Potential Covenant Sites of the Nile Region

This book considers the lands of Egypt, Nubia, and Ethiopia to be devoid of Hermetic wizards in 1220, leaving the scene open for storyguides. Two ready options present themselves when considering a saga set in the Nile region. If the intention is to act as Hermetic explorers hunting for lost magics and wealth in the wilds of the Egyptian necropolises, then the saga can proceed for some time before the magi need to interact with their peers or the local powers. These magi seek to explore and investigate, to create a legacy of accomplishment and discovery. Other covenants might create competition for resources the players don't wish to explore, or come just to grab a share.

The second potential role for a covenant set in these lands is political; a covenant may seek to expand the boundaries of an existing Tribunal, or establish a new Tribunal and see it ratified by the Grand Tribunal. Either goal requires attendance and sponsorship at a Grand Tribunal, and neither is a short-term project. These goals require established, populated sites known and accessible to Redcaps, and demand political interaction to acquire support, driving player magi to seek out or attract neighbors.

The covenant sites described in this chapter do not, officially, contain covenants in 1220. No magi are described, but characters whom magi might recruit, and resources that they might find, are given in detail, to make it as easy as possible for storyguides to turn them into full covenants, or for troupes to found their own homes, if desired.

To Scour the Past

For troupes hoping to loot through tombs and seize the magic they believe simply waits to be claimed, it may be best to have no other covenants in the region. If, as the saga progresses, the troupe decides that they would like to introduce Hermetic politics, then magi can arrive to found covenants at one or more of the other sites described here.

To Break the Rules

The Fifth Crusade made landfall in Damietta in 1218, and is preparing for an attack on Cairo. An actively crusader covenant may decide to establish itself in the Nile region in order to dodge the Order's rules on interference with the mundanes, believing their presence in a land without Tribunal membership frees them from the potential charge of "endangering the Order through my actions," or "bringing ruin upon my sodales." Without Hermetic neighbors, without regional residents, they might believe there is no one to accuse them and no place to bring charges, and at first this might well be true. However, their actions may force other covenants in the Roman or Levant Tribunals to send magi to establish a presence in the area. Covenants may have other reasons for seeking the Hermetic frontier. To a covenant tired of political maneuvering or bitter about the limitations of established tradition in a Peripheral Code, the idea of establishing an unsupervised covenant may seem very attractive.

To Redraw the Map

A new covenant wishing to join and expand an existing Tribunal must be known to either local members of House Mercere, or members of the Tribunal the magi wish to join, and who must be able to contact the covenant in good time **(**Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, page 49). The covenant must also meet any specific requirements for membership dictated by the Tribunal's Peripheral Code.

Inter-tribunal disputes, such as border

definitions, must be settled at Grand Tribunal (ArM5, page 14). However, as of 1220, no precedent has been established regarding contested tribunal boundaries. One obvious reason for contesting a Tribunal boundary is to increase access to vis sources. For more vis-starved Tribunals, the opportunity to claim a large region as part of the Tribunal means wider legal access to a desperately desired resource. For politically divided Tribunals, the addition of new covenants might upset the status quo, shifting the balance of power on voting matters.

To Build the Nile Tribunal

Perhaps the most politically ambitious goal is the creation of a Nile Tribunal. A Tribunal must have at least twelve magi from at least four covenants, and at least one Quaesitor to preside at Tribunal meetings.

This chapter includes three covenant sites, so if the troupe wants to get straight into the politics, they could put non-player covenants on all these sites, and found their own covenant elsewhere. Alternatively, they could found their own covenant as the first Hermetic presence along the Nile, and then sponsor further foundations.

In either case, the covenants need to meet as a Tribunal, and find a sponsor to present their case at a Grand Tribunal, either 1228 or 1261. There would inevitably be political opposition to the creation of a new Tribunal from some in the Order, but other magi could be convinced to offer their support. The player magi need to keep all the magi of the Nile committed to the plan, and defend all the covenants from enemies, as the scheme cannot succeed if there are not enough covenants in the region.

In such a saga, covenants would need to survive the Fifth Crusade, currently in Damietta, the rigors and machinations of any who might want to prevent a new Tribu-

nal from being established, and, if your saga follows history, the Seventh Crusade, which attacks Egypt again from 1248 to 1254. Opponents might include local (and previously unknown) eremites and Moorish sahirs who wish to keep politics and the greater reach of the Order from North Africa and Egypt, treasure hunters intent on looting what they can find and bringing it back to covenants in Mythic Europe without interference, or magi of other tribunals hoping to prevent the creation of a new delegation capable of raising issues and voting on matters at Grand Tribunal.