full understanding of 
  the referenced figures. Players and 
  Storyguides are encouraged to further 
  research individuals who pique their 
  interest. 
  Novgorod Tribunal 
  and Scandinavia 
  Stretching from the wide steppes 
  of the Rus to icy shores of 
  Scandinavia, there are many wizards 
  appropriate for the Mythic Blood 
  Virtue. Some might still linger in the 
  landscape or the Magic Realm, like 
  Baba Yaga or Snaer. Others are long-
  gone, like Thorbjorg or Louhi. 
  Baba Yaga 
  Called “Old Grandmother,” Baba 
  Yaga lives deep in the woods, 
  occupying an enchanted hut which 
  walks around on great chicken legs. 
  Surrounded by an iron picket fence, 
  with a skull mounted on every spindle 
  but one, a special rhyme is necessary 
  to find the hut’s entrance. Baba 
  Yaga’s teeth and fingernails are sharp 
  iron, she can speak with animals; 
  control the spirits of the dead, 
  sometimes forcing them to animate 
  or occupy objects; and she flies about 
  on an enormous mortar and pestle. 
  She has many beautiful daughters, 
  some of whom may have escaped 
  with various suitors, and her 
  bloodline might exist in the world 
  through these girls. Tales claim she 
  eats children and she has threatened 
  more than one story’s hero with the 
  stew pot. Baba Yaga knows many 
  secrets, and may be able to exist in 
  more than one place and time 
  simultaneously. 
  A wizard with this bloodline might 
  have a pagan background, or be from 
  Baltic, Slavic, or Russian cultures or 
  regions. 
  Possible Powers: 
  Speak & Gesture: ReMe 25 
  Command the Errant Spirit (R: Voice, 
  D: Sun, T: Ind) This effect has 5 
  Penetration. The magus may control a 
  disembodied spirit he can sense. (Base 
  5 + 2 Voice + 2 Sun) 
  Speak: InAn 25 Gift of Feral 
  Mythic Bloodlines: 
  More than the Founders 
  By Ben McFarland 
  
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  Speech (R: Voice, D: Conc, T: Ind) 
  The caster may speak with a specific 
  animal within voice range. (Base 10 + 
  2 Voice + 1 Concentration) 
  Gesture: InMe 20 Posing the Silent 
  Question (R: Eye, D: Mom, T: Ind) As 
  per the spell, ArM5 page 149. 
  Neither Speak nor Gesture: 
  ReTe 15 Ghostly Grasp (R: Voice, D: 
  Conc, T: Ind) As per the spell, 
  Unseen Arm, but able to affect 
  Herbam and Animal objects, too. 
  (Base 2 + 2 Voice + 1 Concentration 
  + 2 Animal & Herbam requisites; 
  ArM5 page 155) 
  Possible Minor Magical Foci: 
  Animating objects, controlling the 
  spirits of the dead, discovering 
  secrets, speaking with animals. 
  Possible Personality Flaws: 
  Busybody, Meddler, Proud, Wrathful. 
  Snaer the Old 
  Snaer is the son of Frost and the 
  son of Kári, a lord of wind. His 
  grandfather was a giant, and Snaer is 
  considered a personification of snow. 
  Snaer lived amongst men 300 years 
  and then disappeared. Once a king of 
  Finland, Gotland, and Kvenland, 
  Snaer could fly and had three 
  magically adept daughters, Fön (Fǫnn 
  ‘Snowdrift’), Drífa ‘snowfall’, and 
  Mjöl (Mjǫll, ‘powdered snow’), and a 
  son, Thorri (‘frozen-snow’). Thorri’s 
  children ruled Norway from the 
  Jotunheim mountains in the north to 
  Alfheim in the south. 
  A wizard with this bloodline might 
  have a pagan background, or be from 
  a Scandinavian culture, including 
  Iceland, the Orkney Islands, the 
  Shetlands, or the Isle of Man. 
  Possible Powers: 
  Speak & Gesture: CrAu 30 
  Bluster of Summer Snow (R: Sight, D: 
  Sun, T: Ind) As per the spell, Clouds of 
  Summer Snow, ArM5 page 126, but 
  with Sun duration. 
  Speak: PeIg 25 Conjuration of the 
  Indubitable Cold (R: Voice, D: Mom, T: 
  Part) As per the spell, ArM5 page 
  142. 
  Gesture: ReMe 20 Aura of Rightful 
  Authority (R: Eye, D: Sun, T: Ind) As 
  per the spell, ArM5 page 151. 
  Neither Speak nor Gesture: PeIg 
  10 Winter’s Icy Touch (R: Voice, D: 
  Mom, T: Ind) As per the spell, ArM5 
  page 142, but this effect has 5 
  Penetration. 
  Possible Minor Magical Foci: 
  Ice and snow, rulership, storms, 
  winter. 
  Possible Personality Flaws: 
  Ambitious, Driven, Overconfident, 
  Proud. 
  Thorbjorg 
  This pagan viking sorceress is 
  mentioned in the sagas of Erik the 
  Red as a practitioner of Seidr, a 
  wizard who “spins charms” utilizing 
  cord or thread. Seidr helped with 
  divination, controlling spirits and the 
  dead, summoning storms or sinking 
  ships, protect one from harm, and 
  even cursing one’s enemies so they 
  lost memories, found their swords 
  blunt or armor weak, or drove their 
  victims mad. Odin and Frejya both 
  knew Seidr. 
  A wizard with this bloodline might 
  have a pagan background, or be from 
  a Scandinavian culture, including 
  Iceland, the Orkney Islands, the 
  Shetlands, or the Isle of Man. 
  Possible Powers: 
  Speak & Gesture: ReAu Pull of the 
  Skybound Winds (R: Voice, D: Conc, 
  T: Ind) As per ArM5, page 126. 
  Speak: ReCo 25 Awaken the 
  Slumbering Corpse (R: Voice, D: Conc, 
  T: Ind) As per ArM5, page 134. 
  Gesture: ReMe 20 Madness of the 
  Snare-bound Beast (R: Eye, D: Conc, 
  T: Ind) While the magus concentrates, 
  the target completes all actions as if 
  consumed by madness. (Base 10, +1 
  Eye, +1 Concentration) 
  Neither Speak nor Gesture: 
  PeTe 15 Crumbling Panoply (R: Sight, 
  D: Mom, T: Ind) As per Rusted Decay 
  of Ten-Score Years, but at Sight range; 
  see ArM5, page 155. 
  
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  Possible Minor Magical Foci: 
  Controlling corpses, controlling 
  spirits, cursing enemy targets so they 
  suffer, learning secrets, protecting 
  from one type of physical harm (fire, 
  weapons, drowning). 
  Possible Personality Flaws: 
  Ambitious, Lecherous, Proud, 
  Weakness (Attracted Gender). 
  Väinämöinen 
  I n  s o m e F in n ish  t ales , 
  Väinämöinen is a powerful wizard or 
  god, born of Ilmater and the seas of 
  creation. Other stories claim he is the 
  son of the hero-king Kalev, and 
  brother of Ilmarinen and Hiisi. He 
  could shape the land, crafted magical 
  instruments, command the wind, 
  fought and defeated many magical 
  foes; he was a very capable warrior. 
  Väinämöinen cast his spells by singing 
  or reciting poetry and searched far 
  and wide for a bride. He departed the 
  land after a mystical newborn 
  chastised him for his sins and failures. 
  Väinämöinen sang himself a copper 
  boat and sailed over the horizon, 
  swearing to return one day. Although 
  he never found a bride, it’s very 
  possible he had a dalliance, or that a 
  wizard has his bloodline through one 
  of Väinämöinen’s brothers. 
  A wizard with this bloodline might 
  have a pagan background, or be from 
  a Scandinavian culture, including 
  Iceland, the Orkney Islands, the 
  Shetlands, or the Isle of Man. 
  Possible Powers: 
  Speak & Gesture: ReCo 30 Seven-
  league Stride (R: Per, D: Mom, T: Ind) 
  As per the spell, ArM5 page 135. 
  Speak: ReMe 25 Call for the 
  Grateful Audience (R: Voice, D: 
  Conc, T: Room) The occupants of a 
  room believe the caster’s voice, either 
  singing or storytelling, to be 
  wonderfully pleasant and beautiful. 
  This effect has 5 Penetration. (Base 3 
  + 2 Voice + 1 Concentration + 2 
  Room) 
  Gesture: ReTe 20 Summon the 
  Ready Earthworks (R: Voice, D: 
  Mom, T: Part) Shift the earth into a 
  berm, to 25 paces wide, 2 paces high, 
  and 2 paces thick. This berm may take 
  any shape desired by the caster; with a 
  Finesse roll of 12+, the caster may 
  adjust the dimensions. However, the 
  total may not exceed 100 cubic paces, 
  and the height may not exceed the 
  thickness. (Base 3 + 2 Voice + 1 Part 
  + 2 Size) 
  Neither Speak nor Gesture: 
  ReCo 15 Endurance of the Berserkers (R: 
  Per, D: Conc, T: Ind) As per the spell, 
  ArM5 page 134. 
  Minor Magical Focus: Battle, 
  building ships, music, shaping the 
  land, travel. 
  Possible Personality Flaws: 
  A m b i t i o u s ,  
  L e c h e r o u s , 
  Overconfident, Proud. 
  Louhi 
  Known as the Mistress of the 
  North, Louhi was the matriarch of 
  the Pohjola people in ancient 
  Scandinavia, a tribe which rivaled 
  Väinämöinen’s people. While 
  Väinämöinen searched for a wife, 
  Louhi saved his life. She had many 
  daughters, some of whom were 
  seduced by Ilmarinen and 
  Väinämöinen’s companions. A 
  powerful witch, she could change 
  shape, banish disease, cast mighty 
  enchantments, and throw lightning 
  bolts. She demanded Väinämöinen’s 
  brother, Ilmarinen, craft the Sampo 
  to win the hand of one of her 
  daughters, and then stole it from him 
  after her daughter spurned him. The 
  Sampo itself was destroyed in the 
  battle between Väinämöinen and 
  Louhi, and its pieces scattered across 
  creation. 
  A wizard with this bloodline might 
  have a pagan background, or be from 
  a Scandinavian culture, including 
  Iceland, the Orkney Islands, the 
  Shetlands, or the Isle of Man. 
  Possible Powers: 
  Speak & Gesture: CrAu Call the 
  Lightning (R: Sight, D: Mom, T: Ind) 
  The caster summons down a lightning 
  bolt out of the sky to strike a target, 
  
