TEXT: Sub Rosa 
  The Ars Magica Magazine 
  A Distant Lands Publication 
  www.subrosamagazine.org 
  Issue 8, October 2011 
  
  2 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Out Now and Coming Soon 
  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: November 2011  
  The Church 
  Authors: Richard Love (Diocese), Christian Jensen Romer (Congregation, Rule, Cor-
  rupt), Sheila Thomas (Rule, Women, Franciscans), Alexander White (Templars) 
  Cover Artist: Grey Thornberry 
  Stock Number: AG0296 | ISBN: 1-58978-120-1 | MSRP: $29.95 (US) 
  Format: 144 pages, hardcover 
  Release Date: Available Now  
  Realms of Power: The Divine, Revised Edition 
  Authors: Niall Christie, Erik Dahl, Mark Lawford, Matt Ryan, and Alex White  
  Editor: David Chart | Cover Artist: Grey Thornberry  
  Stock Number: AG0278SC | ISBN: 1-58978-122-8 | MSRP: $27.95 US  
  Format: 144 pages, 8.5" x 11", perfect bound  
  Release Date: Available Now 
  Legends of Hermes 
  Authors: Timothy Ferguson (Thomae), Mark Lawford (Conciatta), Mark Shirley 
  (Hérisson), Neil Taylor (Fortunata), Erik Tyrrell (Hermanus)  
  Cover Artist: Grey Thornberry  
  Stock Number: AG0297 | ISBN: 1-58978-121-X | MSRP: $29.95 (US)  
  Format: 144 pages, hardcover  
  Release Date: Available Now 
  
  3 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Contributors 
  Publisher: Distant Lands Publishing 
  Contributors: Erik Dahl, Grey Thornberry, Lisa 
  Stevens, Ben McFarland, Gerald Wylie, David Agnew, 
  Mark Lawford, David Chart 
  Cover art: Gerald Wylie 
  Interior artists: Angela Taylor, Jeff Menges, Grey 
  Thornberry, Anoeska Buijze, Jason Tseng, Alexandra 
  Dopp, Emily Vitori  
  Editor: 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:  
  ThatsMrTytalusToYou: #tremereissoshortthat even his boots can‘t reach the 
  floor 
  ThatsMrTytalusToYou: #tremereissoshortthat @BirnaBird thought she‘d 
  gained a familiar 
  OneTrueTremere: @ThatsMrTytalusToYou I‘m not playing your game. 
  Diedne001: #tremereissoshortthat We miscounted the founders 
  OneTrueTremere: @Diedne001 Oh, you‘ve done it now 
  This Issue 
  Issue 8 
  October 2011 
  Contents 
  Under the Rose  .................................................. Page 4 
  News from the Line Editor................................. Page 5 
  Storyguide’s Handbook: Preparing for Trouble ..... Page 6 
  By Gerald Wylie 
  The Way of St. James ......................................... Page 16 
  By Ben McFarland 
  From the Journal of Vulcanis Argens ................... Page 28 
  Magical Art: Grey Thornberry ............................. Page 32 
  By Mark Lawford and Grey Thornberry 
  A New Legend of The Order: Belin of Mercere ...... Page 42 
  By Erik Dahl 
  An Interview with Lisa Stevens ........................ Page 64 
  By Lisa Stevens and Ben McFarland 
  Companion Piece: Bohemond of Lucerne ............. Page 68 
  By David Agnew 
  Mappa Mundi ..................................................... Page 75 
  Contribute to Sub Rosa 
  Sub Rosa is made up of fan driven content. Contributors re-
  ceive a complementary copy of the issue their work appears in. 
  To contribute articles or illustrations, visit the Sub Rosa web-
  site (http://www.subrosamagazine.org) and follow the guide-
  lines. 
  Subscription 
  Individual Single Issue: 
  US$4.50 
  Individual Subscription – 4 issues: US$16 
  Troupe Single Issue: 
  US$13 
  Troupe Subscription – 4 issues: 
  US$35 
  Subliminal message: Zebulon  is a grasping Bonisagus keen to learn Conciatta‘s lost breakthrough so that he can pass the knowledge off as his own. In case that wasn‘t clear. 
  
  4 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Under The Rose 
  So that‘s Grand Tribunal season 
  over and done for another year. For 
  those of you who have been trapped 
  in deepest twilight for the last two 
  issues, this year‘s GT:UK was held in 
  Cambridge and formed part of the 
  o v e r ar c h i n g  Co n s t er n at i o n 
  Convention. Unofficial figures (based 
  largely on assumption and guesswork) 
  show that Ars Magica had a pretty 
  decent turn out of authors and the 
  largest single group of players 
  dedicated to any particular game. We 
  were even fortunate enough to play 
  host to the line editor, David Chart, 
  who was good enough to share some 
  interesting news about future books. 
  You can scour his column on page  5 
  for similar hints. There‘s a brief write-
  up of the event available here: http://
  blog.atlas-games.com/2011/08/grand
  -tribunal-uk-2011-wrapup.html 
  And let‘s not detract from GT:US, 
  this year held in Solvang, California. It 
  was, by all accounts, another huge 
  success. So much so that the call is 
  already out for proposals on the next 
  US venue. To get involved with you‘ll 
  need to join  the yahoo group 
  grand_tribunal_america@yahoogroups.com 
  and you can pitch your proposal. 
  So as Grand Tribunals recede into 
  memory, we turn back to Sub Rosa. 
  This issue we have new articles in 
  both the Storyguide‘s Handbook and 
  Companion Piece series. In Preparing 
  for Trouble, Gerald Wylie takes a 
  sideways look at turning combat 
  encounters, sometimes the hardest 
  scenes to play in Ars Magica, into 
  meaningful and rewarding set pieces. 
  Ben McFarland brings us the Way 
  of St. James, a road-trip scenario 
  following the pilgrimage route to 
  Santiago de Compostela. The scenario 
  includes some suggested events that 
  could form part of a pilgrimage, as 
  described in The Church. And the 
  cathedral itself has also been given 
  The Church treatment, complete with 
  library, relics, and even enchanted 
  items.  
  Erik Dahl deserves his own 
  mention here as he brings a real tour 
  de force article in Belin of Mercere. This 
  legendary redcap introduces the new 
  Legend Spinning Supernatural Ability, a 
  doomed love story, and a war 
  between magi and faerie-kind. We‘re 
  really excited to bring you this article. 
  As if Belin wasn‘t epic enough we 
  have interviews with Lisa Stevens and 
  artist extraordinaire Grey Thornberry. 
  In case you don‘t know, Lisa was part 
  of the original Ars Magica design 
  team and she takes us back to the 
  very earliest days of Ars Magica and 
  gives us an insight into the creative 
  environment that brought us the 
  game we love. Of course, Lisa is 
  probably best-known as the CEO of 
  Paizo, publishers of the hugely 
  popular Pathfinder game. So we‘re 
  doubly grateful that she was able to 
  spare the time to speak to Ben over a 
  busy GenCon weekend. Not only that 
  but Lisa is hunting down some of her 
  original Ars Magica campaign notes. 
  If the hunt goes well, we‘re hoping to 
  be able to share some of those with 
  you in future issues. 
  Coming right up to date, Grey 
  Thornberry, known to us all as the 
  artist whose work has graced 
  numerous Ars Magica covers as well 
  as the pages in between, shows us 
  how his work for the line is put 
  together. He has kindly provided 
  some of his work-in-progress shots 
  that help illustrate the stages the 
  artwork goes through before final 
  handover. Once again, we‘re very 
  grateful to Grey for taking time and 
  sharing his work with us. 
  And now a reminder that Sub 
  Rosa is always open to submissions. 
  We‘re looking for content for issues 9 
  and 10 right now. Of particular 
  interest is any content generated in 
  the wake of November‘s The Cradle 
  and the Crescent. 
  Also consider dropping us a line at 
  our usual email address and letting us 
  know what you want to see more of 
  and even what you think you‘ve seen 
  enough of. As a magazine written by 
  and for the fans we do have a 
  responsibility to be responsive to 
  what you are looking for. As an 
  example, one thing that became clear 
  at the GT:UK was that the game can 
  present hurdles to storyguides before 
  play even starts. So we‘ll focus some 
  time in the next couple of issues to 
  making the game easier to set up. 
  Gerald Wylie is already hard at work 
  on some support for creating your 
  covenant from scratch and we may 
  even have some good library-based 
  content from two authors new to Ars 
  Magica. But enough of that in case 
  we jinx it. 
  Competition 
  For your chance to win the Fifth Edition supplement of 
  your choice we‘re looking for the perfect introduction to 
  rules ideas and themes introduced in The Church. This could 
  be an article in the Companion Piece series, a scenario with 
  a strong Church setting or connection, or a fully described 
  church, abbey, or cathedral location that others can drop 
  into their sagas. We‘re holding this open from the last issue 
  so entries should reach us by the close of December 2011. 
   
  
  5 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  News From the Line Editor 
  Either Sub Rosa is getting faster, or 
  we are getting slower, because compared 
  to the three books that came out between 
  issues six and seven, only one has come 
  out since issue seven: Legends of 
  Hermes. [And the very nice softback revised 
  Realms of Power: The Divine — Ed.] Since I 
  wrote about that last time, I won‘t write 
  about supplements for this issue. Instead, 
  I‘ll say a bit about my vision for Ars 
  Magica. 
  Ars Magica is the roleplaying game 
  of medieval magic. I think it was James 
  Wallis who told me that a game that 
  could be expressed in one word might be 
  a big hit, one that took two could be 
  solid, and more than that was too 
  complex to be anything other than a tiny 
  niche. That would seem to fit Ars 
  Magica, which is a solid RPG with a 
  good reputation, but one that has never 
  threatened to become a market-bestriding 
  colossus. Alas. 
  In my management of the line, I try 
  to keep both halves of the definition in 
  mind. A book like The Church, or Art and 
  Academe, is heavily on the medieval side 
  of things, while Legends of Hermes or 
  Ancient Magic is much more on the magic 
  side. Tribunal books, of course, are 
  supposed to balance those elements 
  among themselves. 
  On the medieval side, it is very 
  important to get things right. That 
  doesn‘t mean we always do, but we do 
  our best. However, getting things right 
  isn‘t enough; they also have to be 
  presented in a way that makes it easy to 
  incorporate them into a game. That is an 
  important part of the role of the story 
  seeds, which given storyguides concrete 
  ideas for how to incorporate things into 
  stories. It is also the reason for things like 
  the devotion rules in The Church, or the 
  rules for natural philosophy in Art and 
  Academe. 
  These 
  give 
  characters 
  mechanical benefits for getting deeply 
  involved in medieval practices, and 
  players 
  good 
  reasons 
  to 
  describe 
  authentically medieval activities in the 
  game. 
  On the magic side, characters should 
  be able to use powerful magic. Thus, I 
  am not very interested in telling players 
  that magi can‘t do certain things. I‘m 
  even willing to allow some things that 
  make it difficult to run particular kinds of 
  story, particularly for older magi, as 
  limiting magi in that way just makes 
  magic less interesting. This is the main 
  reason why it is so easy for magi to make 
  money with magic, either directly or 
  indirectly: preventing it would cripple 
  magic, so although a lack of money is a 
  useful motivator, it‘s one that is not 
  normally available in Ars Magica. 
  When I do say that magic can‘t do 
  something, the main reason is to leave 
  something 
  important 
  for 
  player 
  characters to discover. If all the great 
  discoveries in magic theory have been 
  made in the past, what‘s left for the 
  player characters? What‘s left for the 
  heroes of the story? Most of the limits of 
  magic are there to be broken by player 
  characters, if they want to play in that 
  sort of campaign, which is why there are 
  hints on how to break them in a number 
  of supplements. (A big exception is the 
  Limit of Time, which is there because 
  time travel is notoriously hard to use in a 
  role-playing 
  game. 
  Unlike 
  the 
  protagonists of books, player characters 
  will go out of their way to create logical 
  paradoxes.) 
  That, indirectly, brings up one of the 
  things that Ars Magica is not about. It is 
  not about combat. Dungeons and 
  Dragons is about combat, and so is 
  Pathfinder, although not to quite the 
  same extent. Ars Magica is not. Ars 
  Magica is about understanding magic, 
  creating the tools you need to do a job, 
  and then doing it. That job might be ―kill 
  the dragon‖, and the tool for that might 
  be a one-use wand of dragon killing with 
  Penetration 100. The story, however, is in 
  understanding the problem well enough 
  to know what tools will work, being 
  powerful enough to make those tools, 
  and then dealing with the consequences. 
  Obviously, Ars Magica is not a pure 
  form of this. It does have a detailed 
  combat system, and we have published a 
  scenario that is almost all about combat. 
  However, combat is not supposed to be 
  the central conflict. Given the tricks that 
  can make just about any magus an 
  unstoppable combat monster against 
  mundane opponents, this is a good thing. 
  Finally, I am not concerned with 
  game balance in terms of power. That‘s 
  inherited; magi have always been much 
  more powerful than other characters. I 
  am interested in making all characters fun 
  to play, which is why we have a whole 
  book on Grogs coming up. 
  These are the basic ideas that guide 
  my stewardship of Ars Magica, so I 
  rather hope that, as you read them, you 
  found yourself nodding in recognition, 
  possibly in belated understanding of why 
  I made a particularly bone-headed 
  decision. If not, then I obviously need to 
  try harder. 
  By David Chart 
  
  6 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  While Ars 
  Magica isn‘t 
  necessarily as combat-focused as 
  some RPG systems (see David 
  Chart‘s column on the previous 
  page), such as Dungeons 
  & 
  Dragons (Wizards of the Coast) or 
  Pathfinder (Paizo) for instance, 
  it is still a fantasy roleplaying 
  game and it makes full use of the 
  conventions of the genre, 
  including the possibility of 
  combat as direct challenge and a 
  means of problem resolution. 
  Mythic Europe can sometimes 
  be a brutal place and characters 
  will often be moved to violence 
  for any number of reasons; 
  r e l i g i o u s  
  o r  
  i d e o l o g i c a l 
  conviction, poverty and want, the 
  thirst for power, or self -
  p r e s e r v at i o n .  B u t  c o m b a t 
  encounters can be difficult to 
  judge, especially on an ad-hoc 
  basis, and especially when the 
  principle player characters can 
  effectively ward themselves from 
  most damage and incapacitate or 
  d estroy large numbers of 
  opponents very quickly. 
  This article looks at ways that 
  you, as the storyguide, can 
  prepare for combat encounters to 
  m a k e  
  t h e m  
  c h a l l e n g i n g , 
  distinctive, exciting, and to keep 
  them moving along at pace. 
   
  Why do we Include 
  Combat 
  Encounters? 
  I n  a  g a m e  o s t e n s i b l y 
  concerning powerful magicians, 
  what do combat encounters have 
  to offer? How does an apparent 
  retrograde step back into combat 
  compliment the common focus 
  on magic, politics, investigation, 
  and problem-solving? 
  Far from being out of place, 
  the principle reason we include 
  combat encounters into Ars 
  Magica stories is to provide 
  moments of visceral excitement; 
  they provide a change of pace to 
  a game that rewards consideration 
  The Storyguide’s Handbook:  
  Preparing for Trouble 
  By Gerald Wylie 
  
  7 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  and planning and often sees 
  stories resolved over seasons 
  rather than days. They also allows 
  martial characters to fulfill their 
  story functions as well as giving 
  magi the opportunity to let loose 
  with their magic, often with 
  spectacularly destructive results. 
  But think very carefully about 
  hinging a plot on a single combat 
  encounter. What happens if the 
  characters lose? What if they kill 
  an antagonist in mid-plot? What 
  does that do to your story? The 
  risk of damage to a plot or story 
  is a much more likely prospect 
  given the range of magic that 
  Hermetic magi have at their 
  disposal. 
   
  A Quick Recap 
  T h e r e  
  a r e  
  s o m e  
  k e y 
  considerations when planning 
  combat encounters: 
  Initiative 
  order 
  remains 
  constant through the combat: 
  Once the characters have 
  determined their position in the 
  combat round it doesn‘t often 
  change. Magi typically act slower 
  as their initiative total is not 
  modified by a weapon. Bear this 
  in mind for NPC magi as well as 
  PC magi. A lone Flambeau will 
  likely be peppered by ranged 
  weapons and closed down by 
  infantry before he unleashes his 
  devastation. 
  Characters 
  can 
  act 
  as 
  groups: This doesn‘t mean that 
  c h ar act er s  ar e n eces s ar il y 
  s h o u l d e r - t o - s h o u l d e r  
  i n 
  formation, simply that they are 
  working together to contain and 
  confront an enemy in a common 
  location. A good filmic example 
  is the fight in Balin‘s tomb in the 
  Fellowship of the Ring. The hero 
  group arguably consist of two 
  groups and must face an equal 
  number of groups made up of 
  different enemies (orcs in one 
  and a cave troll in the other). 
  Combat groups allow a nice 
  abstraction that helps speed 
  combat encounters along. 
  Characters can be defended: 
  This is the key task of a shield 
  grog; the ultimate bodyguard. No 
  matter how large the attacking 
  gr o u p ,  ch ar act er s  c an  b e 
  defend ed by a nominat ed 
  defending character. But you can 
  be flexible with this. A physical 
  thing, such as a door, could be 
  considered a defender. After 
  looking at the Damaged Goods 
  rules on breaking items in City & 
  Guild, page 77; a character behind 
  a barrier is considered defended 
  until that barrier is smashed in, 
  i.e. all its damage levels have been 
  exhausted. 
  Combat 
  encounters 
  take 
  time to run: Not only does each 
  action take a moment to resolve, 
  but the Storyguide and players 
  alike engage in a brief narrative 
  description, players look for 
  appropriate spells for the magi to 
  cast, spontaneous effects must be 
  worked out, and then there is the 
  question of fast-casting defenses. 
  This means that even the most 
  dedicated gaming group is going 
  to be unlikely to want to play too 
  many combat rounds; there just 
  isn‘t the time. Each combat 
  round is assumed to be six 
  seconds. This means that the 
  Diameter spell duration easily 
  covers 20 combat rounds. It also 
  means that it takes five combat 
  rounds before a character has to 
  make a Deprivation check against 
  suffocating or drowning. In 
  practice, that‘s a long time at the 
  gaming table. 
   
  Planning a Combat 
  Encounter 
  There are two primary ways to 
  run combat encounters. The first 
  is to define a set of enemies and 
  let the combat play out to 
  conclusion, perhaps based on a 
  ―win condition‖, which is usually 
  the death of one side or the 
  other. The alternative is to decide 
  up-front a rough number of 
  rounds you want the combat to 
  last and plan accordingly. This 
  has the dual benefits of imposing 
  a structure, allowing for events to 
  be planned, and ensuring that the 
  combat remains quick and 
  punchy. Anything more than ten 
  Be Prepared 
  Running combat is a numbers-
  intensive affair and it helps to have 
  everything worked out in advance. 
  That‘s not always possible but there 
  are some basic things that do help: 
  Magic Resistance: Make sure you 
  have the magic resistance of your 
  NPCs worked out. This could come 
  from Parma Magica, relics, demonic 
  possession, Might Score, or any 
  number of exotic effects. 
  Combat Totals: It sounds obvious, 
  but do work out the totals you need 
  for the scene. Make sure you know 
  what the group bonus is if you are 
  going to be using group combat, and 
  make sure you record things like body 
  level ranges and soak totals. 
  Personality Traits: If your 
  antagonists are mundane, the chances 
  are that the sight of magic being used 
  against them is going to be hard to 
  take. So work out how brave or driven 
  they are. Decide up front just how 
  much they are willing to take before 
  they try to flee. 
   
  And it is really important that players 
  are also recruited to do the same for 
  their own party. Spending a few 
  minutes at the top of the session to 
  work out and record a group combat 
  bonus pays dividends when you do 
  want to get on with the action later. 
   
  Don‘t be afraid to use maps. The 
  usual pace of Ars Magica stories 
  often means that maps aren‘t 
  necessary, but there‘s nothing wrong 
  with using visual aids to set the scene 
  and represent the relative locations of 
  those involved in the fight. 
  
  8 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  rounds, which usually translates 
  as ten actions for each player 
  character, is likely to start losing 
  impact. 
  In either case, it is important 
  to decide what you intend the 
  scene adding to the story. Does 
  the combat act as a gate to the 
  next part of the story, does the 
  fight introduce new information 
  or answer questions about the 
  plot, has it been planned and 
  initiated by the players, or is it 
  part of a martial campaign? 
  Whatever the story behind the 
  fight, it is important for the 
  storyguide to understand the 
  player characters‘ capabilities. 
  This allows the storyguide to 
  provide a challenging opposition. 
  And not every fight has to be 
  deadly. There is just as much 
  drama to be had in fights where 
  the opponents are trying to 
  immobilize or render unconscious 
  the player characters. Similarly, 
  consider at which point the 
  opponents are likely to disengage 
  and flee or outright surrender. 
  Sizing Up the 
  Opposition 
  The principle consideration 
  when designing an opposing 
  force is the number of actions at 
  their disposal. It can be tempting 
  to present an ominous and 
  dangerous single opponent, 
  confident that it has the power to 
  provide a challenge, only to find 
  that its single action per round is 
  swamped by the actions of a party 
  consisting of grogs, companions, 
  and magi. Such encounters run 
  the risk of very quickly flogging 
  the proverbial dead horse. 
  As the storyguide, you can 
  anticipate the size of the the 
  player character party pretty well 
  along with the number of actions 
  that they have available. Ideally, 
  you‘ll want a roughly equal 
  number on the opposing side. As 
  we‘ll see later, this does not 
  always mean the same number of 
  characters. Unless the players 
  have planned and worked for it, 
  you should avoid clearly one-
  sided contests. 
  Types of Action 
  In any fight, combat actions 
  are the most obvious. But they 
  are not all equal. If you can, 
  provide a mix of ranged attacks, 
  through bows, slings, javelins, 
  knives, or axes, and close-in 
  attacks. You can even throw in 
  scuffling and grappling attacks, 
  the later being particularly 
  effective at changing the style of 
  the fight in one corner of your 
  battlefield. 
  Your NPC opponents may 
  have magical attacks at their 
  disposal and while magi should be 
  pretty well protected, grogs and 
  companions will be less so. 
  Group targets or area effects can 
  reach both protected and 
  unprotected alike and providing 
  an occasional area effect that is 
  easily shrugged off by the Parma 
  Magica can give a player a sense 
  of power, which is always 
  welcome. 
  If you really want to tie up one 
  of the player magi there is 
  nothing wrong with having a rival 
  magus challenge certamen during 
  the fight. Certamen is sometimes 
  overlooked or relegated to a 
  political tool. But it is the purest 
  form of magical duel that two 
  magi can engage in. It allows the 
  player magus to directly engage a 
  peer without being concerned 
  about spells or penetration. 
  According to the narrative of 
  the fight, adding a wildcard or 
  n o n - c o m b a t a n t  
  i s  
  o f t e n 
  appropriate. Imagine a fight on a 
  river bank, the opponents are 
  trying to disengage and flee, 
  putting everything they have into 
  defense, so one of the opponents 
  spends his action trying to untie 
  or cut the rope securing the barge 
  to the jetty. The action itself is 
  not offensive, but it has the 
  potential to end the fight and 
  secure an escape. How the 
  protagonists deal with this action 
  is at least as important as how 
  they deal with the combatants 
  themselves. Similar wildcard 
  Tracking Initiative and Changing Actions 
  Keeping track of initiative can be a chore for the 
  storyguide when magi, grogs, and NPCs are taken 
  into account. So recruit the players to do it for you. 
  Ask one of the players to track the initiatives for the 
  player characters or combat groups. As storyguide, 
  track any NPC initiatives and the timings of other 
  events yourself. As the round progresses, start with 
  your highest initiative and check whether the players 
  have anything higher. 
   
  One particular problem with with Ars Magica 
  initiative is that different weapons or actions 
  provide different initiative modifiers. So what 
  happens if a character changes action mid-combat 
  and the previous modifier no longer applies. There 
  are really two options. Either stick with the earlier 
  initiative regardless or have each player record their 
  actual initiative roll once at the beginning of the 
  combat and declare their initiative at the beginning 
  of each round. They can then take into account any 
  modifiers that apply given the action they intend to 
  take in that round. This is made easier on the 
  storyguide if, as above, one of the players takes 
  responsibility for recording and ticking off player 
  initiatives each round. 
  
  9 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  actions may be a race to a certain 
  point, attempting to trigger a 
  magical device, setting fire to a 
  bridge, etc. Consider the narrative 
  of the combat scene, the reason 
  for the combatants engaging, and 
  look at adding a wildcard action 
  that carries the intent of the 
  scene. 
  Remember also that the 
  enemies can take advantage of all 
  the standard combat options such 
  as groups, defenders, exertion, 
  and disengaging. Using these 
  introduces variety over the 
  standard attack and defense rolls 
  each round. 
  Using the 
  Environment 
  One of the key things that sets 
  a combat encounter apart and 
  makes for a memorable gaming 
  session is the distinctiveness of 
  the setting. Any location can 
  support a combat scene and the 
  trick is to offer a different 
  experience than the last combat 
  encounter. Even within the same 
  story, the Storyguide should be 
  looking for opportunities to 
  differentiate scenes. You can do 
  this by varying the environment 
  and terrain, by identifying the 
  hazards and obstacles the 
  location provides, and preparing 
  early with some potential botch 
  effects that add to the cinematics 
  of the piece. 
  Environment and Terrain 
  As storyguide, you should plan 
  ahead and consider the backdrop 
  to the combat scene; what does 
  the location look like? What 
  features does it have? How will 
  t h e co m b at an ts use t h eir 
  surroundings? Picking a number 
  of words to describe the 
  environment starts to describe 
  the nature of the combat that 
  you‘re likely to run; rural or city, 
  wide-open or closed-in, outside 
  or inside, etc. 
  D ecid e wh at  t er r ain  is 
  available to both sides. If the 
  combat takes place on a road, is 
  the road flat, is it on an elevated 
  ridge, or is on a steep sloping 
  hill? Is the fight taking place on a 
  bridge? If so, is it stone or wood? 
  Wide or narrow? And is the 
  stream or river fast-flowing or 
  calm? 
  One trick that is often used in 
  cinematic action scenes is to take 
  the action vertical. We can easily 
  
  10 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  picture and describe a fight 
  between fairly even forces 
  standing face to face, but if the 
  horizontal space is constrained 
  and the fight takes place on 
  multiple levels stacked atop each 
  other, the action has a very 
  different feel. Imagine a fight 
  within a bell tower. If the player 
  characters want to reach the top, 
  they need to ascend stairs, fight 
  opponents with higher-ground 
  advantage or defend against the 
  archers on the other side of the 
  tower. Alternatively, the bell 
  ropes may provide a quicker 
  means of ascent, or a means to 
  quickly engage with the archers. 
  Or you could play a fight 
  across a number of regio 
  boundaries. This can be a useful 
  means of separating out the 
  companions and grogs from the 
  magi for a few rounds and letting 
  them control the narrative for a 
  change. This is especially 
  effective where the magi have 
  their own challenge to attend to. 
  Hazards 
  The environment itself can be 
  recruited to provide a challenge 
  and, importantly, additional 
  actions in opposition to the 
  player characters. Anything from 
  the fire catching in the barn to 
  the stairs crumbling beneath the 
  combatants, from the flood 
  waters rising to the impending 
  rock slide. Think about what kind 
  of hazards you want in the 
  environment and then give them 
  both a trigger and an initiative 
  total. 
  In the case of the bell tower, 
  perhaps the stairs are old and 
  rotten. As the combatants fight 
  their way to the top, the stairs 
  must make a Stress Check (City & 
  Guild, page 77) against an Ease 
  Factor of 15 each round on an 
  initiative of 7. If you‘re being 
  particularly harsh, you could 
  make one after each attack. Just 
  decide upon the trigger. And 
  when the stairs have lost their 
  five damage levels, they break and 
  most likely pitch those who acted 
  last down the tower (the 
  ―Impact‖ rules are in ArM5, page 
  181. 
  An environment can have 
  multiple such hazards. If the bell 
  tower were to be set alight, the 
  flames would grow with each 
  round. Perhaps not enough to 
  harm individuals at first, but 
  certainly enough to cause the 
  building itself to make stress 
  checks each round. And if or 
  when the building loses its last 
  damage level, page 181 of ArM5 
  may again prove useful. 
  Obstacles 
  Extending the definition 
  provided in Lords of Men, page 
  120, obstacles are things that can 
  be used as cover, to help 
  disengage from an enemy, or to 
  prevent a character‘s progress. A 
  fight in a scriptorium has 
  numerous obstacles in the form 
  of desks and lecterns. They may 
  count as difficult terrain to cross 
  as the desks and stools get in the 
  way, but they may also be 
  considered as defending any 
  character able to keep a desk 
  between himself and an attacker. 
  The same might be true of pillars 
  in a church or even a waterfall on 
  a r iv er .  T ak in g co v er  is 
  sometimes an effective defense 
  against spells. Typically, if a 
  magus can‘t sense his target he 
  can‘t directly affect it, in which 
  case he needs to expend an action 
  dealing with the obstacles. 
  Some obstacles can be used to 
  help disengage. The rules in 
  ArM5 and Lords of Men both use 
  essentially the same mechanic; the 
  character generates a defense 
  total, all engaged opponents 
  generate an attack total as a 
  reaction, if the defending 
  character‘s total is greater than 
  th ese att ack totals h e is 
  considered to have disengaged. 
  While mechanically sound, these 
  rules do not take account of a 
  character‘s environment. Let‘s go 
  back to our fight in the bell 
  tower. Having lost the grogs to a 
  collapsed section of stairs, the 
  companion is fighting a group of 
  heavies. Seeing that he is 
  outnumbered, he needs to 
  disengage and regroup. So he 
  steps back and drops through the 
  gap where the stairs were. He 
  needs to make a Dexterity + 
  Athletics roll to catch onto 
  something and prevent himself 
  falling down the tower, but he 
  has disengaged. Another example 
  might be a fight at the foot of a 
  waterfall. The cascading sheet of 
  water provides effective cover so 
  if an opponent steps through the 
  waterfall, the storyguide might 
  now treat that character as 
  unseen and his opponent may 
  think twice about following. If 
  so, the parties are automatically 
  d is en gaged . Als o co nsider 
  allowing other characters to use 
  their own actions to help another 
  character disengage. 
  One particular obstacle to 
  consider is the bottleneck. A 
  narrow passageway, a doorway, or 
  the winding stairs inside a castle 
  tower all share the same 
  characteristic; no matter how 
  many combatants there are on 
  either side, only those at the front 
  II  
  t is important to decide what you intend the 
  t is important to decide what you intend the 
  scene contributing to the story...
  scene contributing to the story...  
  
  11 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  can engage. All others are 
  considered to be defended. This 
  even limits the size of combat 
  groups so players should be 
  prepared to recalculate any 
  existing group bonuses already in 
  play. 
  Botches 
  Fighting is dangerous by 
  nature and beset with die roll 
  after die roll. The odds are that a 
  zero or three will turn up at some 
  point in the action. When it does, 
  i t  p a y s  t o  c o n s i d e r  t h e 
  environment as it can provide 
  better botch results than all the 
  instances of ―you drop your 
  sword‖ you can think of. 
  Let‘s start with the easy ones. 
  If the footing is loose, such as in 
  a ploughed field or the shore-line 
  surf, then characters can slip, 
  giving the opponent an advantage 
  to their next action. Or if the 
  character is defending another in 
  the scriptorium, they trip on a 
  desk and expose their charge to 
  danger. Even the trusty old ―you 
  drop your sword‖ is given more 
  impact and drama when that 
  sword is dropped into the river. 
  A botch while fighting in a barn 
  might see the character topple 
  backwards onto a pitchfork, 
  prompting a soak roll; a botch in 
  our trusty bell tower may see the 
  character pitch themselves over 
  the side of the stairs; and a 
  character botching in a cave 
  might trap their foot in a crevice 
  and be unable to remove it 
  without spending an extended 
  action (Lords of Men, page 118). 
  Whether the botch effects are 
  a result of the environment, such 
  as an oil lamp knocked into a 
  haystack, or are simply colored by 
  the environment, such as the 
  sword sliced into an stuck in a 
  lectern, you should use the 
  environment to help sell the 
  story.  
  Planning The 
  Narrative 
  Consider the combat scene as 
  its own three-act narrative. The 
  opponents must first engage, they 
  contest over some set of aim, and 
  they disengage. Most combat 
  encounters tend to focus on the 
  first act and leave the dice to 
  resolve the second and third acts. 
  As storyguide, you can build 
  more of a narrative into the 
  scene. You need to know what 
  the fight is over, how far the 
  combatants are willing to go, and 
  how they intend to get out of the 
  situation if it all goes south. Take 
  one of the old staples; bandits on 
  the road. We‘re going to allow for 
  five rounds for the first act, ten 
  rounds for the second, and five 
  for the third and final act. 
  The first the player characters 
  know of the bandits is when they 
  see a small tree dragged across 
  the path ahead of them. Have the 
  players roll initiative, but as this 
  is an ambush, apply a -3 modifier 
  to their totals for this round only. 
  The bandits include a number of 
  archers, who loose warning shots 
  at the party - they‘re robbers, not 
  murderers - and the leader 
  demands that the travelers throw 
  down their arms. If the player 
  characters act otherwise, the 
  robbers run from the treeline to 
  take them on. But if they 
  cooperate, the tension can build 
  as the robbers ease themselves 
  from hiding and take what they 
  want. The parties are now 
  engaged either way; One group of 
  archers, one group guarding the 
  travelers, one group searching for 
  loot, and their charismatic leader. 
  From reveal to the start of 
  rooting around the travellers‘ 
  possessions, we‘ve allowed five 
  rounds. For a magus able to caste 
  spells subtly, it is important to 
  allow that time. The characters 
  are still under initiative so allow 
  the players to time their actions 
  accordingly. For the robbers, 
  searching for loot is something 
  like a ten-round extended action, 
  each step of which is taken on 
  their own initiative. Each round 
  that passes without intervention, 
  assume that one of the robbers 
  grabs a tenth of the troupe‘s stuff 
  (you can work out what later). 
  Ultimately, the robbers have 
  what they came for and they 
  leave, taking five rounds to 
  disengage, backtrack to the tree 
  line, and disappear from view. 
  That‘s assuming nobody 
  intervenes. But if one of the 
  player characters strikes out, treat 
  those ten rounds as the maximum 
  time that the robbers are 
  prepared to spend on their 
  criminal venture. Once those 
  rounds are up, they‘ll try to 
  disengage and flee, entering the 
  third act of the story. They‘ll do 
  this regardless of whether they 
  are ―winning‖ or ―losing‖. 
  The Layered Reveal 
  The structure of the robbery 
  above is fairly simple and all the 
  pieces appear to be on the table 
  from the outset. But what if the 
  robbers are actually hired men in 
  the employ of another magus or 
  hedge wizard? At any time in the 
  fight, the real force behind the 
  OO  
  ne option is to make concentration rolls 
  ne option is to make concentration rolls 
  only until the maga is successful. Once the 
  only until the maga is successful. Once the 
  maga has the measure of the situation she 
  maga has the measure of the situation she 
  can cast at will...
  can cast at will...  
  
