For quick reference, here are the five provinces of Ireland, and their associated covenants.  For more information, please refer to the Tribunal book.

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The Province of Connacht

Connacht has a long and rich history, in which mundane kings sit down with druids, giants, and the faerie kings and queens of old. There are strong alliances between its many peoples, but also feuds and rivalries, and it is a place more magical than perhaps even the Order
suspects. As it is the last refuge of the Fir Bolg and the land of the Coill Trí, its people tend to be knowledgeable about the supernatural and consult freely with druids.

However, a centuries-old treaty forbids the Order from plundering Connacht for its resources, making Connacht, occupying the west of Ireland, a tantalizing opportunity for younger magi influenced by new continental attitudes.

The province is ruled by the kingdom of Connacht, which also enjoys fealty from the kingdom of Bréifne to the north. Both Kingdoms have so far held out against the English, but while the Connacht kings jealously guard their borders and ruthlessly put down any incursions, they owe tribute to the English and rule by accord alone.


The Covenant of Praesis

Symbol: A spear formed from thigh bones and a skeletal hand
Season: Winter
Cathach: The Gáe Bulg; a spear made from the bones of the monster Coinchenn

Left to fend for itself by the Tribunal, the winter covenant of Praesis fell to foreign adventurers. Once the shining example of friendship between the druids of Ireland and the Order, to some, it now represents the dangers posed by outsiders, while to others it demonstrates that Hibernia itself needs to change. Whatever the arguments, the new masters of Praesis face the hard task of dragging the covenant out of winter

Praesis occupies a stone tower raised on a wooded peninsula jutting out into Lough Forbes.  The covenant is cold and austere, and the ruins of laboratories can be seen from nearly every window in the tower, serving as a reminder of the conflict.  The rubble from the original tower and covenant outbuildings lies scattered around and the new tower is the result of Hermetic ritual.

The location was originally chosen for its symbolism, sitting as it does between the domain of the Coill Trí and the rest of Ireland, dominated by the Order of Hermes. But since the siege, the covenant finds itself isolated from both sides with mundanes generally unwilling to help them and the Coill Trí warning hedge wizards of this new danger.  It often plays host to a changing roster of foreign magi recently arrived in Hibernia, and the gaze of these magi is shifting to Connacht with growing interest.

Note, we've changed the location from Loch Ree to Loch Forbes, which really only has the effect of moving it upstream a few miles. 


The Pact of Oireadh

The covenant of Praesis was once a meeting place between the hedge wizards of Connacht and the Ordo Hiberniae. With all those years of dialog and exchange, it is not surprising that some of those hedge wizards would wonder at the magical secrets being kept from them.
Having once been allies of Praesis, the druids of Oireadh deserted Meadhbh when her demands upon them became unreasonable. They instead began to ask what brought the Order their power, and what protected them while lesser wizards fell. So these wizards began to turn their abilities to research.

The druids of Oireadh do not live and work together in the manner of Hermetic magi. Instead, they meet every season in the village of Oireadh, which is no more than two day’s travel for each member. Each of these druids has his own aura supporting his own supernatural tradition.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:45, Sun 10 May 2020.

The Province of Leinster

Leinster is the southeastern province of Ireland, enjoying a warmer and dryer climate than the rest of Hibernia. With many ports (including Dublin) that encourage traders to cross the Irish Sea, it has strong links with England and Wales, particularly with the English port of Bristol. Once inland, the fertile coastal strip gives way to the Wicklow Hills, a low range of mountains that provide a natural barrier to invaders and have long acted as a refuge for outlaws and the dispossessed. The Kingdom of Leinster has waxed and waned in size over the centuries, and has at times been somewhat smaller than the Province of Leinster. Although the Ua Broin and Ua Túathal clans lead a fierce resistance from their hide-outs in the Wicklow hills, it is here that the English first came to aid Diarmait, King of Leinster, and it is here that their grip is strongest

Three cultures have shaped Leinster: the Laighin; the Osraighe who live in the west; and the Norse Vikings who founded the ports. The English have ruled for sixty years, but their influence is only beginning to be felt.


