Guardians of the Forest Chapter Seven: The Lowlands

Holstein

Holstein consists of territory between the North Sea and the Baltic, where a number of new port towns are springing up. Bordering Denmark proper, it is under the control of the Danish king, Valdemar II “the Victorious” who conquered it in 1201. In 1214, Frederick II formally acknowledged Valdemar’s possession of Holstein and Pomerania, after he had supported his claim to the imperial throne. Erich, of the Danish house of Sven Estridson, administers the land as duke on behalf of Valdemar II.

If your saga follows real history, Valdemar II will be defeated by Adolf IV of Holstein in 1227, at which point Holstein and Pomerania will return to the Holy Roman Empire, Lübeck will be proclaimed a Free Imperial City, and Hamburg will have its Free status restored.

Schleswig

At the beginning of the 9th century, the Vikings established a major trading center here, by the fjord of the River Schlei, where the overland Baltic-North Sea crossing is at its shortest. Two hundred years later, a new fishing town grew up nearby on the north side of the Schlei, next to a Benedictine cloister dedicated to St. Johannis. Haithabu, the old Viking city, lies just a few miles away. All that remains are earthwork ramparts, burial mounds, and ghosts, if the locals are to be believed...

The Ash of Nortorf

• Infernal Might: 15 (with the potential to be 60)
• Personality Traits: Ambitious +2
• Special Powers: Grant Victory, Grant Virtue (Entrancement), Grant Virtue (Inspirational), Grant Virtue (Tough)

The small town of Nortorf in Holstein is unremarkable other than forming a meeting place for the roads to Schleswig, Lübeck, and Hamburg. Unremarkable, that is, except for a small ash seedling that sprouts in the churchyard of Nortorf. Every year, on New Year’s Night, a white horseman on a white horse cuts it down. A black horsemen on a black horse tries to prevent him, but is put to flight. It is prophesied that one day the black horseman will prevail, and the shoot will grow into a tree. When it is tall enough for a horse to be tied beneath it, a king will come with a mighty army and a terrible battle will be fought. The king will not be conquered if his horse remains under the tree during the fight, and fell powers will be granted him.

Story Seed: The White Horseman

Forces working on behalf of the black horsemen ensure that the characters hear of the ash at Nortorf, but not its prophecy. It is revealed that it will be a great source of vis once grown. Hopefully they will guard it on New Year’s Night, when the Divine white horseman comes to prevent the prophecy of doom taking place. If the characters fight him off, or even kill him, he never comes again, and evil has an inroad.

Hamburg

Since its founding at the beginning of the 9th century, Hamburg has had a violent history. It was first destroyed in 845 when a huge Viking fleet invaded up the estuary of the River Elbe. The Polish burned the city to the ground in 1030. Later that same century, Hamburg was raided twice by the Wends, at which point the city’s archbishop abandoned it, moving the see to Bremen instead. Fortunes improved in the 12th century, and in 1189 Frederick Barbarossa granted a tax and customs exemption for all goods brought by ship from sea and along the Elbe, proclaiming Hamburg a Free Imperial City. Since then the port has flourished, and Hamburg has grown into a sizeable city and trading center. However, it was occupied by Valdemar II in 1216, and currently owes its allegiance to the Danish crown.

Hamburg’s most famous archbishop (before the see moved to Bremen) was St. Ansgar, known as the Apostle of the North. In the middle of the 9th century, the holy man courageously and successfully undertook missionary activity in the northlands in the face of a Viking onslaught, founding many churches in northern Germany and Denmark, as well as the first ever church in Sweden. Ansgar died and was buried in Bremen in 865, after which the Vikings destroyed his Danish churches and Sweden reverted to paganism.