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  Sub Rosa 
  doing +30 damage as per Incantation of 
  Lightning (ArM5, page 126) but the 
  spell only functions outdoors. No 
  clouds need to be in the sky, but the 
  target may not be indoors. (Base 5 + 
  3 Sight + 2 created phenomenon in a 
  very unnatural fashion) 
  Speak: CrCo 25 Cleanse the 
  Pustulent Wounds (R: Touch, D: 
  Moon, T: Ind) As per Purification of the 
  Festering Wounds, but the target gains a 
  +15 to recover from wounds and 
  injuries, see ArM5 page 129. 
  Gesture: ReIm 20 Wizard’s 
  Deception (R: Per, D: Sun, T: Ind) 
  The wizard appears and sounds as if 
  he is up to 100 paces from his current 
  location. This spell is similar to 
  Wizard’s Sidestep, except the wizard’s 
  image and sounds may be shifted in 
  location. The wizard must be able to 
  see or vocally reach the area where his 
  image and sound will emanate. (Base 
  5 + 2 Sun +1 additional sense) 
  Neither Speak nor Gesture: 
  MuCo 15 Disguise of the New Visage (R: 
  Per, D: Sun, T: Part) As per the spell, 
  ArM5 page 131. 
  Possible Minor Magical Foci: 
  Changing shape, disease, storms, 
  trickery, winds. 
  Possible Personality Flaws: 
  Avaricious, Driven, Overconfident, 
  Vow (Care for family). 
  Ilmarinen 
  The brother of Väinämöinen, 
  Ilmarinen was a master craftsman and 
  possibly studied the same tradition as 
  Weyland or Verditius. Unlucky in 
  love, he could make anything and 
  forged the mythical Sampo to win the 
  hand of one of Louhi’s daughters. In 
  the process of creating the Sampo, he 
  crafted and destroyed a magical 
  crossbow, a magical ship, a magical 
  bull, and a magical plow. But 
  Ilmarinen could speak to the spirit of 
  each of these items, and found them 
  flawed and bloodthirsty, so he 
  destroyed them and continued 
  working on the Sampo. Finally, 
  infusing the Sampo with the power of 
  the four winds, he presented it to 
  Louhi. Louhi’s daughter refused to 
  leave the lands of Pohjola, and 
  Ilmarinen returned home, dejected. 
  There, he crafted a woman of gold 
  and silver, and animated her to be his 
  wife. The metal bride was cold and 
  hard, and so he melted her back to 
  ingots. Undaunted, he finally married 
  one of his half-brother Hiisi’s 
  daughters, after proving his worth by 
  ploughing a field of vipers, capturing 
  the bear of the God of the 
  Underworld, Tuoni, and catching the 
  greatest pike of Underworld’s river. 
  A wizard with this bloodline might 
  have a pagan background, or be from 
  a Scandinavian culture, including 
  Iceland, the Orkney Islands, the 
  Shetlands, or the Isle of Man. 
  Possible Powers: 
  Speak & Gesture: ReAu 30 Wings 
  of Soaring Wind (R: Touch, D: Conc, 
  T: Ind) As per ArM5, page 126. 
  Speak: CrIg 25 Stoke the Master’s 
  Forge (R: Voice, D: Diam, T: Ind) 
  Create a fire hot enough to melt lead, 
  doing +15 damage anyone caught in 
  it. This fire needs no fuel, but will go 
  out after the duration if no fuel exists. 
  If combustible materials are fed into 
  it, it will remain as along as it is 
  sustained. (Base 10 + 2 Voice + 1 
  Diameter) 
  Gesture: ReAn 20 Claim the 
  Hunter’s Prize (R: Voice, D: Conc, T: 
  Ind) As per Viper’s Gaze, but at Voice 
  range. (ArM5, page 120) 
  Neither Speak nor Gesture: 
  ReTe 15 Backbiter’s Revenge (R: 
  Voice, D: Conc, T: Ind) The metal 
  weapon wielded by an individual 
  bends back to strike the owner for +5 
  damage. (Base 4 + 2 Voice + 1 
  Concentration) 
  Possible Minor Magical Foci: 
  Animating objects, capturing 
  creatures and spirits, creating hot 
  fires, creating objects with metal, 
  harnessing the wind. 
  Possible Personality Flaws: 
  Driven, Judged Unfairly, Lecherous, 
  Obsessed. 
  
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  T 
  he Companion Piece series 
  provides detailed characters 
  ideal for use either as companions to 
  individual magi or as associates to 
  entire covenants. The last article in 
  this series, back in issue 9, looked at 
  William of Ayelsbury, a pious knight 
  destined to join one of the military 
  orders. 
  This time around, in support of 
  the new The Contested Isle: The 
  Hibernian Tribunal supplement, we 
  detail a band of three companions 
  ideal for strengthening your 
  Hibernian covenant either against the 
  advances of foreign magi, or to use 
  their local knowledge against the 
  recalcitrant Hibernians who stand in 
  your way. 
  The three good men of Bréifne are 
  rogues, primarily interested in their 
  own wealth, standing, and security, 
  but they are an effective band and 
  well–suited to Hibernia’s distinctly 
  antagonistic culture. Importantly for 
  any covenant in Hibernia, the three 
  good men of Bréifne are not barred 
  from entering the province of 
  Connacht, something that magi of the 
  Order are forbidden to do under the 
  centuries–old Treaty of Cnoc Maol 
  Réidh (see The Contested Isle: The 
  Hibernian Tribunal, page 12). 
  Mercenary they may be, even 
  ruthless at times, but there is a spark 
  of conscience within the three good 
  men of Bréifne and they will not let 
  your covenant down. 
  Companion Piece: 
  The Three Good Men of Bréifne 
  By David Agnew 
  
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  Sub Rosa 
  The Three Good 
  Men 
  The three good men of Bréifne are 
  Eóin (OH–n) the clothier, Risteard 
  (RISH–taird) the butcher, and 
  Somhairle (SO–uhr–lyeh) the weaver. 
  They have no great love for the 
  English, but they each have as much 
  antipathy again for their own Irish 
  enemies. 
  Friends first and mercenary 
  colleagues second, the three are a 
  common sight in the drinking houses 
  of Carrick and beyond. 
  Eóin, a Clothier by 
  Trade 
  Eóin is the leader of the three and 
  the others are loyal to him above any 
  loyalty to a covenant or individual 
  magus. He is a clothier by trade and 
  nominal member of a small clothier’s 
  guild in the town of Carrick where he 
  maintains a workshop. 
  He is currently responsible for an 
  apprentice, Shay, who is twelve years 
  old and has another five years to go 
  b e f o r e  h e  c o m p l e t e s  h i s 
  apprenticeship. 
  His also employs another 
  journeyman clothier, Liam, who is 
  twenty–three years old and a 
  competent craftsman. 
  He has two free seasons per year 
  in which to pursue stories. The other 
  two seasons are spent in tending his 
  business, including teaching Shay. 
  While he is away, his wife Sinead 
  oversees the business, although she 
  delegates much of this to Liam. 
  Eóin, Sinead, and Shay all live in 
  Eóin’s house, which also serves as his 
  workshop and stores. Liam pays for a 
  room in lodgings in the next street 
  over. 
  As a clothier, Eóin is not content 
  with his lot. He does not see his 
  fortune in years of shearing, snipping, 
  and sewing, but in using his other 
  abilities. Neither cruel nor ruthless, he 
  is at least prepared to do things that 
  others would be too timid or afraid to 
  do. He is also a gambler and luck is 
  more often on his side than against 
  him. 
  Risteard, a Butcher by 
  Trade 
  Risteard claims his profession as 
  butcher and that may be accurate on 
  more than one level. Lacking the 
  character to run his own affairs of 
  business, he works, when in Carrick, 
  for a butcher there. His work consists 
  of slaughtering, skinning, gutting, and 
  chopping carcasses. 
  Outside of the slaughterhouse and 
  the butcher’s shop, he provides the 
  muscle behind Eóin’s smarts. 
  Risteard is afflicted with the battle 
  transformations, as described in The 
  Contested Isle: The Hibernian Tribunal, 
  page 120. He has inherited these from 
  a long–distant Fir Bolg ancestor and 
  he is the first in his family to suffer 
  them in generations. Despite his 
  village speaking in awed terms about 
  the feats carried out by his “uncle” 
  Finn, Risteard’s own transformations 
  have caused him to be feared more 
  than lauded. 
  Though Risteard does not yet 
  know it, he has an enemy. Far to the 
  west and many years ago, a Fir Bolg 
  warrior was cursed and stripped of his 
  fighting prowess. He lost the power 
  of his battle transformations and they 
  were given instead to a baby born on 
  that very moment. Risteard was that 
  Cuckold 
  Though younger than Sinead, Liam 
  carries a torch for her and is often 
  angered by Eóin’s prolonged absences, 
  seeing this as abandoning his wife. 
  Each time that Eóin remains away 
  from Carrick for two seasons or more, 
  there is a chance that Liam makes his 
  feelings known to Sinead and there is 
  also a chance that she reciprocates. 
  If this happens, then rumours may 
  start to spread, first through the local 
  streets and then to the clothiers’ guild. 
  
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  Sub Rosa 
  child. The Fir Bolg, called Keogh 
  (Kee–OH), has been looking for the 
  child ever since, determined to find a 
  way to reclaim what is his. If the 
  death of this imposter is what it takes, 
  then that is what Keogh will do. 
  Somhairle, a Weaver by 
  Trade 
  Somhairle is a weaver resident in 
  Carrick and belonging to the same 
  small guild as Eóin. He is, however, 
  one of the Uí Ruairc of West Bréifne, 
  something that certain Uí Raghallaigh 
  families hold against him. 
  He is also a giant–blooded 
  unGifted Gruagach (Hedge Magic: 
  Revised Edition, page 55) with the 
  power to grant blessings and curses. 
  It is this touch of magic that is at the 
  heart of the feud he finds himself in. 
  Fergal mac Artan of the Uí 
  Raghallaigh believes that Somhairle 
  cursed his daughter with a sudden 
  falling sickness that left her blind. 
  While it is true that Somhairle has the 
  ability to curse, he was not 
  responsible, believing instead the 
  cause to be infernal. 
  He maintains his workshop at the 
  edge of town alongside the main road 
  that runs from the gate to the 
  marketplace. While this is a little out 
  of the way for daily trade, it is within 
  an area of heightened magical power. 
  There is a level three magical aura that 
  pushes through the relatively low 
  level two Dominion that covers 
  Carrick. He has built his Gruagachan 
  laboratory into the back room of his 
  home and workshop. 
  Like Eóin, Somhairle has an 
  apprentice, Finn, who is just ten years 
  old. Being unmarried, when out on 
  the road with his friends, he leaves his 
  affairs in the hands of his 
  housekeeper, Fiona, who is a weaver 
  of journeyman quality in her own 
  merit. Fiona knows that Somhairle is 
  a druid of some kind, but all Finn 
  knows is that there is a door that 
  remains locked and that he is not 
  allowed past. 
  Fergal mac Artan is a wealthy and 
  influential man around Carrick. As 
  such, he takes a somewhat lax attitude 
  to the payment of his debts to those 
  of lower standing. One of these was 
  Somhairle the weaver. A year ago, 
  after refusing to pay Somhairle for 
  several rolls of cloth, his daughter was 
  struck blind. Fergal associated the two 
  events and declaimed Somhairle as a 
  sorcerer. The cry has not yet gathered 
  momentum, though Somhairle has 
  heard of the accusation. He knows he 
  did not do it, but he believes it is the 
  infernal attempting to stir up 
  discontent between the Uí 
  Raghallaigh and the Uí Ruairc. 
  The Kingdom of 
  The Town of Carrick 
  The three good men all live in the 
  small town of Carrick in East Bréifne. 
  This is inside the province of 
  Connacht, but their reputations as 
  adventurers goes beyond and 
  characters wishing to engage their 
  services can easily make contact them 
  through a number of social contacts 
  outside of Connacht. 
  Carrick itself is under the control of 
  the Uí Raghallaigh but the nearby 
  lands are frequently raided by the 
  O’Raghnaills families of North 
  Roscommon. 
  Covenant Craftsmen 
  The three craftsmen might be 
  brought into the covenant proper, in 
  which case Eóin and Somhairle save a 
  combined six pounds of expenditure 
  against Consumables and Risteard 
  saves three pounds of expenditure 
  against Provisions, both as per 
  Covenants, page 66 and subject to the 
  limits described there. 
  Equipment and Resources 
  The three good men have few resources of note. They 
  have no great wealth between them, are owed no particular 
  favors, and have few friends of influence. They all carry 
  simple weapons and generally have light and inexpensive 
  armor, unless they are provisioned with anything heavier by 
  their associated covenant or employers. 
  As craftsmen, they start play each with a standard 
  workshop, which they can improve over time using the 
  rules found in City & Guild, page 65. 
  Somhairle also starts play with a Gruagachan Laboratory, 
  which is housed in a locked room in his home. 
  The Sail Éille 
  The three good men each carry a club called a sail éille 
  (shi–LAY–lee). These stout sticks, each carved from a 
  knotted blackthorn branch, have a large heavy knob at the 
  end, which can inflict a frightening blow upon an enemy. 
  Like the traditional Irish ax, the sparra, the sail éille is 
  peculiar to Ireland and sees more use in fighting than do 
  knives, daggers, and swords, largely down to its ubiquity. 
  They can be of varying sizes and a smaller sail éille is 
  treated as a bludgeon or club and a larger sail éille as a 
  cudgel, as per the table in ArM5, page 176, and each 
  according to the appropriate weapon Ability. 
  A character with a specialty of sail éille for their weapon 
  Ability may use the sail éille in a scuffle without the 
  standard –3 Attack penalty described in ArM5, page 174 
  under Non–Lethal Combat. 
  
