Toulouse

The regional capital, Toulouse is the most important city of the county and one of the largest, most cultured, and most prosperous cities in Mythic Europe. It forms the heart of the Languedoc; a former Roman and Visigothic capital, it is the city the whole region looks to, and regards itself as far more advanced economically and culturally than its northern rival, Paris. The inhabitants are ruled over by the counts, and an elected body, the Capitole, to whom the counts have abdicated much power. The only rival is the bishop who shares responsibility for justice within the city, a shared prerogative that leads to considerable turmoil and tension.

Toulouse has a strong city wall that has withstood repeated sieges. It was besieged unsuccessfully by Simon de Montfort in the summer of 1211, though it opened its gates to him in 1215. After being expelled by the popular rising in the autumn of 1216, de Montfort unsuccessfully besieged the city from autumn 1217 until his death outside the walls in the summer of 1218. The summer of 1219 saw the Dauphin Louis unsuccessfully besiege the city once again, withdrawing as pestilence broke out in his army. The count's castle, the Château Narbonnais, stands on the western edge of Toulouse, within the city walls, and guards the western approaches to the city through a great gate. Simon de Montfort's wife Alice was forced to surrender the castle after holding out against the townsfolk on the return of Count Raimond in the autumn of 1217, but it usually forms a citadel if the walls of the city proper are breached.

It is rare for Hermetic culture to influence mundane society, but the Capitole of Toulouse was influenced by the Hermetic Tribunal system. It was in return for unspecified favors from the Order of Hermes that Count Raimond IV in 1154 set up an elected chapter of magistrates to judge trade disputes and oversee legal cases on his behalf. (The law of the region is a magisterial system, based on Roman and Visigothic law, rather than the jury system of the north; Lion and the Lily, page 104). Originally consisting of four lawyers, two judges, and six prominent townsfolk known as sheriffs and appointed by the count, in 1188 the elected sheriffs expelled the judges and lawyers and took over their functions, and the Capitole took on the rights to control the guard, raise a militia, declare war, raise and set taxes, and regulate trade. Count Raimond V acquiesced, distracted by a conflict with Aragon and England, and since that time the twelve elected sheriffs, or capitouls, have effectively ruled Toulouse with the consent of the count.

The capitouls are elected by the householders of Toulouse who are of good standing and meet a wealth qualification, and each of six districts returns two capitouls to the Capitole building. Elections are held ev-

The capitouls purchased a number of houses in 1190 that have been knocked together into the Capitole building, where citizens can petition the capitouls and where trade disputes, matters of taxation and guild laws, and justice are decided, and the capitouls work for the good of Toulouse. Considerable wealth, influence, or a story about the struggle to win them over will often be needed to get a favorable ruling. The capitouls are often split by their personal political agendas and those of the vested interests they represent, and a simple majority is needed to pass a law. Those who serve as capitouls are treated as at least minor nobility for the rest of their lives, regardless of actual birth status; they are treated with great respect and accorded the honorific title "sheriff" even after their term of office ends.

Two churchmen associated with Toulouse will help determine the fate of the region. Both of them have had dealings with the Order of Hermes in the past, and undoubtedly will again in the future, but both are extremely dangerous men who must be handled with great care if disaster is to be avoided.

One of the most controversial figures in the region, and one of the most powerful, Foulques de Marseilles is the bishop of Toulouse. He is hated and vilified by the majority of its citizens, even those formerly loyal to the Church. In his youth he was a troubadour of considerable prowess and reputation; a vision experienced 25 years ago caused him to renounce his former wicked ways. Now he is moved to tears and stern penance whenever he hears one of his songs sung, horrified that his vices endure. Entering the Church, he became a strong opponent of the moral laxity and easy going ways of life in the region, and in particular

Toulouse's more prosperous citizens have long grown used to the occasional violence and turmoil of city life, and a number of minor noble families, capitouls*,* and wealthy citizens have invested in fortified towers within the city and a small guard, analogous to the Order's grogs. While de Montfort had the towers attached to the city wall razed after taking the city, there are still at least 20 towers within the city, and one is held by the "white" faction of the covenant of Tolosa Paratge. Acquiring or building a tower is a perfectly sensible option for magi or Wealthy companions who wish to maintain a presence in the city.

a vigorous foe of heresy. He has three main targets that rouse him to fury: heretics, troubadours, and moneylenders, and as many of the latter are Jewish he has developed a strong dislike for the Jews.