Ashenrise

Symbol: A Scroll crossed with a Sword
Season: Spring
Cathach: The Bones of Rhiannon Uí Riain, former prima of House Merinita

Ashenrise’s founders are magi from the Normandy Tribunal. Survivors of the fallen covenant Moles Magna, they have risen from the ashes of destruction and aspire to a dominant position in the Hibernian Tribunal. Their goal is to make the Tribunal more civilized by updating
its barbaric Peripheral Code.

Outside the magi’s sanctums, Ashenrise functions like a typical English castle in colonial Ireland. Ashenrise castle sits in the Liberty of Carlow. Situated a few miles east of the River Barrow, north of New Ross, the castle grounds have a Magic aura of 1. The castle is held by Ralph fitz Stephen, a second cousin of Raymond le Gros, and was awarded to him for his help against the Uí Riain. The castle is built on a square plan, with a square tower in each of the fortification’s four corners. Three towers hold two magi each, with the fourth tower reserved for mundane residences and activities. The courtyard holds a few wooden barns, storerooms, and a stables.

Ashenrise magi strive to act as continental, civilized magi. Individual focuses in magic are pursued and fostered with lively discussions. They enjoy aristocratic pastimes, including hunting, hawking, and entertaining guests with extravagant feasts filled with song and dance. Their Hermetic neighbors regularly pester them with Wizard Wars and cathach raiding. They stoically defend Rhiannon’s skeleton, and often take a passive part in the Wizard Wars by avoiding the aggressor.


Lámbaird

Symbol: A severed human arm
Season: Summer
Cathach: The preserved arm of a bard called Cairpre

The covenant of Lámbaird (meaning “the arm of a bard”) is an old covenant, founded in 826 by Petrifer and Raghallach of House Flambeau. It has been the home of a school of magical combat — The School of Raghallach —since its inception, and has always been a covenant of House Flambeau. Formed when a Hermetic magus gave shelter to a native magician, Lámbaird
has always seen itself as a protector of the traditional ways, and has recently taken up the cause of protecting the Irish from the Norman invaders. Thus far they have avoided severe sanction from the Hibernian Tribunal by claiming they are protecting themselves and their resources, but many suspect them of initiating raids against the Normans.

Lámbaird is situated in Gleann Molúra, a narrow, blind-ending valley seven miles long and less than half a mile wide. The steep sides of the ravine reach 2000 feet on either side throughout most of the glen’s length. There is just one road leading into the valley, and it terminates
in the covenant. The valley has a Magic aura of 2, which rises to 4 at the point where the covenant has been built. The buildings of the covenant are surrounded by a palisade of wooden stakes. Once inside, the visitor is normally struck by the clamor of noise — barking of dogs, the clash of weapons from soldiers on the training fields, and the bellowed orders of the magi. The main covenant building is a large wooden lodge, with two sweeping wings that house the magi. Behind the lodge are stables, kennels, and mews for the numerous horses, dogs, and birds of prey kept by the covenant.

Lámbaird does not appear much like a Hermetic covenant. There is no library; texts are simply distributed among the magi who used them last. The laboratories of the magi are haphazard and cluttered, and contain much makeshift equipment due to the difficulty of getting decent apparatus this deep into the mountains. The magi themselves do not observe the inviolability of each other’s sancta — although this laxity would not apply to outsiders! — and often appropriate equipment from each other’s laboratories without permission. The magi do not act much like scholars or wizards. They are at home in the wooded mountains surrounding their covenant, and spend time on horseback either hawking or hunting with hounds. There is little formality among the inhabitants; the magi are more like the heads of a family than distant scholars or lords, and by the time the mundane covenfolk have reached maturity they have grown used to their Gifts. Everyone eats together, and everyone is expected to pull their own weight.


