Sorcerers of Soqotra

Soqotra, in the Arabian Sea's Gulf of Aden, is an island that is the stronghold of a caste of sorcerers. It is famous throughout Arabic lands, but the Order's members only became widely aware of it when an Arabic work was translated for the Book of Roger — a geographic compendium completed for the King of Sicily in the previous century. The wizards of Soqotra are famous, but only one detail is certain: they choose not to stray far from their island.

Origin

One of the earliest accounts of the island was recorded by the ancient Egyptians. An enormous, gold-encrusted serpent that called itself the island's king aided a shipwrecked Egyptian merchant. The serpent fed the merchant and, when rescuers arrived, gave him a cargo of gold, jewels, and incense. This royal serpent claimed that there were 75 great serpents on the island, and one young girl.

The Soqotrans believe that girl was the first Soqotran sorceress. These indigenous magicians subsequently dealt with the spirits of the island, controlled the forces of the ocean, and discovered the mystical uses of Soqotra's animals and plants. The early magical history of Soqotra is a series of half-remembered wars between individual magicians. Over time, the familiar spirits of magicians who performed similar styles of magic were able to negotiate truces with each other. Four distinctive but disorganized alliances dominated the island, each based on a style of magic ands the tree whose essence powers it. These alliances were the ancestors of the Aloe, Cinnabar, Olibanum, and Myrrh Tribes.

During the brief empire of Alexander, priests of Zeus from Minos were sent with a military escort to colonize the island. Many locals believe that Alexander conquered the island himself, while returning from India. The King of the Olibanum Serpents forged a unified army from the indigenous magicians to fight the Hellenic invaders, but was unable to force them from the island. Peace was negotiated.

The original settlers sent by Alexander were re-enforced by further colonists, sent periodically by the Ptolemies. This dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs was descended from one of Alexander's generals, and claimed spiritual kinship with Alexander. During this time the worship of Zeus waned and that of Serapis, a Hellenist imposition on the older Egyptian pantheon, waxed.

Soqotrans have three differing stories to account for the disappearance of the Helleno-Egyptian priest caste. Some believe they refused to take local wives, while others say that all of them took local wives and their descendants were absorbed into the island's population. Yet others say their magic was religious, and that when Saint Thomas converted the islanders to Christianity they forsook their gods. The invasion and cohabitation with the Greeks and Egyptians made Soqotran magic systematic, and created the island's political structure. A council of indigenous magicians has replaced the high priests of earlier times.

Soqotran magic may have also gathered contributions from the states that came briefly to dominate its surrounding area. The Roman Empire, the Ethiopian kingdom of Axum, and the Imanate of Oman were, for a time, significant political and economic powers in the Red Sea.

During the ancient wars, a magician of the Cinnabar Tribe discovered that magical creatures contain a substance that can be used to power spells, instead of the magical essences of the trees. Several younger spirits were slain for their vis, as a result. The King of the Olibanum Serpents killed that magician personally, and commanded that this never happen again. One of the effects of the dependence of Soqotran wizards on their spirits is that none of them know that the essences of the trees are simply examples of a broader class of magical substances.

Soqotran sorcerers use the essences of the trees to cast spells; if they knew vis existed, they could use it. They believe the essences of aloe and cinnabar can only be found on their islands, though. And while they are aware that olibanum and myrrh essence can be found in select places elsewhere, they do not consider it worth traveling for. This lack of desirable essences in foreign places makes Soqotran wizards hesitant to leave the islands, which suits the spirits that are their aides and allies.

The essences of trees can be used as vis by Hermetic magicians. Cinnabar vis is equal parts Perdo and Creo. olibanum is Rego, aloe is Creo, and myrrh is Mentem or Vim vis. Soqotrans use vis in "sparks." A spark is one tenth of an Hermetic pawn.

Their magical practices may have been seen, and perhaps incorporated, by the Soqotrans. Soqotra is also regularly visited by traders from India and from even more obscure places further to the east.

In 1220, Soqotra and some of its nearby islands are ruled by a caste of magicians. These magicians are only able to maintain their society with the continual aid of the magical spirits that act as their intermediaries and allies, circumventing the negative effects of their Gifts. Eight magicians are selected through a system of election and chance to form a ruling council called the Council of Tribes. These magicians communicate through spirit messengers, and practice governance through a small caste of unGifted assistants, who are usually descendants of magicians.

The magician caste is divided, politically, into four tribes. Each tribe contributes two members of the ruling council: one by a vote of the members, and one by a random selection. Each tribe is descended, theoretically, from one of the indigenous traditions of magic that predated the Helleno-Egyptian invasion. Each style of magic uses the vis of the tree it is named after — aloe, cinnabar, olibanum, and myrrh — and commands, while subtly being commanded by, some of the mystical inhabitants of the island.

Each magician is specialized in one of these four styles of magic. Each tribe also teaches the basic forms of magic of the other three tribes to its adolescent magicians. It is not unusual, for example, for a young magician to specialize in deadly Olibanum magic, but gain more skill in Cinnabar magic as he ages and mellows. Magicians change tribes only very rarely, and only early in their lives. After they gain a spirit aide, as described later, changing tribes is impossible.

The members of the Council of Tribes usually live in a gilded temple raised by Hellenic priests soon after their invasion, but they rarely truly meet. In most circumstances, they negotiate through messages carried by lesser olibanum

Soqotrans, both magical and mundane, duel for prestige at public events by trading poems from memory. Each person recites a poem suited to a subject at hand, and then his rivals in turn recite. The person who runs out of poems last is deemed the wisest, which grants prestige and aids in negotiations. Soqotran wizards use this form of dueling instead of magical battle, since they lack a form of limited warfare equivalent to Hermetic certamen. This is mechanically an opposed roll of Communication + appropriate Magical Ability, or Communication + Folk Ken for duels between mundanes.

serpents. This restricted form of communication, which appears completely normal to the magicians on the island, was devised by magical spirits in ancient times to prevent the mistrust and unnecessary violence that occurred between Gifted individuals.

When the council meets, each councilor waits in a room that abuts a courtyard, from where he can see and hear everything that is said, but cannot himself be seen or heard. Each sends an olibanum serpent as his representative. The roof of this section of the palace has been removed, for rain never falls upon it. An ancient dragon-blood tree serves as the canopy for the meeting, which is controlled by the King of the Olibanum Serpents. The king is the ninth member of the council, and guides it when it is deadlocked. During the meeting, the King of the Olibanum Serpents reclines coiled about the Couch of the God — apparently a block of gold six cubits long by four wide and four high, which was the altar of the Serapis cult.

The altar of Serapis is not a solid block of gold; it is instead an ark. Arks are gilded boxes used to hold sacred objects. The King of the Olibanum Serpents always coils tightly about the ark when he brings the Council of Tribes together, but only the Myrrh Tribe suspects why. On the Myrrh Tribe's list of the dates of the births and deaths for gods, Serapis has no date of death.

Serapis, the faerie god that the Ptolemies designed, is trapped inside his ark, held in place by the coils of the King of the Olibanum Serpents. He continues to provide power to his priests, because the king threatens him with destruction. Were he ever to escape, he might devastate the region. He is likely insane from his lengthy imprisonment, and even if he is not, he was designed as the ancestor god of a family dedicated to subduing the world by conquest. It is his nature to immediately pour his spirit into a person, and then use that fleshy puppet to conquer the world, skipping from body to body until he is emperor of everything.

Serapis is a very powerful faerie, even after the fall of his cult in other places, because this cult centre continues to provide him with vitality. The stories the common Soqotrans tell about their magicians, and the bizarre tales that their servants spread abroad, keep the imprisoned Serapis healthy. Player characters may become aware of Soqotra's existence by finding a similar cult site. In one of the stories contained in the the Ancient Magic supplement, for example, the characters hunt for the magical items of Heron in the Serapieum of Alexandria. A map or scrap of text might lead the characters to other Serapieums, including this one.

and is under twenty one years of age, he does not vote in the ruling council. Similarly, he does not gain the increased power that his station on the council would usually permit. His place is not, however, filled by a fresh drawing of lots, and if he turns twenty one during his tenure of office, he will be invested and gain access to greater power. The sorcerers believe this is because younger people lack the capacity to channel that added magical force safely. It may, however, be that younger people are more malleable to Faerie powers, and inducting a young person into Serapis' priesthood (the Council of Tribes) may give the faerie god a chance to manipulate that person, and seek escape.

The Aloe Tribe is skilled in magic that restores damaged things. Its magicians are disproportionately women. Bitter aloes, which provide the vis for this tradition, are harvested only in years when the rain is good. This led, in ancient times, to the Aloe Tribe's defeat by the Olibanum Tribe, which has the ability to control the weather. The animosities between these tribes faded long ago, though. Today Aloe magic

Each of the styles of magic practiced on Soqotra is practiced by a political group called a tribe. The members of a tribe almost never meet in person; spirits act as their intermediaries, instead. The Soqotran wizards believe this is an attempt to prevent the wars that led to the formation of the current political system, but it also allows the King of the Olibanum Serpents to control the flow of information between the Soqotran magicians. Each tribe's members are aided in their magical work by a group of allied spirits.

Each of the tribes is led by a potent spirit, which is related to the lesser spirits that act as aides for sorcerers. It is these great spirits that open the Gifts of children. These children are then, usually, taught by their spirit aides. The mystical patrons of each tribe can generate an Opening total of 12, and each has some understanding of the practices of the other tribes, so that new sorcerers do not usually suffer Deficiencies.

All Soqotran sorcerers, regardless of their age, are instructed in a similar way. Magicians do not, in the Soqotran system, create other magicians and so there is no concept of apprenticeship. The one notable distinction is that if a magician is elected to the Council of Tribes by lot,

Medieval European students of medicine are in two minds concerning aloe. Some claim that bitter aloe, a purgative medicine, and aloewood, resinous heartwood used as incense, come from the same tree. Others deny this. In this chapter it is assumed that the folklore that links aloewood and bitter aloes is false, because in the real world it is false. Player characters may not know this and troupes may prefer, for simplicity or thematic reasons, sagas in which bitter aloe does come from aloewood trees.