Lübeck

Lübeck is the most important coastal port in Germany, and one of its richest cities, acting as a hub of trade for the Baltic Sea. Although there had been older Wend settlements on the site, it was effectively founded in 1157 by the then duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion, who seized the site from the counts of Holstein after it was mostly destroyed in a fire. Henry developed Lübeck as a city with a harbor, established it as a bishopric, and did much to support trade. He also granted the city a number of special privileges, called the Statutes of Lübeck, meaning that it is run independently by a council of merchants, the leader of whom is named the Älderman. This council administers its own system of justice, and taxes are spent on great civic projects, of which Lübeck’s prosperous citizens are very proud. One such project is a great brick cathedral under construction at the southern tip of the city, which is due to be completed within a decade.

The city is located on an oval island at the mouth of the River Trave, surrounded by moat canals. The quayside is thronged with merchants’ counters and warehouses, behind which rise tidy brick townhouses, guilds, and other civic buildings. Furs, leather, timber, amber, and iron ore are imported from around the Baltic, and the city exports salt, spices, grain, herring, cloth, and metalware. Due to various fast days and the Church’s prohibition on the eating of meat on Fridays, fish is an important part of the German diet, and Lübeck has a profitable monopoly on the trade in herring. One of the driving factors for the close trade cooperation with Hamburg is that Lübeck requires salt for the preservation of its fish catch. The trade in salt, mined in Lüneburg, is controlled by Hamburg. Lübeck has a large fishing fleet, which operates in the fertile herring grounds off the Scanian coast (the southern tip of Sweden). As well having as many merchants and fishermen, Lübeck is home to skilled shipwrights and toolmakers.

Lübeck (and the covenant of Oculus Septentrionalis) is a common port of call for Redcaps on their way to the Novgorod Tribunal. The sea route is generally preferable: for example, the city of Novgorod can be reached in a few weeks by ship in relative safety (excepting the risks of storms or piracy), whereas the same journey overland would take months through mostly wilderness terrain with poor roads. The merchants of Lübeck have, since 1205, established a trade counter in Novgorod, where Oculus Septentrionalis maintains a contact.

Occulus Septentrionalis

Oculus Septentrionalis (“Eye of the North”) is a Summer covenant of mostly Jerbiton magi located in the city of Lübeck. Although they have relatively little Hermetic power, and mostly distance themselves from the rest of the Tribunal, they have a amassed a great deal of mundane wealth and influence in the city home into which they have seamlessly integrated themselves.

History

In 1144 AD, the Rhine Tribunal, at the urging of the Ash Gild, ruled that more information should be gathered about the Norse wizards in lands to the north of the Tribunal — the purported Order of Odin. To this end, Oculus Septentrionalis was formed and dedicated to investigating this potential threat. Uniquely, at the time of its founding, this covenant had no magi and no site, and its charter was written by senior magi of the Tribunal. (The Tribunal ruled that an initial site was not mandatory, and that a covenant need only consist of a number of magi bound by a charter.) Three magi, lead by Axior of House Flambeau, volunteered for membership, were given a grant of resources, and were instructed to find a suitable site in the north of the Tribunal.

In its first two decades, however, Oculus Septentrionalis remained a covenant in name only. At the Tribunal of 1158 it was revealed that, despite generous grants of books and vis, its magi had failed to fulfil their obligations according to the covenant’s charter, having neither established a site nor begun investigation of the Norse wizards, and still maintained their previous sancta at their former covenants. They were ruled to have failed in their duties, were fined three pawns of vis each, and were ordered to vacate their current sancta within a year, and establish a permanent site for the covenant before the following Tribunal. Two more magi of House Jerbiton decided to join the enterprise at this point. However, the then four members (one having since died) could not completely agree over the choice of site for their covenant. After two years, three of them established sancta in the new port city of Lübeck, on the Baltic coast. Axior, the nominal leader of the group and most martial of the magi, whose blatant magics disagreed with mundanes, found this intolerable. He split from the others, departing in search of an alternative site, and founded the covenant of Terschelling (later to become Waddenzee). His covenant quickly developed a rivalry with Oculus Septentrionalis.

