The Cave of Honi the Circle Maker
Mythic Historical - Honi was a miracle worker of the 1st century BCE. The Talmud describes how he demanded that Hashem produce rain among other miraculous feats. His shrine exists in 1220 and is visited by Jewish pilgrims and the residents of Eretz Israel.
A strange tale is told in the Talmud, of Honi the Circle Maker. On a journey through the holy land he encountered a peasant planting a carob tree. Honi asked him why he was planting the tree since it would not bear fruit for seventy years. The man responded that, as his ancestors had planted trees for him, so he would plant trees for his descendants.
Honi sat down and sleep overcame him. “A cliff formed around him, and he disappeared from sight.” When he awoke he saw a different man gathering fruit from the same carob tree. By this he realized that he had slept for seventy years.
He went home and found that his wife and children were all dead, and his house was inhabited by his grandson, who did not recognize him or believe who he was. He went to the beit midrash and found sages teaching lessons in his name, but no one believed that he was Honi the Circle Maker.
Honi prayed for mercy, and he died.
Honi’s grave is found near Tel Hazor, in the north of the Galilee. It is a pilgrimage site for Jews visiting the area, though since most of the Jewish community in the Levant in 1220 lives on the coast near Akko the shrine is rarely visited. The area is currently controlled by the Emir of Damascus.
Hermetic magi hearing the story may suspect that Honi stumbled into a regio where time passes quickly, and they would be right. The entrance to Honi’s regio is found beside a carob tree, appearing as a cave that pierces a steep slope where a hill rises past his grave.
The cave can be stumbled upon by those who are lost, especially around the time of Honi’s yahrzeit, the anniversary of his death. This is on the 5th of Iyar, generally in April or May. Anyone traveling near his shrine on the Shabbat closest to the yahrzeit, and thereby violating the laws of Shabbat, must make a Perception + Survival roll of 9+. On failure they become lost and wander into the regio. At other times of the year it is still possible to wander into the regio, though it is easier to steer clear, requiring a Perception + Survival roll of just 3+.
It is also possible to enter the regio voluntarily, by perceiving the entrance (ArM5 189). This requires a Perception roll using Second Sight or Sense Holiness and Unholiness roll. The difficulty for the roll is 15. Alternatively the level 20 spell Piercing the Divine Veil (ArM5 158) allows a magus to see into the regio. Anyone who can see into the regio can enter it, and can guide others in as well.
The regio’s entrance is a cave, which soon opens up to the countryside of the Galilee as it appeared in two centuries before the destruction of the temple. Jewish villages dot the landscape, and a beit midrash can be found in a town a few miles away. The regio has a Divine Aura of 5. It has a +2 temper for with Bravery (RoPD 38), meaning that all characters in the regio have that temper added to their relevant Personality Trait rolls.
The regio is perilous, because anyone who sleeps while in it will find that they do not awaken for seventy years. If one member of the party falls asleep they are impossible to waken, he must be carried out of the regio, at which time they will awaken with no further consequence. If the entire party falls asleep they will awaken together, outside the regio, seven decades later. There is no warning sign outside of the regio, the characters will have to discern the likely consequence by understanding the Honi legend. An Intelligence plus Jewish Theology roll of 12+ is needed to remember the story if the character just stumbled into the regio rather than seeking it out.
The inside of the regio is populated by Divine beings who are manifestations of the ancient Jewish inhabitants of the land. Studying at the local beit midrash will allow the party to uncover some of the wisdom of the ancient sages, but of course they only have a day to study before they must flee or sleep. The beit midrash is at some distance from the regio’s entrance, travel there and back without falling asleep should require a Stamina + Survival roll of 6+ on a stress die. On a failure the party can turn back before anyone falls asleep. A botch means that the party rests unwisely.
The beit midrash is led by the legendary scholar Simeon ben Shetach, brother to Queen Salome. He is the famed “restorer of the Law”. After forty lessons - forty separate trips into the regio - he has taught the student all that he can teach. A single lesson with such a pious and skilled scholar grants 1 experience point. He teaches ten lessons on Rabbinic Law, ten lessons on Kabbalah, ten lessons on Gematria, and ten lessons on Merkavah, all in that order. In this way it is possible to gain forty experience in a single season, though at great risk.
Story Seed - The Survivor
The covenant learns of the strange tale of Tirzah bat Micha, who claims to be a survivor of the Jewish community in Jerusalem that was destroyed during the First Crusade. This seems impossible, as she would need to be more than one hundred and twenty years old. When the covenant investigates they find an elderly woman - old, certainly, but not that old. She relates that when she was a girl she traveled in the Galilee. It was during the time of the great crusade and her father wanted her out of the city. She got lost, and found herself in the yeshiva of Simeon ben Shetach more than a thousand years before. When she returned to Jerusalem she discovered that her entire community had been murdered and every Jewish building burned or converted into a Church. She believes that her experience is a sign that Jews will return to Jerusalem. If the covenant follows the trail of her journey they will discover the entrance to the regio.