Aloewood, often called agarwood in modern times, is a tree that suffers fungal attack in its heartwood, and in response it creates a dark resin that soaks the wood. This wood is cut into small pieces or powdered. It is particularly good for preserving things, which is why it was used in mummification rituals, and it is mentioned as having been used in the entombment of Jesus. It has a complex smell, like mushroom and carrot.

Assuming, as the rest of this chapter does, that Soqotran aloe incense comes from bitter aloes, then it lacks a distinctive smell. This is because the vis in aloe plants is contained not in their wood, but in their juice. This juice is hung in leather bags to evaporate into a powder, which is then mixed with fuel before burning. That aloe incense is so bland compared to the other tree essences is no longer considered remarkable by Soqotrans. Hermetic magi attempting to convince Soqotrans that the essences are merely an expression of a larger class, vis, find aloe magicians the most receptive to the idea.

Aloe magicians are found randomly scattered on the island, excepting the mountainous areas. The plant from which their tradition accrues is spread widely, perhaps from ancient farming. The aloe is not found off the island, though, which limits the tribe's desire to leave.

The mystical patron of this tradition is the bennu, a sort of phoenix that nests upon Soqotra. It is served by its relatives, the herons of light. Aloe sorcerers believe the bennu became the patron of their tribe only in more-recent historical times. They think that the elephant mentioned in the origin story for the cinnabar trees was their patron in an ancient age.

The Cinnabar Tribe is skilled in magic that preserves objects and circumstances. It draws its vis from the cinnabar trees. The trees flourish 4,000 feet above sea level, so the magicians of this tribe live in the mountains. Cinnabar magic is primarily defensive in effect, and so it is popular as a secondary skill among the sorcerers of other tribes.

Like the Aloe Tribe's namesake, the plant from which cinnabar is taken is not found outside the archipelago, so far as the sorcerers are aware. This, combined with the defensive focus of their magic, makes Cinnabar magicians hesitant to leave the islands. Each sorcerer of this tribe is aided by a spirit in the shape of a huge, bloodred gecko lizard.

Cinnabar can be harvested every two years, and the vis of the tree takes two years to form, although it can be stored in the tree for up to a further two years without loss. The magicians of this tribe do not, at the present time, co-ordinate their harvests. In the wars before the unification of the indigenous traditions, it was common for a group of Cinnabar magicians to all harvest their vis at the same time, and use this material for pre-emptive strikes on their enemies. Burning the cinnabar trees, an obvious tactic when fighting Cinnabar sorcerers, offends the spirits of all of the tribes, and so has never been widely practiced during Soqotran warfare.

The term "cinnabar" is used for two completely different substances, one mineral and the other vegetable, which can both be used as a blood red dye. Pliny notes that even doctors find them confusing, which sometimes leads to the death of their patients. Mineral cinnabar cannot be used as incense. Veg-

etable cinnabar is stored as garnet-colored droplets that are ground to powder before being mixed with fuel to make conventional incense. Soqotran sorcerers do not need to do this when casting their spells, although they usually do if the spell has Censer Duration. Cinnabar has an earthy, tangy smell.

Myrrh incense is a reddish-brown resin, with stronger incense having a darker color. It has a heavy, earthy smell that is slightly bitter. It is associated in much of Mythic Europe with funereal customs. It is also used in anointing oil, particularly among Eastern Christians. Myrrh does not need to be ground to powder when mixed with fuel for burning, as it does not liquefy as many other resins do.

Olibanum incense, called "frankincense" in English, is a resin that is pale yellow and chunky. The paler and more opaque the incense, the greater its quality is. Large single pieces are of higher quality than combined smaller pieces of the same weight. Olibanum is ground and mixed with fuel before use as conventional incense. Soqotran sorcerers may, however, use it in the raw form. They usually prefer to grind it if casting spells with Censer Duration. This has no mechanical advantage, but is seen as the correct way to treat the essence. Olibanum smells spicy, resinous, and slightly citric.

The Myrrh Tribe has magic that commemorates, and draws them closer to, an historic ideal. Magical myrrh plants are usually found on the almost inaccessible southern parts of the island. The Myrrh Tribe is allied to faeries, although the Soqotran sorcerers do not clearly distinguish between Magical and Faerie spirits.

The Myrrh Tribe often battles wicked jinniyah — female jinns that cause sickness and ill fortune. They do this by performing simple folk magic that allows them to personally contest the spiritual power of the jinniyah, or by calling up friendly jinniyah that live near the afflicted person. The friendly jinniyah, aided by the folk magician, can drive off the wicked jinniyah. Members of the Myrrh Tribe are often aided by one or more friendly jinniyah, and many have the Faerie Blood Virtue (jinniyah).

The Myrrh Tribe's allies are led by a senior jinniyah, their queen, who has little to do with humans. She entered into a pact with the King of the Olibanum Serpents at the end of the final war between the Olibanum and Myrrh Tribes. The details of this agreement are hazy, but seem to have included the king's effective governance of the island, and the queen's acquiescence in his policy of isolation from the world. The queen also keeps many of the king's secrets; for example, she knows the real nature of vis yet chooses not to share it with her tribe.

Olibanum magic commands things, like minds and winds. Sorcerers of this tribe tend to dwell in the fertile north of the island. They are the most skilled war-

riors of the four tribes. The current détente, under the King of the Olibanum Serpents, can be seen as a final victory for this tribe over the others.

Each magical olibanum tree has a mystical serpent that guards it. These creatures aid the magicians, and are well-disposed toward them, but are hesitant to be discovered by outsiders. Their existence contributes both to the defensibility of the island and the reluctance of these magicians to engage with emissaries from the Order of Hermes. The Olibanum Tribe and their serpentine allies dispense magical justice on the island.

Magical olibanum is collected only for a fortnight each year, when the star Sirius rises at dawn. Harvesting olibanum, even from trees that do not produce vis, is believed to be a sacred act. Those who are not skilled in handling the required tools can easily injure or kill the olibanum trees. This is a crime, and is punished by the sorcerers. Olibanum is also called "frankincense" — which literally means "the incense of the French" — in some areas, but not on Soqotra.

Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle, records that sailors were sent by Alexander the Great to spy out Soqotra. When they arrived on the island they were thirsty and ventured inland to look for water. Seeing no guards, they stole olibanum and myrrh from the trees. Unskilled harvesters usually damage the trees. This theft and injury may have led to the alliance of the Olibanum and Myrrh Tribes, traditionally rivals, against the Greek invaders.

A Soqotran sorcerer is designed using the rules in the core book, with slight changes.

Soqotran sorcerers are similar to Hermetic magi in design. They are permitted 10 points of Flaws, balanced by the same quantity of Virtues, plus one Minor Virtue. This minor Virtue is Puissant (Favoured) Magic. It grants +2 on spellcasting rolls in the nominated style of magic. All Soqotran sorcerers have The Gift, which is a free Virtue, and they must take the Soqotran Sorcerer Free Status Virtue.

Soqotran Sorcerer is a Virtue that replaces Hermetic Magus for the purposes of character design. Just as Hermetic magi have powers and obligations that are not reflected in their Virtues, similarly Soqotran Sorcerers do not have Virtues or Flaws detailing their unique spellcasting style or the resources granted to them by their society. The Soqotran Sorcerer Virtue bundles these features much as the Hermetic Magus Virtue does.

Soqotran sorcerers are treated as hedge magicians outside the area where legends of them are well known. This Virtue allows the character to access the Finesse, Magic Lore, and Penetration Abilities. Soqotran sorcerers do not have a Magic Theory, but they have a cosmology that is quantified using the Artes Liberales Ability, and access to that Ability is provided by this Virtue. Some Soqotran sorcerers also have Martial Abilities, which are unblocked by this Virtue.

All Soqotran sorcerers have a spirit ally that can act as a protector, tutor, and spellcasting aide. Note that, theoretically, a sorcerer might go through the Soqotran training and be bound to any spirit, and gain aid from that spirit. The division into four tribes is not due to a limit of Soqotran magic, it simply suits the four regal spirits.

The tree that the spirit controls provides 120 sparks of vis per year, and in some circumstances Soqotran sorcerers may borrow additional vis from the senior members of their traditions, leaders of the council, or spirits that lack magicians. All Soqotrans need to use vis to cast spells, but this Flaw is already factored into the Soqotran Sorcerer virtue.

They possess an Ability score of 0 in a favored Ability for each style of magic (Aloe, Cinnabar, Myrrh, and Olibanum). Characters may exceed the usual maximum for Abilities by age given on page 51 of ArM5, in the magic of their tribe.

Soqotran sorcerers are effectively required to do what their spirits ask. This does not prevent the character selecting a Story Flaw, much as Hermetic magi are required to keep the Code and may still have other Story Flaws.

This Virtue is suited for respected and powerful members of Soqotran sorcerer tribes. It is rare for a character younger than thirty five to have this virtue. Characters with this Virtue have spirit aides, as described later. In brief, this allows the character to have a higher casting total, by spending up to twice as many points from his spirit's Might pool.

All Soqotran sorcerers gain the usual free experience points from childhood. This includes a score of 5 in their native area's language and 45 other points to spend on Abilities from a restricted list on page 31 of the core rulebook. Many Soqotran sorcerers speak Arabic as their childhood language, and learn Soqotri after being taken to the island.

During subsequent training, which often takes 15 years, Soqotran sorcerers earn 240 experience points and 72 levels of spells. Artes Liberales plays an important role in Soqotran ritual spellcasting, so it is higher than in equivalent Hermetic magi.