Since then, the covenant’s magi have made little further progress with their original mission, showing scant interest in proactively investigating or combating the Norse wizards. Instead they have adopted an informal policy of peaceful contact and trade with any magically inclined folk of the northlands they encounter. Indeed, two such individuals have since married magi of the covenant. The only strong proponent of the original Ash philosophy was Axior, and he never even stayed in Lübeck. The remaining magi instead embraced the teaching of the new Apple Gild that arose in the middle of the 12th century, seeking a harmonious existence with the mundanes of their city. They were largely successful.

Crintera, their neighbor, to the east, has viewed Oculus Septentrionalis with considerable hostility from the start. Crintera’s worst fears were realized when Rügen was invaded by the Danes — they suspected Oculus Septentrionalis of aiding this attack. At the Tribunal of 1179, the then Primus of Bjornaer, the pugnacious Urgen, presented charges but failed to offer proof. Thwarted by the Tribunal, he instead resorted to a declaration of Wizard’s War against Oculus Septentrionalis’ leader, Prudentum of Jerbiton. Prudentum was hopelessly outmatched by Urgen and was rent apart by the great bear. The other magi hurried back to Lübeck licking their wounds, fearing outright destruction at the hands or claws of avenging Crintera magi. These fears later receded somewhat with the rise of the more moderate Falke to the leadership of Crintera — since then, the two covenants have simply ignored each other.

The Magestones of Verditius

At the time of the Order’s creation, the Founders Bonisagus and Verditius worked together to produce several breakthroughs. While he was learning the Hermetic magic, Verditius crafted a number of magestones with the appearance of fist-sized onyx pebbles. That they are imbued with a powerful Creo Vim effect is obvious, as they bear runes of these two Arts on either face. Each stone manifests a Magic aura of 3, large enough to cover a large room or laboratory. Verditius gifted his magestones to Bonisagus to help the growth of the nascent Order — at the time of their creation, he did not consider them to be extraordinary. Yet his technique was never incorporated into the Hermetic theory, and the instantiation of auras remains a fundamental limit — several magi since have tried to replicate the magestones, but none has succeeded, making them far more valuable than Verditius could ever have imagined. Their exact number is unknown, but those that remain are jealously guarded by Durenmar.

As an incentive to the newlyfounded covenant in 1144, Oculus Septentrionalis was secretly gifted with three of the magestones, so as to enable them to adapt to establishing a covenant in a site without an aura. The magi of the covenant now share the stones equally among themselves, so that they are able to work in a Magic aura in their labs for up to two seasons every year. Along with their mundane dealings, the possession of these items is one of the covenant’s cornerstones (and biggest secrets). Only the senior magi of Durenmar are also aware of their existence.

Setting and Physical Description

There is no single structure that houses the covenant, its magi being mostly dispersed among their own individual abodes. Instead, there are numerous properties that belong either to the covenant or its magi, including a number of opulent townhouses, warehouses, a shipyard, and a fleet of ships.

The townhouse of Henri de Tours (the covenant’s disceptator) and his family, being the largest and most impressive, serves as a common meeting point of sorts and is usually the first port of call for visitors to the covenant. It is a rather grand brick building in the new Lübeck (Baltic) style on a main street, the Holstenstrasse. The ground floor consists of a merchant’s shop and offices, where Henri conducts his business dealings, with a library and scriptorium above. The next floor up is a series of fabulously outfitted meeting rooms, a dining hall, and guest chambers, where visiting magi may be accommodated. Above that are the familial living quarters, with the three labs of Henri and his wife and daughter at the top.

The principal disadvantage of the covenant’s site is the lack of a Magic aura or any magical resources in the city itself. Indeed Lübeck has a typical Divine aura. However, the magi have demonstrated that it is possible to survive, flourish even, in an environment that most would consider unwelcoming to magic.

