Faith & Flame - The Provençal Tribunal Chapter Five: Gascony

Castra Solis

Symbol: A flaming yellow sun

When the Christian wizard known only as Kaeso joined House Flambeau in 809, his base of power was an ancient underground temple to Mithras in the hills along the river Garonne. He and many of his followers lived nearby throughout the early years of Hermetic history, though Kaeso attended Tribunal as a member of Val-Negra, and spent most of his time after joining the Order of Hermes in the Pyrenees with his master Apromor and the Founder Flambeau. There, under their guidance, Kaeso established an elite group of soldier-magi known as the Hoplites, originally named for their simple tactic of casting Pilum of Fire from behind a mighty Parma Magica.

Kaeso and his Hoplites sharpened their spears fighting against the sahirs of Iberia, joining others to take over for the Founder in 820. However, perhaps because of the creation of House Ex Miscellanea in the intervening years, this next generation of Flambeau warriors popularized the phrase “Join or Die,” with emphasis on “Join.” The First Hoplite, the merciful Kaeso, brought many former enemies over into House Flambeau. At some point during these years, Kaeso initiated into the inner circle of the Legion of Mithras, and so most of the other Hoplites and many of his new followers also joined the cult.

Between 840 and 850, attacks on local villages increased, and certain isolated magi living in the interior of Gascony complained at Tribunal. By 850, the Flambeau magi of the region incorrectly believed that the so-called Order of Odin had reignited a war through the sudden series of raids on the western coast. They mistook the individual vitkir supporting their clans and relatives for members of a larger organization, all sharing an aggressive and unified vision, finding an enemy where there were merely raiders. Wrongly convinced of the scope of this danger, Kaeso returned to Bordeaux to fortify his temple with the full support of House Flambeau and his Hoplites. He established this new military base as a covenant called Castra Solis, or “encampment of the sun,” adopting as its symbol the image of the sun quartered into four parts.

With little time for the Hermetic cohort to do more than prepare quick magical fortifications and throw together hurried structures, Bordeaux fell to the northern pagans two years later, and they now held the city. For the next five years, the Hoplites tried to decisively end the war with sheer force. However, in those early days of the Order, the limits of the Oath in regards to meddling with mundanes had not been thoroughly tested. The Flambeau were wary of attacking anyone but the rival magicians and those of their followers who were clearly their enemies. Setting fire to the occupied city, for example, was out of the question. Unfortunately, the wily rune wizards amongst the vikings were very accomplished at setting traps and ambushing the magi, killing many Hoplites in early snares, including Kaeso.

In 855, the remaining Flambeau magi decided that a counterstrike against the invaders required a more secure base. Bordeaux’s proximity to the front lines demanded that they establish a fortified covenant further north in Anjou, known as Sinapis. Castra Solis remained a mobile collection of tents, from which the Flambeau magi could strike quickly, but Sinapis became a more traditional Hermetic stronghold. To outsiders, Castra Solis appeared to be an extension of Sinapis, rather than the other way around.

The supposed war of magi versus vitkir in southern France smoldered more than 120 years, although the mundanes chronicled it as a series of raids, rather than an established occupying force. At the Grand Tribunal of 997, the Hoplites announced the eradication of the vikings from the Tribunal. In summary, they reported that the rune wizards and their Danish troops established three significant settlements on the coast, and all three were burned to the ground. Meanwhile, the Hoplites established many outposts for seeking out the rune wizards, where they cast an Aegis of the Hearth to create a safe place from which to fight. Some of these redoubts later became full-fledged covenants, although their wartime origins left them considered extensions of Castra Solis. One such example is the tower at Mimizan.

The idea of Hoplites as elite fighting magi specialized in dealing with other wizards became widespread during these battles, and they soon spread outside of the West Frankish and Iberian Tribunals. They also ceased to be primarily associated with the veneration of Mithras, although many of them continued to be. These many years of battle brought magi from several other Houses into the ranks of the Hoplites, so they were no longer exclusively considered a division of House Flambeau. Many of these recruits were powerful magi from Houses Tremere and Guernicus, but also included a few outliers such as a particularly influential Greek maga of House Merinita. Although they were especially affected by the attacks, and in fact lost several of their members in raids by the invaders, the magi of House Diedne did not participate in the war. The growing piety of the Mithraeans at Castra Solis during the many years of fighting “the pagans,” as the invaders were called, caused the Diedne to feel they could not join without betraying their religious strictures. This probably increased the suspicion prominent Hoplites harbored for the Diedne; regardless, the Schism War began only a few years later.

