Ha! I like that analogy. My seasons have been split evenly between Profession: Engineer, Theology: Christian, and RPG Lore (the latter because I was created using the rules from Grogs, with the Worthless Abilities Flaw).
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The Shabbat Queen and Her Angels
Mythic Historical - This post describes the Shabbat Queen and the angels of shabbat as literal beings that exist, which of course they do in Mythic Europe. Modern Jews will be familiar with the song Lecha Dodi, a key part of welcoming the Shabbat Queen. This song was not composed until three hundred years after 1220, but the tradition of the Shabbat Queen is an ancient one.
On Friday night, as the sun nears the horizon across Mythic Europe Jews rush to prepare for Shabbat. In the synagogue, as the evening service begins, the men of the community gather to welcome in the Shabbat Queen. At the same time, in every Jewish home the women of the community light candles and welcome the Shabbat Queen with a blessing of sanctification.
Shabbat has long been seen as a feminine presence. The Talmud relates that, “Rabbi Ḥanina would wrap himself in his garment and stand at nightfall on Shabbat eve, and say: Come and we will go out to greet Shabbat the queen. Rabbi Yannai put on his garment on Shabbat eve and said: Enter, O bride. Enter, O bride.” Kabalist mystics are starting to associate the Shabbat Queen with the Shechinah, a feminine aspect of Hashem.
The kabalists are correct - the Shabbat Queen is not an angel, but a manifestation of the divine. She sweeps through Mythic Europe every Friday evening, visiting every home and synagogue of every Jewish community. She visits every place where ten Jewish men gather or where candles are lit for Shabbat. This visit lasts only a moment, but it can have notable effects.
First of all, characters with supernatural abilities may be able to see her. Sense Holiness and Unholiness automatically detects the Shabbat Queen. Second Sight requires a roll of 16+. A spell like Vision of the Haunting Spirits will reveal her presence as well, but it will need to penetrate her impressive Magic Resistance of 50.
Second, her presence means that Hashem is near. Jewish characters praying for a miracle just before Shabbat gain a +3 bonus to their roll (RoPD page 60). They may not pray for a miracle on Shabbat itself, because it is inappropriate to cry out for help on Shabbat.
In addition to the Shabbat Queen herself, a host of angels descend on Jewish communities on Shabbat. Each person has two angels who accompany them as Shabbat starts. One of the angels is good and one is evil. If the person does their responsibilities to prepare for Shabbat according to their role in the community, such as going to synagogue, lighting candles, or preparing an evening meal then the good angel says “May it be Your will that it shall be like this for another Shabbat.” And the evil angel is forced to answer “Amen” On the other hand, if the person has not done their duties in preparing shabbat then it is the evil angel who says “May it be Your will that it shall be so for another Shabbat,” and it is the good angel who is forced to answer “Amen.”
In this way each Jew’s fate, in a way, is set for the next week. The pronouncement is a good or bad omen, depending on how things go. But, of course, each Jew has an opportunity to do better the next week, defying the evil angel. Or to fail to respect their obligations around shabbat, and defy the good angel.
The Guardian Angel Virtue does not really correspond with the Jewish understanding of angels. But some Jews have particularly attentive personal Shabbat angels, and their attentions can also be represented by a Virtue.
New Major General Virtue - Malachi HaSharet
You are closely followed by your ministering angels, your malachi hasharet. Every Friday evening they watch you especially carefully. If you meet your obligations to yourself and your community to prepare for Shabbat then for the next week you have a +1 bonus to one of your characteristics. You choose the characteristic each Friday night, once you are judged for good, and may choose a different characteristic each week.
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The Love Magic of Yehudah bar Yoshiyah
Mythic Historical - RoPD describes amulet magic in the larger context of Divine magic. Jewish amulets found in the Cairo Genizah, and dating to around 1220 suggest the existence of a Holy Tradition of amulet magic outside what might conventionally be considered holy. Holy Traditions are explained on page 47 of RoPD. Yehudah bar Yoshiyah, described below, was a historical person, a prominent Egyptian scholar and contemporary of Maimonides. The amulet described was found in the Cairo Genizah and is translated by Noam Sienna in A Rainbow Thread.
Certain Sephardic Jews have their own traditions of amulet magic that extend to the creation of love amulets, designed to cause someone to fall in love with the creator of the amulet. This is the result of a holy magical tradition, one of the champions of which is Yehudah bar Yoshiyah, a scholar and magician of Cairo.
Yehudah invokes Hashem through the use of many variations of His name and by quoting from the Hebrew Bible to create his amulets.
The Amulet that Inflames Love for Yehudah
Level 15
R: Arcane Connection, D: Worn, T: Individual
This amulet seeks to make a certain man, Hodaya bar Shlomo, fall in love with Yehudah. First Yehudah invokes the divine name by writing the forty two initials of the Ana b’Koach prayer. Then he writes:“I adjure you to inflame Hodaya bar Shlomo for Yehudah bar Yoshiya. Many waters cannot quench love and rivers cannot wash it away. If Hodayah bar Shlomo were to give all the wealth of his house to Yehudah bar Yoshiyah, he would be utterly scorned. As the deer pants for streams of water so the soul of Hodayah bar Shlomo pants for you, Yehudah bar Yoshiyah. And he shall come to him swiftly and speedily. Amen Amen Selah. This great secret is designated to be as a sharp sword in the hand of Yehudah bar Yoshiyah in the name of the Lord of Hosts who is enthroned between the Cherubim, I Am That I Am.
The amulet takes the form of a scrap of paper written with the words above. It is sealed in purple wax with Hodaya’s name written in the wax.
This particular amulet was created with the Craft Amulet ability, the Invocation Method and the Blessing Power. Yehudah has sewn the amulet into the hem of Hodaya’s favorite tunic. As a Major Amulet it can be activated multiple times, and each time Hodayah puts on the tunic he falls in love with Yehudah again.
Yehudah created the amulet with his Dexterity of +2, Craft Amulets of 5, Invocation of 4, Blessing of 4, Writing Hodaya’s Name +5, a Dominion Aura of 4, and a Holy Tradition bonus of +6. That total of 30 is compared against the level 15 effect, which means that Yehudah can complete the amulet in one season.
(Base 4, +1 Touch, +2 Worn)
New Minor Social Virtue - She’ohavim
You are one of the amulet makers of the She’ohavim - the Ones Who Love. They are a Holy Tradition, distinct from the Ba’al Shem tradition described in RoPD. They can be found across the Sephardic world, in the Hermetic Tribunals of Iberia, Provance, Rome, and the Levant, as well as outside the Hermetic world in Egypt and Africa. You treat Invocation, Blessing, Cursing, and Craft Amulets as favored Abilities. In addition, the Invocation Method can be used with all guideline abilities of both Blessing and Cursing. Finally, the tradition is especially focused on affecting people with its magic. You get a +3 bonus when you create an amulet that hampers a person without injuring them, +3 bonus when creating amulets that generate love between two people, and a +6 bonus when creating an amulet that makes someone fall in love with you personally. Members of this tradition often know some Legerdemain and Stealth so they can sneak amulets on to their target’s person.
Story Seed - Suspicious Love Magic
Covenants across the Sephardic world may encounter Holy Magic used for love charms. Wizards who do might be suspicious that it is not holy at all - mind control does not seem particularly divine. Worse, the fact that some creators use the effects to cause men to fall in love with other men is shocking to more traditional Christian and Jewish observers. But this is a Divine tradition. While characters with True Faith would risk their faith if they went around coercing people to love them, characters without True Faith can have more freedom to use these Divine abilities for selfish ends. After all, the desire to love and be loved is a holy emotion in Judaism. What happens when a companion or grog suddenly falls in love with a Jewish mystic? Will the covenant investigate this strange new magic? Story guides note - this tradition that supports men loving men may be considered dangerous or unholy by characters in the story, but you should make sure that you steer clear of homophobia in your portrayal of the mystics who practice the tradition.
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Halakhic Day
Mythic Historical - The Talmud and later sources are full of discussions of when night actually starts. This post makes this area of Jewish thought relevant to Hermetic magi. Rabbi Yaphet is a historical figure about whom we know very little, except that he lived in Akko and served as a guide to Maimonides in Eretz Israel.
As a freshly gauntleted maga, Andronika of Bonisagus was assigned by her house to travel from her home in Thebes to the Levant and to research the Hermetic durrations there. The durations were created by Bonisagus in the early days of the Order, and he derived them from earlier Mercurian and Greek philosophical traditions. They seemed baked into the fabric of the universe - dependent largely on the movement of the heavenly bodies across the sky - and therefore beyond the limits of Hermetic Magic to change. Andronika felt that there was little to learn from such research, but a young Bonisagus is expected to follow the agenda of her house until she gets a bit more seasoning.
Andronika focused on the Sun duration, as it is a commonly used duration in Hermetic magic. Through careful study and measurement Andronika confirmed what most Hermetic magi assume without being taught - that the duration of a Sun spell ends when the Sun crosses the horizon from the perspective of the caster of the spell. This had some interesting side effects: if the caster ascended to a height of five thousand feet then her Sun duration spell will last one minute longer than it would on the ground. Andronika’s attempts to confirm this nearly killed her, as an unfortunate magical accident sent her plummeting down from the clouds. On Heights, Her tractatus on Magical Theory which related the experiment was not widely read.
Her duties to her covenant proved a relief from her seemingly pointless research. She traveled frequently to Akko, where she made the acquaintance of a Jewish numerologist who had some small magical talent, though sadly no hint of the Gift. None-the-less, Andronika found her discussions with Rabbi Yaphet to be very interesting, and the two of them spent many hours over tea discussing matters of philosophy and the works of both Aristotle and Rambam.
During one of those discussions Andronika realized something that was so ordinary to both herself and Rabbi Yaphet that they had never remarked on it, but that was so fundamental that it could prove revolutionary. The Jewish day and the Halakic day did not end at the same time! The Halakhic Day ended only at night, while the Hermetic day could end at sunup or sundown. More interesting to the researcher, the Hermetic day ends when the sun crosses the line of the horizon. But there is very little change in ambient illumination at this moment - it does not start to get dark for several minutes more. The Jewish day is marked by the darkening of the sky. When the sky is black enough that three fixed starts can be seen then the Jewish day ends. Curiously the start of Jewish night actually happens earlier - at the same moment as the Hermetic transition, when the sun crosses the horizon. This difference is needed because of Shabbat - it is very important that Shabbat not start too late, never after sundown, but it also can’t end too early, so it must wait for the sky to darken. In this way Shabbat lasts a full 25 hours - not 24..
Importantly, the Halakic day overlaps itself. Hermetic magic has a period of lapse every sunrise and sunset - the Parma Magica, and other effects, drop and must be recast unless they are being sustained by an item. Further, lazy Hermetic magic may simply sleep past dawn. This presents a moment of brief vulnerability for every Hermetic magus. If the power of the Halakhic Day could be leveraged, then magi would be able to raise their Parma Magica in the period of twilight, before their Parma failed. They would be protected without any gap until the next evening
Andronika documented all this in a letter to Durenmar. It proved to be her last correspondence.
New Duration: Halakhic Day
A spell with duration Halakhic Day that is cast before sundown is simple - it lasts until the sky is dark. A spell cast after sundown but before it is dark lasts through the next sunrise and sunset, and lasts until is is fully dark again. The sky is dark enough to end the Halakhic Day duration when three stars would be visible under normal conditions. This counts only proper stars, not the wandering planets. The exact amount of time between sunset and darkness varies by location and time of year, but its about 30 minutes. This is plenty of time to renew spells that might otherwise have a gap if cast regularly.Magi who live in the north of Mythic Europe will find that the time difference between sunset and night can be quite long, especially near the solstices. In Troyes it stretches to 45 minutes, while in Edinburgh it can last for an hour. In the far north, in towns like Trondheim there is no full darkness for several weeks at a time. In theory a spell with the Halakhic Day duration could last for a month this way. In practice Hermetic Magi with this ability have not made it that far north, and if they did they would be subject to a large number of botch dice as the limits of this magical understanding are stretched to the breaking point.