Culture and Traditions

Ever since the covenant settled in Lübeck, only magi with the Gentle Gift are permitted membership. This provision was added to their charter at the insistence of the Quaesitores. Discreet and subtle use of magic is something the magi take very seriously — they are known by the burghers of the city as either merchants, scholars, or craftsmen, but not as wizards. Oculus Septentrionalis is thus akin to a secret society within the city, which is kept carefully hidden from view. Visiting magi who exercise good judgement and who are reserved in revealing their magical natures are welcomed; those that do not very rapidly find themselves asked to leave.

Oculus Septentrionalis mostly keeps itself aloof from the politics of the Rhine Tribunal, except for the Apple Gild, of which they are one of the principal proponents — aside from Boris, the Redcap, all of them are members. Although the interests and activities of the magi are diverse, they all have other professions that are at least as important to them as their status as magi. Magic thus plays a rather limited role in the covenant; for example, most of the magi do not even bother with their Parma Magica on a daily basis. It is rare that they are seen casting spells, although this may in part be due to the fact that most have developed at least some ability with discreet spellcasting. Living apart from each other, the magi meet infrequently and hold council rarely, lending a somewhat conspiratorial or gossipy tone to the covenant’s internal politics.

One of the covenant’s perennial problems is a shortage of vis; they claim only a few sources, all of which are located a significant distance from Lübeck. Estrid, the seafaring magus of the covenant, is responsible for gathering vis from a number of sites around the Baltic. To help alleviate the shortage, Oculus Septentrionalis has come to a secret arrangement with the vis-rich Fengheld: in exchange for an annual tithe of a rook of vis, Oculus Septentrionalis sends a vast shipment every year to that covenant, consisting of luxuries and precious goods, and more than a hundred pounds of silver. With the vast mundane wealth they have accumulated — which may even surpass that of all the other Rhine covenants put together — they can easily afford this. The covenant has a good-sized library, although it is no match for Fengheld or Triamore, let alone the Great Library. Unsurprisingly, it consists mostly of mundane tomes; the best Hermetic texts cover Rego, Mentem, Imaginem, and Corpus.

With the new leadership of Waddenzee, the animosity between the two covenants has worsened into outright enmity. The magi of Oculus Septentrionalis are dismayed and outraged by Waddenzee’s acts of blatant piracy, which have caused the loss of more than one of their ships and numerous cargoes (both mundane and magical). These conflicts are just a symptom of the deep-seated mistrust and philosophical differences between the two covenants. A major goal of Oculus Septentrionalis is thus to see the end of Waddenzee. As they lack either the martial or magical power to defeat them directly, they are left with only two means: either by rule of the Tribunal or by secretly inducing a counterattack by a mundane army against the pirates. They have made attempts at Tribunal already, but have secured no major censure of Waddenzee to date, having yet to provide concrete proof. In this they are somewhat hamstrung by their own desire to avoid attracting unwanted interest from the Quaesitores, who would surely take great interest in the exact extent of their mundane dealings, if they were ever fully revealed.

Recently the magus Theoderich of House Jerbiton has quit the covenant to join in the founding of Heorot in Denmark. However, he remains well-disposed towards his former home.

Convenfolk

In contrast to the virtual army commanded by Waddenzee, Oculus Septentrionalis has no turb as such. Living in a naturally well-defended city, there is no need, and in any case, a large group of independently minded soldiers would not In contrast to the virtual army commanded by Waddenzee, Oculus Septentrionalis has no turb as such. Living in a naturally well-defended city, there is no need, and in any case, a large group of independently minded soldiers would not.

The Giant’s Grave

Hidden in the Everstorf Forest to the north of Schwerin lies a rectangular bed of many large stones, 40 yards long and 10 yards wide. Here there used to live a giant who would terrorize the peasants of Naschendorf by stealing their cattle and trampling their crops. One day the farmers found the giant asleep and resolved to trap him. They gathered up their tools and dug a huge, deep grave beside him. The giant was rolled in and covered with earth. So that he could not escape, the giant’s wife dragged many stone blocks with her apron and covered over the grave. The giant suffocated and the villagers could thereafter live in peace. The giant-wife was never heard from again.