In the opening salvo of hostilities, Diedne saboteurs compromised Val-Negra after capturing the Mercere Portal network at Harco, beginning a fearsome assault. The Flambeau Primus, himself a Hoplite of some distinction during the previous war, returned to Castra Solis to command the House’s efforts, seemingly abandoning Val-Negra. Even many years after its foundation, Castra Solis was still more military camp than covenant, and a perfect location from which to coordinate strikes against the many covenants they had spent the last century defending. Most of the Gascon Diedne fled, abandoning their sites and in many cases setting them afire before they could be taken by their former sodales.

For the first time since the founding of the Order, Castra Solis experienced a period of rest and recovery after the Diedne’s defeat. The new Primus of House Flambeau continued to live there, and began improvements. When the Normandy Tribunal divided in 1103, Castra Solis led the faction joining the newly-expanded Provençal Tribunal. Along with them came the magi of Sinapis, who abandoned their previous site to join the domus magna, as well as other smaller covenants in the area, including Mimizan. Since then, Castra Solis has remained stable and a powerful political force in Gascony and the Provençal Tribunal.

The Magi

Home to seventeen magi, most magi of Castra Solis belong to House Flambeau. They range in age from newly gauntleted magi to elderly, frail magi like Garus, the Primus. In the last twenty years, two older magi living at the covenant have died, both of them members of House Guernicus (and the Chief Quaesitor of the Tribunal at the time), and both of them younger than Garus — but everyone is reasonably certain he is next, including him. Beatrice, the acting Chief Quaesitor, is nominally a member of this covenant, but has been spending her time in Arelat, at the Coenobium.

Garus of Flambeau

• Age: 135 (apparent age: 80)
• Personality Traits: Political +3, Steadfast +2, Mentoring +1

Garus has always been very interested in the politics of the region, and his time as Primus of House Flambeau has brought about a great change in its focus and direction. Born and apprenticed in England, he came to Gascony in 1155, immediately after Henry’s marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine. When Vancasitum, the previous Primus, disappeared in the latter years of the twelfth century, Garus won the primacy due largely to the support of the milites, the Flambeau Hoplites who continued to live at Castra Solis after each of the wars. Under Garus’s influence, they began to think of themselves more as knights in service to their liege.

Marcus Minor of Flambeau

• Age: 119 (apparent age: 60)
• Personnality Traits: Pious +3, Charismatic +3, Crafty +2

The next most senior magus is Marcus Minor of Flambeau (so named because at one time there was an elder Marcus living here, who went by Marcus Major). Charismatic and pious, he is the primary Mystagogue of the Legion of Mithras cult at Castra Solis. Insiders know that Marcus and his followers are the true leaders of the covenant. Garus is not even part of the inner circle of the Legion; he has devoted too much of his life to the Provençal political landscape and supporting his milites. Marcus has continued to support the Legion’s traditional Christian focus, and because of his influence the warrior magi at Castra Solis have come to feel something like members of a holy order of knights.

Troya of Flambeau

• Age: 53 (apparent age: 40)
• Personnality Traits: Bold +3, Considerate of horses +3, Proud +2, Curious +1

Another established magus of note is Troya of Flambeau, who has devoted her life at Castra Solis to the study of magical mounts, particularly horses. She keeps a stable of equine beasts specially bred and trained to tolerate Gifted riders, using techniques she has discussed with other like-minded magi in Hibernia via correspondence. The horses learn maneuvers particularly useful for magi in battle, such as charges and leaps, allowing the rider to cast Touch range spells on a target or grab hair to be used as an Arcane Connection and then retreat quickly. Many of her spells transform both horse and rider into another shape simultaneously. Tradition holds that most of her animals descend from the same stock as Bayard, the magical horse given to Renaud de Montebaun by his cousin Maugris the enchanter, four hundred years before.

Marie of Merinita

• Age: 113 (apparent age: 45)
• Personnality Traits: Unaging +3, Political +3, Artistic +2

Marie of Merinita, Filia Dama, lives in Poitiers in a manor house officially considered part of Castra Solis, even though it is within the lands typically considered part of the Normandy Tribunal. She attends Tribunal in Provence, and is actively seeking to extend the border of the Provençal Tribunal by spreading the culture and language of southern France throughout Aquitaine.