The exact time between sunset and darkness roughly corresponds to the start of Nautical Twilight. This can be calculated for the location of your covenant at Sunrise and Sunset Calculator.
Halakhic Day is the equivalent to Sun.
New Minor Hermetic Virtue: Halakhic Day
You may design spells with the Halakhic Day duration.
Story Seed: Bruria, Rebel Against the Order
The covenant finds out that Andronika has disappeared. Perhaps Durenmar asks them to go looking for her, perhaps they find out from a Redcap, or something else as appropriate to your saga. Her sodales can inform the player characters that she resigned from her covenant, but that she might be found in the city of Akko. Indeed, they can find her there, in the small Jewish Quarter, with Rabbi Yaphet. Once in Akko they will discover that her admiration for Judaism has blossomed into an attempt to convert. Rabbi Yaphet is reluctant, but he is allowing her to stay in the Jewish Quarter and live the life of a Jew, under the name Bruria. The prospective giyoret, convert, has sworn off Hermetic magic in an attempt to live according to halakhic principles. Will the Order consider her to have officially left, which would make her guilty of a High Crime? Can the Order allow her to walk away given that she might share the Parma Magica with her new Jewish community? What about her potentially useful research? Will she be willing to share what she has learned with the covenant? What has Bruria actually learned?
Two options are presented for the integration of the Halakic Day virtue into the story and mechanics of a saga. One or both may be used:
New Original Research - Halakhic Day
The Halakhic Day duration is a Major Breakthrough that allows the Halakhic Day virtue. While normally a new duration is a Minor Breakthrough, the fact that the Halakhic Day lasts twice as long as the normal Sun duration for the same effect on spell level, combined with the fact that it allows for continuous effects makes it a Major Breakthrough. That said, the story guide may want to reduce the difficulty of the breakthrough somewhat. The initial breakthrough, if it is achieved, can be extended in several ways. A second Major Breakthrough would incorporate the Halakhic Day duration into Hermetic Theory, obviating the need for a virtue. A third Major Breakthrough is probably the most sought after goal - it would allow the Parma Magica to be erected with the Halakhic Day duration, creating an aegis that lasts 25 hours.
New Mystery Cult - Hermetic Halakha
The Halakhic Day duration is an ability granted by a Mystery Cult invented by Andronika. In conversation with Rabbi Yaphet she understood some of the mysteries of Rabbinic halakah, and found a way to incorporate these into Hermetic magic. Before leaving the Order to become Bruria she founded a small Mystery Cult by initiating herself. She initiated one or two others as well, so the cult continues, but it keeps itself secret to avoid associating itself with a potential rebel against the Order. Rabbinic Law is the skill utilized by this Mystery Cult. Currently the cult has only two initiation scripts, both of which initiate the Halakhic Day guideline. The cultists seek to find other ways that Halakah can be integrated into Hermetic magic.Self Initiation - this is the script that Andronika used to initiate herself into the cult. She successfully experimented to discover the sympathetic bonus needed for her to reach her needed total of 18.
+1, Andronika’s Presence
+2, Andronika’s Rabbinic Lore at the time of her self-initiation.
+3, a Quest in which the Initiate must travel to the tombs of the patriarchs and matriarchs in Hebron and successfully observe the stars from there at each of the four Jewish New Years. This requires skirting the Christian and Muslim authorities in what is often a warzone as well as dealing with the angels that guard the tombs.
+9, the Initiate undergoes an Ordeal, living with a Jewish community for a year in accordance with halakha and gaining the Major Story Flaw Jewish Nefesh.
+3, sympathetic bonus for completing all stages of the script while observing Shabbat faithfully.Self Initiation - this is the script that Andronika subsequently developed to initiate others into the cult. The initiation total must equal 15 to teach a minor virtue that the mystagogue knows.
+1, Andronika’s Presence
+3, Andronika’s Rabbinic Lore at the time of her initiation of others.
+3, a Quest in which the Initiate must travel to the tombs of the patriarchs and matriarchs in Hebron and successfully observe the stars from there at each of the four Jewish New Years. This requires skirting the Christian and Muslim authorities in what is often a warzone as well as dealing with the angels that guard the tombs.
+3, the Initiate undergoes an Ordeal, living with a Jewish community for a season in accordance with halakha and gaining the Minor Story Flaw Sympathetic to the Jews.
+3, sympathetic bonus for completing the script while observing Shabbat faithfully.
+1, spending time serving a local Jewish community.
+1, giving tzedakah, charity, to support poor Jewish children attending the beit midrash.With Bruria’s departure as the head Mystagogue the cult is seeking new connections with the Jewish world to teach them Rabbinic Lore and provide places where the Ordeal may be undertaken.
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The Call to Be Jewish
Historical - This post deals with Jewish attitudes towards conversion and the challenges facing a potential convert. Conversions in either direction, but especially from Christianity to Judaism, were quite rare in 1220, but they did happen. The Jewish understanding of the nature of a convert, a ger or giyoret, is worth exploring.
Unlike Christianity or Islam, Judaism does not seek to be a universal religion. It is a tribal religion, intended for the Israelite people. Judaism does not seek to have non-Jews convert, it only seeks that they should live righteous lives following seven simple laws that include such things as not committing murder and setting up just courts. The Jewish people are “chosen,” not in the sense of being the elect, but in the sense that they have the extra burden to bear of being subject to the 613 mitzvot.
None-the-less, Judaism does accept converts. The famous teachers of the great rabbi Hillel, Abtalion and Shemaiah, were converts, for instance. And, famously, a dispute between the great Hillel and his rival Shamai revolves around how to treat a prospective convert, and it is Hillel who accepts him. More recently, in 1102 a famous priest named Johannes of Oppido converted to Judaism, taking the name Obadiah and fleeing to Egypt. A recent phenomena in 1220 is priests who are taken by the laws of the “Old Testament” and come to believe that there is a deeper truth in that book, that does not require a New Testament.
The essential Jewishness of a convert is very important in Judaism. There is no distinction between a convert and a born Jew (with a few rare exceptions). The Talmud emphasizes that it is against halakah to remind a convert of their status. And the Talmud understands the transformative moment of the revelation at Mt. Sinai as having representation from converts as well, “Rav Ashi said to him: Even though they [converts] themselves were not at Mount Sinai, their guardian angels were present.”
A potential convert must convince the Jewish community, and their local rabbis, that they are one of these special few who were represented at Sinai. Many converts describe themselves as having felt like they were always called to Judaism, or having felt like they were missing something in their life that they discovered was Judaism. By signs like this, as well as by many months and years of diligent practice, that a convert proves themselves worthy to join the community.
New Minor Story Flaw - Sympathetic to the Jews
You are not Jewish, but you are sympathetic to the Jewish people. This is not a popular opinion among your Christian peers. You have stood up for the Jewish people or individual Jews at times, and the local Jewish community is aware of your actions and grateful for them. At times you find yourself called to help the Jewish community when they are in need, and from time to time they help you in return.
New Major Story Flaw - Jewish Nefesh
You have a Jewish Nefesh, roughly translated as a Jewish soul or a Jewish spirit. You are not Jewish yourself but your guardian angels were present at Sinai. This drives you to be drawn to Judaism, and you may seek to convert at some point in the future. The Jewish community will not be receptive to you at first. They recognize that many potential converts falter in the lengthy process of conversion. As well, they see that when a conversion does happen then the Jewish community, as well as the convert, is often punished by the local Christian authorities. If you do eventually convert then you lose this flaw and gain the Major Outsider Flaw.
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Jewish Troyes
Historic - This post describes the Jewish quarter in the city of Troyes in 1220. The goal is to use Troyes as a specific example of the more generic concept of the Jewish quarter. A Jewish quarter is not a ghetto, not a closed and legally enforced area, a concept that would not evolve for a few hundred years. The included map is from the Rashi’s Daughters website and I have been unable to corroborate it, but it might be useful for someone’s saga.
Troyes was once the home of the great scholar Rashi and remains one of the centers of the Tosafist movement in 1220. The town has a population of a couple of thousand people, of which a few hundred are Jewish. The Jews are concentrated in the Jewish Quarter, in the eastern, oldest, part of the city, bounded by a canal of the Seine to the north and west, by the Grand Street to the south, and ending short of the Abbey of St. Loup to the east. The community clusters near Troyes castle, the home of the Bishop of Troyes.
LIke many Jewish communities, they work to maintain a good relationship with the local authorities, even though they are Christian clerics. The Bishop does not want to see murder and chaos in the streets of his town. And so the Jews have sited their homes near his castle so that any violence will be immediately apparent to him. It has even happened in some communities that the Jews, when under threat, have fled into the local castle and been protected inside it.
The Jewish quarter is not strictly inhabited by Jews, and access to it is not restricted at any time. There are no gates or walls around the quarter. While many Christians do not want to live in the company of Jews, some don’t mind it, and they profit by providing services to the community.
Jews in the quarter earn their living much as their Christian neighbors do, there are blacksmiths, coopers, and other craftsmen. Two important jobs that must be filled by Jews are that of the shochet, the animal slaughterer, and the wine merchant. Both of these jobs can only be performed for Jews by other Jews and they require specialized skills, including a Rabbinic Law score of 1.
Troyes, though it has declined somewhat in recent years, is a center of Jewish learning as well. The rabbis of Troyes maintain a beit midrash, a study hall, which serves as a school both for children and for adult Jews who are able to study. The head rabbi, called rabbeinu or our rabbi, earns his living by the fees that students pay the school. Other teachers and rabbis supplement their income by working themselves or they are supported by their wives. Rashi has been dead for one hundred years, but he is still fondly remembered in Troyes. His grandson, Rabbeinu Tam, was the leader of the community until his death fifty years ago. Since his passing the community has persisted, but no great scholars have come from Troyes.
The synagogue is the center of Jewish worship in the city. This building is owned by a wealthy member of the community. Some years ago there was a dispute in which the owner of the building forbid several Jews he did not like from entering to worship. The rabbis settled this matter with the declaration that the synagogue must be open to all or open to none, no one could pick and choose. The matter still, however, breeds bad blood in the community.
The most important center for the women of the community is the mikvah, the ritual bath. This building houses a deep pool lined with stone in its basement. Clever construction directs water down from the rooftop into catch basins and, eventually, to the pool itself. The mikvah attendants are women skilled in the complicated halakhah of filling a mikvah and immersing in it, and have a Rabbinic Law score of 2 or more. The primary users of the mikvah are women who have finished their monthly period. Some men do use the mikvah for their own ritual purity, but it is a women’s domain.
The Jewish Quarter of Troyes is the center of the larger Jewish community of the surrounding area as well. Many Jews in the area do not live in the town, but in small agrarian villages nearby. They travel to Troyes to consult with a rabbi, to immerse in the mikvah, and to sell their produce, especially grapes.
For some years the Jews of Troyes and the surrounding communities have been laboring under an unfortunate law. They are required to wear a special hat, the Jewish cap. This is a hat with a round stiff circular brim that rises to a point. This is intended to warn Christians that they person they are dealing with is a Jew, and to prevent social and sexual relations. While this has been the custom in Troyes for some time, the recent Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 has instituted the wearing of distinctive clothing like this for Jews across Europe, though not all regions are in compliance.