  12 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  ambush could make himself 
  known and enter the combat 
  encounter. Or what if there‘s 
  someone stowed away in the 
  player characters‘ cart, who then 
  takes an active part in the fight? 
  This ―layered reveal‖ injects a 
  new element into the fight mid-
  way through, which can be used 
  to reveal more about the 
  narrative. 
  Revealing a new character or 
  opponent during the fight is one 
  way, but you can always reveal 
  one of the existing antagonists to 
  be something more threatening 
  than first appearances suggest. 
  What you‘re looking to do here is 
  to reveal more about the 
  encounter as it progresses, which 
  should support the wider story 
  that you‘re telling. 
  Reinforcements 
  Similar to the layered reveal is 
  the approach of reinforcements 
  on either side of the conflict. 
  Backup for the enemy can curtail 
  a fight, prompting the player 
  characters to try harder to finish 
  the fight and leave the scene, or 
  to disengage and leave their 
  o p p o n e n t s  b e h i n d  t h e m . 
  Similarly, there‘s nothing wrong 
  with having the player characters 
  face overwhelming odds and 
  challenging them to stay alive 
  until reinforcements arrive in 
  about ten rounds. 
  The important element here is 
  the clock element. A player scout 
  may hear the thunder of enemy 
  hooves and know that they have 
  ten rounds until the knights 
  charge into the scene. Or the 
  grog captain may be in magical 
  communication with the magi and 
  know that they have one minute 
  until the magi arrive. Be up front 
  about how long the player 
  characters have until help (or the 
  larger enemy force) arrives, and 
  work with them to count the 
  rounds down. 
  T h e  
  n a t u r e  
  o f  
  t h e 
  reinforcements should reflect the 
  story. A denouement set on the 
  slopes of an rumbling volcano 
  belching fire and ash may give ten 
  rounds until lava starts flowing, 
  at which point sensible thoughts 
  should turn to fleeing the volcano 
  altogether. 
  The Pregnant Pause 
  Similar to the layered reveal, 
  the pregnant pause introduces a 
  new element to the story mid-
  way; something happens to 
  disengage the two sides for a 
  round or two. The idea here is to 
  build a sense of concern in the 
  player characters. Why did the 
  knights just disengage? What are 
  they waiting for? Why aren‘t they 
  p r es s in g  t h e i r  a d v a n t a g e? 
  Alternatively, what if the bell-
  tower, now ravaged by fire, 
  cracks and pitches to one side? 
  The sides are automatically 
  disengaged as they are all focused 
  on clinging to the tower and not 
  fighting each other. The player 
  
  13 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  characters now have something 
  else to think about mid-way 
  through the fight rather than just 
  their next attack roll. 
  Increasing the 
  Challenge 
  Increasing the challenge is not 
  simply about increasing the 
  antagonists‘ Magic Resistance to 
  the point that they can shrug off 
  the spells of the player magi, 
  though this is one tool open to 
  Storyguides. There are other ways 
  in which the challenge can be 
  increased that also make the 
  combat more enjoyable. 
  Consider opponents larger 
  than size +1, which start to 
  negate at least Individual spells 
  that affect any human target of 
  up to size +1. This makes the 
  magus work harder by needing 
  spontaneous variants to affect 
  that given target. Or consider 
  invisible opponents, or for a less 
  supernatural approach consider 
  fighting in smoky, foggy, or dark 
  conditions. Such things are 
  usually easy to overcome through 
  magic, but it gives the players 
  something other than attack that 
  they need to do, namely find their 
  opponent. 
  Swarms make interesting 
  challenges (you can find some 
  rules supporting swarms in 
  Legends of Hermes, page 44) as do 
  opponents with immunity to 
  certain types of attack or damage. 
  And just as magi have fast-casting 
  defenses, consider giving the 
  same to your supernatural 
  protagonists. 
  Single-Spell Combat 
  Encounters 
  Some spells have an inordinate 
  effect on combat encounters 
  despite their low level. Some are 
  often sufficient to affect all 
  enemy combatants at once, 
  assuming a moderately sized 
  combat encounter. And a 
  personal ward against metal 
  doesn‘t so much end a combat 
  encounter as take the drama 
  straight out of it. 
  Targeting the Group 
  Some magi, for reasons of 
  their own, have invented spells 
  that inflict debilitating effects 
  upon a group of people in one 
  casting. A maga might decide to 
  turn the opposing combatants 
  into mice. Or inflict an overriding 
  fear into the group. There is 
  nothing wrong with such spells, 
  but they often have the effect of 
  subtracting from the drama rather 
  than adding to it. How we make 
  provision for those spells is very 
  important, especially if other 
  players are losing out because of 
  the very logical actions of another 
  player. 
  T h e  f i r s t  t h i n g  i s  t o 
  acknowledge that the Group 
  target can be employed, not only 
  in formulaic magic but through 
  spontaneous effects too. The best 
  way to engage with this is to split 
  the opposing force into multiple 
  discrete combat groups. That 
  way, if one maga has the power to 
  remove a combat group from the 
  equation, the other magi at least 
  have something else that they can 
  cut loose upon. 
  Other spells target opponents 
  i n d i r e c t l y ,  
  t h r o u g h  
  t h e 
  environment for instance. A good 
  example would be a spell that 
  opens a chasm beneath the 
  opponents. Usually large enough 
  to send them all plummeting, and 
  often with the after effect of 
  closing it again. Rapidly. In such 
  cases, there‘s nothing like variety 
  to stem the flow of these spells. 
  If you vary the setting used for 
  combat, it is unlikely that the 
  same spell can repeatedly be used 
  to the same effect. A spell to 
  open a chasm in the earth is no 
  use inside a church, or on a 
  bridge, or on an ice-sheet, a 
  frozen river, or even on the 
  desert sands. So give other 
  players the opportunity to shine 
  by varying the location and 
  supporting different tactics each 
  time. 
  Wards of any Kind 
  If you‘ve thought ahead, you 
  may already have a range of 
  combatants and weapons facing 
  the player characters in order to 
  provide variety, and this may 
  already be useful to threaten the 
  cautious magus warded against 
  metal. But in case you still need 
  more, consider adding a dog into 
  the mix. If we go back to our 
  robber scenario, assuming the 
  robbers were armed with short 
  swords and knives, any magus can 
  easily ward against them. He 
  could ward against all humans 
  and be done with it. But what if 
  they had a dog? It should be 
  trivial for the magus to ward 
  himself against that too, but it 
  means spending another action. 
  Remember also that a knight on a 
  warhorse potentially has multiple 
  attacks each round, his own and 
  his horse‘s, another example 
  where multiple wards are needed 
  to fully protect the magi. 
   
  TT  
  he “layered reveal” injects a new element 
  he “layered reveal” injects a new element 
  into the fight mid
  into the fight mid--way through, which can 
  way through, which can 
  be used to reveal more about the narrative...
  be used to reveal more about the narrative...  
  
  14 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Remember Spell 
  Concentration 
  Sometimes overlooked for the 
  sake of brevity, magi have a 
  limiting factor; concentration. In 
  order to cast their spells, magi 
  need to be able to concentrate on 
  what they‘re doing. Factors such 
  as imminent threat or being 
  jostled make this harder. 
  Wh y is th is  so m et imes 
  overlooked? Essentially because 
  it‘s an extra die roll against an 
  Ease Factor that the storyguide 
  probably has to look up in the 
  rule book. So what can you do to 
  b a l a n c e  
  t h e  
  n e e d  
  f o r 
  concentration with a need to keep 
  the game flowing? 
  One option is to make rolls 
  only until the maga is successful. 
  This pays lip service to the 
  concentration rules by asking the 
  player to check for concentration, 
  but once the maga has the 
  measure of the situation she can 
  cast at will. If the maga‘s 
  situation changes, the storyguide 
  can ask for the same again against 
  the new Ease Factor. 
  Most magi in the same combat 
  situation (unless wounded, 
  jostled, etc) will have the same 
  concentration Ease Factor, so 
  storyguides should add this to 
  their notes for ease of reference. 
  And remember that the Ease 
  Factor may change over time. For 
  example, Ease Factors during a 
  fight in a burning castle may 
  increase every three or four 
  rounds as the fire spreads and the 
  conditions worsen. 
  Getting Around 
  Resistance 
  There‘s mileage to be had 
  from an opponent who has 
  worked to beat a magus‘ magic 
  resistance, but getting around 
  player magic resistance isn‘t 
  about negating a player‘s cool 
  stuff, it‘s about presenting a 
  different challenge. So the giant 
  wyrm‘s magical acid blood can‘t 
  affect the magus? What about the 
  wooden bridge he‘s standing on? 
  What about the peasant woman 
  behind him? 
  When you have the giant 
  acidic wyrm bleed all over the 
  magus, you‘ll probably know 
  already whether that particular 
  effect is going to get through or 
  not, so turn it into some other 
  kind of event. It‘s not about the 
  magus resisting, it‘s about the 
  bridge being eaten away, or the 
  woman about to die unless the 
  magus does something. 
   
  Playing with the 
  Rules 
  The combat rules from the 
  published rulebooks can be seen 
  as describing the best case 
  scenario; they‘re the rules to use 
  when all other elements are equal. 
  But as storyguide you shouldn‘t 
  feel constrained by them. We 
  have already seen that the 
  environment can be used to help 
  with disengaging, and there are 
  other modifications that can be 
  introduced too. 
   
  Inspiration from 
  other systems 
  It may come as a surprise to 
  some of us, but there are other 
  game systems and they have their 
  own ways of handling combat 
  mechanics. Ars 
  Magica can 
  certainly learn from those and 
  borrow some of the interesting 
  bits. 
  Minions 
  Dungeons and Dragons has a 
  well-developed combat system 
  designed to match the level of 
  challenge against the characters‘ 
  advancement level. In particular, 
  there‘s a recognition that the 
  players feel rewarded when they 
  are able to deal very quickly with 
  a set of minions ahead of tackling 
  the real threat. You can take 
  inspiration from this and have 
  groups of minions designed to 
  soak actions, to provide a set of 
  threats that are easily dealt with, 
  and to act as defenders of more 
  powerful opponents. 
  Lords 
  of 
  Men, page 124, 
  provides the option of assuming 
  6 on defense rolls rather than 
  taking time to roll them. It is 
  recommended for NPCs to help 
  speed up the run of play. But 
  there‘s another angle to this. Why 
  would we have to assume 6 all the 
  time? Actually, if we reduce the 
  assumed roll to 0 we effectively 
  weaken the NPC antagonists by 
  removing a valuable bonus to 
  their defense totals. This makes 
  the player characters more likely 
  Lords of Men 
  The Lords of Men supplement 
  contains two very good chapters 
  on single combat and field and 
  siege warfare. The enhanced 
  single combat rules provide 
  additional structure for round-to-
  round activities within a combat 
  scene and include movement, 
  types of action, options for 
  mounted combat, etc. There are 
  many elements there that can be 
  exploited independently to 
  enhance your combat sessions. 
  Conversely, the massed combat 
  and siege rules present a more 
  story-driven approach to handling 
  combat events rather than round-
  by-round activities. This chapter 
  is useful for identifying the aim of 
  a combat encounter and how it 
  relates to a much wider story. 
  Both chapters provide useful and 
  flavorful examples and are worth 
  a read. 
  
  15 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  to hit and subsequently more 
  likely to inflict higher damage. 
  This provides an effective 
  throttle on the strength of the 
  opposing forces and allows for 
  more cinematic action scenes as 
  the heroes quickly deal with the 
  minor opponents before reaching 
  the real threat. Nefarious 
  storyguides may also be thinking 
  the reverse and looking at 
  assuming a higher default roll to 
  increase the challenge. Whichever 
  your preference, it is an option to 
  keep open. 
  Special Effects 
  The venerable old comic-book 
  Marvel RPG has a system 
  designed to model the grand over
  -the-top combat scenes that you 
  might see in anything from 
  Daredevil to Hulk and on to The 
  Mighty Thor. This is a combat 
  system filled with ground-strikes, 
  area attacks, dodging, and 
  evading. Importantly, characters 
  may also be stunned and/or 
  slammed as a result of attacks. 
  As a starting point, look for 
  the Special effects section in 
  Lords of Men, page 132 and the 
  Mitigating Deadly Wounds option 
  on page 125 and build from there. 
  Any minor effects of combat that 
  you impose on a character should 
  be transient and last no more 
  than a round or two. A character 
  taking a light wound may also be 
  winded or stunned for a round or 
  two, while a character taking a 
  medium wound may be knocked 
  to the floor. If you do intend to 
  supplement wound penalties with 
  additional temporary effect, 
  remember that they should also 
  be applied to NPC characters too 
  in response to player actions. The 
  intent is to make the results of 
  at t ack / d ef ens e r o lls  mo re 
  exciting and memorable. 
   
  Carrying the Bonus 
  Forward 
  Previous editions of Ars 
  Magica allowed combatants to 
  carry an attack advantage forward 
  rather than applying it directly as 
  damage. The player builds an 
  increasing advantage each round, 
  choosing when to apply the 
  accumulated bonus to damage.  
  Reinstating this option is 
  certainly one way to address the 
  ―death by a thousand cuts‖ 
  problem that can sometimes 
  afflict Ars 
  Magica combat; 
  e v e n l y - m at c h ed  o p p o n en t s 
  spending an age inflicting minor 
  wounds on each other without 
  progressing to anything more 
  decisive. 
  But allowing the character to 
  carry an advantage forward 
  increases the chances of real 
  damage. If we assume a potential 
  5-point advantage (which we‘ll 
  translate for simplicity into a 
  damage over soak of 5) then 
  applying the damage each round 
  results in a wound penalty of -3 
  after three rounds. But if the 
  advantage is carried for three 
  rounds, we could inflict a wound 
  penalty of -5 after those same 
  three rounds. 
   
  Consider the 
  consequences! 
  The end of the combat 
  encounter should bring a number 
  of consequences. If the encounter 
  was part of a wider story, the 
  characters should have learned 
  something new (we go back to 
  th e robbers on the road 
  supported by the mystery hedge 
  w i z a r d ,  o r  t h e  u n k n o w n 
  stowaway), something that helps 
  them understand or engage with 
  the wider story better. 
  Reputations can be won and 
  lost in battle and the covenant is 
  no exception. Consider the 
  behavior of the characters 
  involved (or not) in the fighting 
  and make a judgment call on who 
  might be discussed back at the 
  covenant and why. Points 
  towards increasing reputations 
  are usually in order, especially for 
  those who handle the dynamics 
  of the combat scene the best. 
  And covenant morale may 
  either gain a boost or take a 
  kicking, depending on the 
  outcome of the fight. Take a look 
  at the Prevailing Loyalty rules in 
  the Covenants supplement, page 36 
  t o  s e e  h o w  co w ar d l y  o r 
  ineffectual magi have a negative 
  impact on the covenant‘s loyalty. 
  Acknowledgements 
  With thanks this issue to Edd 
  Kendrick and Matt Ryan for their 
  invaluable insights. 
  
  16 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Since the 8th Century, pilgrims 
  traveled to the shrine of St. James in 
  Santiago de Compostela in the 
  Kingdom of Asturias. By the 
  beginning of the 12th Century, the 
  pilgrimage was well organized and 
  known across Europe. A dedicated 
  support structure existed along the 
  path—a path that began in France, 
  converged at Puenta la Reina in 
  Navarra, and then continued across 
  the Kingdom of Castile, then the 
  Kingdom of Asturias, and terminated 
  at the Cathedral of Santiago de 
  Compostela. Devout Christians 
  established hospitals to feed and 
  house pilgrims, generating a rich 
  source of revenue which the 
  Kingdom of Leon protected by a 
  royal decree. 
  The road wends through areas 
  littered with Roman ruins, Basque fey, 
  and ancient stone circles as it travels 
  fragments of the old Roman highways 
  of the Via Agrippa, Via Lusitanorum 
  and Ab Asturica Burdigalam. Ancient 
  symbols are concealed along the way, 
  sacred to Astarte and Venus. Lamiae 
  lair in the hills of the Basque country 
  while giants and Jentilak lurk amidst 
  the menhirs.  
  Into all of this, come the player 
  characters…this trio of encounters 
  can provide opportunities for a saga 
  set in the region, for characters 
  actually participating in the 
  pilgrimage, or for a troupe simply 
  traveling through the area. They are 
  meant either as short, supplemental 
  individual encounters for a larger arc, 
  or possibly a nearly complete arc for a 
  magus traveling the pilgrim‘s route. 
  The Way of St. James 
  By Ben McFarland 
  
  17 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Dramatis Personae 
  The characters likely to be 
  encountered through these scenes on 
  the pilgrimage route are: 
  The Mercurian Ghost 
  The Mercurian Ghost is the 
  unquiet spirit of a Hermetic magus 
  killed while traveling the Way. 
  Alfonso was not on pilgrimage, 
  though, but sought to unlock the 
  secret fertility magic he believed 
  existed encoded within the route. 
  Ambushed by wolves as he 
  performed his Parma ritual, he was 
  mortally injured and succumbed to 
  his wounds while hiding. Now he 
  cannot rest until his bones are 
  properly buried. 
  The Knight’s Demon 
  Exorcised from a French Knight 
  by Domingo de la Calzada, this vile 
  creature has been biding its time and 
  slowly gathering a gang of bandits to 
  terrorize the Way of St. James in 
  revenge. 
  The Demon’s Bandits 
  With no stomach for the 
  Reconquista, these men find 
  themselves displaced and isolated. 
  They fell under the sway of the 
  Knight‘s Demon and now prey upon 
  pilgrims for the easy wealth, goods, 
  and occasional captives—despite the 
  widespread knowledge that such 
  behavior draws down God‘s Wrath. 
  The Lady of the Hills, a 
  Lamia 
  Cunning and devious, the Lady of 
  the Hills hunts for children and young 
  men who stray too far from the local 
  towns. She tends to specialize in 
  shepherds and foragers. Using her 
  powers, she lures them close and 
  devours them. Her lover, the giant 
  Bonebreaker, often assists by stealing 
  flock members or creating hazards 
  that drive potential victims to her. She 
  thinks of herself as a minor noble, 
  beholden to none, and speaks with a 
  tone of entitlement and arrogance—
  this area is her demesne, and she 
  hunts by her own privilege. 
  The Lady’s Lover, the giant 
  Bonebreaker 
  Short for a giant, Bonebreaker is 
  dedicated to the Lady of the Hills, 
  watching over her and doting on her 
  every whim. He‘s a simple creature, 
  smitten by the Lady‘s beauty and 
  cruelty and eager to cause more 
  mayhem at her command. He does 
  have a weakness for the taste of 
  mutton and the sparkle of silver. 
  Summary of Events 
  The three key events or 
  encounters on the pilgrimage are: 
  Travel through the Hills 
  The Lady of the Hills prefers to 
  observe and lure away stragglers and 
  those alone on watch. She and 
  Bonebreaker do not attempt to 
  ambush groups unless there are 
  children present. The Lady parlays if 
  engaged peacefully or if entrapped, 
  but she always seeks a way to take 
  advantage of the situation or distract 
  captors until Bonebreaker can attack.  
  Groups are likely seek her out. 
  Dealing with a Demon 
  The Knight‘s Demon controls a 
  group of the bandits, using them to 
  terrorize the Way of St. James in a 
  vendetta centuries old. It ambushes 
  groups of pilgrims who camp near the 
  path, ignoring those who do not show 
  paraphernalia associated with the 
  journey. 
  Ghost of the Road 
  The Mercurian Ghost approaches 
  encamped groups, trying to lead 
  travelers to his bones. Once close to 
  his bones, he tries to possess 
  someone in order to explain his 
  situation. He tries to convince others 
  to help bury his bones in a 
  churchyard, possibly the graveyard of 
  the Cathedral of Santiago de 
  Compostela, but does not explain 
  what he was doing until his proper 
  grave is dug and his bones laid within. 
  Alphonso secretly discovered a text 
  that incorporated non-Hermetic rites 
  and locations to improve and extend 
  longevity rituals. In the process of 
  performing these rites, wolves 
  overran him after a botched spell. 
  Badly mangled, the magus found a 
  small cleft and succumbed to his 
  wounds. 
  Pilgrimage Options 
  These encounters might easily 
  provide a Pilgrimage for characters 
  departing somewhere in the 
  Normandy or Provence Tribunals, 
  traveling over the Pyrenees and 
  eventually stopping in Santiago de 
  Compostella. 
  For minor Pilgrimages with a 
  Target of 18, consider the following 
  options (using the mechanics on 
  pages 16-18 of The Church): 
  Swords and Sodales 
  +03 
  1 Season of Travel 
  +03 
  Encounter with the 
  Mercurian Ghost 
  +12 
  Encounter with the 
  Demon and its Bandits 
  Lady and the Bandits 
  +03 
  1 Season of Travel 
  +06 
  Encounter with the 
  Bandits (mundane) 
  +09 
  Encounter with Lady 
  and Bonebreaker 
  The Trouble with Bones 
  +03 
  1 Season of Travel 
  +09 
  Encounter with Lady 
  and Bonebreaker 
  +03 
  Encounter with the 
  Mercurian Ghost 
  
  18 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  +03 
  Difficulties with the 
  Clergy of Compostella when trying to 
  bury the Ghost‘s bones 
  A higher-value and longer 
  Pilgrimage, with a Target of 30, might 
  use the following series of 
  encounters: 
  A Funny Thing Happened 
  on the Way 
  +06 
  2 Seasons of travel, with 
  winter spent in Ostabat or Roncevaux 
  +09 
  Encounter with Lady 
  and Bonebreaker 
  +12 
  Encounter with the 
  Demon and its Bandits 
  +03 
  Encounter with the 
  Mercurian Ghost 
  The encounter with the Lady and 
  Bonebreaker might happen on either 
  side of the Pyrenees, in the hills of 
  Basque country. The encounter with 
  the Demon and its bandits might 
  happen on either side of the 
  mountains, as well, but north of the 
  Pyrenees, the bandits should be 
  deserters from the Albigensian 
  Crusade, currently being prosecuted 
  in Toulousain. South of the Pyrenees, 
  the bandits may be deserters from the 
  Reconquista, as written. 
  Additional opportunities for 
  mundane issues might occur in 
  Ostabat, where thousands of pilgrims 
  muster and depart to traverse the pass 
  at Roncevaux in the Pyrenees or even 
  in the village of Roncevaux, where 
  there is a hostel for pilgrims, an 
  Augustinian Abbey and a collegiate 
  church dedicated to San Salvador 
  which possesses some relics of 
  Roland. The Templars are active all 
  through the area and a pious brother 
  knight with Sense Holy/Unholy 
  might cause a Hermetic party trouble. 
  Such an encounter could be an 
  Oppositional Element worth an 
  additional +3 or +6. 
  Further fantastic encounters might 
  include the faeries of Gascony which 
  interfere with pilgrims along the road 
  for Vitality, or the drakes and worms 
  which lair in the caves and foothills of 
  the Pyrenees. A non-Hermetic sahir, 
  attempting to recover lost treasures or 
  texts left by a former master in Castile 
  or Navarre could bring bound 
  creatures, elementals, or spirits of any 
  Might and consider Hermetics to be 
  searching for the same goods (which 
  may not even exist!). Such an 
  encounter would be considered an 
  Oppositional Element worth an 
  additional +9. 
  Locations 
  The Menhir Circle 
  Known and shunned by the 
  surrounding villagers as a cursed site 
  once used for Basque folk witch 
  gatherings called akelarre, this 
  lonesome place is nestled amidst 
  rolling hills and windswept plains. 
  The Lady of the Hills lairs each day at 
  a ring of standing stones, watched 
  over by the giant Bonebreaker, who 
  often lounges beneath a twisted 
  cypress tree. With the sunset, the pair 
  begins hunting the surrounding area 
  for shepherds who foolishly bedded 
  their flocks nearby. In summer, they 
  range further afield for more potential 
  victims, but avoid attacking those 
  staying close to the Way of St. James. 
  Magic Aura: 2 
  The Bandit Camp 
  This roving encampment is a 
  rough collection of hard men with 
  little to their names. They subsist on 
  what they steal from pilgrims 
  traveling the Way of St. James, and 
  don‘t tend to get much. The influence 
  of the demon tends to dull their 
  complaints and inflame their 
  bloodlust. Several of their number 
  keep an inattentive watch, and, if 
  ambushed, the whole group might 
  scatter after the fifth casualty.  
  Infernal Aura: 1 (rising to 2 at 
  night) 
   
  The Roman Road 
  Remnant 
  The fragment of the Roman road 
  passes through a wild section of 
  rolling hills and undergrowth. Wolves 
  boldly hunt at night and some 
  peasants seek unpilfered portions of 
  dressed stone to scavenge for their 
  own constructions. 
  Magic Aura: 1 
  St. James’ Sepulcher 
  The shrine of St. James the 
  Apostle, St. James the Greater, in the 
  Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela 
  houses the saint‘s bones and draws 
  hundreds of visitors and pilgrims a 
  day, who come to pray, seek miracles 
  and atone for transgressions real or 
  imagined. It is not directly involved in 
  any of these encounters, but might be 
  visited as a result of them. 
  Dominion Aura: 5 or 6 on the 
  Feast day of St. James the Great (the 
  25th of July). 
  See below for more details on this 
  location.  
  Scenes 
  Meeting with Lady of 
  the Hills 
  Those who seek out the Lady of 
  the Hills may find her sleeping at the 
  Menhir Circle during the day, rising to 
  hunt at sunset, and roaming the area 
  at night. She might be found as she 
  leisurely consumes a shepherd or 
  foraging youth, permitting 
  Bonebreaker to take the marrow from 
  the long bones or feast upon the herd 
  or flock. 
  The Lady of the Hills does not 
  immediately run, considering herself 
  the true ruler of these wilds. She 
  fights until moderately wounded 
  twice or heavily wounded once, then 
  attempts to retreat, using Into the 
  Rushes. If somehow prevented from 
  fleeing, she begs mercy, offering 
  favors, knowledge, treasure, whatever 
  
  19 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  she thinks might most interest her 
  captors. She only negotiates in earnest 
  if she has seen Bonebreaker fall in 
  battle. Otherwise, she attempts to 
  delay and distract enemies until the 
  giant ambushes whoever is in charge 
  of negotiations. 
  For statistics on the Lady and 
  Giant, refer to the nearby inserts. For 
  an alternate foe, consider the lamia in 
  Realms of Power: Faerie, page 68. 
  Story Seeds from the 
  Road 
  Captured Children 
  The children taken by the Lady of 
  the Hills aren‘t eaten, but rather 
  turned into stones she swallows and 
  keeps in her belly. Desperate parents 
  of a one such victim seek out the 
  magi and beg for revenge or 
  liberation—the true fate of their child 
  may have been revealed through a 
  vision, a seer, or a guardian angel. 
  Collaborating Creatures 
  The Knight‘s Demon and the 
  Lady of the Hills have established an 
  arrangement. The Lady convinces 
  Bonebreaker to occasionally aid the 
  bandits and the Demon‘s minions 
  capture and deliver children to feed 
  the Lamia‘s hunger. 
  The Bandit Camp 
  Infernal Aura: 1, at night: 2 
  Rough men, deserters, cowards 
  and bullies, these bandits prey upon 
  pilgrims at the direction of the 
  Knight‘s Demon —who has 
  possessed their leader, Juan Miguel. 
  Juan Miguel deserted the host of a 
  Lady of the Hills, Lamia 
  Magic Might: 30 
  Characteristics: Int +0, Per +1, Pre +2, Com +1, Str 
  +0, Sta +2, Dex +0, Qik +2 
  Size: +0 
  Season: Summer 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Magical Human; Improved 
  Characteristics, Intuition, Keen Vision, Lightning 
  Reflexes; Magical Monster; Compulsion (to devour 
  children), Delusion (it is noble), Weakness. (children), 
  Wrathful. 
  Magical Qualities: Gentle Air, Greater Power (Hunger), 
  Improved Abilities, Improved Attack (x2), Improved 
  Confidence, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative (x2), 
  Improved Might (x5), Improved Soak (x3), Personal 
  Power (Maiden‘s Deception), Personal Power (Into the 
  Rushes), Personal Power (Talons), Personal Power 
  (Viper‘s Kiss) 
  Magical Inferiorities: Monstrous Appearance 
  Personality Traits: Devious +1, Glutton +1, Greedy +2 
  Reputations: Fearsome +2, Greedy +2, Stealthy +2. 
  Combat: 
  Dodge: Init: +2, Attack N/A, Defense +4, Damage N/A 
  Claws: Init: +5, Attack +12, Defense +10, Damage +4 
  Bite: Init: +2, Attack +7, Defense +5, Damage +1 
  Tail strike: Init: +5, Attack +8, Defense +8, Damage +2 
  Soak: +8 
  Fatigue levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: -1 (1–5), -3 (6–10), -5 (11–15), 
  Incapacitated (16–20) 
  Abilities: Area Lore 3 (Basque Hill Country), Awareness 
  4 (onlookers), Bargain 2 (bandits), Brawl 4 (claws), 
  Concentration 3 (maintaining powers), Folk Ken 4 
  (attraction), French 1, German 1, Guile 5 (children), 
  Spanish 4 (greetings), Stealth 4 (outdoors) 
  Powers: 
  Maiden’s Deception, 1 points, Init +1, Imaginem. 
  MuIm 5 
  The Lady takes on the appearance of a young maiden 
  carrying a basket. 
  (Base 4, R: Personal, D: Conc, T: Individual) 
  Into the Rushes, 2 points, Init +0, Imaginem. 
  PeIm 15 
  The Lady becomes invisible and silent. 
  (Base 4, R: Personal, D: Conc, T: Individual, +1 
  additional sense, sound, +1 changing image) 
  Hunger that cannot be Sated, 4 points, Init -6, Corpus. 
  MuCo 40 
  The Lady turns her target into a small stone, which she 
  swallows and keeps in her gullet. 
  (Base 25, R: Touch, D: Moon, T: Individual) 
  Viper’s Lasting Kiss, 2 points, Init +0, Animal. 
  CrAq 20  
  The Lady‘s kiss or bite gains a venomous saliva, which 
  inflicts a Heavy wound. See ArM5, page 180. 
  (Base 15, R: Personal, D: Conc, T: Individual, Mastery 1
  (Penetration)) 
  Talons of Rending Wrath, 3 points, Init -1, Corpus. 
  MuCo 25 
  The Lady‘s hands become vicious claws, like that of a 
  bear. 
  (Base 10, R: Personal, D: Conc, T: Part, +1 added 
  sharpness) 
  Equipment: None 
  Vis: 6 pawns of Perdo in tail. 
  Appearance: The Lady of the Hills has a wild appearance 
  with fierce eyes, sharp fangs and the lower body of a great 
  serpent. Her hands grow to become sharp claws. 
  
  20 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  knight of Leon and pondered his next 
  option when the Knight‘s Demon 
  possessed him and began the process 
  of creating this mob of ruffians.  
  Their ramshackle encampment 
  takes up a space about 50 paces 
  square with four guard posts of two 
  guards. None of the guards take their 
  jobs seriously, regularly playing dice, 
  talking loudly, or drinking on duty. It 
  is not uncommon for one of the 
  sentinels to wander off to relieve 
  himself and later return.  
  They have a handful of horses, 
  used by one of the four scouts to 
  watch for pilgrims and then ride back 
  to alert the bandits. A regular tactic 
  involves a bandit joining a group of 
  travelers as a fellow pilgrim, leaving in 
  the night so that the bandits can 
  attack the following day. When 
  attacking, they engage enemies until 
  suffering eight or more casualties, 
  then retreat while trying to carry away 
  wounded. Dead or immediately 
  unrecoverable incapacitated bandits 
  are left behind to the mercy of the 
  defenders. 
  They shift camp locations every 
  three days, but never on a Sunday—
  on the demon‘s orders. They don‘t 
  have any particularly brilliant strategy; 
  they‘re really just a collection of thugs 
  assembled by the Knight‘s Demon. 
  Juan Miguel has the best tent and 
  stays in the center of the camp with 
  two possessed bodyguards. These 
  defenders never break morale and 
  fight to the death. 
  If someone ambushes and inflicts 
  five obvious casualties, other than 
  sentries, the group scatters and flees. 
  They regroup at one of their other 
  encampments in a week‘s time. 
  Bandit Statistics—There are 25 
  bandits other than Juan Miguel, use 
  stats for ―The Tough Guy‖ (See 
  ArM5 pg22.) 
  For Juan Miguel, use ―the 
  Grizzled Veteran,‖ but eliminate his 
  decrepitude and replace Order of 
  Hermes Lore with Infernal Lore. (See 
  ArM5 pg21.) 
  For statistics on the Knight‘s 
  Demon, see insert. To use these foes 
  as a mundane force, make them more 
  disciplined, with alert sentries and a 
  morale which breaks only after half 
  their number fall. 
   
  Bonebreaker, Giant and The Lady’s Lover 
  Magic Might: 25 
  Characteristics: Int +0, Per +1, Pre +0, Com -2, Str 
  +10, Sta +3, Dex +3, Qik -2 
  Size: +4 (14 ft / 4.25m and 2775lbs / 1261kg) 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Season: Summer 
  Virtues and Flaws: Magic Human; Improved 
  Characteristics, Intuition, Keen Vision, Puissant Stealth, 
  Sharp Ears, Tough, Warrior; Magical Monster; Baneful 
  Circumstances (when drunk), Fury (Lady‘s 
  Incapacitation), Overconfident, Weakness (wine), 
  Weakness (silver). 
  Magical Qualities: Gigantic (x3), Improved Damage 
  (thrown stones), Improved Might (x5) Improved Soak 
  (x2), Lesser Power (Stony Mien), Lesser Power (Stone in 
  Hand), Minor Virtue (Improved Characteristics x2) 
  Magical Inferiorities: Susceptible to Deprivation 
  Personality Traits: Devoted +2, Gluttonous +3, Greedy 
  +2, Violent +2 
  Reputations: None. 
  Combat: 
  Dodge: Init: +0, Attack N/A, Defense +1, Damage N/A 
  Fist: Init: -2, Attack +8, Defense +8, Damage +10 
  Kick: Init: –1, Attack +9, Defense +8, Damage +13 
  Cudgel: Init: -1, Attack +12, Defense +9, Damage +17 
  Thrown Stone: Init -2, Attack +9, Defense +8, Damage +15 
  Soak: +10 
  Fatigue levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: -1 (1–9), -3 (10-17), -5 (18–26), 
  Incapacitated (27–35) 
  Abilities: Area Lore 3 (Basque Country Hills), Awareness 
  4 (on watch), Brawl 5 (kicking), Guile 4 (Remaining Still), 
  Great Weapon 4 (cudgel), Spanish 3 (threats), Stealth 5 
  (moving quietly), Thrown Weapon 4 (stone) 
   
  Powers: 
  Stony Mien, 5 points, Init -3, Imaginem 
  MuIm 25 (Base 3, +4 for size, +2 Sun)  
  Bonebreaker can sit and take the semblance of a large 
  boulder. For sun duration, until Bonebreaker moves, he 
  looks, feels, and sounds like a rock. 
   