The Paruchia of Nerius

Symbol: A skeletal hand, radiating light
Season: Spring
Cathach: The skeletal arm of Saint Nerius

Within the Céli Dé can be found a tiny tradition who joined the Order of Hermes as part of House Ex Miscellanea in 1189. Currently comprising just three members, two monks and one manaim, they live on Little Saltee, an otherwise uninhabited island five miles off the Wexford coast, and have close links with the small community on neighboring Great Saltee.

Little Saltee is one of the two Saltee Isles, and is uninhabited except for the cells and small cave complex which forms the monastery for the three magi. The tides are treacherous, and there are no good landing points on the rocky shore but every Sunday the monks make their way across to Great Saltee for mass in the parish church, using an enchanted coracle built by Fedelmid. The score of inhabitants on Great Saltee are fiercely loyal to the hermits and act as covenfolk for the covenant, but none set foot on Little Saltee,and no woman, even a Hermetic maga, may land there by tradition. The covenant is highly unusual in that while it maintains a library in a tall tower on Little Saltee, and labs in a cave system near the beehive-shaped cells of the three hermits and small chapel they have built for their devotions, the island has no Magic aura, but rather a Divine aura of three. A small graveyard holds the bones of earlier hermits on this isolated spot, the only other inhabitants.

The covenant represents a threat to many long-standing traditions of the Order and the Tribunal. Fedelmid and Indrechtach are both strongly opposed to paganism, blasphemy, and what they see as the unacceptable aspects of standard Hermetic teaching, and their long term program is the salvation of the Order by the teaching of Holy Magic. This has put them at odds with the Túath Buidheof the Coill Trí, some of the supernatural delegates to the Tribunal (including the Fomórach, Tuatha Dé and the Fir Bolg representatives), and they have uncomfortable relations with many of their own House and House Merinita. In fact they enjoy better relations with pro-reform English magi than with their fellow Irish magi, as they argue loudly for a Christianized Tribunal modeled on the continental model rather than ancient customs of Hibernia. As such they seek allies among newcomers to the Tribunal, and attempt to save their souls by persuading them of the benefits of Holy Magic
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:40, Sat 09 May 2020.

The Liberty of Meath

Meath is the fifth and smallest of the provinces of Ireland. Also called the Kingdom of Mide, from the Irish word for “middle,” it has a significance far beyond its small size, and hence is ranked as a province rather than just another kingdom. Meath was founded in ancient times by Túathal Techtmar, son of a High-King of Ireland. When the four kings of the provinces rebelled against his father, his pregnant mother Eithne (who may be the same as Bóinn, who is also known by that name) fled to Scotland. The king of Ulster became High King, but for two decades a great famine devastated the whole of Ireland, until Túathal returned with an army to retake the throne, fighting many epic battles against the kings of all the four provinces. Once he had conquered the whole of Ireland, he convened a meeting of the kings at the Hill of Tara, where he established laws and created Meath, a new province around Tara. Meath was henceforth to be the sole demesne of the High-Kings of Ireland, the fifth province.

In the late fifth century the ruling Uí Enechglaiss were forced in to exile south to Arklow, where they can still be found, and the Uí Mael Sechlainn took possession of the region, providing several highkings. The Uí Mael Sechlainn are often known as the Southern Uí Néill. They too have been forced to flee following the arrival of the English. In 1172, the last King of Meath was deposed and the kingdom was granted to Hugh de Lacy, who held the territory until his death in 1186 despite falling from favor with King Henry II. Tighearnán Ua Ruairc, King of Bréifne, disputed the claim but was killed so Hugh’s son Walter de Lacy eventually took possession of Meath and it is an English possession today.

The covenant is located on an island (Inchmore) in Lough Ree, on the western edge of the province
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:51, Sat 09 May 2020.

