TEXT: Sub Rosa 
  The Ars Magica Magazine 
  A Distant Lands Publication 
  www.subrosamagazine.org 
  Issue 10, June 2012 
  
  2 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Out Now and Coming Soon 
  Grogs 
  Authors: Mark Shirley, Christian Rosenkjaer Andersen, Evangeline Cheng, Camo 
  Coffey, Mark Faulkner, Timothy Ferguson, Mark Lawford  
  Cover Artist: Grey Thornberry  
  Stock Number: AG0301 | ISBN: 1-58978-129-5 | MSRP: $29.95 US  
  Format: 144 pages, hardcover  
  Release Date: July 2012  
  The Cradle & The Crescent  
  Authors: Niall Christie, Erik Dahl, Lachie Hayes, Mark Shirley, Alex White 
  Cover Artist: Grey Thornberry  
  Stock Number: AG0298 | ISBN: 1-58978-123-6 | MSRP: 32.95  
  Format: 192 pages, hardcover  
  Release Date: Available Now 
  Hermetic Projects 
  Authors: Mark Lawford (Great Tower, Hermetic Shipyard), Richard Love (Burning City, 
  Intangible Assassin), Matt Ryan (Living Corpse, Menagerie)  
  Cover Artist: Grey Thornberry  
  Stock Number: AG0299 | ISBN: 1-58978-126-0 | MSRP: $29.95 US  
  Format: 144 pages, hardcover  
  Release Date: Available Now 
  Apprentices  
  Authors: Matt Ryan with Erik Dahl  
  Cover Artist: Grey Thornberry  
  Stock Number: AG0300 | ISBN: 1-58978-128-7 | MSRP: $19.95  
  Format: 80 pages, softcover  
  Release Date: Available Now 
  
  3 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Contributors 
  Publisher: Distant Lands Publishing 
  Contributors: Ben McFarland, David Staveley, Gerald 
  Wylie, Guy Leopold, Mark Lawford, and David Chart 
  Cover art: Jeff Menges 
  Interior artists: Angela Taylor, Alexandra Dopp, 
  Barrie James, Jason Tseng, and Vincent Belmont 
  Art Coordinator: Ben McFarland 
  Editors: Ben McFarland, Mark Lawford 
  Design/Layout: Alex White, 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, East Sussex 
  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 Johnathan 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 was laid out using MS Publisher 2010 and makes 
  use of the MagicMedieval and GoodCityModern Plain fonts. 
   
  Tweets from the foundation of the Order:  
  maestrojerbiton: @notcriamon Dude! That is some serious ink! 
  notcriamon: @maestrojerbiton One word, seven letters, when the  
  hollow quill breaks, it is without substance. 
  maestrojerbiton: @notcriamon Oh man, that is deep! Do another  
  one! 
  notcriamon: @maestrojerbiton These three letters mark you as the 
  reflection of a wise man, the sturdy horse who hears from afar. 
  This Issue 
  Issue 10 
  June 2012 
  Contents 
  Under the Rose  .................................................. Page 4 
  News from the Line Editor................................. Page 5 
  Storyguide’s Handbook: The Dramatic Journey .... Page 6 
  By Gerald Wylie 
  Designing the Hermetic Shipwright ................... Page 14 
  By Mark Lawford 
  From the Journal of Vulcanis Argens ................... Page 22 
  The Cult of Silvanus .......................................... Page 26 
  By David Staveley 
  The Grand Tribunals .......................................... Page 32 
  Stormbreaker ...................................................... Page 34 
  By Guy Leopold 
  Twilight Scars ................................................... Page 51 
  By Ben McFarland 
  Mappa Mundi ..................................................... Page 59 
  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 
  guidelines. 
  Subscription 
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  Grogs: A challenge was given during the writing of Grogs. A pint of ale the prize. Mark Shirley took up the challenge and won the pint. But what was that challenge? 
  
  4 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Under the Rose 
  Double-figures. Just a one and a 
  zero next to each other. It shouldn’t 
  mean any more than the numbers 
  either side of it, but somehow it does. 
  This is, in case you’re still in any 
  doubt, issue 10 of Sub Rosa. That’s a 
  nice little milestone to celebrate. And 
  what better way to do that than by 
  introducing a new contributor? 
  If you look over the list of 
  playtesters in the front of each new 
  book, you’ll more than likely see 
  David Staveley  mentioned a few 
  times, but this is his Ars Magica 
  writing debut, having written the very 
  nice little Mystery Cult of Silvanus for 
  us. But he’s actually more influential 
  to this issue than just one article as 
  he’s also the player behind the often-
  manipulated, sometime put-upon, and 
  known-to-occasionally-rage-quit 
  Benedic of Ex Miscellanea as depicted 
  each issue in the Journal of Vulcanis 
  Argens. Of course, Argens’ view is 
  entirely skewed and I still hope one 
  day to see Benedic’s Journal to 
  discover his unique take on those 
  shared events and to find out just 
  what he was up to while the other 
  magi played at politics. I’m sure it was 
  nefarious. 
  If that’s not enough, he also 
  played a part when I was working 
  through ideas on the Hermetic 
  Shipwright, those same ideas that 
  you’ll find in this issue in a fully 
  developed strategy for building out 
  your own Hermetic Shipwright player 
  character. 
  And lastly, in one of those rare 
  instances of very apt timing, Gerald 
  Wylie’s Storyguide’s Handbook this 
  issue strikes a personal chord. Until 
  the end of last year, Dave and I had 
  spent and enjoyed nine years across a 
  couple of Ars Magica sagas. But now 
  the old group has wound down and 
  we’re currently without a saga. It’s a 
  weird feeling, and I wish I’d read 
  Gerald’s article this time last year as 
  he looks at what troupes can do to 
  make sure that they get the most out 
  of their sagas and how to plan for 
  that eventual and inevitable end. 
  Okay, that’s enough about Dave. 
  Forget Dave. Done? Good. We’ve 
  got more in this issue. 
  Stormbreaker is a scenario that 
  literally drops an enchanted ship into 
  your saga. Of course, you get nothing 
  for nothing and just what does a 
  covenant do with someone else’s 
  enchanted ship? If they claim it are 
  they responsible for repairing the 
  damage it caused?  But dare they seek 
  its creator? Of course, the recently-
  released Hermetic Projects provides 
  useful material for investigating and 
  bringing an enchanted ship into your 
  covenant, but the scenario  can be 
  played without it. 
  Those of you who follow us on 
  Twitter (@subrosamagazine) may 
  have seen a series of Twilight Scars 
  being posted. This issue presents an 
  article full of them. Often overlooked, 
  they provide the perfect way to chart 
  your magus’ changing relationship 
  with magic. They also make for useful 
  and descriptive hooks for NPC magi, 
  especially the old and warped. 
  Before I forget, the Grand 
  Tribunal 2012 season will soon be 
  upon us again. This year, the GT:UK 
  returns to its familiar roots in 
  Cheltenham and the GT:US returns 
  the Lake Tahoe. Sub Rosa will be 
  there! Of course, which “there” is still 
  being worked out, but we’ll certainly 
  try to do something. 
  You can find more details on both 
  of these events in this issue. If you 
  haven’t been to a Grand Tribunal yet, 
  do consider it. 
  Before we go, and I probably say 
  this every issue, but please do take a 
  moment to appreciate the artists that 
  have worked so hard for us yet again 
  this issue. Jeff, Alexandra, Angela, 
  Barrie, Jason, and Vincent have all 
  been generous to a fault and its their 
  work that really does help lift what we 
  do here. 
   
  Mark Lawford 
  The Perfect Turb 
  The long-awaited Grogs supplement will be 
  hitting the shelves before the next issue of 
  Sub Rosa so as our thoughts lean towards 
  these doughty supporting characters, we 
  want to hear about your turb. 
   
  Send in a snapshot of your turb. Who is 
  their captain? What skills do they have? 
  How do they work together? Do the magi 
  have their favorites? What sets them apart? 
   
  Do you think you’ve hit upon the perfect 
  combination of grogs, a combination that 
  provides military muscle as well as brains 
  and stealth? 
   
  Or can you add to the roster of grogs 
  fallen in the service of their magi? Tell us 
  who they were and how they fell. 
   
  We’ll be celebrating the humble grog in 
  issue 11 and we hope yours will be among 
  their number. 
  
  5 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  From the Line Editor 
  The next book for Ars Magica will 
  be Grogs. This is an important book for 
  the line precisely because it is about the 
  bit players. 
  Troupe-style play is one of the 
  features that has made Ars Magica 
  unusual from the beginning. The idea 
  that players have more than one 
  character, that not every character will be 
  played every session, and that some of 
  the characters will be shared between the 
  players, was quite new when Ars Magica 
  came out, and is unusual for a roleplaying 
  game even now. It does, however, have a 
  number of advantages: it makes it fairly 
  easy for an Ars Magica saga to cope 
  with a player who can’t attend every 
  session, for example. The claim in the 
  main rule book that it could also cope 
  with a player going abroad for a year 
  didn’t get tested as early as I hoped, 
  because I never went back. 
  More importantly, it allows troupes to 
  tell different kinds of stories at the same 
  point of a saga. It is, for example, 
  extremely hard to tell horror stories with 
  magi, because there is, by design, very 
  little that magi cannot stand up to. On 
  the other hand, you can tell horror stories 
  with grogs very easily. Not only that, but 
  the goal of the grog adventure can be 
  getting a message to the magi to come 
  and help, so that the players’ other 
  characters resolve the problem. Slapstick 
  comedy and farce tend to work better 
  with grogs, although some magi are also 
  masters of the genre. 
  Nevertheless, it is very easy to 
  overlook the grogs. Indeed, one could say 
  that the lateness of this book in the line is 
  testimony to that. Part of the point of 
  grogs is that they don’t rely on 
  complicated 
  mechanics, 
  or 
  deeply 
  complex ties to the background of 
  Mythic Europe, so it is a little hard to see 
  what would go in a book about them. 
  Rather than new mechanics or deep 
  background, the book contains a lot of 
  information to make it easier to use grogs 
  in your saga. 
  There is one important mechanical 
  addition in this book: lots of new Minor 
  General Flaws. Most people want two for 
  every grog, to go with the Personality 
  Flaw and pay for three Minor Virtues, 
  but the main ArM5 rules do not contain 
  that many. Grogs has a lot more, drawn 
  from the Open Call. 
  Readers may remember the Open 
  Call, which asked for grog concepts. 
  Those are also a major part of the book; 
  a wide range of backgrounds for grogs, 
  with some ready-to-use sets of Abilities, 
  to make creating distinctive grogs for 
  your saga a bit easier. These are not fully 
  created characters, but should allow 
  anyone to create a grog extremely 
  quickly. 
  That is also part of the focus of 
  another 
  chapter, 
  which 
  provides 
  mechanical 
  tools, 
  such 
  as 
  training 
  packages, designed to make it easier to 
  advance dozens of grogs over the course 
  of years. The rest of the book is 
  concerned with how to incorporate grogs 
  into your stories, whether by themselves 
  or when they are accompanying magi. We 
  hope that the book will help you to make 
  grogs an important, even though not 
  central, part of your saga. 
  The other important aspect of this 
  book is that part of it was an Open Call. 
  Open 
  Calls 
  are, 
  with 
  Sub Rosa, 
  absolutely essential to the continued 
  health of Ars Magica. Authors run out 
  of enthusiasm for the game and either 
  want to take a break, or to retire 
  completely. Without a continuous supply 
  of new authors to take their places, the 
  game would soon break down. 
  Open Calls are a good way to recruit 
  new authors because a potential author 
  does not need to have any existing 
  connection to Atlas to participate. Nor is 
  previous writing experience of any kind 
  necessary; because new authors submit 
  completed drafts, I don’t have to predict 
  how good the finished product will be. 
  New authors don’t even need to be 
  native speakers of English, although they 
  do have to be good. 
  Almost all of the people currently 
  writing for Ars Magica were recruited 
  through Open Calls at some point, and 
  one of the authors recruited through 
  Grogs has already written quite a lot 
  more for the line. I have no doubt that he 
  is eagerly anticipating the book’s release, 
  partly because he has said as much on the 
  Atlas forums on several occasions. 
  I probably won’t run another Open 
  Call for a while (the call for Hooks was 
  quite recent), but if you are interested in 
  writing for Ars Magica, do submit 
  something to Sub Rosa. I read it, and I 
  have recruited authors from Sub Rosa in 
  the past. 
  By David Chart 
  
  6 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
   
  To all things come an end. It 
  is a sad but true fact that the vast 
  majority of Ars Magica sagas, 
  just as with any other RPG 
  campaign, end before their time. 
  As a result, stories remain untold, 
  goals remain unfulfilled, and 
  mysteries remain unresolved. So 
  how do we get the best out of the 
  game while it’s running? 
  While previous articles in this 
  series have looked at specific 
  rules or game concepts, this 
  article steps outside the game a 
  little to discuss what you can do 
  to ensure that your saga is as 
  rewarding as possible while 
  you’re playing and has a satisfying 
  end when that time comes. 
   
   
  What Do we Mean by 
  Story? 
  The word “story” has some 
  broad meanings. In Ars Magica 
  there is the story of the covenant 
  and the story of an individual 
  magus. Each gaming session can 
  tell a different story to the last 
  and the story of a Tribunal’s fall 
  to corruption plays out over 
  many real-world months or even 
  years. 
  This article is more concerned 
  with those larger scale stories, 
  those beats that chart the course 
  of a saga. If a saga does draw to 
  an early close, it is these larger 
  stories that are more likely to 
  suffer and remain unresolved. 
  So the story we are interested 
  in is a chain of events, narrated 
  by the troupe, that takes their 
  characters from one dramatic 
  place to another. These individual 
  “events” can themselves be 
  stories, or chains of smaller 
  events. This “chain of events” 
  metaphor is useful as the aim is 
  to keep each chain to a 
  manageable length and to avoid 
  tangling multiple chains into a 
  confusing knot. 
  Keep Things Simple 
  As we’ll see, there are a lot of 
  stories to keep straight even 
  before you begin adding in 
  sweeping saga plots. Each magus 
  and companion has their own 
  goals and journeys to undertake 
  and the covenant grows or 
  declines over the course of the 
  saga. 
  The Storyguide’s Handbook:  
  The Dramatic Journey 
  By Gerald Wylie 
  D e a l i n g  
  w i t h  
  O u t s i d e 
  Distractions 
  There are plenty of distractions outside of 
  the game that often make regularly 
  returning to that world difficult. Work, 
  college, relationships, family commitments, 
  other hobbies, other gaming groups - 
  there’s only so much time to go around. 
  So the key is to be accommodating. 
  Nobody wants the game to feel like a 
  chore or an obligation too far. If people 
  are time-constrained, here are a few things 
  that can be done to keep the game ticking 
  over until people can come back to the 
  table. 
  Keep the stories short: Keep individual 
  stories to a session or two at most. You 
  may have a longer story in mind, but find 
  ways to break it up into smaller, easier to 
  handle episodes. Your players won’t feel 
  the pressure of the longer story bearing 
  down on them and they’ll be more inclined 
  to commit to the next story if they know 
  they’re not on the hook for the next four 
  weeks. 
  Vary the stories: Ars Magica has four 
  supernatural realms, thirteen Tribunals, 
  twelve Houses, countless hedge traditions, 
  and an endless range of magical beasts and 
  faeries. There are plenty of stories to be 
  told so keep it fresh to make every story 
  worth turning up for. 
  Don’t expect everyone every time: Very 
  rarely does the absence of a given player 
  make a session unplayable. There are 
  always alternatives. Frankly, even if a 
  specific character is “needed”, the 
  storyguide always has the option of playing 
  them as an NPC. 
  Play by other means: If you can’t get 
  together face-to-face, there are ways to get 
  some time in. Google Hangouts (other 
  online conferencing systems are available), 
  play-by-post, or plain old email could work 
  for you. 
  One-on-one: Take the opportunity to 
  progress individual stories. Most characters 
  have their own stories that don’t warrant 
  covenant involvement, so you could 
  progress those in times where the group 
  just can’t get together. 
  Maintain the narrative: You might not 
  be playing, but the game world still goes 
  on. If you’re feeling creative, write the 
  occasional “off-camera” piece - a small 
  vignette describing events in the world 
  elsewhere. This keeps the interest ticking 
  along and gives the storyguide chance to 
  present new information. Similarly, you 
  could always write letters to the characters. 
  Most sagas tend to include stories that 
  impact or involve more than just the player 
  covenant, so letters from other magi 
  (bishops/nobles/etc.) help flesh out the 
  world you’re creating and keep players 
  engaged with the saga during the quiet 
  times. 
  
  7 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  One thing you can do is to 
  draw out a simple grid with 
  characters and stories down the 
  side and time across the top. For 
  those things you know and can 
  control, such as when a particular 
  earthquake is going to happen or 
  when your Diedne story is going 
  to start, mark it on the grid. 
  The aim is to avoid stories 
  overlapping too much. I would 
  even go so far as to say avoid 
  them overlapping at all if 
  possible, with perhaps the 
  exception of adding in a few hints 
  here and there on the build up to 
  a new story. For instance, if you 
  want to play through the 
  expansion of the Church farming 
  estates into the woodlands, try 
  not to overlap that with the 
  failing of the covenant’s magic 
  a u r a u n l es s  t h e t w o  ar e 
  connected. Each of those is story 
  enough and you would do well to 
  avoid the confusion. 
  Player characters run across 
  the grid of course, and as the 
  player and storyguide develop 
  their story you can project it onto 
  the grid, planning how you’re 
  going to support that player’s 
  goals. Even here though, as we 
  will see below, you should break 
  the line into discrete plots so that 
  you can control their progress. 
  This grid then gives a visual 
  reference for where stories are 
  and what needs to happen to 
  wrap them up. It shows whether 
  you’re juggling too much at any 
  one time and it helps to ensure 
  that each session can contribute 
  to the story currently being told. 
  This is a useful tool for other 
  reasons, that we’ll come to as we 
  go. 
  TV and Comic Books 
  TV series and comic books 
  face the same issues of pacing 
  that an Ars Magica saga does; 
  provide engaging stories issue/
  episode after issue/episode while 
  moving things forward for the 
  characters and the audience. 
  Seasonal Arcs 
  Before we get into this bit, a 
  quick word on seasons. It is a 
  term widely used in Ars Magica. 
  Covenants have their seasons, 
  magi measure their work in 
  seasons, and the age or power of 
  Magical creatures is described as 
  their season. We are not going to 
  introduce another in-game use for 
  that word, but rather point to 
  what TV and comic books do 
  with it. 
  A TV season is often 13 or 
  around 22 episodes long and each 
  episode is usually a discrete story 
  in itself, with elements of that 
  season’s arc layered into the 
  story. Each episode offers 
  something distinct from the 
  previous and the next episodes, 
  but the arc is also usually serviced 
  as a “B-story”. Most TV shows 
  these days develop a strong story 
  arc across each season, with the 
  season finale either wrapping up a 
  given thread of events or setting 
  up a situation to be resolved of 
  continued at the start of the next 
  season.  
  TV seasons are a function of 
  TV production, i.e. the series is 
  shown, then breaks, and then 
  comes back for a new season the 
  following year. In some markets, 
  seasons often have a break mid-
  way through but the principle is 
  the same. The same thinking can 
  be applied to RPGs and Ars 
  Magica in particular. 
  Applying this to your Saga 
  As storyguide, you can give 
  yourself a (broadly) set number of 
  stories per “season”, each of 
  which progresses your arc in 
  some way. You can use these 
  episodes to explore different 
  aspects of the wider story. For 
  instance, if your season arc is the 
  recession of Faerie from the 
  Tribunal, you can explore what 
  that does to each of the Realms - 
  does magic also suffer or does 
  the Infernal step into the niche 
  that the Fae are leaving behind; 
  You can look at what the 
  implications are for characters 
  known to the covenant and you 
  can have the make-or-break 
  season finale. And of course, 
  what you take away in one 
  season, you can have many stories 
  in another season giving it back. 
  Doing this helps to make your 
  saga pretty efficient. By that I 
  mean that your stories remain 
  focused, while also ensuring that 
  your characters each get to 
  progress their own character arcs. 
  This model can be really useful 
  to troupes that don’t want to be 
  too reliant on a single game but 
  who would rather mix things up. 
  Just as we might turn from one 
  TV series to another, troupes can 
  enjoy a season of Ars Magica in 
  rotation and then pick up another 
  game at the conclusion of each 
  season. 
  The Big Events 
  Certainly, the major players in 
  the comic-book world, Marvel 
  and DC, use “events” to boost 
  interest and sales. These events 
  usually draw individual books and 
  YY  
  ou might already have a plan but most stories 
  ou might already have a plan but most stories 
  can be reworked to some degree to make them 
  can be reworked to some degree to make them 
  work better for the troupe.
  work better for the troupe.  
  
  8 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  characters into a much larger 
  story with the intention of 
  changing the fictional world 
  temporarily or permanently 
  (though in comic books, nothing 
  lasts forever). Good examples of 
  this might be the Civil War 
  storyline from Marvel, in which 
  t h e  p u b l i s h e r ’ s  p r i n c i p l e 
  characters took opposing sides on 
  a moral issue, resulting in open 
  conflict; the Blackest Night 
  storyline from DC, in which dead 
  heroes and villains were returned 
  to unlife. While these storylines 
  dominated their respective 
  companies at the time, once they 
  were over, life returned to what 
  passes for normal in comic 
  books. 
  So, unlike TV seasons, comic 
  book events usually dominate one 
  or more titles for a period of 
  months before being resolved and 
  returning the associated books to 
  their own individual stories. 
  There is inspiration for us here 
  too. 
  Applying this to your Saga 
  Ars Magica emphasizes Story 
  Flaws, Flaw taken by individual 
  characters that draw them into 
  their own personal stories. 
  Progressing these can be seen like 
  those issues of a comic book that 
  do not deal directly with one of 
  the big events. Building to, and 
  running, larger events that draw 
  in  p l ay er  an d  n o n - p la yer 
  characters, provides periodic 
  focal points to a saga. Your 
  players should be anticipating the 
  next big event, perhaps looking 
  for clues or hints as to what it is. 
  They should be able to throw 
  themselves into the event, with 
  each gaming session and/or story 
  dedicated to progressing that 
  event. Once the event is over and 
  the focus returns to normal, the 
  players and their characters get to 
  consider the consequences. 
  If you are part of a troupe that 
  plays Ars 
  Magica 
  almost 
  exclusively, then this model has a 
  lot to offer. It promotes a good 
  mix of ephemeral stories, 
  memorable yet throw-away 
  encounters, and then the larger 
  and more far-reaching stories that 
  help punctuate your saga. 
  The Payoff 
  Unless you have a known 
  conclusion already planned for 
  the saga, don’t start stories that 
  you can’t close. Open-ended 
  stories tend to drift. You might 
  like the recurring theme or 
  villain, and there’s nothing 
  necessarily wrong with using 
  them repeatedly but you need to 
  ensure that the payoff is within 
  reach. The season or event 
  models discussed above can help 
  with this. 
  When you start a story, have 
  an end-point in mind. Run the 
  sessions you need in order to get 
  to that end point. Be strict. Lead 
  the players a little if you have to. 
  It may not be their fault if, after 
  all your planning and plotting 
  they fail to grasp the final clue or 
  take the last piece of bait. Help 
  them get to where they need to 
  be so that they can enjoy the end 
  of that story. Don’t be tempted 
  to insert filler material until the 
  penny drops as it always gets less 
  likely to drop with time. 
  Rewards 
  Of course, rewards are an 
  important part of the payoff; 
  what does the covenant get out of 
  the last year of struggle? Don’t 
  treat the story/season/event 
  finale as just another session with 
  its 5-10XP and a handful of vis. 
  You’ve spent time building to this 
  point so use it to advance the 
  covenant and/or the characters in 
  some way. 
  An example; if the players 
  have managed to negotiate a 
  cessation of hostilities between 
  the Order and the Church, then 
  have them recognized. Give the 
  covenant a good reputation. Have 
  one of the magi made an envoy to 
  the Church if that advances his or 
  her aims. Or even bring a cleric 
  into the covenant as part of the 
  Church learning more about 
  those it was so antagonistic 
  towards. Do something positive 
  that helps move things on. 
  Vis is always welcome, as are 
  books, devices, and the like. But 
  the bigger payoff comes from the 
  characters growing in stature 
  somehow so try to build rewards 
  that do just that into the payoff. 
  Something for 
  Everyone 
  Arguably, Ars Magica Fifth 
  Edition has so many options 
  available to even the core 
  Hermetic magi characters, that no 
  two players in a troupe are likely 
  to have the same individual goals. 
  That’s before companions and 
  mythic companions are factored 
  in. In order to make sure that 
  n o b o d y  i s  s h o r t - c h a n g e d 
  however, all of these personal 
  Mysteries and Clues 
  If you’re going to build on a mystery, don’t 
  assume that your players will be able to 
  understand the clues to the same degree that you 
  do. It’s very easy to be cryptic. Very easy. But it’s 
  harder to be both cryptic and constructive at the 
  same time. A player faced with a too-cryptic 
  riddle or too-obscure a clue is eventually going to 
  give up. One way to avoid this is to provide your 
  cryptic clue or riddle or mystery and then add in 
  a further clue that approaches the same result 
  from a different angle. 
  For instance, if the character finds something 
  unusual hidden in the binding of an old book, he 
  may not have any other information to go on. 
  But if you include a reference to the bookbinder 
  then an avenue of investigation opens up. 
  This allows you to guide the players and present 
  natural investigation paths. 
  