A firm supporter of Dominic and the Dominican mission of preaching to the heretics, his appointment as bishop of Toulouse to replace the former corrupt and religiously indifferent bishop was troubled, with the direct intervention of the pope needed to secure his cathedral. So hostile had the citizens of Toulouse become to the Church that he required an armed bodyguard at all times, and eventually he came to return that hostility. When the Crusade was declared he had long been unable to enter his diocese for his own safety, and joined the crusaders. While Count Raimond made some efforts to win him over, even giving him the Châteaux Narbonnais, the castle within the city, they soon became bitter enemies, and Foulques is currently to be found riding with the crusaders, and constantly urging that Toulouse be taken and the heretics be exterminated. He favors the idea of an Inquisition, a clerical group of investigators to seek out and try heresy, and execute the guilty. If your saga follows history this will emerge as a real force in the 1230s, and the Cathars will be destroyed within two decades.

As a young man Foulques entered Tolosa Paratge as an exceptionally talented troubadour, though his mind may have been subsequently magically modified or he may have simply dismissed the episode as a dream. He is aware of the Order of Hermes, and through his dealings with the Quaesitor Augustus, who had come to see the heretics as destroying the civilizations of the south through a mundane version of "bringing ruin upon their sodales," has considerable respect for them. He is unaware of the Cathar magi, but is aware that a number of scholars reside within Toulouse and practice what he regards as Natural Magic (see Art & Academe, page 67). He has no inkling of the true power of the Order, and if his good impression were altered by meeting with evidence of heretic magi who oppose his beliefs, he would become terrible enemy of the Order and certainly add them to his list of targets for the crusade, unless the papacy ordered otherwise. As such he presents a terrible latent threat to the Hermetic community.

The Brotherhoods

In 1209 Bishop Foulque created the White Brotherhood, a society of citizens willing to take up arms to destroy the poison of heresy and moneylenders, oppose Count Raimond, and support the crusade. While the White Brotherhood — so called because they donned white robes and masks or hoods for their midnight arrests and acts of terror — were fundamentally loyal to the Church and the bishop, they were also Toulouse loyalists. The Brotherhood suffered a fatal blow from the defection of the bishop and many churchmen who escaped when the city was besieged by Simon de Montfort. Fearing a repeat of Béziers, many of the brotherhood took up arms against the crusaders.

After the formation of the White Brotherhood, which was guilty of acts of murderous violence, lynching, and rioting in the streets, an opposing group — the Black Brotherhood — was formed. Whereas the White Brotherhood was mainly drawn from the city itself, the Black Brotherhood came largely from the suburbs and surrounding countryside. They fought on the streets protecting the Cathars and Jewish population from the White Brother-

A would-be capitoul approaches the companions asking for assistance in his election. He has acquired a residence in the Sainte Maria district, but the rather shabby house is infested with vermin, purportedly haunted, and plagued by vandals and local gangs of thugs supporting a rival candidate. By the law of Toulouse, he must reside here for a month to be a candidate for the elections. Can the characters keep the candidate safe and comfortable in the flea-ridden house for the month's residence needed to qualify, and can they convince the other capitouls not to pass legislation extending the residence requirement to seven years before the election?

hood's terror, committing atrocities of their own. Since the siege of Toulouse ended, the Brotherhoods have weakened but still lurk in the streets at night.

Both groups are reduced to a small and violent fanatical core. Membership in either may constitute the Flaw: Dark Secret for any character still involved. The conflict has had two main results. Firstly, a strong strain of anti-semitism has emerged among the former Whites, and threatens the Jewish community. Secondly, usury (the sin of lending money at interest), long accepted as necessary for business in the city, has been outlawed and raising finance is now much harder. Cahors has replaced Toulouse as one of the few cities where moneylenders still openly practice their profession.