The Province of Munster

Munster, or Mumhan, is Mythic Ireland’s southern province. Originally split into Desmond (South Munster), Thomond (North Munster), and Ormond (East Munster), much of the province has been renamed and distributed to English lords. Irish kings keep English knights to the east, retaining native privileges in their ancestral cantreds, while English lords impose English law on their subjugated Irish vassals. The foreigners and Ostmen of the three Munster cities are ostensibly ruled by the English, yet act according to their own desires. Outlaw bands live in the forests, finding easy pickings from both Irish and English homes.

Munster was the first province officially claimed by the Sons of Míl. The fertile province was given to Éibhear Fionn mac Míl, whose descendants divided into several túatha.


Circulus Ruber

Symbol: A hastily drawn red circle
Season: Autumn
Cathach: A Magic Cauldron

The first covenant in Ireland, Circulus Ruber has the largest membership and the most vocal, self-appreciating members. Traditionalists, Circulus Ruber isn’t interested in changing its time-honored methods. It appreciates Hermetic scholarship and applauds arcane invention, but it isn’t about to reinvent Tribunal rules. Continental magi often feel like they are stepping back in time when visiting Hibernia, and Circulus Ruber goes to great effort to keep it that way.

The covenant is a large, round tower 120 feet high and 60 feet wide. An augmented version of Conjuring the Mystic Tower, the tower easily houses 12 magi and their staff. Each year the newest member paints a red circle running around the tower’s waist, halfway between top and bottom. The magi live above the mundane staff, who reside on the lower levels. Traditionalists, Circulus Ruber always fulfills its wealth requirement with cattle. Circulus Ruber sits atop Hag’s Head (Ceann na Cailleach), one of the taller Cliffs of Moher that form the southwestern edge of the Burren. Rising almost 400 feet above the Atlantic Ocean, the cliffs offer a view of the Aran Islands and Galway Bay. The cliffs are haunted by a Cailleach, an evil faerie hag who would love to tear down the magi’s stone tower. She is kept at bay by the covenant’s Aegis, which doesn’t prevent her from molesting travelers on the lonely road that leads to Circulus Ruber. Some people incorrectly think the hag protects the covenant.

Circulus Ruber sees itself as the Tribunal’s leader and representative example. Adhering to romanticized notions of the past, the magi refuse to change the Peripheral Code. Instead, they emphasize the combative, individual nature of the Tribunal. They encourage magi to form new covenants, and have even offered aid in the past. They patronize the macgnímartha and endorse their attempts to steal other covenants’ cathaigh. They push disputing magi into declarations of Wizards War, going so far as to subsidize combatants with loaned enchanted items and magic weapons. Promoters of violence, the magi are also Hibernian protectors. Members safeguard essential sites, sacred mounds, and other areas that the Tribunal deems important. They support both Mercer Houses, offering hospitality to traveling Redcaps. Tribunal obligation becomes covenant business, and Circulus Ruber’s members readily sacrifice personal time for community efforts.


Cliffheart

Symbol: Three doves flying in a circle
Season: Winter
Cathach: A Diedne magus changed into stone

Cliffheart magi are interested in faeries. Regular interactions with Irish faeries have made the magi paranoid, so they take extreme measures to protect themselves. Staunch traditionalists, Cliffheart refuses to accept English magi and believes that Hibernia should continue its Irish traditions. To further this goal they are inventing a way to cast spells in Irish instead of Latin.

Cape Clear Island lies eight miles off Ireland’s southernmost shore. One mile wide and three miles long, the island is divided by an isthmus. The southern half is inhabited by a small monastic community, and the slightly larger northern half is empty except for the magi and several varieties of birds. A simple ráth surrounding a dozen huts, Cliffheart sits on a steep hill on the northern shore overlooking a small cove. Called the Cove of the Black Stream, the cove and the hill have a Magic aura of 3. The northern half of Cape Clear Island receives a few mundane wanderers. To avoid detection Cliffheart’s ráth is disguised with the spell The Shrouded Glen. Less effective outside a forest, the spell adequately hides Cliffheart. Visitors must make a Perception roll against an Ease Factor of 9 to find the covenant. Inside the palisade, a dozen huts house the magi, their laboratories, the mundane staff, a meeting hall, and the sheepfold.