  9 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  goals need to be enabled and 
  progressed. 
  The Needs of the Players 
  Players themselves need to feel 
  that they both bring something to 
  the table and that they get to take 
  something away. For most, this 
  means ensuring that their magus 
  character gets to a) do cool stuff, 
  and b) gets the payoff for doing 
  that cool stuff. 
  Character Focus 
  A r s  
  M a g i c a  
  is  h i gh l y 
  character-centric. Other games 
  and genres go quests and journeys 
  very well, but Ars Magica allows 
  a real investment in character-
  building so try to relate the 
  s t o r i e s  t o  t h e  c h a r a c t e r 
  themselves. It might sound 
  obvious and it can sometimes be 
  a trite device to have an 
  antagonist related to one or more 
  protagonists, but you need to 
  build an emotional connection 
  between characters and the 
  stories. 
  For instance, if you need an 
  arbitrary magus to arrive at the 
  covenant, why not make it one 
  that knew the parens of one of 
  the current generation of magi at 
  that covenant? If the wife of 
  nearby knight runs off with a 
  faerie prince, why not make her 
  the former lover to one of the 
  companions? Build those links 
  an d cr eat e t h e em ot io n al 
  connections that help to develop 
  the characters. And speaking of 
  developing the characters... 
  Character Arcs 
  As a troupe, or just between 
  Storyguide and player if need be, 
  determine what the ultimate 
  character goal is for each magus 
  and companion character and 
  start to break that down into arcs. 
  It is unlikely that a large goal can 
  be achieved in the space of a 
  single story, so determine what 
  kinds of challenges must be 
  overcome on the way to achieving 
  that goal. It should be possible to 
  break this down further into a 
  number of story arcs. The 
  Verditius who wants to win the 
  House competition and gain the 
  universal acclaim from his 
  brother magi needs to develop his 
  power and prowess, determine 
  the device he needs, fall at the 
  first hurdle, gain support from 
  others, initiate the skills he needs, 
  and then... We’ll see. 
  Taking the first item, the need 
  to develop his prowess, we can 
  turn that into an arc all its own. 
  For instance, does he need 
  training to improve his craft 
  skills? Does he have a Flaw that 
  limits him? Does he need 
  resources to build out his 
  laboratory and specialize it 
  towards his craft? There are 
  stories there to be told just for 
  that initial stage so try to provide 
  advancement along that line 
  
  10 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  where you can. 
  So how do these things come 
  in without every story having to 
  progress that character’s story? 
  Often through just a few tweaks 
  here and there. Does the 
  V e r d i t i u s  
  h a v e  
  a  F o r g e 
  Companion yet? Then in the next 
  village the characters visit the 
  blacksmith (or carpenter, or 
  seamstress, or whatever) is in 
  need of moving on, has few ties 
  to keep him there, and wouldn’t 
  say no to a position in a 
  covenant. A touch like that is 
  probably incidental to the story 
  being told, but it helps to 
  progress one of the characters’ 
  own story arcs. 
  Story Flaws 
  The aim of Story Flaws is well-
  understood and most troupes 
  already work them into their saga. 
  But Story flaws don’t just need to 
  drive or incept stories. They can 
  be used as elements within a 
  wider story, again to provide 
  flavor and to make the story more 
  personal to the magi and/or their 
  companions. 
  For instance, in a story 
  concerning a magus gone missing 
  from his covenant, you might 
  want to use a character’s Story 
  Flaws to lead them to a clue. 
  Does a player character have a 
  c a n a r y  
  M a g i c a l  
  A n i m a l 
  Companion? Well, what if the 
  magus the player characters are 
  looking for had a hawk familiar? 
  When the canary disappears does 
  the search for it lead to 
  discovering the lost magus’ 
  secret? Does a character have a 
  Tormenting Master? Then have 
  him notice a book written by his 
  master in the covenant’s library 
  while searching for clues. 
  The story at hand doesn’t 
  concern those Flaws directly, it 
  certainly doesn’t rely on them or 
  close them off in any way 
  (depending on what really did 
  happen to that canary), but it 
  makes things more personal and 
  hopefully more memorable too. 
  Everyone’s a 
  Storyguide 
  One of the great things about 
  Ars Magica is that everyone gets 
  to be the storyguide if they want 
  to be. In terms of keeping things 
  focused, that’s not always helpful. 
  Sometimes it needs the alpha-
  storyguide to take a guiding hand 
  to the saga while leaving certain 
  locations, themes, or characters 
  to the beta-storyguides. 
  The Role of the Alpha 
  Storyguide 
  This isn’t meant to lay out 
  everything that a storyguide 
  should do. If you’re reading this 
  then you likely have a pretty good 
  grasp on that already. This is 
  rather a set things that the alpha 
  storyguide can do to help others 
  in the troupe tell the stories they 
  want to tell. 
  The alpha storyguide should 
  have a vision for the beginning, 
  middle, and end of the saga. They 
  should have a plan for the 
  principle story arcs that describe 
  those phases. And they should 
  agree with the troupe the broad 
  areas that those stories are likely 
  to cover. At this stage, this 
  should be the minimum needed 
  to describe the saga. 
  This leaves gaps for the beta 
  storyguides to play in. If the role 
  of the Church is not important to 
  the wider saga, then leave this 
  fertile ground to another 
  storyguide. The same with House 
  Diedne, the Magic Realm, the 
  crusades, or any number of other 
  areas. 
  It is important to let the beta 
  storyguides have their day. Most 
  troupes are already pretty 
  collaborative but it never hurts to 
  check on who wants to run what 
  and when. Even if it’s within a 
  story cycle, there’s always room 
  to cede the floor to someone else. 
  Listen to what the troupe 
  wants to see in their stories. You 
  might already have a plan but 
  most stories can be reworked to 
  some degree to make them work 
  better for the troupe. For 
  instance, if you have a story 
  a b o u t  
  i n v e s t i g a t i n g  
  t h e 
  disappearance of a magus, and 
  you know that the troupe are 
  looking forward to some more 
  Faerie stories, add some of those 
  elements in there (was he 
  Merinita, with a faerie familiar? 
  Or can you change the only 
  witness from a fleeing librarian to 
  a taunting sprite?) 
  Have some standby material. 
  Every now and then, the alpha 
  s t o r y g u i d e  n e e d s  t o  p u l l 
  something together at short 
  notice. 
  Recurring Characters 
  There’s always room for 
  crossover but it makes a lot of 
  sense to keep certain characters 
  to certain story arcs. An example; 
  it can be jarring to have the 
  B o n i s a g u s  p a t r o n  o f  t h e 
  covenant’s own Bonisagus gain 
  House renown to also figure in 
  stories of faerie kings and princes 
  unless they are designed to help 
  the young Bonisagus advance. 
  Keep things simple and don’t try 
  DD  
  etermine what the ultimate character goal is 
  etermine what the ultimate character goal is 
  for each magus and companion character and 
  for each magus and companion character and 
  start to break that down into arcs
  start to break that down into arcs  
  
  11 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  to mix stories and themes too 
  freely. Unless handled with care, 
  that kind of cross-over can 
  become messy and confusing as 
  players look for unintended 
  meanings and spend more time 
  trying to figure out non-existing 
  relationships than they do on the 
  main stories. 
  Finishing with Characters 
  There’s nothing says “I’m not 
  sure how to end this” than an 
  immortal NPC. Don’t be afraid to 
  lose NPC characters. It can be 
  really useful just to get rid of 
  them somehow. You get to close 
  off stories that have run their 
  courses, simplify your cast list at 
  the end of a run of stories, and 
  add some emotional punch to the 
  saga. But they don’t simply have 
  to die to exit the saga. There are 
  other ways. 
  Retirement: It was very 
  common for the wealthy, both 
  male and female, to retire to 
  religious houses in old age. For a 
  donation or grant to land and 
  fortune, they would find peace, 
  contemplation, and care in their 
  last years. For a twist on this, 
  consider another dastardly fate 
  such as Divine leprosy, that 
  forces the character into isolation 
  away from the covenant. 
  Distant lands: Characters not 
  entirely in command of their own 
  destinies may be ordered abroad 
  by those they answer to. This may 
  be to take charge of a failing 
  m o n ast er y o r  t o  b u ild  a 
  mercantile foothold in the Holy 
  Land. 
  The undiscovered country: 
  No, not death this time. 
  Adventurous characters who have 
  run their course might make one 
  final leap into the lands of Faerie 
  or Magic, or go in search of lands 
  south of the sun or far to the 
  west. This puts them out of play, 
  but with the possibility of a 
  return that brings a whole new 
  set of story possibilities. In 
  effect, if they do come back they 
  are very different characters. 
  Areas of Interest 
  The alpha-storyguide should 
  be mindful not to play with every 
  toy in the box if he can help it. 
  Beta-storyguides should do the 
  same of course, but it is likely to 
  be easier for them as they are not 
  carrying the main saga elements. 
  Covenant as 
  Character 
  Most would argue that the 
  most important character in any 
  saga is the covenant. We can 
  already chart its rise to power and 
  subsequent decline through it 
  seasons. Spring covenants are 
  young, probably in need of help 
  from others. Summer covenants 
  are secure in themselves but still 
  g r o w i n g .  M a t u r e  a u t u m n 
  covenants have power to share 
  with others and they gain 
  influence in return. Winter 
  covenants are in decline. 
  These changes can be a little 
  abstract so it is useful to have 
  events take place in the covenant 
  that mark the passing of time. 
  These events can be very 
  important to the player characters 
  and no less so to the players 
  themselves. 
  Physical Changes 
  Covenants should evolve 
  physically over time. Consider a 
  young spring covenant founded 
  around a casting of Conjuring the 
  Mystic Tower. It may be enough 
  for the young founders, but as 
  they age and need more space for 
  their laboratories and growing 
  library that small tower is not 
  going to be enough? So make an 
  event of these things. 
  During one story arc there 
  may be a theme of there being 
  too little space. And during the 
  next there may be perpetual 
  building work going on in the 
  background of each story, or the 
  search for vis to enable the 
  conjuration of new towers may 
  drive events. 
  B u i l d i n g s  m a y  a l s o  b e 
  repurposed from their original 
  use. For instance, the old stable 
  block might be converted to a 
  forge for the new blacksmith, or 
  a magus may insist that the old 
  barracks is just the right shape 
  and alignment for his laboratory. 
  A sealed laboratory may even 
  need to be unsealed in order to 
  accommodate a new member of 
  the covenant. 
  In extreme cases, the covenant 
  may want or need to move site, 
  w h e t h e r  
  p e r m a n e n t l y  o r 
  temporarily. Don’t be afraid to do 
  something extreme like that. Just 
  as TV shows and comic books 
  might redesign key elements to 
  keep things visually fresh (just 
  look at the excitement that 
  usually accompanies each newly-
  redesigned Tardis console room 
  in Doctor Who), we can do the 
  same in our Ars Magica sagas - 
  the trick is to hand-wave some of 
  the cost and impact away so that 
  the outward trappings are new 
  and fresh but without penalizing 
  the players. 
  Political Changes 
  C o v en an t s  ar e  p o li t i ca l 
  institutions and as such they can 
  go through a range of changes in 
  relationship to other covenants 
  and magi. For instance, does you 
  spring covenant start as a chapter 
  house to another larger covenant? 
  How does it gain independence as 
  it approaches summer? 
  Or if the covenant has been 
  founded as a single-house 
  c o v e n a n t ,  h o w  d o e s  t h e 
  relationship with that House 
  change when an outsider is 
  allowed entry? And what if your 
  
  12 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  covenant seeks support from the 
  Tribunal towards some common 
  good and becomes a covenant 
  dedicated to a single aim? 
  Importantly, all these changes 
  should be driven by the players 
  and their characters. Place 
  challenges in their way and 
  threaten their status quo but 
  enable the outcome that they 
  want. 
  Character Changes 
  For a spring covenant, just 
  starting out, the first marriage 
  b e t w e e n  c o v e n f o l k  i s  a n 
  important event, as is the first 
  child born at the covenant. There 
  are all kinds of firsts that are 
  significant; the first familiar 
  bound there, the first talisman 
  created there, and the first 
  apprentice brought there. These 
  things will happen in your saga, 
  but don’t let them pass without 
  mention. These things should be 
  significant and important for the 
  magi and the covenfolk so make 
  mention of them. Give the 
  covenant a feast. Have the 
  covenant’s chronicler make 
  record of it. Your players will 
  appreciate it as they realize that 
  they are writing the covenant’s 
  history. 
  Of course, those are happy 
  events. There are others that can 
  be used to punctuate more 
  thoughtful times. The first grog 
  to die in service. The first to die 
  in old age. The first apprentice 
  gauntleted and gone, and 
  ultimately, perhaps, the first 
  magus to die. Having to deal with 
  these events is a part of growing 
  up and a covenant is no different. 
  So mark those too. 
  Winter covenants face a 
  different sort of event; the last of 
  a kind. When does a winter 
  covenant finally fall? When the 
  last magus enters final twilight? 
  When the last of the grogs dies? 
  When the few remaining servants 
  finally flee the warping of the 
  aura? These acts are herald the 
  coming of the end, which is what 
  we’ll look at next. 
  Saga Longevity 
  Like any RPG, players can 
  often invest heavily in their 
  characters. Unlike other RPGs, 
  there are no levels or thresholds 
  that naturally limit character 
  progression; it is possible to play 
  a character until extreme old age 
  or twilight finally claim them. 
  Given that, what can you do to 
  ensure that you get the most from 
  the game? 
  Saga Pace 
  It is important to ensure that 
  the saga moves forward briskly 
  enough that your players don’t 
  feel trapped. You don’t need 
  seasons to go by between 
  sessions, but if you’ve run three 
  straight stories without the magi 
  materially improving then your 
  players may start to feel a little 
  frustrated. As good as the stories 
  might be, the aim of a magus 
  character is to improve in their 
  Arts, to learn new spells, to 
  advance within their cult or 
  mysteries, and if that isn’t 
  happening then things can get a 
  little stilted. 
  At a higher level, the same can 
  be said for the covenant as a 
  whole. Founding a spring 
  covenant and nurturing it through 
  to summer and beyond is a 
  rewarding gaming experience, but 
  progress needs to be made. A 
  saga cannot stay at spring forever, 
  so work out what kind of 
  attributes you see each covenant 
  season having and work towards 
  them within your saga. If you see 
  a summer covenant as being 
  secure in its vis sources, without 
  the need to search for new 
  sources, then stop telling stories 
  concerning new resources and 
  give the covenant what it needs 
  to be summer. Develop the 
  covenant such that you move it 
  through its seasons too. 
  Each troupe needs to define 
  its own pace but just remember 
  to move things forward and use 
  the state of the magi’s study and 
  t h e co v en an t ’ s  s eas o n  as 
  yardsticks against which to 
  measure progress. 
  Starting a new Saga 
  There is a danger of equating a 
  saga to the lifetime of your 
  gaming group. However, these 
  things are not intrinsically linked. 
  They may be, for many troupes, 
  but it would be a mistake to think 
  that you need to keep a saga 
  running when all it really needs is 
  to be closed off to make way for 
  something new. 
  There are a number of reasons 
  why you might want to take this 
  bold move. Perhaps the setting is 
  no longer as engaging as you 
  thought it might be; perhaps the 
  characters aren’t as enjoyable as 
  when you started; perhaps you’ve 
  read the latest Tribunal book and 
  actually like the sound of playing 
  there. Whatever the reason, it is 
  far better to go with your instinct 
  than to stick it out in a saga that 
  you are not really enjoying. 
  The Foretold Ending 
  It sounds somewhat defeatist 
  to think about the end of a saga 
  before it’s even begun, but it is 
  worth thinking about how you’re 
  going to play with a view to 
  possible endings. You want the 
  end of your saga to be something 
  y o u  c o n t r o l  r a t h e r  t h a n 
  something that either slowly 
  drags the game down or cuts it 
  dead in mid-flow. 
  We have already looked at 
  ways to build natural end points 
  into your saga; points at which 
  you can finish up, resolving as 
  
  13 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  many story threads as possible, 
  and leaving players with a sense 
  of satisfaction. But there are a 
  few other thing that you, as a 
  troupe, can do when you feel the 
  end closing in and you want to 
  wrap things up. 
  Agree to an End 
  As a saga, you should agree an 
  end-game. This doesn’t mean you 
  should determine the end of the 
  saga ahead of time, but you could 
  come up with some options ahead 
  of time. For instance, is your 
  covenant located near the site of 
  a real-world natural disaster, a 
  sunken or lost village or city? 
  What, in your saga, might have 
  caused it? Is it a big enough event 
  to bring your saga to a close? An 
  alternative to this might be 
  inferred from the regular journal 
  extracts found in recent issues of 
  Sub Rosa; just what is the Vernal 
  Inquisition mentioned ahead of 
  each set of Argens’s scribblings? 
  Placed in the context of a saga, it 
  is unimportant what the Vernal 
  Inquisition is, who leads it, why it 
  is under way, and what happened 
  to the magi of Donum Chanuti; 
  it’s all a mysterious framing 
  mechanism. But, once the group 
  decides to end the saga, there’s 
  immediately something to work 
  towards. 
  The Final Stories 
  Who runs the final stories is 
  down to your troupe, but 
  consider giving every storyguide 
  their own final bow. You’ve all 
  brought different things to the 
  saga so it’s worth celebrating 
  that, even as the saga winds 
  down. The one thing you should 
  aim to do, should time permit, is 
  to wrap up the outstanding 
  threads. 
  Make sure that magi get what 
  they’ve been working towards - 
  has your saga’s Bonisagus been 
  angling to lead the Colentes 
  Arcanorum? Make sure it 
  happens. Has the nearby abbot 
  been an enemy for years? Then 
  tell the story of his fall, or of his 
  reconciliation with the magi. 
  There are always stories that need 
  a satisfying ending. 
  The End 
  For whatever reason you 
  decide to bring a saga to its end, 
  whether it is to allow your gaming 
  group to do something else, the 
  loss of that gaming group, or just 
  because you want to start a new 
  Ars Magica saga, there are things 
  you can do to make the game as 
  rewarding as possible while that 
  saga is running. 
  If the ideas presented above 
  can help do that then so much 
  the better and good luck to you. 
  Always remember the key rule 
  however, if you’re not enjoying a 
  particular saga then there’s no 
  harm at all in starting again. The 
  setting is now so expansive and 
  rich, with so many different 
  options for character types, play 
  styles, and locations to visit, that 
  a single saga can never do them 
  all justice. But by breaking things 
  down, by pacing your sagas, and 
  by looking forward to the end 
  rather then shying away from it, 
  your troupe will have many more 
  o p p o r t u n i t i e s  t o  e x p l o r e 
  everything that Ars Magica has 
  to offer. And that has to be a 
  good thing. 
   
  
  14 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  The Hermetic Projects book was 
  conceived and designed to offer ideas 
  and examples for players and 
  storyguides alike. The intention of 
  that book is to provide inspiration 
  and example so that similar projects 
  can be attempted or 
  indeed any of those 
  six projects brought 
  to fruition. 
  The projects are 
  presented such that 
  any magus with an 
  interest 
  in 
  such 
  t h i n g s  
  c o u l d 
  reasonably 
  study 
  towards their goal. 
  It is likely that an 
  e s t a b l i s h e d 
  character could seek 
  help from others in 
  their 
  covenants, 
  from specialists, or 
  even 
  practitioners 
  from other magical 
  traditions. 
  This 
  article 
  attempts to fill an 
  intentional gap in 
  the published book. 
  It 
  presents 
  a 
  starting 
  magus 
  template; a magus, 
  f r e s h  
  f r o m 
  apprenticeship and 
  designed with the 
  aim of becoming an 
  H e r m e t i c 
  Shipwright. Players 
  l o o k i n g  
  t o 
  introduce a new magus Hermetic 
  shipwright character can take this 
  fully-developed template and simply 
  apply their own finishing touches. 
  Hopefully, the choices made in 
  designing this budding shipwright will 
  also serve as examples for specialists 
  for the other projects in the book, in 
  particular the Hermetic Duelist and 
  the Living Corpse. It should also give 
  food for thought with other 
  characters too, and while other games 
  have their min-maxing, we like to think 
  of this more as specializing; selecting 
  those Virtues and Abilities that help 
  take the character towards the player’s 
  goals. So what are those goals..? 
  Identifying the End 
  Goal 
  The end goal is a 
  magus 
  able 
  to 
  enchant some very 
  large objects, in this 
  case specifically ships. 
  There are two aspects 
  to this. The first is 
  having a laboratory 
  large 
  enough 
  to 
  contain a ship. That is 
  dealt with extensively 
  in 
  Hermetic Projects. 
  The second is finding 
  a strategy to cope 
  with the demands of 
  opening a large device 
  for enchantment. 
  A ship, like most 
  other 
  devices, 
  is  
  composed of specific 
  identifiable parts. In 
  the case of a ship as 
  presented in Hermetic 
  Projects, this is the hull, 
  the mast, steering oar 
  or rudder, and castles 
  fore and aft. In the 
  largest 
  ship, 
  this 
  comes to a total of 50 
  pawns of vis needed 
  to open the entire 
  compound vessel. To 
  p u t  
  t h a t  
  i n 
  perspective, those 50 
  pawns means that the ship can 
  support up to 500 levels of 
  enchantments. That’s an impressive 
  ship whichever way you cut it. And 
  that’s without adding rigging into the 
  equation (that would add a further 
  10). This is actually more achievable 
  Designing the 
  Hermetic Shipwright 
  By Mark Lawford 
  
  15 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  than it sounds, as we’ll see. 
  So the end goal, for this article at 
  least, is to create a character with a 
  clear path through to opening a huge 
  ship, including its mast, rudder, and 
  two castles, for enchantment. 
  One last but important point on 
  this. The magus’ Magic Theory score 
  represents the upper limit of the 
  number of components that can be 
  considered part of the ship. This 
  means that the magus could 
  potentially embed other objects 
  within the ship to further increase its 
  capacity for enchantment and to 
  allow for additional Shape and 
  Material bonuses. 
  Build out the Magus 
  We’ll assume an age of 25, so 
  that’s ten years from before 
  apprenticeship and he’s just taken and 
  passed his gauntlet. This gives 480 
  experience points to spend, half of 
  which should be on Abilities, and the 
  other half split equally between Arts 
  and Spells. 
  House 
  Okay, let’s be clear. While a 
  member of any House can realise 
  their dreams of building their own 
  enchanted ship, there’s obviously one 
  House that this is aimed at. Without 
  apology, this is House Verditius. The 
  benefits are there to be seen. If you 
  want a character capable of 
  enchanting a ship able to carry 500-
  plus levels of enchantments, then you 
  need to be looking at House 
  Verditius. 
  Their Outer Mystery, Verditius 
  Magic, is reason enough. It allows 
  them to add their Craft Ability score 
  into the laboratory totals and it 
  reduces the number of pawns needed 
  to open a device for enchantment by 
  that same score. 
  Characteristics 
  Intelligence and Dexterity are 
  really what you need to make the 
  most of your other gifts, given that 
  Intelligence adds to Laboratory Totals 
  and Dexterity is closely associated 
  with Craft. Perception is useful as it is 
  used in Rego Craft Magic (as per 
  Covenants, page 49). 
  You probably don’t want a low 
  Communication as this may impact 
  working with assistants further down 
  the line. 
  Virtues 
  With the exception of the free 
  Verditius Magic Virtue, a magus can 
  have no more than five Minor 
  Virtues, so if we want to use our full 
  allocation of Virtue slots we would 
  need to take two Major Virtues and 
  four Minor Virtues. However, looking 
  through the core rulebook, there is 
  really only one Major Virtue we want 
  to take and there are five very useful 
  Minor Virtues. So in this case, we’re 
  going to stop at spending eight 
  points. 
  Free 
  Verditius Magic: It goes without 
  saying. This is free to members of 
  House Verditius. 
  Major 
  Major Magical Focus (Ships): One 
  argument says that every magus 
  character should have a Focus. 
  Minor 
  Adept Laboratory Student: Provides a 
  +6 bonus when using a Laboratory 
  Text. While this perhaps doesn’t help 
  with the initial invention of a device 
  or effect, it certainly helps with 
  repeating the feat. 
  Affinity with (Carpenter): The more 
  quickly the Craft Ability increases, the 
  more the Verditius Magic Virtue 
  comes into its own. Not only does the 
  value of the craft Ability add to 
  Laboratory Totals, but it also reduces 
  the number of pawns of vis an item 
  takes to open for enchantment. This 
  is crucial in later years when the 
  magus looks to enchant ships. 
  Affinity with (Magic Theory): While 
  Craft, in the hands of a Verditius, 
  reduces the pawns of vis it takes to 
  open a device for enchantment, 
  Magic Theory (x2) provides the upper 
  limit for the number of pawns that 
  the magus may use in a season. 
  Puissant Magic Theory:  That’s +2 
  right out of the bag for all totals 
  involving Magic Theory. And as it 
  modifies the score itself, that includes 
  the number of pawns of vis that may 
  be used in a single season. 
  Inventive Genius: Provides +3 to 
  creating new spells, enchanted 
  devices, potions, etc. By implication, 
  this also includes when working from 
  Laboratory Texts, which stacks nicely 
  with the Adept Laboratory Student 
  Virtue above. If the magus 
  experiments, the bonus rises to +6. 
  As an alternative to Puissant Magic 
  Theory, you could instead go for Faerie 
  Blood (Dwarf), which provides a +1 
  bonus to any total that includes a 
  Craft Ability. In the case of a 
  Verditius, this total includes all 
  Laboratory Totals where an 
  appropriate Craft is being called 
  upon. This is useful where you decide 
  to take more than one Craft Ability 
  and intend to use those Abilities in 
  line with the additional rules 
  presented in City & Guild. As it is, for 
  a more focused shipwright, you can’t 
  beat Puissant Magic Theory. 
  Flaws 
  We need eight points of Flaws to 
  balance the Virtues we selected 
  above. 
  Major 
  Deficient Technique (Perdo): This is 
  Recommended Characteristics 
  Intelligence: 
  +3 
  Perception: 
  +1 
  Presence: 
  -1 
  Communication: 
  0 
  Strength: 
  -1 
  Stamina: 
  0 
  Dexterity: 
  +2 
  Quickness: 
  -1 
  
