1217 has just ended. It is April 2, just barely into 1218. Nearly two dozen young magi, some of whom are only about to presumably pass their gauntlets, have streamed into the grand hall at Harco. There is plenty of food set about on tables and the room is decorated with early spring flowers, making this look like a banquet. But there is also parchment set on the table surrounded by many chairs, making this look like a meeting of Guernicas or Bonisagus magi.

One older magus keeps an eye out as the various journeymen magi and senior apprentices arrive, not talking to anyone. Bits of gray in his beard and speckling his head reveal a significant age since he must surely be under a Longevity Ritual. Once he has counted who has arrived, he taps the floor repeatedly with his staff until he has everyone's attention. There is nothing extraordinary about the tapping, just that he is persistent and a hush slowly spreads over the crowd.

"Greetings, everyone. I am Alexios ex Guernicas, and I have been tasked to instruct you on what to do in preparation for your great venture. As you all know, the Order has decided expansion into Africa should be done. There is a great amount of space there, bound to have vis and Gifted children. To maintain neutrality between the current Tribunals, ideally a new Tribunal will be created. As more senior magi are busy training apprentices and doing research, and they have established laboratories they are loath to relinquish, over the past year you have all been recruited to settle Africa. The five Redcaps among you have searched and found a number of locations they think you will find suitable for establishing covenants.

"Until one year after the next Grand Tribunal, none of you will be considered orbus for not being a member of a Tribunal. Your representatives shall present themselves at that Grand Tribunal. If you have sufficient numbers and present yourselves well, you will officially form a new Tribunal at that point. If not, any existing covenants will be absorbed into nearby Tribunals. Until then, you should conduct yourselves as a Tribunal to prove the viability of a Tribunal there.

"After the Redcaps have described the locations they have found, you will meet amongst yourselves to determine who will settle where, how your Tribunal will make decisions, and the like. Brontion ex Guernicus will be your Quaesitor and see that everything is conducted properly. In one year you will meet here or in Africa as you decide and begin to settle Africa. I now leave you in the hands of Benedict, Giovanni, Qais el-Sarwar, Tallak Thorstennson, and Tello. Enjoy the food, and good fortune in your venture."

With that he promptly walks for the doors and departs, determined but not in a rush. The doors close behind him, leaving 21 of you together in the room with no one else.

You'll want to introduce yourselves as you were one year ago. So, if you're starting right out of gauntlet, you'll be an apprentice introducing yourself. If you're starting one year out, then you just passed your gauntlet. If you're starting more years out, then you have a little bit of time as a magus under your belt. Feel free to doing some mingling stuff, and that mingling can by asynchronous with the rest of the discussion.

The locations the Redcaps describe are the ones you've settled on already. As we've already organized who is going where, we can assume that gets done after the Redcaps describe the locations. So we can proceed onward to establishing some norms for the Tribunal in-character.

By habit, Leander stands near the back of the room. He looms over most of those gathered here. Unlike most magi, he wears warrior's garb including mail. His wolf fur cloak and massive warhammer lend him a barbaric air.

He listens to the older magus carefully and takes note of those indicated to be Redcaps. Once the magus has left, he looks over the assembled crowd. "What have you discovered?" he asks.

A young magus with his head shaved bald and his beard grown into a neat goatee hurriedly drops a chunk of cheese that he was eating and awkwardly stands as the senior Quaesitor says his name. But the magus has already moved on to introducing the Redcaps by the time he gets to his feet. So he just stands through the rest of the speech and waves at everyone using a large bronze gauntlet on his left hand and he speaks with a distinct Spanish accent "Greetings sodales, I am Brontius ex Guernicus if you have any legal concerns in the years ahead I will be pleased to offer assistance." he blushes a bit and coughs into his gauntlet "At the moment however I am unable to pass judgements. But I assure you all that my Gauntlet will be a formality and by the time we set off I will be a recognized Quaesitor in good standing."