Troyes was subjected to a murderous pogrom one hundred years ago, at the time of the First Crusade. Since then, with the exception of the cap, relations with the local Christians have been quiet. The Jews of the town hope it will continue to be so.
New Minor Social Status Virtue - Shabbos Goy
You are a non-Jewish person who lives in the Jewish Quarter. On Jewish holy days you make yourself available to help your Jewish neighbors by doing activities that they are prohibited from doing. This includes lighting a candle that has gone out, stoking a fire, or other activities that are halachically prohibited for Jews to do but which a non-Jew can perform without issue. You do not earn a meaningful living this way (and you should take a second Social Status Virtue to represent how you do earn a living) but are the beneficiary of gifts from your Jewish neighbors from time to time, like a loaf of challah. At character creation have have an additional 50 experience to spend on Awareness, Folk Ken, Judaic Lore, and Area Lore related to the Jewish community as well as a Reputation with other Christians of -1 Sympathetic to the Jews and a Reputation with Jews of +1 Shabbos Goy.
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Ne’ilah and the Closing of the Gates
Mythic Historical - The practices and legends around Ne’ilah are historical, though of course the mythic effects are not.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the Jewish year and falls in September or October. The theme of the day is repentance - it is a chance to repent from sins against Hashem and to reflect and ask forgiveness from others for sins against your fellows. The halakhic practice, in addition to many hours of prayer, is to refrain from eating or drinking from sundown to sundown - twenty five long hours when Jews emulate the practices of angels and seek to be closer to Hashem.
The final hour or so of prayer begins as the sun is setting and lasts until it is completely dark and the holiday is over. The community prays standing, with the ark, the closet that holds the community’s Torahs, open. The lengthy and thoughtful mood of the previous Yom Kippur services is replaced with a sense of urgency. The time for repentance is ending, and this is each Jew’s final chance to place his or her heart before the divine throne of mercy. The name of the service means “closing of the gates” and the imagery that the service evokes is that the gates of heaven are being held open for just a few more moments before they are shut for the year.
The final moments of the service come when members of the congregation come forward, each with a shofar, a ram’s horn trumpet. As one they blow a blast on their shofarim, each holding the note for as long as they can. One by one the notes fall away as each blower runs out of breath. Finally the last musician holds his note, a single clear sound. And then it ends.
In that moment, when the horns are sounding and the congregation is held rapt, the gates of heaven are being held open by the force of the shofar blast. Jews believe this to be true, and indeed it is.
Celestial Regio - The Divine Throne of Repentance
While the shofarim are sounding a gateway to a Celestial Regio is opened. Each synagogue and place of prayer in Mythic Europe connects to this same Celestial Regio. It is the divine throne, the seat of Avinu Malkeinu, the Divine presence enthroned as king, which is the metaphor by which Hashem is understood on Yom Kippur. The throne is too bright to be perceived, it appears only as an afterimage seen when you close your eyes. Whirling angels of fire surround the throne, chanting the Avinu Malkeinu prayer in Hebrew. At the foot of the throne is the Book of Life, the book in which each person’s fate is inscribed on Rosh Hashana and sealed on Yom Kippur.
Entering it is possible for anyone who can perceive it (ArM5 189). This requires a Perception roll using Second Sight or Sense Holiness and Unholiness roll. The difficulty for the roll is 13. Alternately 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, though they may not bring anyone else in with them. They must move quickly, the regio stays open only as long as the shofar is sounding, which lasts around a minute.
Entering a Celestial Regio is not something that should be attempted lightly. The regio has a Divine Aura of 9 and is extremely disorienting (RoPD 14). Upon entering each character must make a Stamina roll using Dominion Lore, Parma Magica, or Jewish Theology to be able to act normally, with a difficulty of 18. On failure they are at a penalty of -18 to all rolls.
In addition, entry attracts the attention of the seraphim circling the throne. These beings of fire have six wings and sixteen faces. They will attempt to rain Heavenly Fire upon any trespassers. A single seraph will attack each character who is in the regio every round with a +30 damage blast of fire that has +15 Penetration (Seraphim box RoPD 21 for other game rules).
Outside the regio each person blowing a shofar makes a Stamina + Music roll every round, with a difficulty equal to the number of rounds that they have been blowing their shofar. So on the first round they need 1+, on the 10th round they need 10+, and so on. If they fail they stop blowing their shofar. Once all shofar blowers have failed their roll the regio closes.
When the regio closes everyone inside it is immediately ejected from the regio. They return to the synagogue where they entered the regio, and are deafened. This deafness heals as a Heavy Wound. In addition each person gains two Warping Points, which may cause Divine Ascent if they are a Holy Character.
Entering the regio of the Throne of Repentance is almost certainly a terrible idea. It is the sort of thing only attempted by arrogant magi who despise Hashem or insane kabbalists who think that they are far more pious than they actually are. That said, there are three reasons why a character might attempt this ridiculous feat.
First, entry into this regio may provide insights into the nature of the divine or the nature of regions that the magus is seeking. At the storyguide’s discretion this may provide one or more Breakthrough points towards an appropriate Discovery. (HoH:TL 26)
Second, entry into the regio allows access to the Book of Life. Getting to the book and reading your entry is an incredibly difficult task, that should require defeating the Seraph who is attacking you in the regio. Buf if you can, you know with certainty whether you will die in the next year. If you are not fated to die in the next year then you gain the Death Prophecy Major Virtue for the next year. If you are fated to die in the next year then you will do so, nothing can change that.
Third and finally, the regio may be entered from any synagogue on Yom Kippur, and it may also be exited from any synagogue in Mythic Europe. Someone who can see across regio boundaries can enter the Throne of Repentance from Troyes and exit it in Cairo moments later. While Leap of Homecoming is a much simpler options, jaunting across Mythic Europe via heaven will certainly grant you bragging rights at the next Tribunal.
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Rabbi Moses ben Nachman
Historical - This post describes Nachmanides in 1220 and forward in time until his death. Sadly the name of Nachmanides’s wife has been lost to history, as are many details of his personal life. He certainly had three sons, the existence of a fourth son is more speculative. It is not recorded if he had any daughters. Nachmanides is a contemporary of wizards gauntleted in 1220, such as the player characters. As such he can be a character who comes back again and again over the course of a saga.
Moses ben Nachman, known later as Nachmanides or Ramban, in 26 in the year 1220. He lives in the city of Girnoa in Catalonia. Growing up the city was a center of kabbalism featuring several important figures, such as Issac the Blind and Azriel of Girona.
Moses studied in the beit midrash with these great kabalists, but he was personally mentored by Rabbi Judah ben Yakar. By the age of 16 he started to offer rulings about halakah. He wrote defending some halakic decisions by the Rif, against a native of Girona, ReZaH. The Rif had shown great deference to the ancient sages in his writings, and Moses came to agree with this sort of respect for the rabbis of the Talmud.
He was married in his early 20s, and in 1220 he has two children, Shlomo and Nachman. In the next few years he will have Yehuda and Yoseph as well. He is part of an extended family in Girona, most notably his cousin Jonah ben Abraham Gerondi who is a noted writer on ethics.
Moses is more interested in writing about halakha, and in commenting on the Torah. His instinct is to be strict in his rulings. He values adherence to the law, and is interested in building fences around the Torah - rulings that prevent even the possibility of trespass against Torah law. He is an eager and impassioned writer, ready to send letters disputing with rabbis all over the Sephardic communities of Provance and Iberia.
Moses ben Nachman in 1220
Characteristics: Int +4, Per -2, Pre +3, Com +2, Str -2, Sta -1, Dex +2, Qik -1
Size: 0
Age: 26 (26)
Decrepitude: 0 (0)
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: Craftsman (Physician)
Virtues: Educated (Hebrew) x 2, Clear Thinker, Book Learner. Affinity for Rabbinic Law, Improved Characteristics, Great Intelligence, Wealthy
Flaws: Outsider (Major), Close Family Ties (His Extended Family), Pious (Minor), Driven (Major, Encourage Strict Adherence to Halakha), Ability Block (Combat), Powerful Yetzer Hara
Personality Traits: Stubborn +3, Believes in Miracles +3, Values Halakah +3, Faithfully Jewish +3.
Reputations: Skilled Scholar +2
Combat:
Dodging: Init -1, Atk n/a, Def +2, Dam n/a
Soak: -1 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20)
Abilities: Girona Lore 2 (jews), Athletics 1 (walking), Awareness 2 (rivals), Bargain 1 (writing materials), Carouse 1 (purim), Charm 1 (rabbis), Chirurgy 4 (broken bones), Concentration 4 (prayer), Etiquette 1 (rabbis), Folk Ken 3 (jews), Leadership 2 (jews), Ladino 5 (debate), Arabic 2 (philosophy), Music 1 (torah trope), Judaic Lore 2 (synagogue customs), Profession: Scribe 3 (letters), Teaching 1 (jewish law), Artes Liberales 4 (philosophy), Rabbinic Law 6 (talmud halakah), Hebrew 5 (torah), Aramaic 3 (talmud), Medicine 5 (disease), Philosophiae 2 (greeks), Theology: Jewish 2 (miracles), Dominion Lore 1 (miracles)
Equipment: Books
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
By the 1230s Moses is considered a sage, a hakham, in the Jewish community, and he has gained the title of rabbi. When a series of disputes in the communities of Provance and Iberia erupt around Rambam, Rabbi Moses is a central figure. He defends Rambam’s most virulent critic, Solomon ben Abraham of Montpellier, who had been excommunicated by Rambam’s supporters. But he also defends Rambam in letters to the Rabbis of France and Germany.
He respects Rambam’s strictness when it came to halakhic rulings. But he disagrees with him in areas of theology. Where Rambam took an Aristotelian approach to Jewish philosophy, Rabbi Moses emphasizes the miraculous nature of the universe. He writes “A person has no portion in the Torah of Moshe Rabeinu unless he believes that all our matters and circumstances are miracles and they do not follow nature or the general custom of the world.”
To find a middle ground between both sides, and in a compromise with his own beliefs, he supports allowing the teaching of Rambam’s philosophical teachings in the Mishneh Torah. But he proposes that the Guide for the Perplexed should be banned and anyone who interprets the Torah allegorically should be shunned.
Despite his prestige, Rabbi Moses works as a doctor to earn a living. His four sons are growing fast, and are all students at the beit midrash. The eldest, Shlomo, has even married.
Rabbi Moses ben Nachman in 1235
Characteristics: Int +4, Per -2 (1), Pre +3 (1), Com +2, Str -2, Sta -1, Dex +2, Qik -1
Size: 0
Age: 41 (41)
Decrepitude: 0 (2)
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: Craftsman (Physician)
Virtues: Educated (Hebrew) x 2, Clear Thinker, Book Learner. Affinity for Rabbinic Law, Improved Characteristics, Great Intelligence, Wealthy
Flaws: Outsider (Major), Close Family Ties (His Extended Family), Pious (Minor), Driven (Major, Encourage Strict Adherence to Halakha), Ability Block (Combat), Powerful Yetzer Hara
Personality Traits: Stubborn +3, Believes in Miracles +3, Values Halakah +3, Faithfully Jewish +3.