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  Bréifne 
  Though subject to the Kingdom 
  of Connacht, Bréifne is a kingdom in 
  its own right ruled from Dromahaire, 
  to the east of Sligo with Lough Gill 
  sitting between the two, by the Uí 
  Ruairc, the same tuath from which 
  Somhairle hails. The kingdom 
  stretches from the west coast across 
  to Meath and is bordered along the 
  north by Ulster. However, just like 
  Ireland and the Hibernian Tribunal 
  itself, Bréifne is a conflicted place. 
  The Uí Ruairc are active rivals to 
  the Uí Raghallaigh and dissent and 
  violence between the factions is 
  common. These conflicts manifest in 
  many ways, from small–scale 
  factionalism across Bréifne’s towns 
  and villages to outright battle for 
  control of lucrative roads and valley 
  passes. The raiding of farms and even 
  churches is common, with each side 
  stealing cattle and silver from the 
  other wherever it can. 
  The individual families that form 
  part of these clans are frequently 
  drawn into these squabbles and blood
  –feuds can exist between families for 
  generations without resolution, lying 
  dormant for years before flaring up in 
  a sudden explosion of violence. 
  Ultimately, the kingdom divides 
  around the middle of the thirteenth 
  century but until then the rulers of 
  the great clans turn their violent 
  attention to each other, almost as 
  though the forces of the infernal have 
  guided them towards a self–
  destructive end. 
  You can find more detail on 
  Bréifne in The Contested Isle: The 
  Hibernian Tribunal, page 36. 
  Companion Material 
  The Hibernian Tribunal offers a 
  particular challenge for magi of the 
  Order in the shape of Connacht. 
  Under the centuries–old treaty of 
  Cnoc Maol Réidh, the Order 
  concedes Connacht to the Coill Trí, 
  the loose association of Irish hedge 
  wizards and druids. In conceding 
  Connacht, magi of the Order are 
  forbidden from spending more than 
  three nights under a Connacht sky. If 
  they have any business in that 
  province, either mundane or magical, 
  they must act through proxies and 
  agents instead of going themselves. 
  The three good men present good 
  proxies for entering Connacht and 
  carrying out instructions and activities 
  at the request of covenants or 
  individual magi. Between them, they 
  can read and write, handle themselves 
  in combat, and have some small 
  magical abilities. They are also blessed 
  with few ambitions beyond self–
  preservation and the accumulation of 
  sufficient wealth to provide a 
  comfortable retirement. 
  While not thieves and murderers 
  themselves, at least not by trade, they 
  are rogues and as such they occupy a 
  certain level within society. They have 
  contacts through which they can gain 
  information and leverage, especially 
  within Connacht, that covenants may 
  not have access to. They are 
  comfortable dealing with a side of life 
  that covenants may want to remain 
  separate from and while Somhairle 
  cannot condone the taking of 
  innocent life, they are prepared to 
  inflict harm where needed. 
  They also provide decent cover 
  for various acts of mundane 
  interference and though they are low 
  tradesmen their connections with the 
  fledgling guilds may provide 
  opportunities for contact with the 
  authorities. The butcher, Risteard, 
  may supply merchants and nobles 
  alike with meat and also act as 
  slaughterman for their livestock. Eóin 
  might find himself commissioned to 
  make new clothes for men and 
  women of standing. It is a fine 
  distinction, but Somhairle might 
  provide another route into society. 
  While Eóin has access to individual 
  through various sessions to take 
  measurements and to undertake 
  fittings, Somhairle might gain access 
  to their households, working with 
  stewards, ladies of the house, and the 
  like to determine what linens and 
  fabrics the house requires. This access 
  
  60 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  across the three strata of a household 
  (Ristead in the kitchens, Somhairle to 
  the stewards and the ladies, and Eóin 
  to the great men and women of the 
  house) could be useful to a covenant. 
  Finally, their understanding of the 
  Order of Hermes and of magic in 
  general makes them suited to spying 
  upon rival covenants and even the 
  defenses in place around important 
  resources, such as vis sources, cattle, 
  and even a covenant’s Cathach. 
  Advancing the 
  Three Good Men 
  Each of the three good men must 
  work two seasons, gaining exposure 
  experience in their primary Craft 
  Ability. This is true even for Risteard 
  who despite being essentially a day 
  labourer must still work to earn a 
  living. The other two seasons are 
  available for either story & adventure 
  or for practice & study. 
  Eóin is perhaps the easiest to 
  advance. When not engaged in a 
  story, his two free seasons are likely 
  to be spent in practice; one for a 
  physical Ability and one for a mental 
  Ability. 
  Like Eóin, Risteard is likely to 
  spend his two seasons in advancing 
  his Abilities. He is a little more 
  focused in the physical side than Eóin 
  so he may be best–placed advancing 
  his combat Abilities. He is also a good 
  candidate for learning the Clesrada 
  (see The Contested Isle: The Hibernian 
  Tribunal, page 101). This would 
  involve finding a sponsor to ensure 
  that Úathach takes him as a student 
  and he must then undergo the 
  initiation. 
  Somhairle is most likely to 
  advance his Gruagachan Arts and 
  unless he can find a willing teacher he 
  needs access to vis or use them on a 
  story, gaining exposure or story 
  experience, as explained in Hedge 
  Magic: Revised Edition, page 56. He 
  may gain further Arts, such as Take, 
  Shape, and Vision, but these may only 
  be gained through initiation. 
  Furthermore, Somhairle can neither 
  read nor write, let alone read the 
  arcane Ogham used by Gruagachan. 
  He will need to find a teacher 
  prepared to teach him Artes Liberales 
  and Ogham in order to then take 
  advantage of the few written 
  Gruagachan laboratory texts that may 
  be found in Hibernia. 
  As each are craftsmen in their own 
  right, they may also want to build 
  Labor Points (City & Guild, page 38) 
  with the aim of improving their 
  financial standing, resolving stories 
  concerning their businesses and 
  taking the Labor Points reward. Each 
  requires a surplus of 360 Labor Points 
  to gain the Wealthy Virtue, so this is 
  likely to be a long–term goal. 
  The alternative to using Labor 
  Points to improve their wealth and 
  social standing is investing them in 
  their workshops and the materials 
  that they use. Eóin may invest in 
  mannequins, sheers, measures, etc. 
  and buy only the strongest thread, the 
  finest fabrics, and the most expensive 
  fastenings and buckles. Risteard may 
  buy a new set of knives and improve 
  his slaughterhouse and find a farmer 
  selling the best quality sheep and 
  goats. Somhairle might commission a 
  larger loom, buy better and rarer dyes, 
  and even use the wool from sheep 
  and goats of virtue to make his cloth. 
  These allow the three craftsmen to 
  make items of increasing quality. 
  None of the three have yet been 
  on pilgrimage (The Church, page 15), 
  although given Somhairle’s pagan 
  sympathies he is unlikely to benefit. 
  Introducing the 
  Three Good Men 
  If you are bringing in the Three 
  Good Men after the start of your 
  saga, here are a few ideas to help 
  introduce them. 
   
  An apprentice undertaking her 
  macgnímartha may come 
  across them and form an 
  alliance to help her learn more 
  about Connacht and potentially 
  help her find allies and 
  resources that she can use in 
  later years. 
   
  The covenant may need 
  information on people, places, 
  or events within Connacht and 
  may go looking for agents or 
  proxies. 
   
  Having come across something 
  of value, the three good men 
  approach the magi with the 
  aim of turning their discovery 
  to a profit. They are able to 
  lead the magi to where they 
  found the item or offer 
  themselves up for future 
  service. 
  Stories for the 
  Three Good Men 
  Stories specifically for the three 
  good men of Bréifne surround family 
  matters, social advancement, and the 
  general political upheaval of conflict 
  between the great Bréifne families 
  and even the native Irish against the 
  Anglo–Normans. 
  The Hunt 
  A vicious and vindictive young 
  apprentice in his macgnímartha has 
  kidnapped the three good men and 
  dropped them in the Darty 
  Mountains, just over the Bréifne 
  border in Ulster. He gives the men a 
  three hour head start and then he and 
  his men start to hunt them down. 
  Their run takes them through 
  magical and faerie auras, places rich in 
  vis and stones and herbs of virtue. 
  Can the three good men find the 
  resources they need to defend their 
  ground or even turn the tables and 
  take the fight to the magus? 
  
  61 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Family Matters 
  Each of the three good men have 
  their own enemies, some across 
  country and others closer to home. 
   
  When a merchant returns to 
  Carrick, beaten and bloodied, 
  he tells the story of a lone 
  bandit who tore into his guards 
  and overturned his cart. The 
  description he gives, of a man 
  who grew to a huge size and 
  seemed to shrug off the blows 
  of those trying to defend the 
  merchant. It sounds a lot like 
  Risteard. However, Risteard is 
  not the only one of his family 
  t o  c a r r y  t h e  b a t t l e 
  transformations. Has his 
  wayward brother returned? 
   
  It started with furtive glances 
  in his direction and developed 
  into whispered conversations 
  as Eóin walked past. It seems 
  that the rumours about his wife 
  and his employee are starting 
  to spread. 
  Social Advancement 
  As craftsmen and members of 
  their respective guilds, they may want 
  to advance their standing in society 
  and within those guilds. In doing so, 
  they may become embroiled in town 
  politics, escalating squabbles between 
  local enemies, and the occasional 
  brush with Church and state. 
  Somhairle’s pagan ways, though 
  carefully guarded, may become 
  known by others beyond his circle of 
  friends. 
   