For every additional year, the character earns 30 points that may be spent on Abilities at the rate of 1 point per experience point, or may be spent on spells at the rate of 3 levels for every 5 points.

There are a few hedge witch traditions on the island, members of which are best constructed using the rules given in Hedge Magic Revised Edition. Soqotran hedge witches are skilled at cursing people, particularly to cause sickness, transform victims into civets, or ruin crops with poor weather. Some hedge witches can call up evil jinniyahs to cause mischief. The witches of Soqotra are also renowned throughout the Arabic lands for their ability to bewitch sailors with their smiles so that boats run aground on rocks, and to transform into seals.

On Soqotra using witchcraft, particularly to harm others, is a crime. Those accused are tested by being weighted with heavy stones and dropped into deep water, then pulled back to the surface. If the accused has mud, sand, or pieces of shell on her feet, she is pronounced innocent. If she fails this test three times, then she is securely bound and returned to shore. The leader of her community then coats her head and eyebrows with the sap of a local tree. This makes all of her hair fall out, and prevents its regrowth. The woman is then shipped off the island on the next available boat, and forbidden to return. This test technically only determines if the woman is a witch, not if her powers were ill-used. There are some male witches of Soqotra, but female ones are far more common.

Soqotran magicians have access to four Supernatural Abilities, called Aloe Magic, Cinnabar Magic, Myrrh Magic, and Olibanum Magic. They may be used to produce spell effects according to the following formula.

Casting Total:

Stress die + Aura + Communication + Magical Ability + additional sparks of vis spent + points due to spent Might from spirit ally or aide (+ Artes Liberales for ceremonial magic)

A character who meets or exceeds the spell level casts successfully. A character who misses the level by up to 6 points still casts the spell successfully, but loses a Fatigue level. A casting total less than this is a failure and costs a Fatigue level. A character who botches is subject to the same sorts of negative effects suffered by Hermetic magi. A character using additional sparks of vis gains a single extra botch die, unless he is using more than 10 sparks, in which case he divides the number of sparks by 10 and rounds up.

As a rule for the construction of nonplayer characters, Soqotran sorcerers of equal age to a new Hermetic magus will have a score of 5 in the Ability favored by their tribe, with a +2 bonus due to Puissance. The leaders of each tribe will usually have a score of 9, with a +2 bonus for their Puissance. Some characters, with Affinities in the Ability of their tribe, reach these scores more quickly than their tribemates. Rather than racing to greater heights of power, they tend to broaden their study into the abilities of the other three tribes.

Soqotran sorcerers gain their power from several sources. The sorcerer gains the highest bonus in each category.

Soqotran sorcerers gain the same bonuses from the presence of a Magic aura as other magicians. Much of the island has a Magical aura of 2. The aura is far higher in the caves that have housed generations of sorcerers.

An incense ceremony is required for all spellcasting. All incense ceremonies require the sorcerer to burn at least a little "essential incense," which is what Hermetic magi would call vis. The amount consumed is called a "spark" by Soqotrans, which is one-tenth of a Hermetic pawn.

A perfunctory incense ceremony occurs when a character, startled by enemies or in some other way lacking time, simply destroys a small quantity of the appropriate essential incense with a touch and a thought. This ceremony allows spell casting in the same round. A perfunctory ceremony adds nothing to the Casting Total: it is required for a spell to be possible.

A character may create Censer Duration spells with a perfunctory incense ceremony, provided that the sorcerer has prepared a censer in advance. The censer ignites magically as the spellcasting ends. This magical ignition occurs provided that the censer has been used for casting spells before, contains mundane fuel, and contains a tenth of a pawn of vis. The Soqotran unit for measuring essential incense, the spark, comes from the observation that a smaller amount will not self-immolate during perfunctory incense ceremonies, causing them to fail.

A minor incense ceremony involves the burning of a single spark of essential incense (vis) and a small quantity of common incense, the amount of common incense increasing with the magnitude of the spell. A minor ceremony takes fifteen minutes to complete, and adds the character's Artes Liberales score to the Casting Total. This is the Soqotran form of Ceremonial Magic.

A full incense ceremony takes fifteen minutes to complete. It requires a spark of essential incense per 3 points of Ease Factor, and a pile of common incense the size of the sorcerer's fist. As with a minor incense ceremony, the character's Artes Liberales score is added to the Casting Total. This is the Soqotran form of Ritual Casting, but it is faster than the Hermetic method. There is, however, one weakness to the Soqotran method that Hermetic

magic does not share: a Soqotran's spirit ally must be present for this style of casting to be possible.

A character using any of the three forms of ceremony gains no Casting Total bonus for the vis consumed in that ceremony. The sorcerer may, however, choose to use vis in addition to that which the ceremony requires, to make it easier to manifest the desired magical effect.

Every additional spark of appropriate vis used adds 1 to the Casting Total. A character may not spend more sparks to increase the Casting Total than the character's score in the appropriate magical Ability.

Soqotran magic is intimately tied to the natural forces of the island, and these forces are represented by the local tree spirits. A character who enters a relationship with the local spirits finds his mystical powers magnified. All Soqotran sorcerers have magical allies from the completion of their training. Players desiring this for their charNew Major Virtue: The Spirit Ally

All of the magical characters below have a Major Virtue called Spirit Ally. This virtue has the following effects:

The character does not suffer Acclimation. Acclimation, described in Realms of Power: Magic, is a process in which magical creatures become progressively more mundane if they remain in the mortal world. Hermetic familiars do not suffer acclimation because of their tie to a magus. Similarly, Soqotran spirit allies do not suffer acclimation either because they have a link to a sorcerer, or, in the case of the jinniyah, because acclimation doesn't affect faeries.

A Spirit Ally has an Arcane Connection to his sorcerer, or, for those sorcerers who have multiple allies, to any other ally of the same sorcerer. The sorcerer, or any other spirit ally of the same sorcerer, may use this link to sense the direction and emotional state of the ally.

A spirit ally that is touching the sorcerer extends that sorcerer's Touch Range, which is of greatest use with olibanum serpent allies since they can reach over twenty feet long.

acters should select the Soqotran Sorcerer Virtue and Flaw package and an appropriate Soqotran Supernatural Ability of at least 5. Characters lacking this Virtue may develop it during play, by undergoing a quest on behalf of one of the spirits that they wish to have as an ally, the leader of their tribe, or the King of the Olibanum Serpents. This quest is a test of the character's Gift, learning, resourcefulness, and moral character.

Characters who are senior in their tribe are eventually offered closer companionship with their spirit ally. The form this closer companionship takes varies. The different forms of relationship offered by the four types of spirit are discussed in their respective statistic blocks, later. This sign of respect is offered to magicians who perform heroic deeds on behalf of the islanders, who have gained great insight into their magic (represented by a score of 9), who have become elected leaders of the council, or who have need of additional power to complete an otherwise-insurmountable task that the King of the Olibanum Serpents wishes to assign them.

A spirit ally or aide may spend points from its Might Pool to grant a +1 bonus per Might on a single spellcasting roll. A spirit ally cannot expend more Might than the character's score in the related magical Ability. A spirit aide cannot expend more Might than twice the character's score in the related magical Ability. This bonus can only be granted to the spirit's sorcerer, and can only be granted when casting magic related to the spirit's tribe and tree. A spirit may spend the same amount of points originally spent to destroy any spell that its own Might helped to create.

Although the spirits of the other three tribes never offer aideship without the permission of the King of the Olibanum Serpents, the jinniyah of the Myrrh Tribe fre-

quently do. Sorcerers of all tribes studiously ignore mentioning this one area of friction between the two great supernatural powers. The Queen of Myrrh knows that although there is a practical limit to the number of magicians who can draw on additional power through their spirit aides, the magicians on the island come nowhere close to that maximum number. The king has reserved aideship as a reward for diligence and obedience, and the queen generally follows his policy. There is actually nothing to prevent the king from offering aideship to every magician on the island — in time of war, for example — although he has never done so.

The spirit allies of Soqotran sorcerers aid them in the practice of magic, but do not cast magic in a human style. The statistics for them that follow have magic scores for the purpose of teaching their humans. Troupes using Realms of Power: Magic to play magical characters may prefer to fold the magical and lore Abilities of the characters together. The experience points from the discarded Ability score may be spent on other Abilities to differentiate this spirit from others of its tribe.

Note that several of the powers given below are similar to, but cannot be simulated by, Hermetic effects. Similar Hermetic effects have been used to provide scale for their mechanics, but the spirits of Soqotra share, with the local sorcerers, the ability to do some things that Hermetic magi simply cannot do.

Magic Might: 23 (Animal)

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

Size: +1

Confidence Score: 2 (5)

Virtues and Flaws (Size 0): Magical Animal, Magical Friend, Spirit Ally, Arcane Lore, Puissant Brawl, Puissant Teaching, Self-Confident, Unaffected By the Gift, Oath of Fealty (to the King of the Olibanum Serpents), Vulnerability (Tree), Carefree (minor)

Qualities and Inferiorities (Size 0): 1 Focus Power, 2 Greater Magical Power, No Fatigue, Gift of Speech, 3 x Minor Virtue (Improved Characteristics), 2 x Improved Abilities, Improved Attack, Improved Damage, 2 x Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Improved Powers, Improved Soak.

Personality Traits: Gecko +3, Sociable +2, Fierce +1, Lazy +1

Combat:*

Teeth: Init +3, Attack +14, Defense +12,

Three of the four types of spirit ally on Soqotra die, or are at least banished to their respective realms, if their tree is destroyed. The tree shares the spirit's Magic Resistance, and the spirit can tell when its tree is harmed. It can always find the direction of its tree with a Concentration + Awareness roll of 6+. Herons of light do not have this flaw.