  Stone in Hand, 5 points, Init -3, Terram ReTe (Base 3, +1 
  for stone, +4 arcane, +1 part) Bonebreaker can reach into 
  the raw earth at any point, and pull out a large rough 
  stone, suitable for throwing as a weapon. 
  Equipment: Cyprus wood cudgel, hide armor 
  Encumbrance: 0 
  Vis: 5 pawns of Terram vis in heart. 
  Appearance: Nearly three times the height of an ordinary 
  man, Bonebreaker is a fearsome but ugly giant with a 
  hooked nose, a bushy brunette mane, and squinty black 
  eyes. He‘s dressed in a rough patchwork of filthy 
  sheepskins and scraps of crudely flattened, captured 
  armor. Bonebreaker wields a huge cudgel of cypress 
  wood, its end spiked with the broken blades of previous 
  foes. He keeps a sack made from the whole hide of an ox 
  and managed to fashion a pair of crude sandals out of two 
  crushed saddles. 
  
  21 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Story Seeds on the Road 
  To Gain the Grogs 
  Magi who purge the Knight‘s 
  Demon from Juan Miguel and have 
  no compunction employing some 
  questionable men could find an easy 
  addition to their turb. The issue lies in 
  finding a way to engage the Knight‘s 
  Demon without provoking the rest of 
  the gang into panicked retreat or 
  bloody melee. 
  Turn the Other Cheek 
  Simply slaughtering the bandits is 
  an elementary task for most magi. 
  Such bloodshed does nothing to stop 
  the Knight‘s Demon, who simply 
  causes Juan Miguel to flee or 
  abandons its pawn in search of 
  another. However, the Knight‘s 
  Demon is powerless against those 
  who willingly surrender to it, and 
  furiously expends its Might 
  attempting to provoke members of 
  the gang into attacking captives. 
  Those who can frustrate these tactics 
  and force the demon to exhaust its 
  Might discover a weakness unique to 
  this infernal creature— voluntarily 
  running out of Might points banishes 
  the Knight‘s Demon back to Hell. 
  The Road Remnant 
  Magic Aura: 1 
  Thick brush and long grass coat 
  this desolate section of rolling hills. 
  Hidden amongst the overgrowth lie 
  ruined portions of a Roman road—
  the Ab Asturica Burdigalam. Wolves 
  occasionally yip and howl, watching 
  from afar. A bold peasant might even 
  be found, seeking out bits of the road 
  to scavenge for building material. The 
  air feels heavy here, laden with some 
  unknown weight, as if one were 
  always under observation. 
  When the group approaches a 
  The Knight’s Demon 
  Order: Deluder 
  Infernal Might: 25  
  Characteristics: Int +0, Per +2, Pre +1, Com +2, Str +3, Sta 
  +3, Dex +3, Qik +3 
  Size: -2 
  Confidence Score: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Weakness (Unwilling to accept surrender) 
  Personality Traits: Credible +3, Cruel +3, Sly +2 
  Reputations: Deceitful +5, Vengeful +5, Vicious +5 
  Hierarchy: 3 
  Combat: 
  Fangs: Init +3, Attack +12, Defense +10, Damage +4 
  Shortsword: Init +5, Attack +11, Defense +9, Damage +8 
  Soak: +3 
  Fatigue Levels: OK, 0/0, -1/-1, -3, -5, Unconscious 
  Wound Penalties: -1 (1-3), -3 (4-6), -5 (7-9), Incapacitated (10-
  12) 
  Abilities: Brawl 5 (fangs), Charm 6 (convincing), Folk Ken 6 
  (sensing desire), Guile 6 (provoking anger), Leadership 6 (create 
  jealousy), Single Weapon 5 (short sword) 
  Powers: 
  Delusion, 1 or 5 points, Init +3, Imaginem: A consummate 
  deceiver, the Knight‘s Demon can create elaborate illusions. As 
  per RoP:tI, page 41. 
  Silver Tongue of Reasonable Lies, Variable points, Init +1, Mentum: 
  the Knight‘s Demon can duplicate any Hermetic Mentum spell. 
  This costs the demon 1 point of Might per magnitude. It cannot 
  create any effect with a level greater than its Infernal Might, or 
  duplicate ritual effects. 
  False Mettle, 4 points, Init +2, Corpus: the Knight‘s Demon grants 
  a target the benefit of Endurance the Berserkers for Sun 
  duration. 
  Fortify the Deluded, 5 points, Init +2, Corpus: the Knight‘s Demon 
  grants a target Gift of Bear‘s Fortitude for diameter duration. 
  Coagulation, 3 points, Init -1, Corpus: As per RoP:tI, page 31. 
  Obsession, 3 points, Init –5, Vim: Anger, Brutality, Greed. As per 
  Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 31. 
  Envisioning, 1 or 5 points, Init +0, Mentum: As per Realms of 
  Power: The Infernal, page 31. 
  Possession, variable, Init +2, Mentum: As per Realms of Power: The 
  Infernal, page 31. 
  Weakness: Protected Group (Pilgrims), Protected Group 
  (Surrendering Foes) 
  Vis: 5 pawns of Mentum, in its eyes. 
  Appearance: In its natural form, the Knight‘s Demon resembles 
  a pig‘s head with lupine features and a swollen hook-tipped 
  tongue, balanced upon two human-like hands—upon which it 
  walks like a spider. It conceals this appearance with an illusion of 
  an older man in farmer‘s garb carrying an implement of some 
  kind, a rooster, or a well-fed beagle. 
  The Knight‘s Demon stays close to St. James‘ Way, seeking out 
  the pilgrims and other travelers and attempting to corrupt them 
  or test their faith. The truly devout have little to worry from it 
  directly, but its favorite tactic is to find some less pious traveler 
  and fill the unfortunate victim‘s mind with thoughts of greed and 
  misplaced anger—driving them to attack its preferred targets. 
  AA  
    regular tactic involves a bandit joining a 
  regular tactic involves a bandit joining a 
  group of travelers as a fellow pilgrim, 
  group of travelers as a fellow pilgrim, 
  leaving in the night so that the bandits 
  leaving in the night so that the bandits 
  can attack the following day...
  can attack the following day...  
  
  22 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  small mile marker, barely visible in the 
  grass, Alphonso manifests and 
  attempts to lead someone to the rock 
  cleft containing his bones. He‘s quite 
  animated, and regularly seems to fend 
  off unseen attackers, re-enacting the 
  terrible flight he took before his 
  death. Once within 10 paces, he tries 
  to possess a member of the group 
  and explain his needs verbally. While 
  attempting to complete a long ritual 
  detailed within the encoded copy of 
  book five of the Codex Calixtinus, 
  wolves overcame him. He botched a 
  spell during his defense. The wolves 
  badly wounded him, and he died after 
  scrambling into the small cleft where 
  his bones now rest. 
  What exactly must be done to put 
  his spirit to rest is up to the 
  Storyguide. Two options are detailed 
  in Story Seeds below: 
  Story Seeds on the Road 
  Much Needed Rest 
  Alphonso was a pious man, 
  despite his magical background. He 
  desperately wanted to be buried with 
  the rest of his family in the cemetery 
  of the church near his home. If the 
  group is willing to transport his body 
  there and pay for his burial, he reveals 
  the key to deciphering the encoded 
  message within the Codex Calixtinus 
  volume. 
  The Long Path 
  Alphonso deeply desired to 
  complete the pilgrimage of the Way 
  of St. James once he‘d completed his 
  ritual research. If the group carries his 
  bones to the Cathedral of Compostela 
  and arranges for him to be buried in 
  the catacombs there, he reveals the 
  key to deciphering the encoded 
  message within the Codex Calixtinus 
  volume. 
  Either of these seeds helps enable 
  the other two encounters. 
  At night, wolves attack groups 
  camped out here. (See Realms of Power: 
  Magic, page 144 or the Mundane 
  Bestiary PDF) A magical wolf leads 
  the mundane wolves. (See ArM5, 
  page 193.)  
  For statistics on Alphonso, see  
  the nearby insert. 
  
  23 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  The Cathedral of Santiago de 
  Compostela 
  Dominion Aura: 5, 6 on the 
  Saint‘s Feast day of July 25th. 
  The Way of St. James terminates 
  at the beautifully constructed 
  Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. 
  Construction began in 1075 with the 
  majority completed in 1128 and its 
  consecration overseen by King 
  Alfonso IX of Leon. It holds a Holy 
  Year in years when the feast of St. 
  James falls on a Sunday. This privilege 
  was made permanent in 1179 by a 
  papal bull and is what elevates the 
  status of the cathedral to the same 
  level as Rome or Jerusalem. In 1122, 
  Pope Calixtinus II first granted the 
  archbishop of Compostella the 
  privilege of granting a plenary 
  indulgence to any who visited the 
  shrine of the Apostle in each Holy 
  year, or Jubilee year, when the saint‘s 
  day fell on a Sunday. While there, the 
  penitent must make their confession, 
  attend Mass, give a donation for the 
  upkeep of the shrine, and undertake a 
  vow to perform good works. The 
  years 1221, 1227, 1232, 1238, 1249 
  and 1255 are Jubilee years. Holy 
  Years at Compostella occur every 6, 
  5, 6, and 11 years. Confession and 
  communion remained essential to the 
  granting of the certificate of having 
  completed the pilgrimage. The 
  archbishop, or his designated officer, 
  hand-writes and seals such documents 
  with slips of paper attesting 
  confession and communion attached.  
  Entrance to the cathedral is 
  through the magnificent Pórtico de la 
  Gloria, carved in 1188 by Maestro 
  Mateo. The three doorways of the 
  shafts, tympana and archivolts offer 
  magnificent displays of painted 
  sculpture depicting the Last 
  Judgment. Prophets of the Old 
  Testament, including a smiling 
  Daniel, stand on one side. The arches 
  over the other side represent 
  Purgatory, with Christ in glory 
  presiding in the center. The Four 
  Evangelists flank Jesus and the twenty
  -four Elders of the Apocalypse 
  surround Him while playing musical 
  instruments. These doors produce 5 
  pawns of Divinely aligned Intelligo 
  vis when viewed in the light of the 
  dawn on the Feast day of St. James. 
  As the seat of the archbishop, the 
  cathedral has 1000 Build points which 
  might be spent on books, enchanted 
  items, relics, specialists and vis sites. 
  A suggested expenditure of these 
  points follows: 
  Books: 339 Points 
  The Cathedral keeps a sizeable 
  library, including two beautifully 
  Alphonso, Ghost of the Mercurian (Spectre) 
  Magic Might: 30 
  Characteristics: Int +3, Per +2, Pre +2, Com +2, Str -2, Sta +2, 
  Dex -2, Qik –2  
  Size: 0 
  Season: Spring 
  Virtues and Flaws: Magic Spirit; Magus; Arcane Lore, 
  Improved characteristics; Magic Monster; Driven, Mute. 
  Magical Qualities: Improved Initiative (x5), Improved Might 
  (x10), Improved Recovery, Improved Soak (x2), Lesser Power 
  (x2) 
  Magical Inferiorities: None. 
  Personality Traits: Cheerful +1, Pious +2 
  Reputations: None. 
  Combat: 
  Dodge: Init: -2, Attack N/A, Defense +3, Damage N/A 
  Fist: Init: -2, Attack +0, Defense +0, Damage -2 
  Kick: Init: –3, Attack +0, Defense +1, Damage +1 
  Soak: +6 
  Fatigue levels: N/A when nonphysical. OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, 
  Unconscious, when manifested. 
  Wound Penalties: N/A when nonphysical. -1 (1–5), -3 (6–10), -
  5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), when manifested. 
  Abilities: Area Lore 3 (Iberia), Artes Liberales 2 (Latin), Brawl 2 
  (dodge), Code of Hermes 1, Concentration 3 (remaining 
  conscious), Folk Ken 2 (adults), Italian 5 (mill terms), Latin 4 
  (Hermetic Terms), Magic Theory 3 (Longevity Rituals), 
  Penetration 3, Order of Hermes Lore 2 (Covenants) 
  Powers: 
  Display the Final Form, 1 points, Init +4, Imaginem: CrIm 2(Base 
  1, R:Personal, D:Conc, T: Ind) 
  Alphonso manifests a translucent image of himself as he was 
  torn apart by wolves. He may not speak through this image, only 
  gesture—and he must also reenact the events leading up to his 
  death, including the motions of his botched spellcasting.  
  Seize the Unwilling Mouthpiece, 4 points, Init +3, Corpus:  
  ReCo 20(Base 10, R:Eye, D:Conc, T: Ind) 
  Alphonso takes over a person and replaces their mental traits 
  with his own. He must spend the Might necessary for this power 
  to maintain it each round the possessed body is damaged. He 
  must be within 10 paces of his bones to use this power. 
  Equipment: None, Book 5 of the Codex Calixtinus is with his 
  bones, wrapped in oilskin. 
  Vis: 6 pawns of Mentum. 
  Appearance: Alphonso was an Italian magus interested in 
  improving his longevity ritual. He seemed to be about 50 and was 
  quite vain, taking great strides to maintain his thick, dark hair and 
  healthy physique. Now, in death, he appears to be translucent, 
  dressed in shredded, bloodied clothes and wearing a desperate 
  look. His throat is badly wounded. 
  
  24 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  illuminated bibles. Kept in a locked, 
  magical walnut chest detailed in the 
  Cathedral‘s enchanted items, the 
  books are released for review only 
  with permission of the senior priest 
  or the archbishop‘s secretary, and are 
  not allowed to leave the Cathedral. 
  The available books include: 
  Two copies of the Bible 
  (Theology Summa, Church Lore 
  Summa) L:10 Q:3, L:3 Q:3 [90 Points] 
  Parish Register  
  (Area Lore: Asturias Summa) L:5, 
  Q:5 [25 Points] 
  The Missal  
  (Church Lore Tractatus, Music 
  Tractatus) Q:8, 7 [15 Points] 
  Breviary 
  (Church Lore Tractatus) Q:10 [10 
  Points] 
  Historia Ecclesiastica Iberia  
  (Church Lore Summa) L:5 Q:10 
  [25 Points] 
   
  Codex Calixtinus, Folio IV 
  (Area Lore Tractatus) Q:8 [08 
  Points] 
  Historia Compostellana  
  (Area Lore: Northern Iberia 
  Summa) L:6 Q:7 [25 Points] 
  A rare copy of the Historia 
  Lausiaca  
  (Divine Lore Tractatus) Q:9 [9 
  Points] 
  Legenda sanctorum* 
  (Hagiographies and Divine Lore 
  Summa) L:4 Q:7 [27 Points] 
  Epilogus in gestis sanctorum*  
  (Hagiographies and Divine Lore 
  Tractatus) Q:10 [10 Points] 
  Matter of France  
  (Area Lore: Iberia, Area Lore: 
  Gaul Tractatus) Q:12 [12 Points] 
  Matter of England  
  (Area Lore: England, Faerie Lore 
  Tractatus) Q:10 [10 Points] 
   
  Matter of Rome  
  (Faerie Lore Tractatus, Magic Lore 
  Tractatus) Q:8, 8 [16 Points] 
  Roman d’Alixandre  
  (Area Lore: Thebes Tribunal 
  Summa, Magic Lore Summa) L:2 Q:5 
  [15 Points] 
  Le Roman de Troie 
  (Folk Ken Tractatus, Leadership 
  Tractatus) Q:10, 10 [20 Points] 
  Roman de Thèbes 
  (Magic Lore Tractatus) Q:8 [8 
  Points] 
  Digenes Akrites 
  (Area Lore: Asia Minor Tractatus, 
  Magic Lore Tractatus, in Greek) Q:7, 
  7 [14 Points] 
  Books noted with an asterisk did 
  not historically appear until after 
  1220, but it is not beyond 
  consideration that precursor, 
  equivalent texts existed which might 
  have inspired the future author. 
  Enchanted Items: 130 Points  
  The Cathedral has a number of 
  enchanted items either acquired from 
  Verditius magi through proxies, 
  claimed as spoils of war, or donated 
  by the devout. These items include: 
  A Large Copper Bell which  can 
  be clearly heard for miles 
  ReIm 35 
  R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind 
  Each time the bell is rung, its peal 
  is perfectly audible up to 10 miles 
  away until it fades away naturally. 
  (Base 10, +1 Touch, +1 Sun, +5 
  maint conc, +10 Unlimited times per 
  day) 
  A Bronze Censor which keeps 
  the rectory comfortable  
  CrAu 20 
  R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind 
  This censor, when swung gently 
  from side to side, makes the air in the 
  
  25 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  room crisp and fresh, very pleasant 
  and about 70 degrees Fairenheit for 
  Sun duration. 
  (Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 
  unnatural, +1 Ig req, +10 Unlimited 
  times per day) 
  A Walnut Chest which protects 
  the books against the environment  
  ReAn 15 
  R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind 
  Books kept within this chest are 
  kept in pristine condition. It does not 
  repair serious damage to books, but 
  prevents them from suffering minor 
  wear or fading over time. 
  (Base 1, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 
  He req, +10 Unlimited times per day) 
  A Brass Fountainhead which 
  keeps the water cool 
  MuAq 20 
  R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind 
  (Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Ig 
  req, +10 Unlimited times per day) 
  Shaped like a cherub holding an 
  urn, this item cools water it touches, 
  making it refreshing and chilled. 
  The Pillar which relieves a 
  Fatigue level 
  ―Come to me, all who labor and are 
  heavy laden, and I will give you rest.‖ 
  Transcendence, Purity, Level 40 
  R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind 
  Called St. James‘ Pillar, the 
  provenance of this Divinely 
  enchanted item is unknown, but its 
  benefits are renowned amongst 
  pilgrims. Those who pray at the pillar, 
  placing their hands and forehead to 
  the stone column, find a Fatigue level 
  restored. A constant stream of 
  pilgrims means no one generally 
  benefits from this item more than 
  once per day. 
  (Base 25, +1 Touch, +10 
  Unlimited times per day) 
   
  Relics: 81 Points  
  The crypt, beneath the main altar, 
  houses the relics of Saint James and 
  two of his disciples, Saint Theodorus 
  and Saint Athanasius. The cathedral‘s 
  Chapel of the Reliquary contains a 
  gold crucifix, dated to 874, which 
  holds a piece of the True Cross. 
  The Relics of Saint James  
  These include the saint‘s skull and 
  bones. The skull has a small, square 
  fragment, which has broken away 
  from the rest of the bone, but still fits 
  snugly into the space. The remains are 
  said to have arrived in Compostella, 
  carried by angels in an unmanned, 
  rudderless boat to Iberia. There, the 
  relics were enclosed in a massive rock 
  which later split open and revealed 
  themselves to the bishop of 
  Compostella. 
  The Relics of St. James have 5 
  Faith points and a Divine Might of 
  Plan of Santiago de Compostela as it would have been in the 
  late 12th century 
  
  26 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  50. In addition to the usual powers of 
  relics (See Realms of Power: The Divine, 
  page 45), the relics are known to have 
  powers involving evangelism, 
  inspiration of zeal & fervor, and 
  granting wisdom in punishment. They 
  cost 30 Build points. 
  The Relics of St. James’ 
  disciples, Saint Theodorus and 
  Saint Athanasius.  
  This is a collection of three relics, 
  the remains of St. Theodorus, the 
  shawl of St. Theodorus, and the 
  smaller remains of St. Athanasius. 
  These relics have respective potencies 
  of 3, 1, and 2 Faith points and Divine 
  Might of 30, 10, and 20. They each 
  have an additional power to the usual 
  powers of relics; they are known for 
  relieving pain, granting Visions, and 
  inspiring the bearer when persuading 
  others. These relics cost a collected 
  total of 25 Build points. 
  Reliquary contains a gold 
  crucifix, dated to 874, which holds 
  a piece of the True Cross. 
  S a i n t  H e l e n a ,  E m p e r o r 
  Constantine‘s mother, sought and 
  found the Christ‘s burial place. She 
  had the existing temple destroyed and 
  the Sepulchre uncovered, where she 
  discovered three crosses and the 
  titulus from the crucifixion. The 
  leader of her guard, a Legionnaire 
  named Macarius, had the three 
  crosses placed in turn on a deathly ill 
  woman. The touch of the third cross 
  miraculously healed the woman, and 
  it was declared the True Cross. This 
  fragment was verified by Pope 
  Marinus. 
  A relic with 6 Faith points and a 
  Divine Might of 60, the True Cross is 
  known to have healing powers in 
  addition to the usual powers of relics 
  (See Realms of Power: The Divine, page 
  45). It costs 26 Build points.  
  Specialists: 175 Points 
  The Cathedral has 175 points of 
  tradesmen and professionals at its 
  disposal. Such craftsmen include 
  b o o k b in d er s ,  b r i ck m as o n s , 
  carpenters, goldsmiths, painters, 
  scribes, sculptors, stonemasons, and 
  tanners. The clergy can find nearly 
  any appropriate craftsman within a 
  four day period. The leader of the 
  clergy here is best represented using 
  the Priest companion. (See ArM5, 
  page 23.) He would be willing to bury 
  Alphonso‘s bones in exchange for the 
  volume of the Codex Calixtinus, a 
  copy or an equivalent text. The 
  archbishop is not currently at the 
  Cathedral, unless this is the Saint‘s 
  Feast Day. His secretary might be 
  represented by the Brother Elias 
  Bonibarone, who is responsible for 
  generating the pilgrimage certificates. 
  Use the statistics from The Church, 
  page 133. 
  Vis: 100 Points 
  The Cathedral controls a site 
  which produces 5 pawns of Creo vis, 
  in addition to the vis created by the 
  Portico de la Gloria each year. A 
  former faerie dolmen on a church 
  property produces 5 pawns of Aquam 
  vis with the runoff of the first Spring 
  melt. Large insects shed their whole 
  exoskeletons on the branches of a 
  wild mulberry bush on a different 
  property, which may be collected as 3 
  pawns of Muto vis. Finally, a pair of 
  small menhir, standing on the seaside, 
  generate 2 pawns of either Aurum or 
  Imaginem vis on the Summer 
  Equinox—the day‘s weather 
  determines the type; if any kind of 
  storm rages, the vis is Aurum. If the 
  day is clear, then the whistling of the 
  wind through the stones at noon 
  generates 2 pawns of Imaginem vis. 
  The churchmen do not gather the vis 
  and are not aware of the nature of 
  these sites. The Cathedral may control 
  other vis sources as appropriate for 
  your saga. 
  The Cathedral has 175 build 
  points remaining for customization. It 
  might have more specialists at its 
  disposal, possess more vis sites or 
  enchanted items, or even have a larger 
  library (see ArM5, page 71-72 for the 
  respective costs; enchanted items cost 
  1 point/level of effect). It is possible 
  the Cathedral has a few more minor 
  relics associated with local saints. 
  These would have no more than 2 
  Faith points and a single power 
  beyond those normally associated 
  with relics. See The Church, page 49 
  for details, but relics with 1 Faith 
  What is the Pilgrimage Path? 
  The Pilgrimage along the Way of St. James was one of the few 
  ways to earn a plenary indulgence—a full pardon of temporal sin. 
  The others were pilgrimages to Jerusalem or to Rome by way of 
  the Via Francigena. The Church discusses pilgrimages in detail, and 
  Wikipedia has some useful references on the road and other 
  aspects of this material: 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James_
  (route_descriptions)  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Way 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Compostela 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Year 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_de_la_Calzada 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Calixtinus 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ab_Asturica_Burdigalam 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrespil 
  The scallop shell symbol is prominent all along Way of St. James, 
  representing the return of St. James‘ body from the sea, the 
  convergence of many pilgrim paths in Compostela and some also 
  claim that it has a more ancient link to pagan fertility cults of 
  Venus or Astarte as well as the Basque legends associated with 
  the builders of stone circles. Pilgrims would use the shells as cups 
  or bowls and afterwards, it served as the symbol of their 
  completed journey. 
  
  27 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  point cost 1 build point, and relics 
  with 2 Faith points cost 3 build 
  points. Add 5 build points if the relics 
  have an additional holy power. 
  Other Story Seeds 
  Tower of Hercules 
  This structure, just outside 
  Compostela, claims to be one of the 
  oldest lighthouses in Europe—its 
  design mirroring that of the 
  Lighthouse of Alexandria. Those 
  seeking to unlock the mysteries of 
  Hermetic Architecture (TMRE, pg 
  97) may consider visiting it as part of 
  their research, as travel to Galacia 
  does not require passing through the 
  Strait of Gibraltar and running the 
  gauntlet of the Moorish pirates that 
  hunt there. 
  The Lost Sodale 
  A Quaesitor magus approaches 
  members of the covenant. One of his 
  sodales, Alphonso, recently took a 
  trip into Iberia and has not returned, 
  though Alphonso‘s pet crow has. 
  Intelligo magics targeting the bird 
  indicate something might have 
  happened, but exactly what is unclear. 
  The magus cannot quit his current 
  project to search for Alphonso and 
  doesn‘t want the trail to go cold. 
  Would the magi pick up the 
  investigation? 
  Pious Magi and Pilgrimages 
  Traveling the Way of St. James is a 
  pilgrimage on par with traveling to 
  Rome or Jerusalem. A magus seeking 
  enlightenment might depart from any 
  one of the starting points in France, 
  Germany, or the Netherlands and 
  make the trip on foot to Compostela 
  and the sepulcher of St. James the 
  Greater, possibly arriving on St. 
  James‘ feast day, July 25th. 
  Rewards and 
  Developments 
  The Lamia 
  With the monster defeated, it 
  might be possible to free the children 
  trapped within her gullet by breaking 
  the enchantment which keeps them 
  transformed into stones. Restored 
  children may return to grateful 
  townsfolk who can later provide 
  services to the covenant. Orphans 
  might join the covenant. Over the 
  years, the Lady and Bonebreaker have 
  likely acquired a number of 
  interesting items and bits of mundane 
  wealth—possibly including some 
  device sought by the magi. There is, 
  of course, the vis in their bodies and 
  their stone circle, which generates 
  Vim vis each spring equinox. 
  The Lamia and Bonebreaker do 
  not pursue enemies beyond the local 
  area, but nurse a grudge until 
  someone destroys them. 
  The Demon 
  Magi able to banish or destroy the 
  Knight‘s Demon might gain a bit of 
  Divine gratitude, as Saint Dominic de 
  la Calzada rejoices in the creature‘s 
  demise. The responsible characters 
  could gain the benefit of the 
  Intuition, Luck or Guardian Angel 
  virtues for a season or longer. If 
  nonlethal means were used to defeat 
  them, the bandits might be persuaded 
  to serve as grogs. The Knight‘s 
  Demon also has a collection of 
  (possibly tainted?) vis. 
  If the Knight‘s Demon is only 
  driven away, it rebuilds its band of 
  thugs and begins to torment magi 
  responsible, granting those involved 
  the Enemies flaw. 
  The Ghost 
  Those able to properly meet the 
  demands of Alphonso‘s spectre and 
  place his spirit to rest should acquire 
  his book, a copy of the fifth book of 
  the Codex Calixtinus. Encoded within 
  its pages are the rituals, sites, and 
  process necessary for adding a bonus 
  of +3 to one‘s longevity ritual. The 
  ghost explains the key to deciphering 
  the folio‘s secrets and departs. 
  It is possible that Alphonso 
  belonged to some sort of Mystery cult 
  or Societas, such as the Cult of Sol 
  Invictus (Realms of Power: The Divine, 
  page 70) or one attempting to 
  reconcile the Divine and the Magic 
  realms. This cult may later seek out 
  the book. 
  If magi claim the Codex folio 
  without Alphonso‘s permission or 
  destroy Alphonso‘s spectre, it reforms 
  a week later and begins to haunt them 
  until they bury his bones in a 
  consecrated graveyard and return 
  Book 5 of the Codex Calixtinus to a 
  magus named in a letter held between 
  its pages. They gain a minor version 
  of the Plagued by Supernatural Entity 
  flaw. 
  W
  W  
  ith the monster defeated, it might be 
  ith the monster defeated, it might be 
  possible to free the children trapped 
  possible to free the children trapped 
  within her gullet by breaking the 
  within her gullet by breaking the 
  enchantment which keeps them 
  enchantment which keeps them 
  transformed into stones...
  transformed into stones...  
  
  28 
   
   
  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:  
  The Tribunal has now broken 
  from its main session and I 
  consider that Donum Chanuti has 
  done well for itself out of the 
  proceedings. 
  There were a number of issues 
  that were brought before council, 
  few of which, truth be told, had 
  any connection with Donum 
  Chanuti or its interests. 
  On the issue, brought by the 
  Quaesitors, of banning magically 
  conjured silver being introduced 
  into the Tribunal‘s economy 
  Bellatorius suggested that two 
  pounds of magically created silver 
  for each covenant inhabitant 
  should be permitted each year. 
  Such an amount, he reasoned, 
  was sufficient to provide basic 
  p r o v i s i o n i n g  
  w h i l e  
  n o t 
  overburdening local Lords 
  through inflation. The Tribunal 
  embraced this compromise with 
  enthusiasm. It seems that 
  Bellatorius is a canny politician as 
  well as being an accomplished 
  worker of magic. 
  The accusations against 
  B l a c k t h o r n  
  b y  
  V o l u n t a s 
  From The Journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens 
  
  29 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  concerning the poisoned sheep 
  seemed even more ill-considered 
  when voiced before the council. 
  The facts were stated as follows, 
  that the magi of Voluntas were 
  alerted to the death of their 
  sheep. On investigating through 
  means magical and mundane, they 
  determined that the small stream 
  from which the beasts drank had 
  been poisoned by an unnatural 
  brew. Voluntas claimed that the 
  magical sigil of Goliard had been 
  detected in the magic. 
  The Quaesitors (including 
  Valeria of Donum Chanuti) 
  investigated and, to Goliard‘s 
  favour, found no trace of any 
  magical sigil; it seemed then that 
  Blackthorn had nothing to answer 
  to. Personally, I consider the 
  connection between Blackthorn 
  and the Quaesitors too strong, 
  and as there is little to commend 
  the trusting of an investigating 
  Quaesitor I saw no reason to 
  dismiss the case outright. 
  I proposed instead that as 
  Voluntas had been wronged in 
  s o m e  
  w a y  
  b y  
  a g e n t s 
  undiscovered, that there should 
  be further investigation of the 
  matter. Voluntas appeared to take 
  this compromise in the spirit in 
  which it was intended and 
  Blackthorn found itself unable to 
  object lest they bring suspicion 
  back on them. 
  The dispute between Schola 
  Pythagoranis and Ungulus over 
  an undiscovered but rumoured 
  Vis source took longer than 
  necessary, thanks in large part to 
  the magi of Schola treating the 
  event as an opportunity to cover 
  every corner of learning that they 
  had ever encountered. 
  Very quickly the debate 
  became mired by an open 
  examin ation of Code and 
  Periphery concerning Vis rights, 
  Hermetic and Mundane property 
  l a w  a s  p e r t a i n s  E n g l a n d 
  (including a discussion on 
  whether Saxon or Norman law 
  prevailed – before concluding 
  that in this instance little of note 
  separated the two and that the 
  distinction could be set aside) and 
  a debate on whether finding the 
  description of the location and its 
  Vis is sufficient to claim 
  discovery or whether the location 
  itself must be visited in order to 
  claim that right. 
  As Astrolabe of Schola 
  Pythagoranis was, presumably, 
  about to suggest a further recap 
  of land allocations given what 
  had been learned during the 
  previous hour‘s discussion, I 
  opted to join the process. 
  I offered the motion that 
  further debate on the issue would 
  be conducted better when the 
  council could be afforded the full 
  facts, namely whether the 
  rumoured Vis source actually 
  existed, where and when it could 
  be found, how many Pawns it 
  yielded and whether either 
  Covenant still laid claim to that 
  same source. As incentive to the 
  council I suggested that Benedic 
  was supremely qualified to search 
  the subject forest for the source 
  and  report back  to both 
  Covenants. 
  Gerfallon of Criamon, showed 
  that his smile, in truth, held little 
  good humour towards the 
  younger magi of Donum Chanuti. 
  The magus we had trusted with 
  conveying us to the Tribunal took 
  pains to belittle Benedic‘s 
  encounter with the wood spirit 
  on our journey. 
  I rebutted his accusations as 
  best I could with recourse to 
  s h i f t i n g  
  b l a m e  
  f o r  
  t h e 
  unfortunate outcome away from 
  Benedic and onto ―his travelling 
  companions‖, by which I meant 
  Bellatorius and myself, who could 
  have found a more conciliatory 
  way to solve the situation. 
  This was accepted with some 
  conditions attached, which 
  Benedic must agree upon with 
  both affected Covenants. 
  The final issue to be brought 
  before the council was the Maga 
  Julia of Jerbiton‘s call for a 
  separate Tribunal hall to be built 
  and maintained on ground neutral 
  of any Covenant. London was 
  mentioned as a candidate 
  location. Personally, I care little 
  for Tribunals. I can stomach an 
  occasional journey to Blackthorn 
  and one seat is just as hard as 
  another. I voted for the motion 
  as I had no pressing need to do 
  otherwise. 
  But I can see what will 
  happen. Despite being neutral, 
  discord will soon be borne of 
  concord as one Covenant or 
  another believes it is paying too 
  much or is too far away or some 
  other invented grievance. Once 
  the hall has been dragged into 
  existence from the bitter will of 
  the Tribunal it will soon become 
  a focus for largesse as each 
  Covenant seeks to bestow the 
  b es t  an d  m o s t  exp en s iv e 
  adornments and outfittings. 
  Before long we will become 
  hopelessly ensnared in foreign 
  silks just walking from door to 
  PP  
  ersonally, I care little for Tribunals. I can 
  ersonally, I care little for Tribunals. I can 
  stomach an occasional journey to 
  stomach an occasional journey to 
  Blackthorn and one seat is just as hard as 
  Blackthorn and one seat is just as hard as 
  another...
  another...  
  