Reputations: Skilled Scholar +2
Combat:
Dodging: Init -1, Atk n/a, Def +2, Dam n/a
Soak: -1 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20)
Abilities: Girona Lore 3 (jews), Jewish Sephardic World Lore 2 (rabbis), Athletics 1 (walking), Awareness 2 (rivals), Bargain 1 (writing materials), Carouse 1 (purim), Charm 1 (rabbis), Chirurgy 4 (broken bones), Concentration 5 (prayer), Etiquette 2 (rabbis), Folk Ken 3 (jews), Leadership 4 (jews), Ladino 5 (debate), Arabic 4 (philosophy), Music 1 (torah trope), Judaic Lore 3 (synagogue customs), Profession: Scribe 3 (letters), Teaching 1 (jewish law), Artes Liberales 4 (philosophy), Rabbinic Law 8 (talmud halakah), Hebrew 5 (torah), Aramaic 4 (talmud), Medicine 6 (disease), Philosophiae 3 (greeks), Theology: Jewish 5 (miracles), Dominion Lore 4 (miracles)
Equipment: Books
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
By 1263 Rabbi Moses has become a leader in the Jewish community. He is the head rabbi of Catalonia, and his works are so important that he has become known by the acronym Ramban. (Note that Ramban is Nachmanides and Rambam is Maimonides). He has just published his commentary on the Torah, which will prove to be his final major work.
In this year a public debate is organized in the court of King James of Aragon. The Dominican Friar Pablo Christiani, a convert to Christianity from Judaism, had been preaching to the local Jewish community with little effect. Christiani believed he could win converts if he defeated the Jewish champion and prove the suposed superiority of Christian thought over rabbinic writings.
Rabbi Moses is reluctant, but he understands that he is the best champion to advance the Jewish cause. He knows that Jews had suffered in previous disputations because they had been reluctant to criticize Christianity to heavily, for fear of persecution. Moses speaks to the King in advance of the debate and extracts a promise that he could speak freely. In addition, he convinced the King to personally attend the disputation, so that he could hear the truth, not just the reports of the biased Dominicans.
Moses takes advantage of that freedom. To disprove the idea that Jesus was the Messiah, he says, “The prophet says that at the time of the Messiah ‘they shall not teach their friends war, etc.’… and from the days of Jesus until now, the entire world is full of robbery and pillaging, and the Christians have spilled more blood than any of the other nations, and they are also sexually immoral. How hard it would be for you, my great king, and for your knights, to survive if there would be an end to warfare!”
Speaking frankly throughout, Moses refuted the idea that Jesus was the Messiah and asserted the truth of Judaism. The King did not concede that Moses had won the debate, but he does award the rabbi 300 gold coins and, on the shabbat after the debate he comes to the geat synagogue of Barcelnoa and addressed the Jewish congregations there, as a mark of respect for the community.
None-the-less the Dominicans claim victory, and in response Rabbi Moses publishes a transcript of the proceedings that argues that he was actually the victor. The Dominicans demand that Moses is punished, but the King remembers his promise to allow Moses free expression. He banishes the rabbi for two years. Unfortunately, at the order of Pope Clement this banishment is extended to a lifetime ban.
Rabbi Moses has to say a difficult good bye from his wife, his children, and his grandchildren. He wanders Provance for four years before departing for Jerusalem, which he reaches in 1267. His writing from Jerusalem inspires many other Jews to come there, and restores the Jewish community after its devastation in the First Crusade. He dies in Akko in 1270.
Rabbi Moses ben Nachman in 1263
Characteristics: Int +3, Per -3, Pre +3 (2), Com +1, Str -3, Sta -2, Dex +1, Qik -2
Size: 0
Age: 69 (69)
Decrepitude: 3 (1)
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: Craftsman (Physician)
Virtues: Educated (Hebrew) x 2, Clear Thinker, Book Learner. Affinity for Rabbinic Law, Improved Characteristics, Great Intelligence, Wealthy
Flaws: Outsider (Major), Close Family Ties (His Extended Family), Pious (Minor), Driven (Major, Encourage Strict Adherence to Halakha), Ability Block (Combat), Powerful Yetzer Hara
Personality Traits: Stubborn +3, Believes in Miracles +3, Values Halakah +3, Faithfully Jewish +3.
Reputations: Skilled Scholar +2
Combat:
Dodging: Init -1, Atk n/a, Def +2, Dam n/a
Soak: -1 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20)
Abilities: Girona Lore 3 (jews), Jewish Sephardic World Lore 4 (rabbis), Athletics 1 (walking), Awareness 2 (rivals), Bargain 1 (writing materials), Carouse 1 (purim), Charm 2 (rabbis), Chirurgy 4 (broken bones), Concentration 5 (prayer), Etiquette 4 (rabbis), Folk Ken 3 (jews), Leadership 6 (jews), Ladino 5 (debate), Arabic 5 (philosophy), Music 1 (torah trope), Judaic Lore 4 (synagogue customs), Profession: Scribe 4 (letters), Teaching 2 (jewish law), Artes Liberales 6 (philosophy), Rabbinic Law 12 (20) (talmud halakah), Hebrew 5 (torah), Aramaic 5 (talmud), Medicine 6 (disease), Philosophiae 4 (greeks), Theology: Jewish 7 (miracles), Dominion Lore 5 (miracles)
Equipment: Books
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Notes: Moses benefited from the Shinnui Shem ritual, performed by a kabbalist in Girona when he gained the name Ramban. (RoPD 141)
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Jews of the Provencal Tribunal
Mythical Historical - This post describes the state of Jewry in the Provencal Tribunal in 1220. Some more mythical flourishes have been added, such as the Golem of Girona.
The Provencal Tribuanal encompasses two distinct strands of Judaism: the classically Sephardic Jews of Catalonia and the distinct but Sephardicly influenced tradition of Hachmei Provence. In 1220 this is the center of Jewish thought in the world. They have surpassed the Tosafist disciples of Rashi in the north and are poised to revolutionize halakhic thought through the integration and acceptance of the works of Rambam and the new scholarship of the up and coming Ramban. In addition the region is a center of kabbalist innovation, especially with the relatively recent discovery of the Sefer HaBahir.
Girona, in Catalonia, is certainly the center of kabbalism in the area. The mystics of the city have constructed a Golem to defend the community, which keeps the Christian authorities clear of the Jewish Quarter. Jews of Catalonia are required by the king to wear a circular badge that is half yellow and half purple when they are outside their communities.
The leading figure of the kabbalist movement is the elderly Rabbi Isaac Saggi Nehor. His nickname, “of much light” is an ironic reference to his blindness. None-the-less, his infirmity has only deepened his piousness, though it does disqualify him from performing certain mitzvot. Isaac spent his early career in the biet midrashim of Provence, only later in life did he travel, with his student Azriel, to Girona. Rabbi Isaac brought the Sefer HaBahir (RoPD 128) to Girona, and is the leading scholar of the book. Despite his blindness he was able to read it miraculously.
Azriel ibn Menahem was born in Girona and traveled to Provenceto study with Rabbi Isaac. As his master grew infirm he brought them both back to Catalonia, and that is where they both reside in 1220. While Rabbi Isaac believes that kabbalism is a power that should be kept secret and taught only to a devout few, Azriel believes that it is a power that should be shared with Jews broadly, that they might protect themselves from Christians and grow powerful in words of Torah. He has written several books, including an explanation of the ten Sefirot and a commentary on the core work of kabbalah, the Sefer Yetzirah. (RoPD 128)
Shaar ha-Shoel. Tractatus Kabbalah (Quality 8), Tractatus Tractatus Merkavah (Quality 8). Azriel’s personal commentary on the doctrine of the ten Sefirot in question and answer form.
Perush Sefer Yetzirah. Tractatus Kabbalah (Quality 8). A commentary on Sefer Yetzirah.
Montpellier is a center of learning in the Tribunal. The community is centered on the street Sabatariè Neuve. The first house on the street contains the synagogue of the city, and in the basement is the mikveh. The beit midrash is next door.
The recently founded university does not admit Jews, and the leaders of the Jewish community are just as happy that this is the case. Rabbi Solomon ben Abraham is a leading voice in the community, and he believes that the Greek philosophy taught at the university is a threat to Jewish thought. He has enacted a ban preventing the community from interacting with the Christian scholars, and hopes that will keep the contagion of philosophy out. Unfortunately for him the translation of Rambam’s Guide for the Perplexed has just entered circulation in the area, and it will prove to be the means by which philosophy enters Judaism, leading to Rabbi Solomon banning the works of Maimonides in 1233.
Jonah ben Abraham Gerondi is pupil of Rabbi Solomon. He was born in Girona, and made the journey to Montpellier to study at the beit midrash. He is the cousin of Moses ben Nachman of Girona (discussed in a previous post), and the two maintain a close relationship. Jonah is a firebrand, and has gladly adopted the disdain for philosophy and Rambam of his teacher. In 1233 he will be responsible for the burning of Rambam’s works by Christians in Paris. This causes him to recant his views and leads him to write several moving works on repentance.
Arles is a center of economic and political power for the Jews of Provence. The community has a close relationship with the archbishop of the city, who has jurisdiction over them. This is not a one sided relationship, as by tradition and law the archbishop shares the dues and tax collections with the leaders of the community so that they might administer themselves. In 1215 the archbishop issued the community its first constitution and delegated administration of the community to three elected rectors. The community synagogue is on the Rue Neuve. Jews are engaged in brokerage and own extensive property outside the city, especially vineyards.
The Kalonymus family is the most prominent of the region. They engage in commerce across the Mediterranean world, and have agents from Rome to Barcelona. The head of the family takes the title of Nasi, meaning roughly “prince”. It is an ancient title that goes back to the days before the destruction of the temple in Eretz Israel. The current head of the family is simply known as Kalonymus ha-Nasi. Members of the family are always engaged in Torah study, as it should be the pursuit of any Jew, but , being engaged in ha-Nasi
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Geniza Desecration
Mythic Historical - This post describes a real practice, and an imagined way in which Hermetic Wizards would be inspired to be in conflict with Jews.
In Jewish theology Hashem has many names, all of which must be dealt with respectfully. The most holy of these is his four letter name, but he has many others as well. The forty two initials of the Ana b’Koach prayer, for instance, are another name of Hashem. Writing these names down is a necessary part of Jewish practice, both in the creation of Torahs, tefillin, mezuzot, prayer books, and in texts discussing the Divine. But, once written, the parchment used to record these names acquires a holy status itself. When the parchment decays and eventually needs to be disposed of, this presents a problem.
These texts must be buried in a Jewish ceremony, and should be treated with the same respect that is due to a deceased person. But the process of burying a text is sufficiently difficult, requiring a trip outside the city among other things, that a temporary holding place for holy texts is needed. That place is a geniza.
The geniza is a clean dry place where texts can be placed while they are awaiting burial. A closet or chest is generally sufficient for this purpose. A community might have one geniza or several, and it is typically located in a synagogue or in the beit midrash. The most famous geniza is the cairo geniza, which preserves thousands of texts over the course of hundreds of years, including many from the period of Ars Magica.
A geniza may not be cleared out and its texts properly disposed of for a year or more, sometimes a decade or more. This can lead to many texts accumulating in the geniza through inaction.
These holy texts are a magnet for demons who wish to desecrate the divine name. This is a favorite pastime of Shedim, demonic corruptors of the Jewish tradition. The Shed cannot enter the synagogue where the geniza is, its Divine Aura is too powerful, but he can trick a human to do it for him. Once his mark has brought him the holy texts he can desecrate them by covering them in excrement, blood, or other impure substances. Infernal vis is a byproduct of this desecration, which the Shed can share with their mark, tempting them to steal more holy texts from the geniza.