Damage +6

* +3 on all Grapple attacks

Soak: +3

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–6), –2 (7–12), –5 (13–18), Incapacitated (19–24), Dead (25+)

Abilities: Awareness 2 (supernatural things), Bargain 3 (sorcerers), Brawl 5+2 (bite), Charm 2 (magic users), Cinnabar Lore 5 (teaching), Dominion Lore 2 (Soqotran), Etiquette 3 (magic users), Faerie Lore 2 (Soqotran), Folk Ken 3 (Soqotran festivals), Hunt 1 (goats), Infernal Lore 2 (Soqotran), Magic Lore 3 (Cinnabar), Penetration 2 (Olibanum), Soqotra Lore 2 (magical places), Sorcerers of Soqotra Lore 2 (motivations), Speak Socotri 5 (magic users), Swim 3 (sea), Teaching 3+2 (sorcerers).

Ambush Predation, 0 points, Init 0, Imaginem: This power makes the gecko, and anyone it touches, invisible to normal sight, regardless of what the individual does. This effect allows the gecko and its magician to sneak about unobserved; but, more sensationally, it allows an invisible gecko to make a foe similarly invisible, and slaughter him while he screams for the aid of his confused friends. This power also assists in hunting goats for sport.

PeIm 25 (Base 4 +1 Touch, +2 Sun +1 Group, +1 changing image) Greater Power 25 levels, 25 spare levels converted to Mastery points and spent on cost and Init.

The Blessing of the Third Brother, 0 points, Momentary (triggered by successful bite), Vim: The bite of these geckos is tremendously dangerous, because exposure to gecko blood exposes a character to powerful and conflicting magical forces. An object or creature subjected to these forces gains five Warping points and must check for Twilight, or its equivalent, if a magician. If the character suffers Twilight, he appears to mundane people as an incorruptible statue that is immune to any form of mundane damage, until the Twilight ends. Characters who have injured a gecko, and then botch later in the same combat, may suffer the effects described above as some of the gecko's shed blood enters their eyes, mouth, or a crack in their skin. The blood becomes inert within a minute or two at most.

CrVi 45 (Base 25 (5 Warping points) +1 Touch (usually requires successful bite attack), +5 interesting Twilight effect, +10 Constant) Greater Power: 45 levels (5 mastery points from Improved Powers Virtue spent on cost, 5 spare levels converted to a Mastery point and spent on Init of Ambush Predator power.)

Gecko Skin, 5 points, Init -5, Animal. This focus power allows the gecko to perform magical feats similar to the remarkable tricks of small, mundane geckos. The gecko targets its own skin with small magical effects, allowing it to slowly move over apparently impossible surfaces, much as little geckos do. A gecko using this power can climb a vertical wall, regardless of the wall's flimsiness or slickness. It can walk across water, despite waves, without sinking. It can cling to ceilings, without consideration of its own weight or the fragility of the ceiling. As a final useful effect, the gecko can cause its rider's clothes to adhere to its own skin, so the rider will not fall if carried on strange paths.

Like all Focus powers, this power can be extended to greater Range, but by limiting its effects. The gecko can Touch the boots of his sorcerer and impart a similar ability to walk on water. The sorcerer may stumble, though, and only his enchanted clothes will not break the water's surface. Alternatively, if the gecko grants the correct property to his gloves, the sorcerer may climb walls or hang from ceilings that can bear his weight.

Sorcerers of the Cinnabar Tribe generally wear leather boots and gloves, so that they can benefit from the gecko's ability. They do not generally wear leather or woollen clothes, though, because the desert climate of Soqotra makes these unbearable. Most have a suit of light leather armor, used in war. Focus power : 25 levels.

Restoration, 0 points, Animal: This powerlike effect allows the gecko to restore itself to health after it has been damaged. It regrows lost limbs over the course of a season and heals lesser injuries in a day. This "power" is free; it's an effect of the natural form of the gecko and mystically parallels things that common geckos can do.

Vis: 5 pawns, blood

Appearance: Soqotran giant geckos are spirits that take the form of large lizards, with prominent eyes and spatulate toes. They are a deep red color, and have small, angular bumps around their eye ridges. Some geckos can stand upright for brief periods of time. Soqotran giant geckos regrow any lost body part almost instantly.

The blood, and therefore the bite, of the gecko is particularly dangerous. When a magical gecko bites its enemy, its saliva usually contains blood, because the teeth of the gecko are covered for much of their length with gingivitic tissue that tears when pressure is placed upon it. This exposes the victim to the blood of the gecko, which causes a character to seem to become unhinged from time.

Soqotran giant geckos are highly social and have no territorial instinct. They pair exclusively, and the sorcerers of a pair of geckos are generally allies. The geckos are the least active and adventurous of all of the spirit ally types, generally being happy to laze in the sun and tell each other stories. They particularly enjoy hunting and devouring goats in groups. They do not require sustenance, but this is a significant social ritual that most geckos participate in at least once per month.

Of the four spirit groups, the geckos are the most fervently opposed to the Islamization of the island. They believe that one of the hadith — the recorded sayings of the Prophet — indicates that good Muslims should destroy unclean creatures, and that geckos are unclean. In contrast, the Christians have driven to extinction the conventional lizards from which these spirits originally took their shape. They did this by eating the lizards, or rendering their flesh down into cooking oil.

Soqotran giant geckos are spiritually linked to a particular cinnabar plant, and will die if that plant is destroyed. The geckos vary in size, in accord with their plant's age. They are said to grow an inch in length each year, although half of this length is the gecko's tail. The oldest lizards, who interact with senior sorcerers at the behest of their younger allies, are over a hundred years old. The magicians of the island believe that venerable, ancient trees live in the remote mountain valleys of the island, and in times of tribal war the spirits of these trees aid their smaller brethren. Folklore records that some geckos have reached eighteen feet in length.

The geckos do not have a powerful spirit lord to serve, like a king, queen, or bennu. Just before Opening a child to her magic, an elderly gecko will remove its tail and replace it with a tail it keeps in an ivory box. This is, perhaps, the stillliving tail of its spiritual sovereign. When the ritual is complete, the gecko sheds the royal tail and resumes using its own. The geckos serve the King of the Olibanum Serpents, but their lack of any sense of urgency makes them poor agents.

Magic Might: 31 (Animal) Characteristics: Int +3, Per +2, Pre +2, Com +2, Str +1, Sta +2, Dex +1, Qik +3

Confidence Score: 1 (3 points)

Virtues and Flaws: Magic Animal, Magical Friend, Spirit Ally, Arcane Lore, 2 x Improved Characteristics, Puissant Teaching, Second Sight, Unaffected By The Gift, Oath of Fealty (Bennu), Diurnal*, Higher Purpose**, Offensive To Flying Snakes***, Proud, (minor), Restricted Power (Reviving Flame requires fatal wound, although this may be self-inflicted), Temperate.

• * Like the Nocturnal Flaw, but inverted for activity during the day.
• ** The herons of light are fanatically religious, but their religion is very difficult for humans to understand.
• *** The flying snakes of Arabia are the hereditary enemies of the herons, and they have fought annual wars for thousands of years. The herons' ability to revive from fatal injury makes these battles rather one sided.

Qualities and Inferiorities: Gigantic, 4 x Greater Magical Powers, No Fatigue, Ritual Power, Gift of Speech, Improved Attack (claws), 3 x Improved Abilities, Improved Initiative (claws), Improved Recovery, Improved Powers, Improved Soak, 4 x Minor Virtue (Improved Characteristics)

Personality Traits: Heron +3, Inquisitive +3, Hopeful +2, Superior +1

Combat:

Claws: Init +5, Attack +5, Defense +6, Damage +3*

* +5 if using Incinerate power.

Soak: +4

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–6), –3 (7–12), –5 (13–18), Incapacitated (19–24), Dead (25+)

Abilities: Aloe Magic 6 (teaching), Athletics 3 (flying), Awareness 3 (predators), Bargain 3 (magic users), Brawl 2 (dodging), Etiquette 1 (other birds), Dominion Lore 1 (angels), Infernal Lore 2 (things that fly), Faerie Lore 2 (Soqotran), Folk Ken 2 (Soqotran), Magic Lore 3 (Soqotran), Penetration 3 (incinerating), Second Sight 4 (demons), Soqotra Lore 2 (places where aloes grow), Sorcerers of Soqotra Lore4 (Aloe sorcerers), Speak Socotri 5 (formal), Teaching 4+2 (Aloe Magic).

Powers:

Dispel Shadowy Spirits, 0 points, Init 0, Form: This spell restores places to wholesomeness by destroying the minor demons that cause sickness, poor luck, bad weather, and many other ills.

PeVi3 0 (Base 20, +2 Voice): Greater Power (30 levels, 20 remaining levels converted to Mastery points and spent on reducing cost)

Incinerate: 0 points, Init +1, Ignem: The heron can set things afire merely by commanding them to burn. This power does +5 damage per round and can be used to augment the heron's claws. CrIg 10 (Base 4, +2 Voice, +1 Diameter): Greater Power (15 levels –2 Might cost, remaining levels have been used to purchase Undesired Rejuvenation Power and reduce its cost by 1).

Reviving Flame, 4 points, Init –11, Animal: The heron bursts into flame, and appears to be consumed by it. But when the terrible light of the fire fades, it is completely healed of all wounds. The light does no harm to observers, but may temporarily blind those who stare at it directly.

CrAn 35 (Base 35): Ritual Power (35 levels, 15 remaining levels converted to Mastery points and used to reduce cost)

Travel on the Wing of Sunset, 0 points, Init –2, Animal or Corpus: This power transforms its target into optic species — a sort of particle that is carried by light — and whisks him away to a distant location. This visual effect aside, the power is designed as a version of Seven League Stride based on Rego Animal with a Corpus requisite. The spell allows the heron to flee enemies, but also allows the heron to transport its enemies so that they reappear on desolate islands many miles from Soqotra. The heron must know the place it is sending the target.