  30 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  chair, every bit as a rabbit is 
  caught by the generosity of the 
  poacher. At the first sign of 
  golden door handles I hereby vow 
  to proxy my sigil to the first who 
  asks. 
  As for my own interests, after 
  much effort and very little sleep I 
  completed the proposal for the 
  Unseen Opponent last night. I 
  presented it to Golias who 
  appeared skeptical that such a 
  device could be made to work to 
  all, though Conrad assures me 
  that he was merely ―angling for a 
  deal‖ as he put it. 
  In truth I realise the purchase 
  cost is high but I can do nothing 
  about that. House Verditius 
  imposes such a high tariff that 
  many devices that could be 
  popular are unnaturally restricted. 
  True enough, the high tariff 
  ensures that all within the House 
  are granted fitting payment for 
  the superior services that we are 
  able to provide, but in exchange 
  for that we must send out our 
  agents to attempt sales of devices 
  that we know full-well cost but a 
  third of the asked-for price. 
  Other magi with a leaning 
  towards items, even without the 
  Verditius secrets we safeguard, 
  are able to charge less for a 
  device that may cost them more 
  than us to make and walk away 
  with both profit and reputation. 
  One day I hope to have such 
  understanding of my House and 
  its policies that I will come to 
  accept such a high margin. Until 
  then I must conform to the line 
  and bite my tongue when 
  thoughts of charging a slight 
  amount cross my mind. 
  In any case, Conrad says he 
  has a number of ideas on how 
  Golias may be tempted into the 
  commission. Thankfully, that is 
  his remit and so long as he keeps 
  my affairs on the correct side of 
  the Verditius line I am content to 
  let him manage them as he sees 
  fit. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  We left Blackthorn early this 
  morning. I awoke having endured 
  dreams and waking thoughts all 
  night concerning my sanctum. My 
  faculties would not alight from 
  the notion that there had been an 
  accident, or a fire left to run 
  unchecked or worse that my tools 
  may have been rearranged into 
  some other order thought 
  sensible by Halbert. I have not 
  confessed these thoughts to 
  Conrad as he would only chide 
  me for ―mithering‖ – a word 
  Tostig tells me he acquired from 
  some of the northern companions 
  and has since been using with 
  some regularity.  
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  As noted in earlier pages of 
  this journal, I have completed the 
  attunement of my talisman to my 
  person. From all the works I 
  previously read on the subject of 
  talismans I understood the strong 
  physical pull I feel to the spear to 
  lessen over time. I have not yet 
  experienced this and the feeling 
  that I and the spear are one is as 
  strong now as it was when the 
  dam first broke and our essences 
  ran together. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  Benedic has announced that he 
  will be leaving for Sherwood 
  Forest in the spring. He has 
  apparently agreed that one magus 
  from each of Schola Pythagoranis 
  and Voluntas will accompany him 
  in his search for their contested 
  Vis source. 
  
  31 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  I have not yet offered but I am 
  tempted to go also. Not from any 
  sense of adventure, of course, but 
  of responsibility; I offered 
  Benedic‘s service in this matter 
  and if he must waste a season on 
  the pursuit, then so should I. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  The servants have packed my 
  travelling things into my coach, 
  Driver Tom has hooked up the 
  horses and Tostig is ready. I find 
  myself not so ready. My studies 
  on Bonisagus‘ grand theory have 
  gone well this last season but I 
  s t i l l  h a v e  a  n u m b e r  o f 
  experiments not yet complete. I 
  am waiting for Halbert to return 
  so I can remind him to stay away 
  from the north corner. 
  Conrad is not here. He is in 
  Rye or Winchelsea. He has 
  promised to wait for word from 
  Golias on whether he desires the 
  commission. When word is 
  r e c e i v e d  I  c a n  e xp e c t  a 
  messenger. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  Julia and Lumen have led us to 
  Sherwood Forest where a forester 
  took us to a place where a 
  number of people are said to have 
  disappeared. 
  Roger de Coursey, a singer of 
  songs known to Donum, seems to 
  know of this forester, as does 
  Tostig and Lumen‘s turb. I do 
  not think I have heard of this 
  Loxley. 
  The food this night was simple 
  and had little taste. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  Benedic made contact with 
  Sherwood‘s Genius Locus. The 
  forester, Robin, claims the spirit 
  is Herne, a fact that will possibly 
  aid us as we have previously 
  encountered an aspect of Herne. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  It appears that the spirit 
  desires adoration. It also claims 
  to have no name. But most 
  intriguingly, the spirit seems to 
  banish iron from its presence. My 
  suspicions are that we are 
  working within a fairy woods and 
  that the spirit Benedic has 
  contacted is a powerful fairy. 
  Roger de Coursey found 
  himself ejected from the spirit‘s 
  presence when he apparently 
  expressed an inward prayer to 
  God while in the higher Regio 
  level. He still nurses his head and 
  the songs he had been singing are 
  not to be heard. 
  I found myself having to chide 
  Benedic for his probing of the 
  forester‘s inner thoughts tonight. 
  Benedic seems intent on finding 
  pagan sympathies wherever he 
  looks. As I explained to him, the 
  old ways are old; their time has 
  passed. The most he can hope for 
  is that some such as he continue 
  to remember and revere the old 
  ways and the spirits and ensure 
  that they are never forgot. This 
  apparent desire to replace the 
  true faith with a widespread 
  supplication to spirits is at best 
  doomed to failure and at worst 
  dangerous. He will have to be 
  watched. 
   
  Extract from the journal of 
  Vulcanis Argens: 
  W e  
  h a v e  
  h a d  f u r t h e r 
  discussions this morning on what 
  we need to achieve within the 
  woods. Both Lumen and Julia 
  appear content to let us solve this 
  problem in its entirety. Benedic is 
  enjoying his time on stage as we 
  are lost without him. I, on the 
  other hand, am a little more 
  uncertain. It would not surprise 
  me to find both Julia and Lumen 
  have instructions to let the 
  venture succeed or fail off the 
  back of Donum Chanuti. 
  Regardless, Lumen‘s turb were 
  deemed unworthy by the spirit 
  and so our first suggestion, that 
  we could, bit-by-bit, support the 
  old rituals and devotions in direct 
  exchange for Vis was rejected by 
  the spirit. 
  Our second suggestion was to 
  create a saintly persona around 
  the spirit and so support 
  Christian devotion to this new 
  saint. I confess, this is another of 
  my ideas that I am growing more 
  uneasy with. 
  Roger has at least recovered 
  somewhat from his assault and 
  has been considering stories 
  about this new saint that could be 
  spread. 
  But I am concerned. I stood 
  before it and sensed its power, 
  power enough to strip my 
  talisman from my grasp. To give 
  this creature Christian validity 
  could be a very grave mistake… 
  BB  
  enedic seems intent on finding pagan 
  enedic seems intent on finding pagan 
  sympathies wherever he looks. As I explained 
  sympathies wherever he looks. As I explained 
  to him, the old ways are old; their time has 
  to him, the old ways are old; their time has 
  passed...
  passed...  
  
  32 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Grey Thornberry is a name well-
  known to players of Ars Magica, 
  having contributed numerous books 
  covers and pages of internal artwork 
  over the years. Barely a new release 
  goes by without Grey‘s contribution 
  enriching the experience somewhere 
  along the way. But who is he, what‘s 
  he done, and how does he work? We 
  take a look behind the curtain and 
  learn a little about the artist at work. 
  Can you tell us a little bit 
  about your background? 
  I grew up mainly in the south-
  eastern US (Tennessee, Florida, 
  Maryland), and knew from early on 
  that I wanted to be an artist. When 
  other kids were begging their parents 
  for toys or candy, I was the kid 
  begging for a sketchbook and pencils. 
  Comics and an early love for D&D 
  also contributed to my delinquency. 
  You mentioned D&D - are 
  you still a gamer? 
  I used to be an avid gamer but the 
  pressures of family and work have 
  pushed that to the margins. These 
  days if I pick up a game it‘s usually 
  just to admire the art, I rarely get to 
  spend any time playing through the 
  material. 
  How long have you been a 
  professional artist and how 
  did you break into the design 
  and illustration industry? 
  I‘ve worked as an artist off and on 
  for over 15 years, sometimes as staff, 
  sometimes as a freelancer. I‘ve 
  worked with video game companies, 
  silkscreen studios, tattoo parlors, the 
  children‘s market, book covers, and 
  of course the RPG/Fantasy market. 
  A lot of people starting out 
  in a creative industry have 
  to balance other jobs to pay 
  the bills. Is that your 
  experience too? 
  I definitely ran through a gamut of 
  staff jobs alongside my illustration 
  career. I‘ve been fortunate enough 
  that most of those have been in 
  creative fields so I was able to 
  develop skills that are complementary 
  my artwork. Like learning advanced 
  Photoshop, type design, etc. 
  Were you working with 
  Atlas Games before Ars 
  Magica? 
  Atlas Games gave me my very first 
  gig in the games market. I started 
  working with them years ago on their 
  On The Edge card line, and have 
  been on their roster ever since. I have 
  to say they‘re fantastic people to work 
  for, I‘m grateful for the experience 
  and feel a strong loyalty to them. 
  There seems to be more 
  demand for RPG/Fantasy 
  artwork than ever. Is there 
  more work or is the craft 
  becoming commoditised? 
  I think while the growth of the 
  industry has created more job 
  opportunities for artists, the parallel 
  growth of digital painting with 
  programs like Photoshop and Painter 
  has given an unprecedented number 
  of people the ability to jump into the 
  market. Essentially, anyone with a 
  Wacom tablet and a bit of talent can 
  take their shot. That‘s ultimately a 
  good thing, but it does make for a 
  very crowded field. 
  How flexible do you need to 
  be with regard to style? 
  The answer to that question is 
  double-sided, I think. An artist needs 
  Magical Art: 
  An Interview with Grey Thornberry 
  By Mark Lawford 
  
  33 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  to be flexible in order to change and 
  grow with the fluctuating needs of the 
  market, definitely. But at the same 
  time developing a strong, fixed style is 
  important so you don‘t get lost in the 
  crowd. If it‘s distinct enough, your 
  style becomes your brand and the 
  market will chase you, rather than 
  vice versa. 
  Do you get pleasure from 
  your work or do you find 
  yourself needing to detach 
  from it? 
  Both, really. You have to be 
  capable of some detachment and 
  professionalism to be able to bring 
  your efforts in line with the client‘s 
  needs, ego or preciousness can get in 
  the way of that. But I love what I do 
  and put a lot of my self into it, 
  nothing makes me feel so good as 
  putting together a really good piece 
  and getting a little recognition. On the 
  flip side, nothing makes me feel 
  worse than not meeting my goal in a 
  piece, or getting some harsh criticism. 
  An artist‘s ego can be a motivator but 
  a vulnerability too. 
  Could you give us an insight 
  into the tools you use? Are 
  you a pencil and paper man 
  or do you work straight to 
  electronic media? 
  I love digital painting, in spite of 
  what I said about it leading to 
  industry overcrowding, the tools 
  available to an artist are more 
  powerful and far-reaching than ever 
  before. Photoshop, Painter, and what 
  Wacom‘s done with pressure sensitive 
  pens and monitors, it‘s just amazing. 
  It‘s an exciting time to be an 
  illustrator and have this amazing tech 
  at your disposal. 
  That said, I‘ll never give up paper 
  and pencil. All of my work starts out 
  in a sketchbook, I need to feel that 
  real world connection between the 
  image and my hand. Once the 
  drawing‘s done, however, I go right 
  into Photoshop for every other step 
  of the process. 
  What canvas size do you 
  work against for the Ars 
  Magica covers? How much 
  space do you give yourself? 
  My formula is to typically work 
  actual size, in terms of dimensions, 
  but at double the pixel count needed 
  for the final. In other words, if it‘s 
  going to print as a 5.75" circle at 300 
  dpi. I‘ll work 5.75" at 600 dpi. That‘s 
  really where you get the extra real 
  estate when you‘re working digitally, 
  zooming in, etc. It may sound 
  backwards, but it works for me. 
  And when you work on 
  interior art, what sort of 
  size does each piece come in 
  at before it is passed to 
  Atlas Games? 
  Typically the same formula as 
  above. 
  How far in advance do you 
  see the schedule and how 
  long do you typically have to 
  work on a piece? 
  Atlas has always been good about 
  schedules and deadlines, typically 
  giving me a month or more between 
  assignment and completion. Rarely, 
  things have to move faster to fit a 
  certain publishing schedule. 
  What kind of guidance do 
  you get before starting and 
  what feedback do you get 
  along the way? 
   
  Atlas is particular in that they give 
  very specific, in depth guidance on 
  the look, accuracy and content of all 
  of their projects. For a fantasy genre, 
  Ars Magica is very concerned with 
  historical accuracy, style of dress, 
  gender and race representation, etc. 
  The brief for any given project is 
  usually full of links to clothing, 
  weaponry and architecture reference. 
  Does that work the same for 
  both covers and for interior 
  artwork? 
  No, I think the interiors are 
  typically more freeform and 
  experimental. That‘s usually where I 
  can have fun with action and 
  creature/monster design, not because 
  they care less about accuracy on the 
  interior illos, but they seem to have 
  more fun with them. 
  
  34 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Which cover should we 
  particularly look out for? 
  Which one is your favourite 
  and why? 
  That‘s a hard question! I hope my 
  next one will always be the best and 
  favorite, how‘s that for a politically 
  correct answer. 
  Have the authors ever given 
  you a brief that’s left you 
  scratching your head? 
   
  Ha ha, absolutely, and more than 
  once! I think it‘s your aforementioned 
  love of detail and accuracy that can 
  lead to some very complex image 
  descriptions. I love the challenge 
  though, and we always seem to find a 
  happy medium in the end. 
  Are you able to tell us what 
  you are working on at 
  present? Where should we 
  look for your next published 
  pieces? 
  I have two covers lined up for Ars 
  Magica, and hopefully more interiors 
  if time permits. The rest of my 
  energies are being spent in magazine 
  production right now, so I‘ve cooled 
  my heels a bit chasing games 
  freelance. Temporarily, I‘m sure! 
  What kind of setup would 
  you recommend to someone 
  looking to develop their 
  artwork? 
  I‘d recommend a Wacom Intuos 
  (no larger than Medium, bigger tablets 
  just get in the way) and Photoshop 
  ($$$) or Painter ($). There‘s cheaper 
  to be had (a Wacom Bamboo tablet, 
  and maybe ArtRage Pro) but that‘s 
  kind of like buying a cheap brush and 
  student grade paints. You‘ll get your 
  feet wet but if you‘re serious you‘ll 
  outgrow them quickly - better to 
  make the initial investment and make 
  it only once. 
  ―After  the kids came 
  along I gave up my larger 
  work space for their room. 
   ―Although I have less 
  work area now, the switch 
  to a completely digital 
  workflow makes up for it. 
  I'm actually using far more 
  ‗virtual‘ workspace now…‖  
  To see more of Grey‘s work 
  and keep up to date, check 
  out his blog over at:  
  www.greythornberry.blogspo
  t.com 
  And you can follow him on 
  twitter at:  
  @grey_thornberry 
  
  35 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  The theme was to create 
  a 
  stained-glass 
  window 
  motif with this cover and 
  the initial sketch already 
  shows the outlines of some 
  bold shapes, just as you‘d 
  see the lead marking out 
  areas of stained glass. 
  The Artist at 
  Work 
  Grey shares with us some of his work-in-
  progress shots for the covers of two recent 
  releases, The Church and Rival Magic so that you 
  can see how the pieces develop from sketch 
  through to final cut. 
  The Initial Sketch 
  
  36 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  The Inked Version 
  You might have noticed 
  a few small changes from 
  the initial sketch. 
  1) 
  The church has 
  lost its crucifixes, 
  gaining 
  simpler 
  shapes 
  at 
  its 
  corners instead. 
  2) 
  There are now 
  two nights on the 
  horse. 
  3) 
  The 
  bearded 
  figure to the left 
  of the piece has 
  lost his bible. 
  4) 
  The bible moves 
  across 
  to 
  the 
  central 
  figure 
  instead. 
  5) 
  The 
  nun 
  no 
  longer has her 
  hands 
  held 
  in 
  front of her in 
  prayer. 
  The inked version, while 
  adding important detail, still 
  deals with the broad shapes 
  put down in the sketch. 
  
  37 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  The Best 
  Yet? 
  Grayscale Tones Laid Down 
  While 
  there 
  are 
  no 
  compositional changes in this 
  next version of the piece, the 
  subtle shading applied to the 
  larger ―flat‖ areas of the design 
  start to suggest the lead and 
  glass construction of a church 
  window. 
  The hard black circle 
  provides 
  the 
  image‘s 
  boundary. This provides 
  the exact canvas area that 
  Grey needs to work 
  within to fit the standard 
  Ars Magica trade dress.  
  You can still see the 
  underlying work bleeding 
  through 
  that 
  line, 
  something you never see 
  in the finished piece. 
  
  38 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  With the colors now laid down the theme of stained-glass becomes very 
  apparent in the final and there is a feeling of light that flows through the 
  piece. As Grey notes, ―I achieved the exact goals I set out for initially (stained 
  glass look, formal composition, etc)‖ 
  Washes of digital color applied, this 
  is the final piece. Even at this stage we 
  can see new detail being added. In 
  particular, the halo surrounding the 
  central figure. 
  The Finished Piece 
  
  39 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  The cover to 2010‘s Rival Magic 
  shows another aspect of the working 
  artist‘s role, to be responsive to 
  feedback, which we‘ll see when we 
  reach the final image. 
  The Sketch Stage 
  The characters, their clothing, 
  and their equipment are already 
  fairly well defined. Even the 
  Amazon‘s complex belt buckle 
  looks very close to the final 
  picture. 
  Still working within the familiar size and 
  format constraints, this sketch outline is 
  developed to a greater level of detail than the 
  initial sketch example for The Church. Despite 
  this added detail, there‘s still room for change as 
  the image evolves. 
  “Rival Magic follows the same workflow 
  as most of my covers: a rough sketch 
  followed by a refined drawing, an inked 
  version, then a stage where I lay down tones 
  (typically in grayscale or a neutral color). 
  Once those stages are resolved, I move on to 
  final coloring and detailing.” 
  
  40 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Have you noticed 
  the Muspelli‘s raised 
  hand? 
  … and look again. 
  Grayscale Tones Laid Down 
  Unlike The Church, 
  Grey is working off a 
  darker canvas for this 
  image, and the gradient, 
  from light to dark is a 
  feature that makes it to 
  the final image. 
  The 
  Muspelli‘s 
  hand changes its pose 
  slightly, an example 
  of the tweaking that 
  goes 
  on 
  between 
  stages. 
  More Detail and Tone 
  
  41 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  The final image is now 
  complete with detailing on 
  the Virgillian‘s book, smoke 
  from the censer, and the 
  geometric 
  pentacle. 
  The 
  Amazon‘s shield has even lost 
  one of its cracks. 
  Well, it looks finished, 
  right? But at any stage before 
  the image is signed-off and 
  accepted, there is room for 
  revision. And that‘s what 
  happened in this case. 
  The Finished Piece? 
  The Finished Piece 
  This is the cut that made 
  it to the book‘s cover. 
  Even 
  against 
  the 
  ―finished‖ image, a round of 
  revisions 
  were 
  requested, 
  which 
  resulted 
  in 
  some 
  alterations to the Amazon‘s 
  face and to the ethnicity of 
  the Soqotrans sorceress to 
  better fit the book‘s content. 
  If you‘ve enjoyed this look at 
  Grey‘s workflow, follow him on 
  twitter at:  
  @grey_thornberry 
  Tweet him and say hi. 
  
  42 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  This legend is an adventure 
  through the early years of the Order, 
  in the footsteps of one of the most 
  famous magi in the history of Mythic 
  Europe — the Redcap known as 
  Belin. Though she did not have the 
  Gift, she proved herself through 
  terrible adversity and challenges, and 
  earned herself and all of her followers 
  the honor of standing as equals with 
  the great Hermetic wizards through 
  the ages. 
  Belin was the quintessential 
  Redcap, for she embodies in her 
  stories everything that a Redcap 
  should be and strive to do — she was 
  humble, dutiful, adventurous, and 
  clever. Among Redcaps, Belin is 
  generally revered like a saint, and her 
  stories are traded and circulated 
  throughout the Order like precious 
  pawns of vis. Among magi, it is often 
  heard said that a disloyal servant is 
  ―no Belin,‖ or that a companion 
  performing a desperate mission is on 
  a ―Belin‘s errand.‖ Referring to a 
  Redcap as ―Belin‖ after a job well 
  done is a high compliment. 
  Belin was taught by Mercere the 
  Founder, said to have been her 
  grandfather, after he lost his Gift and 
  began to train apprentices without the 
  ability to work magic. She was his 
  only female student, as well as the 
  youngest, and was the last apprentice 
  that Mercere produced. In her final 
  year of study, war against Damhan-
  Allidh the Spider broke out in 
  England, and her task was to ensure 
  that communication between magi 
  continued during the conflict. 
  In the many tales describing this 
  period of her life, she constantly 
  carries messages into deadly peril and 
  then adroitly escapes capture. Her 
  methods usually involve trickery of 
  some sort, though the sort of playful, 
  admirable trickery where no one is 
  hurt by her actions and she sneaks 
  past without being recognized. The 
  more involved Belin stories often 
  feature a cunning stratagem involving 
  her impersonating something 
  supernatural like a faerie queen or a 
  ghost to distract guards or to make 
  her way around enemy lines. 
  While it might be thought that 
  most of these stories about Belin are 
  exaggerated (especially given the 
  tradition among certain Redcaps to 
  tell ―stories that are not true‖), this is 
  A New Legend of The Order: 
  Belin of Mercere 
  By Erik Dahl 
  
  43 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  considered a very sensitive subject 
  among Redcaps. It is generally as 
  offensive to question the validity of a 
  Belin story as it is to question the 
  storyteller‘s parentage or virtue. Even 
  among Redcaps, Belin stories seem to 
  engender a peculiar credulity, as 
  though there is no possibility they did 
  not actually happen. 
  Perhaps this is because Belin‘s 
  actions in the war were held to be so 
  admirable that the magi at Grand 
  Tribunal agreed to allow her and her 
  fellows full membership into the 
  Order. All Redcaps are indebted to 
  her for their special status among 
  magi. Mercere gave his red cap to her 
  before he died — a symbolic gesture 
  making her the first Prima of Mercere 
  — and many of the policies and 
  traditions of the House are said to 
  originate in her years of leadership 
  Belin did not give the Founder‘s 
  cap to her youngest daughter when 
  the primacy eventually passed to her, 
  and though Belin is often depicted 
  wearing a red cap in pictures, it is 
  absent from the statue that stands 
  outside her tomb at Harco. Many 
  have wondered what became of the 
  cap, as it is thought to be a potent 
  symbol of leadership in the House, 
  and perhaps a powerful enchanted 
  device. 
  Belin’s History 
  Belin was born near the end of the 
  eighth century, the youngest 
  granddaughter of Mercere the 
  Founder, who according to tradition 
  was her mother‘s father. As an infant 
  she was brought to Harco, the domus 
  magna of the House, and when she 
  was still a young girl Mercere adopted 
  her as his apprentice, the last of a 
  group of four unGifted followers to 
  whom he had decided to teach his 
  ways, and the only female apprentice 
  he trained. In the spring of each year, 
  Mercere would take Belin with him as 
  he traveled from covenant to 
  covenant in the various tribunals that 
  made up the fledgling Order, and 
  taught her how to serve the magi of 
  Hermes loyally and faithfully. 
  The young girl was quick to learn 
  and matured even more quickly. By 
  her twelfth year, she was leading 
  expeditions from Harco through the 
  mountain passes and down to Lyon, 
  and overseeing the transport of goods 
  and messages to Harco from nearby 
  Turin and the seaport at Genoa. 
  According to legend, she had a great 
  deal of freedom at the growing 
  covenant as Mercere‘s apprentice, and 
  was always underfoot. She would get 
  involved in whatever activity was 
  going on, and do her best to help. In 
  later years, the residents of Harco 
  sometimes say Belin touched every 
  stone of the old house. 
  With her master, Belin traveled 
  throughout the lands of the Order, 
  which Mercere divided into four 
  tribunals and referred to with the 
  name of the most powerful covenants 
  found within each of them: the Val-
  Negra Tribunal, the Branugurix 
  Tribunal, the Durenmar Tribunal, and 
  the Coeris Tribunal. Their duty 
  required them to visit every covenant 
  once a year to bring news of the 
  Order, and to bring word of the exact 
  dates when Grand Tribunal would 
  take place every seven years, so each 
  covenant could send representatives. 
  Mercere intended for his four 
  unGifted apprentices to each see to 
  one of these tribunals as they grew in 
  size and membership, to help 
  organize their regional gatherings and 
  facilitate communication between 
  covenants; Belin always paid special 
  attention to the lands of Northern 
  France and Britain as the lands 
  intended to be hers to serve. 
  While magical portals existed at 
  Val-Negra, Coeris, and Durenmar to 
  Harco, Branugurix had not yet built 
  such a device at their covenant. This 
  forced Mercere and Belin to travel 
  there on foot from the south, or take 
  a boat down the Rhine from 
  Durenmar to Flanders and then 
  continue along the coast. Even in the 
  earliest days, when there were only 
  four covenants in the whole region, it 
  was very difficult for Belin and 
  Mercere to visit all of them in one 
  season, and so on several occasions, 
  Mercere had to entrust Belin with 
  finishing the rounds for him while he 
  returned to Harco to begin his next 
  season with another apprentice. 
  Belin‘s Gauntlet demanded she 
  make the entire northern journey by 
  herself, with no magical aid, and she 
  performed admirably. Mercere gave 
  her a red cap for her to wear, just like 
  his, as a sign that she had graduated. 
  He formally assigned her as Hermetic 
  messenger to the Branugurix 
  Tribunal, and Hariste of Tytalus 
  generously offered her permanent 
  lodgings at the new covenant of 
  Fudarus — though being almost 
  constantly on the move from 
  covenant to covenant, Belin rarely 
  ever stayed there longer than a season 
  at a time. Mercere‘s visits to the 
  tribunal became much less frequent, 
  as for the most part he remained at 
  Harco to meet his former apprentices 
  when they arrived each season. 
  By 815, Pralix had declared war on 
  Damanh-Allidh, ―the spider,‖ and 
  established the covenant of Cad Gadu 
  in Wales. The next few years were 
  perilous for Belin, as every three 
  months she was obligated to travel in 
  secrecy across the waters of the 
  English Channel and through the 
  dangerous lands of England and 
  Scotland, riddled as they were with 
  magical traps, deadly enemies and 
  uncertain allies. Many stories regale 
  her amazing deeds during this time— 
  how she never failed to get her 
  messages through, even during 
  pitched battles. Her achievements 
  remain especially impressive 
  considering she was almost always a 
  young woman traveling alone, yet she 
  seemed to have no difficulty. 
  When the war was over, Mercere 
  came to Britain to visit the new 
  covenant, though he was very old and 
  
  44 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  his health was failing, and from then 
  on Belin was always by his side. 
  Presumably he pleaded with Pralix 
  not to divide the Order that he and 
  the other Founders had worked so 
  hard to form, and it is thought that 
  she finally agreed to form the new 
  House Ex Miscellanea in deference to 
  the memory of her master, Tytalus, 
  who Mercere knew well. However, 
  only Pralix, Mercere, and Belin were 
  present at this meeting, and none of 
  them revealed exactly how the 
  compromise was negotiated. 
  At the Grand Tribunal of 817, 
  Mercere presented the case that he 
  had trained all of his unGifted 
  apprentices for fifteen years like 
  Hermetic magi, and that they should 
  be allowed to join the Order as full 
  members. That is, he argued that a 
  person did not need The Gift to be 
  called a magus. Trianoma also spoke 
  in support of his request, but it was 
  likely Belin‘s shining reputation 
  among the new British magi that 
  carried the motion. The unGifted 
  magi of House Mercere would be 
  known henceforth as Redcaps, and 
  their duties and unique privileges 
  were written into the Peripheral Code. 
  Mercere died the following year, 
  and was ritually cremated in 
  accordance with Mercurian practices. 
  Belin inherited the Founder‘s cap and 
  became the new Prima of the House, 
  living at Harco though she continued 
  to perform Redcap duties in France 
  and the British Islands for several 
  years. She gave birth to two children, 
  both girls, who she declared to be her 
  apprentices and taught as Redcaps, 
  and who both subsequently raised 
  large families of their own. In her 
  later years, Belin returned to live in 
  England, leaving her eldest 
  granddaughter to look after the 
  House, and she took the founder‘s 
  cap with her. Since then, leadership of 
  the House has usually passed to the 
  most worthy descendant of the 
  Prima, and the Prima does not wear 
  the red cap at all while officially 
  presiding. 
  Belin died in England in 887, and 
  was taken back to Harco. Because of 
  her great achievements, Belin was 
  given the same ceremonial cremation 
  ritual as her grandfather, establishing 
  the precedent that the Prima of the 
  House always receives this same 
  honor. Belin‘s ashes were collected 
  and placed in a silver urn, and 
  displayed in a place of honor in the 
  hall of the main building. Since then 
  Harco has been expanded 
  substantially, but the smaller building 
  where she and Mercere and the other 
  first Redcaps originally lived still 
  remains, separate from the manor 
  house and village, known as Belin‘s 
  Tomb. A statue of Belin stands inside, 
  thought to be an excellent likeness of 
  her later years, but without the cap 
  she wore in her youth. 
  Belin’s Treasures 
  The legend of Belin includes three 
  great treasures: her cap, given to her 
  by the Founder; the power to bind 
  herself to a faerie in a supernatural 
  pact or alliance; and the power to 
  change hearts and minds through 
  stories. 
  Mercere’s Cap 
  When he died, Mercere 
  bequeathed his cap, the symbol of his 
  House, to Belin, signifying she was to 
  lead when he was gone. What Belin 
  did with it is unknown, but it is 
  thought she destroyed it. However, it 
  is still possible for characters 
  following her adventures to restore 
  the cap, either by recovering the coin 
  once attached to the brim and sewing 
  it onto another cap of similar 
  appearance, or else by using a 
  powerful Legend Spinning effect (see 
  later in this section) to transform an 
  ordinary cap into the Founder‘s. 
  Other caps may also have been 
  enchanted to resemble this one, but 
  commonly known not to be the 
  original. 
  Originally fashioned of heavy 
  woolen cloth and dyed dark red, the 
  cap possesses a rounded point which 
  falls forward towards the wearer‘s 
  brow when placed on the head. It 
  sports a yellow band around the brim, 
  and a large gold coin sewn into the 
  band in the front. The cap is fairly 
  large and loose, usually depicted as 
  jaunty on the Founder‘s wider-than-
  average head, and too big for Belin to 
  wear comfortably, falling down over 
  her eyes when not worn like a hood 
  on the top of her head. 
  Ophilio of Mercere (see Belin‘s 
  Legacy, later on in this chapter) 
  believes the cap would strengthen his 
  claim to the primacy enough to force 
  Insatella to yield to him, as it is a 
  powerful symbol of House Mercere. 
  He is right, in that if the cap came 
  into the possession of a legitimate 
  heir to the Founder, it would be 
  regarded as a sign by others in the 
  House of the bearer‘s divine favor — 
  like a long-lost crown of a contested 
  kingdom. A Redcap or Gifted 
  Mercere who wears the cap and 
  demonstrates he is descended from 
  Mercere or Belin could easily garner 
  enough political influence within the 
  House to convince Insatella to step 
  down as Prima and allow him to take 
  her place as leader. 
  Faerie Pacts 
  The characters may learn about 
  Belin‘s pact with a faerie redcap, and 
  from them discover how to seal a 
  faerie pact of their own. This is an 
  arrangement between a human and a 
  
  45 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  faerie where the person gains access 
  to the faerie‘s power, and the faerie 
  receives a regular supply of the vitality 
  that it craves. The result is similar to a 
  magus taking a familiar — though a 
  magus who has already bonded with a 
  familiar can also make a faerie pact, 
  and a faerie pact does not prevent a 
  magus from taking a familiar, though 
  he cannot have a faerie pact with a 
  faerie that is also his familiar. 
  A human character may only ever 
  make a pact with one faerie in her 
  lifetime, and a faerie can only have a 
  pact with one human at a time. 
  Faeries are not limited to a single pact 
  for their entire existence, but the 
  faerie must be cognizant within its 
  role (as described in Realms of 
  Power: Faerie) to make a pact, and 
  must change its role in order to make 
  more than one pact. Incognizant 
  faeries cannot form a pact. 
  The pact is a formal agreement or 
  contract between the two parties. It 
  might be described in terms of a high 
  priestess pledging to serve her god, or 
  an artist promising himself to his 
  faerie muse, or an alliance between 
  two nobles and the lands they hold, 
  or even as a marriage between a man 
  and a woman, as Belin did it. It 
  requires a special ceremony with at 
  least two other faeries present as 
  witness to seal the pact, which a score 
  in Faerie Lore allows the character to 
  perform, and which must be done in 
  a Faerie aura of at least 4. 
  Every faerie pact places some sort 
  of inherent restriction on the human‘s 
  behavior, such as ―you must never say 
  my name,‖ or ―you must never enter 
  the west wing of my castle,‖ or ―you 
  must never look upon my face before 
  dawn.‖ Often this restriction involves 
  secrecy about the pact itself; for 
  example, Belin‘s restriction was never 
  to acknowledge to anyone that she 
  was married, not even her husband. If 
  the human ever violates this 
  restriction, the pact is irrevocably 
  broken. 
  Unfortunately, faeries are generally 
  fickle creatures, and while many of 
  them are quite happy to make such a 
  pact with a willing human, they tend 
  to tire of it easily. There is no way for 
  a faerie to end a pact, however. They 
  still get vitality from the arrangement 
  whether the pact is upheld or not, and 
  Enchantments 
  in Mercere’s 
  Cap 
  There are a few tales about the 
  magical effects Mercere invested into 
  the cap before he lost his Gift, or 
  perhaps that his Gifted son Priamitus  
  invested into the cap for him 
  afterward. These would have been 
  placed in the large golden coin 
  inscribed with Mercere‘s symbol, 
  sewn to the front of the cap (as a 
  small item made of gold, it can hold 
  up to 200 spell levels). According to 
  the stories about it, these might have 
  included the following effects. 
  To Bless Only the Followers of 
  Mercury 
  InVi(Co) 30 
  Unlimited use 
  R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind 
  This effect determines if the wearer is 
  a human being who either possesses 
  The Gift or is a blood relative of 
  Mercere. The other effects in the item 
  are linked to this one when they are 
  activated, so that they will not 
  function for those who do not meet 
  one of these criteria. 
  (Base 10, +1 Touch, +1 composite 
  effect; +10 unlimited uses) 
  Like the Helm of Mercury 
  PeIm 43 
  Unlimited use, item maintains 
  concentration, linked trigger 
  R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind 
  The wearer of the cap brushes his 
  palm against the coin in a downward 
  motion across his brow, like pulling 
  the brim of the cap over his eyes or 
  lowering a visor, to activate this 
  effect. From then on, until the effect 
  is canceled, the wearer produces no 
  species. He cannot be seen, heard or 
  smelled, and even if he brushes 
  against someone they will not feel 
  him. The cap maintains the effect for 
  the wearer, but he must concentrate 
  at dawn and at dusk or the effect 
  fades naturally. 
  (Base 10, +1 Touch, +1 Conc, +1 
  changing image; +5 item maintains 
  concentration, +10 unlimited uses, +3 
  linked trigger) 
  Like the Sandals of Mercury 
  ReCo(An,He,Te) 53 
  Unlimited use, linked trigger 
  R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind 
  This effect immediately transports the 
  wearer and everything on his person 
  to anywhere that he has an Arcane 
  Connection, or to anywhere in sight. 
  To activate it, the wearer looks at his 
  destination and leans forward, placing 
  the side of his hand against the coin, 
  as if shading his eyes from the sun. If 
  using an Arcane Connection, the 
  wearer closes his eyes and presses the 
  object to the face of the coin. 
  (Base 35, +1 Touch; +10 unlimited 
  uses, +3 linked trigger) 
  Like the Wand of Mercury 
  MuCo(An,He,Te) 58 
  Unlimited use, item maintains 
  concentration, linked trigger 
  R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind 
  The wearer traces the shape of 
  Mercere‘s symbol on the face of the 
  coin (up, down, left, circle), and 
  transforms his body and everything 
  he is carrying into another form that 
  he can picture in his mind. He can 
  change his features and even his 
  clothing and possessions so that they 
  closely resemble those of another 
  human being, even a person of the 
  opposite sex, though the resemblance 
  is not close enough to impersonate a 
  specific person. The wearer can end 
  the effect at will. 
  (Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Conc, +3 
  complexity, +3 requisites; +10 
  unlimited uses, +5 item maintains 
  concentration, +3 linked trigger) 
  