  16 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  unashamedly a sink. It’s a Major Flaw 
  and if we simply accept that we’re not 
  going to be doing a lot of work with 
  Perdo then it shouldn’t get in our 
  way. 
  Tormenting Master: Every magus 
  needs a story flaw and for House 
  Verditius this fits the bill nicely. A 
  master, jealous at the apprentice’s 
  ambition and ability? With potential 
  to turn into a real vendetta? What’s 
  not to like? 
  Minor 
  Difficult Spontaneous Magic: Casting 
  magic in the field is not where this 
  magus excels; that’s for another 
  member of the troupe. We’re going to 
  try to cover some of this with some 
  utility spells but in fairness we would 
  expect a magus of House Verditius to 
  craft his way around certain situations 
  and prepare in advance. 
  Driven (win the Verditius Competition 
  with one of his Ships): If you have to 
  have an aim, something about your 
  personality that drives you on and 
  explains why you’re so single-minded, 
  then this is it. 
  Abilities 
  We are going to keep this 
  character nicely focused on his 
  magical aims, so a lot of the nice-to-
  have Area Lore, and even Realm Lore 
  Abilities have been pushed to one 
  side; the character can always learn 
  them later if needed. 
  The usual rules apply though, so 
  45 experience points need to be spent 
  on childhood abilities. Beyond that, 
  we can make our own choices. 
  Awareness, Brawl, and Charm: Set 
  these to level 2 and that’s the 45 
  childhood experience taken care of. 
  Brawl in particular we don’t object to 
  having as it does at least add 
  something to Dodge. 
  Artes Liberales (ritual magic):  You’ll 
  need points in this and it is worth 
  taking the ritual magic specialty as you 
  may want to invent and use Ritual 
  spells later on to either conjure 
  complete objects or to repair 
  damaged ships. 
  The Hermetic Shipwright 
  Characteristics: Int +3, Per +1, Pre -1, Com 0, Str -1, Sta 
  0, Dex +2, Qik -1 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 25 (25) 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Hermetic Magus; Major 
  Magical Focus (Ships); Adept Laboratory Student, Affinity 
  with Carpentry, Affinity with Magic Theory, Inventive 
  Genius, Puissant Magic Theory, Verditius Magic*; 
  Deficient Technique (Perdo), Tormenting Master; Difficult 
  Spontaneous Magic, Driven (Win the Verditius 
  Competition) 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init -1, Attack N/A, Defense +2, Damage N/A 
  Fist: Init -1, Attack +4, Defense +1, Damage -1 
  Kick: Init -2, Attack +4, Defense +0, Damage +2 
  Knife: Init -1, Attack +5, Defense +1, Damage +1 
  Bludgeon: Init -2, Attack +6, Defense +1, Damage +1 
  Soak: 0 
  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: Artes Liberales 2 (ritual magic), Awareness 2 
  (determining effect), Bargain 1 (hard sell), Brawl 2 (dodge), 
  Carpentry 3 (ships), Charm 2 (first impressions), English 5 
  (storytelling), Finesse 1 (precision), Latin 4 (Hermetic 
  usage), Leadership 2 (assistants), Magic Theory 5+2** 
  (enchanting items), Parma Magica 1 (Ignem), Philosophiae 
  3 (Verditius Runes) 
  Arts: Cr 5, In 5, Mu 5, Pe 0, Re 5, An 0, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 
  0, He 5, Ig 0, Im 0, Me 0, Te 0, Vi 5 
  Equipment: Casting Tools (carpentry tools such as chisels, 
  hammers, nails, etc.); Wizardly Robes; Workman’s Clothes 
  Encumbrance: 1 (1) 
  Spells Known: 
  Air’s Ghostly Form (CrAu 5) +10 
  Broom of the Winds (CrAu 15) +10 
  Charge of the Angry Winds (CrAu 15) +10 
  Wind at the Back (ReAu 5) +10 
  Break the Oncoming Wave (ReAq 10) +10 
  Dagger of Ice (Cr(Re)Aq 10) +10 
  Pass the Unyielding Portal (MuHe 5) +10 
  Repel the Wooden Shafts (ReHe 10) +10 
  Gather the Essence of the Beast (ReVi 15) +10 
  Scales of the Magical Weight (InVi 5) +10 
  Sense the Nature of Vis (InVi 5) +10 
  Bind Wound (CrCo 10) +5 
  The Unseen Porter (ReTe 10) +5 
  * Free House Virtue 
  ** The +2 is the bonus granted by the Puissant Magic 
  Theory Virtue 
  
  17 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Bargain (hard sell): Take a nominal 
  level in this as it gives you a chance at 
  least to press for a bargain. 
  Craft: Carpentry (ships): Alongside 
  Magic Theory, this is the main Ability 
  that you’ll be adding in to Laboratory 
  Totals. It also reduces the cost of 
  opening devices for enchantment, so 
  it is worth taking this as high as 
  possible from the outset. 
  Finesse (precision): Spells that create 
  things from nothing rely on an 
  Intelligence + Finesse roll for their 
  quality. Rego Craft Magic, as 
  presented in Covenants, uses a 
  Perception + Finesse roll to 
  determine the quality of items created 
  that way. The ArM5 book was 
  obviously written ahead of City & 
  Guild, which introduced a very good 
  system of defining an object’s 
  inherent quality, so you’ll find an 
  insert nearby with some useful new 
  guidelines on the quality of conjured 
  objects. 
  Latin (Hermetic usage): Obviously. 
  Leadership (assistants): If you can, 
  you’ll want to pick up a Forge 
  Companion (Houses of Hermes: Mystery 
  Cults, page 113) or two as these would 
  each provide a bonus to the 
  Laboratory Total. The higher the 
  Leadership, the more Forge 
  Companions the magus can have. 
  Living Language: This is free. 
  Magic Theory (enchanting items): It’s 
  critical to be putting points into this 
  and to take the enchanting items 
  specialty. You’re going to benefit 
  from the affinity and you have a +2 
  from Puissant Magic Theory, but 
  don’t rest on that. Take it as high as 
  you can. 
  Parma Magica (Rego): You need 
  something to protect you, but you’re 
  not principally a field-magus. It is 
  recommended that magi just out of 
  apprenticeship should have a score of 
  one. Anything more is indulgent at 
  this stage. 
  Philosophiae (enchantment): The value 
  of this ability is added the Verditius’ 
  Laboratory Total in the same way as 
  Shape and Materiel bonuses (and is 
  similarly capped by Magic Theory). In 
  later years, when the Verditius 
  initiates Verditius Elder Runes, this 
  Ability score replaces the default x2 
  Magic Theory multiplier when 
  working out the maximum number of 
  pawns of vis a magus can use in the 
  laboratory in a single season. 
  So what’s missing? Well, although 
  we’re building a Hermetic shipwright, 
  the Profession: Shipwright Ability can be 
  Base Laboratory Total 
  Given the Abilities and Virtues selected at character creation, the 
  shipwright detailed in the nearby statistics block already has a 
  reasonable base Laboratory Total before things like aura, Arts, or 
  even assistants are added in. 
   
  Intelligence 
   
   
   
  +3 
  Magic Theory (enchanting items) 
  +6 
  Craft: Carpentry (ships) 
   
  +4 
  Philosophiae (Verditius Runes) 
  +4 
  Inventive Genius 
   
   
  +3 
  Puissant Magic Theory 
   
  +2 
  Total Before Arts and aura  
  22 
   
  Another factor is the upper limit on the number of pawns that 
  can be used in a season to open a device for enchantment. At an 
  effective score of +8 (based on including the specialty and the 
  bonus from Puissant), this would normally be a maximum of 16 
  pawns. Going back to Hermetic Projects, we can see that this is 
  already a very large-sized hull. If we take into account that the 
  Carpentry score is deducted from the number of pawns needed 
  for a given device, we can actually open a huge hull for 
  enchantment for 14 pawns where it would normally take 18. 
  Already, the larger ships are in reach of this magus just starting 
  out. 
  Determining The Quality of Conjured Objects 
  The City & Guild supplement provides a small table on page 67 
  that lists the Craft Levels required for different quality of goods. 
  These range from Shoddy, through Standard, Superior, and up to 
  Excellent. The rules for Rego Craft Magic in Covenants have 
  already established that creating goods through magic is harder 
  than through mundane effort so we’ll apply the same thinking to 
  conjuring items. 
   
  Intelligence + Finesse Stress Die 
   
  Result Quality 
  Botch The item is not of the intended type at all. 
  0-5 
  The item is of the intended type but is visibly Shoddy in 
  the extreme. It has one Damage Level and has a penalty of 5 
  applied to any Stress Checks made against the device. 
  6 
  The item is of the intended type but is of Shoddy quality. 
  9 
  The item is of the intended type and is of Standard 
  quality. 
  18 
  The item is of the intended type and is of Superior quality. 
  This includes the +1 bonus as per City & Guild and described 
  below.  
  21+ 
  The item is of the intended type and is of Superior quality. 
  This includes the variable bonus as per City & Guild and 
  described below. 
   
  Superior and Excellent items each provide bonuses towards 
  some aspect of the device’s usage. In the case of Superior items 
  this is a flat +1 towards a single aspect of its usage, such as a 
  sword that is easier to swing (+1 to attack) or sharper than 
  normal (+1 to damage). Excellent items have this +1 bonus but 
  also add +1 for each 3 points by which the roll exceeded the 
  target Ease Factor (21 in this case). 
  
  18 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  left out. It doesn’t contribute to any 
  laboratory totals (and believe me, that 
  discussion has been had) so it doesn’t 
  help to enchant ships. For all the 
  administrative side of the business, 
  employ a manager or, better yet, a 
  venditor who can act as your middle-
  man and sell your enchanted ships to 
  the highest bidders. 
  Arts 
  Arts are not as important to the 
  shipwright as they might be to a 
  magus relying more on magic outside 
  the laboratory. Raise the Techniques, 
  excluding Perdo, to level 5. That takes 
  care of 60 out of 120 available points, 
  so spend the remaining by raising 
  Aquam, Auram, Herbam, and 
  Vim to 5 each. These are 
  going 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  most 
  important forms for ocean-
  going ships.  
  Spells 
  Spells are also not going to 
  figure highly, certainly at this 
  stage. 
  As 
  a 
  result, 
  the 
  shipwright 
  has 
  learned 
  a 
  number of low-level utility 
  spells. They should mean that 
  the character has options in 
  most scenarios; there is a 
  combat-based spell, something 
  for defense, and something to 
  enable him to move objects 
  around remotely, etc. It’s 
  important to have these as you 
  shouldn’t be tempted later on 
  to acquire spells; spending 
  seasons you need elsewhere 
  that 
  don’t 
  advance 
  your 
  designs as a shipwright. 
  You 
  can 
  see 
  one 
  recommended spell list in the nearby 
  character statistics box, but really this 
  is down to individual choice. Just take 
  a series of utility spells that give you 
  something active to do in the field. 
  Personality Traits, 
  Sigil, etc. 
  These are all yours. Does he want 
  to be the leader of the covenant, or is 
  he a follower? Is he upbeat or cynical? 
  Is he protective of his work or does 
  he actively seek help and 
  sponsorship? 
  The framework we’ve put together 
  in this article talks about capability 
  and not personality. How you want to 
  approach the character is up to you, 
  and that’s what makes the character 
  yours. 
  Progression 
  So far, we’ve built a starting 
  magus, but they don’t stay that way 
  for long. This section looks at where 
  your precious seasons are best spent. 
  The Arts 
  Ignore the Hermetic Arts. That’s 
  right. Until you really need them, 
  ignore them. They make up a decent 
  part of your Laboratory Total, but 
  given Intelligence, Magic Theory 
  (enchanting items), Inventive Genius, 
  Craft: Carpentry, a bonus from 
  Puissant Magic Theory, the aura, etc. 
  you already have a pretty decent base 
  to work from. If you’re working on 
  ships, your Major Magical Focus 
  doubles your lowest Art anyway, 
  which even at low levels is a welcome 
  bonus. 
  There are some scenarios where 
  improving your arts does make sense. 
  If you decide that you’ll get some 
  useful assistance from an apprentice 
  or even a familiar then you need to 
  ensure that your Arts are at an 
  appropriate level. It’s possible that 
  this may actually be a false economy, 
  however. In the case of an apprentice, 
  it will likely take up to a couple of 
  years to get all the Arts to the right 
  level and then you’re committed to 
  providing training each year. It 
  may be more beneficial and less 
  work 
  to 
  find 
  a 
  Forge 
  Companion. 
  If you work out that you’ll be 
  wasting 
  fruitless 
  seasons 
  inventing something given a too
  -low Laboratory Total then you 
  should pick up the books and 
  learn more about the Arts up 
  front before you start. This may 
  be quite likely when you look to 
  build out your laboratory and 
  need to invent new devices to 
  provide the bonuses presented 
  in Hermetic Projects. 
  And of course, when you hit the 
  ability to open that full 50-pawn 
  vessel for enchantment, you’ve 
  probably done all you need to 
  with your Magic Theory and 
  other Abilities and you can at 
  last learn more about Forms and 
  Techniques. 
  Abilities 
  There are three main Abilities that 
  you need to invest in and one 
  supplementary Ability. 
  Magic Theory, Craft: Carpentry, 
  and Philosophiae are the main 
  Abilities that are going to serve you 
  best. They all add to the Laboratory 
  Total for a Verditius magus so long as 
  you are actually crafting the device 
  
  19 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  you’re enchanting. Once you know 
  the Verditius Elder Runes (see below) 
  then Philosophiae really helps put 
  those larger devices within reach. 
  Fortunately, in our build, Magic 
  Theory and Craft: Carpentry have 
  affinities associated with them so they 
  should increase at a reasonable pace. 
  Just make sure that whenever you 
  gain any exposure XP in the 
  laboratory you invest them in one of 
  these two Abilities. With the help of 
  the affinities these should keep ticking 
  upwards. 
  If you do have input into the 
  covenant’s library at creation, do 
  make sure that there are plenty of 
  tractatus on Magic Theory and 
  Philosophiae and if you can manage it 
  make sure you have a master 
  carpenter too - very good for training. 
  The supplementary Ability is 
  Leadership. At some point, you’ll 
  want to gain an apprentice and/or 
  make use of a Forge Companion 
  (Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, page 
  113), or even involve other magi in 
  your work. For that to be most 
  effective, you need to improve your 
  Leadership so you can gain the 
  benefit from as many assistants as 
  possible. 
  Laboratory 
  The laboratory is important the 
  the Hermetic shipwright and he needs 
  to move out of the cellar and into a 
  dedicated facility as soon as possible. 
  Much of that is going to be driven 
  through gameplay and is out of scope 
  for this article, but we have other 
  things to cover. 
  Enhancements 
  Hermetic Projects provides (I hope) a 
  pretty good set of suggestions on 
  building a laboratory that fully 
  supports enchanted ship-building. It 
  is important to get the Focus and 
  Features that really bring the 
  additional bonuses to the ship-
  building laboratory totals. Again, 
  some of these can be gained through 
  gameplay and investing seasons of 
  time. Others may require the magus 
  to invent new devices. If that’s the 
  case, remember to make the 
  laboratory texts available to others for 
  loan or sale. 
  Assistants 
  Seek out a Forge Companion as 
  soon as possible. If you are starting 
  your covenant from scratch, your 
  troupe may be happy to let you buy a 
  suitable Forge Companion (or plural) 
  as a Specialist from the covenant’s 
  Build Points (see the Storyguide’s 
  Handbook in Sub Rosa issue 9). 
  While an average-build Forge 
  Companion will only add +1 to a 
  Laboratory Total, this is better than 
  nothing. And if you choose to 
  increase your Leadership Ability, 
  relatively easy to do at low levels, then 
  you can be looking at a +3 or +4 
  before you know it. 
  Apprentices take up a lot of time, 
  but the investment could pay off 
  (personally, I’d wait). It’s the same 
  with familiars. They take a fair bit of 
  time and effort without immediate 
  payoff. 
  Spells 
  Look to the Hermetic Projects book 
  for inspiration here, but you may 
  want ritual spells to create 
  components or repair damage. Other 
  spells, like those to be used outside of 
  a laboratory, are largely the domain of 
  other magus archetypes. That said, if 
  you do want to acquire other spells, 
  don’t waste time inventing them from 
  scratch. Instead, ensure that you get 
  laboratory texts for them and learn 
  them quickly. 
  Initiations 
  Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults 
  presents some interesting and useful 
  new Mystery Virtues for House 
  Verditius. They all have their uses and 
  we’ll discuss the most useful of them 
  below. Before that, two honourable 
  mentions. Items of Quality (page 124) 
  allows the Verditius to bestow items 
  with bonuses to their usage drawn 
  from their shape or material. There 
  aren’t many useful examples that 
  would apply to ships in the core 
  ArM5 book, but Oak and a Ship’s Sail 
  give a maximum of +7 to protection 
  from storms and sailing respectively. 
  Arguments could be made that these 
  could be expressed in giving the 
  captain or pilot a bonus in certain 
  situations. Reforging Enchanted 
  Items is another useful Virtue. A 
  shipwright not only builds ships but 
  also repairs them. While the rules for 
  damaged goods in City & Guild make 
  it clear that a device is not truly 
  broken until all its Damage Levels 
  have gone, a ship on a long journey 
  may be at risk. If the shipwright can 
  offer repair services too, then he is 
  more likely to gain custom for his 
  work. 
  Verditius Elder Runes (Houses of 
  Hermes: Mystery Cults, page 127): This 
  is critical to attaining the higher 
  numbers needed to enchant the 
  largest ships. Beyond the direct 
  benefits to enchantments (doubling 
  the Art associated with the rune 
  inscribed on the target device), the 
  last line of the description says, “... 
  the limit to the amount of vis he may 
  use in a single season becomes his 
  Magic Theory score times his 
  Philosophiae score”. With the Magic 
  Theory score expected to accelerate 
  II  
  f you want a character capable of enchanting a 
  f you want a character capable of enchanting a 
  ship able to carry 500
  ship able to carry 500--plus levels of 
  plus levels of 
  enchantments, then you need to be looking at 
  enchantments, then you need to be looking at 
  House Verditius.
  House Verditius.  
  
  20 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  thanks to the Affinity, increasing the 
  multiplier has a dramatic effect. 
  Initiating this Virtue is not that 
  hard; it is just a Minor Virtue and 
  consists essentially of spending time 
  on the initiation and sacrificing a 
  greater enchanted item. And that’s it. 
  This Virtue is really important. 
  With the aid of a decent tutor and/or 
  access to books on Philosophiae, a 
  score of five is easily achievable, so 
  try to initiate this House Mystery early 
  on. 
  Of course, a grounding in 
  Verditius Cult Lore is vital as without 
  it the magus will not be initiated into 
  the inner mysteries. So ensure that 
  you maintain friendly relations with 
  your fellow Verditius magi. At least 
  until the hubris sets in, of course. 
  Enchantment 
  Strategies 
  There are other options beyond 
  enchanting an entire ship right from 
  apprenticeship and the sections below 
  explore some of these. 
  Start Small 
  It is unlikely that your storyguide 
  is just going to give you your shipyard 
  from the outset, so you’re going to 
  need to start smaller. As a carpenter, 
  your magus should be able to use 
  Craft: Carpentry in enchanting just 
  about anything made of wood. So do 
  so, and don’t be shy about the 
  Laboratory Texts. You need things to 
  trade and at low level the things you’ll 
  be making aren’t going to change the 
  world. So, invent small, cheap, but 
  useful devices and then translate the 
  Laboratory Text for others to use. 
  They’ll have a choice between 
  borrowing the text, paying for a copy 
  to be made, or paying you to make 
  the device. Whichever way, you still 
  gain. 
  Enchant Just Parts of the 
  Ship 
  Once the magus has a laboratory 
  large enough, he can move on to 
  enchanting a sailing vessel. 
  The end goal must surely be to 
  enchant a large ship consisting of hull, 
  mast, and castles bow and stern. To 
  do this requires a very high Magic 
  Theory, which may take some time to 
  build up. As ArM5 page 97 explains, 
  a compound device can be opened 
  for enchantment either for the sum of 
  all its parts or only the highest cost 
  item. In the case of a ship, the highest 
  cost item is the hull, the smallest of 
  which takes just 10 pawns of vis to 
  open for enchantment (reduced, of 
  course, by the score in the magus’ 
  Craft Ability). 
  While reaching the high Magic 
  
  21 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Theory scores required for the truly 
  magnificent ships may be difficult, as 
  compound devices the magus has the 
  option to open just parts of the ship. 
  This reduces the magical capacity of 
  the enchanted ship, but does allow 
  the Hermetic shipwright to start 
  plying his trade. 
  But by embedding other items 
  into the ship, such as an emerald or 
  ruby, the magus can slowly increase 
  the capacity of the enchanted ships he 
  is able to open. 
  Lesser Enchanted Items 
  While the Hermetic shipwright is 
  ultimately concerned with vessels 
  carrying multiple effects, there is 
  always the option to enchant vessels 
  carrying just a single effect. This 
  doesn’t require opening the device for 
  enchantment but does restrict the 
  effect to a single season’s worth of 
  effort. 
  This also offers a new 
  opportunity. Ships can be brought to 
  the shipwright for a “refit”, in which 
  a beneficial magical effect can be 
  instilled in the pre-existing vessel. In 
  this respect, the Hermetic shipyard is 
  the key asset. 
  Enchant Items that 
  Affect the Ship 
  Greater enchanted devices that 
  affect a ship at Touch range are 
  certainly possible and, given that they 
  can be created in a standard 
  laboratory and then installed in a ship 
  at leisure they may even be preferable 
  to enchanting the entire ship. I would 
  rather say that they are actually 
  complementary for a number of 
  reasons: 
   Enchanted ships, by the rules in 
  City & Guild, page 77, gain a 
  bonus to their Stress Checks to 
  resist damage equal to the 
  magnitude of the total of instilled 
  spell effects. That soon adds up 
  and makes effects to protect the 
  ship from damage largely 
  redundant. 
   A given invested effect is 
  destroyed only when the device 
  itself is totally destroyed. Given 
  that a ship has more Damage 
  Levels than a smaller portable 
  device, this gives the advantage to 
  the ship. 
   The Laboratory Total for an 
  invested effect gains a bonus for 
  each prior effect that shares a 
  Technique and/or Form. When 
  enchanting a ship, the bonuses a 
  likely to grow quite quickly. 
   Devices that operate at Touch 
  range may be stolen or otherwise 
  removed from the target ship, 
  thereby ending their useful effect 
  and potentially granting it to 
  someone else. 
  But these separate devices can be 
  used tactically. A covenant may want 
  to procure items to ensure the safety 
  of their companions when they need 
  to travel. Independent devices to 
  ensure calm waters, storm-free skies, 
  or a constant wind in the sails all have 
  their place and can be used to 
  supplement the powers of earlier less 
  capacious enchanted ships. 
  Conclusion 
  I hope that the material in this 
  article complements the work already 
  done in Hermetic Projects and helps you 
  to build out a magus capable of 
  enchanting the greatest ships Mythic 
  Europe has ever seen. 
  Useful Devices and Effects 
   
  The following effects may be suitable for use as lesser 
  enchantments or as greater enchantments that can be instilled in 
  any vessel. The “Sight of...” effects need not be enchanted into a 
  ship at all and my be invested into a free-standing or portable 
  device. 
   
  The Invulnerable Hull 
  ReTe 39 
  Pen +0, Constant Effect 
  Range: Personal, Duration: Sun, Target: Structure 
  This effect wards a ship from submerged rocks, as are common 
  in coastal waters. The ship may run aground, but the hull takes 
  no damage from the experience as the hull itself never comes 
  into harmful contact with the surface. And where the ship would 
  strike a rock below the waterline, the ship is instead buffeted 
  away, again with no Stress Check required. 
  (Base 5, +2 Sun, +3 Structure, +1 stone; +1 for two uses per 
  day, +3 triggered at sunrise/set) 
   
   
  Sight of the Ocean Currents 
  InAq 15 
  Pen +0, 24 uses/day 
  Range: Touch, Duration: Concentration, Target: Part 
  A crewman standing at the bow of a ship enchanted with this 
  effect can see the ocean currents as they swirl and flow ahead of 
  the vessel. This additional insight provides a +1 bonus to Sailing 
  rolls when employed. 
  (Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Concentration, +1 Part; +5 for 24 uses 
  per day) 
   
  Sight of the Following Winds 
  InAu 20 
  Pen +0, 24 uses/day 
  Range: Touch, Duration: Concentration, Target: Group 
  A crewman standing at the stern of a ship enchanted with this 
  effect can see the winds as they billow and build behind the 
  vessel. This additional insight provides a +1 bonus to Sailing rolls 
  when employed. 
  (Base 4, +1 Touch, +1 Concentration, +2 Group; +5 for 24 uses 
  per day) 
  
  22 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
   
  Being 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: 
   
  Bellatorius and Valeria returned 
  from Canterbury this morning. I 
  understand the Quaesitor seeks to 
  bring charges against Petalichus of 
  Verditius. 
  It seems that my understanding 
  was correct and Valeria had been sent 
  to investigate a conflict between two 
  magi, over some ancient philosophical 
  text desired by both, one being 
  Petalichus. By the time they had 
  arrived the conflict was done and 
  Petalichus the apparent victor. 
  Bellatorius has been heard expressing 
  his grudging respect for the manner 
  of the victory; not the sentiment of 
  course, but the simplicity in the magic 
  involved. Petalichus, as I told them 
  before they left for Canterbury, is a 
  weaver and worker of more lowly 
  crafts, the kind that we cannot live 
  without but barely notice their 
  practicing. Petalichus was somehow 
  able to induce his enemy to sleep 
  beneath a sheet or blanket or some 
  such that he had enchanted with a 
  powerful Ignem effect. 
  The solution is so simple I can 
  almost see his laboratory notes before 
  me. If one creates an item lasting but 
  a brief span of years then more power 
  can be instilled within it in a much 
  quicker time. It makes impressive 
  feats possible. Enchant the item such 
  that it is triggered by the action of 
  someone sleeping beneath it and, 
  well, I am glad I have no need to 
  engage in Vendetta with Petalichus.  
  Bellatorius has also expressed 
  surprise at a weaver having such 
  strong knowledge of Ignem as to be 
  able to achieve such a device. When I 
  next see him I intend to set him 
  straight on that for our crafts are only 
  the means by which we enchant, they 
  do not always define our interests. I 
  confess, my own magical leanings are 
  more to the metallic than to other 
  forms though I put that down to the 
  influence of my master. 
  I do not know who now has the 
  contentious book that apparently 
  caused so much upset but if it does 
  indeed contain knowledge of ancient 
  devices as Bellatorius suggested I 
  would pay a large sum of silver to 
  own it. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  I wrote today to Junius of Semitae. 
  I have been practicing the lower 
  rituals of my House and I have 
  recited the chants a hundred times 
  and I have drawn the symbols and 
  their contra-tines until I can draw no 
  more. I am ready, I think, to learn 
  more of the secret Verditius ways. If 
  he could but send me a tractatus on 
  our shared ways then I am sure I will 
  soon be ready to learn the secret 
  magics we keep safe from the Order. 
  I must soon present my initial 
  thoughts on a device to protect the 
  written records of our Vis sources. I 
  have given it much thought and I am 
  beginning to see some limitations in 
  Bonisagus’ theory. If I could but bend 
  the laws a little, reach beyond the 
  magic known to the Order… But still, 
  I think I have a design. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  My design for the parchment store 
  was accepted with little persuasion. 
  There were some questions around 
  the security of the device of course 
  but I have offered the Quaesitor the 
  chance to design such effects as 
  would improve her confidence in the 
  device. 
  I made an initial estimate of fifteen 
  pawns of Vis to design and build the 
  device. The council agreed that this 
  was an initial estimate. In fact, the 
  council agreed so readily to fifteen 
  pawns that I may see fit to increase 
  the final cost when I next report on 
  progress. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  Misconceptions and mysteries, the 
  words roll so easily that they become 
  intertwined. What is a mystery 
  without misconceptions? An 
  unanswered question and merely that? 
  It is the assumption and the quickly 
  made decision that fuels a mystery 
  and we have seen many of those 
  recently. 
  To the story then. The last few 
  days have been most interesting and 
  only now do I find time to address 
  them in my journal. Events started 
  when Halbert returned to my forge 
  bearing a book. He claimed to have 
  found it outside my door and I had 
  no reason to doubt him. It appeared 
  to be written and annotated by my 
  Parens, Aurifex. To have one of his 
  books at all is a gift, but to receive it 
  From the Journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens 
  
  23 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  so strangely implies some message, 
  and where a message is freely given 
  then I must expect a cost to follow 
  hard upon. 
  I set about to read through the 
  volume and soon realised that amid 
  the annotations that he had made to 
  his own works, Aurifex had inserted 
  personal notes some seeming to relate 
  t o  in t r igu e an d  c o v en a n t 
  machinations, which I shall transcribe 
  here. 
   