ReAn(Co) 45 (Base 30, +2 Voice, +1 requisite): Greater Powers (45 levels, 5 remaining levels converted to Mastery points and spent on reducing cost. 4 Mastery points from Improved Powers to reduce cost)

Undesired Rejuvenation, 1 point, Init +1, Animal or Corpus: This power is used offensively. It reverts the target of the power to infanthood. The target, if human, retains his memories and Abilities, but is generally unable to use them because of the lack of coordination inherent in his baby body. Infant animals may be more effective combatants, depending on the development cycle of their species.

MuCo 20 (Base 3, +2 Voice, +2 Sun, +1 requisite): Greater Power (20 levels, with 5 levels spent to reduce cost by 1. Remaining levels spent on Incinerate power.)

Vis: 5 pawns Ignem, plumes

Appearance: These spirits take the shape of large herons. Each heron is connected spiritually to an aloe patch, which it considers to be its charge. However, unlike the other spirits of the island, if a heron's plants are destroyed it is merely infuriated; it does not die. The herons form a loose society that meets at formalized times. The herons demand politeness and order, and have an abrupt manner toward those who interrupt the rhythms of island life.

The herons who act as allies and aides for sorcerers are the youngest of their kind. Elderly herons leave their patches of aloe for duties assigned by their leader. They also assist in the teaching of powerful Aloe magicians. Herons vary in size from a foot tall to three feet tall. There is no obvious reason for this variation: it is not a mark of age or a reflection of the health of the bird's aloes.

The herons of light are brightly colored. Each has purple feathers on its chest and a saffron-yellow neck. The legs are the color of ocher. The backs of the birds vary with the majority being a deep sea blue, but red-gold and an iridescent mixture of all the colors of the rainbow are also widely seen. The birds each have a pair of lengthy plumes as a crest. The bones of herons of light are delicate and fragile, but are made of gold.

A few members of this tradition are served by night herons. These spirits look like white ravens with black skullcaps. Night herons are inactive during the day. A heron of light and a night heron may share territory in a way that either would refuse if encroached on by another of their own kind. Night herons seem to prefer sorcerers with the Gentle Gift as their allies, so they are relatively rare. Night herons have the powers noted above, and although they are identical mechanically, their observed effects are related to shadows and cold.

The herons are aligned to a creature called the bennu, which is similar to the Greek phoenix and nests on inaccessible parts of the island. This being rarely interacts with humans, but is incredibly powerful. It is, for example, able to cast vast illusions. It was perhaps responsible for the inability of Saladin's brother to find the island of Soqotra when he combed the Red Sea with a war fleet, seeking it. The bennu can also appear to prevent the sun rising.

The nature of the detente between the bennu and the King of the Olibanum Serpents is unclear. The bennu may be the only creature on the island, other than the king, able to definitively answer questions concerning the king's identity.

Faerie Might: 15

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

Size: –1

Virtues and Flaws: Greater Faerie Power, Cognizant Within Role, Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Feast of the Dead, Humanoid Faerie, 2 x Increased Faerie Might, Lesser Faerie Powers, Observant, Personal Faerie Powers, Restricted Might (day), Sovereign Ward (destruction of tree), Small Frame, Traditional Ward (folk charms).

Personality Traits: Bold +3

Combat:

Claws: Init 0, Attack +11, Defense +10, Damage +5

Fangs: Init +1, Attack +10, Defense +8, Damage +4

Soak: 0

Wound Penalties –1 (1-4), –3 (5-8), –5 (9-12), Incapacitated (13–16), Dead (17+)

Pretenses: Athletics 5 (mountain trails), Awareness 3 (humans), Brawl 6 (dark

areas), Carouse 3 (shepherds), Charm 3 (lonely men), Etiquette 2 (dining), Faerie Speech 5 (conversation)

Powers:

Extended Glamour: 0 points, constant, Mentem

Coils of the Entangling Plants: 2 points, Init. –2, Herbam: as the spell of the same name, ArM5 page 138.

Enthralling Sound: 3 points, Init –3, Mentem: May create an infatuation with the sound of her singing. As the jinniyah approaches a man, she sings a beautiful lament for him. Some of these spirits instead have the Enthrallment power, and cause shipwrecks with their smiles. A stress roll with an appropriate Personality trait against an Ease Factor of 9 allows a victim to overcome this power's effect.

CrMe Base 4 +2 Voice +2 Sun +2 Group

Transform Into Human: 0 points, Init. 0, Animal (3 intricacy points on cost, 2 on initiative): This power transforms the character between human and combat form. The combat form has knifesharp teeth and sharpened claws. This is treated as a Personal level 25 MuCo(An) effect.

Equipment: Clothes, bangles. Vis: 3 pawns Perdo, a dead spider

Appearance: Sorcerers know that the jinniyah of the island may be linked with any grove of trees, but those that aid the Myrrh Tribe are the spirits of ancient myrrh groves. They eat night travelers and cause shipwrecks. Myrrh jinniyah appear to be beautiful women. If a jinniyah's grove is destroyed, she appears to die, though actually just shifts roles.

Faerie Might: 25

Characteristics: Int +2, Per 0, Pre +3, Com +1, Str +1, Sta 0, Dex 0, Qik 0

Size: –1

Virtues and Flaws: Greater Faerie Power, Cognizant Within Role, Faerie Sight, Faerie Speech, Humanoid Faerie, Improved Characteristics, Improved Damage, Improved Powers, 4 x Increased Faerie Might, Lesser Faerie Powers, Observant, Sovereign Ward (destruction of tree), Small Frame, Traditional Ward (folk charms).

Personality Traits: Bold +3 Combat:

Myrrh Harvesting Knife: Init 0, Attack +8, Defense +6, Damage +11*

Kick: Init -1, Attack +6, Defense +5, Damage +4

* Includes +5 for Improved Damage Virtue.

Soak: 0

Wound Penalties –1 (1-4), –3 (5-8), –5 (9-12), Incapacitated (13–16), Dead (17+)

Pretenses: Athletics 5 (mountain trails), Awareness 3 (humans), Brawl 6 (dark areas), Carouse 3 (shepeherds), Charm 3 (lonely men), Etiquette 2 (dining), Faerie Speech 5 (conversation)

Powers:

Coils of the Entangling Plants: 0 points, Init.–2, 2 intricacy points on cost, Herbam: As the spell of the same name, ArM5 page 138.

Emulate the Honored Dead: 4 points, Init -5, Corpus: This spell transforms an enemy into a cloud of ash, like the ashes of a cremated warrior, which is scattered by the wind. A character in a sufficiently still place, like a closed room, may be able to hold himself together until the spell ends.

MuCo(Te) 45 (Base 30, +1 Touch, +2 Sun), 1 intricacy point on cost

Extended Glamour: 0 points, constant, Mentem

Enthralling Sound: 0 points, Init –3, Mentem, 3 intricacy points on cost: May create an infatuation with the sound of her singing. Some of these spirits instead have the Enthrallment power. A stress roll with an appropriate Personality trait against an Ease Factor of 9 allows a victim to overcome this power's effect.

CrMe Base 4 +2 Voice +2 Sun +2 Group

Equipment: Clothes, bangles.

Vis: 5 pawns Creo, in tree

Appearance: Sorcerers know that the jinniyah of the island may be linked with any grove of trees, but those that aid the Myrrh Tribe are the spirits of ancient myrrh groves. They are very similar to the evil jinniyah of the island, who eat night travelers and cause shipwrecks. Myrrh jinyah appear to be beautiful women, and are often happy to marry sorcerers who have attained sufficient status to deserve spirit aides. The descendants of these unions have the Myrrh Blood Virtue, which provides Faerie Sight. If a jinniyah's grove is destroyed, she appears to die, though actually just shifts roles.

The Queen of Myrrh looks much like her "daughters," but is a creature of far greater power. She guards an object, which was first mentioned by an ancient Greek author who swore that the island and its relic were fictitious. It is a golden stele that records, in ancient script, the date of the birth and death of all of the gods. It is not clear if the stele records the date of death of those gods yet to pass from the mortal world, or if it predicts gods yet to be born.

It is the duty of the queen and her followers to burn myrrh in commemoration of these gods, and recite their names. It is unclear what would occur if the queen abandoned her duties. Similarly, it is not know what would happen if the stele was stolen from the island. The existence of the stele may have proven decisive in the wars between the early tribes. The King of the Olibanum Serpents can seriously harm the Queen of Myrrh by destroying her stele, for example. But he cannot, in turn, be blackmailed with threats to his tree since either he lacks one or the Myrrh Tribe was unable to ascertain its location.

A secret known only to the myrrh jinniyah is that their similarity to the jinniyah who feed on humans is not coincidence. The "evil" jinniyah are the juvenile form of the "good" jinniyah. Accepting a sorcerer as an ally is part of the process of role change. Good jinniyah eventually change role again, into a sort of filial ancestral spirit, and these sometimes teach their descendants, or sorcerers they claim as descendants, on behalf of their "sisters." The queen also trains skilled sorcerers occasionally.

These creatures refer to themselves as "olibanum serpents," but from a Hermetic perspective, and from the perspective of the classifications given in Realm of Power: Magic, they are worms. They have the Magical Animal virtue, which is explained in Realms of Power: Magic, but do not have a classic dragon shape. In most cases they lack wings and claws, and they have some features that are not reptilian.