  46 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  so after a little while most faeries 
  generally begin to encourage the 
  human to end it and free them from 
  their constraints, subtly at first and 
  then more overtly as time passes. 
  They may not even realize they are 
  doing this; it is said their faerie 
  natures will always eventually compel 
  them to rebel against the bond no 
  matter how beneficial the 
  arrangement. A faerie might even 
  convince a human to break a pact and 
  then immediately form a new one. 
  Sealing the pact makes the faerie a 
  permanent Arcane Connection to the 
  human, and the human a permanent 
  Arcane Connection to the faerie. 
  Through this connection, the faerie 
  can sense the human‘s general health 
  and relative location by concentrating, 
  and likewise the human can sense the 
  faerie (―far away to the north,‖ for 
  example, or ―very near, just behind 
  that hedge‖). If the faerie or the 
  human is inside a regio, this power 
  draws the other character to the 
  boundary where the other character 
  entered instead. 
  The faerie can give the human 
  character some of its power, if it 
  wishes. They must touch, and the 
  human sacrifices a long-term Fatigue 
  level. The human character‘s player 
  should make a Presence + Faerie 
  Lore roll on a stress die, and the 
  character gains this many Might 
  Points from the faerie‘s Might Pool 
  (not to exceed the faerie‘s current 
  Might Pool). If the roll botches, the 
  human loses an additional long-term 
  Fatigue level for each botch. Note 
  that this does not give the character a 
  Might Score; the human character 
  gains no Magic Resistance and these 
  points do not replenish. They are 
  cumulative, however, as long as the 
  faerie has Might Points in its pool, 
  though the total number of Might 
  Points possessed by the human can 
  never exceed the faerie‘s Might Score. 
  When in possession of some of 
  the faerie‘s Might Points, the human 
  character can activate any of the 
  faerie‘s powers as if she were the 
  faerie, using these borrowed Might 
  Points to pay the activation cost. For 
  powers that require the faerie to 
  reduce its Might Score by the 
  activation cost, the human character 
  must spend a Confidence Point for 
  each point of Might lost instead. For 
  penetrating Magic Resistance with 
  these powers, use the faerie‘s 
  Penetration Total: Might Score – 
  (activation cost x 5) + Penetration 
  bonus, and substituting the human 
  character‘s Penetration bonus for the 
  faerie‘s. 
  A faerie pact is essentially a Major 
  Supernatural Virtue, in order to 
  design a character who takes one 
  during character creation, though it is 
  very unlikely that characters who have 
  not read Belin‘s will and deciphered 
  her notes would know how to 
  perform the ceremony or realize 
  exactly what such a pact entails. 
  Legend Spinning 
  Belin possessed a supernatural 
  power which she believed she 
  inherited from her grandfather, 
  known to her as ―the gleam in his 
  eye.‖ Others have described it as a 
  silver tongue, or an irresistible 
  charismatic presence. As Belin 
  understood it, this power allowed 
  Mercere to focus some magical spark 
  within himself upon whatever he was 
  saying at the time, imbuing the words 
  with supernatural plausibility. All 
  those who could hear his voice during 
  these moments would know what he 
  said to be absolute truth. In fact over 
  time, as it seemed to Belin, these 
  stories would actually become true — 
  or at least she could never remember 
  finding any evidence afterward that 
  they were false. 
  The power is associated with the 
  Faerie realm. It is essentially a Free 
  S u p e r n a t u r a l  V i r t u e  t h a t 
  unpredictably appears in the blood 
  descendants of a character who 
  possesses it, usually when they come 
  of age or are first touched by the fey. 
  It can also pass to another individual 
  present when the possessing character 
  dies. Or, as described later, it can be 
  initiated as a mystery as if it were a 
  Major Virtue taken after undergoing a 
  Major Ordeal (that is, with a Target 
  Level of 21 for the Initiate). Most of 
  those who have it never know it, 
  since it has no bearing on their lives 
  until they attempt to use it. It is left to 
  the storyguide to decide when and if a 
  given character ever inherits it. 
  To activate the power, its 
  possessor tells a story to at least one 
  other person, and the target of the 
  effect must be present as well. A 
  formal story with a beginning, a 
  middle, and an end is not required, 
  though it should take enough time to 
  tell that the people in his audience 
  have time to recognize that he is 
  engaging them in the story, and focus 
  their attention upon him for the 
  duration. A good guideline is that it 
  should be at least a minute in length, 
  and that whoever he is speaking to 
  must be listening to him carefully 
  enough to be drawn into the tale. 
  Also, the audience must have human 
  intelligence and be able to understand 
  his words. 
  If the audience‘s attention must be 
  attracted, make a Presence + Charm 
  roll. To be sure the audience does not 
  lose interest, in circumstances that are 
  not conducive to storytelling (such as 
  speaking to a jailer or interrupting a 
  brawl), make a Communication + 
  Language roll. 
  BB  
  elin possessed a supernatural power which 
  elin possessed a supernatural power which 
  she believed she inherited from her 
  she believed she inherited from her 
  grandfather, known to her as “the gleam in 
  grandfather, known to her as “the gleam in 
  his eye.”
  his eye.”  
  
  47 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  The effect that the possessor can 
  achieve with this power depends 
  upon his reputation in the area where 
  he is telling the story. Multiply the 
  score of the character‘s highest 
  applicable Reputation that is relevant 
  to the story he is telling by 5 to 
  determine the character‘s casting 
  total, and subtract the level of the 
  intended effect. Apply the modifier 
  for the aura to this result. If this is 
  less than zero, the power does not 
  manifest. This does not include a die 
  roll, as it is similar to a faerie 
  activating an inherent supernatural 
  power. 
  Legend Spinning Casting 
  Total: (highest Reputation score x 
  5) – effect level + aura 
  Since this is a supernatural power, 
  it must also penetrate the Magic 
  Resistance of the target of the effect, 
  or anyone else who is listening to the 
  story. Add the character‘s Penetration 
  bonus to the amount by which the 
  casting total exceeded the level of the 
  effect to calculate the power‘s 
  Penetration Total (and note that an 
  Arcane Connection cannot be used to 
  increase the character‘s Penetration 
  bonus unless it is somehow 
  incorporated into the story the 
  character is telling, and thus obvious 
  to the target what the storyteller is 
  doing). 
  Legend Spinning effects take time 
  to become ―real‖ — those who hear 
  the story told will generally accept it 
  immediately, but the time it takes to 
  spread to others depends upon the 
  applicable Reputation of the legend 
  spinner and the level of effect. 
  Generally this takes a month; the 
  legend spinner can increase or 
  decrease this amount of time by 
  applying a delay modifier (see below) 
  to the legend spinner‘s Casting Total. 
  By extending how long a legend takes 
  to spread, a character can potentially 
  accomplish higher-level effects. 
  Finally, the character loses one 
  Confidence Point for every 10 levels 
  of the effect his story is designed to 
  achieve. For example, a Level 25 
  effect would cost him two 
  Confidence Points. The character 
  draws upon this inner reserve of 
  strength, putting his will and 
  conviction into the story he is telling. 
  If he does not have enough 
  Confidence Points, or if the character 
  has the Low Self-Esteem Flaw or is a 
  grog or otherwise cannot spend 
  Confidence Points for some reason, 
  the character can only ever activate 
  this power at the whim of the 
  storyguide. 
  As long as the power penetrates, 
  or the target and everyone in the 
  audience does not have  Magic 
  Resistance, no one will ever recognize 
  that they have been affected. While 
  the power itself is supernatural, the 
  results are always mundane. The 
  storyguide determines exactly how the 
  effect manifests, using the guideline 
  chosen by the character‘s player and 
  the story that the character tells for 
  inspiration. However, the results are 
  never obvious and are not necessarily 
  immediate, especially with higher-
  level effects, and effects with far-
  reaching consequences may need 
  some regular reinforcement before 
  they take — the target might simply 
  gain a Reputation appropriate to the 
  story, with an initial score equal to 
  one plus the number of magnitudes 
  that the casting total exceeds the level 
  of the effect, and does not actually 
  experience the effect until his score in 
  the Reputation increases to the 
  magnitude of the effect. 
  Once the character is aware he has 
  this power, he also gains the 
  equivalent of the Legacy Story Flaw: 
  great things are expected of the 
  character by those familiar with his 
  reputation, and he will often be drawn 
  into stories where people expect a 
  character with his degree of fame (or 
  infamy) to act in a certain way. Also 
  like the Legacy Flaw, a character with 
  this power may gain Heroic Virtues 
  and Flaws, as if he had the Blood of 
  Heroes (see Houses of Hermes: True 
  Lineages for details on this), perhaps 
  by initiating them through a mystery 
  cult or exchanging other Virtues for 
  them through further uses of this 
  power. 
  Sample Legends 
  I am simply a poor pilgrim who has lost 
  my way… 
  Level 10 
  The legend spinner describes a 
  journey gone wrong, perhaps as a 
  series of progressively more 
  outlandish events, to explain what she 
  is doing in a setting where she might 
  otherwise seem out of place, such as 
  on a battlefield. Her audience is 
  convinced by the truth of the tale, 
  and thus allows her to proceed 
  unhindered.  
  Then the count praised my bravery and 
  remarked that I would one day achieve great 
  things… 
  Level 15 
  In recounting a tale, the legend 
  spinner can embellish upon and even 
  alter the words that were actually 
  spoken, changing their significance. 
  Say that a nobleman asks the legend 
  spinner who she is, and asks her to 
  fetch him a cup of wine. After this 
  effect is spun, the nobleman might 
  one day hear the story in which he 
  praised the young woman, though he 
  will not remember doing so. It is such 
  a well-known story, however, that by 
  then he will probably not be able to 
  refute it. 
  As the flames grew higher, a man with 
  winged shoes descended from the heavens and 
  carried his body into the sky … 
  Level 20 
  This legend tells how the body of 
  the spinner‘s grandfather was claimed 
  by Mercury when he was cremated, 
  leading many to believe he was 
  descended from the gods. 
  My grandfather spoke with the great 
  lady, and convinced her to listen to reason… 
  Level 25 
  The legend spinner tells a story in 
  
  48 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  which the main character (her 
  grandfather) speaks with a stubborn 
  old woman alone and persuades her 
  to abandon her plans for leaving the 
  Order of Hermes, rather than being 
  imperiously turned away at the gate. 
  After word of this story spreads, the 
  woman finds she is unable to 
  continue her rebellion, as her 
  supporters all believe that she has 
  accepted the compromise. 
  Mercere loved the crofter’s daughter, and 
  she bore him a son, though the child was 
  given to others to raise… 
  Level 30 
  This story tells of a child born to 
  Mercere and a mundane woman, 
  which was adopted by another family. 
  The target of this legend, who must 
  be part of the area described by the 
  legend spinner‘s Reputation, 
  discovers over the course of a season 
  that this child is his ancestor, making 
  him a descendent of Mercere the 
  Founder. Thus, he will inherit the 
  Legend Spinner Virtue after three 
  months have passed, though he may 
  not know it. 
  The wound seemed like to fester, but the 
  old man still clings to life… 
  Level 35 
  When her grandfather suffered a 
  terrible fall while traveling, a bad 
  wound that worsened to a grievous 
  one, the legend spinner told a tale to 
  his servants and family, promising 
  them that he was recovering. After 
  three months he had experienced a 
  remarkable recovery, and soon was 
  on his feet and well again. 
  In fact the great magus never had The 
  Gift at all, it was all a clever ruse… 
  Level 50 
  This story tells how the legend 
  spinner‘s grandfather was not a 
  magus at all, but simply a normal 
  man, although still an exceptional 
  one, able to fool great and powerful 
  wizards into thinking he was one of 
  their number. The fact that this story 
  is not now widespread throughout the 
  Order suggests that the legend 
  spinner was unable to perform it — 
  or perhaps that it had a different 
  effect than what she originally 
  intended. 
  Belin’s Legacy 
  The story of Belin‘s legend takes 
  the characters on a tour of many 
  famous places in Mythic Europe, and 
  involves a coded secret about one of 
  the twelve Founders of the Order, 
  deep Hermetic politics involving the 
  primacy of House Mercere, low and 
  high crimes at Tribunal, and a great 
  battle between magi and an army of 
  faeries. 
  Diary of a Redcap 
  The characters‘ story that follows 
  Belin begins with the simple 
  discovery of a small pamphlet, 
  entitled Travels in Britain by Belin of 
  Mercere, written in what might seem 
  to be early Hermetic Latin. The book 
  is very roughly bound with thin strips 
  of leather, on dark pages of vellum 
  that look like scraps from other 
  books rather than sheets made and 
  cut for this purpose. There is no 
  cover, and the title and author is 
  written above the first line on the first 
  page, almost as an afterthought. 
  Unusually, the last twenty pages or so 
  are blank, except for the final page 
  which has a stylized drawing of the 
  symbol of House Mercere and 
  advertises in a different hand the 
  death of the Founder and subsequent 
  appointment of Belin as prima. (The 
  announcement is signed by John-
  Michel of Mercere, who those 
  knowledgeable of Hermetic history 
  might recognize as the son of one of 
  Belin‘s elder brothers.) 
  Perhaps the characters find the 
  book inside a satchel like those worn 
  by many Redcaps and buried within a 
  cave in the wilderness, or hidden 
  behind another unused book in the 
  dusty library of a long-abandoned 
  covenant, or stashed in a trunk 
  among the treasured possessions of 
  an old and reclusive magus. It being 
  unearthed in Britain or Scotland is 
  especially appropriate, though there is 
  no reason it could not be found 
  almost anywhere in Mythic Europe, 
  presumably having passed through 
  several hands to reach its current 
  resting place. 
  Since the book is almost four 
  hundred years old, the physical quality 
  is poor, and the writing is hard to 
  Legend Delay Modifiers 
  These modifiers add to or subtract 
  from the legend spinner‘s Casting 
  Total, making him more or less likely 
  to succeed, much in the same way 
  that a supernatural aura affects the 
  character‘s total. Keep in mind that 
  since this is a faerie power, Divine 
  and Infernal auras have a more 
  drastic effect than they do for 
  magical powers. In a Magic aura, such 
  as that found in most covenants, 
  there is a slight bonus. 
  It should be pointed out that unless a 
  participating magus lowers his Parma 
  for the entire time it takes for the 
  legend spinning effect to manifest, 
  the spinner must always penetrate his 
  Magic Resistance, even if he is merely 
  present for the story telling, not 
  targeted directly. It is not sufficient 
  for the magus to simply lower his 
  Parma for the duration of the story 
  the legend spinner tells. 
  Delay 
  Modifier 
  Moment 
  –12 
  Hour 
  –9 
  Day 
  –6 
  Week 
  –3 
  Month 
  0 
  Season 
  +3 
  Year 
  +6 
  Generation (15 
  years) 
  +9 
  Lifetime (50 years) 
  +12 
  
  49 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  read. It seems like a pair of tractatus 
  on the lore of Brittany, Cornwall, 
  Wales, and southern Scotland 
  (Britannia Lore) and Hermetic 
  covenants and magi in the same 
  regions (Order of Hermes Lore). The 
  author‘s skill at writing is better than 
  average, and there are small 
  illustrations sketched in an almost 
  childlike hand scattered throughout 
  the text that give some additional 
  context, but time has severely 
  degraded it and made it difficult to 
  read (Quality 5, which includes a –3 
  penalty for wear). 
  The blank pages hold a detailed 
  message for Belin‘s heirs, written 
  without ink. It is so faint that only 
  powerful magic can possibly reveal it. 
  It takes the style of a will, using 
  formal words and phrases appropriate 
  to that sort of document, but also 
  reads something like a last confession. 
  There are three important revelations 
  within, always through very circuitous 
  language referring back to the main 
  text by context (―the person who 
  injured his toe in Leon‖ or ―My 
  situation with this person was similar 
  to that of Hariste with the rest of the 
  magi at her covenant‖). These 
  revelations are as follows: 
   
  Firstly, she reveals that she was 
  married to a shadowy figure 
  she refers to only as ―my 
  spirit.‖ The tortured language 
  never explicitly names him as 
  her husband, but there are 
  clues in that it refers to their 
  children as ―legitimate‖ and 
  compares their relationship to 
  other couples in love and 
  united by marriage. She writes 
  that her body and soul are 
  bound to his for eternity, ―in 
  life as well as death.‖ Reading 
  between the lines, it is possible 
  to learn that he is a faerie, and 
  that they were joined in a 
  ceremonial pact that she 
  describes in detail. 
   
  Secondly, she tells that her son 
  is her true heir, and thus 
  entitled to her magical 
  Legend Spinning Guidelines 
  These effects literally change the story that the players are 
  telling, in ways that the characters would not know are 
  possible. Essentially, the legend spinner creates a revised 
  historical record that spreads throughout Mythic Europe, 
  and those who hear it accept as true. Once enough time 
  has passed and enough people have heard the story, it 
  becomes true — true enough to change a person. As with 
  Hermetic magic, effects of Level 30 or higher are also 
  powerful enough to give the target a Warping Point. Note 
  that Belin had no idea how her magic worked, and so 
  anyone who gains this power will also have no knowledge 
  of its specific applications. Characters will likely need to 
  experiment by telling many different sorts of stories to 
  learn the effects they can achieve. 
  While Legend Spinning can change what happened as far 
  as history is concerned, those who were present when the 
  actual events occurred do not suddenly believe something 
  else happened instead. Even if they are targeted by the 
  legend spinner directly, they will continue to remember 
  events as they originally occurred, though they might 
  come to doubt themselves as the story spreads. It is 
  possible for a person to fight the pervasive nature of the 
  legend, by gaining a reputation that overshadows the 
  storyteller‘s and setting the record straight, but it is likely 
  that some version of the legend will linger on in folk 
  wisdom no matter what. Once a legend is spun, not even 
  the legend spinner can remove it completely. 
  Level 10: 
  Cause the target to believe that the story is 
  true; either that the events it describes actually happened, 
  or that it describes an allegorical or metaphorical truth if 
  the story does not seem especially relevant to the target. 
  Level 15: 
  Change spoken or written words to match 
  the story, so that afterward the target remembers what 
  was said in the story instead of what was actually said. 
  Level 20: 
  Change the appearances of things to match 
  the story, so that afterward the target remembers how 
  they were described in the story instead of how they 
  looked in person. 
  Level 25: 
  Change how characters acted to match the 
  story, so that afterward the target remembers the events 
  in the story instead of what actually transpired. 
  Level 30: 
  Change a target‘s background to match the 
  background of the story, exchanging a single Virtue or 
  Flaw chosen by the storyguide for a different Virtue or 
  Flaw of the same magnitude (Minor or Major) appropriate 
  to the story. This cannot affect Special Virtues like The 
  Gift, and the storyguide should take care not to choose 
  Flaws or Virtues that require recalculation of the 
  character‘s Abilities, like Affinity with (Art) or Educated. 
  Free Virtues (like Legend Spinning) do not need to be 
  exchanged for another, but conflicting Social Status 
  Virtues and Flaws are lost in this process. 
  Level 35: 
  Change a target‘s physical state to match the 
  story, causing him to suffer a single injury or illness of 
  any severity, heal a wound or illness of any severity in the 
  standard time, or resolve an aging crisis. 
  Level 40: 
  Change a target‘s physical or mental capacity 
  to match his description in the story, exchanging his 
  score in one Characteristic for his score in another. Note 
  that for Strength or Quickness, the storyguide must 
  remove and reapply Size modifiers for nonhuman 
  characters. 
  Level 45: 
  Change a target‘s learning and skill to match 
  the story, exchanging one Ability or Art score and all its 
  associated experience points for another Art or Ability to 
  which the character has access. 
  Level 50: 
  Change a target‘s identity to match the story. 
  The target becomes an entirely different character, 
  perhaps by trading places, though he keeps his Personality 
  Traits and Confidence Points. 
  
  50 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  possessions and the right to 
  lead the House when she dies. 
  Again, her language is very 
  difficult to puzzle out here, but 
  a careful and clever analysis 
  will tell, through her various 
  forms of hidden meaning and 
  obfuscation, that she does not 
  want this to happen, and has 
  somehow ensured that he will 
  not inherit her grandfather‘s 
  cap. He is unusual, she seems 
  to say, and not like her other 
  children, especially her 
  daughters. This might suggest 
  that he is also a faerie, not 
  merely faerie-blooded. 
   
  Finally, she tells that she has a 
  birthright given to her by her 
  grandfather, a gleam in her eye 
  that makes others believe her 
  tales when she concentrates 
  upon them, which she hopes 
  will pass through her to her 
  family. (The details of this 
  power, Legend Spinner, are 
  found earlier in this article.) 
  The author goes on to suggest 
  through the most encrypted 
  means possible that in sharing 
  this secret, Mercere revealed to 
  her that he had never 
  possessed The Gift at all, but 
  instead used this blessing to 
  earn his place among the 
  Founders and prove himself to 
  Bonisagus and Trianoma. She 
  cannot keep this secret silent, 
  she writes desperately in her 
  code, for it proves that the 
  Redcaps are truly equal to magi 
  in every way. 
  It should be very, very difficult for 
  the characters to decipher all of these 
  points without several seasons of 
  dedicated study, though if they have 
  read the rest of the text they should at 
  least be able to figure out the basics 
  of her message after a single reading 
  (she had a husband, their son is her 
  true heir, and she inherited an unusual 
  magical birthright from Mercere). The 
  reader will recognize there is much 
  more being said on these secret pages, 
  but realize that understanding of the 
  deeper layers of meaning will require 
  specialized knowledge of early 
  Hermetic history, as well as Britannic 
  lore from before the Norman 
  invasion, to figure out. 
  If the characters have no interest 
  in reading the book, they may at least 
  wish to profit from it. The Great 
  Library at Durenmar and the library 
  at Harco both already have copies — 
  though these obviously do not 
  include the secret writing on the 
  blank pages at the end — and thus if 
  inclined to be helpful they would 
  probably direct the characters to 
  Ophilio of Mercere, who lives at 
  Aedes Mercurii covenant in the 
  Pyrenees. He is well-known as an 
  expert on pre-Schism War House lore 
  with a special interest in anything 
  involving Belin, and will probably 
  give them a good price for it. 
  If the characters sit on the book, 
  word of its discovery will eventually 
  reach the local Redcaps through 
  rumor and news, and spread from 
  them to both Ophilio, who will make 
  overtures to the characters in the 
  form of letters and even a personal 
  visit if he must, and the prima of 
  House Mercere, Insatella, who will 
  instruct the Redcaps to investigate 
  further. Once Insatella learns the 
  original text of Belin‘s diary has been 
  found, or that the characters have 
  spoken with Ophilio, she will assign 
  Redcaps to follow the characters in 
  secret and at a respectful distance 
  from this point forward — ostensibly 
  to help them with their quest, as she 
  would claim it is very important to 
  the House, but mostly to report their 
  movements back to her. 
  Pyrenees Mountains 
  Ophilio of Mercere is said to be 
  the last living former member of the 
  Val-Negra covenant in the Pyrenees 
  Mountains, which was established in 
  the eighth century as the domus 
  magna of Flambeau the Founder. It is 
  located in a powerful magical regio 
  nearly impossible to access from the 
  outside world. According to Ophilio, 
  no one now lives on the original 
  covenant site, and it has been more 
  than a century since anyone has set 
  foot on the grounds. Ophilio now 
  lives with his servants at the covenant 
  of Aedes Mercurii, located not far 
  from the abandoned site of Val-
  Negra. He is a ―Flamen,‖ or 
  mystagogue of the Cult of Mercury. 
  Those magi wishing to visit Val-
  Negra and Ophilio of Mercere should 
  probably travel to Aedes Mercurii, or 
  perhaps to Ophilio‘s regular haunt, 
  the Mercere House located in 
  Barcelona. The Barcelona Mercere 
  House is in the basement of a public 
  house and inn known as Yuval‘s, 
  named after the chief Redcap, a bulky 
  and dark-skinned Jewish man with a 
  deep and infectious laugh. From there 
  it is about four days‘ ride to the 
  covenant through the mountains, or 
  two weeks‘ walk. The Redcaps would 
  be happy to escort the characters, as 
  the Mercere prima, Insatella, pays 
  Yuval handsomely for any 
  information about Ophilio‘s business. 
  Ophilio‘s quarters include a large 
  library with several enchantments that 
  protect his books against age, and a 
  small Hermetic laboratory. The 
  covenant is protected by a powerful 
  Aegis of the Hearth, but he prefers 
  spending Spring and Summer months 
  at Yuval‘s. He is regularly visited by 
  OO  
  philio is extremely elderly, at least 150 years 
  philio is extremely elderly, at least 150 years 
  old, and perhaps nearer to 200.
  old, and perhaps nearer to 200.  
  
  51 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  the Redcaps at Yuval‘s. Since he 
  makes many of their magical devices 
  and longevity rituals, as payment he 
  receives enough vis and silver to live 
  quite comfortably.  
  Ophilio is extremely elderly. He 
  was born at the turn of the 
  millennium, and though he has spent 
  a few decades in Twilight, he is still at 
  least 150 years old, and perhaps 
  nearer to 200. He usually chooses not 
  to participate in Tribunal, as that 
  would require him to travel, and 
  because of his strange appearance and 
  his many infirmities, not to mention 
  the potential danger to his health and 
  longevity, he hardly ever travels at all. 
  When he learns of the book from 
  the characters, Ophilio becomes very 
  excited (his skin shifting in color from 
  a bright yellow glow to almost beet 
  red when he has it in his hand). He is 
  very interested in purchasing the 
  book for his collection, and he is 
  willing to allow the characters to 
  make a copy of it. He pays much 
  more for it than it is worth, to 
  ingratiate himself with the characters 
  and out of great enthusiasm for his 
  purchase. He has already read it many 
  times, but he is also looking for a key 
  to the code he knows Belin was using, 
  and probably asks if the characters 
  found any other documents with the 
  book, in a tone he thinks is casual and 
  innocent.  
  He invites the characters to remain 
  as his guest for a season at Aedes 
  Mercurii, allowing them to draw on 
  the resources of this very large 
  covenant, while he examines the book 
  and makes a copy of it for them, 
  assuming they want it. They may draw 
  his attention to the blank pages, or he 
  may stumble upon them himself. 
  When he realizes the pages hide a 
  message, he will be beside himself 
  with excitement, his skin glowing 
  nearly as bright white as the sun. 
  Forgetting himself in his enthusiasm, 
  he summons up a Terram spirit using 
  Hermetic Theurgy and interrogates 
  the book, reading aloud for the 
  characters and explaining the basics as 
  he goes. He may also cast some of his 
  spells which reverse the book‘s age 
  and wear, removing the penalty to its 
  Quality, enabling him to better tell if 
  there are differences between the 
  original and its copies. 
  After making this discovery, he 
  suddenly realizes the political 
  ramifications and becomes very cagey, 
  especially if there are Redcaps 
  underfoot. He makes the characters 
  swear not to tell anyone else about 
  what they have learned together 
  before he explains his plan. If they 
  refuse, or have no interest in helping 
  him, he attempts to buy them with 
  vis, or hint at secret magical 
  knowledge of the Cult of Mercury 
  into which he can initiate them. He 
  needs them; his adventuring days are 
  long behind him, and his only 
  apprentice died in a laboratory 
  accident many years before. 
  Membership in the Cult is waning, as 
  these days young Flambeaus generally 
  join the Milites instead, and there are 
  not many magi of his House. He is 
  desperate for the characters‘ help. 
  Assuming they decide to work 
  with him, Ophilio outlines his belief 
  that a magus should preside over 
  House Mercere, rather than an 
  unGifted administrator as it is now. 
  He thinks whomever leads House 
  Mercere, the primus would certainly 
  have the Redcaps‘ assistance in 
  managing its business and 
  communication network, but that a 
  Redcap leader cannot properly 
  represent those in the House who 
  have The Gift. All of his life, he says, 
  he has been treated like an outsider 
  among his own people, a resource for 
  the Redcaps who run the House to 
  take advantage of, but not really one 
  of them. Ophilio believes if he can 
  locate the Founder‘s cap, he can undo 
  the tradition that started after Belin, 
  of the primacy passing to one of the 
  former prima‘s unGifted heirs instead 
  of to a true magus. He wants to use 
  the cap to set himself up as the new 
  primus, for it is a powerful symbol of 
  Mercere that he is certain he could 
  transform into support for his 
  ascendancy.  
  If the characters agree to help, he 
  will propose they spend the rest of 
  the season preparing, perhaps 
  familiarizing themselves with Belin‘s 
  legend while he attempts to decipher 
  enough of the code to guess where 
  she might have hidden the cap. He is 
  willing to allow any of the magi to 
  work in his laboratory while he is 
  busy absorbing the text, giving them 
  Aegis tokens for the duration of their 
  stay, and has no objections to sharing 
  his many lab texts or spells if they 
  would be useful to his guests. He will 
  not allow them to take any of his 
  books away (unless it is the only way 
  to convince them to join him). 
  After a few more days, Ophilio 
  has an idea. He has not yet found any 
  of the clues concerning the cap‘s 
  whereabouts, but he might know how 
  to find Belin‘s husband. The will 
  states she is bound to him, body and 
  soul. That sounds to him as if her 
  body is an Arcane Connection to his. 
  He suggests the characters go to 
  Harco and visit Belin‘s Tomb, where 
  her ashes are kept. Perhaps they can 
  gain access to them and borrow some 
  of them, or else use them to magically 
  confirm the connection and locate 
  her husband‘s grave. He assures them 
  that the ashes are unguarded and that 
  TT  
  he blank pages hold a detailed message for 
  he blank pages hold a detailed message for 
  Belin’s heirs, written without ink. It is so 
  Belin’s heirs, written without ink. It is so 
  faint that only powerful magic can possibly 
  faint that only powerful magic can possibly 
  reveal it...
  reveal it...  
  
  52 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  there is no reason the Redcaps would 
  not allow them access. 
  Northern Italy 
  The Mercere domus magna is 
  located in the hills at the base of the 
  Alps, east of Turin, in a temperate 
  valley sheltered from the elements. 
  The covenant surrounds a small hill 
  with a long and winding path leading 
  to the top, and what is effectively a 
  whole village clustered around the 
  base of it. Most of its traffic comes 
  from the many Mercere Portals which 
  make up the Redcap‘s transportation 
  network, housed in a large chamber 
  underneath the hill and accessed 
  through the many barns and sheds 
  that butt up against the hillside. There 
  is also a great deal of travel to and 
  from the covenant along a paved road 
  that leads from Turin past Harco and 
  into the mountains towards Geneva 
  and Leon. 
  Like Aedes Mercurii, the covenant 
  is protected by an Aegis of the Hearth 
  of great magnitude, and has 
  enchanted devices that cause those 
  travelers who are not concentrating 
  on finding the covenant from 
  accidentally stumbling upon it. The 
  village has a Dominion aura, typically 
  2 during the day and 1 at night. The 
  hill and the tunnels underneath it 
  have a Magic aura of 2. 
  Insatella, the prima of House 
  Mercere, does not seek out everyone 
  who travels through the Portals, but 
  she does make a point of meeting all 
  magi who come out of the tunnels to 
  visit the covenant. She may know 
  something of what the characters are 
  doing by this point, but she will feign 
  ignorance of this and do her best to 
  make them welcome to Harco. She is 
  polite and deferential, not haughty or 
  imperious, but she will insist on 
  helping them with their business and 
  will ask them lots of questions under 
  the guise of being curious about 
  them. Her daughter Marie never 
  leaves her side, and occasionally helps 
  her stand or whispers reminders to 
  her when her train of thought seems 
  to have become confused. 
  Once the characters reveal their 
  purpose and the short tour is over, 
  Insatella leaves them to see to other 
  matters. Two other Redcaps will 
  accompany them in her place, and she 
  asks them to just let one of them 
  know if they want for anything. She 
  grants magi one Aegis token to share, 
  though she asks that they only use it 
  for activating their Parmas or in case 
  of an emergency. By unspoken 
  custom the characters may stay at the 
  covenant for three days if they wish, 
  and Marie informs them which guest 
  quarters are prepared for them, 
  should they desire. As Insatella 
  probably has some idea of what they 
  are doing by now, she likely assigns 
  her granddaughter, Imogene, to spy 
  on them in secret, to catch any of 
  their movements which would 
  otherwise go unnoticed by their 
  escort. 
  Belin‘s Tomb is one of the 
  buildings on the hill behind the 
  covenant. It is not actually a tomb, in 
  that there are no bodies interred 
  there, but it is where Belin‘s ashes are 
  kept along with the remains of all the 
  other primi. A statue of Belin stands 
  outside the main structure, which 
  contains a large room that was 
  probably originally intended as a 
  council chamber. Alcoves carved with 
  names and dates line the sides, each 
  with a small shelf and a silver pot, 
  growing progressively blacker with 
  tarnish along the length of the room. 
  There is a colorful but faded mosaic 
  on the floor with the symbol of 
  House Mercere and its motto, and 
  windows paned with stained glass 
  depicting the original twelve 
  Founders. Belin‘s marker is at the far 
  end, in the center of the wall. 
  Belin‘s ashes are indeed an Arcane 
  Connection to her husband, though 
  the characters need to penetrate his 
  Faerie Might with the spell to confirm 
  this (see Derilch, the Faerie Redcap, 
  later in this piece) — of course, 
  having a permanent Arcane 
  Connection will make doing so much 
  easier to manage. Corpus spells to 
  identify her husband‘s location reveal 
  that he is in a ruined tower in 
  Scotland. Corpus spells to give other 
  information about him reveal he still 
  lives, ailing, and hundreds of years 
  old. Vim spells reveal that he is a 
  faerie. If the characters cannot cast 
  these spells here, they can probably 
  steal some of the ashes and take them 
  back to Val-Negra or their covenant. 
  Insatella strongly suspects 
  characters, and even has Imogene 
  search their rooms and bags for 
  evidence they have committed a 
  crime, but unless they provide her a 
  pretext for taking offense (and 
  formally asking the resident Mercere 
  Quaesitor to champion her in 
  certamen against them), there is little 
  she can do. However, she will assign 
  two Redcaps to follow the party if she 
  has not yet done so. If they are 
  returning to Barcelona, she arranges 
  with Yuval for Imogene to 
  accompany them back to Aedes 
  Mercurii (in a non-magical disguise if 
  necessary), and instructs her to 
  attempt getting close enough to them 
  to learn what they are doing. 
  The characters‘ next step is to visit 
  Belin‘s husband. The fact he is alive 
  delights Ophilio, if the characters are 
  working with him, as he imagines they 
  haves a better chance of locating 
  Belin‘s hiding place if they can ask a 
  living person, faerie or not. He has a 
  device capable of transporting the 
  characters there directly, one at a 
  time, causing them to appear 
  immediately beside their quarry. 
  When they are ready to go, he happily 
  obliges them. He urges them to go 
  sooner rather than later, as any delay 
  might allow the group to lose track of 
  him. If they prefer to travel overland, 
  Imogene might allow them to 
  persuade her to lead them there. 
  If the characters could not be 
  convinced to assist Ophilio, he 
  attempts to proceed without them. 
  