  “I returned to the heart of the 
  island. 
  My 
  suspicions 
  were 
  correct. It is seeking a way. I do 
  not trust the others. It falls to me.” 
   
  “I have felt the beast in the 
  place I collect. What could it want 
  with my Herbam?” 
   
  I did not know at the time but 
  while I was reading, Valeria was 
  investigating some damage that had 
  been done to Legalitus’ sanctum. We 
  later found out the cause of course 
  but at the time Legalitus contended 
  (and probably still harbours 
  suspicions) that Charonicus had 
  possessed the maid in some fashion 
  and coerced her to ransack his 
  laboratory.  
  As Benedic was finding out, the 
  offence was not restricted to Legalitus 
  but also included Charonicus whose 
  maid had suffered the same 
  indignation. 
  Later that day, I heard about and 
  intervened in the case of a guard (I 
  forget his name to my shame) who 
  acted entirely out of character and 
  attacked another with his spear.  
  Clearly these three events were 
  related and Benedic’s other news 
  coming so hard upon seemed also to 
  be connected. He had communed 
  with the forest and found it to be 
  wounded in some way and he 
  believed that wounding to originate 
  from beyond the forest in the 
  direction of the marsh. 
  We knew of course that 
  Charonicus had collected Infernal Vis 
  from the marsh and Benedic could be 
  forgiven for his concern. We 
  persuaded Charonicus to grant us a 
  guide to take us to the site so we 
  could investigate. It was an 
  outstanding obligation from the last 
  council meeting so what better 
  chance? 
  I shall not record details of the 
  journey through the marsh as the 
  location of the site is stored in My 
  Other Volume but I will record that 
  the way is beset by smugglers and lay 
  brothers. The smugglers are 
  apparently in the employ of the 
  covenant but the monks are not. They 
  
  24 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  are reclaiming land from the marsh 
  however and so when Conrad does 
  reappear I intend to send him to 
  them. Perhaps they might find use for 
  certain tools that would make they 
  task easier. 
  The site itself is a nasty place with 
  an Infernal aura and I felt 
  uncomfortable using magic there for 
  fear of doing just what Benedic then 
  did. He attempted some spell, to 
  move one of the corpses we found at 
  the bottom of the pool I think, and  
  promptly succumbed to Twilight. 
  It is an interesting and worrying 
  sight, to see a fellow magus trapped 
  and in pain between this world and 
  the next. I should perhaps have 
  shown more concern, but I took my 
  lead from the Valeria and she herself 
  opted for calm detachment. In any 
  case, he soon recovered and apart 
  from professing feelings of nausea 
  Benedic seemed untroubled by the 
  event. 
  The Quaesitor and I agreed that 
  we would recommend no further Vis 
  to be harvested from this place. I 
  leave to her the details of its 
  securing… 
  After the marsh, I returned to the 
  book and discovered the discoloured 
  page. It was only by holding a candle 
  behind it that the message became 
  clear: 
   
  “I have created a device which 
  may stop the menace once and for 
  all. He suspects that I move 
  against his master. I must act 
  soon.” 
   
  And here we touch on mystery 
  again. I could make a number of 
  guesses as to who is being referred to 
  but that could lead to all manner of 
  misconceptions. 
  The simple questions are: 
  What device and what menace? 
  Who suspects? 
  Who is his master? 
  Did Aurifex act or not?  
  What action did he take?  
  Is the matter of the message dealt 
  with? 
  So who is the master the passage 
  refers to and who suspects? I wish my 
  knowledge of the magi hereabouts 
  was better. Did my master have a 
  prior apprentice? Did either of the 
  other magi have any apprentices, 
  successful or otherwise? What other 
  magi lived at the Covenant? Who are 
  we replacing? Somewhere in there lies 
  
  25 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  the answer. 
  To find that answer, the questions 
  must be addressed rationally and 
  calmly and preferably by someone 
  other than myself. 
  The next morning we met up 
  again with Benedic who seemed by 
  now to be much recovered from his 
  Twilight. We trekked, as arranged, 
  back into the woods wherein we met 
  the spirit on the forest that Benedic 
  spends so much time with. And I 
  now fully understand why.  
  The power of this being was 
  palpable despite its obvious 
  wounding. For my part, I agreed to 
  remove the blight that afflicted her 
  and resolved to find whatever it was 
  on the island that caused her so much 
  pain. With the three magi and our 
  grogs working together, following 
  what cryptic directions the spirit was 
  able to give us we estimated the 
  probably point of the wound. 
  My suspicions may have been 
  borne out. The Covenant is the heart 
  of the woods. It seemed that the 
  wound was centred on the tower. 
  Valeria visited upon Legalitus and 
  I think Benedic returned to 
  Charonicus and I employed magical 
  means to find the Infernal Vis. I cast 
  a spell on myself meaning I could 
  hear the scream of Infernal Vis when 
  I came near to it. I enhanced it by a 
  magnitude or two in order to amplify 
  the noise. I tracked it through the 
  tower and found the sound loudest 
  outside Legalitus’ door. 
  I informed Valeria as she left at 
  which she promptly returned to his 
  chamber to confront him. According 
  to her later account, Legalitus did not 
  deny it and claimed the vis to be 
  simply a trophy related to some 
  adventure or other from his youth. 
  Wisely, she considered that she was in 
  no position to formally accuse him of 
  anything and so she had no choice 
  but to leave without seeing this 
  trophy, despite her prior demands. 
  We set out again into the woods, 
  trying to track further traces of the 
  Vis. That is when a dreadful thought 
  struck me. I raced back to my forge 
  and inspected the book further. I 
  discovered a mechanism within the 
  iron binding of the book and, upon 
  tripping it, twenty black grains 
  dropped from its spine. Infernal Vis. 
  This then was another question. Why 
  would Aurifex hide such vile stuff 
  within a book? 
  I gave these grains, what 
  amounted to twenty pawns of Vis, to 
  Benedic, for I wanted rid of it, and 
  suggested he take it to show 
  Charonicus. I instructed him to 
  ensure its destruction and also gave 
  him the report I had worded on our 
  trouble in the marsh. The report was 
  damning concerning the pool and the 
  Vis and made it very clear that we 
  should not be harvesting Vis from 
  that site unless and until we could 
  reclaim it from the Infernal. I stopped 
  short of drawing parallels with the 
  reclamation work the monks busy 
  themselves with as I thought this 
  might ill-dispose Charonicus to 
  Benedic too much. Of course, I 
  prepared another copy which I will 
  present before council at our next 
  session. That will give Charonicus 
  enough time to either abide by its 
  findings or show himself to be in 
  reckless breach of them. 
  While Benedic was away with 
  Charonicus, the Quaesitor wanted to 
  use one of her casting tablets using 
  the book as arcane connection. I 
  refused on the very clearly stated basis 
  that she would learn something about 
  me and very probably about my 
  Parens. I offered instead to cast the 
  spell from her tablet. She considered 
  my proposal for a moment and then 
  declined on the basis that she had a 
  duty to protect the secrets of her 
  House. So, she does understand… 
  We left the matter and she has not 
  asked again. 
  When Benedic returned, without 
  the Vis, it was clear that his opinion 
  of Charonicus had fallen and he freely 
  admitted so. I took some satisfaction 
  in the result. 
  As we were about to return to the 
  woods we chanced upon the 
  carpenter who had been collecting 
  wood from the forest. He was 
  returning with his donkey laden with 
  freshly cut wood. I had by this time 
  grown weary of the occasional 
  screech from any nearby Infernal Vis 
  and had passed the spell to Benedic. 
  He responded strongly to the 
  carpenter’s load. He took us back to 
  where he cut the wood and revealed 
  that he had collected several loads 
  previously and had already made 
  brooms and spears from the 
  straighter pieces.  
  I raced back to the covenant and 
  ordered the housekeeper to break and 
  burn all new brooms. I then went to 
  find the guards. Bernard, loyal to the 
  last, accepted me at my word and we 
  set out to find the spears. We came 
  upon two guards. One followed the 
  order to drop his weapons but the 
  other was overcome by a somewhat 
  familiar golden glow. His aspect 
  became threatening and I was forced 
  to use magic to loosen his grip on the 
  spear. I gave Bernard the chance to 
  bring him down for I did not want to 
  spear the unfortunate soul through 
  with Terram unless I needed to. 
  The conflict was resolved and the 
  weapon broken and burned. 
  It seems that where Aurifex had 
  not been visiting the site, for I assume 
  this to be his site, he was unable to 
  keep the Infernal contamination at 
  bay. I hope that by getting Benedic to 
  raze that small dell the forest will see 
  fit to replenish it and perhaps I can 
  start collecting pure Herbam Vis from 
  there. 
  But the questions still remain, by 
  what spirit was the book conveyed to 
  me and where had the book been 
  kept all this time? And more 
  worryingly, what is the significance of 
  my Parens’ sigil manifesting during 
  the possession? 
  
  26 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
   
  Being a Record and Discourse 
  on the Nature of the Cult of 
  Silvanus within this Tribunal: 
   
  “It is a rare thing in these modern times 
  to find what appears to be a direct survival 
  of a heathen cult on these islands, much less 
  one from the days of the Empire. 
  Nevertheless, my investigations do suggest 
  that such a group exists, hiding themselves in 
  plain sight. How the Good Lord permits 
  such to continue, I am fain to admit 
  ignorance. Thus I commit to page all that I 
  know, so it may instruct my sodales, and 
  commit this knowledge to record. Those 
  familiar with the writings of Augustine, 
  Virgil or Ovid may recall a minor godling 
  by the name of Silvanus, who haunts 
  woodlands and the pastoral hinterland, 
  causing mischief amongst the people therein. I 
  have seen an altar to this Silvanus with my 
  own eyes. Rudely carved, with a man next a 
  tree, with some metal tool in hand, 
  accompanied by a dog, and inscribed simply 
  DEO SILVANO SANCTUS. My 
  parma was assailed by some ward as I 
  entered the grove, thus I did not tarry long to 
  investigate further…” 
   
  Lumen ex Jerbiton ex Schola 
  Pythagoranis 
   
  The God Silvanus 
  Silvanus has several key attributes. 
  Principally, he is a god of the woods 
  (hence Silva, the Latin for woodland), 
  and is related to the Silvanae, a form 
  of nymph common to such places. 
  His bond with nature extends from 
  the woodlands to the fields and other 
  cultivated places. In this regard, he is 
  less concerned with the fecundity of 
  the fields, which is the domain of 
  Ceres, and more with their protection 
  from the wild forces beyond their 
  boundaries. In turn, this protective 
  aspect also applies to the home. 
  Finally, this protection from the wild 
  extends to the hunting of the wild 
  animals he gives protection from, 
  treading into Diana’s domain. 
  Silvanus is depicted as an old man. 
  He is usually accompanied by a dog, 
  representing a connection to his 
  hunting aspect. He is commonly 
  shown holding a falx, a small 
  gardening sickle, to represent his 
  agricultural connection, and a pine 
  branch, for his woodland connection. 
  He may occasionally be shown 
  holding a bow if his representation is 
  more strongly linked to the hunt. His 
  shrines are mostly found on the 
  farming estates near the wild places, 
  which he protects, rather than towns 
  and cities. 
  Places favoured by Silvanus often 
  attract the attention of the Silvanae. 
  These wood nymphs are the 
  attendants of Silvanus and live in the 
  trees. They are playful in character, 
  but can become angry if the forest is 
  threatened. 
  History of the Cult in 
  the Stonehenge 
  Tribunal 
  During the Roman occupation of 
  Britannia, the soldiers brought with 
  them the worship of many new gods. 
  Silvanus was particularly popular 
  along Hadrian’s Wall, where the 
  protection he gave against the wild 
  lands further to the north were very 
  much appreciated by the legions.  
  It is a common misconception 
  that when Rome abandoned 
  Britannia, writing that they should 
  “Look after their own defences”, that 
  the legions left. Actually, the Legions 
  of Britannia were revolting, again, and 
  the empire did not have the 
  manpower to deal with them, so it 
  simply washed its hands of the 
  province. 
  It was a lawless time after that, 
  with the once unified province 
  dividing again along old tribal lines. 
  Protection was a very valuable 
  commodity, and the mercenary 
  groups formed from the remnants of 
  the old legions were happy to oblige. 
  Abandoning their old posts on the 
  wall and settling where they could, the 
  memories of the old Empire quickly 
  started to fade, as the population 
  rejected the old order that had kept 
  them yoked for so long. Nevertheless, 
  there was one man who did keep one 
  aspect of the empire alive. His name 
  was Sabinius, once a centurion, and 
  an initiate of the cult of Silvanus. He 
  founded the Collegium dei Silvani 
  with a few like-minded colleagues 
  who still remembered the old ways. 
  New sacred groves (luci) where 
  established, and many new initiates 
  were brought into the cult. By the 
  time of his death, the cult had built a 
  substantial following in the local 
  farming communities.  
  These farms flourished with the 
  cult’s assistance, but with the 
  inevitable coming of Christianity, the 
  cult began to suffer. As it slowly lost 
  patronage from the newly-converted 
  population, the cult clung to tenuous 
  survival. It helped that their adherents 
  were spread throughout the 
  countryside, rather than in the centres 
  The Cult of Silvanus 
  by David Staveley 
  
  27 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  of population as the countryside was 
  slower to change than the towns, and 
  with the time given them, a decision 
  was made within the Collegium to 
  enforce secrecy upon those who 
  remained. Those landowners who still 
  wanted the protection that Silvanus 
  could bring to their lands had to 
  undergo a rite that would bring ruin 
  upon them if they revealed names, 
  locations or details of their rites to the 
  uninitiated. Thus the Collegium dei 
  Silvani became a mystery cult, and 
  continued on as a shadow of its 
  former self, in practice if not in 
  power; its priorities now included self 
  preservation. 
  With the coming of the Order of 
  Hermes, a new opportunity arose to 
  establish the cult on a firmer footing. 
  The Collegium, though it knew of the 
  Gift and understood its power, lacked 
  Gifted priests at the time and its 
  capability was waning as a result. In a 
  risky attempt to survive, a magus was 
  initiated. This magus, known within 
  the cult as Quercus after initiation, 
  was young and naive and, given the 
  promise of power, found himself 
  committed before he had a full 
  understanding of the cult’s aims.  
  Fortunately for the cult, the 
  relationship proved fruitful, and a line 
  of gifted priests continues to this day. 
  Quercus integrated some of the 
  Collegium’s knowledge into 
  Bonisagus’ Magic Theory, leaving this 
  knowledge to those who can trace 
  their lineage to one of his apprentices. 
  The Collegium Today 
  The Collegium is a mixture of 
  Gifted magi, hedge wizards and lay 
  initiates. There are three levels of 
  initiation, with the lowest 
  (Domesticus) consisting mainly of the 
  patrons of the cult. The priests 
  (Agrestis) make up the second level, 
  each with a lucus (sacred grove) as 
  their domain. There are roughly half a 
  dozen Agresti currently. A single high 
  Story Seed: A Troubling Account 
  When searching a library for some book 
  or other, some pages from a journal come 
  to light. The journal is written in code, 
  much like a magus might use for his 
  laboratory work, but upon translating the 
  text clear references to the Cult of 
  Silvanus are revealed. 
  The journal talks of a magus called 
  “Quercus” who invented a new Hermetic 
  Target, integrated from knowledge held by 
  the cult and now taught to those magi 
  who attain the rank of Agrestis. 
  The Barrier target itself may be a useful 
  addition to Hermetic Theory, but perhaps 
  more useful would be the knowledge that 
  those magi who employ this Target are 
  likely connected with this secret Mystery 
  Cult. 
  
  28 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  priest (Orientalis) controls the 
  Collegium as a whole. Initiates are 
  given a new name by the cult, usually 
  woodland related, for use only by cult 
  members, along with a title denoting 
  their rank. Hunting is encouraged 
  amongst members, and hunts 
  involving several initiates are not 
  uncommon. Membership is 
  traditionally for men only, and there 
  has been no exceptions to this yet. 
  Hedge magicians tend to be from the 
  Folk Magic tradition, and the Silence 
  of Silvanus keeps the peace between 
  them and the members of the order, 
  enabling the two groups to work 
  together. The collegium is not well 
  known in the Order of Hermes, for 
  fear that some magi may take 
  exception to the pagan nature of the 
  cult. 
  The history of the Collegium runs 
  deep through its attitudes, and its 
  primary motivation seems to be 
  survival, which is accomplished with 
  the protection of rich and powerful 
  landowners. Some of what goes on 
  could be considered interfering with 
  mundanes should it come to light. 
  Beyond that, the priests attempt to 
  instil in their Domestici an urge to 
  preserve the natural places, to protect 
  them so that the lands rules by men 
  do not spill into them. The 
  relationship between the Domestici 
  and their priest is a symbiotic one, as 
  the landowners benefit greatly from 
  the rites performed on their lands. 
   
  Gaining Membership 
  It is expected that an Agrestis will 
  train an apprentice to eventually take 
  over their Lucus. If, for some reason, 
  this does not happen, they may look 
  outside of the cult for a suitable 
  candidate. Other suitable Gifted 
  individuals who either discover the 
  cult or are themselves discovered by 
  the cult are expected to form a new 
  Lucus once they reach the level of 
  Agrestis. 
  Worship 
  Sacrifices to Silvanus, which 
  usually accompany the various rites, 
  include grain, fruit, wine, milk and 
  meat of domestic animals, though 
  generally not live sacrifices. What is 
  given is generally what the land 
  produces, in thanks for the protection 
  given by Silvanus. Worship of 
  Silvanus is given in Latin, and there is 
  an annual feast, sponsored by the 
  Domestici. The feast, which falls on 
  the day of the Autumn equinox, is 
  followed by a week of rites on the 
  lands of the Domestici, which 
  protects the lands until next years 
  feast. These rites are often 
  clandestine, held at night to avoid 
  prying eyes, but it is common for 
  parish priests to be given a generous 
  stipend to look the other way and 
  ignore the strange local customs that 
  come and go once a year. 
  Ranks 
  Each rank within the Collegium 
  must be initiated as even those who 
  maintain a separate life outside of the 
  Silvanus faith are sworn to secrecy. 
  The First Rank: Domesticus 
  The Domestici are usually wealthy 
  landowners who benefit from what 
  the cult can do for them, and help 
  fund and protect the cult in the 
  mundane realm. The lay members are 
  initiated into the first rank of the 
  Collegium, and are given the title 
  Initiation Script: Domesticus 
  Ease Factor: 15 
  Script Bonus: +9 
  Script Details: The initiate must spend two 
  seasons performing good works for the 
  cult (+2), during which time his character 
  must be judged fit to proceed. During the 
  third season, the initiate must travel to the 
  sacred grove, arriving at an auspicious time 
  (+3). When the initiate arrives in the grove, 
  the other initiates stand with their backs to 
  him as he sacrifices material wealth (+1), 
  giving funds to the cult. Standing in the 
  centre of the grove, a pine branch in one 
  hand, a falx in the other, a wreath of pine 
  twigs around his head, he then recites the 
  hymn to Silvanus. On the ground, he is 
  instructed that he will find an acorn, a gift 
  from Silvanus himself. He must swallow 
  the acorn whole. If his intentions towards 
  the collegium are not just, he will 
  immediately turn into a sapling, and is 
  promptly cut down with his own falx. As a 
  result, the initiate suffers an ordeal, gaining 
  the Minor Flaw Silence of Silvanus (+3). 
  At the conclusion of the initiation, the 
  initiate gains the new Virtue Silvanus 
  Domesticus. 
  Initiation Script: Agrestis 
  Ease Factor: 21 (reduced to 18 as the 
  prior initiation involved a Minor Ordeal) 
  Script Bonus: +12 
  Script Details: Those wishing to attain the 
  second rank must undertake a quest (+3) 
  expected to last no less than a season in 
  duration. If they are inheriting a lucus, this 
  will be a task set by the current Domestici 
  who serve that lucus. If the initiate wishes 
  to start a new lucus however, the quest is 
  to search for one of the original altars of 
  Silvanus, wherever they may be buried. 
  If you cannot protect yourself, you cannot 
  protect others. The initiate spends 14 days 
  in the depths of the wood containing (or 
  which will contain) his lucus. He will eat 
  and drink only what the woodland gives 
  him, and must sacrifice half of what he 
  finds. He must sleep on the bare earth. On 
  the night of the 15th day, after making five 
  deprivation checks (as per ArM5, page 
  180), the Silvanae send the wild animals of 
  the wood to attack him. With his feet kept 
  firmly on the ground, he must protect 
  himself without harming the animals. 
  Finally, a wolf warped by magic will 
  appear, which the initiate must slay, the 
  body of the wolf is buried at the site of the 
  lucus. The skull is stripped and used as a 
  cup for a brew which includes pine 
  needles, henbane and fly agaric. The ordeal 
  over, the initiate gains the Given to 
  Silvanus Major Flaw (+9). 
  As the sun rises and the visions of the 
  realm of Silvanus fade, the initiate awakens 
  with a new sense of belonging in the world 
  and the initiate becomes attuned to the 
  nature of Silvanus, enabling the power of 
  the god to act through him, represented by 
  the Major Virtue Silvanus Agrestis. 
  
  29 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Domesticus. Most do not progress 
  further than this. They are taught the 
  cult lore only to level 2; enough that 
  they can usefully participate in any 
  rites when required, which they are 
  obliged to do when asked. The 
  teaching of the lore is started and the 
  virtue Silvanus Domesticus is initiated 
  at the first level of initiation (see the 
  nearby initiation script). The 
  collegium also expects a monetary 
  payment to join. In return, the 
  collegium will help protect the lands 
  of the initiate. A number of the first 
  rank are under the protection of a 
  single priest. Whilst they are aware 
  that luci other than the one to which 
  they belong exist, they remain 
  unaware of the details, for their own 
  protection, and for the protection of 
  the other luci. Non-gifted members at 
  this level typically still attend church. 
  Some to keep up appearances, but 
  most because while they support the 
  cult, it has not replaced their faith in 
  God. 
  The Second Rank: Agrestis 
  Those who are Gifted, whether 
  Hedge Wizard or member of the 
  Order, are allowed to attain the 
  second rank and become a priest of 
  Silvanus, gaining the title of Agrestis. 
  There is no limit to the cult lore that 
  they can learn at this rank. Each priest 
  inherits or creates a lucus, but is not 
  necessarily restricted to just one. The 
  priests know of all the luci, but do not 
  share this information with the 
  Domestici under his control. He is 
  responsible for protecting the lands 
  of his Domestici by performing yearly 
  rites as described below. Only Pagan 
  characters may advance to this rank. 
  Those who have come to the cult 
  with their faith in God intact must 
  first throw it off, taking one of either 
  the Pagan or Dark Secret Flaws. 
  The Third Rank: Orientalis 
  There is a single person at this 
  rank within the Collegium, who is the 
  high priest and personification of 
  Silvanus on earth. The Domestici are 
  not allowed to meet him, and little is 
  known about his role. What is known 
  is that when the previous Orientalis 
  dies, the Agrestis meet at the Lucus 
  Primus, a well hidden place deep 
  within a regio, and by some means, a 
  new Orientalis is chosen and initiated 
  directly by Silvanus himself. 
  New Abilities, 
  Virtues, and Flaws 
  New Ability: Collegium Dei 
  Silvani Lore 
  This is the cult lore, which is used 
  in many of the non-Hermetic rites 
  performed by the collegium, as well as 
  for further initiation into the cult. 
  Tuition in this knowledge is restricted 
  by rank and members are never 
  taught more than they need to know 
  by their superiors. 
  New Minor Virtue: Silvanus 
  Domesticus 
  The initiate is now favoured of 
  Silvanus, and can benefit from the 
  Domesticus ritual if used on their 
  estates. This also grants immunity to 
  the effects of that ritual. Silvanus will 
  help those favoured whilst they are in 
  his domain, so this virtue also grants 
  an implicit score in Forest Lore of 3 
  (see Guardians of the Forests, page 37), 
  with the forest containing the Lucus 
  of the initiate being considered the 
  Home Forest. If the initiate already 
  has a score in Forest Lore, or trains it 
  by some other means at a later date, 
  this virtue will add 1 to the score if 
  the original score is 3 or greater. 
  New Major Virtue: Silvanus 
  Agrestis 
  With the knowledge that the 
  Story Seed: A New Lucus 
  Setting up a new lucus can be a troubling 
  task. The prospective Agrestis, after 
  questioning an ancient spirit, finds the 
  location of an old temple site near the old 
  wall, where hopes to find   an altar. The 
  place is not dead however, and as the 
  initiate digs, he triggers a protective trap, 
  sending him plummeting into a regio from 
  which he must escape. Can he hide from 
  the bands  of woad-covered spirits that 
  stalk the vestigial battleground, or must he 
  fight them? 
  Further Research 
  One element of the old magic lost to the 
  modern Cult is the ability of their Barrier 
  magic to differentiate between targets 
  crossing the Barrier. As a Minor 
  Breakthrough (Houses of Hermes: True 
  Lineages, page 26), effects cast as Barriers 
  could have additional trigger conditions 
  placed upon them, perhaps implemented 
  as a further Intellego spell. 
  This starts to stray into Watching Ward 
  territory, but without the costs associated 
  with ritual magic. 
  
  30 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Silvanus priests once employed 
  protecting Hadrian’s wall from the 
  bloodthirsty hordes to the north, they 
  gained a particular expertise with 
  linear boundaries. This virtue grants a 
  new target: Barrier, which is 
  equivalent in difficulty to structure, 
  and has a maximum length of 1000 
  paces, or one Roman mile (the 
  distance between mile castles on the 
  wall, the word mile comes from the 
  latin mille, which means thousand). 
  Anyone crossing the barrier will be 
  subject to the effect. The length of 
  the barrier must be walked when 
  casting the spell. 
  In addition to this, the Lucus of 
  the Agrestis will give him certain 
  powers over his domain. After 
  constructing his Lucus at the heart of 
  a forest, he can mark an area by 
  means of ritual extending at most to 
  the edge of the forest, or 1000 paces 
  (whichever is shorter) that will be his 
  domain. Being magically attuned to it, 
  his domain is now considered a 
  structure rather than a boundary for 
  the purposes of spellcasting, and by 
  concentrating, he can become aware 
  of all that goes on within the forest. 
  New Minor Flaw: Silence of 
  Silvanus 
  A dire fate may yet await an 
  initiate to Silvanus if he acts against 
  the Collegium. This flaw is the 
  equivalent of a Vow, but with nastier 
  consequences should that vow be 
  broken. Those who break this vow 
  turn into trees. For some the 
  experience is explosive and sudden, 
  while for others the transformation 
  can take weeks or months. The 
  initiate continues this transformation 
  until reparation can be made. The 
  change affects the initiate’s essential 
  nature and is not prevented by Magic 
  Resistance. Those of the cult can 
  always recognize one of their own 
  transformed into a tree and they may 
  choose to strike the tree down or 
  leave it as an example to others. 
   