Vis Source - Geniza Texts
Another magus approaches the covenant, looking to make a deal. He has discovered a technique for refining the cast off texts accumulated by the local Jewish community into raw Mentem vis. The intense focus of Jewish study, he explains, causes the texts to pick up a flavor useful in Hermetic Magic, with the right refinement. Conveniently the Jews collect these texts into a central location, a geniza, when they are done with them. There is no Jewish community near his covenant, so he proposes a deal: the covenant will collect several texts every year, deliver them to him via Redcap, and he will refine them into vis and return half the refined vis back to the covenant as payment. The refined vis has the form of small scraps of parchment, freshly scraped and perfectly blank. (See COV5 page 72 for recommendation on how much vis this source might give in your saga).
Story Seed - Chicken Feet
The vis source is, of course, the work of a Shed. Hopefully this is not obvious to your covenant. The Shed in question goes by the name Mischit, and his plan works as follows. Mischt can take the form of another person, so he adopts the form of the magus who first approaches the covenant to make the deal. Mischt does not have the strength (or courage) to enter the covenant’s Aegis, so he makes this deal outside the covenant. Once the deal is made he relies on the Redcaps - he waylays the Redcap carrying the holy texts, erases his memory that he is carrying them, and takes the texts. He then corrupts the texts and turns them into Infernal Vis. When the Redcap returns he waylays them again, this time implanting the memory of handing the texts over getting the parchment vis in return. He places the vis in the Redcap’s bag, and sends them on their way. This plan has enough moving parts that it is unlikely to last for long - the Redcap may recover some memories, the true magus may be approached by a magus from the covenant and be very confused about this deal he knows nothing about, or something else entirely. Mischt, like all Shedim, is discoverable by looking at his feet - while he can perfectly mimic a target in appearance his feet are always the clawed feet of a chicken.
Story Seed - The Outraged Jews
A side benefit of Mischit’s plan is that it will greatly upset the Jewish community. When outlining the deal the disguised Mischt explains that the texts he wants are discarded by the Jews, they won’t miss them. It is true that they have been discarded, but the covenant full of non-Jews won’t realize that the Jews actually still consider the texts to be holy. When the Shamash, the man who maintains the syanaogue, discovers that many of the texts in the geniza are gone the community will be alerted and will be on the lookout for intrusions. Their investigations will lead them to the covenant’s doors. What will the covenant do when confronted by angry Jews demanding the return of their holy texts?
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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.
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Leah bat Yitzak, Defiant Baal Teshuva
Mythic Plausible - This post creates a character who is not historical. But her relationship to Judaism is something that is historically plausible. She also has a relationship with a historical figure, Nachmanides.
The town of Girona in Catalonia has a thriving Jewish community featuring a mix of faithful rabbis, ambitious mystics, and ordinary craftspeople. Out of the latter category came Leah bat Yitzak. Her father was a poor potter, and her large family, and plethora of brothers especially, left her with no real place. It didn’t help that her Gift meant that she was a social outcast in the Jewish community, and the black sheep of the family. Her father was the only one who saw the spark of intelligence in her eye, but he would tell her apologetically that there was no place for a girl at the beit midrash, and he was spending all his pennies to send her older brothers there in any case. For her twelfth birthday, the day she became a Jewish adult, he gave her a battered siddur as a token of the education he could never give her. She read and reread the beautiful poems within it.
But rumor of a strange off-putting girl reached the Order of Hermes, and Leah found herself an apprentice to the Anselmo of House Tytalus. The elderly magus saw the wasted potential of the girl, and took her as his apprentice. Leah was torn - she loved the opportunity to learn, but found her master to be overbearing and cruel. She tried to hold to her father’s teachings, keeping Shabbat, not eating pork, but her master had little patience with her observance. And she knew very little of practice in any case, since she had no formal training. When she was Gauntleted, under the name Kourasméni, she was not a practicing Jew, though she vehemently declared that she was no Christian either.
Anselmo trained her in the magic of debate and intrigue, and as soon as she escaped him she started to use the skills he had taught her to turn the Tribunal against him. It was a long and protracted battle that only ended with his disappearance into Final Twilight. Only after he was gone did Kourasméni realize that she had been doing exactly as he wanted the whole time, that he reveled in their conflict.
Anselmo’s death meant the return of his first apprentice, Peritheus, a skilled theurge who considered himself to be the true inheritor of Anselmo’s magical legacy of books, items, and prestige. This started Kourasméni’s second great rivalry, where she challenged a magus thirty years her senior and her clear superior in magical skill. But the ties that she had forged with the Tribunal meant that she had the upper hand, as long as the conflict was in the political realm. She thought this would mean her victory was inevitable. Instead she nearly lost her life.
Peritheus did not care about her political skill, he intended to simply murder her in a Wizard’s War. The strength of her covenant’s Aegis saved her from the initial assault, but it was a close run thing. Kourasméni had to flee to her allies covenants, staying one step ahead of her frater as he prosecuted several Wizard’s Wars against her.
After magical brute force did not prove enough to finish the job, Peritheus turned to his magical secrets and the Mystery Cult of which he was a member. The theurgic cult worshiped a powerful Etruscan spirit, Orcus, who claimed to be god of the underworld and broken oaths. In her decades of political struggle Kourasméni had accumulated a vast list of broken oaths, and each one gave Orcus power over her. Peritheus unleashed Orcus’s power on her, and all seemed lost. In a desperate effort to save herself Kourasméni explored many mystical protections, but then she remembered an ancient ritual from her youth.
Kourasméni returned to Girona. She was not exactly welcomed by the Jews there, but she spoke Ladino, and Rabbi Moses ben Nachman reminded the community that on Yom Kippur they are permitted to pray with sinners. The ritual of Kol Nidre freed her of her broken oaths, and it also stirred a longing for her barely remembered childhood.
Now Kourasméni has taken the name Leah bat Yitzak again. She has become a baal teshuva, someone who has returned to Jewish practice after a time away. Or at least, she’s attempting it. Rabbi Moses spent six months instructing her before throwing up his hands. Leah was willing to attempt to follow the laws of kashrut and Shabbat, she was absolutely not going to stop practicing magic.
Leah is now on a journey across Mythic Europe. She seeks to gather support for the destruction of the Orcus cult that Peritheus is a part of. It continues to be a threat to her personally, but she also now understands theurgic cults in general to be idolatry. As well, she seeks to reconnect with her Jewish faith by meeting different Jewish communities. And perhaps she can find a rabbi more permissive than Rabbi Moses.
Story Seed - Against the Cult
Leah comes to the covenant’s Tribunal seeking to stamp out theurgic cultic practice. She is a master manipulator, so she certainly will not say that outright at first. But she asks questions, seeking to find out who is a member of a Mystery Cult and who might be opposed to them. As well, her agents spread the idea that any Hermetic magus who devotes himself to a magical spirit claiming to be a god can’t be truly loyal to the Order. Such things are just a step or two away from Infernalism. She decides that the covenant could be a useful ally - they know the Hermetic political landscape so they can help her orient herself. And perhaps they can be manipulated into being her agents. More than anything, she needs a place to stay. How will the covenant react when this powerful maga invites herself to be their house guest. If they say no, have they gained a dangerous enemy? If they say yes, are they now enmeshed in her schemes?
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Leah bat Yitzak, By the Numbers
Leah’s character sheet is shown across several stages of her life. Like many hermetic Jews, she is forced by the apprenticeship process to leave her religion of birth. But she returns. She begins under the hermetic name of Kourasméni.
Kourasméni - At Gauntlet
Characteristics: Int +3, Per -1, Str -2, Sta +1, Pre +2, Com +2, Dex -1, Qik -1
Size: -1
Age: 28 (28)
Decrepitude: 0 (0)
Warping Score: 1 (5)
Confidence Score: 2 (5)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: The Gift, Hermetic Magus, Self Confident
Virtues: Flawless Magic, Book Learner, Minor Magical Focus (Disguising the Self), Affinity with Intrigue, Skilled Parens, Adept Laboratory Student, Deft Mentem
Flaws: Driven (Defeat Her Master, Major), Waster of Vis, Beloved Rival, Susceptibility to Divine Power, Small.
Personality Traits: Stubborn +3, Arrogant +2, Does not eat pork +2, Dislikes Christians +1.
Reputations: None
Combat:
Dodging: Init -1, Atk n/a, Def +0, Dam n/a
Soak: +1 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–4), –3 (5–8), –5 (9–12), Incapacitated (13–16)
Abilities: Girona Lore 2 (Jewish community), Iberian Lore 1 (Tytalus), Athletics 1 (running), Awareness 2 (elder magi), Brawl 1 (dodging), Charm 2 (elder magi), Concentration 1 (Mentem), Etiquette 1 (elder magi), Folk Ken 2 (elder magi), Guile 1 (elder magi), Intrigue 5 (Iberian Tribunal), Leadership 1 (grogs), Language: Ladino 5 (poetry), Language: Spanish 1 (shopping), Order of Hermes Lore 1 (Tytalus), Jewish Lore 1 (baking customs), Profession: Cook 1 (challah), Profession: Scribe 1 (Mentem), Stealth 1 (while invisible), Artes Liberales 1 (reading), Latin 4 (reading), Philosophiae 1 (the human mind), Code of Hermes 1 (interfering with mundanes), Finesse 2 (Imaginem), Magic Theory 3 (spells), Parma Magica 1 (Ignem), Penetration 1 (Mentem)
Arts: : Cr 0, In 0, Mu 0, Pe 0, Re 0; An 0, Aq 0, Au 0, Co 5, He 0, Ig 0, Im 10, Me 8 (4), Te 0, Vi 0
Equipment: Siddur
Encumbrance: 0 (0)Spells Known:
Disguise of the New Visage (Muto Corpus 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Prying Eyes (Intellego Imaginem 5), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Ear for Distant Voices (Intellego Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Aura of Ennobled Presence (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Disguise of the Transformed Image (Muto Imaginem 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Veil of Invisibility (Perdo Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Wizard's Sidestep (Rego Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Words of the Unbroken Silence (Creo Mentem 10), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Rising Ire (Creo Mentem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Perception of the Conflicting Motives (Intellego Mentem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Tip of the Tongue (Perdo Mentem 5), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Trust of Childlike Faith (Perdo Mentem 10), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Activities upon passing her Gauntlet. Kourasméni leaves her master’s covenant to found a Spring covenant in Southern Iberia. She focuses on protecting herself from her master’s attacks.
Kourasméni - +15 Years
Characteristics: Int +3, Per -1, Str -2, Sta +1, Pre +2, Com +2, Dex -1, Qik -1
Size: -1
Age: 43 (43)
Decrepitude: 0 (0)
Warping Score: 3 (5)
Confidence Score: 2 (5)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: The Gift, Hermetic Magus, Self Confident
Virtues: Flawless Magic, Book Learner, Minor Magical Focus (Disguising the Self), Affinity with Intrigue, Skilled Parens, Adept Laboratory Student, Deft Mentem
Flaws: Driven (Defeat Her Master, Major), Waster of Vis, Beloved Rival, Susceptibility to Divine Power, Small.
Personality Traits: Stubborn +3, Determined +2, Careful +2, Does not eat pork +2, Dislikes Christians +1.