Silence hangs for a moment before he realizes that he must have cut off the Redcaps' explanations of the sites with his speech and yields the floor. "Yes, gentlemen what have you discovered about our homeland to be?"

Standing next to Leander is another of impressive stature.   Andre is just over 7 foot tall, appearing very muscular and athletic.
      ( ... which is about a foot shorter than Leander, and Andre is not quite as densely muscular)
He looks like a man who has spent his life in the harsh outdoors, fighting a lot (if the scars suggest anything).

Like his companion, he wears warrior's garb:  in his case, leather armours accompanied by a hefty axe at his side, shield slung across his back, and several hunting/killing daggers.

He has made the effort to bath, and clean himself up: but he still looks like a wild man.

He remains quiet, though.



Now, I have given Andre the 'Hedge Wizard' Repution (-3 among the Order).
It is said that he is pretty much a 'big dumb lug', who happened to have been born with the Gift, and was trained more for the academic curiosity than for any real purpose.  It is known that he cannot cast Spontaneous Magic, and his Formulaic portfolio is 'limited'.
Most in the Order consider him a joke.

Please do feel free to have your character (this is NPC's also, GM) recognise him for this ... and treat him accordingly.  I will not take offence at anyone holding against Andre the Flaws I have given him.
He might, but that will be IC ... OOC I will not.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:37, Thu 11 Mar 2021.

Macrinus is going for a second helping of food. Some of the food has gotten into his black beard. He's wearing simple robes. Some may have noticed that he disappeared at sundown and came back wearing something else.

Black hair, brown eyes, and the black hair on his head seems to be thick, all over his body, even on his hands. He's looking carefully at all the magi.

He pours wine into a goblet, or at least tries, with a fair amount spilling on the table. Frowning, he sets the decanter back down, only to see it slip, and he just barely moves his body to block it from from sliding off the table.  He hears Brontion speak, but is occupied, and looks back from the table trying to figure out who spoke. Shrugging, he takes a deep gulp of his wine, and goes back to his seat to eat some more.

An average looking man, with mostly nondescript features, and brown clothes stands a bit to the side of those assembled. The only odd things about him are a necklace sporting a feather (An eagle's feather if anyone has some survival), and a strange tattoo on his neck, marking him as a Criamon.

For now, he's content to just hear the Redcaps, as he knows that even as a Magus, his social skills aren't developed. He does feel relieved knowing there's gonna be a Guernicus, but the two military-looking Magi set him a bit on edge. He's been bullied too much as a kid to like bullies, or apparent bullies. Hopefully, those two wouldn't want to be in the same covenant as himself.

From among the men Alexios ex Guernicas pointed out as Redcaps a young red headed man steps forward. His long red hair and braided beard makes him stand out as a northerner. He is dressed in fairly simple clothing and makes a small cough to get everyones attention.

Greetings all.
Some of you know me already, but most of you do not. I am Tallak Thorstennson and I had my apprenticeship under Thomasin ex Mercere of Venti Rosa in the Levant tribunal. I spent my last year as an apprentice traveling the lands along the Nile looking for things that could be of interest in this grand venture.

This has been a group effort done with the backing from House Mercere and we have to the best of our ability scouted the northern part of Africa. We have found magical creatures, regios, hedge wizards, Roman ruins and several sites with auras suitable for establishing covenants.

Now, the area we have surveyed is large. Of the established tribunals only the vast wilderness of Novgorod might rival this area, and while all our findings have been recorded in the books of House Mercere it might be easier if you present us with specifics you are looking for than us boring you with a lengthy and tedious session of us reading our notes.

So if I might suggest that you talk a bit among yourselves, find out who, if anyone, shares your interests in hermetic research and fields of magic and then let us know what you are looking for. We’ll stick our heads together and then give a presentation of the sites we think are most suited to your needs.

Does this sound agreable?

He then looks at his fellow redcaps and notices Benedict frowning as if he does not agree with this at all.
Tallak steps back and yields the floor.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:09, Thu 11 Mar 2021.