  When a young lad apprenticed 
  to one of the three friends is 
  accused of theft the friends 
  must discover the truth in the 
  face of damning evidence or 
  face the stigma of having raised 
  a thief. 
   
  The daughter of a prominent 
  Carrick gentleman is to be 
  married to the son of an 
  Englishman. The making of 
  the cloth and the clothes for 
  those attending the ceremony 
  would be a feather in the cap 
  for any chosen to do so. 
  However, it seems the steward 
  is looking for consideration in 
  return for awarding the 
  contract. Are Eóin and 
  Somhairle happy to pay the 
  price or do they take matters 
  into their own hands? 
   
  Fergal mac Artan has been 
  seen in the company of 
  Carrick’s most senior priest a 
  fair few times of late and then 
  one afternoon a meeting is 
  held in the market square. The 
  priest has learned of a pagan 
  tinker working the roads near 
  the town and he has been using 
  his ungodly ways for ill. The 
  priest asks for men willing to 
  fetch him back to town to face 
  justice. Can Somhairle risk 
  finding the man first and 
  warning him? Or will this only 
  implicate him too? 
  Upheaval 
  The Anglo-Norman lords 
  continue to spread their influence 
  across Ireland and both the English 
  and the various Irish factions will 
  want to profit from the conflict and 
  protect their interests. As 
  independent agents, the three good 
  men may be employed by both sides. 
   
  The Uí Ruairc summon the 
  t h r e e  g o o d  m e n  t o 
  Dromahaire; they have a job 
  for them. A nearby robber 
  knight has stolen a golden 
  cross from a Uí Ruairc church 
  and they want it back. Once 
  they eventually have it, 
  however, the cross is not what 
  it seems and the Uí Ruairc 
  claims of ownership seem 
  unreliable at best. The three 
  good men find themselves in 
  possession of twice-stolen 
  property. 
   
  The baron’s son has been 
  captured trying to fend off 
  
  62 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  raiders. The baron himself 
  tasks the three good men with 
  negotiating his return. To 
  ensure their efforts, he 
  instructs one of his advisors to 
  accompany them. The raiders, 
  however, are men with their 
  own motives and are not 
  willing to observe political 
  courtesies. They intend to kill 
  the young knight. If the three 
  good men cannot negotiate his 
  release, they may need to find 
  another way to rescue him. 
   
  Cathal Uí Raghallaigh gathers 
  his men and levies from 
  Carrick for a campaign against 
  Walter de Lacy. The three 
  good men are charged as 
  scouts to go ahead of the 
  raiding force and report back 
  on the targets. It seems though 
  that the lands under de Lacy’s 
  control are suffering a sickness 
  and the people and their 
  protectors are weak and ill-
  prepared for conflict. Is this 
  the opportunity Cathal Uí 
  Raghallaigh has been waiting 
  for or is this an Infernal lure, 
  tempting him and his soldiers 
  into murder and damnation? 
  Of course, the great families of 
  Bréifne need no outside enemy when 
  (Continued on page 65) 
  Eóin the Clothier 
  Leader of the small band of adventurers, and 
  unaffected by the Gift of either Hermetic or Hedge 
  wizard, Eóin usually does the talking until matters of 
  magic arise, and then he concedes to Somhairle. He is 
  a gambler by nature, however, and he often agrees to 
  deals on just the sliver of a chance of success or 
  profit. 
  Characteristics: Int +1, Per 0, Pre +2, Com +1, Str 
  –1, Sta 0, Dex +2, Qik 0 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 34 (34) 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Craftsman; Clear Thinker, 
  Luck, Unaffected by the Gift*, Vernacular 
  Education**, Well–Traveled; Enemies (His Wife and 
  her Lover); Susceptible to Warping***, Weakness 
  (Gambling) 
  Personality Traits: Gambler +3, Self–Confident 
  +2, Practical +1 
  Reputations: Clothier of Carrick (Carrick and the 
  surrounding area) 1, Knowledgeable on Connacht 
  (Connacht Borders) 1 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init –2, Attack n/a, Defense +3, Damage n/a 
  Fist: Init –2, Attack +5, Defense +3, Damage –1 
  Kick: Init –3, Attack +5, Defense +2, Damage +2 
  Sail éille (bludgeon): Init –2, Attack +8, Defense +4, 
  Damage +1 
  Knife: Init –2, Attack +6, Defense +3, Damage +1 
  Soak: +2 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), 
  Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+) 
  Abilities: Area Lore: Connacht 3 (geography), Artes 
  Liberales 1 (arithmetic), Athletics 2 (running), 
  Awareness 3 (alertness), Bargain 3 (hard sell), Brawl 3 
  (sail éille), Carouse 3 (games of chance), Charm 3 (first 
  impressions), Chirurgy 3 (binding wounds), Climb 1 
  (trees), Clothiery 5 (woolen cloth), English 4 (slang), 
  Folk Ken 3 (townsfolk), Guile 3 (lying to authority), 
  Intrigue 3 (plotting), Gaelic 5 (slang), Latin 3 
  (academic usage), Leadership 3 (inspiration), Music 1 
  (sing), Order of Hermes Lore 2 (personalities), 
  Organization Lore: Carrick Clothier’s Guild 2 
  (personalities), Swim 1 (underwater maneuvering), 
  Teaching 3 (Clothiery) 
  Equipment: Heavy Leather Armor (Protection: 2); 
  sail éille, knife, good quality clothes; workman’s 
  Clothes; survival kit; wax tablet; pack 
  Encumbrance: 2 (2) 
  Appearance: A good–looking man with a broad 
  smile and a well–trimmed beard. With a little wash 
  here and there and a change of clothes, he would 
  easily pass in most walks of life. 
  * Realms of Power: Magic, page 47 
  ** City & Guild, page 109 
  *** Grogs, page 84 
  
  63 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Risteard the Butcher 
  The Riastradh Virtue that grants Risteard his battle 
  transformations necessitates two sets of some statistics, 
  such as characteristics, combat statistics, and wound 
  penalties. These have been calculated and provided below. 
  Characteristics: Int –1, Per –1, Pre 0, Com –1, Str +3, 
  Sta +2, Dex +1, Qik 0 
  Characteristics (Transformed): Int –1, Per –1, Pre 0, 
  Com –1, Str +9, Sta +2, Dex +1, Qik –3 
  Size: 0 
  Size (Transformed): +3 
  Age: 31 (31) 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Craftsman; Riastradh*; Puissant 
  Great Weapon, Warrior; Enemies (Keogh the Fir Bolg); 
  Ability Block (Logic), Simple Minded 
  Personality Traits: Quick Tempered +3, Honest +2, 
  Friendly +1 
  Reputations: Ferocious Beast of a Man (Rumormongers 
  of Carrick) 1 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init +0, Attack n/a, Defense +4, Damage n/a 
  Fist: Init +0, Attack +6, Defense +5, Damage +3 
  Bludgeon: Init +0, Attack +7, Defense +4, Damage +5 
  Knife: Init +0, Attack +6, Defense +4, Damage +5 
  Sail éille (Cudgel): Init +1, Attack +12, Defense +8, 
  Damage +10 
  Combat (Transformed):  
  Dodge: Init –3, Attack n/a, Defense –2, Damage n/a 
  Fist: Init –3, Attack +6, Defense –1, Damage +9 
  Bludgeon: Init –3, Attack +7, Defense –2, Damage +11 
  Knife: Init –3, Attack +6, Defense –2, Damage +11 
  Sail éille (Cudgel): Init +1, Attack +12, Defense +2, 
  Damage +16 
  Soak: +4 Soak (Transformed): +10 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious 
  Fatigue Levels (Transformed): OK, 0, –1, –1, –3, –3, –
  5, –5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), 
  Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+) 
  Wound Penalties (Transformed): –1 (1–8), –3 (9–16), 
  –5 (17–24), Incapacitated (24–32), Dead (33+) 
  Abilities: Animal Handling 2 (cattle), Area Lore: Carrick 
  2 (geography), Area Lore: Connacht 3 (geography), 
  Athletics 3 (running), Awareness 3 (bodyguarding), Brawl 4 
  (Fist), Butcher 5 (cattle), Carouse 4 (power drinking), 
  English 2 (slang), Folk Ken 2 (peasants), Great Weapon 
  4+2 (Cudgel), Hunt 3 (tracking), Gaelic 5 (slang), 
  Leadership 2 (intimidation), Music 3 (sing), Survival 3 
  (marshlands), Swim 1 (narrow waterways) 
  Equipment: Heavy Leather Armor (Protection: 2); sail 
  éille, knife, peasant clothes; workman’s clothes, butcher’s 
  apron 
  Encumbrance: 0 (3) 
  Appearance: Clearly a strong man with well–defined 
  forearms and heavy–set shoulders. He meticulously shaves 
  his head but has heavy brows and a thick brown beard. 
  Despite the leather apron he wears in his work, his clothes 
  are inevitably stained with the blood of the animals he 
  slaughters and butchers. 
  Appearance (Transformed): The bones down 
  Risteard’s back burst through his skin in a line of boney 
  spikes. His muscles bulge and swell and the veins engorge 
  with blood, flushing him with a bright red color. Here and 
  there, the pressure inside him bursts, exposing those veins. 
  His frame grows large and broad and he takes on a 
  hunched stance, as though the sheer weight of his body is 
  pulling him down. His jaws grow deep and wide and filled 
  with blocky and broad teeth. 
  As a result of his Riastradh Virtue, he has the following 
  Fomóir Qualities and Inferiorities: 
  Huge 
  Large 
  Improved Soak x2 
  Reduced Defense 
  This provides the following bonuses and penalties: 
  +3 to size 
  +6 to Strength 
  –3 to Quickness 
  +6 to Soak 
  –3 to Defense 
  These have been factored into his statistics above. It is 
  important to note that the –3 to Defense is in addition to 
  the –3 to Quickness. This means that his transformed 
  combat statistics show a –6 penalty to Defense totals. 
  