Reputations: None
Combat:
Dodging: Init -1, Atk n/a, Def +0, Dam n/a
Soak: +1 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–4), –3 (5–8), –5 (9–12), Incapacitated (13–16)
Abilities: Girona Lore 2 (Jewish community), Iberian Lore 2 (Tytalus), Athletics 1 (running), Awareness 3 (elder magi), Brawl 1 (dodging), Charm 4 (elder magi), Concentration 2 (Mentem), Etiquette 2 (elder magi), Folk Ken 4 (elder magi), Guile 4 (elder magi), Intrigue 6 (5) (Iberian Tribunal), Leadership 2 (grogs), Language: Ladino 5 (poetry), Language: Spanish 1 (shopping), Order of Hermes Lore 2 (Tytalus), Jewish Lore 1 (baking customs), Profession: Cook 1 (challah), Profession: Scribe 2 (Mentem), Stealth 1 (while invisible), Artes Liberales 2 (debate), Latin 4 (6) (reading), Philosophiae 1 (the human mind), Code of Hermes 1 (scrying), Finesse 2 (Imaginem), Magic Theory 3 (10) (spells), Parma Magica 2 (Ignem), Penetration 2 (Mentem)
Arts: : Cr 5 (3), In 10, Mu 12, Pe 5 (3), Re 10; An 5 (3), Aq 0, Au 0, Co 7, He 0, Ig 0, Im 12, Me 12, Te 0, Vi 5 (3)
Twilight scars: People start arguments with each other as she passes.
Equipment: Siddur
Encumbrance: 0 (0)Spells Known:
Disguise of the New Visage (Muto Corpus 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Phantasm of the Human Form (Creo Imaginem 25), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Prying Eyes (Intellego Imaginem 5), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Ear for Distant Voices (Intellego Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Discern the Images of Truth and Falsehood (Intellego Imaginem 30), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Aura of Ennobled Presence (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Aura of Beguiling Appearance (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Aura of Childlike Innocence (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Disguise of the Transformed Image (Muto Imaginem 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Veil of Invisibility (Perdo Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Silence of the Smothered Sounds (Perdo Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Wizard's Sidestep (Rego Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Image from the Wizard Torn (Rego Imaginem 30), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Words of the Unbroken Silence (Creo Mentem 10), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Weight of a Thousand Hells (Creo Mentem 25), Mastery 1 (Multiple Casting)
Rising Ire (Creo Mentem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Perception of the Conflicting Motives (Intellego Mentem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie (Intellego Mentem 20), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Mind of the Beast (Muto Mentem 30), Mastery 1 (Multiple Casting)
Tip of the Tongue (Perdo Mentem 5), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Trust of Childlike Faith (Perdo Mentem 10), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Activities in the last 15 years: Kourasméni has established herself as an important, if young, maga in Tribunal politics. She was advanced with 33 XP a year, representing spending 1 season reading books and benefiting from her Book Learning virtue. As well, she has spent several seasons reading books designed to advance an Art from 0 to 5 in a season. Her focus on politics has caused her to choose to grow her Abilities more quickly than her Arts. She spends 8 seasons learning spells. She uses her political connections to get lab texts whenever possible, which means she has invented very few spells. All of her vis goes into purchasing a Longevity RItual.
Kourasméni - +30 Years
Characteristics: Int +3, Per -1, Str -2 (1), Sta +1, Pre +2 (1), Com +2 (1), Dex -1 (1), Qik -1 (1)
Size: -1
Age: 58 (58)
Decrepitude: 1 (5)
Warping Score: 4 (15)
Confidence Score: 2 (5)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: The Gift, Hermetic Magus, Self Confident
Virtues: Flawless Magic, Book Learner, Minor Magical Focus (Disguising the Self), Affinity with Intrigue, Skilled Parens, Adept Laboratory Student, Deft Mentem
Flaws: Driven (Defeat Her Master, Major), Waster of Vis, Beloved Rival, Susceptibility to Divine Power, Small.
Personality Traits: Confident +3, Determined +2, Careful +2, Does not eat pork +2
Reputations: Notable Politician +3 (Iberian Tribuna)
Combat:
Dodging: Init -1, Atk n/a, Def +0, Dam n/a
Soak: +1 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–4), –3 (5–8), –5 (9–12), Incapacitated (13–16)
Abilities: Girona Lore 2 (Jewish community), Iberian Lore 2 (Tytalus), Athletics 1 (running), Awareness 3 (elder magi), Brawl 2 (dodging), Charm 5 (elder magi), Concentration 2 (Mentem), Etiquette 3 (Tribunal gatherings), Folk Ken 4 (elder magi), Guile 4 (elder magi), Intrigue 7 (10) (Iberian Tribunal), Leadership 3 (grogs), Language: Ladino 5 (poetry), Language: Spanish 2 (shopping), Order of Hermes Lore 3 (Tytalus), Jewish Lore 1 (baking customs), Profession: Cook 1 (challah), Profession: Scribe 2 (Mentem), Stealth 1 (while invisible), Artes Liberales 3 (debate), Latin 5 (reading), Philosophiae 1 (the human mind), Code of Hermes 2 (scrying), Finesse 3 (Imaginem), Infernal Lore (accusations), Magic Theory 4 (spells), Parma Magica 3 (Ignem), Penetration 4 (Mentem)
Arts: : Cr 10, In 10, Mu 12, Pe 5 (3), Re 10; An 5 (3), Aq 5 (3), Au 5 (3), Co 7, He 5 (3), Ig 5 (3), Im 12, Me 15 (6), Te 5 (3), Vi 5 (3)
Twilight scars: People start arguments with each other as she passes.
Equipment: Siddur
Encumbrance: 0 (0)Spells Known:
Disguise of the New Visage (Muto Corpus 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Gift of the Bear’s Fortitude (Muto Corpus 25), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Cloak of Black Feathers (Muto Corpus 30), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Ward Against Heat and Flames (Rego Ignem 25), Mastery (Fast Casting)
Phantasm of the Human Form (Creo Imaginem 25), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Haunt of the Living Ghost (Creo Imaginem 35), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Prying Eyes (Intellego Imaginem 5), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Ear for Distant Voices (Intellego Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Discern the Images of Truth and Falsehood (Intellego Imaginem 30), Mastery 2 (Quiet Casting, Still Casting)
Aura of Ennobled Presence (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Aura of Beguiling Appearance (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Aura of Childlike Innocence (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Disguise of the Transformed Image (Muto Imaginem 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Veil of Invisibility (Perdo Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Silence of the Smothered Sounds (Perdo Imaginem 20), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Fast Casting)
Wizard's Sidestep (Rego Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Image from the Wizard Torn (Rego Imaginem 30), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Words of the Unbroken Silence (Creo Mentem 10), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Fast Casting)
The Far-Speaking Voice (Creo Mentem 20), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Weight of a Thousand Hells (Creo Mentem 25), Mastery 3 (Penetration, Multiple Casting, Quick Casting)
Rising Ire (Creo Mentem 15), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Multiple Casting)
Perception of the Conflicting Motives (Intellego Mentem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie (Intellego Mentem 20), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Enchantment of the Pedestrian Pigeon (Muto Mentem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Mind of the Beast (Muto Mentem 30), Mastery 1 (Multiple Casting)
Donning the Mask of Another (Muto Mentem 35 Ritual), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Tip of the Tongue (Perdo Mentem 5), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Trust of Childlike Faith (Perdo Mentem 10), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit (Perdo Mentem 10), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Burning Issue of the Day (Rego Mentem 30), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Activities in the last 15 years: Kourasméni has become a valued member of the Tribunal, frequently having a voice in the debates held every seven years. She has a famous debate with her former master at the most recent Tribunal, in which she narrowly defeats him, though some wonder if he allowed it to happen that way. She was advanced with 33 XP a year, representing spending 1 season reading books and benefiting from her Book Learning virtue. As well, she has spent several seasons reading books designed to advance an Art from 0 to 5 in a season. She has started to exhaust the lab texts commonly available, and has spent some time inventing spells. Despite the cost she has created her Talisman as well, a diadem that she innocently insists is not a crown, but clearly is. She spends 12 seasons in the lab and learning spells. She also suffers a crisis and must remake her Longevity Ritual.
Talisman: Kourasméni’s Diadem
Kourasméni chose the design of a gold diadem because she wanted to have a symbol of control and hoped that it would be less obvious than a crown. The diadem is in an ancient Greek style, as befit the great kings and queens like Alexander and Helen. Because of her difficulty using vis carefully she has not added too many effects into the item.
(opened with 10 pawns of vis, of which only 4 pawns have been filled)
Attunements:
+3 control people
+5 gain authority
+5 gain respect
The Vanished Tytalus
Perdo Imaginem 18
Pen 0, 6/day
R: Per, D: Conc, T: Ind
Kourasméni’s image vanishes when she touches the diadem and says the word “vanish”
(base 4, +1 Conc, +1 changing image; +5 item maintains concentration, +3 6 uses per day)
Even Her Shadow
Creo Ignem 13
Pen 0, 6/day
Kourasméni’s shadow vanishes when she touches the diadem and says the word “vanish”. If the ambient light is brighter than a torch this effect is not strong enough to erase her shadow.
(base 3, +1 Conc, +1 changing light source; +5 item maintains concentration, +3 6 uses per day)
Kourasméni - +45 Years
Characteristics: Int +3, Per -1, Str -2 (2), Sta 0, Pre +2 (1), Com +2 (1), Dex -1 (1), Qik -2
Size: -1
Age: 58 (58)
Decrepitude: 1 (8)
Warping Score: 5 (25)
Confidence Score: 2 (5)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: The Gift, Hermetic Magus, Self Confident
Virtues: Flawless Magic, Book Learner, Minor Magical Focus (Disguising the Self), Affinity with Intrigue, Skilled Parens, Adept Laboratory Student, Deft Mentem
Flaws: Enemy (Her Frater Peritheus, Major), Waster of Vis, Susceptibility to Divine Power, Small. Heir
Personality Traits: Confident +3, Determined +2, Careful +2, Does not eat pork +2
Reputations: Influential in the Tribunal +4 (Iberian Tribuna)
Combat:
Dodging: Init -2, Atk n/a, Def +0, Dam n/a
Soak: +0 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–4), –3 (5–8), –5 (9–12), Incapacitated (13–16)
Abilities: Girona Lore 2 (Jewish community), Iberian Lore 2 (Tytalus), Athletics 1 (running), Awareness 3 (elder magi), Brawl 2 (dodging), Charm 6 (elder magi), Concentration 2 (Mentem), Etiquette 3 (Tribunal gatherings), Folk Ken 4 (elder magi), Guile 4 (elder magi), Intrigue 8 (3) (Iberian Tribunal), Leadership 5 (grogs), Language: Ladino 5 (poetry), Language: Spanish 2 (shopping), Order of Hermes Lore 3 (Tytalus), Jewish Lore 1 (baking customs), Profession: Cook 1 (challah), Profession: Scribe 2 (Mentem), Stealth 1 (while invisible), Artes Liberales 4 (debate), Latin 5 (reading), Philosophiae 2 (the human mind), Code of Hermes 3 (scrying), Finesse 3 (Imaginem), Infernal Lore (accusations), Magic Theory 6 (spells), Parma Magica 3 (Ignem), Penetration 4 (Mentem)
Arts: : Cr 10, In 10, Mu 12, Pe 5 (3), Re 12; An 5 (3), Aq 5 (3), Au 5 (3), Co 7, He 5 (3), Ig 5 (3), Im 12, Me 17 (6), Te 5 (3), Vi 5 (3)
Twilight scars: People start arguments with each other as she passes. Her face is always illuminated by a light appropriate to the environment.
