1135

YEAR 1135

Scribed by Antonius

Spring 1135AD

The year started with an end anda new beginning, as Castellan Gareth retired after many years of faithfulservice at the ripe old age of fifty. It seems that he saved a sum of moniesgiven to him by Lothar some years ago in gratitude for saving his life andwished to journey to see Rome one more time before he dies and enjoy his remainingyears in warmer climes. Gareth has seen us through many troubled times andwhilst he has not been the most dynamic of men, for a local lad from Blackneyhe has served this covenant most ably. We let him go with regret at his departuremingled with gladness at the knowledge, he at least of our fighting men, willhave a chance to enjoy some peaceful years. Jared, the atheistic mercenarycaptain who I met defending the life of the Abbot at Tintern will assume commandof the mundane running of Severn Temple. He seems to be a capable man andenjoyed a quiet start to his position with little of note happening duringSpring.

The only incident worth remarkingon was the return from foreign climes of Caelestis. His journey was apparentlymost successful as he returned with not just copies of the Almagest and theKoran, but also a moorish warrior, Hassan al-Mohammed, as his bodyguard. Thoughobviously an excellent swordsman, as shown by his swift dispatching of twobrigands who tried to ambush Caelestis in the woods, I fear it may take hima while to get over his culture shock. I know little of life in moorish Iberiabut it is clearly not very much like here. However, Hassan will have a goodwhile to adjust to this land’s ways as Caelestis had forgotten that hishouse meeting was to be held this summer. Indeed so pressed was he for timethat he decided to take ship to Northern Germany and then fly down to Durenmarfrom there.

Summer

At the Summer meeting, which Caelestiswas happily able to attend before departing for Durenmar, there was some discussionabout Caelestis performing a divination concerning the future of the covenant.I was not the only one who expressed reservations about the possibility ofmy future actions being scryed upon but a compromise was reached whereby Caelestisagreed to cease any reading that related to a specific magus. Despite my worriesabout the uneasy resemblance the process has to scrying, I was most curiousas to what fate Caelestis would gleam from the stars for this place and thosewho dwell within it. Alas, the heavens do not bode well. On the second ofAugust in this year there will be an eclipse with the usual trouble associatedwith such a poor omen. Unfortunately any ill events occurring then will beeclipsed, if you will pardon the expression, by the winter of eleven hundredand thirty six. Caelestis said that the portents for that time are the worstthat he has ever seen. So bad in fact, that if the astral reading had beendone for a person then he would be certain to die. Perhaps unsurprisinglythe mood at council was somewhat sombre after such a revelation.

Caelestis left for London shortlyafterwards to catch a ship to Lubeck which I had been able to arrange forhim. From there he hopes to catch a boat on to Kolburg and then he shouldbe able to simply follow the river to within sight of Durenmar. Turold alsodeparted to visit Jordael for the manufacture of a new longevity potion andas the only magus remaining in the covenant I had to remain behind. I canonly hope that whatever the Baron of Monmouth is up to will not come to fruitionwhilst I am here but it cannot be helped. Happily the summer months passedpeacefully, with fair weather and I was able to enjoy a quiet, uninterruptedseason’s study.

Autumn

The quiet of summer was broughtto a gloomy end with our concillium’s autumnal meeting. Turold had spokenwith Jordael and the news was not good. The watchers that Jordael had setabout Stonehenge, though protected and hidden by enchantments, were all slain.There was also some sign that some sort of ritual had been performed at thatmost powerful magical of sites, though it’s nature or purpose could notbe determined. A good, if grim, guess is that members of the UnNamed Housesought to wake the dragon from its slumbers once more to send it against us.

With Caelestis’ divinationsseeming to be ever more truthful I set out to warn Lydney of the forthcomingeclipse and potential trouble, though of course I dressed it up in some impreciseprophetic language. Lydney will take heed of my words and will pass on themessage to Chepstow, and also, assuming the eclipse does indeed come to pass,then my credibility as a wise man will be further enhanced. There is alwaysa risk to this of course should Mother Church take an interest but with thegood relationship I have with the Father Abbot at Tintern all should be well.