  New Major Flaw: Given to 
  Silvanus 
  This flaw is equivalent to the 
  hermetic flaw, Restriction. The flaw 
  binds the soul of the initiate to 
  Silvanus, and his magic will not work 
  
  31 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  unless he possesses a piece of wood 
  from a pine tree. This applies to any 
  form of magic that emanates from the 
  Gift so it can affect Hedge Wizards 
  equally. 
  New Target: Barrier 
  A Barrier is a line between two or 
  more points. The line can be straight 
  or curved, but it has a maximum 
  length of 1000 paces, or one Roman 
  mile (being the distance between mile 
  castles on Hadrian’s Wall - the word 
  mile comes from the Latin mille, 
  which means thousand). Anyone 
  crossing the barrier is subject to the 
  spell’s effect. As with Ring and Circle 
  effects, the magus must mark out the 
  Barrier during casting. Unlike Ring or 
  Circle, simply walking the length of 
  the Barrier is sufficient. Similarly, the 
  Barrier must be indicated by clear 
  markers, such as the space between 
  two door posts, a set of stones 
  dropped along a longer path, or a 
  series of trees lining a road or track. 
  The length of the barrier must be 
  walked when casting the spell. 
  Barrier is equivalent in difficulty to 
  Structure. 
  Non-Hermetic 
  Rituals 
  There are certain rituals performed 
  by the Collegium which pre-date the 
  Order of Hermes. Whilst they must 
  be led by a Gifted priest, usually of 
  the rank Agrestis, the power of the 
  ritual is increased by the involvement 
  of unGifted Domestici. Ritual Points 
  are calculated by adding together the 
  Collegium Dei Silvani Lore of all the 
  participants, including the leading 
  Agrestis, and dividing by two, 
  rounded down. 
  Domestici are required to attend 
  rituals when requested. 
  The Domesticus Ritual 
  The Domesticus ritual is the most 
  commonly used, and is used to 
  protect a farm estate and increase the 
  bounty from crops or animals within. 
  Any animals entering the estate to 
  feed on crops or animals, or any 
  human intending to steal must make a 
  brave roll against the number of ritual 
  points or flee. Participants in the 
  ritual, or those animals and people 
  within the estate at the time of 
  casting, are unaffected. This, 
  accompanied by the gain in bounty in 
  any crops or animals will result in a 
  percentage gain in yield from the 
  estate equal to the ritual points. This 
  ritual is always performed during the 
  week after the autumn equinox, 
  which limits the number of estates 
  that a particular Lucus can cover, thus 
  limiting the number of members and 
  geographical reach. The ritual is 
  performed by precessing around the 
  boundary of the estate, making 
  sacrifices at the start and end and 
  reciting prayers to Silvanus along the 
  way. 
  This ritual has no Penetration, so 
  those protected by Parma Magica, a 
  Might Score, or resistance from any 
  other source are not affected. 
  Silvanus Blessing Upon 
  The Lucus 
  This ritual is performed within the 
  Lucus on the Autumn Equinox in 
  association with the feast that 
  happens on this day. The Silvanae 
  attend, at least on the periphery, and 
  the Domestici try to outdo each other 
  with the offerings they bring for 
  sacrifice. The ritual creates, or 
  maintains, a preternatural tether (see 
  Realms of Power: Magic, page 10), 
  focused on the altar and with a 
  maximum score equal to the ritual 
  points divided by 5, rounded down. If 
  the ritual is not performed, or the 
  score is lower than before, the tether 
  score will decrease by 1. A higher 
  score for the year will result in an 
  increase in the tether score by 1, to 
  the maximum. For a “full” lucus, the 
  tether score will not generally go 
  higher than 3. Any vis that results 
  from an aura developed around such 
  a tether manifests in the fruits of the 
  trees. 
  New Hermetic Spells 
  Unique to The 
  Collegium 
  The following spells are 
  commonly learned by members of the 
  Collegium and both Laboratory Texts  
  and Casting Tablets are known to 
  exist. 
  The Shrouded Lucus 
  ReMe 30 
  R:Touch D:Moon T:Structure, 
  mystery 
  This modified version of The 
  Shrouded Glen (ArM5, page 152) 
  ensures that initiates, whether Gifted 
  or not, protected by Magic Resistance 
  or not, are immune to its effects. 
  (Base 3, +1 Touch, +3 Moon, +3 
  Structure) 
  Baleful Hordes Retreat 
  ReMe 35 
  R:Touch D:Sun T:Barrier, mystery 
  Anyone crossing the Barrier must 
  make a brave roll of 12+ or flee in 
  fear. Any victims must be at least 
  slightly fearful or apprehensive in the 
  first place, for example, approaching a 
  giant guarded Roman wall, or a dark 
  forest, or an opponent. 
  (Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +3 
  Barrier) 
  Further Reading 
  Peter F. Dorcey, The Cult of 
  Silvanus: A Study in Roman Folk 
  Religion, Brill 1992 
  
  32 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  The 5th annual Grand 
  Tribunal of the Americas will be 
  held August 3 through August 5, 
  Anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi 
  2012. 
  The gathering will take place 
  amidst the Northern California 
  Sierra Nevada mountains, in the 
  uniquely beautiful Lake Tahoe 
  Basin at “The Village at Squaw 
  Valley”, in Squaw Valley, CA. 
  This is a family friendly event.  
  For the first time we are offering a 
  Companion/Apprentice program 
  with separate activities for the 
  young, new or non-gaming 
  attendees. Experienced, CPR 
  Certified care will be available for 
  youngsters while parents game. 
  Please see our website for 
  registration, hotel and other 
  information 
  Mention this announcement 
  and 
  receive 
  the 
  Regular 
  Registration Rate 
  through 
  7/10/2012. 
  To contact this year’s Grand 
  Tribunal America organizers, you 
  may contact Dawn Hansen and 
  L a u r a  
  S a u n d e r s  
  a t 
  PraecoGTA@yahoo.com. 
  Grand Tribunal America 
   
  Mythic Tahoe 
  August 3 to August 5, 2012 
   
  Visit our Web page at: 
  http://us.grandtribunal.net/ 
   
  Or on Face Book at: 
  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grand-Tribunal-
  America/163568593712482 
  
  33 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  This is the sixth UK 
  Grand Tribunal, following 
  C h e l t e n h a m  
  ( 2 0 0 7 ) , 
  Cheltenham 
  (2008) 
  and 
  C a m b r i d g e  
  ( 2 0 0 9 ) , 
  Cheltenham 
  (2010) 
  and 
  last year in Cambridge 
  again. This year it occurs 
  two 
  weeks 
  after 
  the 
  American Grand Tribunal 
  at Lake Tahoe . 
  A small friendly RPG 
  event, we pride ourselves 
  in providing a welcoming 
  a n d  
  s u p p o r t i v e 
  atmosphere 
  for 
  fellow 
  gamers, 
  whatever 
  their 
  level of  knowledge of  Ars 
  M a g i c a  
  a n d  
  R P G s 
  generally. If  you enjoy 
  games, even if  you have 
  never 
  played 
  or 
  even 
  heard of  Ars 
  Magica 
  before, you will find a fun 
  friendly weekend with lots 
  of  enthusiastic gamers!  
  To contact this year’s 
  G r a n d  
  T r i b u n a l 
  organizers, see the website 
  and/or the mailing list as 
  per the details below. 
  Grand Tribunal: UK 
   
  Cheltenham 
  August 17 to August 19, 2012 
   
  Visit our Web page at: 
  http://gt12.ekkaia.org/ 
   
  Or join the mailing list at: 
  grandtrib@yahoogroups.com  
  
  34 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  When a ship bursts out of the sky 
  in the middle of an immense thunder 
  storm, the covenant is faced with the 
  ultimate symbol of Hermetic hubris; a 
  ship designed to sail through the 
  realm of magic itself. 
  By way of introducing the 
  Hermetic Shipyard project, as 
  featured in the Hermetic Projects 
  supplement, this story presents your 
  covenant with an enchanted ship. Its 
  daring enchantments and the audacity 
  of its creator may have been lost to 
  the Order for many years, but the 
  ship could now lead the covenant 
  back to a wealth of Hermetic 
  knowledge. And if not, the covenant 
  has possession of a very valuable 
  device, one that could bring them 
  great wealth and renown. 
  Precis 
  At the height of a magical storm, 
  as the magi contend with lightening 
  and hurricane winds, a ship bursts out 
  of a cloud above the covenant and 
  plunges to the ground a mile away. 
  Tearing into the nearby hamlet, 
  the crewless ship plows into the 
  fields, attracting local interest from 
  the Church and the local landowner. 
  The magi must secure the ship so that 
  they can discover where it came from, 
  who sent it, and what it portends. 
  With the ship in their possession, 
  they have the opportunity to 
  investigate its enchantments, to learn 
  what great magics it has been invested 
  with and how to operate them. 
  Discovering that the ship is able to 
  sail through the Magic Realm, the 
  magi may follow the trail left behind 
  it into the Magic Realm and there find 
  its stranded creator. They may track 
  the ship back to where it was built 
  intent on finding the lost laboratory 
  texts that will allow a fleet of similar 
  ships to be built. Or they may use it 
  themselves to explore further than 
  their means and location would 
  normally allow. 
  Will the magi find the shipwright 
  and bring him back to the Order, or 
  will they use his greatest achievement 
  for the betterment of their own 
  covenant? 
  Background 
  The magus Gioachino Masi lived 
  and worked over a century ago in 
  Venice. A member of House 
  Verditius, he trained as a carpenter 
  and shipwright and he used his arts to 
  secure a prosperous living providing 
  Stormbreaker 
  By Guy Leopold 
  
  35 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  magical services to the city’s fleet. As 
  with most members of his House, 
  hubris soon overtook him and he 
  began work on something 
  magnificent. Using insights into the 
  Magic Realm that he had gained in 
  trade with a magus of Syria, he started 
  construction of a ship that could 
  breach the barrier between the mortal 
  world and the Magic Realm. 
  Persuading Seif al-Rajih to join 
  him, Masi launched the ship, now 
  named Tempesta, into a storm, which 
  the magi had imprisoned within its 
  timbers. Further voyages ensued, each 
  testing the Tempesta’s new powers, 
  until the storm was finally unleashed 
  and the Tempesta pulled into Magic 
  Realm. 
  As far as the Roman Tribunal is 
  concerned, Masi and al-Rajih simply 
  vanished. With Tribunal politics as 
  they were at the time, few queried 
  their disappearance from the Roman 
  stage and within a generation they 
  were nothing but a memory. 
  Masi’s shipyard was ultimately sold 
  as the covenant companions aged and 
  all hope of their Hermetic friends 
  returning faded. The valuable 
  laboratory texts were either sold 
  through House Mercere or, in the 
  case of those for the Tempesta, were 
  taken by the most loyal companions 
  to be held until their masters 
  returned. 
  Preparing the Story 
  All you really need is a covenant 
  with a magical aura. It doesn’t matter 
  whether your covenant is rural or 
  urban, in woodland or the desert. The 
  enchanted ship is the hook into the 
  story and it makes its explosive 
  entrance early on. 
  The Tempesta is an enchanted 
  device, not just a ship that has devices 
  acting upon it. As such, any magus 
  who wants to investigate its 
  enchantments needs access to, or the 
  means to build, a laboratory large 
  enough to contain a ship. This isn’t 
  easy, but a covenant working together 
  to investigate the vessel should be 
  able to manage. 
  Dramatis Personae 
  Many of the mundanes listed 
  below can be swapped out for 
  characters already in play in your saga 
  where appropriate. If you’d rather not 
  have an enchanted ship barrel into 
  your nearby friendly village, then pick 
  another and use these new characters. 
   
  The Village 
  We assume that the ship tumbles 
  into a village, churning up farmland, 
  etc. But it may be more dramatic to 
  have the ship crash into a town. The 
  level of destruction is likely to be 
  higher and the effects both more 
  keenly felt and long-lasting. It also 
  shifts the tone, given the additional 
  risk to human life and limb. However, 
  the default is for a village setting, so 
  Gottolinus, the Infernalist 
  Characteristics: Int +1, Per 0, Pre 0, Com +3, Str -2, Sta -
  1, Dex +2, Qik 0 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 37 (37) 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Diabolist; Merchant; Incantation, 
  Consumption, Malediction; Infernal Blessing* (manifesting 
  as Puissant Guile, Puissant Merchant, and Puissant 
  Bargain); Aptitude for Selling Short Measures*, Cautious 
  with Bargain, Educated; Avaricious, Dark Secret: Inherited 
  his fortune through murder, Infamous 
  Personality Traits: Avaricious +3, Gregarious +2, Honest 
  -2 
  Reputations: A Thief and a Swindler (Venetian docks) 4 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init +0, Attack N/A, Defense +2, Damage N/A 
  Fist: Init +0, Attack +4, Defense +2, Damage -2 
  Dagger: Init +0, Attack +7, Defense +3, Damage -1 
  Soak: -1 
  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: Venice 3 (personalities), Bargain 5+2 
  (hard sell), Brawl 2 (Dagger), Carouse 4 (games of chance), 
  Civil and Canon Law 4 (Venetian trade laws), Folk Ken 2 
  (townsfolk), Guile 3+2 (lying to authority), Infernal Lore 3 
  (curses), Italian 5 (Venetian), Latin 4 (academic usage), 
  Merchant 5+2 (wine), Order of Hermes Lore 2 
  (personalities), Swim 1 (the lagoon) 
  Infernal Methods and Powers: Incantation 4, 
  Consumption 4, Malediction 4 
  Equipment: Expensive merchant’s clothing, a sharp knife, 
  and two bodyguards 
  Encumbrance: 0 (0) 
  Appearance: Handsome with thick dark hair, a calm 
  soothing voice, and well-groomed mustaches. Gottolinus is 
  dressed clothes made from the most expensive imported 
  fabrics and is liberally adorned with touches of gold and 
  silver. He is a man who could want for nothing. 
  Gottolinus’ Infernal blessings are in the form of the 
  Puissant Guile, Puissant Merchant, and Puissant Bargain 
  Virtues, which have been applied above. 
  
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  the characters below should suffice. 
  One thing to note is that all social 
  interaction rolls within the village at 
  this time are determined by Stress Die 
  and there is a base two botch die 
  associated with them, which may be 
  modified as described below. 
  Father Renaud, The Priest 
  Renaud is a spindly and austere 
  man of nearly fifty. He lives in the 
  small cottage next to the church, 
  which is now overshadowed by a 
  steaming great ship arrived from the 
  sky. Throughout his introduction at 
  the crash site he is clothed in a short 
  grubby nightgown from his his bare, 
  bowed, and skinny legs protrude. 
  Renaud is concerned with the 
  devilry that has just dropped a ship 
  onto his parish and he angrily blames 
  the magi when they arrive, accusing 
  them of most heinous witchcraft. He 
  promises torments both worldly and 
  beyond for the harm they have done 
  to his community and for the affront 
  and damage to his church. 
  Setting his church right, however 
  temporarily, shows enough contrition 
  for him to calm down and focus on 
  the rest of the village. If they fail to 
  deal with him properly, then one extra 
  botch die is imposed on any social 
  interaction rolls within the village. 
  Botches around Renaud ultimately 
  result in the magi gaining a reputation 
  for witchcraft as the priest spreads 
  word of their misdeeds. 
  Mathieu, The Steward 
  Mathieu is more concerned with 
  his villagers than the ship and he is 
  busy trying to organize the men to 
  find the injured in their damaged 
  homes. 
  He can be brought on-side by 
  assisting without hesitation, showing 
  concern, and by healing the injured, 
  which provides a +3 social interaction 
  bonus for the duration. Failure to do 
  these things, however, sets him 
  immediately against the magi, even 
  mores o than the Gift usually does 
  and imposes a -3 penalty and one 
  extra botch die is imposed on any 
  social interaction rolls within the 
  Maelstrom 
  Magic Might: 50 (Aquam) 
  Characteristics: Int 0, Per 0, Pre +3, Com +1, Str +10, 
  Sta +1, Dex –1, Qik –5 
  Size: +5 
  Season: Summer 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Magic Spirit; Berserk; Magical 
  Monster; Magical Air; Compulsion (Consuming ships and 
  sailors) 
  Qualities and Inferiorities: Greater Power × 2, Improved 
  Abilities × 1, Focus Power × 4, Temporary Might, 
  Improved Attack × 4 
  Personality Traits: Acquisitive +3, Angry +2, Hostile +1 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init –5, Attack N/A, Defense +1, Damage N/A 
  Grappling: Init –5, Attack +14, Defense +2, Damage +10 
  Soak: +1 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: –1 (1-10), –3 (11-20), –5 (21-30), 
  Incapacitated (31-40), Dead (41+) 
  Abilities: Area Lore: the oceans 5 (geography), Awareness 
  4 (searching), Bargain 3 (with those who summon her), 
  Brawl 6 (Grappling), Charm 1 (first impressions), Folk Ken 
  1 (magi), Latin 4 (hermetic usage), Magic Lore 5 (creatures), 
  Norse 5 (storytelling), Penetration 2 (Aquam) 
  Equipment: None 
  Encumbrance: 0 (0) 
  Appearance: When using her Eidolon power, Maelstrom 
  manifests as a woman composed of seawater. Flecks of 
  foam play over her skin in waves and her hair sways like 
  waves breaking on the shore. Where she rises out of the 
  water, her legs and feet spiral down, joining with the 
  water’s surface. Otherwise, her physical form is a great 
  swirling of water. When she comes to the surface the 
  swirling grows in power and threatens to draw sailors and 
  ships in. The bodies of former victims can sometimes be 
  seen, tumbling and churning within her swirling belly. 
  Powers: 
  Eidolon, Points: 2, Initiative: Qik–1, Form: Imaginem, 
  Range: Touch, Duration: Conc, Target: Ind 
  Pull of the Watery Grave, Points: 4, Initiative: Qik+0, Form: 
  Aquam, Range: Touch, Duration: Conc, Target: Group 
  Crafter of Aquam, Points: 5, Initiative: Qik–5, Form: Aquam, 
  Range: Per, Duration: Mom, Target: Ind 
  Master of Aquam, Points: 5, Initiative: Qik–5, Form: Aquam, 
  Range: Per, Duration: Mom, Target: Ind 
  Crafter of Auram, Points: 5, Initiative: Qik–5, Form: Auram, 
  Range: Per, Duration: Mom, Target: Ind 
  Master of Auram, Points: 5, Initiative: Qik–5, Form: Auram, 
  Range: Per, Duration: Mom, Target: Ind 
  Sailors that fall into the Maelstrom must engage in a 
  grappling combat with her as per the rules in ArM5, page 
  174. If Maelstrom is successful then the victim must make 
  drowning deprivation rolls, as per ArM5, page 180. 
  
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  village. 
  Botches around Mathieu 
  ultimately result in the covenant’s 
  supplies becoming patchy; Mathieu is 
  a respected and influential man and 
  the traders side with him against the 
  covenant. 
  Foucaud, The Angry Farmer 
  Old and beligerent, Foucaud, does 
  a good line in pitchfork waving. His 
  concern is for his crops and the 
  damage to the land. He has a point. 
  He’s old and even he realizes that for 
  all his bluster he might not last a 
  harsh and hungry winter. 
  So he is the rabble-rouser and 
  discussions with him always come 
  back to the state of his land. It’s not 
  just the cost of the crops, but the 
  effort it will take over the harvest and 
  winter seasons to get the land back to 
  what it was. 
  If they fail to deal with him 
  properly, then one extra botch die is 
  imposed on any social interaction 
  rolls within the village. Botches 
  around Foucaud result in the magi 
  and their men being run from the 
  town at the ends of pitchforks and 
  illuminated only by burning torches. 
  Seigneur Valentin 
  Seigneur Valentin is the feudal 
  landowner and whether he is 
  introduced at the time and place of 
  the crash or only later, he wants 
  answers. Used to getting what he 
  wants, he wants compensation from 
  the magi for damage to the village, or 
  the return of the ship that the 
  heavens obviously saw fit to grant 
  him. 
  If you need numbers, he’ll start 
  higher but hold out for forty pounds 
  of silver. If the magi refuse at this 
  level he’ll happily raise the matter 
  with the most senior noble that the 
  covenant knows in order to exert 
  political leverage over them. 
  Venice 
  Any trip to Venice is going to be 
  filled with guides, interpreters, 
  masters of lodgings, thieves, etc. 
  That’s more than can probably be 
  accommodated here. But there are 
  two characters who are important to 
  the story: 
  Gottolinus, the Infernalist 
  Gottolinus is a diabolist. He has 
  given his soul over to the devil in 
  Naham 
  Magic Might: 15 (Aquam) 
  Characteristics: Int +3, Per -2, Pre 0, Com -1, Str -1, Sta -
  1, Dex +3, Qik +1 
  Size: 0 
  Season: Autumn 
  Age: N/A (75) 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Magic Human; Good Teacher, 
  Puissant Shipbuilding, Tough, Long-Winded; Driven (Build 
  his Ship); Poor Hearing 
  Qualities and Inferiorities: Gentle Air, Natural 
  Appearance, Ritual Power × 2; Improved Abilities 
  Personality Traits: Helpful +3, Reclusive +2, Friendly +1 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init +1, Attack N/A, Defense +4, Damage N/A 
  Fist: Init +1, Attack +6, Defense +4, Damage -1 
  Bludgeon: Init +0, Attack +9, Defense +5, 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: Aramaic 3 (slang), Area Lore: Naham’s Island 5, 
  Awareness 2 (searching), Bargain 3 (information), Brawl 3 
  (Bludgeon), Carpentry 6 (ships), Climb 4 (timbers and 
  rigging), Folk Ken 3 (language barriers), Greek 3 (slang), 
  Hebrew 5 (slang), Magic Lore 4 (the Magic Realm), Order 
  of Hermes Lore 1 (personalities), Shipbuilding 8+2 (vessels 
  of unnatural size), Survival 5 (isolated desert islands), Swim 
  2 (shallow seas), Tinker 4 (mending tools) 
  Equipment: Filthy loincloth, hammers, nails, saws, and 
  other assorted carpentry tools 
  Encumbrance: 1 (1) 
  Appearance: Rather small and wiry, Naham is all bulbous 
  wrinkled joints and knotted muscles under sun-bleached 
  skin. His hair is long, grey, and matted, which at least 
  matches his beard. 
  Powers: 
  Seal the Wounded Vessel (Ritual Power), Points: 3, Initiative: 
  Qik-11, Form: Herbam, Range: Touch, Duration: Mom, 
  Target: Str. This power magically and permanently restores 
  a single Damage Level lost by a ship. Use of the power 
  costs 3 points off Naham’s Might Score, which return at 
  the rate of one for each season spent wholly within the 
  Magic Realm. 
  Naham knows Aramaic, Hebrew, and some Greek. If 
  characters are not able to communicate in those languages, 
  you can resort to pictures drawn in the sand, sounds, and 
  gestures, and use the parties’ respective Folk Lore scores in 
  place of languages. 
  
