Adulis

In a village to the south of the town of Adulis, there is a site with a Magic aura of 3.

One of the communities destroyed in antiquity by the great, mythical dragon known as Ceto was later rebuilt, and the resulting site gained a magical aura and a regio in the deep harbor, just offshore. Where this regio leads is not known, but it is most likely associated with the myth of Perseus and Andromeda.

Magi arriving in Adulis must navigate the social environment of the town and the surrounding communities to identify the village as a potential covenant site.

The covenant is described through the following Boons and Hooks, details of which can be found in the Covenants supplement and this text.

Dwindling Resources (Minor Resources Hook): The pearl beds on a nearby island are being poached by a gang of fishermen from Adulis, the Dahlek sultanate, or a particularly voracious jinn, who finds them delicious.

Linked Vis Sources (Minor Resources Hook): The fire coral beds and magical school of fish are linked. If the magical school of fish or the fire coral beds are overharvested, then both sites begin to suffer, reducing their vis production by half.

Poorly Defensible (Minor Site Hook): Situated on the shore south of the port, the site is open to access.

Regio (Minor Site Hook): The deep natural, but small, harbor at the edge of the site is Ceto's Well, the site where the great sea monster dove into the waves and destroyed the ancient village at this location.

Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Pre +1, Com +2, Str +1, Sta +2, Dex +1, Qik 0

Size: 0

Age: 35 (35) Decrepitude: 0 Warping Score: 0 (0)

Confidence: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: Merchant; Ways of the Sea; Improved Characteristics x2, Inspirational, Warrior, Well-Traveled; Curse of Venus, Driven (Going beyond Bab-el-Mandeb); Delusion (Sailor's Superstitions), Missing Eye

Personality Traits: Outgoing +3, Superstitious +3, Brave +2

Reputations: Capable Captain 3 (Adulis), A handsome scoundrel 2 (Red Sea Ports) Combat:

Dodge: Init +0, Attack n/a, Defense +4, Damage n/a

Fist: Init +0, Attack +4, Defense +3, Damage +1

Kick: Init –1, Attack +4, Defense +2, Damage +4

Bludgeon: Init +0, Attack +4, Defense +3, Damage +4

Axe: Init +1, Attack +10, Defense +5, Damage +7

Soak: +4

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Amharic 5 (Tigray), Arabic 4 (Yemeni), Area Lore: Red Sea 2 (ports), Athletics 2 (Climbing), Awareness 3 (detecting ambushes), Bargain 3 (negotiating sales), Brawl 3 (dodge), Carouse 2 (gambling), Charm 3 (first impressions), Dead Language: Ge'ez 1 (liturgy), Folk Ken 3 (magi), Guile 3 (lying to authority), Leadership 4 (directing crews), Legerdemain 3 (tying knots), Music 2 (working songs), Profession: Navigator 4 (fishing vessels),Profession: Sailor 4 (fishing vessels), Organization Lore: Covenant of the Adulis 1 (personalities),Single Weapon 4 (axe), Stealth 1 (at night), Survival 3 (finding drinking water), Swim 3 (underwater diving)

Equipment: Navigator's Tools, Pack; Leather Armor; Axe

Encumbrance: 1 (4)

Appearance: A wiry and hard Ethiopian man with a thin mustache, losing his left eye only seems to have enhanced his dour but strangely alluring appearance. He wears well-woven garments and carries a high-quality axe. His hands are callused and strong, and he never wears shoes on board his ship.

Zerezghi Senai is eager to take his vessel into the unknown and see the many sights of Arabia and India. He has tried the qat leaf on several visits to Yemen, and finds it invigorating. Although an incorrigible romantic, he is never any happier than when on-board his ship on the open seas, and tends to find more than the occasional pining lover or jealous husband awaiting with complications when he returns to a port. He comes from a long line of ship captains, and while none contest his skills, he is bound by a number of strange superstitions.

