1109

YEAR 1109

Scribed by Antonius

Spring 1109AD

So another yearbegins for the covenant of Severn Temple and another magus joins those thathave scribed the history of the place in these tomes. I shall endeavour, asI am sure those who have gone before me have striven to do, to be as impartialas possible. The season was one of ups and downs. I travelled the local landsat first, seeking to recruit some more men to join our grogs as we are sadlyunder-manned at present and was lucky enough to find four men who agreed tojoin and were duly sworn in. Whilst I was abroad I heard troubling news fromLydney, it seems that Sir Gerald’s second child had been stillborn, horriblytwisted and deformed. The unfortunate child was given a Christian burial byFather Christopher but, reluctant as I am to give any great credence to theshade of a diabolist, the words spoken by Jean de Caen’s ghost at theSpring equinox last year about a corrupted, twisted and deformed child whichwould bring great evil seem uncannily prescient now. I fear that the handof the infernal has not relinquished its grasp from Lydney yet.

Whilst I was inChepstow later in the season I heard that the situation had grown worse. SirGerald rode in to see the Baron, it seems a pair of deformed twins had beenborn in the village and Sir Gerald had decided, presumably with advice fromFather Christopher, that it was the diabolical wizards on the hill who hadcaused this and the other misfortunes of that blighted village. He was askingthe Baron to send him men so that he could crush the covenant once and forall. The Rector of Chepstow, with whom I had had some past dealings, was calledbefore the Baron to explain the situation. On his return to the rectory Iwent to see him and convince him of our innocence in the matter. To mollifySir Gerald and convince the Baron that we were indeed good Christian men,we decided that an offer of monies sufficient to found the building of a churchin Lydney might sway things. So under the Rector’s protection, I presentedmyself at the Baron’s court. It was a tense affair, but it seems thatBaron Owen cares more for gold than God and the offer of money for the buildingof a church was enough for him. The Rector was of great help to us and I hopewe can maintain his good will. I was able to have the plans for the churchdrawn up myself and so ensure that it would not have a tower, thus avoidingthe potential problem of a bell damaging the aura as before.

The local feywere active again, several of the Ruadan’s corrs tried to fly into thecovenant but were repulsed by the aegis. Of the magi, only Turold and Lotharwere present at the time. It seems that, acting on Lothar’s orders, Ecgfrithshot one of the creatures and Lothar went outside the aegis to recover itsbody. Once outside he was met by the Ruadan and he disappeared into the woodswith her. He was gone for a short while and on his return he would only saythat she had “educated him”.

Summer

Having heard thatthe wife of Sir Gerald of Lydney was gravely ill we sent our chirurgeon Jacquesdown to the village to try and cure her of her sickness in the hope that ifsuccessful such a move would further aid relations with our neighbour. Jacqueswas able to heal Lady Elisa of her fever though she will be forever weakenedand barren, with luck Sir Gerald should look a little more kindly on us now.There was a somewhat heated discussion at the council, which with Ruaridhand Petrus away comprised myself, Turold and Lothar. The matter of Lothar’sconversation with the Ruadan arose again but Lothar refused point blank totell us what the Ruadan had said to him. He would only say that it was somethingto do with House Merinita and that it posed no “immediate” threat.Naturally there was some concern over what implied danger future months couldhold for us but he stubbornly refused to elucidate.

On Midsummer’seve there was much commotion outside the Great Hall as we felt the aegis breachedand a great figure rose up from the ground. The fey Mountain King Gofannonhad arrived, he claimed that the wizards of the covenant had made a deal withhim in years past to teach him longbow archery. Lothar said that we wouldincur his wrath if we refused to do so. Whilst I went off to check the covenantrecords to ascertain whether we had any record of such a deal and if so whoexactly it had been struck with; Lothar had our best archer, Ecgfrith shootfor the Mountain King. However Gofannon did not think Ecgfrith skilled enoughto be fit to tutor him and left abruptly. Interestingly, on checking the journal,as scribed by Idris, who it seemed had some close relations with Gofannon,the deal was apparently made with Mervyn, consortis of Varsavia, who perishedin the Dell of Wolves some years ago. Obviously even the so-called nobilityof the fey are not above trying to twist deals.

Of news mundane,there was a tourney at Monmouth, the joust being won by Sir Oscar of Mitcheldeanand the melee by Sir Kenneth of Colford. We may have to keep an eye on SirKenneth a he is by all accounts an extremely ambitious man and will very likelyseek to build or take sister villages to boost his current holding. We wouldalso be well advised to avoid the holding of Baroness Evelyn at Eastnor, whichlies some miles to the east of Hereford. She is a zealot and would not treatwell with wizards, and might call on Archbishop Dominic in Hereford to dealwith us. The archbishop is a warrior rather than a holy man; one concern isthat with his lack of piety can he do anything to stem the rising threat ofthe infernal in the area? Is it the office or the man that God speaks through?Anyway I shall press on before I digress any further into the realms of theologicaldebate. Black Hugh and Prince Henry were preparing for war with France whenHenry fell ill. He sent his son Edward to London, whilst there Edward discoveredthat Hugh had a bishop imprisoned, Hugh then tried to arrest Edward who managedto escape and then flee back to Normandy. Rumours have it that Hugh’shold on the North of England is loose, that Normandy may now seek to allywith Germany and that the Pope may finally take action against Hugh. Cornelius,a member of House Jerbiton who dwells in London outside of any covenant, saysthat things are “odd” there, darkness is spreading quickly thereunder Black Hugh’s reign. It seems with the situation so potentiallyvolatile that the mundanes must be carefully watched.

