The Covenant of Tugurium

This topic is used to track the description, resources and details of the covenant. No discussion should be done here - that should be done in the Covenant Discussions (OOC) topic.

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Covenant Description

About 30 miles southwest of Basel, along the Brise river and nestled in the Jura mountains, is the town of Laimunt. South of Laimunt is the village of Chastellion; southe of Chastellion is a little valley where several small streams merge to form a larger one that flows through Chastelion and into the Birse.

Leonardus of Jerbiton, when he first discovered the valley, initiated the construction of a manor house at the spot where the aura was strongest, adjacent to a small waterfall. Construction continued over the years, expanding the manor house with additional structures for the mundanes who lived there permanently, but also room for additional magi for a future covenant.

But, before construction was finished, Leonardus apparently suffered from an experience that affected his mind permanently (perhaps Twilight). It made him confused about the overall plan. He had the workers stop some of the work, add differents wings that sometimes made little sense, tear down parts of the structure and add some independent buildings with no apparent purpose, as well as create decorative elements that clashed with each other.

The result is a fairly chaotic collection of buildings centered around a manor house that sprawls out in erratic ways, with a confusing floor plan. Corridors that circle around a room to reach its door, a flight of stairs that lead nowhere, a half-finished square tower, columns, terraces and gardens (that are either bare or growing unchecked) are all elements of the structure. With so few mundanes present, an ever-changing focus to their work and the absence of full-time occupants, certain parts of the covenant have fallen into disrepair.

There is a magical oak tree of huge proportions growing in the valley, lumpy and twisted. The magical aura is strong there, but strangely enough this is not where it is strongest. That occurs about sixty paces away, near the waterfall. A narrow opening in the cliff face lead to a large cave (the opening is now inside the manor house). There are a few tunnels leading to secondary caves, but one does not notice them immediately.

For on the jumbled rocks to one side of the cave is a something completely incongruous - a Roman galley, broken in half. Wrapped around it is a petrified sea serpent, its body as thick as a man is tall and its head raised in a soundless roar.

Covenant Boons and Hooks

External Relations

  • Tribunal Border (major hook) - The covenant is located at the collective border of three Tribunals (Rhine, Normandy and Greater Alps), with all having some claims to that territory and its vis sources.
  • Local Ally (minor boon) - The old magus had made a deal with the Telsberg family, providing some magic (perhaps even a minor longevity ritual) in exchange for their assistance and rights to build the covenant where it is. The family remains an ally of the Heir (and thus the covenant), though they might expect some occasional magical help.
  • Favors (minor hook) - If we want the three filii of the old magus to have a minor role to play in the saga we could pick this hook.

Site:

  • Aura (minor boon) x2 - I think an aura of +5 makes sense, considering the remote location of the covenant and the plentiful vis sources.
  • Poorly Defensible (minor hook) - The chaotic buildings and the fact that the covenant is at the foot of a cliff make it difficult to defend the covenant against mundane attacks.

Fortifications:

  • Manor House (free) - The main building.
  • Important Buildings (minor boon) - To represent the additional wings, the towers, etc.
  • Crumbling/Outbuildings (minor hook) - Several parts of the covenant are in poor condition. Plus, the covenfolk live in their own houses near the covenant buildings, adding to the confusing state. I don't think those issues warrant seperate hooks, so I would suggest combining them into a single hook.

Resources:

  • Vis Grant (minor boon) - This is how the Heir recruited the magi of the covenant, by promising them a share of the raw vis harvested by the covenant.
  • Right (minor boon) - Our main source of income is recognized by mundane authorities and secure.
  • Contested Resource (minor hook) - At least one of the vis sources is known to magi of the nearby Tribunals and they try harvesting it before we do. This could be taken multiple times.

Residents:

  • Peasants (free) - The villagers of Chastellion can be called on to defend the covenant.
  • Veteran Fighters (minor boon) - A small cadre of experienced grogs is the core of the covenant's defenders.

Covenant Charter

(placeholder)

Library

Hermetic Books

Creo: Root summa (L5Q15)
Intellego: Summa (L18Q12)
Muto: Root summa (L5Q15)
Perdo: Nothing
Rego: Root summa (L6Q18)

Animal: Root summa (L6Q20)
Aquam: Nothing
Auram: Nothing
Corpus: Root summa (L5Q15)
Herbam: Root summa (L5Q15)

Ignem: Summa (L15Q15)
Imaginem: Root summa (L5Q15)
Mentem: Root summa (L5Q15)
Terram: Root summa (L5Q15)
Vim: Root summa (L5Q15)

Magic Theory: Summa (L5Q15)

Lab Texts for Spells

Corpus: Gentle Caress of Aesclepius (CrCo 30), The Inexorable Search (InCo 20)
Vim: Scales of the Magical Weight (InVi 5), Sense the Nature of Vis (InVi 5), Piercing the Magical Veil (InVi 20), Wizard’s Communion (MuVi gen/15), Wind of Mundane Silence (PeVi gen/20), Aegis of the Large Hearth (ReVi gen/25, includes a +1 Size magnitude), Maintaining the Demanding Spell (ReVi gen/20), Gather the Essence of the Beast (ReVi 15)

Casting Tablets:

Vim: Aegis of the Large Hearth (ReVi gen/25, includes a +1 Size magnitude), Wizard’s Vigil (MuVi gen/20)

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Vis Sources

The Oak of Binding Promises (Herbam and Rego)

The peasants who live in the villages nearby know about the oak at the entrance of the valley. They say it was the druids that planted it a long time ago. They say the oak tree witnesses promises and rewards those who keep them. This makes it a popular spot for young lovers and for outdoor marriage vows exchanged between peasants. It is said that if you come back years after a vow you have kept, the tree rewards you with a golden acorn. This only works for vows that mean something, not for silly little promises.