  53 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Flamen Ophilio of Mercere 
  Characteristics: Int +2, Per –2 (1), Pre 0, Com 0, Str –2 (2), Sta +4, Dex 
  –3 (3), Qik –3 (3) 
  Age: 171 (109) 
  Decrepitude: 2 (14) 
  Warping Score: 8 (1) 
  Confidence Score: 1 (7) 
  Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Hermetic Magus; Mercurian Magic; Great 
  Stamina, Hermetic Sacrifice, Hermetic Theurgy, Minor Magical Focus 
  (aging), Premonitions, Puissant Creo, Theurgical Spirit Familiar, Withstand 
  Magic; Pagan, Weak Spontaneous Magic; Ambitious, Cabal Legacy, 
  Difficult Spontaneous Magic, Susceptibility to Divine 
  Personality Traits: Competitive +3, Friendly +3, Generous +1 
  Reputations: Belin scholar 5 (Order of Hermes), Pagan 4 (Order of 
  Hermes), Should be Praeco 4 (Iberian Tribunal), Wants to be Primus 3 
  (House Mercere) 
  Combat: 
  Dodging: Init –3, Attack n/a, Defense –3, Damage n/a 
  Soak: +4 
  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 4 (ceremonial magic), Awareness 1 (alertness), 
  Catalan 4 (merchants), Charm 3 (first impressions), Concentration 2 (spell 
  casting), Cult of Mercury Lore 9 (initiation), Finesse 3 (Corpus), Folk Ken 
  2 (Redcaps), House Mercere Lore 8 (history), Iberia Tribunal Lore 1 
  (history), Intrigue 2 (plotting), Italian 5 (merchants), Latin 5 (Hermetic 
  usage), Leadership 2 (inspiration), Magic Lore 4 (Mercurian rites), Magic 
  Theory 7 (Corpus), Order of Hermes Lore 3 (ceremonies), Parma Magica 
  6 (Corpus), Penetration 6 (Rego), Philosophiae 4 (ceremonial magic), 
  Premonitions 4 (omen reading), Profession: Scribe 2 (copying books), 
  Provencal Tribunal Lore 3 (history), Roman Tribunal Lore 1 (history), 
  Survival 2 (mountains), Teaching 1 (apprentices) 
  Arts: Cr 20+3, In 9, Mu 5, Pe 5, Re 20; An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 20, He 5, 
  Ig 5, Im 5, Me 5, Te 20, Vi 20 
  Twilight Scars: Skin glows different colors depending on his mood 
  (Presence) +4, objects sometimes  magically adhere to him (Strength) +1, 
  cannot hide his emotions (Communication) -4, Unnatural appearance 
  (Presence) -5 
  Spells Known: 
  Invoke the Spirit of Animal (ReAn 20/+29) 
  Cloak of the Duck’s Feathers (ReAq 5/+29) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Auram (CrAu 20/+32) 
  Bind Wound (CrCo 10/+47) 
  Chirurgeon’s Healing Touch (CrCo 20/+58) Mastery 1 (Stalwart Casting) 
  Gentle Touch of the Purified Body (CrCo 20/+57) 
  Restoration of the Defiled Body (CrCo 25/+58) Mastery 1 (Stalwart Casting) 
  The Severed Limb Made Whole (CrCo 25/+57) 
  Cheating the Reaper (CrCo 30/+79) Mastery 2 (Lab Mastery, Stalwart 
  Casting) 
  Incantation of the Body Made Whole (CrCo 40/+58) Mastery 1 (Stalwart 
  Casting) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Corpus (InCo 20/+33) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Corpus (InCo 30/+33) 
  Rise of the Feathery Body (ReCo 10/+44) 
  Seven League Stride (ReCo 30/+44) 
  Leap of Homecoming (ReCo 35/+56) Mastery 2 (Ceremonial Casting, Lab 
  Mastery) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Corpus (ReCo 40/+44) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Ignem (CrIg 20/+32) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Ignem (ReIg 20/+29) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Imaginem (CrIm 20/+32) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Terram (InTe 30/+33) 
  Unseen Arm (ReTe 5/+44) 
  Unseen Porter (ReTe 10/+44) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Terram (ReTe 20/+44) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Terram (ReTe 30/+44) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Terram (ReTe 40/+44) 
  Wizard’s Communion (MuVi 50/+29) 
  Aegis of the Hearth (ReVi 20/+57) Mastery 3 (Adaptive Casting, 
  Penetration, Stalwart Casting) 
  Aegis of the Hearth (ReVi 40/+57) 
  Circular Ward Against Demons (ReVi 30/+58) Mastery 4 (Adaptive Casting, 
  Ceremonial Casting, Lab Mastery, Penetration) 
  Circular Ward Against Demons (ReVi 40/+58) 
  Circular Ward Against Faeries (ReVi 30/+45) Mastery 1 (Penetration) 
  Circular Ward Against the Avenging Angel (ReVi 30/+56) Mastery 2 
  (Ceremonial Casting, Penetration) 
  Circular Ward Against the Creatures of Magic (ReVi 30/+57) Mastery 3 
  (Ceremonial Casting, Lab Mastery, Penetration) 
  Watching Ward (ReVi 30/+56) Mastery 2 (Adaptive Casting, Stalwart 
  Casting) 
  Watching Ward (ReVi 40/+56) 
  Waiting Spell (ReVi 40/+56) Mastery 2 (Adaptive Casting, Stalwart 
  Casting) 
  Waiting Spell (ReVi 50/+56) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Vim (ReVi 40/+44) 
  Invoke the Spirit of Vim (ReVi 50/+44) 
  Appearance: Flamen Ophilio always dresses in voluminous formal robes, 
  like those of a university dean or a toga, but does not usually wear anything 
  on his head. His hair is long and tangled, though his face is friendly and 
  kindly. He looks at least a hundred years old, his skin wrinkled and 
  pinched, and it glows unnaturally with strange magical colors just beneath 
  the surface. He leans on a wooden staff when he walks, with golden 
  serpents entwined around the upper half, similar to the cacadeus carried by 
  the Roman god Mercury. 
  Ophilio has several initiation scripts of the Cult of Mercury, for those 
  interested in joining the inner circle. These allegedly were used by 
  members of the original cult and unearthed by Priamitus, Ophilio‘s 
  ancestor. They include Mercurian Magic, Hermetic Sacrifice, Hermetic 
  Theurgy, and Theurgical Spirit Familiar. 
  
  54 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  After some time, they receive an 
  invitation from Insatella, who learned 
  the characters sold Ophilio a book, 
  and wants to know what it said. She 
  worries about him, she says; he 
  arrived at Harco and demanded to see 
  Belin‘s ashes, and then cast a spell on 
  them causing him to disappear and 
  leaving the ashes behind. They have 
  heard nothing of him since, and 
  because they cannot ask a Quaesitor 
  to scry on him without charging him 
  with committing a crime, they wonder 
  if the characters know what he was 
  doing, allegedly for his own safety. 
  The characters may use this 
  opportunity to examine the ashes 
  themselves if they wish, perhaps to 
  discover where Ophilio went, and to 
  ally themselves with Insatella if they 
  choose to share with her what they 
  know of the book. 
  Scottish Lowlands 
  The characters‘ destination is an 
  abandoned and rotting guard tower in 
  the wild lands southwest of 
  Edinburgh, surrounded by marshy 
  bogs and scrub-covered hills. It is 
  haunted by an old faerie creature that 
  once loved a mortal woman. This 
  creature is Derilch, former husband 
  and now widower of Belin. He is a 
  sad and lonely thing, who waits for 
  time to wear him away as it did his 
  wife, hundreds of years ago. During 
  the day he sleeps within the tower, 
  huddled in a corner beneath the 
  moldy boards of the collapsed upper 
  story, and at night he climbs the 
  rickety stairs, avoiding the ones that 
  are ready to break with age, and 
  stands upon the roof, looking out to 
  the south and east until dawn comes 
  to pierce his eyes. There is a Faerie 1 
  aura. 
  The characters will undoubtedly 
  surprise him, as he is nearly blind. He 
  is still quick when he is riled, but it 
  takes a lot to get his blood flowing. 
  He will probably treat the characters 
  like he does any intruder, with vague 
  menace and ominous cursing, in the 
  hopes of frightening them away. He 
  waves his blood-red cap at them 
  (surprisingly similar to Mercere‘s, 
  complete with a grime-covered coin 
  etched with the symbol of the House 
  sewn into the brim) as evidence that 
  he dyes it with the blood of his 
  victims, and bares his sharp teeth at 
  them, pointing with his long nails for 
  them to go, to leave him. 
  As he is a faerie, Derilch feeds on 
  fear. He cannot help himself, and he 
  will continue to try and horrify the 
  characters until they yield to him, or 
  else offer him vitality of another sort. 
  His need is lessened somewhat by his 
  connection to Belin, but being around 
  people makes him uncomfortable and 
  causes dark feelings to well within 
  him. Once his hunger is engaged and 
  he is not fed, he may very well work 
  himself into a desperate frenzy that 
  only terror or blood can sate — he is 
  essentially starving to death, in the 
  faerie sense. This means that the 
  longer the characters go without 
  showing fear, the more he will require 
  from them before he can regain 
  control and consider a deal with 
  them. 
  The characters will probably ask 
  him about the cap he wears. He will 
  not tell them anything about it for 
  free, but he may be willing to bargain 
  with them, exchanging information 
  for blood or other sources of vitality. 
  Of course, the characters may be able 
  to magically read his thoughts. The 
  
  55 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  facts are: he was Belin‘s husband and 
  Belin gave him the cap he now wears. 
  He is slowly dying, but he lives on 
  through the power of Belin‘s 
  memory, for even in death she is still 
  alive enough to sustain him. Derilch 
  doesn‘t volunteer anything about his 
  children, and refuses to talk about 
  them. He knows very little about 
  them in any case, and his memories 
  are muddled by the years. He is 
  occasionally visited by other faeries 
  who tell him things, but it upsets him 
  too much to think about it. 
  (The cap is not, in fact, Mercere‘s 
  cap — it is actually the cap Mercere 
  gave Belin when she finished her 
  apprenticeship — but there is no way 
  the characters can be sure of this, and 
  in any case it doesn‘t actually matter, 
  as this cap is just as fine as the other 
  for Ophilio‘s purposes, or for the 
  characters to take advantage of it in a 
  similar way.) 
  Imogene, if she is with them, is 
  worried by this development, and 
  tries to dissuade the characters from 
  taking the cap from the faerie, even 
  revealing herself as Insatella‘s 
  granddaughter and offering them 
  double anything Ophilio promised on 
  her behalf, if she must. (If she 
  manages to talk the characters out of 
  it, the temptation to declare herself 
  prima instead of her aunt Marie will 
  prove too great for her, and she 
  returns to the scene as soon as the 
  characters are away to take it for 
  Imogene the Redcap 
  Characteristics: Int +1, Per +3, Pre –2, Com –3, Str 0, Sta 0, 
  Dex +3, Qik +3 
  Age: 29 
  Virtues and Flaws: Redcap; Ways of the Road; Increased 
  Characteristics, Light Touch, Relic, Well Traveled (free); 
  Ambitious, Low Self-Esteem; Close Family Ties, Covenant 
  Upbringing, Lesser Malediction (barren) 
  Personality Traits: Loyal +3, Chaste +2, Resentful +1 
  Reputations: Prima‘s Granddaughter 3 (House Mercere) 
  Combat: 
  Fist: Init +3, Attack +6, Defense +6, Damage 0 
  Knife: Init +3, Attack +8, Defense +7, Damage +2 
  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 1 (reading and writing), Athletics 2 
  (contortions), Awareness 5 (searching), Brawl 3 (knives), Code of 
  Hermes 1 (Redcaps), English 2 (comprehension), French 2 
  (comprehension), German 2 (comprehension), Guile 4 (feigning 
  stupidity), Harco Lore 1 (geography), Italian 5 (comprehension), 
  Latin 5 (Hermetic usage), Legerdemain 5 (filching), Order of 
  Hermes Lore 1 (personalities), Ride 1 (speed), Spanish 2 
  (comprehension), Stealth 5 (shadowing), Survival 2 (mountains) 
  Powers: 
  Ring enchanted with Disguise of the Transformed Image (MuIm 20: Base 
  4, +1 Touch, +1 Conc; +5 maintains concentration, +5 24 uses 
  per day), which allows her to adopt any sort of human disguise, 
  activated by touching it to her forehead. She knows not to use 
  this effect when spying on magi. 
  Ring enchanted with Eyes of the Cat (MuCo 5: Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 
  Sun, +0 1 use per day) 
  Shoes enchanted with No Trace of His Passage (PeIm 25: Base 4, +1 
  Touch, +1 Conc; +5 maintains concentration, +5 24 uses per 
  day), which when activated by tracing a pattern on each foot 
  masks all her sounds, smells, and feeling (such as by brushing 
  past a person while moving through a crowd). She also knows 
  not to use this effect when spying on magi, though arguably it is 
  not a crime for her to use either power in a public place, since 
  nothing a magus does in public can be considered secret. 
  Equipment: Relic worn as necklace, magic rings, magic shoes, 
  red cap 
  Appearance: Appearance: Imogene is a fit and plain-looking 
  woman, probably wearing men‘s clothes and a red cap, the top of 
  which falls forward towards her face. She could easily pass for a 
  young boy. She is very good at appearing stupid, having long ago 
  mastered the expressionless stare that says it is safe to speak 
  freely in front of her. 
  Imogene is one among many in the extended family of the 
  Mercere Prima. She is not highly regarded by her grandmother 
  because she has no children and is thought to be too prudish 
  about such things, but she still desperately craves elevation above 
  her siblings and cousins in her esteem. As she was not especially 
  sociable as a child, her father encouraged her to be quiet and 
  watch people, and from there she learned to spy and sneak with 
  great skill. Since then she has had a recurring dream in which 
  God tells her that she is barren as punishment for her sins, but 
  despite this divine curse she still tries to be at least as pious as the 
  other Redcaps at Harco, attending weekly services when her 
  duties do not prevent it. 
  During her Mercere gauntlet, which involved intercepting, 
  reading and resealing letters from the Pope, she switched a 
  former Redcap‘s finger-bone for another on display upon the 
  cathedral altar, reputedly having belonged to St. Margaret the 
  Virgin. She wears it constantly, praying that the saint will 
  miraculously bless her with a baby, and she has promised herself 
  she will return the relic when she does. Imogene takes the fact 
  that she has not done so as evidence that the saint prefers to be 
  with her. 
  Imogene is very skilled at espionage involving magi, and is very 
  careful not to break the Code when spying on them. While she 
  has magical devices that allow her to become invisible or change 
  her appearance, she knows not to use these effects without 
  informing any magi present that she is doing so. Her practice is 
  rather to ingratiate herself with magi, and make herself useful 
  enough to them so that they tell her what she wants to know. If 
  she were ever caught scrying and brought to Tribunal on charges 
  of a High Crime, she knows that her grandmother would deny 
  any involvement. She believes this is proper and correct, to 
  protect Hermetic society, though she would regret it. 
  
  56 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  herself.) 
  If the characters are loyal to 
  Ophilio and keep to their 
  arrangement with him, he shares what 
  he has deciphered from the book, 
  including the clues about Belin‘s 
  strange ability to change hearts and 
  minds (though he is able to discover 
  very little about the specifics), and the 
  description of the faerie pact, 
  including the ceremony to invoke it. 
  He even tells them he already knew 
  something of the ceremony based on 
  certain research he did into the 
  secrets of the Cult of Mercury. He 
  strongly hints he has access to 
  initiation scripts for the binding of a 
  spirit familiar, if the characters are 
  interested in such mysteries. 
  This part of the story ends with 
  the recovery of the cap. The 
  characters may return to their 
  covenant with their rewards safely in 
  hand, and proceed with their own 
  lives. During the next few years, the 
  parties in possession of the cap will 
  begin pressing their claims and 
  starting the political wheels grinding 
  towards their ascension, while word 
  spreads through the Order of the 
  character‘s part in the discovery and 
  recovery of such a significant artifact 
  of Hermetic history. 
  War with the Bloodcaps 
  Events associated with Belin‘s 
  legacy begin again when the 
  characters learn of a shocking 
  development: a faerie army, 
  reportedly between several hundred 
  and a thousand men-shaped soldiers 
  and cavalry, has attacked and 
  destroyed a Hermetic covenant in 
  Scotland. The survivors described the 
  creatures as twisted and freakish, 
  many of them with red caps like the 
  Hermetic messengers, what the magi 
  of the region call ―bloodcaps.‖ Such 
  an action is unprecedented and 
  alarming, and magi of both 
  Stonehenge and Loch Leglean are 
  preparing to go to war against them. 
  In the meantime, Derilch the 
  faerie has died, either because the 
  characters killed him or because 
  without his cap he finally wasted 
  a w a y .  R e g a r d l e s s  o f  t h e 
  circumstances, the faeries believe it to 
  be the characters‘ fault. Through their 
  contacts in the Hermetic Redcap 
  network, the faeries discovered who 
  visited him last, and what has 
  happened to the cap he wore. 
  Derilch‘s son Malott — perhaps this 
  is Derilch reborn as another faerie —
  has declared himself king of the 
  redcaps, and learned what possession 
  of the cap means in what he views as 
  the noble house of his mother and 
  great-grandfather. He believes that by 
  right of blood and title, he should be 
  lord over all redcaps, including Belin‘s 
  descendants. At the very least, they 
  owe him tribute and aid. 
  While faerie redcaps are typically 
  very solitary creatures, haunting a 
  particular place, there are some faerie-
  blooded humans descended from 
  Derilch and Belin in the Stonehenge 
  Tribunal who are especially clannish. 
  These clannish fey and fey-blooded 
  kin began ranging across the land in 
  packs in recent years, seeking out 
  traveling humans and waylaying them. 
  With a mob of wild faerie bandits 
  following Malott, he also gained the 
  respect of other faeries in the region, 
  especially the other redcaps, and 
  many have sworn fealty to him. 
  Furthermore, there are those of 
  
  57 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  House Mercere in the Tribunal who 
  are related to these faeries by blood, 
  and who are sometimes willing to 
  pass information to them, via a flock 
  of faerie ravens that now serves the 
  Redcap King. 
  The circumstances offer Malott a 
  perfect opportunity. Citing the 
  murder of his father and the theft of 
  his family‘s cap, he rallied the other 
  faerie Redcaps and many of their 
  human brethren in the region to join 
  in an attack against a Hermetic 
  covenant near the southern Scottish 
  border, a covenant he portrayed as a 
  constant scourge of the faeries in the 
  region. Malott told them many stories 
  of how their kin have been captured 
  by the wizards living there, taken 
  across the moat and into the bailey, 
  never to be seen again. Under his 
  banner, the faerie redcaps, the human 
  Bloodcaps, and the other dark faerie 
  creatures descended upon the hated 
  castle by storm —to force those who 
  took the cap to return it, to raze the 
  building to the ground, and to inspire 
  more raw fear than they have ever 
  experienced before out of the other 
  wizards of Britain. 
  A Hermetic Redcap, who had 
  been staying at the covenant, survived 
  the initial attack. The leaders of the 
  army granted him safe passage on the 
  condition he would bring a message 
  to the other ―wizards and their ilk‖ in 
  the region. He accepted their offer. 
  The message states, ―The king of the 
  redcaps demands the return of a 
  mighty heirloom, the red cap of his 
  father and his great-grandfather, as 
  weregild for his death and the 
  restoration of what is rightfully his. 
  These murderers and thieves belong 
  to the so-called Order of Hermes, and 
  unless the wizards give these 
  criminals up to the faeries for justice, 
  the land will see bloodshed it has not 
  seen for hundreds of years.‖ The 
  message then lists several of the 
  characters by name. 
  It is likely that the characters hear 
  of this from a breathless Redcap, 
  dispatched from the nearest Mercere 
  House immediately upon receiving 
  the ultimatum, to make the characters 
  aware of their predicament and learn 
  Derilch, Faerie Redcap 
  Faerie Might: 25 (Corpus) 
  Characteristics: Int +1, Per +2, Pre –2, Com –2, Str +5, Sta +3, 
  Dex +2, Qik +2 
  Confidence: 7 (0) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Greater Power x2 (Guide, Sidestep); Animal 
  Ken, Berserker, Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Great Strength x2, 
  Humanoid Faerie, Increased Characteristics x3, Increased Might 
  x4, Improved Soak x4, Lesser Power (Damaging Effect), 
  Personal Power (Invisibility), Puissant Brawl, Puissant Great 
  Weapon, Reputation as Confidence, Residual Power x2; 
  Narrowly Cognizant; Lost Love, Negative Reaction, Poor 
  Eyesight, Reckless, Traditional Ward (religious symbols), 
  Weakness (blood) 
  Personality Traits: Bloodthirsty (Berserk, Reckless) +3, Lonely 
  +2, Suicidal +2 
  Reputations: Husband and Father Figure 7 (Faerie), Frightening 
  3 (local) 
  Combat: 
  Teeth: Init +2, Attack +12, Defense +9, Damage +8 
  Claw: Init +1, Attack +13, Defense +12, Damage +7 
  Soak: +10 
  Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated 
  (16–20), Dead (21+) 
  Pretenses: Athletics 1 (lifting), Awareness 2 (keeping watch), 
  Brawl 4+2 (claws), Faerie Speech 4 (slang), Great Weapon 5+2 
  (spear), Guile 2 (lying to authority), Leadership 4 (intimidation), 
  Order of Hermes Lore 1 (Redcaps), Scottish Lowlands Lore 1 
  (battles), Single Weapon 4 (short sword), Stealth 2 (hiding), 
  Survival 1 (ruins) 
  Powers: 
  Damaging Effect, 2 points, Init –4, Terram or Herbam: Weapons 
  that the faerie redcap wields take on a supernaturally dangerous 
  aspect, increasing their Damage rating by +5 for the duration of 
  the combat. 
  Guide, 1 point, Init –1, Mentem: Derilch can subtly influence a 
  group of people towards a specific course of action using this 
  power, with each activation lasting up to a day. 
  Invisibility, 0 points, Init 0, Imaginem: As Veil of Invisibility, 
  ArM5 p. 146. 
  Sidestep, 0 points, Init 0, Corpus: As Seven-League Stride, ArM5 
  p. 143. If the faerie cannot see a particular destination when it 
  activates this power (if it is unconscious, for example), it will 
  instead appear in a random location within about a hundred 
  paces. 
  Vis: 5 pawns Corpus, in teeth and claws 
  Appearance: A tall faerie creature with a wool cap stained dark 
  with blood, an impossibly wrinkled face, and fierce, sharp upper 
  teeth pointing out over his lower lip. His fingernails are like 
  claws, several inches long, and the skin on his weathered and 
  bony limbs is nearly indistinguishable from the leather hauberk 
  he wears on his chest. 
  Derilch (pronounced DARE-ilk) is a faerie redcap, albeit a 
  slightly unusual one, as he married a mortal woman and gave her 
  children. Over the years his role changed from that of a fierce 
  guardian of the boundary between civilization and wilderness, to 
  a twisted father figure that is the fierce guardian of his home, 
  wife and family. As all of them have now left him, he is now 
  purposeless, or at least has only to die and make way for his 
  heirs, wherever they are. 
  In combat, Derilch claws at his opponents savagely, grappling 
  them and trying to draw their blood. He often fights invisibly, 
  disappearing from view as soon as the fight begins, and can leap 
  instantly from person to person using his Sidestep power. Since 
  he is ready to die, he will probably not do this. If incapacitated or 
  killed, his body will fade from view and transport itself to a 
  random location within a hundred paces, so that it cannot be 
  harvested for vis. His bloody cap, however, will slide from his 
  head as he collapses and remain where it fell. 
  
  58 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  their response. Word soon follows, 
  indicating a senior maga of House 
  Guernicus has begun formally 
  investigating the characters in 
  connection with a high crime in the 
  Loch Leglean Tribunal. The 
  Quaesitor would like to meet with 
  them in Loch Leglean at their earliest 
  convenience. Word may also arrive 
  that the senior Quaesitor of 
  Stonehenge Tribunal has begun 
  investigating and would also like to 
  speak with them. 
  Two Quaesitors are involved in 
  the investigation because of the 
  peculiar circumstances of the attack, 
  having occurred in the borderlands of 
  Stonehenge and Loch Leglean 
  Tribunals. The magi of Burnham 
  covenant, which the faeries fell upon, 
  attended Stonehenge for the last two 
  Tribunals. Yet the site is located 
  further north into Scotland than 
  Horsingas, which is a Loch Leglean 
  covenant, and the surviving magi and 
  their covenfolk have all gathered 
  there. Caitlin of Ex Miscellanea made 
  the charge against the characters to 
  Whitburh, but Iudicium technically 
  has a vested interest as senior 
  Quaesitor of the covenant‘s home 
  Tribunal, and is known to be close to 
  Burnham‘s Trutina of Guernicus. It 
  may be that the characters will be 
  tried in both regions, if the affected 
  parties cannot reach an agreement 
  regarding jurisdiction. 
  Another trip to Britain would 
  seem necessary, unless the characters 
  convince the two Quaesitors to come 
  to see them at their own covenant. 
  Iudicium is planning to visit them in 
  person, but could be convinced to 
  travel to Horsingas for a joint meeting 
  instead. Whitburh refuses to leave her 
  covenant at this time, as their scouts 
  believe that the faerie army could be 
  camped anywhere within a day‘s 
  march (they are thought to be 
  invisible during the day, as faeries are 
  known to be able to do), and that the 
  covenant is in grave danger. At the 
  very least, Whitburh expects the 
  characters to be there to help them 
  defend against another attack if the 
  faeries press their threats. 
  If the characters meet with 
  Iudicium alone, he listens to their 
  explanation and then tells them the 
  situation as he sees it. In his opinion, 
  the characters should offer 
  themselves up to the faeries, 
  attempting to negotiate with them. If 
  they can bring the cap with them, it 
  would be all the better. Perhaps by 
  doing this they can prove this attack 
  was not their fault, and thus reduce 
  the severity of the charge in the 
  Tribunal‘s opinion. If the magi do not 
  do this, he is relatively certain their 
  peers will find them guilty; the facts 
  are clear they interacted with a faerie, 
  and because of it their sodales have 
  suffered. 
  The characters from the last half 
  of the story will be varying levels of 
  help here, depending on how they got 
  along. Ophilio is not in any way 
  implicated, except perhaps by 
  knowing they were going to see a 
  faerie to try to get him the cap, or 
  unless he went after it himself (in 
  which case he has probably gone into 
  Twilight after botching a spell). 
  However, he certainly provides 
  whatever assistance he can if they are 
  allies. If Imogene has the cap, she 
  seeks the characters out and offers to 
  help them, as what she did will 
  certainly come out. She admits she 
  was spying on them for Insatella, but 
  Suggested Covenants 
  For a satisfying conclusion to the 
  story, both the covenant under attack 
  and the covenant where the characters 
  go to meet with the Quesitors should 
  be in the area near where the players 
  originally discovered and met with 
  Derilch, in the lowlands of southern 
  Scotland. This area is close enough to 
  the border between England and 
  Scotland that the covenants could 
  belong to either Loch Leglean or 
  Stonehenge, and in fact it is most 
  interesting if both are represented in 
  the events of the story. Ideally, the 
  redcap army attacks a Stonehenge 
  covenant and the survivors flee to a 
  Loch Leglean covenant. 
  For the purposes of this story, the 
  text assumes that the covenant under 
  attack is called Burnham, a secretive 
  covenant located further north than 
  any other Stonehenge covenant and 
  home to several magi of many 
  different Houses, including a maga of 
  Ex Miscellanea named Caitlin, and 
  that they have attended the last two 
  Tribunals in Stonehenge. The second 
  covenant is called Horsingas, and is 
  associated with Loch Leglean, the 
  southernmost covenant in the 
  Tribunal and less than a day‘s ride 
  from the site of the attack. It is home 
  to the senior Quaesitor of Loch 
  Leglean, Whitburh Frithowebba, and 
  two other magi. The senior Quaesitor 
  of Stonehenge is Iudicium of 
  Blackthorn covenant. 
  All of these character and covenant 
  choices are suggested for 
  convenience, not to establish the 
  political and cultural circumstances of 
  these Tribunals. They are consistent 
  with books published for earlier 
  editions of the game, but of course 
  storyguides should feel free to change 
  them as necessary to work better with 
  their sagas or to remain consistent 
  with books published subsequently. 
  W
  W  
  hile faerie redcaps are typically solitary 
  hile faerie redcaps are typically solitary 
  creatures there are some faerie
  creatures there are some faerie--blooded 
  blooded 
  humans descended from Derilch and 
  humans descended from Derilch and 
  Belin in the Stonehenge Tribunal who 
  Belin in the Stonehenge Tribunal who 
  have begun ranging across the land in packs to seek 
  have begun ranging across the land in packs to seek 
  out traveling humans and waylay them... 
  out traveling humans and waylay them...   
  
  59 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  points out an alliance is to their 
  benefit, because Insatella will use her 
  considerable influence on their behalf 
  as well as hers. 
  Northumbria 
  The covenant of Horsingas is a 
  simple castle tower that has been 
  carved into the side of a hill, so that 
  most of it is underground, and most 
  of the covenfolk and refugees live in 
  the many caves that pit the rocky 
  terrain just below it. It is a very 
  defensible building, and they have 
  enough supplies to withstand a long 
  siege and enough horsemen and 
  soldiers that they are confident they 
  could decimate the foe. They have 
  several secret weapons as well that 
  they do not show the characters 
  unless battle is joined, including heavy 
  crossbows and powerful illusions 
  covering well-placed watch posts and 
  arrow slits. 
  Whitburh will meet the characters 
  in an unused sanctum at the top of 
  the tower, lit by natural light from a 
  well in the roof. They are escorted by 
  at least as many grogs as characters, 
  very rough and shifty sort of men and 
  women who look poised to attack at 
  any provocation. They may also meet 
  Edwin of Tytalus and Jehan of 
  Jerbiton, two other senior magi at the 
  covenant, who will probably sit in on 
  the investigation, and who obviously 
  have differing views on the current 
  situation — Edwin is anxious for 
  assistance and stronger incentive to 
  bring battle to the faeries, while Jehan 
  would like to turn magi with 
  sympathy for their position into allies 
  against their many other enemies. 
  They are all fiercely Saxon and hate 
  the Normans, which may prejudice 
  them against the characters from the 
  start. 
  Whitburh‘s position is similar to 
  Iudicium‘s, once she knows the facts. 
  If they can speak to the faeries and 
  prove they did not cause this attack, 
  there is the chance their sentence 
  might be lessened at Tribunal, and 
  Burnham might even be convinced to 
  withdraw the accusation. Certainly 
  their efforts to aid the other 
  covenants of the region in their battle 
  against the faerie menace would show 
  them in a more favorable light to 
  other magi. The emotional tension in 
  Malott, King of the Redcaps 
  Faerie Might: 35 (Corpus) 
  Characteristics: Int +1, Per +2, Pre –2, Com –2, Str +5, Sta +3, 
  Dex +3, Qik +2 
  Confidence: 7 (13) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Greater Power x4 (Command Beasts, 
  Extended Glamour, Guide, Sidestep); Animal Ken, Berserker, 
  Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Great Strength x2, Humanoid Faerie, 
  Increased Characteristics x4, Increased Might x6, Improved Soak 
  x4, Inspirational, Lesser Power (Damaging Effect), Personal 
  Power (Invisibility), Puissant Brawl, Puissant Great Weapon, 
  Reputation as Confidence; Legendary Entrancement, Narrowly 
  Cognizant; Negative Reaction, Reckless, Traditional Ward 
  (religious symbols), Weakness (blood) 
  Personality Traits: Bloodthirsty (Berserk, Reckless) +3, 
  Vengeful +3, Loyal +2 
  Reputations: King of the Redcaps 7 (Faerie), Frightening 3 
  (local) 
  Combat: 
  Teeth: Init +2, Attack +13, Defense +9, Damage +8 
  Claw: Init +1, Attack +14, Defense +12, Damage +7 
  Short Sword: Init +3, Attack +11, Defense +8, Damage +10/+15 
  Long Sword: Init +4, Attack +10, Defense +7, Damage +11 
  Long Spear: Init +5, Attack +14, Defense +11, Damage +12/+17 
  Pole Axe: Init +3, Attack +14, Defense +10, Damage +16 
  Soak: +10 
  Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated 
  (16–20), Dead (21+) 
  Pretenses: Animal Ken 1 (scavengers), Athletics 1 (lifting), 
  Awareness 2 (keeping watch), Brawl 4+2 (claws), Faerie Speech 4 
  (slang), Great Weapon 5+2 (spear), Guile 2 (lying to authority), 
  Leadership 4 (intimidation), Order of Hermes Lore 1 (Redcaps), 
  Scottish Lowlands Lore 1 (battles), Single Weapon 4 (short 
  sword), Stealth 2 (hiding), Survival 1 (ruins) 
  Powers: 
  Command Beasts, 0 points, Init 0: As Commanding the Harnessed 
  Beast, ArM5 p. 141. 
  Damaging Effect, 2 points, Init –4, Terram or Herbam: Weapons 
  that the faerie redcap wields take on a supernaturally dangerous 
  aspect, increasing their Damage rating by +5 for the duration of 
  the combat. 
  Extended Glamour, 0 points, constant, Mentem: Mallott is 
  constantly in touch with everything around him on a battlefield 
  or ruined building. 
  Guide, 1 point, Init –1, Mentem: Malott can subtly influence a 
  group of people towards a specific course of action using this 
  power, with each activation lasting up to a day. 
  Invisibility, 0 points, Init 0, Imaginem: As Veil of Invisibility, 
  ArM5 p. 146. 
  Sidestep, 0 points, Init 0, Corpus: As Seven-League Stride, ArM5 
  p. 143. If the faerie cannot see a particular destination when it 
  activates this power (if it is unconscious, for example), it will 
  instead appear in a random location within about a hundred 
  paces. 
  Vis: 7 pawns Corpus, in teeth and claws 
  Appearance: Malott looks like a younger, middle-aged version of 
  Derilch: a tall faerie creature with a lined face and fierce, sharp 
  upper teeth poking out over his lower lip. Perhaps instead of a 
  bloody cap, he now wears an iron crown stained red with rust. 
  
