1112

YEAR 1112

Scribed by Ruaridh

Spring 1112AD

Spring was a relatively quietseason. After a brief discussion at council of our plans for the coming year,we all left to pursue our studies. Little of note occurred in the first fewweeks, though there were a number of brief sightings by the grogs of the AdderQueen in the woods. To make sure that she laid no more eggs near the mineat Blackney, I sealed the passage she had used to gain entry in the past.

Only two other items of news areworth recording. First, Antonius received a message from Dionysus requestingthat he present himself at Holy Isle by the end of the year. The meeting shouldbe little more than a formality since Antonius acted properly by returningthe book to the council as soon as he realised that it contained passagesrelating to the Schism War. Second, I received notice from Jordael of CadGadu that Primus Uriens had slipped into final twilight. Uriens was a complexman, timid and unassuming on the outside yet willing to stand up for whathe believed in. I hope his successor exhibits similar qualities.

Summer

At the council meeting that openedthe season, Antonius brought news of mundane affairs from his travels in theSpring. Monmouth and Chepstow were awash with rumours about the continentalalliance formed by Duke Henry of Normandy. Most were of the view that theDuke and his allies would seek to invade England, most probably next year.Antonius learned that the Rector of Chepstow had been arrested and chargedwith treason. There was also whispered talk of Idris marshalling the Welshforces in the mountains.

A few weeks into the season, Lotharreturned from the forest with news of a great fire spreading south from Huntleyhill. In all likelihood, it had been started deliberately to burn back theforest and allow more cultivation. This was a clear threat to the seclusionand security of the covenant, and so I travelled quickly to a hill overlookingthe conflagration and summoned a fierce rainstorm to drive back the flames.This limited the amount of damage the flames were able to do, though the areaaround Huntley hill was still badly burnt. Unfortunately, owing to the needto fight the fire, I missed the chance to collect the Rego vis from the wellnear Clearwell village. We shall have to wait until next year to see whetherour efforts to restore the site have proved successful.

Shortly before mid-summer, I travellednorth to Cad Gadu for the meeting of House Ex Miscellanea. Earlier in theseason, I had given Jordael permission to open the meeting given the absenceof a Primus following Uriens' twilight. Jordael had made an effort to getas wide an attendance at the meeting as possible by personally inviting Magifrom as far away as the Hibernian and Loch Leglean tribunals. This seemedlike a very positive move since previous tribunal meetings had been dominatedby English and Welsh Magi, and it would be interesting to hear the opinionsof those from further afield.

Unfortunately, the Scots opinionswere aggressive, boorish, ill-informed and often incomprehensible. I tookan instant dislike to one of their leaders, an oaf by the name of McGreine,who tried to get his entire clan admitted to the tribunal chamber, despitethe fact that at least three quarters of them did not possess even the semblanceof the Gift. I was forced to ask Praeco Garius to stand watch on the entranceto the chamber while Sulyamaniyah, a Moorish Quaesitor, and I tested eachand every person who entered the room for the Gift. I must admit that I detestedSulyamaniyah, an arrogant and status conscious fool, just as much as I didMcGreine.

Having finally determined whowas entitled to take part in the proceedings, we moved on to the appointmentof the new Primus. By tradition, this should have been the eldest living Magusin the House, but the issue was complicated by the fact that both Jordaeland McGreine were 138 years old. Just as I thought the meeting was about todegenerate from farce to violence, two men burst into the chamber. The firstwas like no figure I have ever seen before or since. Standing a foot higherthan the tallest man, he had skin like the bark of an oak tree. The secondfigure was the fugitive Harnol.

The first figure introduced himselfas Llanoddwyn, a Magus most thought had died many decades ago. He claimedto be 300 years old, an assertion Sulyamaniyah verified through the use ofmagic. With the matter of who was to be the new Primus settled, Llanoddwynannounced that Harnol would be tried under House rather than Tribunal law.I must admit that I had never heard of this, but Sulyamaniyah confirmed thatthere were precedents for such a move.