Every year the villagers of Chastellion hold a festival under the oak, at the summer solstice. This festival is a popular time to make promises and oath under the boughts of the Oak. When he was present, Leonardus encouraged the practice and sometimes attended the festival, gifting the villagers with small items from his travels -- such as sweets for the children, nice fabric for the women, or cegs of ale for the men. The villagers are hopeful that the Heir and his coterie of strange people will continue this tradition, much to the dismay of Father Luc, the local priest.

The raw vis comes in the form of acorns. Each person who makes a promise during the festival takes one home and keeps it until the next festival. If they kept their promise, the acorn turns golden and contains a pawn of Rego vis, which the covenant buy from the villagers. If the promise isn't kept, the acorn dries out and turns brown.

At the winter solstice, the covenant also collects a few acorns from the oak that clings to the bare branches, for they contain Herbam vis.

The Petrified Serpent (Muto)

Under the disorganized buildings of the covenant there is an extensive and not fully explored network of caves, that can be reached through a narrow tunnel under the mountain side, hidden behind a thick wooden door reinforced with bands of black iron. The narrow passage gives way to a larger and smoother tunnel, where the walls are damp and the air is cold, large enough for two man to easily walk side by side. The tunnel twists and branches, leading to several caves, natural and artificial.

The main cave of the complex seems to be the origin of the magical aura in the Laimunt Valley. There lies a Roman galley, broken in half. Wrapped around it, a petrified sea serpent, its body as thick as a man is tall and its head raised in a soundless roar.

While to mundane and magic examination it appears inanimate, the serpent sheds it's scales, each almost as large as a human hand, resembling large flakes of mica. Collected through the year this amounts to a sensible amount of Muto vis.

The Healing Waters of Underswyler (Creo)

There is a fountain inside a cave, about 10 miles west of the covenant, near the village of Underswyler, to which the locals attribute many miraculous healings. The water flows as a trickle from a stalagmite into a shallow pool. On the Assumption of Mary, 15th August, it's possible to harvest 2 or 3 pawns of Creo vis from the water.

In the last years the cave has become a pilgrimage site, and the people from Underswyler have been going there for Mass, under the direction of their priest.

Vis Reserves


Vis Reserves
Creo 3 Animal Ignem
Intellego Aquam Imaginem
Muto 7 Auram Mentem
Perdo Corpus 3 Terram
Rego 3 Herbam 3 Vim 1


Recent Transactions:



Notes:
Needs to add pawns from our other sources for year 1205 and remove the amount due to the heirs of Leonardus for the same year.

Finances

The covenant derives its incomes from the village of Chastellion, mostly in the form of foodstuff and goods produced there, although the watermill and the village smith provide a bit of coin as well. At the very least, the covenant runs little risk of starving even with its booming population.

However, the maintenance of the buildings is quite uneven, due to a lack of both funds and workers. The covenant has a quarry and a resident stonemason (with her family), as well as a carpenter, but this is far from enough to take care of the multitude of structures which compose the main coumpound. To make things worse, the magical nature of the site makes improvements more difficult to coordinate, as the layout inside the buildings seem to change on its own. So a leaking roof that is repaired can end up in a different part of the covenant after a few seasons.

The lack of hard income is bound to become worse as the magi start using their labs, with all of the expensive ingredients that they use.

Inhabitants

Magi

Companions

  • Julius the Steward: An awakened magical item imprinted with the personality of a Roman grammarian and geographer.

Grogs and Important Covenfolk

  • Eustache, an older grog from Confluensis who followed Clusius when the young magus left that covenant
  • Louis, a youth rescued by Clusius who is training to become his shield grog
  • Adeline, a young scribe
  • Vincent, an unlucky shield grog assigned to Perion's protection
  • Edwardo the shield grog A cheerful lug of a shield grog
  • Henricus Mons Achatae A former crusader who became Eikona's shield grog after the sack of Constantinople.
  • Klaus, one of the long-time grogs of the Tugurium, a son from one of the original grogs that Leonardus recruited several decades ago.

Miscellaneous Covenfolk

  • Peter, the cook
  • Mathias, a servant who looks to be in his fifties and whom no one has ever heard speak.
  • Jutte, a serving woman who looks like an wrinkled old woman but is in fact much younger.
  • A stone mason and her family, who run the covenant's quarry on the southwestern part of the valley.
  • A carpenter

People the Covenant Know

  • Father Luc, the priest from Chastellion
  • Father Samuel, the priest from Undervelier who holds Mass in the Cave of Mary. Permanently blinded by Wolfgang’s “angelic holy light”
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Maps and Drawings

Covenant Valley Map
Laimunt Valley Map

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