The Legacy of Fraxinetum

The now disbanded covenant of Fraxinetum (Latin: "ash forest") took its name from the surrounding groves of ash established by one of the founding magi, Sayyid Shajarat al-Darda. He was reputedly an Andalusian Flambeau Herbam specialist from northeastern Iberia, but House Flambeau deny this background. They claim Sayyid was a renegade from their philosophy, corrupted by his Tytalan lieutenant Nasr ibn Amaf. Some mutter he may even have been a Tytalus-trained infiltrator from the start.

Unknown to the Tribunal for its first century of existence, this small cadre of Andalusian magi secretly supported the Cordobansponsored attacks on Provençal cities staged from the Moors' base within the Massif des Maures above St Tropez. Several smaller coastal covenants fell readily to the Moorish forces under suspicious circumstances, although these machinations went unnoticed by the Quaesitores for some time. The capture and ransom in 973 of Maieul, the Abbott of Cluny, and the Moors' continual encroachment into the foothills of the Alps eventually combined to provoke widespread alarm.

The predominantly Jerbiton magi of the eastern lands of the Tribunal were forced to act. Drawing on their mundane family connections, their supporters within the Church and sympathetic allies amongst the nobility of Provence, the magi of several weak covenants founded a mutual protection pact. No overt Wizard's War was declared, but the Hermetic coalition subtly supported the mundane army amassed by William I of Provence. The bulk of the Moorish forces were routed at the Battle of Tourtour. Following a successful siege of their base, the Fraxinetum magi disappeared into the deeper forest and then seemingly disappeared. Their Moorish allies set sail back to Andalusia, leaving the coasts of Provence temporarily free from the pirates' scourge. The remaining Provençal magi, having learnt the value of cooperation and the benefits of acting through mundane forces, re-established themselves as the multi-site covenant that has become known as the Coenobium.