The covenant grounds are an intentional mess. Irish faeries dislike disorder, so clutter and debris are strewn everywhere. Even the library is disorganized and untidy. While the Aegis of the Hearth spell would likely stop all but the most powerful faerie creatures, the paranoid magi take many precautions to prevent faeries from interfering with them.

Cliffheart is strongly opposed to changing the Tribunal and pursues every legal method to prevent English magi from founding covenants. Active in Tribunal politics, the magi honor their Oaths and the Peripheral Code. The magi are neurotic and isolationists, but not criminals or purposeful malcontents


Elk’s Run

Symbol: A magnificent pair of Giant Elk’s antlers
Season: Autumn
Cathach: A pair of Giant Elk’s antlers

The covenant of Elk’s Run was founded only a few decades ago, but embodies the traditions of learning, hospitality, and scholarship that once made Ireland’s covenants great. Yet not everyone is pleased to see this new foundation.
Nestled in a large, isolated valley in the Slieve Aught mountains to the west of Lough Derg in Munster, Elk’s Run stands close to the border of forbidden Connacht to the north. The covenant consists of a group of three traditional towers, a small feasting hall and a good-sized stone scriptorium, a small hamlet, pasture and fields, all nestled in the remote valley. Yet while the houses of the covenfolk, the towers, and the small stone building which holds the library are all clustered within the Aegis of the Hearth, the covenant lays claim to vast areas of mountain, lough and forest, and all the vis sources within.

Elk’s Run is a covenant dedicated to magical research and in particular to the collection of books. Mages here are have known to have spent a great deal of time copying texts from the excellent library of the Archbishop of Armagh, and trading texts with monasteries all over Hibernia. The Cow and Calf rule is strictly enforced; a copy of a book may be made, but can only be taken from the covenant if traded for a text of equivalent value. The library has a superb library of mundane books, and a fine collection of Laboratory Texts as well as some rare magical volumes. Many books are copied and leave Ireland from Elk’s Run, sent to covenants all over Mythic Europe as gifts or in exchange for other books, and the covenant has earned a fine reputation for generosity and scholarship.

In recent years as the English have encroached further across Ireland, however, Elk’s Run has faced increasing hostility. While some magi are increasingly reclusive and involved with running the scriptorium and the acquisition of new books, the other magi have become increasingly belligerent in the face of continued raiding, and have forged increasing links with English nobles. Thet have been warned that their actions supporting the English may be seen as interfering with mundanes, but the general feeling of the magi is that to survive they must look to the English for assistance.


The Mercer House of Leth Moga

Sister to Leth Cuinn, the Mercer House of Leth Moga serves the covenants south of the Eiscir Raida. Since its beginning Leth Moga has been interested in preserving the Tribunal’s history.  While the northern redcaps practice martial feats, the southern redcaps are the eye-witnesses of the Tribunal, keeping detailed journals of their accounts. Like Leth Cuinn, Leth Moga is not a covenant It does not keep a cathach nor need a wealth requirement. It exists because it serves the Tribunal, and its existence is safeguarded by numerous Hibernia Peripheral Code rulings.

Leth Moga is located in the village monastery of Cloyne in the kingdom of Desmond. Wooden houses sit around a stone church and round tower. The monastery is not protected by a wooden palisade or a stone wall, and when threatened the monks and villagers lock themselves inside the stone tower. The Mercer House is a large wooden house and rarely used barn, built on the southern edge of the monastery.