One of the redcaps seated near Tallak, a slightly older man with a huge mane of blond hair and a massive beard, shakes his head.  He rises, and says to the other man, "Forgive me, Tallak, but I think these proceedings will go more quickly if we give brief synopses of the sites we found.  Then whichever peak the interest of a few of the magi here, will prompt the formation of groups and we can give them more details."

He turns to the assembled magi.  "I'm Benedict, by the way.  I don't know how much you all know about the general geography of Africa, but you should be aware that there's a lot of desert.  Civilization crops up in the places where there's water, inland, and at seemingly random points along the mediterranean coast.

Anyway, I found a few sites that might be of interest.  I have a bit of a knack for sniffing out regios.  The first one wasn't a regio, but a magical aura deep in the eastern mountains, around a cave.  The place was crawling with ghosts, so I didn't delve deep, but it's there, and might be well-suited to some of you.

I also found an old Roman road that formed into a regio heading south, from the coast deep inland, it ended up in a quite idyllic valley, full of strange creatures and strange people.

I found a fascinating regio in Alexandria, also, where the ancient library was preserved in a way, and there is an excellent location safely buried in the city there.

The last place I looked was down south of Alexandria.  If you travel south in Egypt, you'll find there are hundred and hundreds of tombs.  Most of them are magically active.  They're also quite well protected, with both magical defenses and mundane traps.  They might be suitable for a covenant, with a little effort to... co-opt the defenses.

Well, that's all I have, and my throat is dry."

He abruptly sits down, and takes a long drink of wine.

OOC:  Only one of those is an actual covenant location (Alexandria) the others are story hooks.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:45, Thu 11 Mar 2021.

Tello grunts and nods approvingly towards Benedict. The bald huge man stands up and looks over the room with his single piercing eye before speaking. As he shifts his position the light of the room clearly illuminates the scare disfiguring his otherwise plain face.

“The western region is much the same as the Easter. Ruins from the Roman era scatters the land. Beast and Hedge Wizard gather in isolated areas, especially in the mountains and desert. The further from the familiar Mediterranean you travel the more alien the landscape become. “

Tello’s Latin is rather poor, but he seems to quite pleased with his recounts and after a short break he begins anew.

“For potential covenant sites these Roman ruins make for excellent bases. Two well-preserved ancient cities with potent magical auras can be found in the Maghreb. Tiddis and Timgad.

Tiddis has an especially powerful aura but it has drawn the attention of various hedge magicians to its area, fighting about its resources might become unavoidable. There seem to be a regio as well but how to gain access to it has not yet too been found out.

Timgad is more isolated but the size of the ruin is incredible. Its further from civilization and further south, bordering on the desert. “

Tello looks at the other Recaps and sits down again, not realizing that he completely forgot to introduce himself. Following Benedict example, he helps himself to some wine.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:36, Thu 11 Mar 2021.

In reply to Tello of Mercere (msg # 9):

As Tello finishes his speech, another Magus rises to address the crowd.  He is tallish, although not on the scale of Leander or Andre, but spare, with dark hair, and a jutting beard.  His clothing, though of fine cloth and well made, is simple and unadorned, marking him out as an apprentice, a notion confirmed by his relative youth.  His air, however is of supreme confidence, and would be easily confused with arrogance, if not for the open affability that marks his expression.

Salve, sodales!, he begins.  It is good to see so many brothers and sisters ready to take up the challenge of a new land.  I am Iapetus, of Tytalus, and I am glad to hear our Mercere friends speak of the scope of our new home.  It is my hope that together, we will find the opportunity to pursue our interests free of the haggling and bickering that so often compromises older . . . He pauses, and then gives a wry smile, I should say, "more established" tribunals.

Iaptus turns towards Tello, Benedict, and Tallak, and fixes them with a piercing gaze.  I want to thank you, on behalf of all of us, for these early labours on behalf of our Tribunal.  Many of the sites you describe sound fascinating, and seem like a good match for our more adventurous friends.  He gives Leander's hulking form an appraising glance.  I must confess, however, that I am not yet willing to entirely forgo some connection to this more familiar world.  The ruins of which you speak are intriguing; were any such sites found near the coast?