Sulyamaniyah presented the caseagainst Harnol. He had been caught by Yania consorting with the bard Stephen,a suspected member of the Unnamed House, in a tavern in York. When Yania approachedhim, he fled into the night, as did Stephen. Harnol countered that he hadnot known that Stephen was connected in any way with the Unnamed House, andthat he fled after Yania attacked him with magic. Sulyamaniyah confirmed thetruthfulness of his answers with magic.

Llanoddwyn asserted that the evidencethat Stephen was an agent of the Unnamed House was extremely flimsy, and thatit would be ridiculous to damn Harnol for associating with someone who wasonly suspected of wrongdoing. This argument carried the day, and Harnol wasformally cleared of all charges against him. The meeting then broke up forthe night. I spent a few hours going over the legality of what had happenedwith Sulyamaniyah, and it appears that Llanoddwyn acted in accordance withthe Code. I look forward to explaining this to Dionysus.

The next day, we discussed a matterof much wider import. Llanoddwyn derided the declaration of the last GrandTribunal on the matter of those suspected of consorting with the Unnamed House.He proposed that each Magus should be judged on his actions and perhaps hisintentions, not on his associations. The motion was passed unanimously. Afurther motion declaring that all men should have the right to worship unmolestedby the Order as long as they did not breach the Code was also passed unanimously.This was meant to extend the same rights enjoyed by Christians to those whofollow pagan religions.

I returned to Severn Temple inmixed spirits. I feel that the motions passed by the House were absolutelycorrect and represent a clear step forward for the rights of those who havebeen persecuted by parts of the Order in the past, but I also have misgivingsabout what this may mean for the struggle against the Unnamed House. I havenot forgotten Idris' betrayal.

Autumn

At the council meeting at thestart of the season, I described the main points arising from the meetingof House Ex Miscellanea to my sodalis. There was some discussion of the possibleimplications of the House's ruling, but we will probably need to wait untilthe next Grand Tribunal for the various issues to be resolved. Antonius, whohad returned safely from his interview with Dionysus at Holy Isle, told usthat one of his main contacts, the Rector of Chepstow, had been burned forheresy, which does not bode well for those Christian priests who put the Popebefore the King.

A little while into the season,we received a visit from Gyriania of Blackthorn. She brought news of hermeticand mundane matters, as well as a new redcap, Mathus, who would henceforthtake messages between the covenants in the western parts of the country. Gyrianiaconfirmed the news we had already heard of an alliance against Black Hughon the continent, though Duke Henry has apparently fallen ill, which meansthat an invasion will probably not come this year or the next. King Hugh helda council of war in the summer, but the Duke of York refused to attend withoutthe exchange of hostages. The King besieged the city of York, and the Dukefled north to seek an alliance with the King of Scotland. His proposals wereapparently rebuffed. The Duke of Cornwall and the Archbishop of Hereford haveboth proclaimed their allegiance to the King, and civil war seems likely.

There was also much hermetic news.Gyriania formally announced the results of my investigation into the deathof the Magus Edwin. Erin of Scarfell, who inherited Edwin's personal effects,declared that the pages missing from Edwin's diary most probably containedinformation on diabolic covens that were operating in Chester, London andGloucester. The ruling passed at the Ex Miscellanea house meeting - that aMagus should be judged on his actions and perhaps his intentions but not hisassociations - was also formally announced. Primus Llanoddwyn had travelledto Holy Isle to explain it to Dionysus, who then sent a message to PrimusGuernicas requesting a special meeting of the Grand Tribunal to discuss theissue. Dionysus requested at meeting of all the Quaesitoris in the tribunalat Holy Isle in the last week of the season.

The final piece of news concernedthe fall of a covenant in Hibernia. This was of particular interest and concernto us as an investigation of the site of the covenant had revealed that Infernalmagics had been used to bring down the Aegis. The Magi had all been slain,though the body of one of them, Miciella of Tytalus, had not been found.