Equipment: Siddur
Encumbrance: 0 (0)Spells Known:
Disguise of the New Visage (Muto Corpus 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Gift of the Bear’s Fortitude (Muto Corpus 25), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Cloak of Black Feathers (Muto Corpus 30), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Ward Against Heat and Flames (Rego Ignem 25), Mastery (Fast Casting)
Phantasm of the Human Form (Creo Imaginem 25), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Haunt of the Living Ghost (Creo Imaginem 35), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Prying Eyes (Intellego Imaginem 5), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Ear for Distant Voices (Intellego Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Discern the Images of Truth and Falsehood (Intellego Imaginem 30), Mastery 2 (Quiet Casting, Still Casting)
Aura of Ennobled Presence (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Aura of Beguiling Appearance (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Aura of Childlike Innocence (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Disguise of the Transformed Image (Muto Imaginem 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Veil of Invisibility (Perdo Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Silence of the Smothered Sounds (Perdo Imaginem 20), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Fast Casting)
Wizard's Sidestep (Rego Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Image from the Wizard Torn (Rego Imaginem 30), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Words of the Unbroken Silence (Creo Mentem 10), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Fast Casting)
The Far-Speaking Voice (Creo Mentem 20), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Weight of a Thousand Hells (Creo Mentem 25), Mastery 3 (Penetration, Multiple Casting, Quick Casting)
Rising Ire (Creo Mentem 15), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Multiple Casting)
Perception of the Conflicting Motives (Intellego Mentem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie (Intellego Mentem 20), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Enchantment of the Pedestrian Pigeon (Muto Mentem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Mind of the Beast (Muto Mentem 30), Mastery 1 (Multiple Casting)
Donning the Mask of Another (Muto Mentem 35 Ritual), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Tip of the Tongue (Perdo Mentem 5), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Trust of Childlike Faith (Perdo Mentem 10), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit (Perdo Mentem 10), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Burning Issue of the Day (Rego Mentem 30), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Activities in the last 15 years: As she nears the forty fifth anniversary of her Gauntlet word reaches her that her old master has vanished into Final Twilight. This victory is bittersweet, as she finds she misses him. The rivalry is replaced by her frater, Peritheus, who is a rival claimant to their master’s Hermetic inheritance. As such her flaws have been adjusted.
The following enchantment is added to her talisman:
The Subtle Diadem
Muto Imaginem 10
Pen 0, 2/day
R: Per, D: Conc, T: Part
Kourasméni’s image is changed so that her hair is pulled back by a ribbon rather than held by a diadem. This happens when she touches the diadem and says the word “conceal”
(base 1, +1 Conc, +1 Part, +1 changing image; +5 item maintains concentration, +1 2 uses per day)
Leah bat Yitzak- +60 Years
Characteristics: Int +3, Per -1, Str -2 (2), Sta 0, Pre +2 (1), Com +2 (1), Dex -2, Qik -2
Size: -1
Age: 58 (58)
Decrepitude: 2
Warping Score: 6 (10)
Confidence Score: 2 (5)
Virtues and Flaws
Free: The Gift, Hermetic Magus, Self Confident
Virtues: Flawless Magic, Book Learner, Minor Magical Focus (Disguising the Self), Affinity with Intrigue, Skilled Parens, Adept Laboratory Student, Deft Mentem, Puissant Mentem (Twilight)
Flaws: Outsider (Jewish), Waster of Vis, Susceptibility to Divine Power, Small, Powerful Yetzer Hara
Personality Traits: Confident +1, Determined +3, Careful +3, Cowardly +2, Does not eat pork +3, Aspiring to be a better Jew +2
Reputations: Influential in the Tribunal +5 (Iberian Tribuna), Lax in Jewish Observance -2 (Barcelona Jewish community)
Combat:
Dodging: Init -2, Atk n/a, Def +3, Dam n/a
Soak: +0 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–4), –3 (5–8), –5 (9–12), Incapacitated (13–16)
Abilities: Girona Lore 2 (Jewish community), Iberian Lore 2 (Tytalus), Athletics 1 (running), Awareness 3 (elder magi), Brawl 4 (dodging), Charm 6 (elder magi), Concentration 2 (Mentem), Etiquette 3 (Tribunal gatherings), Folk Ken 4 (elder magi), Guile 4 (elder magi), Intrigue 8 (14) (Iberian Tribunal), Leadership 5 (grogs), Language: Ladino 5 (poetry), Language: Spanish 2 (shopping), Order of Hermes Lore 3 (Tytalus), Jewish Lore 3 (baking customs), Profession: Cook 1 (challah), Profession: Scribe 2 (Mentem), Stealth 4 (while invisible), Artes Liberales 4 (debate), Latin 5 (reading), Philosophiae 2 (the human mind), Code of Hermes 4 (wizard’s war), Finesse 5 (Imaginem), Infernal Lore (accusations), Magic Theory 6 (spells), Parma Magica 6 (Ignem), Penetration 6 (25) (Mentem), Dominion Lore 4 (Jewish), Rabbinic Law 1 (leniencies), Roman Tribunal Lore 2 (Tytalus), Provence Tribunal Lore 2 (Tytalus), Normandy Tribunal Lore (Tytalus), Hebrew 2 (siddurim)
Arts: : Cr 10, In 10, Mu 18 (6), Pe 5 (3), Re 15; An 5 (3), Aq 5 (3), Au 5 (3), Co 7, He 5 (3), Ig 10 (5), Im 12, Me 20+3 (7), Te 5 (3), Vi 10 (2)
Twilight scars: People start arguments with each other as she passes. Her face is always illuminated by a light appropriate to the environment. Pigs dislike her.
Equipment: Siddur
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Spells Known:
Sudden Tznius (Muto Animal 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Disguise of the New Visage (Muto Corpus 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Gift of the Bear’s Fortitude (Muto Corpus 25), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Cloak of Black Feathers (Muto Corpus 30), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Pilum of Fire (Creo Ignem 20), Mastery 2 (Multiple Casting, Quick Casting)
Seven League Stride (Rego Corpus 30), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Ward Against Heat and Flames (Rego Ignem 25), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
False Window (Creo Imaginem 5), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
An Enemy Awash in the Pure Sigil of the Maga (Creo Imaginem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Phantasm of the Human Form (Creo Imaginem 25), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Haunt of the Living Ghost (Creo Imaginem 35), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Prying Eyes (Intellego Imaginem 5), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Ear for Distant Voices (Intellego Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Discern the Images of Truth and Falsehood (Intellego Imaginem 30), Mastery 2 (Quiet Casting, Still Casting)
Aura of Ennobled Presence (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Aura of Beguiling Appearance (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Aura of Childlike Innocence (Muto Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Obfuscated Casting)
Disguise of the Transformed Image (Muto Imaginem 15), Mastery 1 (Quiet Casting)
Veil of Invisibility (Perdo Imaginem 20), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Silence of the Smothered Sounds (Perdo Imaginem 20), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Fast Casting)
Wizard's Sidestep (Rego Imaginem 10), Mastery 1 (Fast Casting)
Image from the Wizard Torn (Rego Imaginem 30), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Words of the Unbroken Silence (Creo Mentem 10), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Fast Casting)
The Far-Speaking Voice (Creo Mentem 20), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Weight of a Thousand Hells (Creo Mentem 25), Mastery 3 (Penetration, Multiple Casting, Quick Casting)
Rising Ire (Creo Mentem 15), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Multiple Casting)
Perception of the Conflicting Motives (Intellego Mentem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie (Intellego Mentem 20), Mastery 1 (Imperturbable Casting)
Swap the Inscribed Memory of Bonisagus (Muto Mentem 10), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Quick Casting)
Enchantment of the Pedestrian Pigeon (Muto Mentem 15), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Mind of the Beast (Muto Mentem 30), Mastery 1 (Multiple Casting)
Past of Another’s Month (Muto Mentedm 30), Mastery 1 (Precise Casting)
Donning the Mask of Another (Muto Mentem 35 Ritual), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Vision of the Haunting Spirits (Muto Mentem 40), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Tip of the Tongue (Perdo Mentem 5), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Trust of Childlike Faith (Perdo Mentem 10), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit (Perdo Mentem 10), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Press the Enemy into Dreams (Rego Mentem 10), Mastery 2 (Penetration, Quick Casting)
Aura of The Curious Student (Rego Mentem 25), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Burning Issue of the Day (Rego Mentem 30), Mastery 1 (Penetration)
Invisible Sling of Vilano (Rego Terram 10), Mastery 1 (Precise Casting)
Activities in the last 15 years: Kourasméni has discovered the limits of political power in her conflict with her frater, Peritheus. He nearly killed her during the first Wizard’s War he initiated, she barely escaped from her covenant with her life. Sheltering at a different ally’s covenant every few years, she kept ahead of Peritheus while keeping a low profile in the Tribunal and building her own magical power. But when he unleashed a Mystery Cult fueled curse on her all seemed lost. The dim memories of Kol Niedre caused her to return to the Jewish community, and a miracle saved her. She has returned to the name of her birth, Leah, and has returned to the Jewish fold. More or less. Leah has left Iberia, and her frater, behind, as she begins her search for a Jewish community that will accept her as a maga, and an Order of Hermes that will accept her as a Jew. Once again her flaws have been adjusted. She has paid for ritual magic to increase her Stamina back to zero after suffering from aging.
Swap the Inscribed Memory of Bonisagus
Muto Mentem 10
R: Eye, D: Diam, T: Ind
You swap the target’s understanding of two Latin words, either the names of two Forms or the names of two Techniques. These words are used in spell casting in Bonisagus’s system, so the swap makes it more difficult to cast spells. The target still remembers the other words that power their spells, and they still have the ability to gesture, so they can still cast, but at a -5 penalty. In addition, because of their magical confusion, if they do cast a spell using words they must use a stress die and they must roll 5 additional botch dice when checking for a botch.
Needing a way to fight her frater, Kourasméni devised this spell that can cripple a magus’s ability to do magic for a short while. She wanted it to be as easy to cast as possible to have the best chance of penetrating a Parma Magica, and to use her highest Technique and Form. This spell modifies Inscribed Memories (HoH:S 69), which is a process that is not well defined, so I hope it's a valid spell. It uses the level 4 MuMe guideline “make a major change to a person’s memory of a period of their life” being their training.
(Base 4, +1 Eye, +1 Diameter)
Press the Enemy into Dreams
Rego Mentem 10
R: Eye, D: Diam, T: Ind
You force the target into sleep, which is magically maintained for the duration of the spell. The target rolls against an ease factor of 9+ with an appropriate personality trait to resist the spell, based on what they were doing before they were compelled to sleep.
Kourasméni devised this spell to disable her frater for a few precious minutes. Unfortunately given the magnitude of his desire to kill her and his strong will she found this to be mostly useless.
(Base 4, +1 Eye, +1 Diameter)
Past of Another’s Month
Muto Mentem 30
R: Eye, D: Moon, T: Ind
As Past of Another, Arm5 p 149. The target’s memories are completely rewritten. Kourasméni reinvented this so that it would not be a ritual because of her tendency to waste vis.
(Base 10, +1 Eye, +3 Moon)
Aura of The Curious Student
Rego Mentem 25
R: Eye, D: Moon, T: Ind
The target of this spell is strongly inclined to view you as a good student who is worthy of careful instruction, even if you are disobedient and arrogant.
Leah found that Aura of Rightful Authority did not create the attitude rabbis expected to have towards a female student, especially one who had strayed so far. She created this spell as an alternative.
(Base 5, +1 Eye, +2 Moon)
Sudden Tznius
Muto Animal (Terram) 15
R: Touch, D: Moon, T: Ind
The woolen garments you are wearing, including any metal fasteners, shift into a modest outfit suitable for a pious Jewish woman. The quality of the materials does not change, only their form. So long as the caster obeys the laws of shatnez there is no need for an Herbam requisite.
Leah discovered that the fashionable clothing she typically wears does not fit in well when visiting a Jewish Quarter.
(Base 2, +1 Touch, +3 Moon, +1 requisite)
Running Sagas with No Jewish Companions or Magi
The vast majority of sagas don’t have any Jewish player characters among the core magi and companions of the game.