OOC:  On a completely personal level, wanted to say I am ridiculously stoked that this game is now rolling.  Haven't played Ars in ages, and have never played on this scale.  Kudos to Alpha and pulling it together, and really looking forward to making it work with the rest of you.

In reply to Iapetus of Rennes, Magus of Tytalus (msg # 10):

In contrast with his demeanor, and somewhat as a surprise even to himself, Arnaldo speaks out: If our dear sodale of Tytalus would oblige, I, for one, would prefer to hear from our Mercere sodales about all the locations they have found, so we can all find locations suitable for us. Unless, that is, he has ventured there himself, and would like to add another croak, or two.

In reply to Arnaldo ex Criamon (msg # 11):

Iapetus gives Arnaldo a quizzical look.  Indeed, brother.  I just finished asking our esteemed Mercere colleagues to give us more information about precisely such sites.

A look of exaggerated concern, and sudden understanding, crosses Iapetus' face.  But, then, I have heard that many of House Criamon struggle with understanding such simple matters of mundane reality, caught as they are in their dreams and visions.  Do not worry brother - we will all speak slowly, and repeat ourselves as many times as necessary, until you understand.  Your afflictions are no cause for shame.

Turning back to the Mercere, Iapetus waves his hand in a gracious gesture.  Please, brothers, tell us more.

A young Redcap steps forward. He is distinguished only by his red hat, otherwise he looks like a traveling merchant. With Dark hair and eyes, he could be Sicilian, or even Arabic. He speaks in almost un-accented Latin.

Salve Sodales! I am Giovanni of Mercere. In responding to young Iapetus, there are sites along the coast, as well as those further inland. The cities of Tripoli and Tunis both have thriving markets where all manner of exotic goods may be procured. While the unwashed throngs are "distracting" to the more studious, they are good locations to learn of all that North Africa has to offer. The few auras available in these metropolitan areas are small and weak though.

There is a location, on the coast itself, that is far enough away from the cities to have a stronger magical aura. That place is Cap Bon, an old Roman quarry site. House Mercere is interested in the site, due to the mixture of isolation, and proximity to the Tunis and Tripoli trading centers. It was found by reference to old Roman records, kept by my house. From the legends, and my explorations, it appears to contain a regio, near a sea cave with access to the Mediterranean. I suspect that there is a hidden harbor, within the regio, which would make it perfect for clandestine trade with Harco, and the Italian Trading cities, of course.

I have already suggested this site to Harco, as a potential site for a Mercere Chapterhouse. The presence of full Magi, would be welcome, of course.

The same Roman records showed the presence of numerous Roman Empire era ruins throughout the desert. Sadly, may of the auras there lack a source of water. They are numerous, and worth exploring, but permanent settlement without water would be difficult, in the extreme desert conditions. There was a site, in the deep desert, which was explored by our friend Qais el-Sarwar. It has water, a small oasis, but he can best describe it.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:30, Thu 11 Mar 2021.

Apart from the other magi, there's a dark skinned, tatooed young man. He clearly have some Arabic lineage and from the way he speaks he's clearly from Andalusia. The man is listening very carefully to Giovanni that was going through the locations he found in his explorations.

He tries not to attract attention and doesn't speak so much, at least not aloud.

Salve Sodales! I am Imad al-Din Baqir from Andalusia. says Baqir in a very low voice.
I was wondering if any of the Redcaps have dealt with particular hedge traditions in the eastern part of your explorations. I understood that there are a lot of Roman Ruins in many sites but I was interested in more eastern traditions. Have you found any signs of the legendary Sahirs?, he keeps saying this in a low voice trying to catch the attention of Giovanni with his eyes.

Without waiting for an answer, he quietly goes to get some food.