For the last twenty years, Bishop Arnaud Amalric has led the Church's campaign to win back the South from heresy. Arnaud has long been one of the most effective figures in the organization and pursuit of the Crusade, and traveled with de Montfort, presiding over the burning of Cathars and the massacres of the resisting population.

Yet in 1220 Arnaud has made peace with Count Raimond, finally convinced of the count's piety, and has realized that the culture of the region is under a real threat from the French crown. Never a supporter of French territorial claims, he remains sympathetic to Alice and Amaury de Montfort, but firmly resists the French advances into the region, and since his appointment as bishop of Narbonne in 1212 has defended the rights of the local Church from the imposition of Northerners.

Arnaud is a Cistercian monk and, while dedicated to the fight against heresy, a man of great education and considerable scholarship. He has, since de Montfort's death, befriended a young knight of Pujol, a castle not far from the city where he often resides. That knight is Carolus St.Tropez, and St.Tropez has influenced Arnaud significantly, hardening his heart against the French and re-awakening his Southern nationalist sympathies. Arnaud is not aware that St.Tropez is a member of the Order of Hermes, but he regards the Order as a loose confraternity of scholars and natural magicians and he is positively disposed to them, providing they pay heed to the doctrines of the Church. If he found the Order was sheltering heretics this opinion would rapidly change. He would use his influence at the papal curia to turn the Church against this new threat, unless the Order was willing to expel the heretics from its ranks.

Justice in Toulouse

The right to administer justice in Toulouse is, by ancient tradition, shared between the counts and the bishop of the city; both have their own court (though the count's court is now the Capitole), and on occasion, those convicted by one can appeal successfully to the other. While canon law is the bishop's domain, and most civil law the count's, both have encroached on each other's rights and now the secular law of the city is administered by both. Unlike France, which uses a system of common law (see The Lion and the Lily, p104), Toulouse employs the magisterial system of Roman law, represented by the Ability Civil and Canon Law.

The city is divided into six districts, each of which since 1189 has returned two delegates, called capitouls, to the ruling council in the Capitole. The 12 capitouls wear elaborate red robes with black fur trim over a suit of clothing in their district's colors.

Saint-Sernin

For centuries the most important pilgrimage site in the region, the great basilica of Saint-Sernin was, somewhat ironically in light of later events, dedicated by Pope Urban on his way to preach the First Crusade at Clermont. An Augustinian monastery, the impressive building of white stone and Toulouse brick with its great octagonal tower and spire towers over the surrounding houses. The colors of Saint Sernin are yellow and white. The abbot is Jordan Giordano, a compassionate man who presides over the college and hospice that treats the poor of the city. Many pilgrims flock here each summer to see the relics.

La Pierre

The parish of Saint-Pierre des Cuisines stands by the River Garonne, and is home to river-folk, a poorer district of the city with a reputation for vice and thievery. The local prostitutes are known as Magdalenes, after the legendary career of the biblical Mary of that place. The church itself is the oldest in the Tribunal, and was an early Christian place of worship, though the present structure is only two centuries old and is owned by the Benedictine monks of Moissac. It is by tradition the place where the courts of justice presided over by the counts are held, the promulgations of the capitouls are declared to the people, and where the counts make important announcements or sign important documents before the multitude. As such, it holds a peculiar status considering it is very much the ecclesiastical poor relation of Saint-Sernin and Our Lady of the Sea Bream. The color of this district and worn by its capitouls is a deep blue.

The Church takes its name from the distinctive lime whitewash used to paint it, and the district is home to many wealthy merchants, though smaller shops and craftspeople also ply their trade here. The artisans of the district have a few wealthy members who resent the power of the merchants in the area, and an ambitious potential capitoul can attempt to bribe his way to power if he wishes to become embroiled in the disputes between craftsman and merchants. The color of the district's capitouls*'* clothing is carnation pink.