Towards the middle of the season,we received a message from the Baron of Chepstow demanding men in case ofan attack by the Welsh. Though I agreed to protect the forest from poachersand raiders, I explained that there were scarcely enough men to man the wallsof the covenant. In spite of this, I offered to consider his request, butthe messenger took this as an outright refusal to meet my feudal obligation.It was only by agreeing to reinforce the garrison at Lydney and pay a hundredpennies towards the "war effort" that we were able to assuage theBaron's anger. If I had forgotten just how much I loath the Norman nobility,this episode brought right back to me. The sooner we are in a position wherewe can ignore the demands of these ignorant, irrational tyrants, the better.

Just before the end of the season,I travelled swiftly north to Holy Isle. I must admit that I was not relishingthe thought of having to explain exactly what had transpired at the Housemeeting to the assembled Quaesitoris, but it was not quite as bad as I feared.After he heard the details of the House's ruling, Dionysus decided that HolyIsle's investigations into Magi suspected of associating with the UnnamedHouse would be suspended until the Grand Tribunal resolved the issue. Witha bit of luck, this may not happen for some time, which should give membersof my House a few more years of peace.

Winter

Lothar returned from then foresta few days before the council meeting, and he announced that he had managedto drive off a band of Welsh raiders that he had encountered fairly closeto the covenant. He had also discovered a lump of quartz that he believedwas magical. Petrus determined that the quartz contained five pawns of Imagonemvis and also some form of innate magic. We shall have to investigate it morethoroughly when Petrus, or perhaps Turold, has more time. Antonius reportedthat Stuart, the steward at Lydney, had told him that the village's priest,Father Christopher, had apparently participated in the torture of the lateRector of Chepstow. The priest's mood had become much darker in the weekssince the event, and he had taken to spending large amounts of time broodingsilently in the church. Given that building's terrible history, I fear whatmay become of him.

At mid-winter, the covenant wasbeset by fierce storms that made travel impossible. Our librarian, Jacques,was discovered unconscious by the well. When he was roused, he claimed tohave had a vision of a pack of dogs hunting through the sky. As the dogs passedover the covenant, he saw people wither away as if suffering from great hunger.He glimpsed a flaming sword and then passed out. Slightly disturbed by this,we went to investigate the grain stores. To our horror, we found the grainrotten and blighted, and our animals sick and dying. We called an emergencycouncil meeting to discuss the situation. We resolved to seek aid from asmany sources as possible, for we realised that the covenant could not survivemore than a few weeks without fresh supplies. Despite the weather, Antoniusagreed to try to make his way to Gloucester to purchase foodstuffs. He barelymade it through the ice and snow, collapsing outside a tavern by the Severn.As soon as the storms cleared enough for me to fly, I hurried down to meethim. It soon became obvious that the blight had not been restricted to thecovenant: plague fires were in evidence all around Gloucester. I discoveredAntonius' unconscious form in the tavern, and carried him back to the covenant.

Meanwhile, Turold headed downto Carrion Moor to request aid. The plague had not spread that far, and, thoughhe receive a somewhat frosty reception, Turold was able to secure a cartloadof supplies. This would, however, take several weeks to reach the covenant,which left the covenfolk in a perilous situation. I know not how, but we managedto pull through, aided by the occasional kill from the forest brought in byLothar and meat I carried back from an expedition to Hereford.

As I sit writing this in the fadinglight of a gloomy winter's evening, the horrors of the past few weeks seemalmost like a distant memory. We still do not know how or why our supplieswere infested so rapidly. Stuart claimed that the dogs in Jacques' visionmight have been the Hounds of Gabriel; legend has it that they chase the Devilfrom the land, though I do not understand why doing this should have broughtplague here. What is clear is the dreadful losses we have suffered, whichinclude several grogs, covenfolk and the singer, Ruth.