This regio opens into the Magic Realm on the anniversary of the creature's attack and during powerful storms. It has three levels, and the innermost allows travel to a part of the Magic Realm very much like the eastern Mediterranean, in the Ionian Sea. It is outside a covenant's likely Aegis boundary.

Road (Minor Site Hook): Adulis is the end point for caravans coming out of Nubia to the west, or Egypt to the north, and from the Red Sea to the east. These caravans stop at Adulis to rest and resupply a bit before returning.

Tribunal Border (Major External Relations Hook): Adulis' location means it is outside any established Tribunal, but within the sphere of influence of the Levant Tribunal. Covenants there might take an interest in magi established so close to Mecca and Medina. Additionally, the Muslim rulers who control the Bab-el-Mandeb make traveling beyond the Red Sea a challenging story.

Urban (Minor Site Hook): Residents of Adulis must deal with the nearby town and its governor. While it might have been a very powerful trading port three hundred years ago, now it sees far fewer merchant vessels. If the covenant's ship returns regularly from beyond the Arab blockade with a rich cargo, chances are the local governor, nearby merchants, or pirates who prowl the Bab-el-Mandeb will become interested. Additionally, should any of the covenfolk become talkative about the research of the magi, it's possible the bishop in Adulis will investigate for witchcraft.

Healthy Feature (Minor Site Boon): The cool breezes that blow across the harbor and through the covenant invigorate the residents and help keep away disease. They provide all residents who live within the covenant for a majority of the year a +1 bonus to Aging Rolls.

Important Building (Minor Fortification Boon): The old lighthouse that overlooks the harbor is constructed from well-dressed stone. There is no Divine aura here, as it stands on the edge of the village and the residents attend the larger church within Adulis proper. There are sufficient chambers to provide four sanctums and laboratories, but this prevents it from being used as a mundane lighthouse.

Secondary Income (Minor Resources Boon): The people of the village discovered a hidden copse of myrrh trees in a secluded location and managed to keep the site to themselves. They know how to harvest the resin and keep it almost indefinitely. A covenant could sell this substance anywhere around the Red Sea.

Unwitting Defenders (Minor External Relations Boon): The governor of Adulis maintains a small, but capable force of some three hundred men and about fifty cavalry, as well as three small vessels. These troops keep the surrounding region clear of smallscale threats and attacks.

Sailors (Free Resident Boon): The villagers are men and women familiar with the sea, as well as living in an occasionally disputed area. All inhabitants are proficient with simple weapons, but lack any disciplined training.

There are four Boons and nine Hooks based on the site, allowing for some customization by magi establishing a covenant. Troupes looking for additional Hooks might consider the Minor Site Hook: Uncontrolled Portal, to allow Ceto's Well to have many entrances and exits to the mundane and Magic Realm, or the Major Site Hook: Monster, to allow the mighty Ceto the ability to burst up through the docks and damage the covenant itself from time to time, during vicious storms. Such attacks might also explain why the covenfolk serve the magi.

Linked Vis Site (Major/Minor Resources Hook):

Two or more vis sites that each produce four or more pawns of vis are linked together with a specific action and location separate from the actual production site. If the associated condition is not prevented or performed (depending on how the players choose to arrange the association), then the vis sites gradually stop producing vis. Their rates are halved in the first year, then quartered in the second, then stop all together. A story is necessary restart production, which recovers over another three years. Generally, an outside party or force has an interest in

Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1, Pre 0, Com 0, Str +1, Sta +1, Dex +2, Qik +1

Size: 0

Age: 22 (22)

Decrepitude: 0

Warping Score: 0 (0)

Virtues and Flaws: Covenfolk; Warrior, Well-Traveled; Delusion or Fear (Sailor's Superstitions), Temperate

Personality Traits: Loyal +2, Superstitious +2

Combat:

