Minor Story Seeds

The Weary Scholar

An elderly magus, warped from years of magic and Twilight, from a faroff Tribunal arrives at the Great Tower, keen to study at the highest point in the tower. He offers great wealth in return for being accommodated. But over dinner, he is evasive about his origins, his covenant, and even his House. In truth, he is an accursed magus from the early days of the Order, given a Death Prophecy by a creature of infernal or faerie origin, and warped beyond the capability to use his magic. He has traveled the world, across Mythic Europe and beyond, to find the place where he may "walk among the clouds." Only there, he eventually explains, will he finally die. This tower is his final hope.

Do the magi of the Great Tower help him to reach the highest reaches? Do they try to learn from his obvious knowledge before doing so? And what happens if he doesn't die? Do they turn over part of the Tower to him and just... wait?

War Comes to the Tower

A foreign magus seeks to exchange vis for a season spent studying or copying from the Great Tower's library. He's willing to pay a handsome price. But within days, several other magi arrive in pursuit of the visitor. A state of Wizard War exists between them, and these pursuers demand he be turned over to them. If they refuse, it is made clear to the magi of the tower that they will soon be subject to Wizard War themselves.

The Disappearing Tower

A magical accident starts a cascade of temporary regiones forming, each swallowing a single room. The magi of the Great Tower are alerted when the kitchens on one level are reported missing along with the kitchen staff. Upon investigating, they find several other rooms and walkways also have disappeared, in one case causing part of the upper level to collapse, a demonstration of what could happen if the effect is not stopped. Can the magi reach the center of the phenomenon and reverse it before the whole level disappears and topples the entire tower?

The Stone Masons

One by one, the masons working on the tower seem to be going missing. No amount of Intellego Corpus magic is able to find them. The workers are growing restless and are refusing to work any further until their colleagues are found, which is a shame, as the new gargoyles are testament to their skill. But then, nobody can actually remember crafting any new gargoyles. And come to that, nobody has seen the visiting Terram specialist for over a week. He was using a spare laboratory in the upper levels when last heard from, but now even the doorway into that laboratory can't be found. There is clearly a magical effect running wild in the tower, and the magi must rescue both the visiting magus and the transformed masons.

The Feast of Stephen

Every year, the masons and their laborers celebrate the Feast of Stephen, patron saint of Masons, on the 26th day of December. Most years, this takes the form of two noisy teams and their appointed champions going from house to house, or chamber to chamber within the tower, collecting items of food and drink with which to make an enormous feast. The feast is prepared for the opposing champion, and the intent is to make a meal so foul that the champion cannot finish it.

But this year, the magi notice that, apparently by accident, the teams seem to be brewing a potion filled with mystical symbolism. Is this an accident or is there some other force at work. And can the magi discover both cause and effect before the potion works its magic on the two champions?

There are some stories that leave a lasting effect on the tower and its inhabitants. These Life-Changing events happen once in a generation, and have consequences and repercussions that irrevocably change life within the tower.

The last types of story are those that mark out the life of the tower itself. These Cataclysmic events are experienced only once in a lifetime, and have the potential for repercussions far beyond the tower alone. The founding of the Great Tower is the first such event, and its ultimate fate, for good or for bad, is perhaps the last.

The sections that follow present story ideas that can be threaded through a saga to chart the lives of covenfolk, magi, covenants, and ultimately the Great Tower itself.