Sitting atop a Magic aura of 1, the drafty and cold barn serves is as an adequate laboratory. With no Gifted Merceres in residence, The Redcaps allow other magi to rent the laboratory for the paltry sum of one pawn of vis per season. Both building and barn are surrounded by a low level Aegis of the Hearth, annually cast by guest magi. Naturally formed tunnels and caverns run beneath the village, linking several important caves and underground chambers. The current abbot knows about some of these, and the Redcaps know a great deal more. The more valuable goods of the Mercere House — records, stored vis, and magical items — are kept behind locked doors, to prevent curious monks from stumbling upon

The Redcaps and the monks remain on good terms, even with the recently dictated religious reforms. With a clear separation between the monks and the Redcaps, considerable interaction exits between the Mercer House members and the villagers. All of the Redcaps at Leth Moga are related, linked through the female line of their founder, Imag. Between the abbot, his immediate staff, and married Redcaps’ family members, the Mercer House is hardly a secret. Leth Moga Redcaps frequently attend Hermetic functions, acting as witnesses and recorders.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:39, Sat 09 May 2020.

The Province of Ulster

Ulster or Ulaid is the northernmost province of Ireland. In the days when the famed king
Conchobhar mac Neasa ruled from Emhain Mhacha, the Ulaidh (meaning Ulstermen) gave Ireland some of its most powerful legends of heroes and kings. These tales form the Ruadhraigheacht, better known by its English name of The Ulster Cycle. None of the kingdoms that comprise the province in the thirteenth century have an Ulaidh king, but the Ulstermen are still fiercely proud of their heritage and remarkably coherent for a people who have lived under “foreign” kings for so long

The history of Ulster is one of warfare and bloodshed; not for nothing did the druids associate the northerly direction with battle and strife. It was in the north that the Tír Fhomóraig (“Land of the Fomórach”) once stretched from east to west, and dominated the Nemedians and the Túatha Dé Danann. Once this monstrous race was driven from Ireland the land was settled by the victors, and soon entered the hands of the Érainn.


Mercere House of Leth Cuinn

The Mercere House of Leth Cuinn serves the covenants of the northern half of the Tribunal, using principally the Slighe Mhidhluachra, the Slighe Assail, and an tSlighe Mhór. In stark contrastto their southern partner of Leth Moga, the northern Mercere House is known for its warlike nature, its training of warriors, and the heroic Redcaps it trains. Like Leth Moga, Leth Cuinn does not have a cathach. Its existence is guaranteed by the Hibernian Peripheral Code rather than by the rules that govern other covenants.

Since its inception in 898, Leth Cuinn has been interested in martial pursuits. However, things took a dramatic turn in 1029 when Dáire Farranta returned after a seven-year absence and challenged the leader of the covenant — who was his parens — to Wizard War. Dáire won this war without a spell being cast (since both opponents were unGifted) using remarkable feats of athleticism and swordplay that were straight out of legend — the clesrada. The remaining Redcaps were exiled, and he repopulated the covenant with his own kin. among the incomers was Úathach, the faerie woman who had trained him in the clesrada. Dáire Farranta turned the Mercere House into an outpost of the Cult of Heroes, and it is still run by his descendents

Lough Neagh in Ulster, at its northeasternmost point where the great Slighe Mhidhluachra turns west to Doire. The Mercere House resembles nothing less than a king’s hall, a bold gesture within the territory of the Earl of Ulster, and yet the hall is hidden from accidental discovery by the Shrouded Glen. Outside the hall is a combined parade ground and exercise yard where, at any one time, up to a dozen men can be seen practicing gymnastics, weapon play, and feats of strength and endurance.

Qui Sonant Pro Quieto

Symbol: A rope of silver strung with balls of gold along its length
Season: Summer
Cathach: A huge gold and silver necklace once worn by Caer Ibormeith

None know the truth for sure, but the legends say that the giant Finn MacCumhaill is cursed to sleep beneath the hillside all the while the sound of song is heard above him. To this day, the magi of Qui Sonant ensure the songs are sung. This is also the location of the final resting place of Ireland’s magi, hedge wizards, and even faerie and magical beasts, and the covenant acts as a great chantry wherein the magi and their covenfolk continually sing songs to honor the souls of fallen magi.