Saint-Etienne

The wealthiest part of the city, Saint-Etienne is home to many nobles and prosperous citizens. In Toulouse, wealthy merchants and commoners can aspire to join the petty nobility, but the noble and commoner divide makes much less difference

The regio containing the covenant is in some sense an echo of the ancient lake where the Tolosans offered sacrifices to ward off illness and maintain the prosperity of their city in the centuries before the Romans came to this region. It is known to be linked to the flow of the Garonne River, and this is the basis of Adam's experiments. What the magi of Tolouse do not realize is that it is also linked to the power and prosperity of the city itself – the recent catastrophic weakening of the aura and difficulty in reaching the regio was at least partially the result of the conquest by de Montfort, and the fall of Toulouse into internal conflict. The very magi reflect these tensions, and are driven in some mysterious way by these forces, as mirrored in the recent tragedies that have afflicted the covenant. Only if someone realizes that the city must be healed to save the covenant, and restores the pursuit of learning and culture, by perhaps founding a university within the city walls, or doing more to encourage Occitanian culture, will the regio survive. It is a by-product of the powerful genius loci of the city itself. Adam's experiment with La Garonne is simply a first step; it was the increased prosperity of the mills and shareholders, not the flow of water, that has positively effected the regio.

The Spirit of Tolosa (Genius Loci, Autumn)

Magic Might: 40 (Aquam)

Characteristics: Int 0, Per 0, Pre +3, Com +1, Str 0, Sta 0, Dex 0, Qik 0

Size: N/A

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues & Flaws: Magic Spirit, Ways of the Land (Toulouse); Entrancement; Affinity with Area Lore, Inoffensive to those of the Magic Realm*, Magic Sensitivity, Puissant Area Lore; Dependent (citizens), Servant of the Land* (Toulouse); Anchored to the Land (Toulouse)*, Incomprehensible, Soft-Hearted, Susceptible to Infernal Power.

Magical Qualities: Greater Power, No Fatigue, Ritual Power x6**;** Gift of Speech, Improved Abilities, Improved Powers x10, Vis Mastery (Aquam).

Personality Traits: Soft-Hearted +3

Soak: 0

Fatigue Levels: N/A Wound Penalties: N/A

Abilities: Area Lore: County of Toulouse 18+2 (city of Toulouse), Artes Liberales 1 (poetry), Awareness 1 (fires), Folk Ken 5 (Toulousain residents), Bargain 1 (Toulouse), Carouse 1 (poetry), Charm 3 (strangers), Civil & Canon Law 1 (Toulouse), Entrancement 2 (citizens), Living Language: Occitan 5 (Provençal/Languedoc), Magic Sensitivity 2 (regiones), Organization Lore: Tolosate 1 (lake sacrifices), Penetration 4 (Mentem)

Powers

Sturdy Walls of Toulouse, 8 points, Terram, Init +2. Heals breaches in the city walls, the missing stone magically repairing itself until sunset or sunrise when it suddenly collapses away leaving the holes. (–2 points for Improved Powers, +22 Init.)

The Silent Counsel, 4 points, Mentem, Init –2. Subtly influences a group of people, such as the bishop, or the capitouls in session, toward the best outcome for the city as a whole.

Human Shape, 1 point, Corpus, Init –1. Allows the spirit to physically manifest until the next sunrise or sunset as a nondescript member of the lower orders of Toulousain society. The penalties imposed by The Gift still apply; the spirit is somehow disturbing and stands out, despite appearing very average in every way.

Grant Blessing of the City, 5 points, Vim, Init –19. The recipient of this power suddenly prospers, as everything turns to their favor, and gains the Virtue Ways of Toulouse until such a time as the spirit chooses to withdraw it. However the Might cost is not recovered by the spirit until it ends the effect. (Improved powers: Might cost: 5, Initiative +1)

Oath Swearing, 8 points, Vim, Init –9. This power is very unusual, in that it works only upon the steps of the church of Saint-Pierre des Cuisines, where by tradition the counts of Toulouse make oaths to the people, and where capitouls swear their vows to serve the city. (The steps have a tiny Magic aura of 1, a lacuna). If the power Penetrates, then the oath made before the people is binding. If it is broken, even inadvertently and secretly, then (mostly) false rumors about the individual concerned spring up among the citizens, and throughout the county of Toulouse, and he gains the Minor Flaw Infamous, even if the actual nature of their indiscretion remains unknown. (Improved Powers: cost: 2, Initiative +1)

Appearance: The genius loci of Toulouse usually manifests, if seen by Second Sight, as a damp mist, or a figure of indeterminate gender seemingly made out of water and pond reeds. It answers only to the name Tolosa, and the magi tend to avoid interfering with it, though they are aware it has weakened substantially in recent years. At night it can sometimes be found manifested in its human form, as a fisherman sitting on Adam Carpentiere's river barrage fishing, and is only too willing to chat to anyone. It rarely makes much sense though, at least to short-lived mortals.