  64 
   
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
   Somhairle the Weaver 
  Somhairle has been created as a standard unGifted 
  Companion character who has been initiated into 
  Gruagach magic later in life. He is presented essentially 
  straight out of his Gruagachan apprenticeship. 
  Characteristics: Int +3, Per –1, Pre +1, Com +1, Str 0, 
  Sta 0, Dex +2, Qik –1 
  Size: +2 
  Age: 34 (34) 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Craftsman, Gruagach*; Give; 
  Giant Blood; Arcane Lore, Blessing**, Curse**; Pagan; 
  Dutybound, Restriction (Cannot cast magic while bald), 
  Vow (Fight Injustice), Weird Magic 
  Personality Traits: Generous +3, Just +2, Secretive 
  +1 
  Reputations: Dedicated (Gruagachan) 1 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init –1, Attack n/a, Defense +1, Damage n/a 
  Bludgeon: Init –2, Attack +7, Defense +2, Damage +2 
  Knife: Init –1, Attack +5, Defense +1, Damage +2 
  Fist: Init –1, Attack +4, Defense +1, Damage +0 
  Soak: 0 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: –1 (1–7), –3 (8–14), –5 (15–21), 
  Incapacitated (22–28), Dead (29+) 
  Abilities: Area Lore: Connacht 3 (legends), Bargain 2 
  (hedge wizards), Brawl 2 (Bludgeon), Coill Tri Lore 2 
  (personalities), Concentration 1 (lab work), Dominion Lore 
  1 (saints), English 3 (slang), Faerie Lore 3 (faerie roads), 
  Gruagach Lore 3 (personalities), Guile 3 (lying about pagan 
  beliefs), Infernal Lore 2 (curses), Gaelic 5 (slang), 
  Leadership 2 (bandits), Magic Lore 4 (enriching objects of 
  virtue), Penetration 3 (Curse), Pictish Language 3 
  (inscriptions), Survival 2 (hills and mountains), Weaver 5 
  (fine cloth) 
  Arts: Give 2, Blessing 9, Curse 9 
  Equipment: sail éille, knife, workman’s clothes, 
  peasant clothes, pack and bag for the collecting of herbs 
  and stones 
  Encumbrance: 1 (1) 
  Spells: 
  The Craftsman’s Gift: GvBl 15, +14 
  The Mighty Sail Éille: GvBl 10, +14 
  Geas upon the Wayward Steward: GvCu 15, +14 
  Appearance: Somhairle is a huge man. He stands 
  nearly seven feet tall and has a pronounced brow and heavy
  –set features. His hands are similarly large and people 
  marvel that a man so ill–proportioned for the job can be so 
  fine a weaver. His height does not carry over to his width 
  and he is particularly lanky. He is often called, somewhat 
  unkindly, the last stick of straw in the field. His blonde hair 
  is a little long and untidy but he tries his best to look 
  presentable. 
  * Hedge Magic: Revised Edition, page 56 
  ** Hedge Magic: Revised Edition, page 57 
  As with other Gruagachan, his knowledge of his Arts 
  gives him a degree of magical defense: 
  Magical Fortitude: Defense against Corpus effects 
  Confounding Magics: Defense against Corpus or 
  Mentem effects 
  Immovable Object: Defense against Mentem or 
  Corpus effects 
  These are described in Hedge Magic: Revised Edition, page 
  10. In effect, Somhairle gains a +1 Soak bonus against 
  spells 
  and 
  effects 
  that 
  cause 
  physical 
  damage. 
  Concentration duration effects that include Somhairle in 
  their target have the Ease Factor of the Concentration 
  Check increased by 2. Finally, Somhairle has a chance of 
  resisting effects that control or compel Somhairle in some 
  way. Each round that he is under magical compulsion, he 
  makes a (Strength +2 – the magnitude of the effect) simple 
  roll against Ease Factor 9. 
  As his Arts improve, so do his magical defenses. 
  Somhairle venerates Brighid, one of the Tuatha Dé 
  Danann, wife of Bres, and the triple manifestation of 
  Ireland. 
  Somhairle’s spells are described below: 
  The Craftsman’s Gift 
  GvBl 15 
  R: Conversation, D: Limit 
  This spell grants a +1 bonus to the target’s craft Ability. 
  Example: Knowing how hard his neighbour works, 
  Somhairle casts a spell that improves his craft ability until 
  he charges more for a product than would be proper.  
  (Base 5, +2 Limit (general)) 
   
   
  (Continued on page 65) 
  
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  they have each other to face. 
   
  Eóin and Risteard are called 
  upon to lend their mettle to a 
  raid on the Druim Leatan 
  priory, currently held by the Uí 
  Ruairc. There is no profit in it 
  and the fight will no doubt be 
  bloody. What’s more, 
  Somhairle cannot be by their 
  side. Do they attempt to escape 
  service without being marked 
  as cowards? Or do they try to 
  avert the fight altogether? 
   
  A harsh winter grips Carrick. 
  The winds bite and the very air 
  freezes causing damage to 
  buildings and killing the 
  livestock. Not far away, the Uí 
  Ruairc seem to enjoy a 
  sheltered winter as the winds 
  roll sharply south. Their 
  livestock survive still so as a 
  matter of survival, the men of 
  Carrick must go raiding. 
  Magic 
  As an unGifted Gruagach, 
  Somhairle must find a means of 
  advancing his Arts and Abilities. 
  Finding others of his tradition will 
  lead to stories; perhaps rivalry with 
  others, competition for resources, or 
  payments needed in return for 
  training. He must also tread a careful 
  line between the hedge wizards and 
  druids of Ireland and the Order of 
  Hermes in case his magical power is 
  overestimated and he makes himself 
  an unwitting target for their 
  attentions. 
   
  A young gruagach seeks out 
  Somhairle for teaching in the 
  Art of cursing. It seems 
  however that the young man 
  has revenge on his mind. Does 
  Somhairle help him achieve his 
  revenge or steer him down 
  another route? Either way, it 
  seems an injustice has been 
  done and Somhairle is 
  dutybound to address it. 
   
  Having found a source of vis, 
  a p p ar en t l y  u n c l ai m e d , 
  Somhairle harvests what he 
  needs across the course of a 
  year. Then a letter arrives. It is 
  from a magus of the Order 
  who claims the source as his 
  own and demands recompense 
  for the vis taken. The source is 
  in Bréifne, lands forbidden to 
  the magus, but to send no 
  response would be an insult. 
  Somhairle may need an ally to 
  intercede on his behalf. 
  Should Risteard go down the 
  route of learning the Clesrada then 
  stories should naturally arise; one arc 
  will certainly be that of petitioning for 
  and undergoing the necessary 
  training. His ancient Fomórach blood 
  might bring out those looking to 
  challenge themselves against one of 
  these beasts. Given that the blood is 
  countless generations removed, these 
  threats are likely to be fairly minor in 
  scale but no less deadly in 
  consequence. Young magi undergoing 
  their macgnímartha, those months 
  and years between apprenticeship and 
  the granting of the Parma Magica, 
  might seek him out intending to make 
  a name for themselves in tackling an 
  enemy afflicted with battle 
  transformations. 
  Using the Three 
  Good Men as NPCs 
  The three good men of Bréifne are 
  relatively easy to drop into a saga or 
  story as non–player characters. Firstly, 
  each has a particular craft that the 
  covenant might need, providing a 
  reason for visiting their workshops. 
  As craftsmen alone, providing service 
  and materials to the covenant, the 
  characters detailed in this article make 
  for useful characters. 
  Once contact has been made, they 
  might be called upon to act as agents 
  on the covenant’s behalf, undertaking 
  tasks off to the side of the main story 
  action and in support of the 
  covenant’s aims. 
  (Continued from page 62) 
  The Mighty Sail Éille 
  GvBl 10 
  R: Conversation, D: Diameter, T: Individual 
  This spell grants a +1 bonus to the target’s Great 
  Weapon Ability for Diameter duration. 
  (Base 5, +1 Diameter) 
  Geas upon the Wayward Steward 
  GvCu 15 
  R: Conversation, D: Geas, T: Ind 
  This spell inflicts Palsied Hands, as per the Minor Flaw 
  in ArM5, page 57. 
  Example: To punish a bully for an act of violence, 
  Somhairle casts a geas that commands him to act kindly 
  towards his victims instead. The curse makes the target’s 
  hands shake uncontrollably until the bully makes a heartfelt 
  apology to his victims. The nature of the curse is perfectly 
  suited to redress the ill so the target gets a –6 penalty to 
  their Stamina roll to resist the geas. 
  (Base 5, +2 Geas (specific, Limit (general))) 
  (Continued from page 64) 
  
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  T 
  his is the first stage of my 
  collection 
  of 
  Bonisagus 
  lineages. Each of the following 
  wizards are a collection of old and 
  new Bonisagus magi who can be 
  placed as NPC’s in your campaign, 
  and involve a basic story seed for 
  each, or at least an amusing role-
  playing opportunity that will take up a 
  little time. The magi start at the oldest 
  and graduate down to the youngest, 
  but the exact age and power is left to 
  you to decide for your campaign. 
  Note that while some virtues and 
  flaws are entailed, this does not mean 
  these are the entirety of virtues or 
  flaws of the magi below. 
  This lineage follows on from one 
  of the apprentices of Bonisagus, the 
  unlauded Hypatia, known to all 
  Bonisagi (And most magi) as 
  unrecognied in her time and her early 
  death in Wizard War, as well as the 
  fact that a Tytalean magus stole her 
  magical breakthroughs and made a 
  mint on them after killing her. After 
  her death, however, Hypatia was 
  gradually found to be the originator 
  of lowering many of the base levels to 
  their current state, though she never 
  did complete her magical theory of 
  making all spells effectively at a base 
  level of 1.  
  This line of researchers does not 
  tend to associate with Tytaleans no 
  matter how they view their ancestor. 
  Some rumours state that this lineage 
  of Bonisagus have such facility with 
  magic that they have kept some of 
  these lowered base levels to 
  themselves, but the lineage often 
  respond with the fact that they are 
  good at magic because they spend 
  their time studying, not making up 
  silly rumours. 
  Bellia Bonisagus 
  Age: 320 (292) 
  Quote: “It is such a minor change, 
  really. But one that could have many, 
  many repercussions. On first glance it 
  would seem like nothing but a 
  benefit. But I wonder if by releasing 
  my discovery I won’t change the 
  fabric of the order itself and thereby 
  bring the Order to destroy itself.” 
  Theme: Puissant Magical 
  Researcher concerned about the 
  impact of her life’s work 
  Master: Hypatia Bonisagus 
  Description: One of the oldest, if 
  not the oldest member of the Order. 
  Bellia was around at the end of the 
  schism war and spends most of her 
  The First Lineage: 
  The Inventors 
  By Mark  Baker 
  
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  time pottering around with the last 
  points of her major Hermetic 
  Discovery – that of completely 
  integrating the Gentle Gift. Now she 
  is nearing completion, Bellia has 
  begun to consider all of the 
  possibilities of her research – and has 
  slowed her research until she reaches 
  a conclusion. She is very much a shut 
  in, however, so few people know 
  about her research. 
  Bellia looks as old as she feels, 
  which is her only twilight scar of note, 
  so she usually appears as a late thirties 
  to early forties matron. She could last 
  another hundred years if Twilight 
  does not catch her first; she has 
  forced herself to use a little less 
  magic, and her research has slowed 
  drastically since realising her relative 
  nearness to Final Twilight.  
  Personality Traits: The Tortoise 
  Beats the Hare +2, Driven + 3 
  (Magical theory integration to bring 
  peace to the Order), Curious +2 
  Virtues/Flaws of Note: Driven, 
  (Minor Magical Focus: Longevity 
  Potions), Cautious Sorcerer, Reclusive 
  Story Seed: Bellia is removed 
  from the Order and so wishes to find 
  out what the latest generation of magi 
  are like, and how close they are to the 
  mundane world; her fear is that if 
  every magus has the Gentle Gift, 
  magi will be far more tempted to join 
  in with mundane causes and become 
  little more than court wizards. She 
  begins correspondence with the magi 
  to begin with to find out their views 
  on such. Over time, if they convince 
  her that the Gentle Gift will not 
  change the fabric of the order, she 
  may reveal her research to them. But 
  if the magi are of the opinion that 
  integration with the mundane world is 
  going to happen eventually, she may 
  burn her research. If they seem 
  suitable, Bellia may ask them to carry 
  on her legacy, specifically if there is an 
  appropriate Bonisagus in the group. If 
  not, and no-one else is suitable, she 
  will have her notes copied and passed 
  on to Durenmar. 
  Interesting 
  Item : 1034 
  Discoveries (Magic Theory Tractatus 
  quality 8. Involved are 3 research 
  points for the breakthrough of The 
  Gentle Gift) 
   