  60 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  the chamber once this decision is 
  declared will be strong, for a 
  Quaesitor knows there is always the 
  possibility that an accused magus will 
  react with violence and strike down 
  his investigator before becoming a 
  renegade. Edwin and Jehan‘s attitudes 
  are defiant, staunchly standing by 
  Whitburh even if they disagree with 
  her position. 
  The characters control their fate 
  here. Unfortunately, there is a 
  significant factor working against 
  them, in that there are probably 
  people with Bloodcap faerie blood 
  among the survivors and Horsingas 
  covenfolk, who feel conflicted loyalty 
  to their faerie kin and still resent the 
  treatment they or their relatives 
  received at Burnham covenant, kept 
  like slaves and raised for vis, or so 
  they have been told. They have not 
  been asked to fight against the magi, 
  but they will send a message to the so
  -called Redcap King, whispering that 
  the characters are there and what their 
  plans are to the ravens he sends at 
  night. Thus, Malott learns very 
  quickly where he can find the 
  characters. 
  A meeting between the characters 
  and the King of the Redcaps is 
  inevitable. If the characters flee, 
  Malott and his cavalry follow the 
  characters, attempting to catch them 
  in the wilds. If they stay at Horsingas, 
  the faeries and their allies attack the 
  covenant, attempting to cause enough 
  damage and dread to force the Loch 
  Leglean magi into giving up the 
  characters for parlay with the faerie 
  Redcaps. And, if the characters travel 
  to Burnham, the faeries meet them 
  there, attempting to capture them. If, 
  by guile or trickery the characters 
  somehow get past them and escape 
  Britain, the faeries continue their 
  march on Horsingas, hoping more 
  bloodshed will force the other 
  wizards‘ action. While they prefer to 
  retrieve the cap, causing widespread 
  terror and mayhem is an acceptable 
  outcome. 
  Both parties should want this final 
  confrontation for their own reasons. 
  The characters probably want Malott 
  to state he did not attack Burnham 
  because of them, but rather Burnham 
  was also at fault. If they can get him 
  to say it before impartial witnesses, it 
  will be even better for them. Malott 
  ostensibly wants the cap his father 
  wore, and his sovereignty over the 
  Hermetic Redcaps acknowledged. But 
  if he cannot have either of those 
  things, he wants to die in glorious 
  battle, and start a bloody war between 
  faeries and men. He wants his name 
  to live on in both faerie and Hermetic 
  history. 
  Malott gladly tells the characters 
  whatever they want to hear if he 
  thinks he has the upper hand, as he 
  does not intend for them to survive. 
  Even if they do survive, his death 
  serves its purpose whether he tells 
  them the truth or not, for the other 
  bloodcaps will be honor-bound to 
  avenge him. More than anything else, 
  he seeks to frighten the characters, 
  since he believes fear makes him and 
  his followers stronger, and feeds their 
  faerie natures. To that end, he tells 
  the characters a story, if they will 
  listen, about his mother, about how 
  he came to power and most 
  importantly about telling stories. 
  Bloodcap Soldiers 
  Characteristics: Int –1, Per 0, Pre 0, Com 0, Str +2, Sta +1, Dex 
  +2, Qik +2 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 25 
  Virtues and Flaws: Outcast; Faerie Blood (Bloodcap), Warrior; 
  Fear (the Divine) 
  Personality Traits: Brave +3, Loyal +1 
  Combat: 
  Axe and Heater Shield: Init 0, Attack +12, Defense +11, Damage 
  +8 
  Fist: Init –1, Attack +7, Defense +7, Damage +2 
  Long Spear: Init +5, Attack +9, Defense +7, Damage +9 
  Pole Axe: Init +3, Attack +12, Defense +7, Damage +13 
  Short Bow: Init +1, Attack +10, Defense +7, Damage +8 
  Soak: +6 (full leather scale armor) 
  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: Athletics 2 (lifting), Awareness 3 (in combat), Bows 4 
  (short bow), Brawl 4 (punching), Britain Lore 2 (ruins), Carouse 
  3 (drinking), Faerie Lore 2 (Redcaps), Great Weapon 4 (pole axe), 
  Guile 2 (lying to authority), Hunt 2 (tracking), Leadership 2 
  (intimidation), Native Language 5 (rude words), Single Weapon 5 
  (heater shield), Stealth 2 (hiding), Survival 1 (ruins) 
  Equipment: Axe, heater shield, full leather scale armor, short 
  bow, arrows, pack.  
  Encumbrance: 3 (4) 
  Appearance: An unshaven outlaw, dressed in full leather scale 
  mail, and unnaturally old. His teeth and nails might look slightly 
  longer than normal, and his skin slightly more wrinkled and 
  tough. 
  The bloodcap infantry that makes up the bulk of the army is 
  extremely diverse, incorporating everyone from professional 
  soldiers to washerwomen. Since they are essentially fighting as a 
  group, the stats above describe those who would be in the van. 
  Redcap blood generally makes characters tougher and more 
  bloodthirsty, qualities which Malott has encouraged during their 
  time with him in the wilderness. In pitched battle, they will 
  probably charge rather than hang back; while some of them do 
  have bows, all of them have weapons, even if they are only clubs 
  and knives. 
  
  61 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  He was born a faerie, the first 
  child of Belin and Derilch, though he 
  does not remember being young. He 
  lived with his father, but was much 
  more violent than Derilch. He 
  enjoyed the horrors of killing 
  trespassers, rather than frightening 
  them away. When Belin came to live 
  with them in her later years, she gave 
  him a special red cap, but she forbid 
  him to dirty it with blood. He ignored 
  her, and when she discovered what he 
  had done, she furiously threw it in the 
  fire. They quarreled ceaselessly, and it 
  was clear she hated him, which he 
  enjoyed. When she left them to return 
  to the mainland to die, he would not 
  mourn, and his father banished him 
  from the tower. He left, taking several 
  of his brothers and nephews with 
  him, and they have hunted the wilds 
  of Scotland as a pack ever since, 
  growing stronger as their family grew 
  larger. 
  His mother had a special power to 
  tell a story, and through the telling 
  change reality for the listener, and she 
  would often try to use this power 
  against him, but she was never strong 
  enough to affect him. When he was 
  very young he asked her how she did 
  it, and she told him ―I simply believe, 
  and it comes to pass. Perhaps it was 
  the truth all along.‖ He never forgot 
  this, and after some time had passed 
  he began to wonder if he also 
  possessed this power. He has decided 
  he does, and he stresses what this 
  means: after the characters are dead, 
  he will tell the witnesses his version of 
  how things happened, and his version 
  will become the truth (or perhaps it 
  was true all along). He hopes for this 
  revelation to chill them more than any 
  of the other threats he has made, as 
  much as it would frighten him. 
  Malott makes a point of sparing 
  any Hermetic Redcaps among the 
  characters. They are kin, he says, and 
  they will be allowed to leave after the 
  fighting, or even join their side if they 
  wish, though if they raise their arms 
  against the faeries they will be slain 
  with the others. While it is not strictly 
  true that all members of House 
  Mercere are related by blood to 
  Mercere the Founder, it is in keeping 
  Redcap Knights 
  Faerie Might: 10 (Corpus) 
  Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1, Pre –3, Com –3, Str +3, Sta +3, 
  Dex +2, Qik +2 
  Virtues and Flaws: Greater Power (Sidestep); Faerie Sight, 
  Faerie Speech, Humanoid Faerie, Increased Might, Increased 
  Soak, Personal Power (Invisibility), Puissant Great Weapon; 
  Narrowly Cognizant; Oath of Fealty, Wrathful; Negative 
  Reaction, Reclusive, Traditional Ward (religious symbols), 
  Weakness (blood) 
  Personality Traits: Bloodthirsty (Reckless) +3, Loyal +2, 
  Vengeful +2 
  Reputations: Frightening 3 (local) 
  Combat: 
  Teeth: Init +2, Attack +10, Defense +8, Damage +6 
  Claw: Init +1, Attack +11, Defense +11, Damage +5 
  Short Sword: Init +3, Attack +9, Defense +7, Damage +10 
  Long Sword: Init +4, Attack +11, Defense +8, Damage +11 
  Long Spear: Init +5, Attack +11, Defense +9, Damage +12 
  Pole Axe: Init +3, Attack +15, Defense +11, Damage +16 
  Soak: +5 
  Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated 
  (16–20), Dead (21+) 
  Pretenses: Athletics 1 (lifting), Awareness 2 (keeping watch), 
  Brawl 5 (claws), Faerie Speech 4 (slang), Great Weapon 5+2 
  (pole axe), Guile 2 (lying to authority), Leadership 3 
  (intimidation), Scottish Lowlands Lore 1 (battles), Single Weapon 
  4 (long sword), Stealth 2 (hiding), Survival 1 (ruins) 
  Powers: 
  Invisibility, 0 points, Init 0, Imaginem: As Veil of Invisibility, 
  ArM5 page 146. 
  Sidestep, 0 points, Init 0, Corpus: As Seven-League Stride, ArM5 
  p. 143. If the faerie cannot see a particular destination when it 
  activates this power (if it is unconscious, for example), it will 
  instead appear in a random location within about a hundred 
  paces. 
  Vis: 3 pawns Corpus, in teeth and claws 
  Appearance: A tall faerie creature with a wool cap stained dark 
  with blood, and fierce, sharp upper teeth pointing out over his 
  lower lip. His fingernails are like claws, and the skin on his 
  weathered and bony limbs is like a suit of leather armor. 
  Redcaps (or bloodcaps, as they are called in the Order of Hermes) 
  are faeries that guard the boundary between civilization and 
  wilderness, typically ruined towers and battlefields. They 
  generally draw vitality from fear, and also from blood — they 
  stain their caps red with it. They are generally found only in the 
  lowlands of Scotland and northern England, at the sites of the 
  many battles fought there over the centuries. 
  These redcaps have sworn an oath to follow Malott, their king. 
  They are essentially knights, though they do not ride horses and 
  are a very rowdy bunch, more like a gang of outlaws than a court 
  of nobles. They have been designed with ten points of Virtues 
  and Flaws, in case events should work out that they survive and a 
  player would like to take one of them as a companion character. 
  Once full-scale battle is joined, Malott uses his powers to 
  command them like pieces on a gameboard, as if they were a 
  trained group, using their Invisibility and Sidestep powers to 
  devastating effect as they can easily leap past armored warriors 
  and skewer their unarmed opponents unawares. They generally 
  set their pole axes when defending and throw them down to use 
  their swords on the attack. They also tend to lose discipline at the 
  sight of blood, going into a reckless frenzy from which they can 
  even attack each other, since they are generally used to fighting 
  alone. 
  
  62 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  with his father‘s pact with Belin, and 
  he wants to impress upon the other 
  Redcaps that he is a good king, and 
  will not kill the people he considers 
  his subjects. 
  It should be an epic battle. Worthy 
  characters will be selected to fight the 
  faerie lords in single combat if they 
  wish, to get things started, sparring in 
  the area directly before their battle 
  line. Malott attempts to hold back 
  unless he is challenged specifically, 
  spilling blood causes him to enter into 
  a fury he cannot control, and he 
  wants to watch and enjoy the melee. 
  He would like to generate as much 
  fear as he can before the fighting 
  devolves into chaos. 
  It is barely possible slaughter 
  might be avoided if any of the 
  characters willingly form a faerie pact 
  with Malott or one of the other faerie 
  Redcaps, assuming the characters 
  have learned about the ceremony 
  Belin used. It should be a union 
  between equals, so the faerie must 
  admire the person in some way. For 
  example, perhaps the character who 
  has recovered the cap proposes to ally 
  House Mercere with the faeries, 
  speaking as the new Praeco. Or, 
  perhaps the characters sense Malott 
  or one of his followers is strangely 
  attracted to one of them, and they 
  may consider the prospect of a 
  marriage treaty. If the characters are 
  uncowed and intimidating enough on 
  the early battlefield as to give the 
  faeries pause, the others may seem 
  willing to negotiate and make a deal 
  even if Malott is not. 
  The blood of the fallen contains 
  much vis, and Malott holds a valuable 
  treasure, though he does not know it: 
  the golden disc that holds the 
  enchantments in the Founder‘s cap. 
  Sewn to the brim of a similar cap, it 
  will be just as it was when Mercere 
  wore it. 
  Aftermath of the Battle 
  Assuming most of the characters 
  survive, the remaining knights and 
  soldiers scatter. Without Malott to 
  unite them, it is unlikely the other 
  faerie Redcaps can muster an army 
  and attack again, though they nurse a 
  grudge against the player characters 
  and the other magi of the region for 
  many years after. Humans with faerie 
  blood who fought against the magi try 
  to surreptitiously return to their 
  homes or the wilderness where they 
  live, and many claim they were under 
  a spell forcing them to fight. Justice is 
  left to the characters. 
  The characters also need to deal 
  with the charges leveled against them 
  at Tribunal, including any new 
  charges as a result of their actions on 
  the battlefield. The affected covenants 
  may be grateful for the characters‘ aid, 
  but also anxious for someone to 
  blame, to help make reparations. If 
  the characters learned the faeries 
  allegedly attacked in retribution for 
  crimes committed against them, this 
  may be enough to convince the 
  
  63 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  covenant to drop their charges, rather 
  than submit to investigation. (This is 
  not necessarily damning— Burnham 
  is a very secretive covenant, but 
  Malott could have used his Legendary 
  Entrancement power to cause the 
  faeries and mortals who joined him to 
  falsely believe Burnham covenant had 
  committed crimes it did not, and 
  there could be other secrets they wish 
  to keep hidden.) 
  If Malott has not been slain, and 
  the characters have allied with him or 
  his kin, they may be able to convince 
  the fey not to attack magi, but rather 
  turn against other supernatural threats 
  in the area to satiate their bloodlust. 
  Perhaps the player characters will 
  simply wash their hands of it, claim 
  Burnham covenant brought their 
  doom upon themselves, and let the 
  faeries wage their war without 
  interference. The site of either 
  Burnham or Horsingas might make a 
  fine outpost in the British Isles for 
  the characters, assuming they don‘t 
  mind that most of their neighbors 
  fiercely hate them. There is a strong 
  Faerie aura in the lands surrounding 
  Burnham, and so a faerie Redcap 
  presence there is likely to last for 
  some time regardless. 
  With the information Malott told 
  the characters about the nature of his 
  mother‘s storytelling power, Ophilio 
  will eventually make the discoveries 
  necessary to self-initiate himself with 
  the Legendary Enchantment Virtue, 
  much as if it were a Major Mystery 
  Virtue taken after a Major Ordeal. He 
  feels it is the characters‘ right to share 
  in this knowledge, as it was their 
  actions which brought it to light. In 
  gratitude, he will act as Mystagogue 
  for any of them, but he asks them to 
  keep this secret limited to a select 
  few, perhaps only those who join the 
  Cult of Mercury. 
  Ophilio is not long for this world, 
  and if he has established himself as 
  primus of House Mercere with the 
  characters‘ help, he seeks a worthy 
  replacement among them. A Gifted 
  Mercere is obvious, but he might 
  even consider a magus from another 
  House to serve as acting primus until 
  a suitable heir to the Founder can be 
  discovered. The tradition of the 
  primacy passing only to Mercere‘s 
  descendants is probably too deeply 
  ingrained to set aside, though. Besides 
  initiating them into the secrets of 
  Belin‘s legacy and Mercurian theurgy, 
  he may also describe for them some 
  of the mysteries which still lie hidden 
  in Val-Negra, such as how to reach it 
  and what they might find there. 
  Insatella also has a few cards left 
  to play in the game, if she wishes to 
  do so. She has had the characters 
  followed for most of the story, and 
  she may have evidence of their 
  wrongdoings. She has a good political 
  relationship with Magvillius, and 
  might point a young Quaesitor, one 
  looking to establish a reputation, in 
  the characters‘ direction. She might 
  also attempt to blackmail the 
  characters, threaten to tarnish their 
  reputation among the Redcaps, or 
  offer them wealth and favors to 
  simply stay out of the politics of her 
  House. She has Imogene assigned to 
  the region near the characters‘ 
  covenant, since her identity is 
  revealed, in hopes both she and the 
  characters become accustomed to 
  working with each other, and in the 
  desperate desire to steer them 
  towards a less drastic course of 
  action. 
  Overall, the characters have had 
  the opportunity to recover a potent 
  magic item and a historical artifact, 
  and learned about two unusual Faerie 
  powers. They have gained access to 
  the secrets of an ancient mystery cult, 
  and gathered vis from a group of 
  fallen faeries. Because of their actions, 
  they have taken a major part in great 
  events that affect the entire Order, 
  and have contributed in their own 
  way to the legend of Belin the 
  Redcap. They have, in a sense, 
  become legends of Hermes 
  themselves. 
   
  Alternative Paths 
  Depending on the characters‘ 
  situation and location, there may be 
  other ways to bring them into the 
  story of Belin the Redcap, with a few 
  minor changes to the order of events. 
  Here are three examples: 
  Magi and Redcaps in Northumbria 
  have reported a great many attacks by 
  brigands and bandits, possibly rebels 
  driven into hiding in the aftermath of 
  civil war, but many of them are said to 
  possess supernatural powers, attacking 
  invisibly or moving with unnatural 
  speed and agility. When the characters 
  investigate, they learn many of the 
  darker faeries of the region have 
  united under a new king, and he is 
  preparing for war. He claims to be the 
  heir to House Mercere, and demands 
  fealty. 
  The political schemers of another 
  House — Tremere, Tytalus, possibly 
  Bonisagus, or perhaps Verditius — are 
  disgusted with how Insatella manages 
  House Mercere, and believe her heir 
  will bring more of the same. The 
  characters are tasked with finding a 
  wedge may be used to remove her 
  authority. This should lead them to 
  Belin, as the first prima, and 
  eventually to Ophilio‘s assertions a 
  Gifted magus should oversee the 
  House. 
  The Cult of Mercury is strong among 
  Mercere and Flambeau magi, and 
  while there are many flamens who 
  follow the teachings of the cult 
  ceremonially, there are few who 
  initiate its deeper mysteries. Those 
  interested in Mercurian lore will most 
  likely seek out Val-Negra, where the 
  Great Temple of Mercury is said to lie 
  hidden in its magical regio. Before 
  inducting them into its secrets, or 
  perhaps as part of their initiation, 
  Ophilio asks them to perform a quest 
  for him: to obtain a book from 
  somewhere too dangerous for him to 
  go. 
  
  64 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Lisa Stevens was part of the 
  development team for the first 
  edition of Ars Magica, working 
  hand in hand with Mark Rein-
  Hagen and Jonathan Tweet. She‘s 
  now the CEO of Paizo, the 
  Seattle-based publishers of the 
  Pathfinder RPG. I met with Lisa 
  at Gencon this August, catching 
  up with her at the Paizo booth in 
  the dealer room. She has the 
  comfortable, relaxed smile of 
  someone who wouldn‘t be 
  anyplace else. After shaking my 
  hand and exchanging hellos, we 
  sequestered ourselves in a less 
  noisy corner of the convention 
  center annex to talk. Her 
  schedule at the convention was 
  busy, and so I wasted no time 
  starting my questions. 
  How did your involvement 
  in Ars Magica come about? 
  Good question. So, we‘ve got 
  to go back. I was a student at St. 
  Olaf‘s College in 1981, where I 
  was introduced to Dungeons 
  and Dragons. I just immediately 
  grasped it; I got the red box with 
  the Erol Otis art. I started 
  wanting to run a game, but I 
  didn‘t know anyone who gamed, 
  and so I ran for my sister and a 
  friend. 
  Then my sophomore year 
  starts and I start playing with a 
  couple of guys. Through them 
  and some connections, the game 
  grows. At one point we had 
  twenty people in the game, and I 
  had to split it into two tables of 
  ten. Even that was a lot. But it 
  was first edition, so it was easier 
  to run. During the course of this 
  expansion, I get a couple of guys 
  who had been playing in Mark 
  Rein-Hagan‘s Hârn campaign. He 
  w a s  r u n n i n g  H â r n  
  w i t h 
  Runequest rules. These two guys 
  come in and they like it so much 
  they drop out of Mark‘s 
  campaign. I‘m running Friday and 
  Saturday, sometimes a Sunday. 
  And so then Mark comes to me, 
  and says, ―I‘ve got to play in your 
  campaign, I need to see why 
  people are quitting my campaign 
  to play yours.‖ 
  Mark was always competitive. 
  We make a deal; I‘ll play in his 
  Hârn campaign and he‘ll play in 
  my D&D campaign. And that‘s 
  what we do for a while. Then I 
  find out he has a friend, Jonathan 
  Tweet, who‘s running a Call of 
  Cthulhu campaign, and so I get 
  i n t o  J o n a t h a n ‘ s  C t h u l h u 
  campaign. It wasn‘t long after 
  that, about six months, when 
  Mark and Jonathan come to me 
  and say, ―We want to do this 
  game, this game where we do 
  magic right. We want to do one 
  where wizards bring down 
  mountains; where wizards are 
  feared.‖ D&D 
  was all about 
  balance. They didn‘t like the 
  Vancian system. They wanted to 
  set it in Mythic Europe, Jonathan 
  was running Pendragon at the 
  time. This was ‗85. I remember, 
  they gave me the first draft of the 
  rules before I went home for 
  Christmas, those and Whimsy 
  cards. I think I still have the Mac 
  Paint and Pagemaker files for the 
  old Ars material. They asked me 
  to playtest it with my D&D 
  group. It lasted about two 
  sessions, and my players wanted 
  to go back to playing our 
  campaign. I was really excited, I 
  thought it was great. I said I‘d 
  help however I could. They gave 
  me the manuscript to look at, and 
  asked me to edit it. It was in 
  rough shape. The first line was 
  something like, ―this is our baby, 
  Ars Magica.‖ Almost stream of 
  consciousness, but so vivid. 
  And from there? 
  I graduated in ‗85 and stuck 
  around to run my game and be 
  involved with Ars Magica. I 
  didn‘t know what I wanted to do 
  with my life. I‘d applied to two 
  schools for marine biology, 
  schools that accepted like two 
  The Magic of the Founders: 
  Talking to Lisa Stevens 
  By Ben McFarland 
  M
  M  
  ark comes to me, and says, “I’ve got to 
  ark comes to me, and says, “I’ve got to 
  play in your campaign, I need to see why 
  play in your campaign, I need to see why 
  people are quitting my campaign to play 
  people are quitting my campaign to play 
  yours.”
  yours.”  
  
  65 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  people a year, and I didn‘t get in. 
  So, I decided to stay on the couch 
  of a friend for a couple years, run 
  my game, work on Ars Magica 
  (she says it as Maa-gaa-ka, a 
  pronunciation I haven’t heard 
  before, but I think I love). We 
  end up staying at House 
  Rampant. 
  What was House Rampant?  
  This house with Mark and 
  Jonathan, and a bunch of 
  students were in, and they let me 
  have a room. They went to school 
  and I stayed and edited and 
  worked on Ars Magica. Mark 
  and Jonathan were the two 
  designers and if they agreed on 
  something, it was in. But if there 
  was a disagreement, or an 
  impasse, I was the passing vote. 
  They were each 49.5% and I was 
  1%. They usually agreed, but 
  when they didn‘t, they‘d each 
  come to me, pitching me why 
  their idea was best. I was editing 
  and I was the person with the 
  most industry experience, since 
  I‘d been playing in the RPGA for 
  a long time, before the Living 
  City campaign, when it was 
  competitive roleplaying. You‘d 
  play a session and then vote on 
  who was the best roleplayer. It 
  was crazy but so much fun. Our 
  troupe style play grew out of that; 
  the multiple characters, the grogs. 
  Who came up with Troupe 
  style play? 
  The name? I don‘t know. The 
  style? It just came out of the fact 
  the wizard is going to be the 
  strongest character, and if only 
  one person ever played the 
  wizard then the game would grow 
  tiresome. They wanted to play up 
  the idea of the wizards being the 
  strongest people in the world. It 
  was the whole premise. 
  Did you play arcs with 
  multiple wizards then? 
  We did. Our first covenant 
  was in England, then crossed 
  over to Ireland. We had to flee to 
  Ireland in the middle of the night. 
  Our games started off with all of 
  us playing our wizards, and then a 
  storyline would come up and 
  we‘d switch off, deciding who 
  would best handle the storyline. 
  Whoever was the Storyguide 
  would present it, and we‘d all 
  discuss it as the wizards and say, 
  ―We‘re sending you, and you, and 
  you,‖ and then usually a wizard or 
  two would go investigate. It 
  depended on the size of our 
  group. 
  How big were your groups? 
  What were sessions like? 
  Sometimes eight or ten people. 
  There weren‘t a lot of people 
  h an gin g ar ou n d . As  L ion 
  Rampant grew, we got a cadre of 
  local people who joined in and 
  helped out. It was a very fluid 
  game, and troupe style helped 
  with that environment. If there 
  were a few people hanging 
  around, we‘d just throw a game 
  together. Mark was famous for 
  his off the cuff stories. He loved 
  having three lines of notes and 
  running with it. That‘s how 
  Stormrider started; Mark just had 
  this idea and ran with it. If I ran 
  something, it was much more 
  written out, with plots and notes 
  all figured out. Jonathan was 
  much more that way, too. 
  Everyone had their styles. We 
  selected the magus by roleplaying, 
  and then the magi discussed, in-
  character, who would go. We 
  would talk in-character about 
  which companions to bring; the 
  diplomat, the priest, the tracker… 
  We all had several companions 
  figured out, usually a couple of 
  companions fulfilling roles for 
  the covenant, different aspects of 
  what the covenant needed. Then 
  they‘d take the grogs. We all 
  loved playing grogs. It was one of 
  our favorite things, because it was 
  such a sense of danger with the 
  grogs. We kept a list of the dead, 
  the roll call of the dead. I still 
  have that list. We shared a 
  computer and we‘d all write our 
  notes our diary entries of the 
  session afterwards. 
  What kind of wizard did you 
  have? 
  I had Lupus Mortus. He‘s in some 
  of the early books. He actually has a 
  miniature done by a company I don‘t 
  think exists any more. He was a Creo 
  Ignem wizard who wore a wolfskin. 
  He was a very disturbing individual. 
  He‘d burn peasants or grogs. He was 
  mercurial and other wizards didn‘t 
  like traveling with him. He was the 
  one I played most of the time. 
  Jonathan had Caecus (She 
  pronounces it “Kai-koos”), a Rego 
  Mentum wizard, but he used Perdo, 
  too. He‘d just wipe people‘s minds 
  and leave them mindless zombies. 
  Caecus was a very alien sort of 
  wizard. Mark had a couple wizards. 
  One of them died. We didn‘t lose a 
  lot of wizards, and when we did it was 
  a big thing. One of Mark‘s died. I 
  keep picturing Mark prancing around. 
  He was very energetic. (she laughs) 
  He was constantly moving, he‘d draw, 
  he had to do something, roleplaying, 
  interacting. Caecus was very deep and 
  thinking. We just had this crazy 
  wizard group and loved it. If you had 
  time you‘d make up grogs and invest 
  them in the story somehow. I created 
  the Sisterhood of Steel, and they were 
  an all-women mercenary group of 
  twelve. They were Irish, and by the 
  end of the campaign, they were wiped 
  out. One of my companions, she was 
  the head of the Sisterhood, she was a 
  loyal soldier, and she got bitter 
  toward the magi after seeing all her 
  sisters die. We just had really fun 
  
  66 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  campaigns. That‘s what I remember 
  about the early campaigns; it wasn‘t 
  about the rules, it was about the 
  game, and living at House Rampant, it 
  was very collaborative. 
  With that collective 
  development, did the game 
  evolve from the play? 
  Definitely. Playing the game would 
  lead to conversation about rules we 
  needed. The first rules weren‘t much, 
  maybe an inch thick of double spaced 
  text typed out. It wasn‘t that big. We 
  made up rules as we realized we 
  needed them, ―Oh we need lab 
  rules…‖ 
  How long did it take? 
  Oh, God, from the first time? It 
  came out in early 1988, I remember 
  working on it, and wanted to have it 
  ready for Gencon and didn‘t. We had 
  Whimsy cards out in ‗87, and then I 
  wanted it out for Christmas. I was 
  pushing to having it out then. I went 
  to Jonathan and said, ―Alright, we 
  need to be done with it on this day to 
  be out by Christmas.‖ Jonathan 
  looked at me and said, ―I don‘t care if 
  it‘s out by Christmas. I don‘t care. I 
  want it to be the perfect game.‖ I was 
  sales and marketing at the time, too. I 
  was doing everything the designers 
  were not, and helping even with 
  designing. I realized we weren‘t going 
  to hit a Christmas deadline, and so we 
  came out in early ‗88. January or 
  February, I think. 
  What delayed your progress? 
  We‘d have it all edited out and 
  then Mark would wake up in the 
  middle of the night and he‘d (she taps 
  on table like a keyboard) write it in, 
  and you can tell when a Mark 
  paragraph comes up, because his stuff 
  is so stream of consciousness. I called 
  him the Cyclone of Creativity. He‘s 
  one of the most creative people I 
  know, one of those people you get 
  around and you‘re so excited because 
  he‘s so full of ideas and they just flow 
  out in a rush. That was how a few of 
  the errors snuck in. I‘d spell check, 
  and I didn‘t realize the spell check 
  didn‘t look at headers. 
  So what’s the coolest thing 
  that didn’t make it into Ars 
  Magica? 
  I don‘t think there was anything 
  like that. Nothing strikes me. I don‘t 
  remember anything that got chopped. 
  It was this ongoing, collaborative, 
  ongoing, evolving thing. It wasn‘t 
  someone writing something and then 
  presenting to all of us. It was troupe 
  style game design. I mean, House 
  Rampant was a big part of this. It was 
  this group of almost bohemian game 
  designers, hanging out, living with 
  each other, gaming, partying with 
  each other, and it was a commune in 
  so many ways. It changed a little bit as 
  people graduated, but we spent most 
  of our time there. I had an apartment 
  later, but it eventually became the 
  Lion Rampant offices. But I spent 
  most of my time there, just sleeping at 
  the apartment. My room was in the 
  back, and the rest of the apartment 
  was the office, like Grand Central 
  Station with people coming in at all 
  hours to work on stuff with 
  computers set up. But it was very 
  much a communal feeling, I think the 
  design came across as communal 
  because of that. All these different 
  people giving input, all these different 
  people impacting the game, their 
  observations in and out of game. I 
  was a gentle guider, herding cats and 
  trying to make a semblance of a 
  business out of this bohemian 
  collection of designers. 
  What was Ars Magica’s 
  impact on RPGs? 
  It‘s huge. It was one of the first 
  games. You can quibble, parallel game 
  design happens, people talk at 
  conventions. But, Jonathan came up 
  with the idea of the difficulty number 
  to hit in order to do something. That 
  concept didn‘t happen before then, it 
  was all on charts, but it wasn‘t 
  something you came up with on the 
  fly. Ars Magica is so freeform; 
  you‘ve got your freeform magic. I 
  want to bend that sign over—ok, well 
  let‘s debate how you‘re going to do 
  that. Let‘s say it‘s metal, let‘s say it‘s 
  Terram. Ok, we need Rego Terram. 
  But you could use Muto 
  Terram and change the 
  metal to wax? 
  Yeah. But you‘d discuss with the 
  Storyguide, you‘d say ―Ok this is what 
  I want to accomplish, this is what I‘m 
  trying to do. Am I trying to bend it 
  with force, mutate it.‖ When you 
  finally come up with what you wanted 
  to do, the Storyguide would look at 
  your arts and say, ―Ok, you need a 
  25,‖ and then I‘ll roll my Muto 
  Terram. *Boom* ―Ok, I got it or I 
  missed it by a lot.‖ and the SG come 
  up with it on the fly and would say, 
  ―Ok, here‘s what happens…‖ (Lisa 
  uses her hands quite a bit while 
  she speaks, accentuating the 
  actions and the discussion.) It was 
  just that whole idea of coming up 
  with what you needed to hit on the 
  fly—that was just something that‘s 
  totally prevalent now. In Pathfinder, I 
  II  
    brought in my Ars Magica books in and I said, 
  brought in my Ars Magica books in and I said, 
  “Take a look.”... I mean, it’s the most elegant 
  “Take a look.”... I mean, it’s the most elegant 
  system out there, the most elegant I’ve ever 
  system out there, the most elegant I’ve ever 
  seen.
  seen.  
  
  67 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  do that all the time now. Back then, it 
  was a foreign concept, and that was a 
  big idea, probably the biggest idea 
  that came out of Ars Magica, 
  because no one‘s really taken the 
  magic system to the next level, and I 
  wish they would. 
  What about Pathfinder’s 
  Words of Power?  
  Well I brought in my Ars Magica 
  books in and I said, ―Take a look.‖ 
  That was a big thing. I was trying to 
  explain, to get them to see what we 
  did. I mean, it‘s the most elegant 
  system out there, the most elegant 
  I‘ve ever seen. I can‘t think of 
  something that I‘d want to do that I 
  can‘t do with that system. It‘s all 
  there. It‘s not like there‘s just one 
  possibility. I say I want to move that 
  sign over there, how many ways are 
  there to do that? I mean I could do 
  Creo Aurum and blow it over. I mean 
  there‘s so many different ways, right? 
  I could do Rego Terram and 
  use a stone to batter it 
  down. 
  Right, I could use Perdo Terram 
  and make it rust so it breaks. I mean 
  so many ways to come up what you 
  want to do, that‘s what‘s so brilliant 
  about it. 
  Part of me would love to go to 
  John Nephew and rip out the magic 
  system and make it a cap magic 
  system you could put on any game 
  and go. It may still happen. I might 
  talk to John, but it‘s going to be me 
  designing it. 
  Are there those times you 
  want to get back into design 
  again? 
  Sure, I did the Plot Twist cards. I 
  designed those based on Whimsy 
  cards. I wanted to put something like 
  that back in my Pathfinder game. I 
  wanted Whimsy cards, I use them in 
  my game and now we use Plot Twist 
  cards. Part of me thinks the Whimsy 
  cards were better. I‘ll tell you why, 
  because the Whimsy cards were so 
  freeform. I think it made characters 
  think of how to use them in really 
  creative ways. But when I pitched 
  Plot Twist cards, I just wanted to do 
  Whimsy cards, but a lot of people 
  thought ―People aren‘t going to know 
  how to use these. We‘ve got to put 
  more mechanics on them. We‘ve got 
  to make them more structured.‖ I‘ve 
  used the Whimsy cards and crazy fun 
  stuff would happen. Now I use the 
  Plot Twist cards, and most of the 
  time people say, ―Oh, I get a second 
  roll.‖ All the fun whimsy, the input 
  into the storyline has faded from our 
  group. Same group, same people, I 
  just changed the card decks and I‘m 
  not getting what I used to get. 
  Looks like you’d like to get 
  back into design to do more 
  freeform gaming? 
  That‘s definitely my style of game, 
  but I try to run my game that way. I 
  don‘t know the rules very well, I 
  know them enough. I‘m not a rules 
  person, never have been, never will 
  be. I‘d rather have someone say, ―Ok 
  this is what I want to do,‖ and I say, 
  ―Ok this is what you need to do.‖ 
  Then someone will say ―It‘s this plus 
  this plus this.‖ I‘ll say, ―I don‘t care. 
  Let‘s make a story. Let‘s go. Let‘s not 
  allow the mechanics to get in the 
  way.‖ I like to play with people who 
  want to just let the story be more 
  important than the rolls. Every so 
  often, I‘ll just be like, ―I‘ll roll dice, 
  but I don‘t care what they say because 
  I want the story to go a certain way.‖ 
  And they‘ll say, ―You should roll out 
  in the open, and I‘ll say, ―Does it 
  matter? I say you‘re hit, or I say 
  you‘re missed and it doesn‘t matter—
  it‘s the story.‖ I find a lot of gamers 
  today are stuck on the mechanics and 
  not as much on the story or what 
  we‘re collaborating on, and for me, 
  that‘s too important. I have to 
  struggle all the time against people 
  trying to keep bringing rules in to bog 
  down the game. I‘ve always been 
  about the role playing; I hate it when 
  people optimize. I have to fight 
  against it when I bring in some cool 
  magic item and people sell it to buy 
  rings of protection or a cloak of 
  whatever. I‘ll sigh, ―I just gave you 
  this really cool thing and how can you 
  just throw that away?‖ I try to make 
  story reasons why they should keep it 
  so they‘ll hang on to it. 
  Alright, I know our time is 
  almost up, so I have one last 
  question. Who shot first? 
  (For those who may not 
  know, Lisa is an avid Star 
  Wars fan) 
  Of course, Han. That‘s obvious. I 
  mean Han Solo, he‘s a smart guy; he‘s 
  not gonna let someone get the draw 
  on him. He‘s always thinking two 
  steps ahead. And so Han was ready 
  for Greedo. When he realized Greedo 
  wasn‘t gonna let him go, he was all set 
  up for it, boom! Sorry Greedo, sorry 
  about the mess. You know? It 
  devalues Han Solo as a character to 
  not have him shoot first. 
  II  
    find a lot of gamers today are stuck on the 
  find a lot of gamers today are stuck on the 
  mechanics and not as much on the story or 
  mechanics and not as much on the story or 
  what we’re collaborating on, and for me, that’s 
  what we’re collaborating on, and for me, that’s 
  too important...
  too important...  
  