Magic Might: 33 (Animal)

Characteristics: Int +3, Per –2, Pre +3, Com 0, Str +4, Sta +2, Dex +2, Qik –4

Size: +2

Confidence Score: Generally higher than 2 (5 points)

Virtues and Flaws: Magical Animal, Magical Friend, Spirit Ally, Arcane Lore, Magic Sensitivity, Puissant Brawl, Puissant Teaching, Tough, Unaffected By The Gift, Oath of Fealty (King of the Olibanum Serpents), Vulnerability (Tree), Oversensitive (to bitter smells, particularly smoke), Prohibition (may not tell the secret of vis to humans)

Qualities and Inferiorities:* 4 x Greater Magical Powers, No Fatigue, Gift of Speech, 3 x Minor Virtue (Improved Characteristics), 3 x Improved Abilities, 2 x Improved Attack, 3 x Improved Defense, 3 x Improved Initiative, Improved Powers, 3 x Improved Soak

Personality Traits: Olibanum Serpent +3, Loyalty to the King of the Olibanum Serpents +3, Sneaky +2, Easily Amused +2

Combat:

Fangs: Init +5, Attack +19, Defense +15, Damage +9

Constriction:** Init +2, Atk +16, Dfn +9, Dam n/a

Claws (optional variant): Init +4, Attack +17, Defense +14, Damage +10

Soak: +9

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–7), –3 (8–14), –5 (15–21), Incapacitated (22–28), Dead (29+)

Abilities: Awareness 3 (supernatural things), Bargain 3 (sorcerers), Brawl

7+2 (bite), Charm 2 (magic users), Dominion Lore 2 (Soqotran), Etiquette 2 (magic users), Faerie Lore 2 (Soqotran), Finesse 1 (moving objects), Folk Ken 4 (Soqotran festivals), Olibanum Magic 9 (teaching), Guile 1 (magic users), Infernal Lore 2 (Soqotran),Magic Lore 5 (Olibanum), Magic Sensitivity 3 (places), Penetration 2 (Olibanum), Soqotra Lore 3 (magical places), Sorcerers of Soqotra Lore 4 (motivations), Speak Socotri 5 (magic users), Swim 1 (sea), Teaching 4+2 (sorcerers).

Powers:***

Gift of Vigor: 0 points, Init –7, Corpus

This effect is very similar to the Hermetic spell of the same name (ArM5, page 134). It differs in that, unlike magi, olibanum serpents do not have Fatigue levels; they are tireless, supernatural creatures. Each use of this power merely reinvigorates the person the serpent touches, who is generally their sorcerer. Soqotran sorcerers do not lose Fatigue when casting spells. This power does, however, allow them to fight continuously, without sleeping, for weeks.

ReCo 25 (Base 15, +1 Touch, +5 for Animal requisite): Greater Power (25 levels). Peering Into the Mortal Mind, 2 points, Init –8, Mentem

R: Sight, D: Mom, T: Ind

As the spell on page 149 of ArM5, but the target does not need to make eye contact with the serpent. On the other hand, the serpent only has a moment and thus may not read more than surface thoughts.

InMe 40 (Base 25, +3 Sight): Greater Power (40 levels, –2 Might cost).

Perfumed Breath, 0 points, constant, Mentem and Animal

R: Scent D: Sun T: Incensed

The serpent's breath is perfumed with olibanum. Those people or animals who smell its breath fall under its control. This allows the dragon to give complex commands to characters, which they try to carry out to the best of their ability, but it does not grant complete control over thoughts and emotions. The serpents generally choose not to exercise control over their sorcerers, because it Warps

them over the long term. Characters who leave the dragon's presence may disregard their instructions at the next sunrise or sunset.

Characters may protect themselves from this effect by plugging their nostrils with wax, but this is not immediately apparent to those unfamiliar with Soqotran magic. The lairs of olibanum serpents are often filled with tame centipedes, lesser magical serpents, rats, and spiders, which can all be commanded to attack intruders who have wax nose plugs.

ReMe 50 (Base 20, +2 Scent (as Voice), +2 Sun, +2 Incensed (as Group), +5 levels for constant, –7 cost).

Unseen Servants, 1 point, Init –7

This effect, similar to The Unseen Porter (ArM5, page 156), allows the serpent to alter its environment without the benefit of hands. At any instant, the serpent may command up to a dozen objects within the cloud of air scented by its breath. The serpent's control is still comparatively clumsy, so it commands animals to move objects that require precise placement. Serpents with claws often have different powers than this.

ReTe 20 (Base 3, +2 Scent (as Voice), +1 Conc, +2 Incensed (as Group))

Wreath of Choking Smoke, 1 point, Init –5, Auram

R: Touch, D: Diam, T: Incensed

This spell causes the cloud of olibanum that surrounds the serpent to become acrid for a few minutes. Those within the cloud must make a Stamina stress roll of 3+ each round or lose a Fatigue level. Once the character reaches unconsciousness, further failed rolls cause a Light Wound instead. This spell is useful for destroying vermin in caves, and for incapacitating humans who have discovered that the serpents cannot control the minds of those who plug their noses, to make them less effort to kill. A character skilled in Olibanum Magic may add his or her Ability score to the Stamina roll.

CrAu 15 (Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Diam, +2 Incensed): Greater Power (15 levels) Vis: 4 pawns, skin

Magic Might: 25 (Animal)

Characteristics: Int +3, Per –2, Pre +2, Com 0, Str 0, Sta +2, Dex +2, Qik –2

Size: –2 to +2

Confidence Score: 2 (5 points)

Virtues and Flaws: Magical Animal, Magical Friend, Spirit Ally, Arcane Lore, Magic Sensitivity, Puissant Brawl, Puissant Teaching, Tough, Unaffected By the Gift, Oath of Fealty (King of the Olibanum Serpents), Vulnerability (Tree), Oversensitive (to bitter smells, particularly smoke), Prohibition (may not tell the secret of vis to humans)

Qualities and Inferiorities:* 3 x Greater Magical Powers, No Fatigue, Gift of Speech, 3 x Minor Virtue (Improved Characteristics), 2 x Improved Abilities, Improved Attack, 2 x Improved Defense, 2 x Improved Initiative, Improved Powers, 2 x Improved Soak

Personality Traits: Olibanum Serpent +3, Loyalty to the King of the Olibanum Serpents +3, Sneaky +2, Easily Amused +2

Combat:

Fangs: Init +4, Attack +15, Defense +11, Damage +5

Constriction:** Init +1, Atk +13, Dfn +7, Dam n/a

Claws (optional variant): Init +3, Attack +13, Defense +12, Damage +6

Soak: +7

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

Abilities: Awareness 2 (supernatural things), Bargain 3 (sorcerers), Brawl 5+2 (bite), Charm 2 (magic users), Dominion Lore 2 (Soqotran), Etiquette 2 (magic users), Faerie Lore 2 (Soqotran), Folk Ken 3 (Soqotran festivals), Olibanum Magic 5 (teaching), Guile 1 (magic users), Infernal Lore 2 (Soqotran), Magic Lore 3 (Olibanum), Magic Sensitivity 3 (places), Penetration 2 (Olibanum), Soqotra Lore 2 (magical places), Sorcerers of Soqotra Lore 2 (motivations), Speak Socotri 5 (magic users), Teaching 3+2 (sorcerers).

Powers:***

Gift of Vigor: 0 points, Init –5, Corpus See Large Olibanum Serpent for details. ReCo 25 (Base 15, +1 Touch, +5 for Animal requisite): Greater Power (25 levels).

R: Scent D: Sun T: Incensed

See Large Olibanum Serpent for details. ReMe 50 (Base 20, +2 Scent (as Voice), +2 Sun, +2 Incensed (as Group): Greater Power (50 levels +1 on cost to affect a second form, -6 cost).

Unseen Servants, 1 point, Init –5

See Large Olibanum Serpent for details. ReTe 20 (Base 3, +2 Scent (as Voice), +1 Conc, +2 Incensed (as Group)

Wreath of Choking Smoke, 1 point, Init –3, Auram

R: Touch, D: Diam, T: Incensed See Large Olibanum Serpent for details. CrAu 15 (Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Diam, +2 Incensed): Greater Power (15 levels)

Vis: 3 pawns, skin

Magic Might: 17 (Animal)

Characteristics: Int +3, Per –2, Pre 0, Com 0, Str –4, Sta +2, Dex +2, Qik 0

Size: –2

Virtues and Flaws: Magical Animal, Magical Friend, Spirit Ally, Arcane Lore, Magic Sensitivity, Puissant Brawl, Puissant Teaching, Tough, Unaffected By the Gift, Oath of Fealty (King of the Olibanum Serpents), Vulnerability (Tree), Oversensitive (to bitter smells, particularly smoke), Prohibition (may not tell the secret of vis to humans)

Qualities and Inferiorities:* 2 x Greater Magical Powers, No Fatigue, Gift of Speech, 3 x Minor Virtue (Improved Characteristics), 2 x Improved Abilities, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative

Personality Traits: Olibanum Serpent +3, Loyalty to the King of the Olibanum Serpents +3, Sneaky +2, Easily Amused +2

Combat:

Fangs: Init +3, Attack +10, Defense +8, Damage +1

Constriction:** Init +0, Atk +10, Dfn +5, Dam n/a

Claws (optional variant): Init +2, Attack +8, Defense +10, Damage +2

Soak: +2

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–3), –3 (4–6), –5 (7–9), Incapacitated (11–12), Dead (13+)

Abilities: Awareness 2 (supernatural things), Bargain 2 (sorcerers), Brawl 2+2 (bite), Charm 1 (magic users), Dominion Lore 1 (Soqotran), Etiquette 1 (magic users), Faerie Lore 1 (Soqotran), Folk Ken 1 (Soqotran festivals), Olibanum Magic 3 (teaching), Guile 1 (magic users), Infernal Lore 1 (Soqotran), Soqotra Lore 2 (magical places), Sorcerers of Soqotra Lore 2 (motivations), Speak Socotri 5 (magic users), Magic Lore 2 (Olibanum), Magic Sensitivity 2 (places), Penetration 2 (Olibanum), Teaching 2+2 (sorcerers)

Powers:***

Gift of Vigor: 3 points, Init –3, Corpus See Large Olibanum Serpent for details. ReCo 25 (Base 15, +1 Touch, +5 for Animal requisite): Greater Power (25 levels). Unseen Servants, 1 point, Init –3

See Large Olibanum Serpent for details. ReTe 20 (Base 3, +2 Scent (as Voice), +1 Conc, +2 Incensed (as Group)

Wreath of Choking Smoke, 1 point, Init –1, Auram

R: Touch, D: Diam, T: Incensed See Large Olibanum Serpent for details. CrAu 15 (Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Diam, +2 Incensed): Greater Power (15 levels) Vis: 2 pawns, skin

Appearance: Olibanum serpents are spirits in the form of enormous worm-

lizards. They have scales that vary in color from pink, to white, to lemon, then pale amber as the serpent ages; the King of the Olibanum Serpents is blue. These creatures have deepset eyes, lack visible ears, and have tails that taper oddly if compared to a snake. Olibanum serpents are not strictly poisonous, but they do produce venom that has mystical effects.