  Aemillia Bonisagus 
  Age: 190 (175) 
  Theme: Oblivious Weapons 
  Engineer 
  Quote: “Oh, that extra heat was 
  unexpected. Do you think the 
  peasants will be angry I burned down 
  their ships? It was an accident, really. 
  I wasn’t even aiming at them. I mean, 
  they were miles away. What’s that odd 
  colour on the horizon? Think it’s a 
  side effect of creating a small sun? 
  Write that down, apprentice number 
  twenty-three.” 
  Master: Bellia Bonisagus 
  Description: Aemillia is a creator 
  of magical spells and weapons of 
  destruction. She is uniquely gifted in 
  the creation of such and regularly 
  creates spells of such incredible 
  intensity that several houses request 
  knowledge of her research actions 
  every season. 
  She usually appears to be a middle 
  aged woman with fire red hair, 
  accompanied by the snaps, crackles 
  and pops of anything breakable 
  nearby. She wears a leather apron 
  over sensible clothes and rarely has 
  eyebrows. She almost always has a 
  slightly charred apprentice or two and 
  a dozen lab assistants in fireproof 
  clothing. 
  Aemillia is almost shocked at the 
  idea that anyone would ever use her 
  research – because that would kill 
  people, things, property, land and 
  nearby clouds. 
  Aemilla is old, and continues her 
  dangerous research despite final 
  twilight rapidly approaching. People 
  assume that she’ll shortly explode into 
  final twilight, much like she spent 
  most of her life. As such, her 
  apprentices spend a great deal of time 
  copying her notes and sealing them 
  away in places other than her 
  covenant or five miles in the vicinity. 
  Most of Aemilla’s apprentices have 
  long since mourned their eyebrows. 
  Personality 
  Traits: Absent 
  Minded +3, Oh, I just had an 
  idea..+2, Whoops! +2 
  Virtues/Flaws of Note: Magical 
  Focus (Spells that Cause Mass 
  Destruction), Inventive Genius, Side 
  Effect (Randomised Destruction), 
  Short Attention Span (Defined as 
  Absent Minded Professor rather than 
  the actual Short Attention Span.) 
  Item of Note:  
  Staff of Covenant Destruction 
  Aemilla’s staff is currently sitting 
  against a wall on the outside of her 
  sanctum, not far from where the 
  toddlers are kept by the various 
  nannies of the covenant. It is made 
  entirely with onyx, glows with fiery 
  runes, is studded with diamonds and 
  carved with images of broken shields, 
  dying people, and burning buildings. 
  It is activated by pressing the various 
  interesting glowing gems that look 
  like candies about halfway up the 
  shaft. It is not completely filled with 
  enchantments, but Aemilla forgot 
  where it was and started a new project 
  instead. 
  PeVi The Invincible Shield 
  Destroyed 
  This effect will destroy any Aegis 
  of the 8th magnitude or lower. It has 
  a side effect of breaking or destroying 
  a random amount of aegis tokens that 
  are linked to it and a 1 in 10 chance of 
  destroying anyone’s Parma Magica 
  who was within the Aegis. It has 
  enough penetration to be able to do 
  so from inside an Aegis of the 8th 
  magnitude. 
  Lvl: 40 +2 Voice,  Pen +82 1/day 
  CrIg Touching the Sphere of 
  Fire 
  This magical fire simply sets things 
  in sight on fire for Sun duration. It 
  
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  has a side effect of a secondary 
  fireblast setting things on fire that 
  weren’t targeted. The base fire does 
  +10 damage in a perfect sphere for 
  sun duration. The sphere is the size of 
  100 campfires. The secondary attack 
  will also target one random thing in 
  sight and do +5 damage at 10 
  campfires, and the fire changes shape 
  randomly from squares, rectangles, 
  flaming horses or otherwise. 
  Lvl: Base 10 +3 Sight +1 Ind +2 
  Sun +2 Size  +70 Pen Unlimited/day 
  Story Seed: Aemilla is an excellent 
  source of items and spells, though she 
  is not specifically interested in making 
  them to trade. Being absent minded, 
  Aemilla might travel to the covenant 
  to look into a tractatus she hasn’t 
  already read on some form of magic, 
  afterwards absently leaving behind an 
  unstable and highly volatile magic 
  item, such as the Staff of Covenant 
  Destruction. Merely being in the 
  vincinity or hearing of her approach 
  may be cause for concern for the 
  majority of covenants. 
   
  Sepentia Bonisagus 
  Age: 100 (80) 
  Theme: Heartless scientist who 
  will achieve her goals no matter the 
  cost. 
  Quote: “Silence, child. How do 
  you expect me to write my 
  correspondences when you keep 
  calling for your mother? She died 
  yesterday regardless. You can have 
  some comfort in knowing she helped 
  me prove a minor point on the nature 
  of Muto magic and pain receptors, 
  which I am anxious to hear how my 
  friend Aemillia will reply. 
  Master: Aemillia Bonisagus 
  Description: Snakelike and cold, 
  Sepentia has cold, slitted eyes and 
  moves with a sinuous grace. Sepentia 
  has no compunctions about using 
  whatever means necessary to conduct 
  her experiments, so many a hapless 
  peasant is now wandering the land 
  with a snake head or serpent body or 
  are not wandering at all. 
  Sepentia seeks a discovery that will 
  integrate a major virtue as Hermetic, 
  and then a second to be integrated 
  into Hermetic Magic perfectly; when 
  opening the gift that the 
  Shapechanger virtue also be granted 
  along with Hermetic magic.  
  Personality Traits: Snake +3, 
  Obsession (Change Hermetic Magic) 
  +3, Cruel +2 
  Virtues/Flaws 
  of 
  Note: 
  Obsession, Major Magical Focus 
  (Shapechanging) 
  Story Seed: A collection of 
  maddened snake people and animals 
  appear to be attacking the covenant. 
  Sepentia created these unfortunate 
  specimens as an army, and they work 
  in unison with each other. While she 
  swears she never sent them to attack 
  the PC’s covenant, why are they 
  attacking? And what will the PC’s do, 
  especially when they find that they 
  were once harmless peasants who 
  harmed no-one? Is Sepentia’s 
  research worth the cost? 
  Vice versa, if her research is found 
  out, Sepentia may ask for aid; why is 
  she the sudden target of all of House 
  Bjornaer? 
   
  Fulgrim Bonisagus 
  Age: 40 (15) 
  Theme: Head of a Spring 
  Covenant 
  Quote: Well, once we have the vis 
  coming in, then perhaps we can look 
  into a better deal with our 
  
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  neighbouring covenants. First thing’s 
  first, though - we’ll probably need to 
  clear out the magical bats from the 
  cave as they keep biting the grogs and 
  turning them into more bats… 
  Master: Sepentia of Bonisagus 
  Description: Fulgrim was 
  originally taken as a Trianomae under 
  a now deceased wizard (Occulus of 
  B o n i s a g u s ) ,  a n d  h a d  h i s 
  apprenticeship finished by Sepentia of 
  Bonisagus, which he barely survived. 
  He has moved away from her and 
  since used his general level-
  headedness, friendliness and 
  organisation to quickly organise a 
  group of young wizards to head into 
  the wilderness and found a covenant. 
  Fulgrim appears relaxed, but is very 
  cautious of giving offence as he has 
  suffered at the hands of someone 
  who tolerated efficiency and punished 
  anything else. Sepentia failed his 
  gauntlet on a technicality, though it 
  was deemed suitable by a group of 
  other Bonisagi, causing her to grow 
  annoyed with him and involve him in 
  her business periodically, including 
  regularly invading his sanctum or 
  demanding use of his skills. Fulgrim is 
  very willing to deal with other wizards 
  in such a way that can benefit his new 
  covenant. 
  One day Fulgrim would love to 
  begin to integrate the Life Boost 
  virtue into Hermetic Magic, and talks 
  about doing such with a wistful 
  expression. Unfortunately, real life 
  keeps getting in the way of him doing 
  anything other than a season here or 
  there of such research. 
  Personality Traits: Friendly +1, 
  Cautious +2, Organised +2 
  Virtues/Flaws 
  of 
  Note: 
  Tormenting Master 
  Story Seed: Fulgrim needs help. 
  His covenant is beset by faeries, snake 
  monsters, and every other thing that 
  could possibly go wrong. The few 
  magi in his covenant are not strong 
  enough to deal with it... and why are 
  so many things going wrong all the 
  time? Could another covenant be 
  involved? And why won’t the 
  normally friendly Fulgrim treat with 
  their representative, Sepentia? 
  Clara Bonisagus 
  Age: 60 (30) 
  Theme: Science Nerd 
  Quote: Oooh! Bonisagus Fourth 
  Principle overturned by a simple 
  falling stone? Objects fall toward the 
  earth at the same speed regardless of 
  weight!? Why, the Rego Technique 
  will need to be completely updated… 
  no, not updated… replaced! 
  Master: Bellia Bonisagus 
  Description: Clara is a true 
  academic rather than a research based 
  magus. She is a university trained 
  Magister (With appropriate spell to 
  disguise gender), and often writes on 
  entirely mundane topics. Clara is 
  fascinated with natural philosophy 
  and science as well as how it can be 
  applied to magical thought. Her 
  unusual thoughts give her something 
  of a reputation for being a fruit loop 
  in House Bonisagus, as she has been 
  heard to discuss how the very 
  philosophical underpinnings of magic 
  as written by Bonisagus are incorrect 
  to their very core and lacking in true 
  knowledge. These things are 
  obviously untrue, reason the rest of 
  the order, otherwise Hermetic theory 
  wouldn’t work - so she is obviously 
  insane. 
  Personality Traits: Focused +3, 
  Driven (Change Hermetic Theory to 
  understand new, no longer outdated 
  thought patterns.) 
  Virtues/Flaws of Note: Gentle 
  Gift, Black Sheep 
  Story Seed: Someone has grown 
  truly annoyed with Clara and has 
  challenged her to Certamen over 
  whether she can speak about her 
  theories at the next tribunal. Will the 
  PC’s care enough to interfere, or will 
  they let a potential revolutionary 
  genius be stopped by force? 
   
