Rushen Abbey is the single largest landowner on the island and is very rich. But the monastery itself is small, only about 100 feet on a side, and home to only a score or so monks. It is whitewashed and austere, and shows little sign of wealth. The Divine aura at Rushen Abbey is 6, which is very strong, causing Divine Warping to anyone who lives there that does not have Faith points or a supernatural ability tied to the divine. Because the monks frequently perform the Eucharist, most of them have a Faith Point most of the time. Only those guilty of unconfessed sins are likely to fall prey to Divine Warping, because they cannot receive a Faith Point if they are in a state of mortal sin. After 5 years in such a state, they gain a Minor Flaw that punishes them for their sins, typically Compulsion (prayeror self-flagellation), Disfigured (stigmata scars), Fear (of the Divine or Infernal), Fragile Constitution, Lame, or Obsessed (sin and sinners).
The Cistercian monks wear white and follow the Benedictine rule very strictly; they chose to live in the wilderness and practice manual labor, but over time they have become increasingly wealthy and now are considered fat and corrupt by many of the locals. Many of the monks are illiterate, and they work farms or tend sheep, observing their motto, “To work is to pray.” Sometimes they go among the people of Man to preach against heresy and laxity, and they are vigorous reformers. They have good relations with the Templars and other knightly orders, due largely to the work of Bernard de Clairveaux.
The abbot is Lawrence Martins, a natural philosopher and learned magician who used to study in England, where he fell into a circle of diabolists. He has since extracted himself, confessed his sins and received forgiveness, but Hell believes he can be seduced back into error. The abbot’s rise to authority at Rushen is partially due to infernal manipulation, and he is tempted by the wealth the abbey now holds. But he is also terrified of the Devil and Hell; he almost never leaves the abbey (where the aura is too strong for any demon to dare enter) and he wears a charm against demons at all times. Once a year he must travel to the head of the Cistercian order, in Citaux France, and he is always harassed by demons during this time. He would pay dearly for magical protection on these voyages.
The abbey houses a library on Church Lore, Divine Lore, Dominion Lore, Theology, and Civil & Canon Law. If someone can persuade Lawrence to allow it, it would cost about 1£ for any of these books to be copied from the library; the monks are not professional book makers, but the best do have Profession: Scribe 5. It generally takes 1 season to copy a tractatus or summa of level 4 or less, and 2 seasons to copy a summa of level 5 or more.
• Chronicon Insulae Manniae, Area Lore: Man and the Hebrides summa (Level 5/Quality 12). This is the library’s most notable book, and it is the only copy. A monk is currently copying it, a process which takes 2 seasons.
• The City of God, St Augustine; Divine Lore summa (L4/Q10), Philosophy summa (Q6/L10), Theology (L6/Q10)
• Corpus Juris Civilus, Justinian; Canon Law summa (L5/Q7), Canon Law tractatus (Q8)
• Periphyseon, John Scottus Eriugena; Theology summa (L4/Q8)
• Cur Deus Homo, St Anselm; Theology tractatus (Q8)
• Proslogion, St Anselm; Theology tractatus (Q8)
• Decretum, Gratian; Canon Law summa (L5/Q11)
• Collationes, Peter Abelard; Theology tractatus (Q13)
• Sic et Non, Peter Abelard; Theology summa (L5/Q13)
• The Book of Sentences, Peter Lombard; Divine Lore summa (L4/Q9), Theology summa (L5/Q9)
• The Bible; Theology summa (L10/Q3), Church Lore summa (L3/Q3)
• Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius; Philosophiae tractatus (Q9)
• The Celestial Hierarchy, Dionysius the Areopagite; Dominion Lore summa (Q4/Q6)