There have always been druids who sang the giant to sleep, and the site was old when the Order came to Ireland. Even then it was a burial ground for the magical powers of Ireland. When those druids joined the Order, the covenant was founded around them and the Order in Ireland has buried its dead there ever since. The Schism War saw large numbers of magi and their heroic companions brought to Qui Sonant. The records as to who was buried here during that time were lost after the war, but references remain in the numerous Vitae Magna found in Hibernian libraries.

Qui Sonant is located high in the Ulster Cuailnge on a ridge of mountains said in local folklore to be where the giant Finn Mac-Cumhaill sleeps. It can only be reached by a series of treacherous winding tracks and frequently suffers harsh winters. The covenant consists of a number of low stone buildings outside a large walled manor surrounding a cobbled courtyard. This provides everything the magi need, including sanctums, libraries, and the chantry. The covenant craftsmen maintain their workshops outside the wall.

Throughout the day and night the sound of unaccompanied chant emanates from this drab stone building. The chant superficially sounds the same as might be heard in any church anywhere in Mythic Europe, but in fact the songs venerate heroes of myth and legend, they urge the giant to sleep, and they remember the dead buried not far away. By tradition, no magic is used within the chantry itself and it is sparsely lit with candles, which are replenished through the day. The choir, which includes magi and covenfolk alike, usually numbers a dozen or so. Two open cloisters join the chantry to the rest of the covenant.

The burial grounds consist of a range of dolmens, cairns, and mounds of pale grey stones found all across the hills and peaks surrounding the covenant. All are within the covenant’s Magic aura but few are easily accessible and most have a cold, bleak, and solitary aspect.

Vigil

Symbol: Two huge boar tusks wickedly curved from root to tip
Season: Autumn
Cathach: The tusks of an immense magical black boar

The covenant of Vigil stands watch over Hibernia, defending Ireland from those with dark designs on her people. Or at least that’s how it used to be, but those days are long since gone and Vigil has grown fat and lazy on its past glories.

Cionn Mhálanna is Ireland’s northern-most promontory, a jagged coastline jutting into the Atlantic, rich in ample grazing land but frequently lashed by the storms that sweep in from the sea. Vigil extends across the head as a number of halls and homesteads protected by ringforts, each housing one of the magi, their households, and their sanctums, and each enjoying a moderate Faerie aura. The old fortress of Vigil, raised by the original Merinita founders and perched on the rocks looking out to sea, has long been abandoned and little remains since its stone was taken away to service new buildings.

The subterranean vaults are flooded and largely ignored. There are, however, numerous magical weapons and devices brought to Ireland from distant lands that have survived this centuries-old rot. With the old records lost, today’s inhabitants are oblivious to the potential beneath their feet, but references to these vaults can be found in the Vitae Magorum written by Hibernia’s magi.  Cionn Mhálanna is scattered with Faerie auras and it seems that there are as many faerie kings living around the coast as there are mundanes. The magi of Vigil ensure continued good relations between both.

Vigil is defined by the rule of conspicuous consumption. The old Merinita of Vigil fought hard and enjoyed the spoils of their victories, trading vis to the Verditius who crafted arms and armor, which they used against the Vikings and the Diedne, winning more through conquest. The magi of Vigil enjoy the boisterous things in life, such as hunting, certamen, and raiding the lands surrounding their covenant. In particular, they relish baiting young magi in their Macgnímartha. But they also uphold the old treaties, especially the Treaty of Cnoc Maol Réidh, and are fiercely protective of all the Tribunal’s old traditions. Vigil encourages its magi to take wives, not for dynastic or political purposes but for the simple comfort of having a wife, the magi even clothing them in the Parma Magica to provide relief against The Gift.

Magi are also encouraged to bind a familiar and to make a talisman early so as to enjoy all the trappings of Hermetic life. Magi who visit Vigil with neither are subject to much well-meaning mockery. Outsiders may consider the magi of Vigil to be boastful, as all members construct winding tales of peril, adventure, and romance with themselves as the hero, often exaggerating the exploits of his familiar or the creation of his talisman.