As Andre, Baqir has Hedge Reputation (-3), he's coming from a covenant of hermetic sahirs and there's a well known feud between Flambeau and Sahirs.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:26, Thu 11 Mar 2021.

Brontion perks up again at that "Yes, I've given it a bit of thought and It seems to me that stationing myself on the eastern fringe of the tribunal would be best, as disagreements with our sodales in the Levant will no doubt crop up."

Adressing the room again "I realize this may seem to make it difficult for many of you to contact me but rest assured I have practiced that art of teleportation extensively and should be able to make it to any of you in a days time once word reaches me. Transportation magic should feature heavily in all of our grimoires our good friends in Mercere have understated maters. I am no expert in cartography but the maps here seem to show that our Tribunal is nearly as large as all of the holdings of the Order combined!" The first bit smacks of boastfulness but the area is truly vast.

A young man, with a thick black beard and hair, with bright green eyes, in a nondescript black robe, speaks up.

Salve Sodales, I am known as Jaegar of Merinita. I am very interested in what Qais el-Sarwar has to say about the deep desert. While I agree with Brontion that much travel will be involved in our new homes, this should not be a problem for us. After all, we are mages. The effect this will have on those who serve us in our new homes, may be quite severe. Jaegar gives off a confident air, and has a bit of the arrogance of the newly gauntleted. There is also a bit of the predator shining through his very green eyes.

He glances at the feather around the Criamon's neck, and gives off a toothy grin. He appears to be trying to be friendly, but that isn't the feeling he gives off. He grins even wider at the two huge mages in their midst. We have a very interesting group here. Once we settle in, visiting all may be in order.

He then goes over and starts eating.

OOC: In a mix of the newly gauntleted and apprentices, where we are just meeting each other, there should be some interesting interactions. The gauntleted having their parma up and not irritating each other, the apprentices being with numerous unknown mages with the gift or blatant gift.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:57, Thu 11 Mar 2021.

A beautiful woman of clearly origins around the Mediterranean leans heavily on her walking staff. The combination of her apparent frailty and being so near to giving birth makes it a wonder the staff is even enough. Despite her frailty, she has an especially youthful glow about her. Her fine dress and impeccably done hair, nails, etc. add to her aura.

Initially she is focused on one Redcap in particular: Qais. In her slow method, she makes her way over to him right away. She smiles at him and says, "Feel. He grows strong," while placing his hand on her belly. She spends a little time speaking quietly with him, though she is happy and welcoming to others who may come up to her.

When the Guernicus magus taps the floor she eases herself into a seat at the table, not being able to bend so freely. She listens to him quietly and remains silent until after the Redcaps have spoken their bit. When everyone is introducing themselves she says, "I am Hajja al-Kahina Zahrah min bayt Miscellanea bint Mahmud. You may call me Zahrah. The sounds of Roman ruins interest me, and I would be happy to live in my homeland of Egypt. When you need, I will start producing Longevity Rituals soon after I have my laboratories set up wherever they end up."

A young, dark woman, likely darker than many of you have ever seen wears the head coverings of a Greek orthodox woman. Perhaps in her mid-twenties, perhaps younger. She quietly eats but seems to watch everything, almost looking through the people when she stares at them. She is smiling when not eating but says nothing beyond polite, almost abasing, apologies when she gets in someone's way or as she gets out of it. Her attention shoots towards the redcap speaking when the site with a variety of hedge traditions around it is mentioned.

OOC: Salma would like to Comprehend Magic on folks who have identified themselves as apprentices. Not sure how you would like to work this, it's quite a few of us.

At the mentioning of Egypt Tallak steps forward again. He glances quickly at Benedict as if silently asking for permission to talk again, but speaks up before any reaction can be seen.

If you hail from Egypt I can tell you about another site that might interest you, and maybe also Brontion as it is the easternmost one I have found. On the eastern site of the Nile delta, where the city of Pelusium stood before Baldwin of Jerusalem razed it a hundred years ago I found the ruins of a Roman Temple with a strong aura. I stayed the night at the ruins and it gave me a bad feeling, but  merchants I talked to claimed the site was safe and that they sometimes stopped there on their way through the area.