  Vir Bonisagus 
  Age: 40 (15) 
  Theme: Unstable Researcher 
  Quote: Damn him! Damn 
  Aurulentis! I’ve studied this for 
  fifteen years, fifteen years of my life! 
  Wasted! I’ll get what’s mine. He’ll see. 
  He’ll see! 
  Master: Sepentia Bonisagus 
  Description: Vir of Bonisagus has 
  been researching a way to maintain 
  virility after taking a longevity potion 
  and been focused on it for so long 
  that he can barely remember what life 
  was like beforehand. 
  And then someone beat him to it. 
  And the already slightly unstable Vir 
  went… odd. He doesn’t know what 
  he wants to do. He doesn’t know 
  what he can do. He doesn’t know if 
  he wants to shake Aurulentis’ hand 
  for a job well done or plunge a knife 
  into his heart. All he can think is that 
  his entire life has been thrown into 
  turmoil and he needs to do… 
  something. 
  Personality Traits: Unstable 
  Genius +5 
  Virtues/Flaws 
  of 
  Note: 
  Obsession (Longevity Potions) 
  Item of Note: Notes on enough 
  longevity rituals and related effects to 
  total 49 Breakthrough points. 
  Story Seeds: The half crazed Vir 
  may approach a warlike PC with as 
  much vis as it takes to hire the PC to 
  destroy Aurulentis. Casual discussion 
  will reveal that Vir has never even 
  met the man, and could be slightly 
  unhinged. Do they take the money 
  and do the deed, or try for a more 
  moral solution? 
   
  Elvardus Bonisagus 
  Age: 45 (20) 
  Theme: Joe Average Magus 
  Quote: *yawns* Perhaps I’ll look 
  
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  Sub Rosa 
  into that Tractatus today. Whats that 
  dear, you need some milk? I’ll just 
  pop down to the grogs, will I? Yes. 
  Whiskers, stop clawing up my tomes 
  or I’ll use my Perdo Animal to shave 
  you! Now git! 
  Master: Bellia Bonisagus 
  Description: Elvardus does not 
  stand out too much. Next to his 
  housemates, his intelligence is not 
  quite as high, his virtues are not 
  related to magical research, and his 
  flaws not particularly exciting. His 
  views are general on many topics, and 
  his favourite topics of conversation 
  tend to be around amusing pet antics 
  or whatever is happening down the 
  local tavern. 
  Elvardus is married and puts 
  effort into his marriage, which isn’t a 
  particularly torrid affair. The two love 
  each other casually and Elvardus 
  dotes upon his sons. He secretly 
  wants them to be gifted, but he also 
  secretly wants a girl, and the wishes 
  are no more than idle daydreams. 
  What is unusual about Elvardus is 
  that he only ‘works’, that is studies or 
  creates items for two seasons per 
  year. The other two he spends with 
  his family. All of his children are 
  secretly horribly ashamed at their dad 
  who always seems to be about, 
  embarrassing them with dad jokes 
  that no-one laughs at. 
  Elvardus has acquaintances over 
  House Bonisagus, and has a coveted 
  contract with House Mercere to 
  create items and thereby supply 
  himself with extra vis. He often 
  dresses in blue robes with stars and 
  moons on them. 
  While relatively magically weak for 
  his age, there is no-one who hates 
  Elvardus enough who would bother 
  to declare Wizard War on him. His 
  vis collection is average but protected 
  by his covenant. 
  Elvardus has the fear that the 
  growing politics of his tribunal will 
  soon involve him and his family, and 
  will use any political power he has to 
  keep the status quo. 
  Very occasionally, when the mood 
  strikes him and his wife and children 
  are visiting family, he works on his 
  pet project; a minor breakthrough for 
  a new duration - Song. He does so 
  because his wife and children can’t 
  stand his singing. 
  Personality 
  Traits: Harried 
  Husband +1, Loving Husband +2, 
  I’m a Wizard +1 
  Virtues/ 
  Flaws 
  of 
  Note: 
  Dependant (Wife and Children), 
  Temperate 
  Story Seed: Elvardus could visit 
  the covenant on ‘holiday’ with his 
  family. He can show an interesting 
  dichotomy between the wizards who 
  barely notice the passing of seasons 
  and a strong, healthy family. Elvardus 
  often talks of how he’d love to spend 
  his seasons like the PC magi, learning 
  more and greater levels of power; 
  perhaps after his sons are grown. He 
  hasn’t taken a longevity potion mainly 
  because he doesn’t want his sons to 
  look older than him, and is concerned 
  his wife will die earlier than he will. 
  Item of Note:  
  The Father’s Blessing 
  This small ring allows a working 
  father to temporarily gain the 
  Unaffected by Crying and Fighting 
  +3 personality trait. Elvardus was 
  annoyed that he was losing so much 
  of his time to such matters that he 
  created this ring. He takes it off when 
  not in his laboratory, unless the 
  children are particularly bad. 
   
  Iuliana Bonisagus 
  Age: 60 (40) 
  Theme: Medical researcher 
  Quote: Hermetic healing is easy, 
  but requires too much investment. 
  There must be a way for everyone to 
  act in concordance with God to 
  lessen disease. 
  Master: Bellia Bonisagus 
  Description: Iuliana grew up the 
  child of a whore who took on 
  religious vows and lived as a type of 
  
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  nun. With a rather broad view of 
  society from this position, Iuliana 
  learned to tend to the sick from a very 
  young age as well as love God. Being 
  picked up as a teenager as an 
  apprentice, Iuliana was given tutoring 
  in many different areas and given 
  opportunities she had never had 
  before - though she never lost sight 
  of her and her mothers and sisters 
  work in the slums. 
  After she completed her 
  apprenticeship, Iuliana returned to 
  her family and regularly worked with 
  them, her magical abilities bringing 
  enough wealth to them that sister 
  convents have formed, and Iuliana is 
  treated as something of a holy woman 
  - though she always protests at such. 
  Iuliana knows that many diseases 
  are from infernal spirits, and so does 
  research on how the normal person 
  could prevent such diseases from 
  affecting them. Some of this research 
  has some very dubious requirements. 
  P e r s o n a l i t y  
  T r a i t s : 
  Compassionate + 3, Generous +2, 
  Pious +3, Proud (Obsession) +2 
  Virtues/Flaws of note: Close 
  Family Ties, Pious, Plagued by 
  Supernatural Entity 
  Story Seed: Iuliana captured a 
  demon spirit of illness some years ago 
  to study it, and has not yet realised it 
  has been replaced with a far more 
  powerful and cunning demon which 
  has gradually been trying to change 
  her. It has had some limited success, 
  but it has yet to overcome Iuliana’s 
  basic love of God and it is growing 
  impatient. In a fit of boredom it 
  organises Iuliana to be found out as 
  having captured another, lesser 
  demon and studying it for years. How 
  do the PC’s proceed against this 
  apparently innocent and good 
  woman? And when the truth is 
  revealed, what do they do? 
   
   
  Rogelia Bonisagus 
  Age: 30 (25) 
  Theme: Magus caught between 
  her gifts and desires 
  Quote: Please. Please let me go. 
  Master: Aemilla Bonisagus 
  Description: Rogelia is a maga 
  with a good reputation for her limited 
  years, seen as a bright up-and-comer. 
  But few know that Rogelia does not 
  actually have the true gift - her Gift 
  was given from a demon at the cost 
  of service.  
  Rogelia was born into abject 
  poverty, her parents died of starvation 
  at an early age. She survived through 
  her wits until one day she stumbled 
  across a small group of grogs from a 
  covenant and Aemilla, who was 
  absently casting magics. Rogelia was 
  hurt in the incident and the grogs 
  brought her to the covenant to be 
  healed; a brief check for the gift later 
  and Rogelia was about to be sent on 
  her way. Seeing the power of Aemilla, 
  a potent demon approached her in 
  the guise of a magical entity and asked 
  her if she wanted power ‘Just like the 
  mage you saw.’ Not realising that it 
  was a demon, Rogelia agreed. 
  Rogelia approached the covenant 
  and waited for a week before a magus 
  would check her for the gift again. 
  Amazed that the gift could now be 
  detected, Rogelia was made an 
  apprentice. 
  Rogelia did not realise the 
  demon’s requirements, and has done 
  everything in her power to avoid 
  dealing with it; she fears for her 
  eternal soul, but can’t imagine life 
  without the Gift. She has spent 
  almost all of her time attempting to 
  find a way to retain the gift and still 
  destroy the demon.  
  Personality Traits: Frightened + 
  1, Desperate + 1, Good + 1 
  Virtues/Flaws of note: False 
  Gift, Major Magical Focus (Damaging 
  magics), Plagued by Supernatural 
  Entity 
  Story Seed: Rogelia is desperate. 
  When a foreign magus promises her 
  an end to the demon and to retain her 
  power, she will do almost anything to 
  make it happen. If the PC’s find out 
  she has traded the secret of the 
  Parma, how will they treat the 
  desperate young maga? 
   
  Varius Bonisagus 
  Age: 30 (25) 
  Theme: The Focused Generalist 
  Quote: A little bit of everything is 
  much more fun! 
  Master: Clara Bonisagus 
  Description: Varius is not 
  particularly focused on anything; he is 
  usually dishevelled as if he began to 
  prepare himself for the day and left 
  his ablutions halfway through. His 
  laboratory is filled with half 
  completed noted and letters and his 
  whole life is a study in 
  procrastination. Varius is difficult to 
  pin down to any project, but 
  occasionally has moments where he 
  completes what appears to be 
  amazing amounts of genius work in 
  short periods. Varius often invents 
  spells with odd ranges and durations 
  simply for the amusement of the 
  process. 
  Originally Varius was a house 
  Verditius apprentice before being 
  taken by Clara of Bonisagus. His 
  Verditius master was glad to be rid of 
  the layabout. Clara was impressed by 
  the boys natural intelligence but 
  practically forgot about him when 
  taken by some new academic theory, 
  suiting both master and apprentice 
  well. 
  Personality Traits: Dabbler +3, 
  Mercurial +2 
  Virtues/Flaws of note: Waster of 
  Vis, Secondary Insight 
  Story Seed: While visiting the 
  covenant, Various pays for use of a 
  
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  library because he is suddenly 
  overcome with ideas for new 
  inventions. He talks easily about how 
  he is going to spend at least seven 
  seasons experimenting in the lab. Do 
  the PC’s object to having their own 
  covenant exposed to risk? 
   
  Trajanus Bonisagus 
  Age: 20 (20) 
  Theme: Two men in one body 
  Quote: My ancestors cry for 
  vengeance. First I will learn about 
  them. Then I will destroy them. No! 
  No, they are innocent of any crime! 
  Master: Sepentia Bonisagus 
  Description: Trajanus Bonisagus 
  was struck with a warping effect as a 
  young apprentice that sent him deep 
  into the realms of twilight. Searching 
  through the endless worlds, Trajanus 
  found himself in an ancient forest, 
  watching an ancient warrior Diedne 
  protect his people against some 
  warlike Flambeau. Before being killed, 
  watching his family burn before him, 
  Cathasach ex Diedne tore out his own 
  heart, promising to be reborn and 
  destroy their descendants.  
  Trajanus was then struck by the 
  knowledge and memory of Cathasach, 
  granting him the Diedne Magic virtue 
  - and the idea he is Cathasach reborn 
  - which he may well be. Cathasach 
  seeks to study destructive and 
  protective magics, as well as his own 
  cult practices enough that he can tear 
  a gaping hole in the Order so that he 
  may watch it die. He has a particular 
  hatred for any members of House 
  Flambeau. 
  Trajanus also has elements of 
  himself, the apprentice that wishes to 
  learn magic and be a good Catholic. It 
  comes out occasionally, but the 
  stronger , domineering Cathasach 
  usually controls him easily. 
  Personality Traits: Driven +3 
  (Destroy Order of Hermes), Peaceful 
  +1, Hatred (Flambeau) +3 
  Virtues/Flaws of note: Dark 
  Secret (Diedne) 
  Story Seed: A Flambeau PC finds 
  Trajanus becoming offensive to him 
  and making his life difficult, and the 
  Flambeau may even suffer an 
  unprovoked wizard war. Why does 
  this Bonisagus hate him so? And how 
  is he so powerful for someone so 
  young? 
   
