Territory of James of Aragon

The king of Aragon also holds a great deal of land in this region.

Held by the crown of Aragon since 1112, this domain was previously part of the diocese of Mende, and the bishop of Mende attempted to retake control of it repeatedly in the 12th century. It has eight barons who resisted the bishop's rule, despite the fact that King Louis VII granted the clergyman temporal power over the area with the Golden Bull of Gévaudan. These barons are sworn to James.

The northern portion of this realm includes some of the more rugged parts of the Massif Central. Sparsely populated, it is renowned for its vicious and cunning wolves.

Montpellier

This city was established by the counts of Toulouse in 985 after pirate raids drove the population further inland, and grew in prominence through the 12th century as a spice trading center with a rich tradition of tolerance for Cathars, Jews, and Muslims. It is built on two hills — Montpellier and Montpellieret, with frequently steep streets connecting them. A wall, the Tour de la Babote, surrounds the city, and a castle overlooks it.

William VII of Montpellier established the school which was recognized in 1220 as the University of Montpellier, famous for its studies in medicine (and detailed further in Art & Academe, page 109). Marie of Montpellier, the city's hereditary ruler, married Peter II of Aragon in 1204 and gave birth to James there in 1208. This alliance confirmed Marie's claim to rulership and allowed the city to claim a charter which included a tradition of annually selecting twelve governing consuls.

Millau became a part of the crown of Aragon through the same marriage that incorporated Gévaudan in the early 12th century. Later, Alphonso II granted the town of Millau a consular charter, allowing consuls to levy taxes and enforce laws. Located at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie rivers, Millau has a 17-span Roman-era bridge crossing the Tarn—one of the biggest such bridges in Mythic Europe. Its presence places the town on a significant trading route.

The region was a major source of pottery in the Roman Empire and still has a thriving industry in 1220. The Roman ruins, however, are primarily on the opposite shore of the Tarn, and are mostly forgotten despite a Magic aura of 3. Local craftsmen are also renowned for excellent leatherworking and for exporting the Roquefort cheese they make in caves dotting the surrounding hills.

Countless enormous, ancient stone tables and standing stones, called dolmens and menhirs, are scattered across this area, attesting to its pagan roots. They are largely ignored by the locals, believed to be the homes and gathering places of faerie creatures. Faerie auras of 2 to 4 can be found at these sites, with stronger creatures lairing at more powerful auras.

The Eglise Notre-Dame-de-I'Espinasse, the church of Millau, supposedly keeps a fragment of the Crown of Thorns as its relic. It has a Divine aura of 4.

Roussillon derived its name from Ruscino, a small fortified place where Gaulish chieftains met to consider Hannibal's request for a conference. Although a very agricultural region, it is known for its vineyards and woad production. Woad is processed to create a light blue indigo dye used in clothing. The viscount even has a few small iron mines at the foot of the Pyrenees, and a small gold mine near Saint-Jean-Pla-de-Corts, but it does not produce much. When Viscount Gerard II died without heirs in 1172, rulership passed to Alphonso II of Aragon by a prior agreement with Gerard II and his nobles. Alphonso then made his brother Sancho the viscount. Sancho, supported by his son, Nuno, acts as regent for and occasionally conspires against James, who currently lives in Zaragoza.

As this is part of the border with Catalan, many fortifications have been built throughout the region. Controlling the head of the Tet valley, the Castle Rodes sits on a high granite spur. The southern port town of Collioure serves as a departure point for many crusaders, including the Knights Templar, who built a castle overlooking the bay in 1207.

Perpignan

The capital of the county, Perpignan was founded in the ninth century and became a partially self-governing commune in 1197. The traditional industries are wine, olive oil, cork, wool, leather, and iron. It is built along the banks of the Tet river, the largest waterway in Roussillon. High, thick walls surround the city, and the viscount maintains a compound including a chapel, hospital and castle, the Chateau de Rous-

The wolves hunting in the wilds of the Massif Central are not mere beasts, but a small tribe of shapeshifting werewolves who prey on unfortunate travelers. They make their home in an ancient, Gaulish cave shrine with a Magic aura of 3. Can the hunters be tamed and their lair transformed into a covenant? The lack of neighbors means such a community could develop in seclusion from the bloody Albigensian Crusade, but may face difficulties acquiring necessary specialists and rarer supplies.

The Crown of Thorns relic is a fragment of the larger crown in Constantinople and kept in a small, wire-mesh cage made of gold on a fine golden chain. The relic consists of a portion of the rush with three pairs of thorns. It acts as a regular relic (ArM5, page 48), with a Faith Score of 3 and the saintly power to Cure Blindness (Realms of Power: The Divine Revised, page 52). However, it is rarely drawn from its reliquary as the church priest has no desire to risk damaging it. The relic is paraded before the congregation as a part of the celebration of Lent.

While quarrying stone or collecting tailings from a small abandoned mine, covenfolk discover a vein of iron or gold, perhaps with a pawn of vis evident. More surprising, every hundredth cartload of ore removed from the mine by hand has 2 pawns of Terram vis. The vis isn't present if the ore is removed magically. It isn't apparent how deep the vein runs, or whether the process of mining, rather than the ore itself, invests the vis in the site. Will the conditions of the mine prove dangerous to covenfolk unaccustomed to working underground? Will the vis run out if the ore vein is exhausted? The natural resources might be a welcome addition to the covenant's coffers, but will the new mining activity draw the attention of the local lord?

sillon. The castle's 20 pace round tower dominates the site, and the hospital and chapel are both dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The hospital's mission is to serve the urban poor of Perpignan. The Order of Poor Sisters, or Poor Clares, operates in the city, working to establish a convent and living by Franciscan tenets.