Blackthorn

Blackthorn is a famous covenant in Wales, in the Stonehenge Tribunal. It is politically powerful and has a rich history. In Ars Magica canon, Blackthorn is a covenant of rather malevolent magi clearly intended to serve as adversaries in your Saga.

Blackthorn in Fifth Edition

There is no Fifth Edition sourcebook dealing explicitly with the Stonehenge Tribunal, so there is no official treatment of Blackthorn in Fifth Edition. Heirs to Merlin should be compatible but is no longer considered canonical because Fifth Edition broke continuity with past editions.

HoHTL briefly mentions but does not name a large Tremere covenant in the Stonehenge Tribunal, which is consistent with the way Blackthorn was portrayed in past editions.

Blackthorn in Fourth Edition

Blackthorn was founded by House Tremere in 818, immediately after the British Isles were incorporated into the Order of Hermes. It has several Tremere members but includes a few magi from other Houses as well.

Heirs to Merlin reiterates the information, originally printed in Order of Hermes for Second Edition, that Blackthorn conquered Tagelyn covenant with mundane aid.

Blackthorn in Second Edition

Blackthorn is mentioned in Order of Hermes as an enemy of the covenant Ashenrise. In the twelfth century, Blackthorn founded the covenant of Tagelyn as a satellite, only to later attack and take over its prime location in a cave complex in Wales. Blackthorn allied with a mundane army for the attack, in which several grogs and a magus of Tagelyn were slain. Blackthorn got away with this blatant violation of the Code of Hermes because it politically controls the Stonehenge Tribunal.