• * Olibanum serpents sometimes have claws or wings, and in some cases both. Claws and wings, either vestigial or functional, are free choices for Magical Animals.
• ** A serpent can only constrict a victim whose Size is less than its own. Constriction is based on the grappling rules (see "Non-Lethal Combat" on page 174 of ArM5). As long as the serpent maintains the grapple, its opponent is considered deprived of air (see ArM5, page

180). The victim must make a Stamina check every 30 seconds (that is, every five rounds), or suffer the normal effects of deprivation. Once the serpent has successfully grappled an opponent (and begun constricting), on subsequent rounds it can continue constricting and still attack with its claws or bite. These attacks may be directed at the grappled victim, or at another opponent.

*** The powers listed here are typical, but serpents have varying powers. This variance is partially innate, as it is more common in those serpents with additional limbs, but is also partially under the control of the King of the Olibanum Serpents; serpents set particular tasks often develop powers appropriate to those tasks as they age.

It is rare, but some olibanum serpents have additional limbs, which may be vestigial or effective. The most common type are added forelimbs, which, if effective, can manipulate objects and claw enemies. Other serpents have four feet. Vestigial wings are often seen on juvenile serpents, but they shed these with age. A few serpents retain true wings into adulthood. A handful of serpents have heads at both ends.

Olibanum serpents are spiritually tied to a particular olibanum tree of virtue. It is believed that winged olibanum serpents are the spirits of olibanum trees that have survived lightning strikes on mystically significant days. Other limbs might, similarly, be an effect of mystical damage to the serpent's tree. Some of the older sorcerers claim that serpents with added limbs and wings are more common than they were a hundred years ago.

The length of an olibanum serpent is exactly equal to the height of its tree, so the serpents vary in length from a few inches for the smallest of seedlings, to over twenty feet long. The more senior a serpent, the more concerned it becomes with its appearance; many of the oldest have ornaments made of gold and precious stones that they wear. Magical olibanum trees do not die of old age, so a single venerable serpent may ally with a series of sorcerers. If its tree dies, though, so does the olibanum serpent.

Olibanum serpents move like other worm-lizards, which is distinct from the flowing movements of snakes. It looks like the serpent's skin comes loose, crawls forward, and pulls its body along behind. Olibanum serpents, unlike snakes, can crawl backwards with perfect ease. This is of particular advantage to the rare, doubleheaded serpents.

A note on aging: The rules in Realms of Power: Magic divide the lives of magical characters into four seasons. The serpent ally of an adolescent human is generally a Spring character, and is of a Size smaller than 0. The ally of an adult sorcerer is generally a Summer character, and is of Size 0 to +2. The aide of a skilled sorcerer is an Autumn character, and is of Size +4. Older, larger serpents tend not to have magicians as allies, spending much of their time in the Magic Realm. The change between seasons, for serpents, is not as abrupt as the change in social status is for their humans, but is still marked by celebrations and physiological changes. As a serpent moves from one state to another it may shed its skin, a process that often results in changes of color, pattern, and even the sloughing off or addition of limbs.

There are perhaps 75 olibanum trees of virtue on the island, and most of the powerful olibanum serpents that are their guardian spirits have a human sorcerer who acts as an ally or aide. Because a serpent whose tree is destroyed dies, it is rare for these creatures to travel far from home. When one does leave temporarily, the other olibanum serpents protect the tree of the traveler.

Olibanum serpents are served by lesser magical snakes. Many fly, and these are the basis of the dreaded syrenus of Hermetic folklore. Others are called "red leapers" and act as site guardians. These lesser snakes have only animal intelligence, but they are connected mystically to their commanding olibanum serpent. When following detailed instructions, they often appear to be highly intelligent.

The King of the Olibanum Serpents does not, it appears, have a tree. Soqotran sorcerers rarely realize this, though; they tend to assume that his tree is in one of the inaccessible valleys in the mountains. The Myrrh Tribe, whose members are able to travel through the wilderness with comparative ease, searched diligently for the king's tree when the tribes were at war. They believe that it simply doesn't exist.

This is another matter they do not discuss with outsiders, because they believe it will annoy the King of the Olibanum Serpents for no good purpose.

The members of the Council of Tribes are spiritual descendants of the leadership of the Helleno-Egyptian priests that once worshiped in the temple on Soqotra. The current council contains two members from each tribe. The elected leader of each tribe is a member of the council, and continues in this role for a seven-year term. The second member from each tribe is appointed by the drawing of lots on midsummer's day, and serves until the following midsummer.

The members of the council do not have their mystical powers increased until they participate in a minor ritual supervised by the King of the Olibanum Serpents, and do not lose this deep connection to power until their successors participate in the ritual. The ritual is generally held on midsummer's day, following the selection of lots, but it can be delayed indefinitely. If one of the councilors dies, then either a new leader is elected for the tribe or a new lot is drawn. The new councilor undergoes the ritual alone, and this does not affect the status of the other councilors.

Council members increase their magic potency by, unknowingly, drawing power out of the faerie god Serapis. Each point added to a dice roll drains a Might Pool point from Serapis. He recovers his Might more quickly than other faeries, over the course of four hours. The bonus from spellcasting due to the aid of Serapis (a faerie), and the benefit granted by most spirit allies (magical animals) cannot be combined in a single spell. The Myrrh Tribe, whose spirit allies are faeries, is able to combine these bonuses, however.

The Might of Serapis is rationed out by the King of the Olibanum Serpents. A member of the council by lot may draw up to 5 Might a day. A member of council by election or appointment may draw 10 Might per day. In desperate times, the king relaxes this restriction as seems wise, but Serapis' Might though large (65), is limited. Each point of might adds +1 to the character's casting total.

The Council of Three Birds is comprised of all those sorcerers that have both the trust of the King of the Olibanum Serpents and the Gentle Gift. Perhaps one sorcerer in ten has the Gentle Gift, so this group always remains small, and has a continuum of ages in its members. They are the only Soqotran magicians, other than the members of the Council of Tribes and the intimates of the Queen of Myrrh, who meet on a regular basis. They are primarily used as tool of influence in foreign ports. The tribal leaders on the ruling council are aware of this second council's existence, although those elected by lot are sometimes considered unworthy of this knowledge.

The Council of Three Birds is unusual in that it is able to co-operate without magical assistance, since its members do not suffer the mutual suspicion caused by Giftedness. This allows them, in emergencies, to act as a tightly structured team. In less difficult times, they are sent to mainland ports to deal with situations that the Council of Tribes believes could become problematic. The bird councilors, in comparison with their more sheltered tradition-mates, are less capable magicians, but are far more skilled at dealing with the mundane world. They may each use up to 10 Might pool points per day from the faerie god Serapis.

Members of this council can join the ruling council, but they gain no benefit in terms of their powers. This demonstrates that there is no mystical significance to the number of members in the Council of Tribes.

An obvious way to become more skilled at controlling magical forces is to study the nature of those forces. Soqotran magicians may learn how to manipulate magic through training and practice of their Abilities. Their spirit allies may withhold training from magicians who have undesirable Personality Traits. They do this to avoid the appearance of powerful magical villains on the island. The culture of the Soqotran magicians is such that they do not think that it is unusual to provide service to the spirits in exchange for training.

Soqotran magic uses spells that have levels taken from the tables in the following sections. Soqotran magic differs from Hermetic in that:

• All spells require one tenth a pawn of vis, at minimum, to be spent.
• Changes in magnitude for Soqotran spells adjust the level by 3, not 5. This is because Soqotrans are making Ability, not Art, rolls.
• Level calculations are given in levels, not magnitudes, because Soqotran spells do not become markedly easier the way Hermetic spells below level 5 do.
• All spells over level 18 are powerful mystical effects (as described in ArM5, page 168) and cause the target to suffer Warping.
• Soqotran magicians do not have the ability to cast Spontaneous spells.
• Most can make simple magic items using Perpetual spells, but there is no indigenous tradition of creating enchanted objects.

The King of the Olibanum Serpents does lend magic items to his magicians, like the scepters carried by the priesthood of the faerie god Serapis (i.e. the Council of Tribes). These are ancient items from the Egypto-Hellenic period that were captured by the spies of the ruling council in foreign areas, or are Hermetic items constructed by Verditius magi. Who these magi are, and how their items came into the possession of the King of the Olibanum Serpents is not detailed but may serve as a story hook to lead the characters toward Soqotra.

Soqotran magicians also have a distinctive set of Ranges and Durations that they may use in addition to those employed by Hermetic magi.

Censer: This Duration allows a magical effect to continue while a censer of incense, lit during its casting, remains alight. Only the caster may add additional fuel

Players mostly familiar with modern, directly burned incense of the Indian style should note that Soqotran incense is indirectly burned. That is, to burn Soqotran incense it is either mixed with fuel and burns as the fuel burns, or it is placed in a container that burns fuel to heat a metal plate, and the incense rests on that plate. Charcoal is the usual fuel for censers.