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  exchange for profit and a life of 
  comfort and privilege. He is a notable 
  figure around Venice and his 
  knowledge of its people, affairs, and 
  history even includes the activities of 
  the Order of Hermes within Venice. 
  Gottolinus himself approaches the 
  magi, having been alerted to their 
  presence in the city by his infernal 
  patrons. As far as he is concerned, 
  these newcomer magi present an 
  opportunity to make a little more 
  money - after all, why come to Venice 
  if you’re not looking for something, 
  and if you’re looking for something 
  then you’re probably willing to pay 
  for it. 
  It’s important to note that 
  Gottolinus’ infernalism is not 
  something upon which he dwells. It 
  has always been a means to an end; 
  just as one merchant may lie, or 
  another short-measure, so Gottolinus 
  consorts with devils. He recognizes 
  that his soul is imperiled, but he 
  believes he can avoid punishment a 
  while longer yet. 
  For their part, his demonic 
  patrons are currently maneuvering 
  him into encounters with people who 
  just might have the means to detect 
  his infernal corruption and bring his 
  soul to them through sudden and 
  decisive actions. 
  Use the standard Tough Guy 
  statistics from ArM5, page 22 for his 
  bodyguards. 
  Abbess Benedicta 
  Benedicta is the abbess of a small 
  but comfortable nunnery, supported 
  by the generosity of the Venetian 
  elite. Aside from the good works her 
  sisters do for the city and the tuition 
  they provide for the daughters of the 
  wealthy, Benedicta holds a set of old 
  books in sacred trust, handed down 
  through several generations of nuns. 
  She is aware that these are magical in 
  nature but trusts that they have 
  nothing to do with the infernal. She is 
  correct, and these are Gioachino 
  Masi’s Laboratory Texts. 
  She would be reticent to let them 
  go as they are, for her, part of the 
  convent. 
  Mandrenke 
  Magic Might: 50 (Auram)  
  Season: Autumn 
  Characteristics: Int +2, Per 0, Pre +2, Com 0, Str +13, 
  Sta +2, Dex 0, Qik -5 
  Size: +6 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Magic Animal; Clear Thinker, 
  Improved Characteristics, Lightning Reflexes; Magical 
  Monster; Cruel (Major) 
  Qualities and Inferiorities: Focus Power × 2, Gigantic, 
  Greater Power × 2; Extra Natural Weapons (Large Claws), 
  Gift of Speech, Imposing Appearance, Improved Abilities 
  × 10, Improved Attack (Large Teeth), Improved Damage 
  (Large Teeth), Improved Soak × 3, Improved Strength, 
  Large Claws, Large Teeth, Thick Scales; Acclimation Prone 
  Personality Traits: Cruel +3, Boastful +2, Violent +1 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init -5, Attack N/A, Defense +2, Damage N/A 
  Lashing Tail: Init -5, Attack +7, Defense +2, Damage +13 
  Large Claws: Init -5, Attack +12, Defense +5, Damage +17 
  Large Teeth: Init -5, Attack +14, Defense +4, Damage +19 
  Soak: +9 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: -1 (1-11), -3 (12-22), -5 (23-33), 
  Incapacitated (34-44), Dead (45+) 
  Abilities: Area Lore: Magic Realm 5 (boundaries), Area 
  Lore: Mythic Europe 5 (seasonal storms), Awareness 4 
  (alertness), Brawl 7 (Large Teeth), Faerie Lore 4 (faeries of 
  the storm), Folk Ken 4 (magi), Guile 4 (reneging on 
  bargains), Hunt 4 (faeries), Latin 4 (classical usage), 
  Leadership 5 (intimidation), Magic Lore 8 (creatures), Old 
  Norse 5 (poetry), Order of Hermes Lore 5 (history), 
  Penetration 5 (Auram), Stealth 4 (flying), Survival 4 (Magic 
  Realm), Swim 5 (stormy seas), Teaching 4 (Magic Lore) 
  Equipment: Thick Scales 
  Encumbrance: 0 (0) 
  Appearance: Mandrenke is a long-bodied wyrm-like white 
  dragon. Her forelimbs are great wings that blacken the sky 
  when she beats them. Her long jaws, spiked with jagged 
  and broken teeth, crackle with lightening and her eyes shine 
  brilliant white. She can writhe and coil her body to bring 
  her bite, tail, and the claws on her wings to bear on 
  opponents. 
  Powers: 
  Incantation of Lightning (Greater Power), Points: 1, Initiative: 
  Qik-3, Form: Auram, Range: Voice,Duration: Mom, 
  Target: Ind 
  Gathering of the Stormy Might (Greater Power), Points: 2, 
  Initiative: Qik-4, Form: Auram, Range: Voice, Duration: 
  Conc, Target: Group 
  Master of Fierce Rains (Focus Power), Points: 5, Initiative: 
  Qik-5, Form: Aquam, Range: Voice, Duration: Mom, 
  Target: Ind 
  Master of Fierce Winds (Focus Power), Points: 5, Initiative: 
  Qik-5, Form: Auram, Range: Voice, Duration: Mom, 
  Target: Ind 
  
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  If needed, use the statistics for 
  Abbess Prudencia from Legends of 
  Hermes, page 29. 
  Novice Gabriella 
  Gabriella is easily led and has had 
  her head turned by Gottolinus more 
  than once. Young and already bored 
  with the religious life she can be 
  corrupted into stealing at least some 
  of the books. 
  If needed, use the statistics for the 
  Anchoress in The Church, page 83. 
  The Magic Realm 
  The time spent in the Magic 
  Realm looking for Masi is an 
  opportunity to insert your own stories 
  and introduce your own characters 
  and opponents. However, the 
  following relate directly to the search. 
  Maelstrom 
  Maelstrom knows that Masi 
  sought out Naham the shipbuilder, 
  but she does not willingly part with 
  this information. On sensing the 
  Tempesta’s arrival, Maelstrom heads 
  towards it 
  Naham 
  Naham is a carpenter and 
  shipwright, a magical reflection of the 
  Divine Noah, and he exists in the 
  Magic Realm where he perpetually 
  builds a great ship capable of saving 
  every living creature from the coming 
  flood. 
  He encountered the Tempesta and 
  its crew during its initial voyage 
  through the Magic Realm. Despite his 
  warnings, he believes Masi and his 
  colleague went in search of 
  Mandrenke, looking for a way back to 
  the mortal world. 
  Mandrenke 
  Mandrenke is a vast dragon who 
  claims fatherhood over all storms. A 
  single beat of his wings raises a 
  hurricane, a stamp of his claw calls 
  the thunder, when saliva drips from 
  his spiked jaws the skies fill with rain, 
  and his tongue is pure blinding 
  lightening. 
  He captured Masi and al-Rajih, 
  killing the Syrian but keeping Masi 
  alive in order to have him live in 
  defeat and torment for daring to bind 
  a storm into his petty vessel. And it 
  (Continued on page 41) 
  
  40 
   
   
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  41 
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  was the Mandrenke that cast the 
  Tempesta out of the Magic Realm, 
  frustrated at being unable to release 
  the storm bound within its timbers. 
  The Tempesta 
  The central character of this story 
  is the ship itself; the Tempesta. The 
  work of Gioachino Masi, a 
  remarkable Verditius craftsman and 
  visionary, the ship is now without its 
  master. Like its captain, her crew are 
  long gone and with them so goes the 
  secret of her operation. 
  Expected Sequence of 
  Play 
  The magi first encounter the 
  Tempesta in the middle of protecting 
  their covenant against a magical 
  storm. Having wrested control of the 
  grounded vessel from the mundane 
  authorities, the magi have the chance 
  to investigate its magic and its origin. 
  The Thunder Storm 
  Weather-sensitive characters 
  within the covenant feel a storm 
  coming for a few days before it 
  actually arrives. Spells such as Sailors 
  Foretaste of The Morrow confirm 
  that something big and violent is 
  coming. 
  The Raising of the Storm 
  The winds pick up through the 
  day of the storm and the clouds 
  darken overhead. By the time the 
  evening starts to draw in, the skies are 
  dark, the rain is cold and stinging, and 
  the winds are hard to resist. And then 
  the thunder and lightening start. 
  The storm itself is destructive 
  enough, even before the Tempesta 
  arrives. Unless the magi have already 
  warded the covenant against storms, 
  up to three discrete storm events 
  affect the covenant: 
  The Winds: Have a character 
  make a Strength + Athletics Stress 
  Roll against 12. If they fail, they are 
  swept off their feet by the winds and 
  must make a Soak Roll against the 
  amount they missed the Ease Factor 
  by (plus the standard non-combat die 
  roll). On a botch, add three to this. 
  The Roof: The winds start to lift 
  the roof off one of the covenant 
  buildings. It threatens to lift entirely 
  unless a magus is able to control it 
  through magic. A ReHe spell with a 
  Group Target and a Base Level of 3 is 
  enough to control it. 
  Lightening: Lightening might 
  strike anyone or anything within the 
  covenant as you see fit. It may be a 
  magus, a familiar, one of the 
  covenfolk, their livestock, a building, 
  or a laboratory. If it strikes anything 
  living, you can treat it like a naturally-
  occurring Incantation of Lightening 
  (ArM5, page 126), which does +30 
  damage and forces those nearby to 
  make a Size stress roll against 6+ or 
  be blown away from the strike. 
  Inanimate objects make a Damage 
  Check, as per City & Guild, against an 
  Ease Factor of 15. The roll has a 
  penalty of -3 due to severe weather. 
  On a failure, the item loses a Damage 
  Level and is probably set on fire, 
  which forces a further Damage Check 
  every second round until the fire is 
  extinguished. 
  The Arrival of the Ship 
  The ship speeds out of the storm 
  with an almighty crash of thunder and 
  flash of lightening. It is low enough 
  that it smashes part of the covenant’s 
  tallest building, doing cosmetic 
  damage and sending a shower of 
  debris to the ground. As an added 
  moment of peril, you can have the 
  debris fall towards one or more of the 
  covenfolk, requiring a dodge or fast-
  cast magic to avoid injury. 
  Debris Initiative Total: +1 
  Debris Attack Score: +5 
  Debris Damage Score: +15 
  With the ship listing to one side, it 
  flies over the covenant and, 
  descending all the time, heads 
  towards a nearby village where it 
  ultimately crashes into the earth, 
  plowing up fields as it goes. 
  The observant among the magi 
  and their companions should see a 
  trail on the ground that follows the 
  path the ship took in the air. This trail 
  takes the form of bright green grass 
  or flowers bloomed out of season, or 
  a pond made clean and clear. This is 
  the result of the Magic Realm leaking 
  through in the ship’s wake and where 
  it touched the mundane world it has 
  invested the earth with vis. 
  Enterprising covenfolk may collect 
  these small pieces for a total of 
  between five and ten pawns of vis 
  depending on how rich your saga 
  usually is. Alternatively, you might 
  rule that these cannot be collected 
  now, but that they might spawn Items 
  of Virtue or Extraordinary Vis (Realms 
  of Power: Magic, chapter eight) in the 
  coming seasons. Regardless, here and 
  there, the bright colors left behind in 
  the wake glitter like fire in the 
  darkness. 
  The Impact Site 
  It is easy to see the trail left by the 
  ship as it ran aground. The earth is 
  churned up and then forms a deep 
  ditch where first the keel and then the 
  hull impacted and ripped up the 
  ground. 
  The ship has come to rest in the 
  village and it has done a lot of 
  damage on its way through. 
  Fields: The ship has literally 
  plowed through the fields, turning 
  over earth and uprooting and ruining 
  crops. Should the magi want to make 
  this good, they can use Group-Target, 
  Base 3, ReTe effect to draw the earth 
  back where it should be, but they may 
  need to go to ritual magic and/or 
  Rego Craft Magic in order to do 
  something with the crops. 
  Homes: As ship made its way 
  into the village, it has torn through a 
  few houses, crushing their timbers 
  and collapsing their roofs. You can 
  decide how many homes have been 
  (Continued from page 39) 
  
  42 
   
   
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  affected. Clearly, if you stage this 
  event in an urban environment then 
  this becomes the main focus. The 
  villagers are trying to dig through to 
  get to those trapped within. Magi can 
  help with some simple Group-Target, 
  Base 3, ReHe spells, either subtly to 
  support beams while others work, or 
  with a great visual effect. 
  Church: The village’s stone 
  church has also been struck, and it is 
  this sturdy structure that arrested the 
  ship’s progress. However, the ship 
  has damaged the churchyard, 
  complete with its graves, and the 
  impact with the church has broken 
  the small bell tower that how sits at a 
  precarious angle and looks likely to 
  drop onto the ship’s deck at any 
  minute. Dust and chunks of mortar 
  tumble down regularly, and the 
  danger keeps the ship free from 
  investigators until the bell tower can 
  be secured. A Group-Target, Base 2 
  (+1 for stone), ReTe effect is enough 
  to keep the tower from collapsing. 
  Livestock: Pigs, cattle, ducks, and 
  chickens have scattered themselves 
  across the village and beyond, though 
  the chickens, being less cognizant of 
  any specific dangers have wandered 
  back. Some of the village youngsters 
  have been sent to fetch the animals 
  back. 
  The ship itself is steaming, 
  throwing off a mist in all directions, 
  and is laying in the deep trench that it 
  gouged out of the ground. It lists to 
  one side and is butted up against the 
  church. 
  NOTE: The damage is likely to 
  be far more significant and far more 
  dangerous in an urban environment. 
  Tenement buildings line the streets, 
  shops surround the markets, church 
  spires reach from every parish; the 
  population density makes the 
  uncontrolled ship a far greater danger. 
  Retrieving the Ship 
  How far away from the covenant 
  the Tempesta came back to Earth is 
  for you to decide, but getting it back 
  to the covenant is going to be a feat 
  regardless. 
  The vessel can be Targeted as a 
  Structure with +1 magnitude for size 
  with the following effect: 
  ReHe 30 
  Range: Touch, Duration: Sun, 
  Target Structure 
  Moves 
  the 
  target 
  ship 
  completely under the control of the 
  casting magus. 
  (Base 3, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +3 
  Structure, +1 size) 
  Unless a magus happens to have 
  just such a utility spell available, then 
  Ceremonial Spontaneous Magic is 
  likely to be the order of the day, 
  spiced with liberal vis use. If you are 
  using Houses of Hermes: Societates, you 
  might want to look up the use of 
  props in page 58 in case any of your 
  player magi already use them. 
  Alternatively, a more mundane 
  operation can be carried out, but this 
  is going to take some time to organize 
  and a huge allocation of man-power. 
  Investigations 
  Where did the ship come from? 
  How did it get here? Is it enchanted? 
  Whose ship is it? These are some of 
  the questions that are likely to be 
  asked. Probably the first avenue that 
  the players will explore is Intellego 
  magic, followed by looking for clues 
  on board the ship, before finally 
  trying to discover the invested effects 
  through laboratory work. 
  Intellego Magic: While these 
  spells can’t tell what effects have been 
  invested, Intellego is still useful. 
  Intellego Vim can determine (base 1) 
  that the ship is enchanted, and (base 
  1) that there is a Magic Aura currently 
  sitting over the village (this is a 
  remnant of the Magic Realm’s 
  incursion. When the same spell is 
  attempted at a later time, the expected 
  Dominion has reasserted itself). 
  Intellego Herbam (base 3) can be 
  used to determine what the ship is 
  made from (cypress wood) and where 
  it originated (south of the Dolomites). 
  The Hull: Once the dirt from the 
  village is cleared away, ominous tooth
  -marks can be made out. It looks like 
  some great animal has bitten into and 
  scraped away at the hull. Here and 
  there are broken planks that appear to 
  have been bitten through or twisted 
  and wrenched off. This is the damage 
  wrought by the dragon Mandrenke. 
  Estimation, using Intelligence + any 
  applicable Lore against Ease Factor 9, 
  shows the creature’s size to be +6 
  (give them a bonus for using 
  something flavorful like a bestiary - if 
  they think of it they might be able to 
  create a sort of image of what the full 
  jaws look like using magic). You 
  should vary this information based on 
  how far out the character is from that 
  Ease Factor. Any Arcane Connection 
  to the beast has long-since expired, 
  but it should give the magi a clue as 
  to the kind of adversary they may 
  face. 
  Looking for Clues on Board: 
  The ship itself is carvel-built, i.e. the 
  hull is formed from timbers that abut 
  one other rather than overlap. This is 
  a key marker for southern or 
  Mediterranean ships. An appropriate 
  Area Lore or Craft/Profession Simple 
  Roll of 9 or more is enough to 
  confirm this. 
  A circle, complete with Hermetic 
  inscriptions, can be found on the rear 
  II  
  t looks like some great animal has bitten into 
  t looks like some great animal has bitten into 
  the hull. Here and there are broken planks that 
  the hull. Here and there are broken planks that 
  appear to have been bitten through or twisted 
  appear to have been bitten through or twisted 
  and wrenched off.
  and wrenched off.  
  
  43 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  castle. This raised platform appears to 
  have been turned into a casting space 
  and the markings on the deck act as a 
  prop giving a +5 bonus to 
  Ceremonial Casting and the prepared 
  nature of the circle reduces the 
  casting time to twelve minutes per 
  magnitude (see Houses of Hermes: 
  Societates, pages 58 and 59). An Order 
  of Hermes Lore Simple Roll against 
  an Ease Factor of 9 reveals the 
  manner and design of the circle to be 
  something more common in the 
  southern Tribunals. 
  Below deck, there is a burnt out 
  room at the bow, a cramped sleeping 
  area with torn hammocks hanging 
  from the beams, and a makeshift 
  laboratory at the stern. 
  The burnt-out room is dark with 
  charred wood and contains the 
  remains of two beds, one either side 
  of the chamber. The remains of a 
  tapestry, again burnt and impossible 
  to make out any design, hangs from 
  the hull. However, Tales from the Ashes 
  can be used to see the tapestry in its 
  original glory. Any magus doing so 
  sees a fine tapestry of a ship with two 
  sails within a circle of red against a 
  field of blue. Astrological and 
  Hermetic symbols add decoration 
  outside the circle. 
  Everything in the chamber has 
  been tossed about, and an upturned 
  chest can be found beneath one of 
  the beds. The inside of the chest 
  appears largely untouched by fire, but 
  there is no sign of any contents it 
  might once have held. There are 
  some designs within the chest and 
  those familiar with Verditius magic 
  will likely recognize them as the runes 
  used to bind their magic to devices. 
  Laboratory: The rear of the ship 
  below decks has been turned into a 
  laboratory. It is clear however that 
  this was an improvised affair as the 
  equipment (now broken and strewn 
  throughout the deck) appears to have 
  been made from other ship’s 
  equipment - poor-quality glass from a 
  lamp has been reshaped into a simple 
  alembic, tin cups have been turned 
  into bowls and small cauldrons, and 
  all manner of stands have been made 
  from scraps of wood. The remnants 
  of a journal can be found, but most 
  of the pages seem to be missing (see 
  the nearby insert for key information 
  from the Journal). 
  Examining the Ship in a 
  Laboratory 
  It is hard to fit a very large Nef 
  into a standard laboratory, so if the 
  magi want to investigate the magic 
  used within the ship they will need to 
  build a dedicated laboratory around 
  her. 
  Laboratory work must be 
  undertaken in a laboratory, even if 
  that laboratory is actually open to the 
  elements, and the Covenants 
  supplement provides excellent 
  information on designing a laboratory 
  from scratch. Otherwise, a magus can 
  create a simple laboratory with a 
  season’s dedicated effort. This results 
  in a -3 penalty, which a second season 
  of effort eliminates. 
  Once the Tempesta is enclosed in 
  a laboratory of some kind, the magus 
  can investigate the ship’s 
  enchantments, which are done in the 
  following order: 
  The most dangerous effect is well 
  within the capabilities of even an 
  inexperienced magus to discover; the 
  ability to take the ship into the Magic 
  Realm. While the Tempesta is 
  designed to fly through the storm it 
  carries within itself, any Auram 
  phenomenon that has a link to the 
  Magic Realm can be sailed through, 
  whether that is produced by the ship 
  or not. 
  All Roads Lead to... Venice 
  So what specific clues lead to 
  Venice? The construction of the ship 
  is one clue. While its time in the 
  Magic Realm has degraded all arcane 
  connections, magic can still determine 
  properties of things, which is why the 
  magi can learn that the ship is made 
  from wood harvested south of the 
  dolomites, just to the north of 
  Venice. The style and construction of 
  the ship is also Mediterranean, which 
  would not be unusual for a Venetian 
  shipbuilder. 
  The symbol on the burned 
  tapestry is that of an old and long-
  since lost covenant and the details can 
  be gained from Harco, either 
  approached directly or through a 
  Redcap. This places the symbol as 
  belonging to Gioachino Masi, an 
  independent magus in the Roman 
  Tribunal. 
  Venice 
  The magi may decide to look 
  further into the ship’s origin, for if 
  there is a ship enchanted through 
  Hermetic means then there may still 
  be Laboratory Texts from which new 
  ships could be enchanted. This trail 
  leads to Venice. 
  Venice is an independent republic 
  built upon a series of lagoon islands 
  in the north-east of the Roman 
  Tribunal, just south of the Dolomite 
  mountain range. It is a considerable 
  naval power in the Mediterranean 
  region and it frequently leverages its 
  wealth and military might in the 
  pursuit of more profit. 
  We’ll leave the arrival in Venice to 
  you so that you can both put your 
  own spin on the city and control the 
  pace of this part of the story. The two 
  key events though are the encounter 
  with Gottolinus, and the discovery of 
  the laboratory texts. 
   
  Effect 
  Level 
  Chart Passage Through the Storm 
  25 
  The Sky is My Ocean 
  39 
  A Thing of Magical Air / A Thing 
  of Magical Waters 
  40 
  Open the Mystic Sails 
  54 
  The Enslaved Storm 
  61 
  
  44 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  A Knowledgeable Fellow 
  Gottolinus views Venice with 
  both pride and a proprietorial air, so 
  when his demonic patrons inform 
  him of recently-arrived Hermetic 
  magi he seeks them out. 
  T h e  
  m a g i 
  encounter Gottolinus 
  through one of his 
  bodyguards, 
  who 
  delivers a note from 
  him inviting the magi 
  to a private room in a 
  lodging house not far 
  away. 
  The 
  note 
  explains 
  that 
  he 
  knows much of the 
  magical goings-on in 
  Venice and would 
  like to put himself at 
  their 
  disposal. 
  If 
  subsequently 
  asked 
  how he knew of their 
  arrival he lies and 
  says 
  that he 
  has 
  people all over the 
  city who report back 
  to him. 
  For the interested, 
  the note was hand-
  written by Gottolinus 
  and acts as an Arcane 
  Connection (Weeks). 
  He has no reason to 
  suspect ill of the 
  magi so has not taken 
  precautions 
  against 
  them. 
  If the characters 
  meet Gottolinus he is 
  attended 
  by 
  two 
  burley armored bodyguards who 
  dwarf their employer. Characters with 
  Sense Holiness and Unholiness are 
  able to sense the taint on Gottolinus 
  on Ease Factor 15. He meets the magi 
  in an upstairs room in a drinking 
  house. He awaits their arrival and 
  clearly uses this room as his office on 
  a frequent basis. Importantly, should 
  the magi ever wish to find him, it 
  won’t be long before he returns here. 
  For a price (ten pounds of silver), 
  he can take the magi to the site where 
  their ship was built. 
  The Old Shipyard 
  Gottolinus can use his demonic 
  patrons to learn what he needs, telling 
  the magi that he will use his contacts 
  in the city, and is then able to take the 
  magi to the site of the old Hermetic 
  shipyard. It is still in use but the 
  magical aura is no longer strong 
  enough to overcome the Dominion. 
  The owner and shipwright (a 
  robust, bearded man called Frugoni) 
  knows nothing of any magic and 
  claims that the shipyard was passed to 
  him by his father and by his father 
  before him, which is true. There is 
  nothing left here of use to the magi 
  except perhaps a vision of what 
  happens to magical sites if they are 
  abandoned and forgotten. 
  Gottolinus however knows where 
  some of the texts were taken. For a 
  price (ten pounds of silver), he can 
  take the magi there. 
  A Long-Held 
  Trust 
  After 
  a 
  journey 
  along the canals and 
  away 
  from 
  the 
  s h i p y a r d s , 
  Gottolinus takes the 
  characters to a tall 
  f o u r - s t o r y 
  townhouse 
  that 
  edges directly onto 
  the 
  canal. 
  It 
  is 
  whitewashed 
  and 
  looks to be in good 
  order. This is the 
  convent of Corpus 
  Domini 
  (Level 
  5 
  D o m i n i o n ) . 
  Gottolinus 
  advises 
  the characters to ask 
  for 
  the 
  Abbess 
  Benedicta. He does 
  not 
  accompany 
  them. 
  Benedicta is willing 
  to see visitors but is 
  surprised to hear 
  that they know of 
  the books and asks, 
  quite strongly, who 
  told them of their 
  existence and what 
  they 
  want 
  with 
  them. If the magi tip 
  their hand too early and say they want 
  to take them then Benedicta brings 
  the meeting to a close. If they profess 
  interest, she can be persuaded (a 
  donation helps) to provide a viewing. 
  When she does so, she explains 
  that some of the books were lost in a 
  fire about fifty years ago, but these 
  were saved. The books themselves are 
  old and damaged but the text is 
  legible. They are untranslated 
  laboratory texts. Your troupe may 
  decide which specific effects these 
  
  45 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  cover, from either the Tempesta or 
  Masi’s earlier work on enchanted 
  ships. 
  Benedicta makes it clear that these 
  books are not for sale, but while she 
  will not suggest it, she is open to the 
  suggestion of someone copying the 
  text. This relies on a cordial and 
  unthreatening relationship having 
  been struck up. 
  Theft 
  There is another way to obtain the 
  books. For a price (ten pounds of 
  silver), Gottolinus is able to get one 
  of the novices to smuggle one or 
  more books out of the convent. This 
  involves clear betrayal by one of the 
  novices and theft. Sins and crimes 
  both. If the magi go along with it, 
  they are party to these sins. 
  Once the fee is paid, Gottolinus 
  introduces Novice Gabriella. She is 
  clearly not cut out for a life in the 
  nunnery and, going by how her eyes 
  take in each male character, should 
  fortune play roughly with her she is 
  likely to end up with a career on the 
  docks. 
  She knows where the books are 
  and can safely retrieve one. If the 
  magi get greedy (another sin) she will 
  reluctantly agree to taking more. 
  However, if she agrees to three or 
  more, she gets caught and 
  descriptions of the magi are circulated 
  as having been involved in the 
  attempted theft. If they have seen the 
  books, the magi may describe which 
  books she should take. If not, ask the 
  players what four or five effects they 
  might like and pick randomly from 
  those. 
  Importantly, if the theft fails, 
  Gottolinus reports back to the magi, 
  which should make them suspicious 
  as he’s already had the money up 
  front. What they do with him after 
  that is in their hands. 
  Into the Magic Realm 
  Regardless of whether the magi go 
  to Venice, Masi is in the Magic Realm 
  and the only way to get him back, and 
  potentially his knowledge with him, is 
  to find and rescue him. There are two 
  ways to do this. Firstly, if the magi 
  have investigated the enchantments in 
  the ship then they should be able to 
  trigger the effects and take themselves 
  into the Magic Realm. If they haven’t 
  done that, then they need to find a 
  gateway that will take them there. 
  That second option is beyond the 
  scope of this story but a few ideas 
  might be: 
   Seek out a powerful magic aura 
  and set of regiones 
   Search for a magical creature able 
  to lead the ship into the Magic 
  Realm 
   Find a magus or exotic wizard 
  with the power to move between 
  realms 
  Whichever option they choose, 
  they ultimately end up in the Magic 
  Realm searching for Masi and al-
  Rajih. 
  Rescue 
  Once the characters have made it 
  to the Magic Realm, looking for and 
  rescuing Masi and al-Rajih is perhaps 
  itself a source of stories in the longer 
  term as the magi find new clues as to 
  where they went and even whether 
  they are still alive. The three 
  encounters detailed below however, 
  provide enough of a path to lead the 
  characters to their goal. 
  Into the Maelstrom 
  The spirit Maelstrom recognize 
  the Tempesta and sees her chance for 
  revenge, having been bested by the 
  ship once before. Of course, she 
  doesn’t care that the crew is different, 
  she barely notices that, but she wants 
  the ship. 
  Maelstrom first manifests as a 
  gently swirly swell on the clam waters 
  stretching out in all directions. If the 
  Tempesta is flying overhead, then 
  Maelstrom is happy to help the magi 
  if they would bring their ship to the 
  water’s surface. When they do 
  however, she uses her power to create 
  a great undercurrent that drags the 
  ship in towards the increasingly swift 
  center of the whirlpool. 
  Each round the ship is gripped by 
  the power, the captain must make a 
  Presence + Leadership Stress Roll 
  against Ease Factor 9 to keep his crew 
  holding fast. A failure sees one of the 
  crew pitched overboard into the 
  maelstrom, which gives Maelstrom 
  the chance to grapple another target. 
  Targets grappled by Maelstrom must 
  make drowning deprivation rolls as 
  per ArM5, page 180.  
  But she is easily beaten. If magi 
  target her Might Score, she releases all 
  targets after taking just 10 points of 
  Might damage. At this point she 
  becomes resentful, but compliant and 
  can tell the magi that the last time she 
  tangled with Tempesta the crew took 
  the vessel to Naham, the shipbuilder. 
  Unless you are adding your own 
  stories between events, Maelstrom 
  points the Tempesta in the direction 
  of a boundary that leads to Naham. 
  Naham, The Shipbuilder 
  This encounter starts with a 
  mountainous island on the otherwise-
  empty horizon, but this is no island. 
  II  
  f the magi have already constructed a 
  f the magi have already constructed a 
  laboratory large enough to investigate the 
  laboratory large enough to investigate the 
  Tempesta then they have the means to enchant 
  Tempesta then they have the means to enchant 
  another ship, perhaps one of their own design
  another ship, perhaps one of their own design  
  