He then pauses a short time, then gestures towards Brontion and continues.

Our Quaesitor to be makes an excellent point about the distances of North Africa. From the Western border of the Levant tribunal and to Tunis and Carthage there are over a thousand roman leagues, and to the westeern reaches of the Mediteranian there is more than half that distance again.

From my experiences with the Venti Rosa caravan in the Levant I’d say that travelling that distance without magical aid would take more than a season even if you’d experience no delays due to bad weather and the like. While we redcaps might not be able to travel from one side of Africa to the other in the blink of an eye like Brontion, rest assured that we will be able to visit all covenants on a regular basis and if need be we can get messages from one covenant to another in a very short time.

Tallak then steps back into the line of redcaps, and makes his way along the wall towards teh tables with food.

Qais is a dark and swarthy man, wiry and athletic. His skin is prematurely wrinkled from too much sun... or perhaps something else. Piercing eyes of a bright green seem to judge everything in their path.

When Zahrah approaches Qais' eyes soften and he smiles, at the woman, then at her belly. It is an almost sinister smile, hiding malice, but if you look at his eyes you can tell it is genuine. "I am so happy to see  you again Zahrah." He hugs her then overly gently touches his hand and feels the baby moving inside. The smile widens but doesn't lose that sense of threat. "When are you likely to give birth? If soon I am sure a midwife can be arranged here at Harco so you have no need to travel back to The Levant in this state." Any who approach them his demeanor seems to speak of defending her and the child she carries with his life though he does not move to overtly threaten anyone. And at the Guernicus' insistent tapping, after pulling out the chair for her, sits in the next chair.

---

During the other Redcap's speeches he seems distracted and keeps offering to get Zahrah what she needs, in fact getting her a second plate that was not asked for and likely was not wanted.

Noticing Tallak finishing he stands and in a quiet voice that carries, making those furthest away beg for silence and lean in. There seems to be some haughtiness and disdain in his voice, "I am Qais. I have spent the last few years searching for sites for you... for this venture. The deep desert is not a hospitable place and many of you," looking around with more than a little disdain in his eyes, "will not be able to survive in the harsh wastes. I know you believe you can overcome anything, as Magi, but even you great ones can succumb to the trials of the sun and the sea of sand. Should a group of you decide to find your Covenant there I will go with... for your safety." He stands a bit taller and in a louder, more practiced voice begins again, "In addition to the strange regio that leads to a fertile valley that has already been mentioned there is a site with an aura, not of the strengths of most of the others we have found and listed for you, near the Ghadame Oasis, a bustling trade post and a rare place in the desert touched by Allah. But likely of more interest would be a site with a vast and strong aura near the ruins of what the legends I heard call Garama. There is water there, a watering hole used by the beasts. Cliffs with caves that I was unable to reach. Nearby there is a Regio that bears signs of the influence of djinn and ghuls and other desert fae. A roman temple was built in this city of necromancer god-kings... but even they succumbed to the desert, eventually. And with that Qais sits.

In reply to Qais el-Sarwar (msg # 20):

Arnaldo perks up at the mention of a vast Aura, and seems undeterred by it being in the deep desert. He envisioned a place where he could raide and breed magical eagles, and other birds of prey, and a remote location, with a vast aura, was the perfect fit for this endeavor.

He would make his way to Qais, and would speak to him in Latin "A pleasure to meet you Qais, and am eager to hear more about this location in the deep desert, the one in the city of the necromancer-kings."

In reply to Arnaldo ex Criamon (msg # 21):

Qais eyes Arnaldo disapprovingly. "It is a rather interesting site. Perhaps we should see if any others' interests have been sparked as well. The Broth is cooking and now we must act as one."

OOC: I hope that's a suitably absurd yet applicable Bedouin proverb, least the internet tells me it is.