Autumn

Though nothingof great importance arose at our biannual meeting one item of interest didarise. Turold asked if the council would permit him to borrow half a rookof vis for two years, the reason for this is that he has acquired a vis obligationto Harko covenant, Domus Magnus of House Mercere. Turold explained that hehad accidentally destroyed a vis source of faerie origin belonging to thatcovenant whilst on his way to his last House Meeting. The council agreed tohis request and so can expect to receive back five pawns of vis at the endof Summer 1111.Of broader news, Stassius the redcap visited our covenant laterin the season with much to tell. I must confess a small amount of satisfactionas much of the mundane news that he delivered to us was already known to usthrough the mundane contacts that I have built up. It seems that Duke Henryhas indeed allied with the Emperor of Germany so war now looks likelier still.The hermetic news he brought though sadly revealed that conflict is not somethingthat we in the Order of Hermes can remain aloof from. There was a fight ofsome sort when Venius and Jerania of Bly Wydden covenant entered the caveof Llandolwyn of House Ex Miscellania who resides without covenant. What theydiscovered in there they claimed led them to believe the owner of the caveto be in league with diabolic spirits. When he returned to his cave that hebelieving himself to be under attack commanded an elemental of some sort toattack them whilst they brought down the roof of his cave about him. He escapedthough and now hides at Cad Gadu. Another member of Llandolwyn’s house,Harnal, was accused by Jania of consorting with the UnNamed House. He wasseen by her speaking to Stephen the bard, a known member or ally of that House.She tried to restrain him with a Rego Mentem spell but he resisted it andhad some mundane allies of his restrain her until he had made his escape.Harnal is very apparently very dangerous but if possible we are to try andrestrain him for the Quaesitor if we come across him.On a happier note, thecovenant received the thanks of Cassitus and Casus for our help in investigatingthe coven. News also that someone has been stealing vis from Stonehenge itself.

There were alsotwo messages for Lothar that he said were not private so I will record thehere as they have some bearing on the covenant as a whole. Sylvania will supporthis bid to join House Merinita and she will come here sometime this winterto journey with him to Irinchilia in the spring.The second message was a formaldeclaration of wizard’s war against Lothar from his pater Adolphus. Adolphusis a magus of over 100 years and to Lothar’s knowledge has the heartbeastof a bear, an eagle and possibly a third form. Lothar will depart quicklyto the faerie regio to hide out until the month has passed.

It was not longafter Lothar had left before Adolphus arrived here and stole into the covenant.I found him coming out of Lothar’s sanctum, fortunately Lothar had hadthe foresight to move much of his valuable lab equipment out of his laboratory.I asked him to leave the covenant, as Lothar was not within its walls, hethen demanded to know where Lothar was. I told him that Lothar had told mewhere he was going but said no more than that. There was a long pause as hepondered what to do next, before he decided to challenge me to certamen. Hechose Muto and I guessing correctly that he might have a weakness in thatform chose Ignem. After the first clash it was obvious that I was going tolose as I was near exhaustion so I decided to cede the contest and remainconscious. I told him that Lothar had told me that he was going into the faerieregio and he left to pursue him there.

The rest of theseason passed largely uneventfully save for the dedication of the church atLydney by the Archbishop. We shall find out soon it seems whether it is theman or the office that wields God’s power.

Winter

As we had seenno sign of either Lothar or Adolphus and knowing how time can be twisted withthe fey regio Turold and I held the winter meeting with just the two of usin attendance. Petrus returned two days after the meeting with news of hishouse meeting. Petrus presented his theory and by his account it was wellreceived. There may be many magi from across the Order who might come to learnhis “parma aurae” as he calls it and field-test it for him. It isstill unclear whether or not it will work within the Dominion as hermeticknowledge of the Dominion and indeed the infernal realms as yet slight, thoughPetrus reported that there were several magi of his house working on a “UnifiedTheory of Auras”.

Lothar returnedthree days later having survived rather than won his wizard’s war. Itseems that despite getting lost on the way through the faerie regio and findinghimself outside again facing his pater he managed to reach the Summer Gladewhere he was hidden by the Tuatha de Danaan. Adolphus having pursued him therekilled several Golwyg Hafyth, and clawed Niniol’s tree in his furyatbeing unable to reach Lothar. On his way out he also killed one of the Bwbachod.Fearing that by his actions he may have endangered us by angering the localfaeries we decided that we would ask for a Quaesitor to investigate his actions.Turold will fly to Blackthorn to make our request.

Later in the season,welsh bandits raiding across the river attacked Blackney during the daytimewhilst the men were in the mines. They killed several women, set fires andlooted what they were able before they were discovered and driven off by oneof our grog patrols. A few of them were slain but most escaped. We shall stationa couple of men there in future, both to safeguard the village but also tokeep our miners happy. More news from Blackney, after a few wasted journeyswhen Father Christopher had not bothered to visit the chapel there, Turoldand I went to mass there to help assuage any beliefs that we are ungodly menhere in the covenant. Father Christopher seemed determined to try and trickTurold into saying something that he might be able to use against him butthankfully Turold was clever enough that he would only say that he was a maguswhen pressed as to whether he was a warlock, an important distinction fromthe Church’s point of view. Whilst we could have a worse priest to ministerto our neighbouring villages we must keep an eye on Father Christopher, Ido no think he likes us and strikes me as the sort of man who might seek topoison other minds against us.The only other item of news that I have to reporthere this year is that, a few weeks before our meeting, Castellan Ecgfrithsadly passed away in his sleep.