  46 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  As the Tempesta draws closer, the 
  island is clearly a massive unfinished 
  ship. What at first appeared to be a 
  high cliff is actually the ship’s 
  incomplete jutting bow. The keel rests 
  on a small sandy island, large enough 
  for a few trees, a freshwater pool, and 
  a few birds, lizards, insects, and other 
  small animals. 
  The ship is 300 feet tall from the 
  bottom of the keel to the top of the 
  stem and five times that in length. 
  The upper decks are unfinished and 
  appear little more than skeletons 
  made of timber. The same is true of 
  the rear of the vessel that disappears 
  back into the island. 
  The island seems idyllic, peaceful, 
  and deserted but there is a small 
  campsite just outside the treeline. A 
  shelter of wooden stakes and fresh 
  tree branches protects some simple 
  bedding and the fire pit shows signs 
  of recent cooking. There are 
  carpentry tools nearby and a simple 
  grindstone for maintaining them. 
  There is a large hole in the side of 
  the hull, apparently left to allow 
  access. There are ladders galore inside 
  that lead to seemingly scores of decks. 
  Calling out brings no response, but as 
  the characters explore the ship, they 
  start to hear hammering. Homing in 
  these sounds, in amongst the 
  lacework of beams and planks, the 
  shipwright Naham can be found. 
  He is small and thin with long 
  matted and bedraggled hair and 
  beard. He is wearing little more than a 
  loincloth and the remains of a short 
  tunic, more rips and tears than tunic 
  now. He sits and hammers, oblivious 
  to visitors until they raise their voices. 
  Centuries of hammering has taken its 
  toll on his hearing and the characters 
  will need to speak up. 
  He is a nervous man who, if asked 
  how and why he is building the ship, 
  will put a finger to his bearded lips 
  and shush at the question, before 
  pointing skyward with a gap-toothed 
  grin and an knowing nod. 
  If asked about the Tempesta, he 
  recognizes the vessel and speaks 
  about its captain, a lost and desolate 
  scholar. He knows where the 
  Tempesta went to, but he will not tell 
  these newcomers anything until they 
  have paid his price. His island is 
  running short of timber, so he needs 
  new wood. Similarly, he needs iron 
  for the ship’s nails. Lastly, he desires 
  knowledge of a strange beast the like 
  of which he has never heard before. 
  He does not explain why he wants to 
  hear of the beast and instead just 
  points skyward again. Those who 
  make the leap of associating the name 
  Naham with Noah might have an 
  inkling. 
  The Tempesta can supply both 
  wood and iron at the cost of one 
  Damage-Level to the ship. The beast 
  tales, told over a simple supper of 
  fish, gives the players a chance to tell 
  their own story of a unique and 
  unusual animal. Naham has heard 
  every tale of every natural and 
  mythical beast, from the smallest ant 
  to the greatest dragon and everything 
  in between. Naham wants to hear 
  something new, so the players can be 
  as creative as they like and make up 
  something new, odd, spooky, or 
  outright strange. If a player describes 
  something that the troupe has heard 
  of, then Naham himself has heard of 
  it and asks for a truly unique creature. 
  Once all three tasks have been 
  completed, Naham explains that the 
  magus-captain sailed to find a great 
  dragon, a lord of the storm; 
  Mandrenke. He can point the way, 
  but warns that Mandrenke is a 
  fearsome foe, uncontrollable, and 
  deadly. Before they go, however, he is 
  able to return their kindness in 
  providing him with raw materials by 
  magically repairing the Damage Level 
  sustained by the Tempesta. 
  Confronting the Dragon 
  When you’re ready for the 
  confrontation with Mandrenke, the 
  Tempesta’s crew spot a storm 
  brewing on the horizon. In heading 
  towards it they encounter fish and 
  other creatures of the sea all fleeing 
  the storm front. Some of these can 
  speak, so they can warn the sailors to 
  turn sail and leave. They even utter 
  the dread name of Mandrenke! In 
  truth, these creatures are perpetually 
  fleeing as the storm never really 
  moves from its spot, but that’s 
  neither here nor there. 
  The storm has an eye of calm at its 
  center, but to get there requires three 
  increasingly difficult Leadership or 
  Sailing rolls against 9, 12, and 15 
  respectively. Failure at any doesn’t 
  hold the ship up, but the ship loses 
  one crewman overboard for each 
  point by which the roll fails. A botch 
  sees the Tempesta swamped with 
  water (or buffeted by such winds that 
  she topples from the sky if she is in 
  flight) such that the magi need to save 
  their crew and right the ship. 
  Use of magic alerts the dragon and 
  a peel of thunder accompanies his 
  roar. With each spell, the roar sounds 
  closer. 
  Once the eye is reached, the party 
  has three rounds in which to act, 
  minus any rounds in which they used 
  magic to sail through the storm. This 
  means that Mandrenke may 
  potentially arrive at the same time as 
  the Tempesta. Mandrenke does not 
  hold back, attacking the weakest-
  looking or most exposed targets first. 
  If You’re Feeling Creative 
  If you’re feeling creative, you might want 
  to insert an encounter with the beast the 
  players have just described to Naham. You 
  could even use Naham to help the players 
  describe the potential encounter if he asks 
  them pertinent questions about the beast, 
  such as where it might be found, whether 
  it is dangerous, what it eats, how it might 
  be reasoned with or subdued, etc. If the 
  players describe something hugely 
  challenging, then they’re making a rod for 
  their own back of course, but turning their 
  own imaginations against them is an 
  interesting trick to play. 
  
  47 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  The idea here is to pick off the 
  little characters where possible. Make 
  targets of the nameless sailors first, 
  then any characters specific to this 
  story, then the grogs, companions, 
  and then finally the magi themselves. 
  At any point, if the magi decide to 
  flee to live and fight another day, 
  allow them to do so. This should be a 
  dangerous encounter, so the magi 
  may want to retreat. Have Mandrenke 
  follow them with bluster, but let them 
  go. They can always prepare and 
  come back again. 
  Rescuing Masi 
  The magi do not need to defeat 
  Mandrenke. They just need to hold 
  the dragon off while they reach and 
  rescue the fallen Verditius. He is 
  chained to a rock that rises out of the 
  sea. He is naked from the waist up 
  and there are signs of repeated 
  wounding and healing across his 
  body. 
  The chains are welded shut 
  through Mandrenke’s lightening 
  breath so they need to be shattered, 
  either through magic or by destroying 
  a their single Damage Level. Do this 
  by making an Attack Roll with a 
  suitable weapon against Defense 6. 
  Add the remainder to the standard 
  Damage. If the Damage is 15 or 
  higher, then the chains break and 
  Masi can be taken from the rock. 
  Mandrenke tries to prevent all this, 
  but remember that characters can be 
  defended against attack. If an equal or 
  greater number of characters declare 
  themselves as defending the rescue 
  party, Mandrenke can only attack 
  them, not the rescue party. Of course, 
  once the dragon has torn through the 
  defenders then he’s free to do as he 
  wants. 
  Getting to the rock should be the 
  work of at least two rounds, as should 
  getting back to the Tempesta. 
  Leaving the Magic Realm 
  When the ship is ready to leave, 
  Masi can direct her into the storm 
  whipped up by Mandrenke. The 
  dragon follows all the way, flying 
  above, behind, and around the ship 
  and picking off targets with his 
  lightening strike. 
  The Tempesta flies through the 
  storm, out of the Magic Realm and 
  through the Twilight Void, and back 
  into a storm in the Mortal World. As 
  luck would have it, they are not too 
  far from their covenant and 
  Mandrenke remains in the Magic 
  Realm. 
  Masi is incredibly old by this 
  point. When rescued from the rock 
  he appears to have retained his 
  relative youth, despite his wounds, 
  but his age soon comes upon him. He 
  has but a season to live and he is 
  grateful to have that final season 
  without torment and distress. He sets 
  about writing letters to his House and 
  discovering what happened to those 
  friends and colleagues he left behind. 
  
  48 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Rewards and 
  Consequences 
  This is an unusual story in that the 
  characters may choose to refuse the 
  gauntlet instead of following Masi 
  into the Magic Realm. In that case, 
  the magi have an enchanted ship. 
  Whether they go to the Magic Realm 
  or not, such a thing is going to attract 
  attention. 
  The principle reward is the ship 
  itself. If the magi have followed the 
  trail to Venice then they should also 
  have at least some of the laboratory 
  texts used to enchant the Tempesta. 
  And if they have already constructed 
  a laboratory large enough to 
  investigate the Tempesta at the 
  beginning of the story then they likely 
  have the means to enchant another 
  ship, perhaps one of their own 
  design. 
  If the magi rescue Masi from the 
  Magic Realm and return his ship to 
  him then they earn the Famous 
  Virtue with a range at least across 
  their Tribunal and House Verditius, if 
  not the Order. Masi himself dies after 
  a season back in the mortal world, 
  but he can use that final season as a 
  teacher should the troupe wish it. 
  Continuing the Story 
  Seif al-Rajih’s research into the 
  Magic Realm that enabled the 
  enchantment of the Tempesta may 
  still exist, perhaps laying forgotten in 
  some distant library somewhere in 
  Syria or perhaps in Venice. If the 
  magi wish to recreate this magic, 
  giving themselves access to more 
  powers than those invested in the 
  Tempesta, they may be able to track 
  down those original laboratory texts 
  and make their own breakthrough 
  that much easier. 
  Other magi, potentially hearing of 
  the ship and/or their exploits in the 
  Magic Realm may come to them 
  seeking insights for their own 
  researches, believing them to have 
  knowledge that could be useful. And 
  each magus that comes brings their 
  own stories with them. 
  Possession of the ship likely 
  brings fame and infamy in equal 
  measure, no more so than if an 
  Hermetic descendent of Gioachino 
  Masi demands her inheritance from 
  the covenant. Can the covenant 
  legally refuse her claim? And if they 
  do, how do their fare against an 
  ambitious young Spring Covenant 
  with little to lose? 
  Finally, Mandrenke may not 
  forgive or forget the insult done by 
  these magi and may gather and raise a 
  great storm and a flood that sweeps 
  across their lands. How the magi deal 
  with this becomes important and it 
  could result in a new voyage to the 
  Magic Realm to hunt the great white 
  dragon. 
  Sailor 
   
  The following statistics should serve for any mundane 
  crewmembers employed to sail the Tempesta. Note, they 
  begin without any knowledge of the supernatural world so 
  taking them directly into the Magic Realm may test their 
  loyalty to their captain. 
   
  Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1, Pre 0, Com 0, Str +1, Sta 
  +1, Dex +2, Qik +1 
  Age: 25 (25) 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Covenfolk; Tough; Compulsion 
  (Dockside Vices) 
  Personality Traits: Brave +1, Loyal to their Captain +1, 
  Satisfied with their lot -1 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init +1, Attack N/A, Defense +5, Damage N/A 
  Fist: Init +1, Attack +7, Defense +6, Damage +1 
  Bludgeon: Init +0, Attack +8, Defense +5, Damage +3 
  Knife: Init +1, Attack +7, Defense +5, Damage +3 
  Soak: +5 
  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: Coast 3 (harbors), Athletics 2 (aboard 
  ship), Awareness 3 (at sea), Brawl 4 (Knife), Carouse 3 
  (getting drunk), Folk Ken 2 (prostitutes), Guile 2 (shifting 
  blame), Principle Living Language 5 (songs), Second Living 
  Language 4 (tavern talk), Third Living Language 3 (tavern 
  talk), Profession: Sailor 4 (rough weather), Swim 3 (ocean 
  waters) 
  Equipment: Quilted or leather armor, knife 
  Encumbrance: 1 (2) 
  Appearance: Often bearded, usually dressed in ragged or 
  worn clothes, often with a quilted or leather jerkin, 
  sunburned arms and faces, and work-calloused hands. 
   
  The sailors are perennially unsatisfied with their lot, seeing 
  themselves hard put-upon and hard done by. This is 
  balanced by an inclination towards loyalty to their captain, 
  but that balance is sometimes tenuous. 
  
  49 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  The Tempesta 
  Tempesta is a Very Large Nef of Excellent construction 
  (on the quality scale provided in City & Guild). It has a 
  castle at the rear of the vessel and a sturdy iron-bound 
  mast. The whole ship has been opened for enchantment as 
  a compound device adding together the vis capacity of 
  these three elements for a total capacity of 32 pawns (16 
  for the hull, 8 for the castle, and 8 for the mast). 
   
  Enchantments 
  The Sky is My Ocean 
  ReHe 39 
  Pen +0, Constant Effect 
  R: Personal, D: Sun, T: Structure 
  As a constant effect, the ship is lifted into the air, allowing 
  it to catch the winds and sail through the air as easily as it 
  would upon the sea. 
  The effect cannot be suspended, but the altitude can be 
  controlled such that the ship rests upon the surface of the 
  sea or run aground. 
  (base 10, +2 Sun, +3 Structure; +1 for 2/day, +3 triggered 
  at sunrise/set) 
   
  A Thing of Magical Air 
  MuAu 40 
  Pen +0, 24/day 
  R: Personal, D: Concentration, T: Structure 
  This effect associates the vessel with the form of Auram as 
  if it had a Might Score associated with that form. While the 
  vessel does not actually gain a Might Score, so has no 
  Magic Resistance or a Might Pool, this does allow it to 
  enter the Magic Realm through an Auram Vestige or 
  Boundary manifest in the mundane world. 
  The effect is temporary, though is maintained by the ship 
  itself, as the Magic Realm is made up of many different 
  form-related realms and travel between them is made easier 
  when the ships is associated with the appropriate form. For 
  this reason, the Tempesta is enchanted with a similar effect 
  that aligns it to the form of Aquam. 
  (Base 10, +1 Concentration, +3 Structure; +5 device 
  maintains concentration, +5 24 uses per day) 
   
  A Thing of Magical Waters 
  MuAu 40 
  Pen +0, 24/day 
  R: Personal, D: Concentration, T: Structure 
  As A Thing of Magical Air, except the ship becomes 
  aligned with the form of Aquam. 
  (Base 10, +1 Concentration, +3 Structure; +5 device 
  maintains concentration, +5 24 uses per day) 
   
  The Enslaved Storm 
  ReAu 61 
  Pen +0, Constant Effect 
  R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Group 
  Tempesta has a storm imprisoned within it. The storm is 
  an immense thing of frightening winds, raging thunder, and 
  vicious lightening that each strain against their 
  imprisonment. Those touching the ship’s hull can feel the 
  storm chained and bound within the ship’s timbers. 
  The same magic that binds the storm also allows the storm 
  to be temporarily released; never unleashed but allowed a 
  moment of freedom. When this happens, the great storm is 
  thrown forward of the vessel and the ship then sails after it 
  and into it. 
  The storm itself is just the earthly manifestation. It is the 
  storm’s vestige in the Magic Realm that the ship uses and 
  the released storm provides the arcane connection 
  necessary for the ship’s pilot to steer a course from the 
  mortal world into the Magic Realm. 
  As the Tempesta passes into the Magic Realm, it recalls the 
  storm into itself, clearing the skies behind it. 
  There is just one problem. When the ship travels through 
  the Twilight Void, the Sun duration immediately expires 
  and the storm would be at risk of being fully released. This 
  is the reason for the strange design - it needs not only to 
  trigger with sunrise and sunset but also these travel events 
  to ensure that the storm is kept contained. 
  (Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +2 Group, +1 complexity, +2 
  size; +10 for unlimited use, +3 triggered at sunrise and 
  sunset, +3 triggered on entering or leaving the Twilight 
  Void) 
   
  Chart Passage Through the Storm 
  InAu 25 
  Pen +0, 1/day 
  R: Personal, D: Concentration, T: Vision 
  The vessel allows the pilot to see through a Auram 
  phenomenon and steer the ship through into the 
  microcosm of that phenomenon in the Magic Realm. This 
  is closely associated with The Enslaved Storm and is 
  activated by the ship’s pilot as the storm is unleashed. 
  As the ship re-enters the storm the pilot makes a Magical 
  Travel roll (Realms of Power: Magic, page 23) as though he 
  had an arcane connection to the destination. 
  (Base 3, +1 Concentration, +4 Vision; +5 device maintains 
  concentration) 
  (Continued on page 50) 
  
  50 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Open the Mystic Sails 
  ReVi 54 
  Pen +0, 3/day 
  R: Personal, D: Concentration, T: Structure 
  This effect, activated when the Tempesta is navigated 
  through the Twilight Void, reduces the speed it takes for 
  the vessel to navigate the void. The length of the journey 
  through the void is reduced by three steps from its initial 
  Speed Level as determined by the table on Realms of 
  Power: Magic, page 23. 
  (Base 20, +1 Concentration, +3 Structure; +6 for 50 uses/
  day, +3 triggered on entering the Twilight Void, +5 device 
  maintains concentration) 
  The above effects fill 270 of a maximum 320 slots, leaving 
  5 pawns worth of enchantment space for a maximum of 
  another 50 levels that could be enchanted into the 
  Tempesta. 
   
  Sailing the Tempesta 
  As a ship of Excellent construction, the Tempesta provides 
  a bonus of +1 to all Sailing-based rolls, including those 
  taken on sea, in the air, or sailing through the Magic Realm. 
  Sailing the Tempesta in unusual environments however 
  takes some practice. During the first season with the 
  Tempesta in which it sails the sky or the Magic Realm, the 
  crew suffer a -3 penalty to any Sailing-based rolls due to 
  their inexperience and they do not count as “trained to use 
  item” for the purposes of Stress Check, as per City & 
  Guild, page 77. 
   
  Damage 
  The Tempesta’s construction is Excellent, providing four 
  base Damage Levels, and as a Very Large nef it has a 
  Damage Level modifier of three, based upon its size. These 
  two numbers are multiplied providing a total of 12 
  Damage Levels. Due to the rigors of its time in the Magic 
  Realm and its crash back to Earth, it is in a damaged state 
  and has just three Damage Levels remaining. However, the 
  ship can be repaired and such a venture may be the 
  impetus behind building a new Hermetic shipyard. 
  Stressful events, such as breaching the Magic Realm, 
  collision with similarly-sized or larger objects, crossing 
  through boundaries or vestiges, or falling to Earth, force a 
  Stress Check, as per City & Guild, page 77. Due to the 
  enchantments invested into the ship, it gains a bonus of 51 
  (based on the magnitude of all invested effects) to such 
  checks, making the vessel near-invulnerable to all but the 
  heaviest trauma. 
  Falling to earth, however, is very dangerous and the ship 
  receives a penalty to the Stress Check of 1 for every foot 
  fallen up to a maximum of 50 feet. A separate Stress Check 
  is made for every 50 feet or part thereof that the vessel 
  falls. 
  All Hermetic enchanted devices remain functional until 
  they lose their last Damage Level. 
  (Continued from page 49) 
  Travel to the Magic Realm 
  Realms of Power: Magic, chapter three provides all the rules 
  you need for magical travel to and through the Magic 
  Realm. There isn’t space here to condense or reproduce 
  that content so you’ll need either to refer to that book or 
  take things on trust. The description of what’s going on 
  and the effects listed nearby should be enough to go on. 
   
  Things with Magic Might automatically gain the ability to 
  enter the Magic Realm through those points where the 
  Magic Realm and the mortal world touch. This is the key 
  enchantment invested into the Tempesta. While it has an 
  effect that allows it to sail the skies as well as the seas, the 
  true power lies with the power to magically change itself, as 
  if it had a Might Score associated with the Auram form. 
  It also has a storm held in check within its timbers and it is 
  able to use this as an arcane connection to a place within 
  the Magic Realm. By temporarily releasing the storm, it is 
  able to sail through the storm from one world to the other. 
   
  Once in the Magic Realm, another enchantment is used to 
  shorten the duration of journeys between places, ensuring 
  that the ship rarely is rarely left becalmed in the Twilight 
  Void. 
   
  While the Tempesta carries with it the means to enter the 
  Magic Realm, to return to the mortal world the crew must 
  find a vestige connected to a phenomenon already manifest 
  in the mortal world. 
   
  The Tempesta is enchanted with effects sufficient to 
  provide the right conditions and capability, allowing it to 
  be piloted into and navigated through the Magic Realm. 
  These are detailed in the boxes nearby. 
  
  51 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
   
  “Out of  suffering have 
  emerged the strongest souls; the 
  most massive characters are 
  seared with scars.” 
  Khalil Gibran 
   
   
  The core ArM5 rules state 
  that Twilight Scars result from 
  failed Twilight comprehension, 
  usually brought about by a 
  magical botch gone horribly 
  w r o n g ,  w h e r e  t h e  m a g u s 
  stumbled with magicks beyond 
  his control and is left forever 
  changed by the experience. Little 
  direction aids the Storyguide 
  regarding the scope of a Twilight 
  Scar, how prevalent or active a 
  Scar should be, if the magic used 
  influences the effect, or the local 
  aura colors the nature of the Scar. 
   
  Without much definition, 
  this leaves the creation of a 
  Twilight Scar to the Storyguide, 
  who might improvise an effect or 
  postpone assigning one until he’s 
  had a chance to think about the 
  event. In order to speed the 
  process, here are some guidelines 
  to consider. 
   
  Twilight Scars are Benign, 
  Malign, or Quirky. They are 
  always annoying and reflect the 
  magic which created them, but a 
  Benign scar is easier to conceal, 
  while a Malign one draws 
  attention to the magus. Quirky 
  scars are simply that—odd and 
  unusual, and may or may not 
  draw attention or be easily 
  concealed. 
  Determining 
  Twilight Scars 
   
  To determine what type of 
  scar is acquired, consider these 
  conditions in order. If more than 
  one condition is met, then the 
  type of scar with the most 
  conditions met manifests: 
   
  If the magus casts in a 
  Divine aura, has mastered 
  the spell, has the Guardian 
  Angel, Sense Holiness/
  Unholiness or True Faith 
  virtues, or the Clumsy 
  Magic or Pious Flaws, then 
  Twilight Scars manifest as 
  Benign. 
   
  If the magus casts in anger, 
  combat, or an Infernal aura, 
  has the Cthonic Magic 
  virtue, or the Diabolic Past 
  or Tainted by Evil flaws, 
  t h e n  T w i l i g h t  S c a r s 
  manifest as Malign. 
   
  If the magus casts in a 
  Faerie or Magic aura, has 
  the Mythic or Strong Faerie 
  Blood virtues, or the 
  Chaotic Magic, Plagued by 
  S u p e r n a t u r a l  
  E n t i t y , 
  Twilight Prone, or Faerie 
  Friend Flaws, then Twilight 
  Scars manifest as Quirky. 
  Twilight Scars 
  By Ben McFarland 
  Condition 
  Benign Malign Quirky 
  Divine Aura 
  X 
    
    
  Faerie Aura 
    
    
  X 
  Infernal Aura 
    
  X 
    
  Magic Aura 
    
    
  X 
  Mastered Spell 
  X 
    
    
  Faerie Friend 
    
    
  X 
  Cthonic Magic  
    
  X 
    
  Guardian Angel 
  X 
    
    
  Plagued by Supernatural Entity 
    
    
  X 
  Diabolic Past  
    
  X 
    
  Mythic or Strong Faerie Blood 
    
    
  X 
  True Faith 
  X 
    
    
  Cast in Combat 
    
  X 
    
  Chaotic Magic 
    
    
  X 
  Pious 
  X 
    
    
  Tainted by Evil  
    
  X 
    
  Sense Holiness/Unholiness 
  X 
    
    
  Twilight Prone 
    
    
  X 
  Cast in Anger 
    
  X 
    
  Clumsy Magic  
  X 
    
    
  
  52 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  For instance, if a magus with 
  Sense Holin ess/Unholiness 
  botches and fails to comprehend 
  Twilight after casting in anger 
  while battling a creature in a 
  Faerie aura, then the resulting 
  Twilight Scar would be Malign. 
  In cases where none of the 
  conditions are met, the default is 
  a quirky Twilight Scar. 
  Example Twilight Scars are 
  given below, organised by Form, 
  Technique, and then type of scar 
  for each Form and Technique 
  combination. An example spell is 
  provided with each Form and 
  Technique. 
  Animal 
  Creo Animal 
  Example 
  Spell: Soothe the 
  Pains of the Beast 
  Benign: The magus’ hands 
  grow feathers or fur. 
  Malign: The maga’s touch 
  causes immediate unnatural 
  animal shedding, eventually 
  leaving the animal bare. 
  Quirky: The magus sheds 
  small feathers or animal fur when 
  upset, sitting, or resting. 
  Intellego Animal 
  Example Spell: Image of the 
  Beast  
  Benign: Concentrating, the 
  maga senses of the number of 
  animals in a structure with her. 
  The animals begin to cry out in 
  fear and pain for diameter. 
  Malign: Animals easily track 
  the magus and attack him first in 
  combat. 
  Quirky: Animals of the same 
  type as the target all look the 
  same to the magus. 
  Muto Animal 
  Example 
  Spell: Beast 
  of 
  Outlandish Size 
  Benign: Animal grows slightly 
  larger when touched and remains 
  enlarged for diameter. It dislikes 
  all individuals during this time. 
  Malign: Animals in room 
  become evil-looking for diameter 
  and hate the magus, trying to 
  attack him unless restrained. 
  Quirky: Animal grows barely, 
  but noticeably, larger while the 
  maga touches it. 
  Perdo Animal 
  Example Spell: Decay of Fur 
  and Hide 
  Benign: Leather and woolen 
  items worn by the magus always 
  feel soft, supple and somewhat 
  greasy. 
  Malign: Parchment touched 
  by the maga falls apart if held for 
  diameter or more. 
  Quirky: The magus’ clothes 
  are always unraveling or losing 
  the stitching. Shoes fall apart 
  quickly. 
  Rego Animal 
  Example Spell: Viper’s Gaze 
  Benign: One type of animal 
  holds rigid for diameter when the 
  maga first looks at it. The animal 
  refuses to remain in the maga’s 
  presence afterwards. 
  Malign: Mounts and draft 
  animals balk, dogs and cats 
  actively scramble to avoid the 
  magus’ touch. 
  Quirky: All animals in a 
  structure visibly freeze for three 
  breaths when the magus first 
  enters the room. 
  Aquam 
  Creo Aquam 
  Example Spell: Mighty Torrent 
  of Water 
  Benign: The magus and his 
  clothes are always damp, as if just 
  washed. 
  Malign: The magus leaves wet 
  footprints in his wake, no matter 
  