To some degree this makes sense. Jews made up less than 1% of the population of medieval Europe, but obviously they were an important presence. Jews in 1220 were concentrated in cities and in certain professions, such as gold smithing and money lending, though not to the same extent that they would be in later centuries.
But the average covenant is not portraying a demographically representative sample of Mythic Europe. Covenants collect the cast offs and the outsiders of medieval society. In areas of Europe with a notable Jewish population, such as the Iberian, Provencal, Normandy, Rhine, and Levant Tribunals, it would be surprising if Hermetic covenants did not interact with the Jewish community.
As such, I encourage story guides to incorporate materials from these posts as a spice to ordinary Ars Magica stories. The Jews don’t need to be at the center of the saga, but they can be present as grogs, NPCs, vis sources, and the like.
To that end, I would suggest that story guides look to introduce some light weight Judaism into their games with adventure seeds like the Blood Libel Mazzikin or Captured by the Bird Headed Jews. Introduce a Jewish grog like Josef ben Yitzhak. Utilize vis sources like the Last Drink of Purim and the Cross Dressing Jews And introduce a Jewish maga like Leah bat Yitzak.
The goal of these story resources is that they will draw the characters of the covenant into stories in their own right, not just because they are Jewish. A player who is uninterested in the details of an Egyptian Jewish wedding will none-the-less be very interested when their character’s vis source is threatened. In that way the players are drawn into the Jewish world for a story.
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Running Sagas with One Jewish Companion or Magus
Some games will have a player interested in portraying a Jew as one of their primary characters.
The first thing that a story guide should do when integrating such a player and their character into a saga is consider what the player wants out of the experience and where they are coming from. Jewish players probably want to connect with their heritage and see themselves represented in a game. Non-Jewish players may want to understand another culture through the medium of roleplaying. Obviously the best thing to do is to sit down with your player and have a conversation about what they are looking for.
One key question to address is how you want to portray antisemitism in your game. Jews faced violence and persecution because of their religion in 1220. Unfortunately in 2024 we still face violence. As the haggadah says, “In each and every generation they rise up against us to destroy us.” Jews have fears and traumas around antisemitism that may make certain things too much for a player to deal with in a game. Non-Jews may not want to deal with antisemitism because it involves confronting the role their ancestors may have played in such persecutions.
Some players may want to play in a fantastic Mythic Europe where antisemitism does not exist. That is a valid option for some sagas. It can be a relief from the outside world to play a game where Jews can just be Jews without fear of persecution. Michael Chabon’s Gentleman of the Road provides an inspiration for this sort of story, for instance. And, after all, we are playing a game where characters can throw a fireball, certainly it's not any stranger that a Jew can pray without fear.
But as a story guide you may want to run a game where antisemitism is a factor. This is certainly a more realistic portrayal of 1220, and a portrayal that is very rich with storytelling possibilities. A player can even get some catharsis if his Jewish character can get some justice against Christian persecutors, for instance. But the player deserves to know if their character is going to be put through the antisemetic ringer before they step into the roll.
Players with Jewish characters will want to dig deeply into some of the details of Jewish life in 1220, and how Judaism would interact with Hermetic magic. A Jewish character may be intrigued with Rabbi Asher’s Quest for Rain or the plight of Hannah Bat Yitzachki. Jewish specific virtues and flaws may be of interest to Jewish characters. Even though the character lives in the covenant, they will want to interact with the Jewish community described in Jewish Troyes and the Jews of Provance. And Jewish magi will be interested in the permissibility of Hermetic theory, and may want to engage with the questions of if a Jew must abstain from magic.
Players with Jewish characters will be excited to dig into Jewish life in 1220. Hopefully these resources will give you some tools to create a Jewish world for them to explore.
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Running an All Jewish Saga
A rare few games will be run with the premise that all characters are Jewish.
This is no less a preposterous idea than running a game where all the characters are from a single hermetic house. Indeed, it can probably learn a great deal from such a game.
When creating characters it makes sense to think about how being a member of each house would affect a given Jewish character. This is especially true since magi don’t get to choose who they are apprenticed by. Many Jewish characters will be apprenticed by a non-Jewish parens, and will be affected by that apprenticeship. Once free of their parens a newly gauntlets magus can decide if he wants to stick around or join a new house. This might be more common for Jewish magi (at least those who want to stay Jewish) who may be more resentful of their forced “conversion” to the life of a hermetic magus.
The True Lineages are a difficult fit for a Jewish magus, but not impossible. Obviously the only way for a Jewish magus to be in such a house is to be apprenticed into it, so the fit needs to be good enough that they want to remain.
House Bonisagus seems the most natural fit - Judaism values learning and education, and its easy to imagine a Jewish lab rat taking the intelligence that Hashem gave him and applying it to advancing Hermetic theory.
The founder of House Guernicus was a devout Christian, and many in his house still keep to that tradition. That makes it likely that a Jewish magus would feel uncomfortable in the house. That said, legalism and Judaism are deeply enmeshed. A apprentice trained in Order Law might delight in applying the same skills to the Rabbinic Law of her heritage.
House Mercere is a True Lineage both in the Hermetic and the biological sense. All its members are descended from Mercere himself. But its not impossible that a Jewish woman might have children with a Mercere Redcap, and the product of such a union would be both halakically Jewish and qualified to be a Mercere.
The Tremere value loyalty above all. This might lead to accusations of dual loyalty for any member of the house who is Jewish. This is a common anti semitic trope both in 1220 and today. But a Jewish Tremere who could get past that prejudice would appreciate the long term thinking of the house. The Jews too take a long view of history and survival.
The Mystery Cults are a dangerous place for a Jewish maga. Some of them derive their power from powerful supernatural beings in ways that seem idolatrous to Jews. Others simply have beliefs that are far outside the Jewish mainstream.
While Jews in 1220 are not confined to cities they way they will be in a few hundred years, the centers of Jewish society are the cities and towns of Mythic Europe. That said, Judaism is very connected to nature, with its three major agricultural festivals, the celebration of the New Year of the Trees and the New Year of Animals, and frequent prayers for rain. But any Jew who dives deeply into the Bjornaer cult will quickly be concerned by the prevalence of ancestor worship and idolatry.
The Criamon’s focus on the teachings of Empedocles is alien to Jewish thought. Jewish history clearly begins and will (probably) one day end, there is no sense of a cyclical world. A radical Jewish philosopher of the Maimonidean camp might value a house dedicated to Greek philosophy, but this seems the most unlikely fit of all the houses.
The Merinita’s relationship with the Fae is concerningly for most Jews, especially as Judaism does not have a concept of the Fae and might recognize some of the more mischievous faeries as demonic spirits. This makes Merinita magic seem very close to the sort of sorcery prohibited by the Torah. Jewish wizards might be proponents of Merinita Nature magic, given Judaism’s connection to the natural world.
The Verditius reliance on tools and items to do their magic would be concerning to a Jewish magician at first glance. But looking deeper, the house has the least organization of its Mystery Cult, being a bunch of independent magi all striving for greatness. This leaves room for a Jewish magician to do their own thing, unconcerned with the rest of the house. As well, gold smithing and jewel cutting are relatively common professions in the Jewish world, so it’s quite plausible to imagine that the Gifted Jewish child of such a craftsperson would be snatched up by the house, and then would remain there after their gauntlet.
Finally the Societies, with their generally broad acceptance of all comers, seems like the most natural place for a Jewish character.
The Flambeau is stereotypically the house of Christian fanatic Crusaders hurling fireballs, which might be a difficult fit for a Jew. But plenty of Flambeau are more interested in being champions of the Order, scourges to demons, or slayers of magical beings. A Jew raised in the house may have some tricky encounters with zealous apprentices, but once they make it through their gauntlet they could become a noble defender of the Jews of Europe using the skills they have learned from their parents.
House Jerbiton is also a potentially difficult fit for Jews, though for more subtle reasons than the Flambeau. Many Jerbiton are involved in the mundane power structures of Europe, which are ultimately Christian power structures. But it is in the artistic side of the house that a Jew could flourish. 1220 sees a number of Jewish poets who compose works that are both expressions of faith but also simply beautiful works. The poems of a Jewish Jerbiton Baal Teshuva could be full of passionate emotions.
The difficult apprenticeship of a Tytalus is enough to shake any child to their core. Where the Book of Instruction conflicts with the Torah the former is sure to win. But after their gauntlet a Tytalus might recognize the similarities in the two traditions. To be Jewish in Mythic Europe is an act of defiance to the accepted order the day. A Tytalus might admire the stubbornness of the Jews, and a Jew might admire the stubbornness of the Tytalus.
Finally, House Ex Miscellanea offers the most obvious home for a Jewish maga. The house is open to almost everyone in Mythic Europe, but it does still require that the applicant learn a little Latin, Magic Theory, and the Parma. This might prove too much for a zealous kabbalist, but it's also possible to imagine that a kabbalist who is open to learning outside his own Jewish tradition would join the ex Miscellanea. A gifted Jew who knows a little amulet magic might find it very easy to join the ex Miscellanea, seeing Magical Theory as simply an expansion on the little magic they know. And perhaps there is a sect of Holy Magicians (RoPD 34) who do magic in a Jewish tradition within the ex Miscellanea. That said, Jewish characters will not get along with many of their fellow non-Jewish ex Miscellanea. Many traditions of the house draw from explicitly idolatrous backgrounds.
Jewish companion characters are harder to classify, but there are certainly a number of ways to create such a character. A rabbi or baal shem are certainly good options for a companion character, and good details on this are found in RoPD. Jews were also engaged in commerce, and so a companion could serve as a seneschal or broker for the covenant. Jews were even engaged in military matters, most commonly as members of a town guard. A Jewish guard captain might join the covenant to provide a warlike companion. Its even not entirely impossible to play a Jewish knight - history records a certain Jew named Teka in the 1230s who was a Hungarian “Count of the Chambers” and engaged in military raids on his rivals in the manner of a knight, and with no rebuke from the King.
If there are more than one or two Jewish wizards in a Tribunal, it makes sense that the Jews might gather themselves into a single covenant, and gather Jewish companions as well. Judaism is a communal tradition. This is for religious reasons, you need ten people (men in 1220) to have a minyan, the minimum size required to say certain prayers. But it is also for social reasons, Jews stick together because they are outsiders in a Christian world.
A Jewish covenant would certainly accept Jews of various levels of observance. Every Jewish community has a diversity of observance, and there just aren’t that many Jews around that a covenant can afford to be picky. But some basic ground rules would likely be some level of observance of Shabbat in public spaces and preparing only kosher food in the kitchens. Daily prayer would be offered twice a day, and because of the requirements of a minyan it might be an interesting opportunity for the magi and grogs to mingle in ways that don’t happen in most covenants. The Jewish grogs would attend services so that the minimum of ten men would be met, and so the grogs and magi would regularly see each other in a setting when they are, theoretically, equals.
Games where all the major player characters are Jewish will want to dive into the deep end. They may want to get involved in the controversies of the mundane Jewish world in 1220, such as debates over Maimonides lead by figures like Moses ben Nachman. They may encounter strange bits of magic like the kabbalists of Girona or you may want to have a companion character who can create Love Magic Amulets. Attending Yom Kippur services could turn into an adventure all its own, with the miracles of Kol Nidre or Ne’ilah. And characters might want to go on a pilgrimage to Eretz Israel and end up exploring the Halakic Day or the regio of Honi the Circle Maker.
A covenant full of Jewish characters will end up telling a story that is outside the norm of an Ars Magica game, but it will still be a story based in history, magic, and myth.
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