Story Seeds Part 3
The Mercurial Disease
A plague begins to spread through the Order of Hermes. Caused by a previously unheard of spirit of disease this malady causes the gift to become closed off, rendering the victim unable to cast magic (though their gift remains, and they are able to use the parma magica). To the horror of all magi, if the disease worsens this can leave the victim with permanent casting flaws, or even a complete inability to cast. In time it becomes known that the means of spread is magical connection between an infected magus and an uninfected one – any kind of casting by one on the other, the impact of the gift of an infected magus on the parma magica of another, and most importantly attempts to magically heal an infected magus. Even the passage of an infected magus into an Aegis of the Hearth can risk infecting those who cast it! Can the order overcome this problem, when magic seems to only make it worse – or will they have to simply let the disease run its course and come what may? And where did this disease come from in the first place? Is it natural? The work of demons? Or did some foolish magus create the very malady which threatens hermetic society?
The Hangover
At a gathering of magi (a tribunal, Verditius contest, Bonisagus conference etc.) a great deal of wine has been consumed in celebration. Unbeknownst to the drunken magi they have attracted a group of Bacchuli, who have convinced a particularly intoxicated apprentice to covertly acquire some arcane connections to the magi and give them to the spirits. If the apprentice succeeds the magi with weaker parma will find themselves vulnerable to the powers of the Bacchuli, and some interesting stories are sure to follow…
Boon or Curse?
Periodically the covenant is beset by a multitude of evils – vermin appearing without any apparent medium for them to generate from, clouds of mysterious stench with no identifiable source, and outbreaks of illness. In truth a recent astrological change has caused a previously inaccessible regio to open when certain starts come into alignment, which happens one to three times a year. This regio, if it can be discovered, will be found to be somehow aligned to both Perdo and Creo – and because of this highly unusual nature it is a breeding ground for vermin and disease, for everything within it is stuck perpetually festering but replenishing as rapidly as it rots away. The vermin are mostly natural, but include dangerous vermin of virtue in their numbers. The stenches are in fact Imagines of smell displaced when the regio closes after the astrological alignment, and the diseases are Banes spawned by the nature of the regio and likewise exiled when it closes. If the magi can find a way to close off the regio for good it will remove all these problems, but perhaps the dangers are worth it for the magical resources of this unusual place…