Atlantes from the Matter Of France

According to the medieval Matter of France, which in ARS canon should be history, there is mentioned a mighty wizard called Atlantes who lives in an iron castle in the Pyrenees using illusions to kidnap the knights and noble ladies of Charlemagne to keep the Saracen knight Ruggerio amused.

Does Atlantes appear in any canon Ars works, or I can do anything I want with him without upsetting canon?

There's no reference in canon that I'm aware of but the castle in the Pyrenees always reminded me of Val Negra, with its unexplained Arabesque design. That covenant also makes me think of William Beckford's Vathek, because of the gateway to Hell underneath it that's hinted about.

The provençal and iberian tribunals have not been covered yet. Anything regarding those tribuanls is from 3rd edition or earlier. As such, no, nothing official about this. But the castle and magus you mention sound cool :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Xavi

This is one I would throw in just for fun :wink:

One of the "problems" (I think more as "opportunities") of AM is that there is so much "history" that may potentially be drawn from, and so much hearsay, folklore, mythology, lies of demons, etc., that is it often difficult to discern truth from fiction. Indeed, given the paucity of Classical manuscripts that made it intact into most of Mythic Europe (versus what the OoH seems to know, at least by references in supplements), much "truth" is probably lost.

To this end, the Matter of France, the Matter of Rome, and the Matter of Britain, in various iterations of their tellings, all become fertile resources for any given saga. Want a revolving castle sitting in the Apennines? Go for it! Want an iron castle? Fine! Want a lord who has 150 knights at his beck and call at all times? Done! Want a one-legged, one-eyed yellow giants who guards a flock with wool of gold? Marvelous!

These and many other wonders may or may not be true ... and even magi may become credulous at the most inopportune moments :wink:

That's my attitude. Some medieval stories are literally or nearly literally true, some are half true or true in a symbolic sense, and some are just stories. That's more interesting than assuming that because some authority, say Aristotle, says something, it must be so.

Atlantes's tower is the Atlas Mountains in one version, which lets you sidestep much of the historicity of the thing.

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