The eclipse happened when predicted,though the guards we had set about the walls to watch for an enemy approachingfrom without were overwhelmed one after another by some malign possessingentity. Alarmingly there was no sense of the aegis having been breached. Therewas much infighting amongst the grogs as those possessed attacked their friendsand many died, including Sergeant Arnulf. Order was eventually restored andthe possessed individuals subdued. One, Dougal, was captured and bound. Fearinga demonic possession and the obvious mockery that would make of any intellegomentem spells, I dressed myself as a priest and using what knowledge of scriptureI have, set about performing an exorcism. Not I hasten to add in any hopeof calling on the divine to cast out the demon but rather of eliciting a reactionfrom the spirit within him. The reaction of Dougal all but confirmed our fearsthat the infernal had somehow gained entrance to the covenant once more. Meredith,using his Sight, searched the covenant, starting with the sancti and movingdown. In the secret room off the treasury he found two skulking in the shadows.The ritual Petrus had cast here to suppress the aura had plainly faded.

We sent for help to Blackthornand Casus arrived quickly bearing a copy of the Demon’s Eternal Oblivionwhich he cast as much as he was able, destroying one of the shadows and weakeningthe other. Turold stepped in as Casus tired and was able to banish the lastone back to Hell. Then to make sure no others would enter the covenant bysuch a means I recast the ritual to suppress the infernal aura. We spoke withCasus about our fears concerning the dragon and the attack that seems destinedto fall upon us and he suggested that whilst he would be only too willingto help protect us, we should also seek aid from Holy Isle and from MagusGarius.

A short while after the eclipsea sickness hit the covenant and with the meagre number of men left to guardour walls we used potions to heal Aethelstan and Dun, as well as Meredith,Turold and Angela. By the time Mathus arrived in mid-Autumn, seven grogs laydead, a loss we can ill afford. The news he bore was equally grim. The Kingis dead and two nobles are squaring up to fight for the throne, Stephen ofBlois and Henry of Chester. The spectre of civil war now looms large aboutthe land so there will be much work to be done abroad to keep our positionhere secure. I suppose that if nothing else my weapons business should thriveso we should have sufficient coin to pay the hefty taxes that will doubtlesscome our way.

Winter

Caelestis arrived back from hisHouse meeting in time for our winter gathering. To add further tales of woeto our recent histories, he reported that he had been waylaid in some foreigntown and had lost the Viator Facilis and a quantity of personal vis. He hadbeen wandering the town at night and was arrested by the city guard. Luckilyhe was able to escape and fly to Durenmar though there was no realistic hopeof regaining his lost possessions.

As to news from his House meeting,it seems that the Bonisagi have decided to involve themselves in politicsquite openly by voting on what formal stance to take over the status of Ex-Miscellania.Somewhat surprisingly, to me at least, they voted to oppose the measures takenby the Tremere, Flambeau and Guernicus and side with Merinita and Bjornaer.I can only assume that they are attempting to prevent a further schism withinthe Order though I fear that their vote will be seen as something of a betrayalby members of those house who have fought and died executing the wishes ofthe Grand Tribunal. It is worth noting I feel that the vote was carried bya narrow majority of just two votes and that those voting for the motion includedCaelestis, Petrus and Dialectica. Our sodalis seems to have some very pro-Ex-Miscellanianviews and his reasoning for voting was somewhat hard to make sense of, ifhe will forgive me for saying so. Of further interest was the fact that allthose of the Trianoman tradition voted for maintaining the status quo, saveDialectica. Audacia returned some two days later in time for the casting ofthe aegis and was unsurprisingly less than happy when she learned of the Bonisagi’svote.

I journeyed briefly to Holy Isleto inform them of our fears about the dragon and spoke to Darius who, as ever,was most solicitous in asking after my fellows at the covenant.

As the winter snows thickenedMathus returned with news of the land about. Civil war is now inevitable andeven abbeys and churches have been raided. The local area suffered as didwe from the plague but also from the incursions of bandits who are using theforest as shelter. This is something we will have to try and resolve as therecould be grave consequences for the future integrity of the forest if it isperceived as a hideout for brigands. For once, I actually found myself wishingthat Lothar was still with us for he would have enjoyed hunting down banditsin the woods, assuming of course that he could be relied upon to refrain fromattacking any noble hunting parties he might come across. I should not speaktoo ill of the dead however so I shall continue with my telling of Mathus’snews. There is some talk he says that King David of Scotland may use the civilwar in England to launch attacks on England and I would guess that there willbe those in Wales thinking the same things as the Scots.

Of news hermetic, the hunt forEx-Miscellanians has now spread to Hibernia and Novgorod. Also of some surprisefor Caelestis, the covenant of Cordoba from where he has but recently returned,has had a Wizard’s March declared against it for being guilty of allyingwith Moorish sorcerors. Mathus told Caelestis that the Quaesitori may wellwish to speak with him about his visit there though there is no implicationthat he has been involved in any wrong doing.

The remainder of the year passedpeacefully, I would that I am able to say the same thing in this journal thistime next year.