  Matthew Bonisagus 
  Age: 30 (5) 
  Theme: Christian magus with ties 
  to the church 
  Quote: Let us hope God is with 
  us! Get the eye of newt, I have a plan 
  for how to help these people! 
  Master: Iuliana Bonisagus 
  Description: Matthew Bonisagus 
  is a good magus. He dresses simply 
  and humbly, speaks without 
  arrogance, and is kind to his servants. 
  Unfortunately his Mater, Iuliana, was 
  not properly prepared for an 
  apprentice, leaving him somewhat 
  weak compared to other magi around 
  him. Matthew has great respect for 
  the work she does, and so does not 
  blame her; she was after all healing 
  the sick, not wasting time. 
  Matthew was introduced to 
  friendly clergy at a young age and has 
  cultivated respectful relationships 
  with many in the church. He knows 
  that some wizards eye him askance 
  for hosting visiting clergy, and some 
  stricter members of House Guernicus 
  eye him for the magical works he 
  
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  does for the church for free.  
  Matthew, perhaps due to his 
  humble beginnings, rarely attempts to 
  solve problems through the brute 
  force application of magic, instead 
  hoping to solve issues cleanly and 
  with diplomacy. He is a strong 
  believer but is never overbearing; he 
  knows such action will not work with 
  proud magi. He hopes that acting as a 
  good example of a magus as much as 
  possible will show other magi that 
  being Christian isn’t a negative thing. 
  When not directly helping others, 
  Matthew looks to invent spells of 
  different types to help people, 
  through growing crops, healing 
  wounds or diseases or similar.  
  Personality Traits: Pious +3, 
  Humble +2, Friendly +1 
  Virtues/Flaws of note: Pious 
  (Minor), Social Contacts (Church), 
  Weak Parens 
  Story Seed: Matthew Bonisagus 
  wandered through a village near to a 
  Pagan magus, and Matthew’s good 
  works and proper demeanour have 
  convinced many of the pagan villagers 
  to consider Catholicism. The magical 
  spirits and fairy spirits have grown 
  angry at the mage for not ensuring 
  their sacrifices and have taken 
  resources in their stead from the 
  pagan magus. The mage is furious and 
  demands compensation; Matthew 
  cannot afford what was taken, and 
  definately cannot defend himself 
  against the powerful magus. He asks 
  the covenant (if any christian magi are 
  there) to assist him to negotiate with 
  the mage.  
   
  Seneca Bonisagus 
  Age: 55 (28) 
  Theme: Cloudcuckoolander 
  Quote: Mmmm, Valerius and 
  Blandus? I can ship that!  
  Master: Aemilla Bonisagus 
  Description: Seneca is known to 
  be eccentric. A powerful maga, she 
  appears to have a strange and yet 
  oddly insightful knowledge about the 
  future - which is also sometimes 
  incredibly wrong, and also have very, 
  very strange ideas about normal life. 
  Seneca claims to be a time 
  traveller from the year 2013, where 
  strange magical communciation 
  devices are common and the world is 
  both at peace and in the most 
  horrifying period of all time. She 
  makes many odd jokes and finds 
  some normal medieval life issues 
  horrifying. She regularly flouts normal 
  societal conventions, which has had 
  her run out of more than one city on 
  charges of indecency. 
  What is known is that Seneca was 
  rescued from an odd faerie realm by 
  her mistress at the age of 10 before 
  being raised as an apprentice. 
  Personality Traits: Pop Culture 
  Fangirl +3 Modern Person +3 
  Virtues/Flaws of note: Faerie 
  Raised, Delusion (A time traveller 
  from the future) 
  Story Seed: Seneca may contact 
  any PC with a vague reputation for 
  healing, telling them that a great 
  disease will come over the land in the 
  1300’s. She wants to be able to cure it 
  if it comes into being, but all she 
  remembers is that “They called it the 
  Black Death, the Plague. I’m not too 
  sure about more than that, other than 
  there was something about rats.” 
  Item of Note: Seneca carries a 
  strange glass-fronted pad that 
  normally shows darkness, but is 
  enchanted with very complex 
  imaginem effects that she controls 
  through touching the images. She 
  complains that it runs out of ‘battery’, 
  and has to cast Auram spells on it to 
  recharge it.  
   
   
   
   
  Rufus Bonisagus 
  Age: 25 (0) 
  Theme: Dangerous to self and 
  others 
  Quote: With my incredible skills 
  of deduction and awesome inventing 
  skills, I have invented a personal 
  ignem effect that will explode with 
  such intensity that the hot air coming 
  from it will propel me to the moon... 
  Master: Aemilla Bonisagus 
  Description: Rufus is dressed in a 
  threadbare robe with voluminous 
  pockets, which are usually filled with 
  unusual bits and pieces he has stolen 
  from around the place. Rufus rarely 
  focuses on anything from day to day 
  and instead spends most of his time 
  either escaping work or trying to 
  escape his situation, which he blames 
  on everyone else but him. Intelligent, 
  but his lack of reason and limited 
  empathy causes hurt to those around 
  him, as well as regularly injuring 
  himself. He is not generally liked, 
  though it is a matter of some 
  conjecture in the order how he is still 
  alive after the time he fell off Mont 
  Blonc, propelled himself to the lunar 
  sphere through a self-targeting Ignem 
  spell or declaring Wizard War on the 
  entirely of House Tremere. 
  Personality Traits: Thoughtless 
  +3, Careless +3, Uncaring +2 
  Virtues/Flaws of note: Clumsy, 
  Poor Attention Span, Death 
  Prophecy (When he gets a clue), 
  Black Sheep 
  Story Seed: Rufus may come to 
  the covenant, and decide that setting 
  fire to the tablecloth that women are 
  washing all of the clothing for the 
  covenant is useful so that people will 
  be frustrated and hence easier to deal 
  with when he asks if he can take their 
  best tomes for a while. 
   
  
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  W 
  e’re 
  not 
  done 
  with 
  Hibernia 
  just 
  yet. 
  The 
  Contested Isle: The Hibernian Tribunal 
  gives you everything you need to start 
  a saga in one of the most conflicted 
  of Tribunals, but page-counts being 
  what they are it has only scratched the 
  surface of the story potential in the 
  old myths and legends of that ancient 
  isle. In this issue, Mappa Mundi 
  searches out a few more resources to 
  add depth to your new Hibernian 
  saga. 
  There are a number of great 
  resources available through your local 
  library and bookstore so let’s take a 
  look at a few. 
  Myth and Legend 
  One of the most important and 
  useful books for the mythological side 
  of Ireland is going to be The Lore of 
  Ireland: An Encyclopaedia of Myth, Legend 
  and Romance, by Dáithí O hOgáin. It 
  contains details of countless mythical 
  and actual kings and high-kings of 
  Ireland, heroes, monsters, and saints, 
  and their deeds. Each of these brief 
  descriptions is ripe with story 
  potential; wrongs to right, birth-rights 
  to claim, and treasures to find. 
  The index is also very useful, 
  grouping entries under terms such as 
  Folk Custom and Belief and Peoples and 
  Traditions. 
  However, we can go further into 
  the mythical history of Ireland by 
  picking up a copy of the Lebor Gabála 
  Érenn. This purports to be the history 
  of the legendary peoples of Ireland 
  and it explains in detail how race after 
  race vied for control of the small 
  island and how eventually they are 
  accommodated. It is not an easy text 
  to read, however, but it does provide 
  the basis for much of Ireland’s 
  mythology in one place. 
  The Lebor Feasa Runda does a 
  similar job in a much more straight-
  forward manner; what you lose in 
  detail and flavour you gain in brevity. 
  It also has the benefit of looking at 
  Ireland’s magical traditions. We can 
  learn about the days and times most 
  suitable to magic, about the secret 
  languages and scripts of Ireland, and 
  even the various instruments, circles, 
  and rituals used in Irish magic. It’s a 
  great resource for those wanting to 
  bring some real ancient Irish colour 
  to their saga. 
  History and Society 
  For a solid exploration of early 
  Ireland, the multi-volume New History 
  of Ireland series, edited by Dáibhí Ó 
  Cróinín and others, is about as good 
  as it gets. Volume one runs from pre-
  history up to about 1169 and covers 
  topics as diverse as Iron-Age 
  settlements, Latin literature to 1169, 
  and the development and usage of 
  coins, the High-Kings of Ireland, and 
  even Ireland’s music of the period. 
  Volume two takes the story through 
  to the early 1500s, which provides a 
  vast scope for your saga, and covers 
  economics, architecture, trade and 
  relations, and the further 
  development of literature and culture. 
  A more convenient, though less 
  detailed, view of Ireland through to 
  about 1200 can be gained by reading 
  Early Medieval Ireland 400-1200, by 
  Dáibhí Ó Cróinín. This book 
  contains chapters covering Law, 
  Family and Community, The Viking Age, 
  and specifically the history of Ireland 
  1014-1200 during the tumultuous 
  time of upheaval. There is enough 
  information to as a very competent 
  companion to The Contested Isle: The 
  Hibernian Tribunal  and bring more 
  depth to the table. 
  First-Hand Sources 
  If you want the authentic period 
  view, then you can do no better than 
  going straight to Gerald of Wales and 
  his History and Topography of Ireland. 
  Often deeply opinionated, his 
  recounting of his journeys through 
  Ireland influenced the Norman-
  English who followed in the wake of 
  the initial wave of Strongbow, King 
  Henry, and then King John. 
  Gerald characterises the land as 
  fruitful, rich, and fertile and makes 
  mention of the many deep lakes that 
  are stocked with plentiful fish. Its 
  people, however, he is not so 
  generous with. He reports that many 
  are not baptised, that the clergy are 
  lax in their offices, and just how many 
  seem to be born lame or blind or with 
  some other deformity. His meaning, 
  we think, is clear; the land is ripe and 
  full but its people unworthy. This 
  attitude is one that clearly colours 
  much of The Contested Isle: The 
  Hibernian Tribunal. 
  We can read of the cow that was 
  partly a stag, how the mud of Ireland 
  does not contain the seed necessary 
  to spawn frogs, a cross in Dublin that 
  can speak and can only bear truthful 
  witness, and how the saints of Ireland 
  are more vindictive there than their 
  counterparts elsewhere. 
  If you were to invest in just one 
  additional book to give your 
  Hibernian saga additional colour, it 
  would be this one without doubt. 
  Mappa Mundi 
  
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  In the Next Issue 
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  Hermetic Projects introduced the Intangible Assassin. This article explores ways to 
  optimize such a character build, featuring sample characters and exploring 
  different themes and (perhaps) some surprising House choices. 
  By Pelle Kofod and Christian Rosenkjaer Andersen 
  Covenant Finances 
  An alternative system for managing covenant income and expenditure. 
  By Mark Shirley 
   
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Ars Magica [multi]/5th edition/Sub Rosa fanzine/Sub Rosa Issue 14.pdf