The Covenant of Longmist

Season: Winter
Symbol: A Wolf Pelt
Cathach: The pelt of a Bjornaer Wolf

Few visitors come to this mist-shrouded valley in Hibernia’s northern Ulaid province, but it is home to faeries who live deep underground in the dark, giants, and an isolated and insular covenant of magi. Deep in Winter, the covenant of Longmist is dominated by two elder magi, one living at the top of the tower in the light and air, and the other in the cellars and cisterns amid the dark and the earth. Its magi live life according to a strict rule describing the structure of their days, their conduct, and even their studies. Despite this, Longmist is a conflicted covenant, bereft of leadership, and destined to fall in on itself; reprieve from Winter seems unlikely.

Longmist was built in a mist-shrouded valley between Lough Beagh and the smaller Lough Inshagh in Donegal in the province of Ulaid in Hibernia. The weather-ravaged hillsides surrounding the covenant support few trees, but there is some woodland by the shores of the nearby lakes. Winters are generally mild but wet, and summers pleasantly warm, though midges and other biting insects are an annoyance.

Longmist’s valley is typically obscured by a low-lying unnatural mist. In its early days, the covenant developed devices and spells to clear the mist, or to control it at will, allowing visitors a clear path. These have now either been lost or broken, and in any case the magi currently have no intention of making things easier for visitors. Buying supplies from nearby villages typically takes a long day’s round trip.

The main structure is a set of two intersecting oval courtyards with a four-story tower at their center. The outer walls were once plastered and whitewashed but these are now cracked, dirty, and flaking. The larger of the two courtyards has two large gates of iron latticework that once made for an impressive entrance. These have long been rusted shut and the two magical statues of warrior women that once hauled the gates open and shut have seized with them. The paved yard has a large fountain at its center, though the device that created the water has also failed.

Alongside the fountain is a bronze man. Larger than a natural man and understood to represent the Fir Bolg in their glory days, this apparent statue is dressed as a blacksmith and he stands looking out to the gates. Some say he has a wistful look upon his face. The courtyard is overgrown and the paving stones have risen, uneven with the roots and small plants that grow up between them. It is no longer the grand entrance and all manner of broken carts, barrels, crates, and sacks find themselves stored here under the numerous wooden sheds and shelters built against the walls.

A smaller courtyard at the rear of the tower, enclosed by a smaller wall, is now the functional entrance to the covenant. It was once used only by the covenant staff but since the failure of the magical gates, all visitors to the covenant must come through the humble wooden gates to this courtyard, which is littered with water troughs, chicken runs, and other signs of a working covenant.


Clan Mac Tire

Season: Spring
Symbol: Unknown
Cathach: None (Unofficial Covenant)

The nomadic Clan Mac Tire, a collection of seven Bjornaer magi, is Longmist’s enemy. The founder of their line was murdered and skinned to provide Longmist’s cathach and it is an insult that the clan’s current leader, Cú Chonnacht Cluasach Mac Tire, has vowed to put right. This unofficial covenant moves across Hibernia with the seasons, setting up their mobile laboratories in one of the many booley villages, collections of simple dwellings occupied for only a season or two before the occupants move on to the next booley.

The Clan makes what money it needs primarily from robbery, raiding, and in hiring its services to other magi and covenants. Their grogs are proficient enough thieves that they earn enough to pay for the provisions the covenant needs.

Given their itinerant lifestyle, the clan lacks the raw magical power they need, but they now control a large band of robbers and mercenaries, enough to challenge the faerie powers that guard the cathach on Longmist’s behalf. It will not be long before an assault is mounted
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:39, Sat 09 May 2020.

Current Population of the Order of Hermes

As a quick frame of reference this the current composition of the Order of Hermes throughout all of Europe.  Bear in mind this is unevenly distributed through the various Tribunals.



The approximate Hermetic population of Hibernia is ninety Magi.  This is unevenly dispersed amongst the Houses and does not include any of the Hedge Mages or the like that are not members of the Order.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:43, Mon 25 May 2020.