Rostock

Rostock is an expanding trading town and important port of the Baltic Sea, although somewhat overshadowed by its neighbor Lübeck. Rostock is the chief town of a dynasty of Sorbian princes, who are named after the Mecklenburg (castle), their chief seat which is situated between Lübeck and Rostock, a short distance inland north of Schwerin. Prior to the invasion of the Danish king, the family of Mecklenburg and the region they ruled were dedicated to the worship of Radegast, whose cult center was at Rethra. However, in 1161 the town was burned by Valdemar I and the pagans were driven out into the surrounding countryside. Rostock is now occupied mainly by Germans and the Mecklenburg family have now accepted Christianity and sworn allegiance to the emperor, hoping to gain his support to retake their ancestral lands.

Story Seeds

The Dark Jerbiton

The exact extent of the dark side of Imanitos Mendax in your saga is for you to decide. For instance, he may simply be a somewhat amoral magus who poses no real harm beyond his devious moneymaking schemes. On the other hand, if you choose to introduce diabolic wizards into your saga, Imanitos makes an excellent candidate for a dark magus. Furthermore, if you use the saga plot Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, he fits as one of the principal servants of the demon Radegast, who seeks to corrupt the new Baltic towns. Imanitos does not match the typical diabolist stereotype, at least in appearance, but a fair-seeming servant is actually a far more effective and valuable pawn than an obvious monster. Apprenticed at the powerful covenant of Doissetep in the Provencal Tribunal before being sent to the Rhine to take his gild training and Gauntlet, he might belong to a small and highly secret lineage of dark Jerbiton. Where other dark lineages have been uncovered and exterminated, this handful of tainted magi survives, and flourishes, due to their extreme subtlety and feigned preference for the mundane over the occult.

There are several ways in which Imanitos can act to spread corruption, both among magi and mundanes. Important persons of Lübeck are corrupted by visits to the Goldenes Kalb, sowing a dark seed at the heart of the future Hanseatic League. He might replace his covenant’s precious magestones with infernally tainted duplicates gifted by his master, with the aim of slowly corrupting all the magi with greed while they work in their labs. The magi of Waddenzee are similarly vulnerable. Their theft of Hermetic books may have been engineered, and these tomes tainted. For example, Lucas von Beck might unknowingly use black knowledge in his study of necromancy. Only Hachim may have the wisdom to prevent his covenant’s fall into greed and darkness. Imanitos can accomplish much with the use of summoned demons of low Might, which are (relatively) easy to control. Astasians, tiny messenger-demons, can be used to communicate with his subordinates and the magi of Waddenzee; they may simply be presumed to be “airy spirits.” Other minor demons under his dominion may specialize in thievery, espionage, or lust.

The Genesis of the League

The location of Oculus Septentrionalis in the city that happens to father the Hanseatic League is unlikely to be coincidence! The exact extent of the covenant’s involvement is for you to decide in your saga. Henri de Tours, a skilled diplomat and famous merchant, may play a leading role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Lübeck and Hamburg. The League may even be the conception of the covenant itself, with Henri rising to become the Älderman. Alternatively, the magi may prefer to take a more backseat role. In any case, it is likely that Oculus Septentrionalis will be in a position to accumulate unheard-of levels of wealth. However, as their fortune grows, so too does the probable disfavor of the Quaesitores and the risk of a detailed investigation. Should these dealings be revealed at Tribunal, the magi may try to offer huge bribes to other covenants in an attempt to avoid censure.

The Prophet of Radegast

The Mecklenburgs pay only lipservice to the Church; they remain true to the god of their ancestors, Radegast. His patronage has served them well, and their secret worship has granted them powers normally denied to man. Recently, a “prophet of Radegast” has made himself known to them; this is actually Imanitos Mendax of Oculus Septentrionalis, who has a place in his schemes for these powerful nobles with a dark secret.