Dodge: Init +1, Attack n/a, Defense +5, Damage n/a

Fist: Init +1, Attack +5, Defense +4, Damage +1

Kick: Init +0, Attack +5, Defense +4, Damage +4

Axe: Init +2, Attack +11, Defense +6, Damage +7

Soak: +4

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Amharic 5 (Tigray), Arabic 4 (Yemeni), Area Lore: Red Sea 2 (ports), Athletics 3 (climbing), Awareness 2 (on watch), Bargain 2 (negotiating pay), Brawl 3 (dodge), Carouse 1 (gambling), Charm 2 (young women), Legerdemain 3 (tying knots), Profession: Sailor 4 (fishing vessels), Folk Ken 2 (magi), Guile 2 (lying to fathers), Music 2 (working songs), Single Weapon 4 (axe), Stealth 2 (at night), Swim 3 (underwater diving), Survival 1 (at sea)

Equipment: Pack, Leather Armor, Axe Encumbrance: 1 (4)

Appearance: A young Ethiopian man with light, linen clothing, a canvas pack, a leather breastplate and a heavy boarding axe. He keeps his hair under wraps and carries a smile far more often than his axe. He could just as easily blend in at a Yemeni port, but his dark skin would draw attention further north.

A member of one of the fishing boats, Ammanuel Alazar has traveled throughout the Red Sea area and knows quite a bit, despite his youth. While not a seasoned warrior, he's capable in a fight and loyal to the covenant and his fellow crewmates.

one or more of the vis sites, and a story is required to monitor and shepherd the sites through the vis production process.

For instance, the six pawns of animal vis produced by magical bees in Iberia require the nearby field of magical wildflowers to bloom by the first day of summer and the bees to visit them. The flowers produce four pawns of Herbam vis. If the field doesn't bloom on time or the bees are prevented from visiting, perhaps because an early frost damaged either the field or the hive, only three pawns of animal and two pawns of Herbam vis are available in the autumn. If the field failed to bloom on time, or nearby villagers unknowingly harvested the pre-bloom buds for making ink, or the bees were kept away again by a Bear of Virtue raiding their hive, only two pawns of Animal and one pawn of Herbam would be produced. A third failure of either would result in the loss of the sites.

For the Major form of this Hook, four vis sites are linked by the same associated condition. If potential damage to a site is permanent, it counts as two sites. This Hook may be Unknown. The vis sites thus linked must be purchased separately during covenant creation.

Unwitting Defenders (Major/Minor Resources Boon):

The covenant's location is such that most mundane defensive duties are performed by an entity which is unaware of the covenant's existence. The covenant likely pays some small tax for this protection. There is no formal agreement, and the defensive force cannot withstand a serious invading or attacking force, but it does prevent bandits, pirates, or other opportunistic groups from harassing the covenant. The covenant cannot directly guide, lead, or otherwise influence this defending force without revealing its existence, at which time a story should determine if this Boon shifts to become a Local Ally (or Powerful Ally, in the case of the Major Boon) or a Rival/Unsafe Hook.

For the Major form of this Boon, the covenant is protected by a force that can weather a siege or oppose a serious attacking force and it certainly pays taxes for this protection, but this is factored into expenditures unless the Poverty Hook is chosen. This force may even possess some form of fortification, but the covenant has no control over or access to the fortification.

The village has an existing population, who form the obvious initial source for covenfolk.

Companions

Suitable companions for Adulis include caravan leaders, merchant captains, local equivalents of knights or minor nobles looking to advance their station, jinn, or other supernatural creatures who made the trip from Mythic Europe.

Zerezghi Senai

A native ship captain from a long line of captains, Zerezghi would love nothing more than to break past the Bab-el-Mandeb and see the sights his grandfather told him of in tales his father assured him were no lies. His sailing vessel is quick and well-kept, and he knows the ports of the Red Sea well.

Grogs

Grogs could be recruited from the rougher elements of the fishing crews, brought from Mythic Europe, or hired from the local area. Any force larger than twenty draws the attention of the local authorities.