  53 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  where he is. 
  Quirky: When injured, the 
  maga bleeds in tiny, arcing spouts 
  of water and blood. 
  Intellego Aquam 
  Example Spell: Voice of the 
  Lake 
  Benign: At first touch, bodies 
  of water tell the magus about 
  anything which as died in the 
  water or while touching the 
  water, starting with the most 
  gruesome. 
  Malign: Every source of 
  liquid the maga touches tells her 
  it is poisoned. 
  Quirky: When injured or 
  drinking, the magus hears random 
  whispers from nearby bodies of 
  water. 
  Muto Aquam 
  Example Spell: Lungs of the 
  Fish 
  Benign: When the maga holds 
  her breath, she can do so for a 
  little longer, but her skin looks 
  scaly and fish-like when she does 
  so and for a diameter afterwards. 
  Malign: When sleeping, the 
  magus must rest with a mouth 
  full of water to breathe. 
  Quirky: When upset, the 
  magus steams slightly, small 
  tendrils curling up off the skin 
  Perdo Aquam 
  Example Spell: Parching Wind 
  Benign: Magus is always bone 
  dry with flaky, uncomfortable and 
  cracking skin. If soaked, his 
  clothing dries in a diameter. 
  Malign: Magus is always 
  thirsty and must drink twice as 
  much per day or gain Thirsty 
  trait. 
  Quirky: The maga is always 
  thirsty and, once a day for a 
  diameter, randomly shares her 
  thirst with another person with a 
  touch. The effect’s source is 
  recognized by the recipient. 
  Rego Aquam 
  Example 
  Spell: Breath 
  of 
  Winter 
  Benign: Any liquid the magus 
  touches becomes cool and ice-
  clogged for a diameter. 
  Malign: Any non-boiling 
  liquid the maga tries to drink 
  freezes solid for diameter. 
  Quirky: The magus leaves 
  frosty outlines anytime he 
  remains still for a diameter. 
  Aurum 
  Creo Aurum 
  Example 
  Spell: Stench 
  of 
  Twenty Corpses 
  Benign: The magus smells like 
  a corpse from either sun rise to 
  sunset or the reverse. 
  Malign: The maga’s breath 
  and aroma stink like a bloated 
  corpse. She cannot smell the 
  scent. 
  Quirky: When the magus 
  becomes excited, aroused, afraid, 
  or otherwise emotional, he smells 
  like a rotting corpse. 
  Intellego Aurum 
  Example Spell: True Sight of 
  the Air 
  Benign: Smoke and clouds 
  near the maga manifest detailed 
  shapes and figures. 
  Malign: The magus makes the 
  air hum faintly in any room or 
  within 30 paces. 
  Quirky: Any passage of the 
  magus through a mist, smoke, or 
  fog holds its shape for diameter. 
  Muto Aurum 
  Example Spell: Rain of Stones 
  Benign: Any time the magus 
  yawns, coughs, or laughs, he has 
  a mouthful of small pebbles or 
  dirt. 
  Malign: The magus’ breath 
  exhales small clouds of dust, 
  which dissipates within a 
  diameter. 
  Quirky: The maga sneezes 
  small pebbles and stones. 
  Perdo Aurum 
  Example Spell: Room of Stale 
  Air 
  Benign: The magus always 
  smells musty, stale, and otherwise 
  unpleasant. 
  Malign: The air in the room 
  occupied by the magus begins to 
  stale and foul after a diameter. 
  This goes away when the magus 
  leaves. 
  Quirky: The maga is unruffled 
  by breezes and gusts, leaving her 
  clothing unaltered by the wind, 
  no matter how hard it blows. 
  Rego Aurum 
  Example Spell: Ward Against 
  Rain 
  Benign: Rain bounces off of 
  the maga like hailstones when it 
  hits her. She gets a little wet. 
  Malign: Rain seems to fall 
  specifically on the magus, 
  drenching him worse when in a 
  storm. 
  Quirky: Rain makes the magus 
  wet in strange patterns and 
  designs, rather than uniformly 
  wet. This pattern is different 
  every time. 
  Corpus 
  Creo Corpus 
  Example Spell: Purification of 
  the Festering Wounds 
  Benign: Scars of old wounds 
  
  54 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  on the magus look gangrenous 
  and pus-colored. 
  Malign: The maga’s wounds 
  heal with deep, obvious scars 
  which pucker and twist. 
  Quirky: Any physical scars 
  that the magus has shift over his 
  body when he sleeps, never 
  appearing where they did the day 
  before. 
  Intellego Corpus 
  Example 
  Spell: Whispers 
  Through the Black Gate 
  Benign: Corpses mutter and 
  sigh in voices only the maga 
  hears when she is within the 
  room. The bodies still move. 
  Malign: Corpses mutter and 
  sigh in voices audible to any 
  within 5 paces of the magus. 
  Q u i r k y :  
  C o r p s e s  
  s a y 
  inappropriate things in voices 
  w h i c h  a r e  r a n d o m l y  a n d 
  inopportunely audible to any 
  within 5 paces of the magus. 
  Muto Corpus 
  Example Spell: Arm of the 
  Infant 
   
  B e n i g n :  T h e  m a g u s ’ 
  fingers, toes, ears, and nose are 
  noticeably small and pudgy, but 
  otherwise functional. 
   
  Malign: One of the magus’ 
  arms and legs is noticibly shorter 
  than the other. 
   
  Q u i r k y :  T h e  m a g a ’ s 
  appearance becomes slightly 
  asymmetrical, but changes with 
  each full moon. One eye or ear 
  may be higher or larger than the 
  other, fingers may be different 
  lengths, and so forth. 
  Perdo Corpus 
  Example 
  Spell: Curse 
  of 
  Leprous Flesh 
   
  Benign: The magus takes 
  on the dull grey pallor of a 
  corpse. 
   
  Malign: The maga is 
  forever shedding clumps of hair, 
  small pieces of skin, or even her 
  earlobes or small fingers and toes 
  when angry or upset. These lost 
  bits grow back over a moon. 
   
  Quirky: The magus gains 
  the strange lesions of leprosy, but 
  affected areas fade and shift with 
  each season. 
  Rego Corpus 
  Example Spell: Awaken the 
  Slumbering Corpse 
  Benign: Corpses roll over, 
  either on to their backs or 
  stomachs, when the maga walks 
  into the room. 
  Malign: Skulls and corpses 
  chatter and silently laugh when 
  the magus enters the room or if 
  he touches them. 
  Quirky: The faces of any 
  corpse within 30 paces contorts 
  into mocking and inappropriate 
  expression while the magus is 
  nearby. 
  Herbam 
  Creo Herbam 
  Example Spell: Wall of Thorns 
  Benign: Any wooden seat 
  used by the magus becomes 
  bumpy and uncomfortable after a 
  diameter. 
   
  Malign: Wooden objects 
  used by the maga sprout small 
  thorns while she uses them, 
  making them painful to hold for 
  extended periods. 
   
  Q u ir k y : An y wo oden 
  object used by the magus sprouts 
  thorns when it is set down, 
  causing it to stick to whatever 
  surface it was left. 
  Intellego Herbam 
  Example Spell: Shriek of the 
  Impending Shafts 
   
  Benign: The maga is 
  quietly told “I thirst for your 
  blood” by any arrow or wooden 
  weapon which comes within 5 
  paces of her. 
   
  Malign: Trees and plants 
  softly whisper as the magus 
  passes, calling him a “murderer 
  and killer”. They ask what he 
  plans to destroy next, but never 
  answer. Answering them quiets 
  the plants until the next sunrise 
  or sunset. 
   
  Quirky: The nearby plants 
  mock the magus’ dress, smell, 
  choice of path or grooming 
  habits whenever he sits still for 
  more than a diameter. Answering 
  them quiets the plants until the 
  next sunrise or sunset. 
  Muto Herbam 
  Example 
  Spell: Stir 
  the 
  Slumbering Tree 
  Benign: Trees and shrubs 
  randomly share their worries and 
  ailments with the magus, fearing 
  pests, woodcutters, drought and 
  animals, directing the character 
  away from these things. 
  Malign: When traveling 
  through flora, any plant which 
  could strike the magus, such as 
  drop a pine cone, swat with a 
  turned branch, exude a root to 
  stumble over, does so. 
  Quirky: Foliage changes color 
  when the maga touches or rests 
  near a plant for more than 
  diameter. Leaves turn colors, pine 
  needles become orange, flowers 
  blossom and wilt, grass turns 
  yellow. The effect fades when the 
  maga departs. 
  Perdo Herbam 
  Example 
  Spell: Wizard’s 
  Autumn 
  Benign: Trees and greenery 
  become dry and dormant when 
  the magus stays within a pace for 
  
  55 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  more than a diameter. 
  Malign: Any plant handled by 
  the maga for diameter or more 
  dies and wilts. Larger pieces 
  crumble into dry rot the longer 
  they are held. 
  Quirky: Plant products age 
  faster when used by the magus, 
  and the magus leaves yellowed 
  footsteps when walking in 
  greenery like grass, moss, or even 
  tree branches. 
  Rego Herbam 
  Example 
  Spell: Repel 
  the 
  Wooden Shafts 
  Ben ign: Plant products 
  randomly leap away from the 
  magus at inopportune moments. 
  If movement is restricted, the 
  object tears or breaks. 
  Malign: Plant products visibly 
  evade the maga’s grasp, skittering 
  away when the maga first 
  attempts to use them. 
  Quirky: The magus has 
  difficulty setting plant products 
  down; objects randomly stick to 
  the magus for at least a diameter. 
  This effect becomes more 
  pronounced as the magus 
  becomes more excited. 
  Ignem 
  Creo Ignem 
  Example Spell: Heat of the 
  Searing Forge 
  Benign: Objects held by the 
  magus for more than diameter 
  grow warm to the touch. Objects 
  held for more than ten minutes 
  become uncomfortable to hold, 
  and those held for ten diameters 
  become painfully warm. 
  Malign: The maga is always 
  very warm, exuding steam on 
  cold mornings, surprising people 
  if touched, and quickly melting 
  snow or ice if handled. 
  Quirky: Liquids, such as tea, 
  soup, water, wine, held or 
  handled by the magus for longer 
  than diameter begin to boil or 
  steam. Food eaten by the magus 
  continues to cook, as he eats it, 
  quickly becoming overdone or 
  burnt. 
  Intellego Ignem 
  Example 
  Spell: Vision of 
  Heat’s Light 
  Benign: The maga sees 
  primarily in Heat’s Light and must 
  concentrate hard to see in normal 
  vision, which often results in 
  headaches. This makes reading 
  difficult. 
  Malign: The magus has a 
  small nimbus of light which 
  reflects his mood or temperature. 
  It scales across the spectrum, 
  from red to green to violet, as the 
  magus becomes angry, happy, or 
  sad. His personality traits 
  determine the usual color. It is 
  
  56 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  easily visible in a dark room or at 
  night without bright light. 
  Quirky: The magus sees 
  everything as a combination of 
  regular vision and Heat’s Light, 
  and loses their regular vision if 
  the air is very cold, like a 
  snowstorm. 
  Muto Ignem 
  Example Spell: Hornet Fire 
  Benign: Fires within a pace of 
  the magus throw sparks and 
  cinders until the magus moves 
  away. These are not directed at 
  anyone in particular. 
  Malign: Fires within a pace of 
  the magus turn bluish-green and 
  throw smouldering cinders while 
  the magus is nearby. 
  Quirky: Flames within a pace 
  of the maga harden into a 
  crystalline form of an insect while 
  she is nearby. The fires still 
  produce heat and light as 
  appropriate and consume their 
  fuel. They fall into a pile of 
  shards which dissipate if the fire 
  is extinguished. 
  Perdo Ignem 
  Example Spell: Conjuration of 
  the Indubitable Cold 
  Benign: The magus is cold to 
  the touch, like a corpse. He 
  grows colder the more excited he 
  becomes. 
  Malign: Liquids touched by 
  the maga form a thin film of ice. 
  Those handled for longer than 
  diameter freeze solid. Bathing 
  with more than a sponge leaves 
  the maga encrusted with frost 
  and chunks of ice. 
  Quirky: The magus’ clothes 
  are always encrusted with frost 
  and rime, especially near the 
  collar or the cuffs. His backpack, 
  belt, or boots often freeze, 
  becoming difficult to open or 
  remove. 
  Rego Ignem 
  Example Spell: Leap of the Fire  
  Benign: Torches, lanterns, 
  and candles refuse to remain lit 
  within a pace of the magus, 
  leaping from their fuel and 
  extinguishing themselves. 
  Malign: Random flames 
  within a pace of the wizard leap 
  from their fuel and attempt to 
  follow the magus like a vaguely 
  puppy-shaped flame, possibly 
  consuming anything flammable it 
  touches and definitely leaving 
  scorch marks. 
  Quirky: Fires within 5 paces 
  of the maga arc and stretch, like a 
  swimmer testing the water. If the 
  maga remains within one pace of 
  a fire for diameter, it plunges 
  from its fuel and extinguishes. 
  Imaginem 
  Creo Imaginem 
  Example 
  Spell: Phantasmal 
  Animal 
  Benign: A phantom animal 
  often perches on the magus’ 
  shoulder, just out of his sight. It 
  disappears if anyone tries to 
  touch it. 
  Malign: A vicious and 
  dangerous illusory animal seems 
  to be draped on the maga, such 
  as a viper looped around her 
  neck, scorpions on her hands or 
  shoulders, or enormous spiders 
  crawling across her back. They 
  disappear with a half-hearted bite 
  if touched. The maga may or may 
  not notice them. 
  Quirky: The magus’ visage 
  seems overlaid with a ghostly 
  image of the particular animal. 
  The image fades if pulled back 
  like a hood, but reappears if the 
  magus becomes excited, upset, or 
  aroused. 
   
  Intellego Imaginem 
  Example Spell: Summoning the 
  Distant Image 
  Benign: Anytime the maga 
  performs a mundane action, 
  opening a door, picking up a 
  spoon, she sees flickers of some 
  place within 30 paces. Faces are 
  blurred and voices are muffled. 
  Malign: When ever the magus 
  becomes angry, excited or sad, 
  the image of the magus appears 
  somewhere within 30 paces and 
  mirrors his current actions. 
  Quirky: The magus sees 
  flashes of an object’s creator or 
  last owner when picking up an 
  item for the first time. 
  Muto Imaginem 
  Example Spell: Disguise of the 
  Transformed Image 
  Benign: The maga’s eye color 
  changes with each blink. 
  Malign: The magus’ reflection 
  changes to something evil-
  looking and sinister. 
  Quirky: The magus appears 
  differently to each person in the 
  room. Reflections show the same 
  person. 
  Perdo Imaginem 
  Example Spell: Invisibility of 
  the Standing Wizard 
  Benign: Items worn by the 
  magus all begin to fade to a dull, 
  charcoal grey. 
  Malign: The last item held or 
  used by the magus remains 
  invisible to him until someone 
  else picks it up and uses it or 
  until he picks up and uses a 
  similar item. 
  Quirky: Parts of the magus 
  become invisible when sleeping, 
  eating, angry, or bathing. The 
  portions become visible when the 
  magus stops the activity. 
  
  57 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Rego Imaginem 
  Example 
  Spell: Wizard’s 
  Sidestep 
  Benign: The maga’s image 
  wavers or shifts anytime she 
  violently moves, sneezes, coughs, 
  or laughs. 
  Malign: If the magus is 
  bumped, struck, or jostled, his 
  image shifts like a stone dropping 
  into water. 
  Quirky: The magus always 
  passes through doors twice. 
  Either ahead of himself or after 
  he’s already entered the room. 
  Mentem 
  Creo Mentem 
  Example Spell: Weight of a 
  Thousand Hells 
  Benign: Whenever the magus 
  is alone in a room, he appears 
  surrounded by ghostly figures 
  only he and those with Second 
  Sight can see. The figures plead 
  for the magus to apologize and 
  remain until he does so. 
  Malign: The maga sees eyes 
  watching her from every shadow, 
  weighin g her actions and 
  considering her moral character. 
  Those with the Guardian Angel, 
  Ghostly Warder, Premonitions, 
  Second Sight, Sense Holiness and 
  Unholiness, Visions, Tainted by 
  Evil and True Faith virtues and 
  flaws can also see the eyes. 
  Quirky: Any time the magus 
  contemplates something —a 
  decision, an action, a fork in the 
  road, a chorus of ghostly voices 
  holds a whispered debate, asking 
  if he’ll do the right thing or sin 
  against God. 
  Intellego Mentem 
  Example Spell: Frosty Breath of 
  the Spoken Lie 
  Benign: The maga exhales 
  smoke when angry, mist when 
  e x cit ed ,  a n d  s t eam  wh e n 
  laughing. 
  Malign: Any time the magus 
  speaks, he exhales a misty cloud. 
  Quirky: The magus exhales a 
  misty cloud anytime he is not 
  speaking. 
  Muto Mentem 
  Example Spell: Mind of the 
  Beast 
  B e n i g n :  
  T h e  
  m a g a 
  incorporates sounds made by the 
  animal into her regular speech. If 
  a bird was selected, she may 
  chirrup or whistle when she 
  speaks. 
  Malign: The magus regularly 
  expresses the most inappropriate 
  habits of the animal suggested. 
  For instance, if a hound was 
  selected, he might mark posts and 
  doorways. 
  Quirky: The magus takes on a 
  small combination of the animal’s 
  habits and expressed sounds. 
  Selecting a squirrel might meant 
  the magus chitters while wiggling 
  his nose. 
  Perdo Mentem 
  Example 
  Spell: Calm 
  the 
  Motion of the Heart 
  Benign: The magus is always 
  monotone and unemotional 
  sounding, even when very excited 
  or upset. 
  Malign: The maga loses the 
  ability to express a particular 
  emotion and instead expresses an 
  inappropriate emotion, laughing 
  instead of crying, shouting 
  instead laughing, etc. 
  Quirky: The magus cannot 
  express the last expressed 
  emotion again until at least three 
  different emotions have been 
  expressed. Until then, the magus 
  expresses an inappropriate 
  emotion. 
  Rego Mentem 
  Example Spell: Confusion of the 
  Numbed Will 
  Benign: The maga must 
  perform a random selection event 
  twice with each decision, such as 
  rolling a die or flipping a coin. If 
  prevented, she does nothing for 
  diameter and then acts normally. 
  Malign: Hearing a simple 
  phrase causes the magus to 
  b ab ble in coh er ent ly wh ile 
  speaking for diameter. 
  Quirky: The magus cannot 
  perform a particular action, such 
  as going up the stairs, sitting 
  down, picking up a dropped 
  object until a trigger statement or 
  event occurs, like bell chiming or 
  someone snaps their fingers. If 
  prevented, he does nothing for 
  diameter and then acts normally. 
  Terram 
  Creo Terram 
  Example Spell: Touch of Midas 
  B e n i g n :  
  T h e  
  m a g u s ’ 
  fingernails grow as lead. 
  Malign: The maga’s touch 
  leaves a light coating of lead on 
  any metal object handled or 
  carried for more than a diameter. 
  Quirky: The magus sheds tiny 
  flakes of lead, brass, or tin when 
  upset, sitting, or resting. 
  Intellego Terram 
  Example Spell: Tracks of the 
  Faerie Glow 
  Benign: When walking on dirt 
  or stone, the maga leaves 
  footprints which glow until she 
  stops walking for diameter. 
  Malign: The magus leaves 
  glowing footprints which fade 
  after a few minutes when 
  w a l k i n g .  I f  r u n n i n g ,  t h e 
  footprints remain for an hour. 
  Quirky: Anyone within five 
  
  58 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  paces of the magus leaves 
  glowing footprints until they 
  move away from the magus. 
  Muto Terram 
  Example Spell: Edge of the 
  Razor 
  Benign: Metal objects become 
  dull and tarnished when held by 
  the magus for over a diameter. 
  An edged item seems worn, but 
  sharpens easily. 
  Malign: Bladed weapons or 
  tools pit and rust easily when 
  within 5 paces of the magus. 
  Metal items used by the magus 
  break easier. 
  Quirky: The magus’ touch 
  leaves tarnish or rust stains on 
  anything handled for more than a 
  diameter, requiring cleaning or 
  p o l i s h i n g  t o  r e m o v e  t h e 
  discoloration. Any worn metal 
  leaves obvious stains on the 
  magus, even if it wouldn’t 
  normally, such as gold. 
  Perdo Terram 
  Example Spell: Pit of Gaping 
  Earth 
  Benign: The maga’s footsteps 
  o r  
  t o u c h  
  l e a v e  
  d e e p e r 
  impressions than normal and are 
  not easily removed. 
  Malign: The magus leaves a 
  heavy divot in the earth if he falls 
  down, and running marks the 
  ground as if a horse was galloping 
  across soft turf. 
  Quirky: Walking on stones 
  leaves a trail of dirt-filled 
  footprints, and walking on dirt, 
  the magus leaves dust-filled 
  footprints. Walking through dust, 
  his footprints remain dust-free 
  until sunset or sunrise. 
  Rego Terram 
  Example Spell: Unseen Porter 
  Benign: When no one is 
  looking, objects randomly move a 
  pace when the magus puts them 
  down. 
  Malign: Objects actively hide 
  themselves up to two paces away 
  after a magus handles them. 
  Quirky: Objects handled by 
  the maga change orientation after 
  she uses them, sometimes 
  reverting to a previous state if no 
  other movement is possible, such 
  as a door or window opening, a 
  clasp unlocking, or a bar lifting. 
  Vim 
  Creo Vim 
  Example Spell: The Phantom 
  Gift 
  Benign: Animals and people 
  who interact with the magus seem 
  to have the Gift for diameter 
  after being within a pace of the 
  magus. 
  Malign: The maga’s touch 
  causes people to treat her as if 
  she has the Blatant Gift. 
  Quirky: When the magus is 
  emotional, those within a pace 
  seem to have the Gift. 
  Intellego Vim 
  Example 
  Spell: Scales 
  of 
  Magical Weight 
  Benign: The maga always 
  senses slightly less vis than she 
  actually finds. 
  Malign: When sensing vis, the 
  magus can never accurately tell if 
  vis is Magic, Faerie, Divine or 
  Infernal. It senses differently 
  every time. 
  Quirky: The magus always 
  knows exactly how much vis is 
  present but believes all of it is of 
  the type detected when the botch 
  occurred. 
   
   
  Muto Vim 
  Example Spell: Shroud Magic 
  Benign: The maga’s sigil 
  cannot be altered from her spells. 
  Malign: The magus’ sigil 
  becomes more pronounced and 
  apparent and cannot be removed. 
  Quirky: The sigil of the 
  magus randomly fluctuates in a 
  cyclical manner, becoming strong 
  and indelible then fading before 
  returning. 
  Perdo Vim 
  Example 
  Spell: Demon’s 
  Eternal Oblivion 
  Benign: The magus smells 
  faintly of brimstone and sulfur 
  and cannot mask the scent. 
  Malign: Destroying demons 
  leaves marks like a Criamon’s 
  stigmata on the magus which only 
  the magus, those with Second 
  Sight or True Faith, and demons 
  can see. 
  Quirky: The magus feels his 
  skin crawl if touching a demon or 
  someone with the Tainted with 
  Evil flaw. His palms smoke 
  slightly when in an Infernal aura. 
  Rego Vim 
  Example 
  Spell: Gather the 
  Essence of the Beast 
  Benign: Any time the magus 
  attempts to gather the sort of vis 
  involved in the botch, he glows 
  until sunrise or sunset. 
  Malign: If the magus uses 
  magic to collect vis, the vis glows 
  brightly, regardless of the 
  container. 
  Quirky: When casting, the 
  maga’s hands drip a glowing 
  liquid the color corresponding to 
  the arts being used. This liquid 
  smokes until the spell expires or 
  a diameter, whichever is longer. 
  
  59 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Everywhere you look online 
  you’re bound to find something 
  of interest that can be used or 
  adapted to support your Ars 
  Magica saga: 
   
  First, here’s an example of a 
  saga taking advantage of Google+ 
  pages: plus.google.com/
  u/0/116087125128393136482 
  The Midnight Saga is set in 
  Stonehenge, and presents itself as 
  “a saga of dark horror.” Take a 
  look and check out another 
  method for sharing your game 
  with the world. 
  Are you looking for Divine 
  magical items which are 
  historical, but not relics of saints? 
  Consider cursing stones- here’s a 
  recent discovery on the Isle of 
  Canna in the north of Scotland, a 
  bullaun “cursing stone.” 
  www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
  scotland-highlands-islands-
  18130259 And it is decidedly 
  human-remains-free. 
  Sure, you can use the chart in 
  City & Guild, and calculate how 
  long it takes your characters to 
  travel from Paris to Venice. Or, 
  you can check out this great 
  Roman travel calculator from 
  Stanford and revel in the cool. 
  orbis.stanford.edu/ 
  Not only does it show the old 
  Roman routes, but it calculates 
  the cost of travel on those routes.   
  Leaving aside the cool factor, this 
  is a serious piece of academic 
  research. 
  Even so, now you’ll always 
  know when the redcaps were on 
  time and when they spent too 
  much time in Provence! 
  Want something a little more 
  ancient and mystical? Check out 
  the additional meanings within 
  the Eye of Ra- perhaps a 
  different sort of arcane 
  connection lost in Antiquity? 
  io9.com/5907604/this-
  well+known-egyptian-symbol-is-
  actually-an-early-math-problem 
  It’s history you can take to the 
  laboratory and research. 
  Sure, you could listen to the 
  reasoning behind this article 
  www.sciencedaily.com/
  releases/2012/04/120430164357.
  htm and think simply the motion 
  of the ocean waves put those 
  enormous boulders on a shelf on 
  the Aran Islands- and not magical 
  sea titans. Certainly not magical 
  sea titans living off the coast of 
  Eire, no no, that would be just 
  awesome. 
  So one of your magi has gone 
  and put points into Infernal Lore. 
  Sure, he’s popular at Tytalus 
  gatherings, but what does he 
  know? Well, start with this handy 
  table of symbols representing a 
  wide variety of demons, of 
  course! 
  yourmomfanclub.tumblr.com/
  post/20482173945 Give all those 
  Guernicus a knowing wink when 
  they tell you “I’m just learning 
  about the enemy.” 
  How do you get those 
  Covenant hooks worked into 
  play? Easy. Lost Roman hoards 
  do it every time. 
  www.archaeologydaily.com/
  news/201203288093/Hoard-of-
  30000-silver-Roman-coins-
  discovered-in-Bath.html In case 
  you were wondering, why yes, we 
  did keep ridiculous sums of 
  money in the Bath. 
  Finally, you know how you get 
  respect? 11C Vikings will tell you, 
  stacking severed heads is a sure 
  route to polite conversation. 
  www.archaeologydaily.com/
  news/201201277886/Viking-mass
  -grave-linked-to-elite-killers-of-
  the-medieval-world.html It makes 
  a bit more of a mess than 
  Certamen, but you have fewer 
  repeat offenders. 
  Mappa Mundi 
  
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  In the Next Issue 
  The Storyguide’s Handbook: Outlawry 
  A look at the social, legal, and moral implications of living outside the law 
   
   
  Welcome to the Turb 
  A celebration of the humble, brave, cowardly, heroic, and decidedly dead grog. 
   
   
  The Body by the Shore 
  Lies never stay drowned. 
   
   
  The Vitruvian Magus 
  Building the Ideal Hermetic Architect 
   
   
  Mythic Cyprus 
  Contested Jewel of the Mediterranean 
   
   
  ...And much more... 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Ars Magica [multi]/5th edition/Sub Rosa fanzine/Sub Rosa Issue 10.pdf