  68 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  The Companion Piece series 
  provides detailed characters ideal for 
  use either as companions to 
  individual magi or as associates to 
  entire covenants. This article presents 
  B o h em o n d  o f  L u ce r n e,  a 
  dispossessed and arrogant young 
  noble who must navigate the world of 
  mundane politics if he is to attain 
  manor, wife, and legacy. 
  Bohemond of Lucerne 
  Bohemond is the youngest of 
  three brothers born in the environs of 
  Lucerne in the Western Alps. Bright 
  but naturally arrogant, he plies his 
  trade as a knight for hire on the grand 
  tourney circuit, traveling as far afield 
  as the Lombard city states south of 
  the Alps and distant England. He has 
  not, so far, ventured to the Holy 
  Land, nor has he involved himself in 
  the Cathar troubles of Provence, and 
  any journeys to Iberia go no further 
  south than Zaragoza. 
  He has no land of his own, no fief 
  to support him, and no income from 
  his brothers. When his father died, his 
  brothers conspired to usurp those 
  lands rightfully his and apportion 
  them to their own supporters. His 
  mother seemed powerless to oppose 
  them. And so, with few options 
  available to him, Bohemond has taken 
  to the tourney circuit where he sells 
  his services to nobles or fights under 
  his own colors to gain what ransom 
  he can. Where he goes, so goes his 
  loyal servant Arnaud, a man of some 
  intelligence but greater odor who 
  tends to his master‘s animals, his 
  equipment, and his all too-frequent 
  wounds. 
  Bohemond intends to gain his 
  own lands one day, either those taken 
  from him or to forge a new dynasty 
  elsewhere. He will not let the 
  treatment at the hands of his brothers 
  define him and he will attain his aims, 
  one way or another. 
  As a knight with little real 
  influence, Bohemond is at least 
  cautious to not make too many 
  enemies. He is, at present, generally 
  well-regarded among his peers. While 
  at present he has not been noticed by 
  those of rank, most are likely to 
  remember his father and to know that 
  his brother now rules those old lands. 
  Bohemond is by turns proud, 
  brave, and fair. He suffers from the 
  same prejudices as all western 
  Companion Piece: 
  Bohemond of Lucerne 
  By David Agnew 
  
  69 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  Bohemond of Lucerne 
  Educated as the child of a wealthy knight, Bohemond knows 
  enough Latin to converse with churchmen and magi alike. 
  Coming from the Tribunal of the Greater Alps, he has heard 
  many stories of the Order of Hermes and shows more interest 
  that most. He is a skilled knight with an affinity for single 
  weapon and shield but he is astute enough to realize that arms 
  alone will not win him his fief; he needs to employ every political 
  nicety he can, and he is not above learning such games from 
  others. 
  Characteristics: Int 0, Per 0, Pre +2, Com 0, Str +1, Sta +1, 
  Dex +1, Qik +1 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 23 (23) 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Confidence: 1 (3) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Knight; Affinity with Single Weapon, 
  Educated, Puissant Single Weapon, Social Contacts (knights and 
  nobles of the tourney circuit); Enemies (His brothers); Fragile 
  Constitution (-3 to wound/disease recovery totals), Proud 
  Personality Traits: Proud of his Abilities +3, Driven +2, 
  Rebellious +1 
  Reputations: Prudhomme +1 (continental tourney circuit) 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init –1, Attack N/A, Defense +4, Damage N/A 
  Mace/Heater Shield: Init +0, Attack +12, Defense +9, Damage +9 
  Mace/Heater Shield (mounted): Init +0, Attack +15, Defense +12, 
  Damage +9 
  Lance (mounted): Init +1, Attack +15, Defense +11, Damage +6 
  Dagger: Init –1, Attack +7, Defense +5, Damage +4 
  Fist: Init –1, Attack +4, Defense +4, Damage +1 
  Kick: Init –2, Attack +4, Defense +3, Damage +4 
  Soak: +11 (including full mail, helm, and gambeson surcoat) 
  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: Lucerne 3 (geography), Artes Liberales 2 
  (rhetoric), Athletics 2 (running), Brawl 3 (dagger), Carouse 2 
  (staying sober), Charm 2 (courtly love), Living Language 1 
  (tournament terms), Church Lore 2 (pilgrimage sites), Civil and 
  Canon Law 1 (laws and customs of Lucerne), Etiquette 2 (court), 
  Hunt 3 (tracking), Leadership 2 (in combat), Living Language: 
  Saga Appropriate Region 5 (tournament), Latin 3 (church 
  ceremonies), Music 2 (sing), Order of Hermes Lore 2 
  (personalities), Ride 4 (battle), Single Weapon 5+2 (mace) 
  Equipment: Palfrey (riding horse), Courser (mounted combat); 
  heater shield, full chain mail (standard quality), gambeson, a 
  range of weapons including spears, swords, and maces, tunics 
  and sashes of various colors. 
  Encumbrance: 3 (4) 
  Description: Bohemond is a comely and athletic figure of a man, 
  wide shoulders, fair hair, blue eyes, and a ready and even smile. 
  When on the road he rarely shaves but he makes a particular 
  effort when at tourney, mindful that he needs to make an 
  impression. 
  Bohemond is not particularly intelligent, but he is gifted with 
  physical attributes instead. While mindful of his status, he is also 
  pragmatic and prepared to bow to the judgment of others. 
  
  70 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Christian nobles; a strong 
  understanding of his own status, a 
  general dislike for dissimilar cultures, 
  and scant regard for academic 
  learning. However, he is a fair man 
  and treats others according to both 
  their due and their need. He‘s as likely 
  to give alms to the hungry or sick as 
  he is to cuff a persistent beggar 
  around the ear. 
  And this behavior is carried over 
  to his work at tournament. He fights 
  to win and takes such prizes as he 
  wins, but he will not see a knight 
  ruined and would prefer to defer 
  rightful ransom in favor of protecting 
  the knight‘s honor and fortune. This 
  even-handed treatment has built a 
  healthy respect for him amongst his 
  peers, and he has already earned a 
  Prudhomme reputation. 
  Companion Material 
  Bohemond is not a wealthy man, 
  but fortunately his profession is also 
  his passion. He makes his living on 
  the tourney circuit, traveling between 
  tournaments every few weeks. This 
  makes one of his key contributions 
  his Social Contacts Virtue allowing 
  him to quickly find friends and gain 
  information that magi might 
  otherwise find difficult. He can also 
  provide leverage in social situations, 
  especially those requiring authority 
  and leadership and those where 
  representation to nobility is called for. 
  Lords of Men, chapter 3 provides 
  material on running tournament 
  events and using the circuit as a 
  means of income. You need not play 
  out every tournament that Bohemond 
  attends as for the most part these are 
  background events that provide food, 
  lodging, and income. Bohemond 
  provides a useful vehicle to explore 
  those rules. He will most likely ask for 
  magical aid to assist with the tourney, 
  this is especially the case where he 
  gains any decrepitude or aging points 
  through aging or injury. This provides 
  so-inclined magi or hedge wizards the 
  focus for their creativity. For instance, 
  armor that demonstrates enhanced 
  protection is always useful and 
  Bohemond provides the catalyst for 
  undertaking the project and creating 
  the laboratory text. And beyond 
  merely his equipment, he may seek 
  restoratives, knowledge of his 
  opponents, and even perhaps magical 
  mounts. 
  Given that Bohemond has his 
  own squire, a player grog character, 
  he provides an opportunity for 
  dedicated stories for two players away 
  from the main troupe and/or 
  covenant. 
  Bohemond as Craftsman 
  As a knight without independent 
  means of support, Bohemond must 
  ply his trade on the tournament 
  circuit. As suggested by Lords of Men, 
  Bohemond is treated just like any 
  other craftsman and gains (Dexterity 
  + Single Weapon) Labor Points per 
  season worked, which in this case 
  Arnaud the Squire 
  All knights need a squire to see to the horses, to clean the armor, 
  to arrange lodging, and help with arming. Arnaud fulfills some of 
  those obligations but in truth, he is a lousy squire. He is uncouth, 
  lazy, and argumentative, but Bohemond clearly sees some reason 
  to keep him around. For all his faults, he is at least loyal and 
  watchful and these qualities have saved Bohemond from 
  treachery more than once. 
  Characteristics: Int +1, Per +2, Pre –2, Com 0, Str 0, Sta 0, Dex 
  +2, Qik 0 
  Size: 0 
  Age: 25 (25) 
  Decrepitude: 0 
  Warping Score: 0 (0) 
  Virtues and Flaws: Wanderer; Luck (luck bonus of between +1 
  and +3), Sharp Ears (+3 to hearing), True Friend (Rufus the 
  hound); Lame (–6 on moving quickly and agility, –3 to dodge and 
  –1 on other combat totals), Social Handicap (Unpleasant odor), 
  Weak Characteristics 
  Personality Traits: Loyal +3, Brave +2, Lazy +1, 
  Argumentative +1 
  Combat:  
  Dodge: Init –3, Attack N/A, Defense –1, Damage N/A 
  Bludgeon: Init –4, Attack +6, Defense +2, Damage +2 
  Knife: Init –3, Attack +4, Defense +1, Damage +2 
  Fist: Init –3, Attack +3, Defense +1, Damage +0 
  Kick: Init –4, Attack +3, Defense +0, Damage +3 
  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: Animal Handling 4 (horses), Area Lore: tourney circuit 
  3 (personalities), Awareness 3 (alertness), Brawl 3 (Bludgeon), 
  Carouse 3 (games of chance), Chirurgy 4 (binding wounds), Folk 
  Ken 3 (nobles), Living Language: Saga Appropriate Region 5 
  (regional dialect), Guile 3 (lying to authority), Legerdemain 3 
  (filching), Ride 3 (speed), Survival 1 (setting camp) 
  Equipment: Scruffy quilted armor and a dirty eating knife 
  Encumbrance: 2 (2) 
  Description: Scuffy, smelly, and shambling, Arnaud limps along 
  with his left leg shorter than his right. He is forever caked in the 
  mud and dirt from the road and his greasy hair straggles out from 
  under a split and torn leather cap. 
  Arnaud is the son of a Lucerne washerwoman and any one of 
  Lucerne‘s household servants. Illegitimate and lame, Arnaud has 
  always been the underdog, pushed aside and largely ignored. His 
  lack of status manifests physically in his unkempt appearance and 
  the appalling odor he drags behind him. His best friend is his 
  dog, a three year old hound called Rufus. And as loyal as Arnaud 
  is to Bohemond, so Rufus is to Arnaud. 
  
  71 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  means entering tournaments. Each 
  season spent in this way provides 
  exposure experience points. 
  Therefore, Bohemond needs to 
  work for two seasons in order to 
  support himself. Excess points 
  beyond those needed for subsistence 
  are accrued and it costs a total of 360 
  Labor Points to gain the Wealthy 
  Virtue. This is important as 
  Bohemond‘s aim is to increase his 
  social standing, gaining allies in the 
  process. Bohemond can also gain 
  Labor Points from stories that 
  improve his standing at tournament. 
  City & Guild, page 39 provides more 
  information on the appropriate 
  rewards for particular stories and 
  situations. 
  Bohemond can also make use of 
  the workshop innovation rules also 
  found in City & Guild, page 66. These 
  are intended to provide craftsmen 
  with a bonus to their craft totals, 
  allowing them to craft items of 
  greater quality and to complete work 
  quicker. In Bohemond‘s case, this 
  represents a step in quality of his arms 
  and/or armor. When Bohemond 
  gains a point of workshop innovation 
  bonus the player should decide 
  whether this applies to his weapons, 
  providing an Attack and Defense 
  bonus, or to his armor, providing a 
  Soak bonus. 
  The raw materials bonus that 
  craftsmen may work towards can also 
  be applied. In this case, it is 
  recommended that it be applied as a 
  bonus to any wound recovery totals 
  as he is better able to support himself 
  and/or afford better physicians and 
  treatment. 
  Advancing Bohemond 
  Bohemond‘s seasons spent at 
  tournament will, by virtue of 
  exposure experience, naturally 
  improve his Single Weapon and/or 
  Ride Abilities, but if he wants to rise 
  above his current status it is his social 
  skills that he will need to work on. 
  Charm, Etiquette, and Intrigue are 
  going to be the tools he needs to gain 
  favor. 
  While he has an obvious martial 
  use in many stories, he should always 
  look for the diplomatic possibilities in 
  order to apply story experience to 
  those Abilities that will benefit his 
  social advancement; he cannot 
  outplay his brothers by being the 
  better swordsman. 
  Introducing 
  Bohemond 
  A knight and his squire on the open 
  road traveling between tournaments 
  can fall into pretty well any story. He 
  is most likely to interact with other 
  companions or grogs, with the Gift of 
  the magi manifesting for him as an 
  unfriendly air making for awkward 
  social interactions; they have nothing 
  in common and they appear to view 
  each other with either marked 
  disinterest. 
  But a knight with his own concerns is 
  unlikely to simply attach himself to a 
  covenant of magi with little 
  prompting, so it is important to create 
  a connection between them. Should 
  the covenant be paced in 
  Bohemond‘s debt, he exploits that 
  debt through ensuring that he has a 
  welcome at their covenant. He is not 
  an exploitative man and is very 
  unlikely to make unreasonable 
  demands. Similarly, should 
  Bohmenod become indebted to the 
  covenant, he repays this debt over 
  time and, being an honorable man, 
  considers all requests on his time 
  Equipment and Resources 
  Bohemond has all the trappings 
  expected of a knight including his 
  arms and armor, one riding palfrey, 
  one courser for mounted combat, and 
  sufficient funds to see him from 
  tournament to tournament. 
  The vagaries of what he wins or loses 
  in any given tournament are not 
  important unless they arise during a 
  given story. Anything else is 
  considered ransomed to earn money 
  to support him on the road. 
  Arnaud also has a horse, a large and 
  plodding hackney that also serves as 
  the knight‘s pack horse. 
  See Lords of Men, pages 55 and 56 for 
  statistics for the palfrey, courser, and 
  hackney. 
  
  72 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  fairly and without prejudice. 
   
  Bohemond strikes up a 
  friendship with the covenant 
  consors and grogs while on the 
  road between tournaments, 
  even wagering a few pennies 
  on some impromptu sparring. 
  But as the magi are in the 
  midst of a story, Bohemond 
  becomes embroiled and 
  provides vital assistance when 
  he offers an introduction to the 
  very noble the magi are keen to 
  speak to. 
   
  After Bohemond is injured in 
  the early rounds of the tourney, 
  Arnaud goes looking for 
  magical aid to heal his master‘s 
  wounds. Bohemond‘s brother 
  is sponsoring a knight who 
  wears a strange emblem and 
  Bohemond is keen to face him. 
  Finding the covenant‘s 
  consors, they recognize the 
  emblem as belonging to a rival 
  covenant or magus. Assisting 
  Bohemond gives both parties 
  what they want, a chance to get 
  one over on their respective 
  rivals. 
  Stories for Bohemond 
  Unless Bohemond enjoys a 
  magically enhanced lifespan, he may 
  have 50-years of life left to play out. 
  This could potentially move quite 
  quickly through fast-paced games so 
  it is important to identify the 
  characteristic beats in his own 
  personal story. So across Bohemond‘s 
  50 years, a few tourney-based stories 
  should be interleaved with some 
  concerning his brothers and their 
  agents. His middle years should be 
  concerned with his growing 
  reputation and need to gain his own 
  lands before moving on to 
  considering his legacy, and finally his 
  death. And even then, the death of 
  the character need not be the end of 
  his influence. The nature of any will 
  that he leaves says as much in death 
  as his actions in life. 
  The Tourney 
  There are numerous stories that could 
  be told at the tourney, from coming 
  up against his brother‘s champions, to 
  losing his equipment and having to 
  gain it back. But there is also the 
  opportunity to put the strange and 
  supernatural into the tourney and 
  have Bohemond face faerie, demonic, 
  or magically-enhanced knights. After 
  all, if Bohemond has magical allies, 
  perhaps others do to: 
   
  When Bohemond‘s mount is 
  injured during an early round at 
  tournament, a horse trader 
  approaches the knight with an 
  offer. He has a horse the equal 
  of the original in every way, 
  including its appearance. 
  Where did this horse come 
  from? And what is the strange 
  possessiveness that comes over 
  the knight when he rides it 
  during later rounds? 
   
  Covenant rivalries are played 
  out as Bohemond comes face 
  to face with another knight in 
  receipt or Hermetic assistance. 
  Can the rival covenants get the 
  better of each other through 
  the tournament by supporting 
  their respective champions. 
   
  B o h e m o n d ‘ s  g r o w i n g 
  reputation has attracted the 
  interest of two mundane 
  nobles keen to bolster their 
  tournament teams. He must 
  choose carefully which noble 
  he joins. One may be stronger 
  at the tournament, but the 
  other seems to have more 
  political allies off the field. 
   
  A magus of House Verditius 
  takes an interest in any 
  enchanted equipment used by 
  Bohemond. When it is stolen, 
  he may need the assistance of 
  his allied magi to recover it. 
  Enemies 
  Bohemond‘s outward arrogance 
  and inward nobility is countered by 
  his eldest brother, who presents as 
  fairer but whose motives are selfish 
  and grasping. His brother holds title 
  to the land Bohemond wants for 
  himself, and he makes no secret of 
  the fact. This attitude has soured a 
  relationship which was never truly 
  even cordial. His brother acts through 
  proxies and, while never meaningfully 
  intending to thwart Bohemond, his 
  men always happen to be just where 
  Bohemond wants to be. 
  Responsibilities 
  For all his arrogance, Bohemond 
  remains a knight and accepts the 
  Bohemond’s Family 
  When introducing Bohemond his 
  family consists of his two older 
  brothers and his mother: 
  Johannes is the eldest of the 
  brothers, is married, and commands 
  the majority of his father‘s estates. He 
  dislikes Bohemond and keeps Thomas 
  on a short leash to prevent Thomas 
  coming around to Bohemond‘s point 
  of view. 
  Thomas is only three years older than 
  Bohemond, is unmarried, and enjoys a 
  number of small but lucrative estates. 
  Margareta enjoys the income from 
  her own family estates and lives 
  separately from both her elder sons. 
  She is cool towards Bohemond, 
  disapproving of his lifestyle and his 
  company. But he can be assured 
  lodgings for at least the night. His 
  mother‘s house, if nothing else, serves 
  as neutral ground for the three 
  brothers. 
  It is useful to have two elder brothers 
  as this gives the player the 
  opportunity to play one against the 
  other in pursuit of Bohemond‘s lands. 
  For the storyguide, Thomas provides 
  a good rival both on the tourney field 
  and in the noble courts when it comes 
  to Bohemond finding a wife. 
  Bohemond‘s mother lives as this gives 
  the storyguide chance to bring the 
  brothers together, either to resolve 
  their differences or to squabble over 
  the disposal of her estates when she 
  dies. 
  
  73 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  responsibility incumbent with the 
  station. If called upon, he would feel 
  duty-bound to protecting his 
  brother‘s lands against an oppressor. 
  He may secure some form of 
  agreement from his brother in 
  exchange but he would most likely 
  renege or find a way to annul the 
  agreement. 
  Bohemond has not seen active 
  service overseas in either crusade or 
  civil war. Depending on your saga‘s 
  setting, a crusade may present itself 
  where Bohemond may become 
  involved. He considers the affairs of 
  distant lands unimportant, but accepts 
  he may need to become involved, if 
  not through principle then at least 
  through politics. 
  He wants to gain a demesne one 
  way or another. In his youth, he may 
  fixate on the lands he believes taken 
  from him, but he is likely to become 
  pragmatic over time. This means 
  Bohemond eventually becomes 
  willing to swear an oath of fealty to 
  one or more lords. And those oaths 
  open the way for more stories of 
  protecting his liege‘s interests or 
  siding against one lord to support 
  another. 
  Forging a Legacy 
  As Bohemond seeks advancement, 
  chapter two of Lords of Men will 
  make itself very useful. In particular, 
  as Bohemond seeks advancement he 
  will need to earn Gratitude from 
  those he serves as it is this Gratitude 
  that allows him to gain and add lands 
  to his manor. 
  Taking a wife and fathering 
  children is an important aim for 
  Bohemond and he is acutely aware of 
  his desires and responsibilities in this 
  regard. As a result, he is faced with a 
  hard choice; marry for love or marry 
  for political advantage. Perhaps a way 
  exists to achieve both aims, but this is 
  an important story in Bohemond‘s 
  development. Any marriage should be 
  surrounded by story: 
   
  His prospective wife is already 
  betrothed to a rival. 
   
  He falls in love with a married 
  woman. 
   
  The woman‘s father plays 
  Bohemond against his brother 
  for the woman‘s hand in 
  marriage. 
   
  Bohemond is promised his 
  patron‘s daughter, but only if 
  he can woo her. 
   
  The marriage dowry is stolen, 
  putting the wedding at risk. 
  Bohemond must find and 
  return the dowry before he can 
  claim his wife. 
  Children are likely in any marriage, 
  so the troupe should determine what 
  children Bohemond and his wife 
  produce. As a rule of thumb, roll a 
  Stamina + Simple Die against an Ease 
  Factor of 6 in every year of marriage 
  until the wife reaches 40. Apply a 
  penalty of the wife‘s age/10 
  (rounding down) to the roll along 
  with the prevailing Living Conditions 
  modifier (ArM5, page 170). 
  Gaining Land 
  Needing to support his ambitions and 
  his growing family, Bohemond looks 
  for additional lands. If nothing else, 
  he needs his own vassals as he grows 
  older and he requires lands to award 
  his own supporters: 
   
  Bohemond‘s mother dies and 
  her estate leaves a small manor 
  to Bohemond, but his brothers 
  have designs upon the land and 
  are determined to cheat, bully, 
  or otherwise swindle him out 
  of what‘s due. Bohemond must 
  gain support from his liege and 
  other allies to ensure his 
  defense against his brothers‘ 
  plans. 
   
  Word reaches Bohemond that 
  his brother has mortgaged 
  ancestral lands to a greedy 
  abbot and the term of the 
  agreement is almost up. Can 
  his brother repay? And if not, 
  can Bohemond step in and 
  save the old family estates from 
  the abbot? 
   
  When his brothers fall out and 
  vie against each other, they 
  both try to recruit Bohemond 
  to their side with the promise 
  of land. Does Bohemond 
  choose one over the other, or 
  is there another way to get the 
  better of both? 
  Supporting his Family 
  There are many stories that can be 
  told concerning his family: 
   
  Illness falls upon Bohemond‘s 
  manor and unless Bohemond 
  find and addresses the cause it 
  soon spreads to his children. 
   
  T e m p t a t i o n  
  c r o s s e s 
  Bohemond‘s path and a 
  woman from his past returns. 
  Is the temptation natural or 
  supernatural in nature? Does 
  Bohemond resist? And what 
  are the consequences? 
   
  His liege calls upon Bohemond 
  with an opportunity for one or 
  more of his children to be 
  tutored within a powerful 
  n o b l e  h o u s e h o l d .  A s 
  Bohemond learns more, he 
  realizes that his children will 
  actually be held as insurance 
  against his liege‘s compliant 
  behavior. 
   
  His liege arranges a political 
  m a r r i a g e  f o r  o n e o f 
  Bohemond‘s children, but the 
  other party is child to 
  Bohemond‘s old tournament 
  rival. 
   
  As his children grow older they 
  realize that their father‘s lands 
  are limited and they start to 
  conspire against each other and 
  their father. Bohemond must 
  galvanize his family or cut out 
  the harmful elements. 
  
  74 
   
   
  Sub Rosa 
  Retirement and Death 
  And despite all the magical 
  assistance, there will come a time 
  when he must put away his sword and 
  shield and let the younger generation 
  take them up: 
   
  Bohemond turns the running 
  of his estates over to his 
  children and retires, with his 
  wife, to the covenant where the 
  magi support their old consors. 
  When word reaches the 
  covenant of failing harvests 
  and feuding children, 
  Bohemond must return to his 
  old lands to lay down the law. 
   
  His eldest son his gravely 
  wounded in an attack on 
  Bohemond‘s old estates by a 
  violent robber baron. With the 
  magi unable to involve 
  themselves openly, Bohemond 
  sets out to recruit his old 
  tournament contacts for one 
  last hurrah. Magically assisted, 
  t h e  
  m a g n i f i c e n t 
  septuagenarians hold back the 
  robber baron and his army. 
   
  Bohemond‘s elder brother lays 
  dying and he must ride to his 
  side to resolve their old 
  differences. While there, 
  Bohemond discovers that the 
  old family estates are failing 
  and his nephew is out of his 
  depth. Can the old knight teach 
  his nephew something of 
  leadership? 
   
  With Bohemond dead, his 
  children are free to make their 
  own way in the world. The 
  estates are disposed of and the 
  covenant‘s last connection with 
  Bohemond seems lost. But his 
  grandson arrives seeking 
  stories of his grandfather and 
  the sponsorship of the 
  covenant in the grand 
  tournament. There‘s a risk of 
  getting involved in mundane 
  politics, but the grandson is so 
  much like the grandfather is his 
  youth that it‘s hard to deny 
  him. And so the story starts 
  again. 
  Using Bohemond as 
  an NPC 
  Bohemond is a good, but flawed, 
  knight. As such he should take a 
  sympathetic role in stories, generally 
  well-inclined to his fellow man. He 
  would easily fall into stories in the 
  role of helping other PC knights as he 
  looks for allies for his future 
  ambitions. 
  He can also act as the catalyst for 
  magi thinking of creating magical 
  devices. As a successful tournament 
  knight, he can always be relied upon 
  to have funds available, funds that 
  could be used to buy vis. And the 
  enterprising magus could make good 
  earnings from keeping him supplied 
  with charged items that are cheap to 
  produce. 
  And lastly, if Bohemond becomes 
  a regular NPC, visiting the covenant 
  frequently, the story suggestions listed 
  above can all be used to entice the 
  covenant magi and consors into 
  stories of mundane intrigue and 
  warfare. 
  Conclusion 
  As a player character, Bohemond, 
  or a knight in the same mold, 
  promotes stories of a mundane 
  dynasty. Players can chart the rise of a 
  knight from the tournament field to 
  the courts of the powerful. They can 
  see him wedded, become a father, a 
  landowner, and a man of 
  responsibility. They can see him 
  resolved with his brothers, or 
  ultimately beat them at their own 
  political game. 
  As a non-player character, 
  Bohemond can be a useful contact as 
  he provides an entry point to 
  mundane noble society. Providing 
  assistance to Bohemond likely pays 
  dividends to the covenant in the long 
  term. 
  
  75 
  Sub Rosa 
   
   
  In this issue we take a look at 
  technology that can make the Ars 
  Magica play experience simpler, 
  easier, and more fun. 
  Character Sheets 
  The days of photocopying 
  character sheets out the back of the 
  rulebook are history, replaced with 
  some more high-tech options. 
  MetaCreator 
  MetaCreator is the near essential 
  tool for creating and managing Ars 
  Magica characters, creatures, 
  laboratories, familiars, and covenants. 
  This software (Windows only) has 
  support for both Ars Magica Fourth 
  Edition and Fifth Edition along 
  with a host of books from both. It 
  contains all the Virtues, Flaws, 
  Abilities, Powers, and other special 
  rules and effects from the supported 
  books (which includes Realms of Power: 
  Magic, the three Houses of Hermes 
  books, Mysteries, Covenants, and the 
  Rhine and Normandy Tribunal books) 
  and allows the player to advance the 
  character season-by-season using all 
  the supported laboratory activities 
  and study/practice types. Characters 
  can be printed to a range of styles, 
  including a very nicely-formatted 
  character sheet as well as simple rtf 
  and html pages. Combined with a 
  PDF converter, these are ideal for use 
  on tablets and laptops at the gaming 
  table. As a tool, it is pretty 
  indispensible and while the publishers 
  are small, the support team are 
  second to none, and very nice people 
  too. 
  www.alteregosoftware.com/
  ArM5Features.html 
  Mad Irishman 
  For those who prefer to handle 
  their character creation and 
  advancement manually, there‘s a 
  resource that provides superb 
  character sheets free to download. 
  There are a range of sheets, maps, 
  storyguide screen, and even some 
  story notes that could be useful. A lot 
  of work has clearly gone into these 
  sheets, including the custom print 
  template for use with MetaCreator. 
  And if you take nothing else away 
  from the site, the storyguide screen is 
  a work of genius and a thing of 
  beauty. 
  w w w . m a d - i r i s h m a n . n e t /
  pub_ars.html 
  Mapping Tools 
  If you want to create your own 
  maps, there are a number of tools 
  available. Campaign Cartographer has 
  a good reputation and includes 
  extensions for towns and cities as well 
  as the default overland maps. 
  www.profantasy.com/products/
  cc3.asp 
  RPGTools is a free alternative, 
  perhaps more limited but a decent 
  entry point if you want to create your 
  own maps. They also have a range of 
  other tools that you can download, 
  including a token-maker that seems 
  ideal for creating vis tokens.  
  www.rptools.net/index.php?
  page=tools 
  Google Earth and Google maps 
  should get an honorable mention 
  here for being so quick and easy to 
  use. The views may be modern, but 
  they‘re enough to give an overview. 
  Documents and Notes 
  Evernote can be installed on 
  Windows, Mac, and a host of mobile 
  platforms. It allows you to make 
  notes, including sound recordings, 
  images, file attachments, etc. and 
  persist them to the Evernote servers. 
  You can then access those notes on 
  any platform running the application 
  or able to use the Evernote website. 
  Seriously, you should take a look at 
  this. 
  Google Docs has its own 
  strengths and weaknesses. The 
  interface (apart from the Android 
  app) is web-only, but the functionality 
  is pretty rich. Especially impressive is 
  its spreadsheet support. For those 
  who use such things to track saga 
  events, you can upload your current 
  spreadsheet to Google Docs and, like 
  Evernote, share them with the group. 
  The links you‘ll need are http://
  www.evernote.com and https://
  docs.google.com. 
  Smart Phones and 
  Tablets 
  Ubiquitous and very nearly inescapable, 
  smart phones really are getting smarter. It is 
  probably not uncommon to see multiple 
  iPhones, Windows 7 phones, or Android 
  phones around the gaming table. They can 
  be used to view character sheets, check 
  online resources, and make notes, etc. 
  Need an instant map of Italy? Fire up 
  Google Earth on the tablet and navigate 
  away. Want to take your session notes with 
  you but don‘t want to print them? Copy 
  them across to your tablet or store them 
  on the cloud as described above. 
  And with Atlas Games now making its 
  Ars Magica rulebooks available in PDF 
  editions, tablets really come into their own 
  for transporting a stack of books in one 
  slim companion. 
  Mappa Mundi 
  From Beyond the Grave 
  One of the smartest uses for a cell phone I‘ve seen was 
  during a scene that called for the summoning of a dead PC‘s 
  spirit. The character‘s player was not present, taking a break 
  from the game while the rest of the group adjusted to life 
  without the character. It worked: to lose both the character 
  and the player imparted a profound sense of loss. 
  And so the summoning: we assumed that the storyguide 
  would handle the spirit‘s responses… We were wrong. 
  Upon successfully summoning the spirit, the storyguide laid 
  his cell phone on the table and switched it to speakerphone. 
  The voice of our missing player issued forth seemingly from 
  beyond the grave and in the time we had we probed for the 
  information we needed before releasing him to oblivion. 
  Simply the best summoning scene I‘ve played in. 
  
  Subscribe to Sub Rosa 
  Sub Rosa relies on subscriptions to continue and thrive. If you enjoyed this issue, encourage your friends to 
  subscribe, or take out a troupe subscription. Check our website for details. 
   
  Contribute to Sub Rosa 
  Sub Rosa is looking for articles and illustrations for future issues. All contributors receive a free copy of 
  the magazine their work appears in. Unsolicited contributions are welcomed. 
  See our website for details on how to contribute. 
   
  Check for Updates 
  The Sub Rosa website is updated regularly with news about the magazine and exclusive web-only content. 
  You can also email Sub Rosa for more information. 
  www.subrosamagazine.org 
  @subrosamagazine 
  In the Next Issue 
  The Storyguide’s Handbook: Founding Your Covenant 
  The decisions you make in designing your covenant are also some of the more complicated and influential that you’ll 
  need to make. In this article we look at the ways you can simplify the process of covenant design. 
   
   
  Off the Shelf 
  A set of real-world medieval texts that could set your magi off on entirely new adventures. 
   
   
  The Second Coming: Playing Ars Magica Second Edition 
  We move on to the second incarnation of the game, the edition that many people remember. But can they trust their 
  recollection? Just how similar is the game to the one we play now? 
   
   
  Companion Piece: William of Aylesbury 
  A man of piety and faith trying to balance his friendship with wizards and idolaters and the pursuit of his 
  God-given cause.. 
   
   
  ...And much more... 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Ars Magica [multi]/5th edition/Sub Rosa fanzine/Sub Rosa Issue 08.pdf