In ancient times, the inhabitants of Toulouse propitiated a spirit in a lake on the Garonne in what is now this district of the city. When pestilence spread from the marshy regions around the lake, offerings of gold and silver were consecrated and sacrificed to the lake waters, and the disease died away. No one knows the name of the deity who dwelled in the lake, but in 106 BC the Roman governor Quintus Caepio Severus had the lake drained, and took the great treasure that had accumulated in the muddy bottom. Rumor has it that something else, something more potent, more disturbing, was recovered from the lake; no one knows what it was, but many stories are told to this day. No immediate harm befell Severus despite the warnings of the Tolosate priests, and he founded a temple to Apollo here on what was once the site of the mysterious lake.

The Tolosates, however, took the sacrilege badly, and rose for the first time in revolt against Rome. Within a year Severus was dead, killed in battle, and his treasure taken. Some say it is the

than even in other parts of the Provençal Tribunal. It is largely ignored in practice, much to the disgust of those of noble blood from elsewhere. Wealth, taste, culture, and political influence are far more important than good birth in the city. The cathedral of Saint-Etienne is built on the site of an ancient chapel founded by Saint Sernin himself, but perhaps because of the often rabid pronouncements and great unpopularity of Bishop Foulque, currently in self-imposed exile, it lacks the status of the other city churches. The Romanesque basilica is constantly being added to and improved, and is currently wreathed in scaffolding. The colors of the district are violet and white.

same as the mysterious treasure that the Cathars are said to hold, rumored to be kept at the mountain fortress of Montsegur in the Pyrenees.

The Romans retook the city, and rebuilt the temple to Apollo. Later the temple was replaced with the church, with its mysterious Black Madonna. Yet the lake still exists; if one knows the right signs, or is simply lost in an evening mist amidst the twisting alleys of the waterfront, it is possible, though difficult, to enter a regio (Magic aura 3). Within the regio the houses and streets exist, now empty, and the streets become increasingly deep in water as one moves toward the river. Soon only the roofs of the houses project above a lake lost to the mundane world for well over a millennium, and swirling mists drift over the still black waters. Those who know the secret ways can pass from roof to roof to where the final house vanishes beneath the lapping waters, and a rowing boat waits to take visitors to the small island on which an octagonal tower and cluster of houses hold the labs and council chambers of the magi of Tolosa Paratge.

for the benefit of the many watermills used by the industry of the region. The Toulousain magus Adam Carpentiere has enchanted this huge device, using a number of small items built into the structure, to serve two purposes. Firstly and mundanely, it allows the safe regulation of the river flow, preventing flooding even when the melting snows swell the river. Secondly, in some manner not fully understood by most magi, the boom supports the continued existence of the regio in which Tolosa Paratge exists, which is bound to the flow of the river, and had been weakening in recent decades, as silting made it less navigable.

Pont-Vieux

This is the area around the oldest bridge across the River Garonne, and its colors are amaranth (a maroon color) and white. Here a large wooden boom has recently been constructed that is designed to narrow the river, and increase the speed of the current

Daraude, the District of the Sea Bream

This is the quarter closest to the River Garonne, and has the colors of green and white. It is the site of the church of Our Lady of the Sea Bream, a twelve-sided basilica with a fine dome and finer gold mosaics, which holds a Black Madonna statue, Notre-Dame Noire. The church, built on the foundations of an ancient Roman temple to Apollo, is attached to a Benedictine monastery. In early May each year a procession of flowers is brought here, the church decorated, and a public feast held. If your saga follows history then within ten years the Augustinian poetry contest held in the orchard of Saint-Sernin will be transferred here, and develop into the Festival of the Flowers, where gold and silver flowers are awarded to the finest Occitanian compositions. The area is both Toulouse-nationalist and loyal to the Church, with Cathars unwelcome here.