1162

YEAR 1162

Scribed by Theo

Spring 1162 AD

It seems that Cormoran has losttrack of time, as our new Imperator was not in attendance at the next Councilmeeting. With Astrius binding his familiar and Tiarnan away at his House meeting,it was a quiet Council meeting. Nothing of much import was discussed, otherthan to remind everyone that Martin, the some of Baron Martin of Monmouth,would be arriving when to snows melt to attend a banquet given in his honour.

For our seasons work, both Dialecticaand Aelfwin will be training their apprentices, Medius would be travellingnorth to investigate the what occurred at Magus Tostig's sanctum and I wouldbe learning more Welsh. Shortly after this I changed my mind and decided topractice some meditative techniques to calm and focus the mind.

The rest of the season passeduneventfully, until the end of it where Cormoran returned and held a largebanquet in Blackney, so I assumed his time the regio was well spent.

Summer

It turns out that much more hadoccurred in the Fae regio than any of us ever thought. Cormoran told us whathad happened to explain why he missed the Council meeting. Whilst somewheredeep in the regio he was attacked by the fae knight Turold - Turold laid thefirst blow and Cormoran stated that he was defending himself. It at this pointthat an angry Medius asks if Cormoran 'had taken sides', Cormoran doesn'tanswer but merely repeats that he was attacked. It seems we are to get nofurther explanation.

To help smooth over matters, Dialecticachanged the subject to ask Cormoran what he intends to do as Imperator, nowthat he has had time to think matters over. After a slow start Cormoran saysthat the Turb structure will remain the same, but that after the war he willrecruit more men, also that he wants some money to buy some crossbows to ensurethat the men on the walls will be armed and trained in a powerful ranged weapon.Dialectica agrees to this request and grants one hundred pennies for the task.

For the rest of the season Aelfwinwill extract vim vis; Cormoran will enchant his talisman; Medius will learnsome spells; Dialectica will extract vim vis for her own use and I will onceagain try to learn some Welsh. Also I was to be ready for the call to mustersometime this season, which occurred very shortly after this. I travelledto Gloucester and talked with the baron of Monmouth and agreed to pay twohundred and forty pennies to avoid sending myself and seven grogs to the musterin London. I was also informed of the new taxes, but that as our lands producediron we would be given a dispensation, hence we only paid an extra fifty penniesin taxes. As it seems we have a very good relationship with the Baron andcertain other nobles I thought it would be advantageous to stay. Hence I sentmessage back to Dialectica that with her permission I would stay in Gloucesterand meet the local nobles.

Just before the end of the seasonTiarnan returned with his travelling companions and I must admit he did looka great deal better in his new clothes - which he is obviously pleased with.He seems to have had a good House meeting at least.

Autumn

At the start of the Council meetingit seems that other than his clothes we were to learn little of the HouseMerinita meeting. However it seems that Tiarnan was approached by the faeknight Turold, who told his side of the encounter with Cormoran. It seemsthat Cormoran decided not to inform the Council that was working for the Erechwydd,and that due to his defeat of Turold her snowy realm is waxing in strengthagain. Still Cormoran's actions certainly haven't brought down the wrath ofthe fae upon us, and so there is nothing else to be done. Obviously Tiarnanis not very happy with this turn of events, and the Council was somewhat disappointedin this lack of openness from out Imperator.

We conclude the meeting with ourintentions for the season. Aelfwin will help Cormoran with his longevity potion;Medius will ern some more spells; Tiarnan will enchant a bucket to collectthe waters from the Boar Tide. Dialectica will study advanced magical theorywith the aid of some vim vis and I will once again try to learn some Welsh!

After the meeting I hear thatTiarnan challenged Cormoran to certamen, intellego and corporem, apparentlya frozen corpse appeared between them, after a short while Cormoran forcedthe corpse to speak. It was after this that Kieran foolishly insulted Cormoran- only because Cormoran wanted to help carry an unconscious Tiarnan back tohis sanctum. Our Imperator banned Kieran from the covenant, and once everyonehad settled down again, Aelfwin invited Kieran back in.

The rest of the season passedwonderfully peacefully, with the only event of note being that towards theend of the season the Redcap Loretius arrived. His mundane news was of theappointment of the new archbishop, a man called Thomas Beckett. Yet more newson the invasion fleet of Henry of Anjou; that the English muster has beencalled and a warning that banditry is expected to increase - a fact that I'msure Astrius will find interesting when he finishes binding his familiar.