Dama trained Marie as her single apprentice about a hundred years ago. In 1220, she is quite a famous figure within House Merinita. Marie of Merinita, who sometimes calls herself Marie of France, is a headstrong and independent maga who has managed to avoid being fully coopted by her mater, mostly because she became enamored of Eleanor of Aquitaine. She idolized the former queen, seeing herself as a twin sister or Hermetic analogue, despite the possibility the queen never even knew who she was. Marie claims to have accompanied Eleanor on the Second Crusade, participating in her bare-breasted Amazonian procession, serving as her magical bodyguard and protecting the queen with her Parma Magica. She also claims she accompanied the young queen on the journey back to Aquitaine after the annulment of her marriage to Louis. She believes she traveled to England once Eleanor married King Henry and attended her court, and even wrote many romances and fables to entertain the nobles while there. However, it is possible none of this actually happened; Marie may have followed a faerie queen in Arcadia who resembled Eleanor and harvests vitality from the many stories about her. When Eleanor died, Marie returned to Poitu and now grieves her loss. She turned to Hermetic politics and dedicated herself to bringing the rest of Aquitaine into the Provençal Tribunal. Marie has Faerie Blood and achieved the second level of initiation of the Maters and Matrones before departing. This enables her to initiate others and perform ceremonies, though she rarely does. She has trained several apprentices, who have since gone abroad into Mythic Europe. Dama wants her to become a matron, and strives to convince her to take the next step, but Marie remains mostly a disappointment to Dama. For Marie, Dama was her harsh instructor and taskmistress, and the relationship is cold. She has a greater respect for Eleanor than she ever will for Dama.

Beatrice of Guernicus, (Presumed) Chief Quaesitor

A troubled woman, Beatrice is genuinely determined to do right, but with the crusade and all the deep hostility in the Tribunal, it is not clear any more what that is. Her pater was the previous Chief Quaesitor, Tibaut, and it is assumed that she will take over for him. She is young for Chief Quaesitor, since her predecessor died of old age just last year (as did his predecessor five years before, though he was even older than her pater), and would probably like to pass her authority to another member of her House if a better candidate appears. She is registered as part of the covenant of Castra Solis, but she has taken to spending all her time in the Arelat of late, possibly because of a falling out with the Primus of House Flambeau or the leaders of one of the Hermetic organizations based there.

The Covenant

Since the Schism War, the covenant has been made to resemble a wealthy manor house or Roman villa, perched in the limestone hills located about halfway between Bordeaux and La Reole along the River Garonne. Many vineyards and fields surround the site, but these do not produce wine or wheat, and instead serve as tourney fields for the many events House Flambeau sponsors. The Magic aura surrounding the covenant only has a strength of 3. Castra Solis does not have a Mercere Portal, as the Primus never felt it needed one. It has a fine library with a focus on military subjects, and many enchanted devices available to defend the House when necessary. (For more information about the library or some of these devices, see Houses of Hermes: Societates)

At the base of the cliffs below the covenant is a riverside network of caves, protected by its Aegis and also warded against intruders. These oyster-encrusted arches lead upwards a short way to a large underground temple, Kaeso’s mithraeum. Or rather, it is the cave most Flambeau believe to be his ancient Roman temple to Mithras. In fact, the true temple actually sits directly beneath the city of Bordeaux (see Bordeaux, earlier in this chapter). This replica was built when Bordeaux fell into enemy hands, and the other remained secret to ensure its power endured undiminished.

Influence of the Christian milites and other pious magi living at Castra Solis over the years has given the Mithraic temple beneath the covenant a Divine aura of 4. Essentially a church, the services conducted here for the younger initiates of the Legion are very similar to the sacraments, including baptism, communion, and last rites. Hidden stairs lead from the covenant’s library to the chambers behind the temple. A series of tombs, where the bodies of fallen milites rest honorably in the holy ground, also occupies the caves. Former Flambeau Primus Entisimon is buried there, though Kaeso is not.

Attribution

Based on the material for Ars Magica, ©1993-2024, licensed by Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games®, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license 4.0 ("CC-BY-SA 4.0). Ars Magica Open License Logo ©2024 Trident, Inc. The Ars Magica Open License Logo, Ars Magica, and Mythic Europe are trademarks of Trident, Inc., and are used with permission. Order of Hermes, Tremere, Doissetep, and Grimgroth are trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB and are used with permission.