Of Hermetic news, it seems thatthe Merinitans are willing to stand against this proposed Grand Tribunal votefor an investigation of pagans. Finally we receive a letter from Archi-MagaCarathia of House Verditious. It seems that she was disappointed with ouroffer to copy Corlear's research texts and has mounted a legal challenge.She desires exclusive ownership of the notes and the Primus of House Guernicushas backed her in this. In her letter she states that hse is still willingto deal, but she will only offer a single queen of vis and 3 seasons of hertime. The Council decided to accept her offer - of course, and we will decidelater what it is we wish her to enchant for us.

With that the season ended.

Winter

Our Council for this season startedwith the return of Astrius, with the binding of his familiar, Drudwyl, havingbeen successfully completed. I for one am used to seeing Astrius in the companyof hunting dogs, I remember that he was often more relaxed and happy helpingthe Houndsmaster during our apprenticeship. However it was obvious that thiswas something significantly different - during the Council the two of themwere never very far from each other, without ever seemingly being aware ofthe fact. Astrius would often, without noticing, reach down to pat Drudwyl.This binding has obviously made a deep impression upon them both.

Of other news, Tiarnan reportedthat he had made a magical bucket for drawing the waters from the Boar Tide.There was then discussion concerning which Hermetic ritual we will requestfrom the Archi-Maga Carathia. The talk went on for quite a while with ideassuch as: Shrouded Glen; and Open the Intangible Tunnel. Tiarnan wanted somethingmildly more interesting than the 'utilitarian' ideas we were thinking of,and suggested The Haunt of the Living Ghost, however it was finally decidedthat we would request the Pontifex to talk with the Archi-Maga herself atthe Grand Tribunal. This would enable her to get a better idea of what ispossible and the cost involved.

As we finally moved on to ourseasons activities, Astrius declared his intent to hunt for bandits in thelocal area, Dialectica was against this idea as she did not want any furtherattention drawn to this area and that news of the Welsh Wizard returning wouldnot be good for the covenant. Instead the Pontifex requested of Astrius asa covenant service that he travel north to talk to the Praefecta concerningour covenants Tribunal Service, whilst she will scribe some spells for ourvarious covenant trades. Cormoran was tasked to extract vim vis; Medius statedthat he would be learning a new spell; Tiarnan will extract vim vis for hisown personal use and I would finish my studies of the Welsh language. Withthat the Council ended.

I was woken up in the middle ofa crisp and clear winter's night by Viremos calling for me. He tells me thatan impenetrable darkness has arisen in the Otherworld, indeed when I try tolook through the Veil to talk to Viremos, I can see nothing, not even thefaintest glimmer. Having never heard of anything like this I am greatly concernedand so I stay up all night watching about the covenant in case this is theprelude to something worse. When nothing changes with the sunrise, I finallyfigure out that this may be due to the 'spreading of the raven wing', someform of protection offered to the covenant from the Morrigan. Why she woulddo this, and to protect us from what, again I can only surmise.

The answer to this riddle waswalking towards the north gate. One of our guards spotted a small dark figurein the shadows of the eves of the forest. It was Bethwyn, stating that shehad a message for Medius of Rome. Hence Medius and out Imperator go to thegate to meet with her, where she informs Medius that she carries a warningfrom the Morrigan for him. An 'enemy' had tried to used the stars to divineinformation about the covenant, specifically Medius. Bethwyn says that shehas been told to take Medius to the Nectan's Pool for further informationconcerning what the enemy 'saw' before the veil of darkness was drawn aboutthis place. After much conferring and discussion with other members of thecovenant, during which the Pontifex offers the draught of the Pool we havein stores to Medius, our Ministrator declines to investigate this issue anyfurther using these methods. Preferring instead to trust other non-Hermeticsources, he sends a letter to Zedichia in Chepstow. A letter which I agreeto deliver as I can only imagine that if the Morrigan is required to takesuch drastic steps then Medius should take this warning very seriously indeed.I meet with Zedichia and he agrees to come with me back to the covenant totalk with Medius.

With that the rest of the seasonpassed uneventfully, however the shroud of darkness still lies heavily overthe covenant and I am greatly concerned over what this may forebode for thefuture.