Soqotran magicians use three styles of censer. Braziers are used when casting a spell with Censer Duration. The dish-like shape of braziers allows extra fuel to be added easily. Censers with handles allow for easy movement, such as when casting Boundary effects on rough ground. Censers with chains allow the caster to widely scatter the smoke of the incense, which is useful for spells with Incensed Target, or Scent Range.

Diameter: Soqotran magicians tend to use Censer in lieu of the Diameter duration, but may use it if they wish.

Incense: This special Target for Soqotran magicians is treated as one magnitude lower than Individual. It affects only unburned incense, traditional containers for unburned incense, or tools used to prepare incense. It also, necessarily, includes every form of vis that Soqotran sorcerers use.

Incensed: This Target affects all things touched by the smoke of a censer that the sorcerer has touched or carried during the casting of the spell. It is treated as Group.

Perpetual: Soqotran sorcerers believe, and are taught, that magic does not expire unless specifically designed to do so. It is possible to dispel magical effects by crushing them with more powerful magic, by having a spirit consume its own magic (described later), or by bringing magical objects into contact with items close to the Divine, but these are exceptions. Spellcasting in general is thought of, by Soqotran sorcerers, as the creation of a naturally

Range, Duration, H	ermetic Equivalent H	Far? How Long? ow
or Target	for Level Calculation	Who or What?
Scent	Voice	As far as the smell of burning incense travels.
Censer	Diameter	As long as the censer burns.
Regrowth	Diameter	Permanent after an extended delay.
Perpetual	Year	Until destroyed
Incense	One below Individual	Incense and tools for incense harvesting.
Incensed	Group	Stuff touched by the smoke of the sorcerer's incense.

self-perpetuating process, like planting a seed. Perpetual is treated as Year duration for the purposes of calculating the magnitudes of effects, but does not necessarily require that the spell be cast as a Ritual.

Regrowth: This Duration, which is equivalent to Diameter, allows magic to linger in an object, allowing it to heal so that it is restored at sunrise. Spells begun after midnight complete their healing at the second following sunrise. Every Regrowth spell is cast with the lighting of a censer. The censer must burn for that complete period until the sunrise, or the restoration will be partial in proportion to the censer's burning time and the time to the sunrise.

Scent: This Range affects all people who can smell incense that was ignited by the caster during the recitation of this spell. It is treated as an alternative to Voice. Hermetic magic already has a Smell Target, although its use is rare compared with Soqotran practice.

Soqotran magic usually has a ritualistic element, as described in Sources of Power, below. Soqotran sorcerers do not, however, divide their magic into Formulaic and Ritual effects. Powerful sorcerers may cast the same effect with a momentary incense ceremony that their less-skilled tribemates must fuel with a full incense ceremony.

There are, however, some potent effects that can only be produced with full incense ceremonies. This special type of magic is rarely performed, and is entrusted only to the senior members of each tradition. Many Soqotran sorcerers do not realize that the full ritual is mandatory, rather than a reflection of their level of skill. This gap in knowledge occurs because many of the lesser rituals performed by Hermetic magic, for example those related to healing and warding, are not used by Soqotran sorcerers.

In general, spells require a full incense ritual if they have an Ease Factor of 30 or more. The Perpetual Duration does not, of itself, require a full incense ritual, but it does raise the underlying level of effect so much that one is often required.

Each spell given in the Grimoire sections of this chapter has an Hermetic equivalence in the brief design notes that follow its description. These equivalences are used for calculating dice rolls when characters of Soqotran heritage clash with Hermetic characters, but do not guide in the creation of Hermetic spells that mimic Soqotran workings.

Some Soqotran effects cannot be reproduced by Hermetic magic, but have equivalence notes to allow players to calculate Magic Resistance and Penetration if their characters are struck by Soqotran effects. For example, The Fresh Minting of Swords isn't precisely duplicable by Hermetic magic, but an Hermetic spell with similar effect would be Rego Terram. The spell has an Hermetic equivalence of CrTe 40, though,

because that's what, in Hermetic terms, the Soqotran's magic is actually doing and the amount of mystical force he's using.

Other Soqotran effects can be reproduced Hermetically, but at a level of power that differs. For example, Repair the Tools of the Sorcerous Craft is an Aloe spell of Level 21, with an Hermetic Equivalence of CrAn(HeTe) 35. An Hermetic magus who tried to make a spell that did the same thing would, however, need a spell 15 levels higher than this, because Hermetic magic has no Incense Target; Individual would be required instead (+5 levels) and Hermetic spells need requisites (+5 per requisite for an added 10 levels).

Note that Hermetic equivalences use levels, not magnitudes. They translate Soqotran spells into Hermetic terms, and Soqotran magic does not change scale in the way Hermetic magic does at level 5.

Aloe 9

R: Touch, D: Regrowth, T: Individual This spell is used to repair the superficial damage from cutting or stabbing weapons. It is also suited to repair injuries from many work accidents that involve accidental skewering on sharp objects. It does not heal Wounds, but makes the entire injury stable so that the character can continue to work without threat of the wound worsening. Similar spells exist to cure bruising and crushing injuries, injuries from fire, and poisoning.

Aloe Magic Level 9 (Base 6 +3 Touch) / CrCo 15 (Base 10 +5 Touch)

Aloe 9

R: Touch, D: Regrowth, T: Individual This spell is used as a reward for good service. Characters often lose fingers due to work injuries, or in warfare. This spell causes them to regrow over a period of up to two days. The process is painful, so Soqotrans chew qat — an herb imported from Africa — to dull the pain.

Aloe Magic Level 9 (Base 6 +3 Touch) / CrCo 15 (Base 10 +5 Touch)

Aloe 18

R: Touch, D: Regrowth, T: Individual This spell completely cures a character of wounds, but the process is painful in proportion to the injuries the character has suffered. In many cases it is kinder to render the character unconscious before casting the spell, but mundane methods of distraction — like alcohol and blows to the head — are healed early in the process.

Aloe Magic Level 18 (Base 15 +3 Touch) / CrCo 30 (Base 25 +5 Touch)

Aloe 21

R: Touch, D: Regrowth, T: Incense

Versions of this spell are used to repair damaged sorcerous tools. This includes the knives and censers of the island's sorcerers.

Aloe Magic Level 21 (Base 21 –3 Incense +3 Touch) / CrAn(HeTe) 35 (Base 35 –5 Incense +5 Touch)

Aloe 21

R: Touch, D: Regrowth, T: Individual This spell allows Aloe sorcerers to force a damaged corpse to repair itself, so that it is suitable for public burial by its kinfolk. Even the tiniest sliver of the missing person can be used to grow a satisfactory corpse, although that sliver must be placed in sufficient water, meat, and bone to be able to form this matter into a corpse. This spell also works perfectly well for characters wanting to fake their own deaths, or provide food for cannibalistic jinniyahs. Even fish can be used to make human corpses this way, because humans are, from a local perspective, made from meat.

Spells similar to this can be used to reconstruct the corpses of animals before they are bought back to life with highlevel Aloe magic. They can also be used to change one sort of meat into another, or "freshen" it. For example, the rotting corpse of a camel might be used to feed a piece of wool until it becomes the fresh carcass of a lamb.

Aloe Magic Level 21 (Base 18, +3 Touch) / Cr(Mu)Co(An) 35 (Base 30 +5 Touch)

Aloe 24

R: Touch, D: Regrowth, T: Individual

This spell allows a character to create useful weapons out of random and rusted bits of metal and wood, provided he already has one excellent sword. The magician chips pieces off the sword, and casts this spell on each one, being careful to ensure that each piece has sufficient metal to rebuild itself, and that the growing swords are not so close together that they simply merge.

Aloe Magic Level 24 (Base 21, +3 Touch) / CrTe 40 (Base 35 +5 Touch)

Aloe 30

R: Touch, D: Regrowth, T: Individual This spell allows the character to repair the hull or masts of a ship by laying plant matter on its deck, and then waiting for the craft to heal itself. Despite the name, it works perfectly well on any timber structure, so the roofs of houses and minor fortifications can also be repaired in this way.

Aloe Magic Level 30 (Base 18, +3 Touch, +9 Structure) / CrHe 50 (Base 30 +5 Touch, +15 Structure)

Aloe 30

R: Touch, D: Regrowth, T: Individual This spell removes the Impotence

Aloe magic restores things, even things that have been seriously damaged by magic or natural forces. It can lend a biological attribute to damaged objects, so that they regrow their lost parts. The table below assumes that the base Range is Personal, and the base Target is Individual. The base Duration is Regrowth. Note that no Aloe effect is designed specifically for the person it is cast upon, and so the Warping rules apply.

General: Dispel a currently active magical effect of the Aloe style that is of lower level than this spell, or another supernatural effect that the Aloe school could mimic at a level lower than this spell.

Ease Factor 6: Living things cease to degrade and they repair superficial damage. For humans, this includes scars, minor abrasions, burns, the loss of teeth or nails, or a brief illnesses like a cold.

Ease Factor 9: Biological, but dead, things cease to degrade and they repair superficial damage. The item must be placed next to another item made of the same substance, from which it gradually absorbs material during the process. Characters require a different spell for each substance, so a magician may have separate spells for leatherwork and timber goods, for example.

Ease Factor 12: Non-biological things cease to degrade and they repair superficial damage. The item must be placed next to another item made of the same substance, from which it gradually absorbs material during the process. Characters require a different spell for each substance, so a magician may have separate spells for pottery and metalware, for example. Some spells are instead designed for single types of object, which are made up of multiple substances. For example, it is possible to have a spell that just repairs saddles, or barrels.

Ease Factor 15: Living things regrow lost parts. This makes the subject of the spell ravenously hungry. The process of nerve regeneration is also very painful. Wounds are treated with spells of this type, as are the effects of diseases.

Ease Factor 18: Biological, but dead, things regrow their lost parts. The item must be placed next to another item made of the same substance, from which it gradually absorbs material during the process. Characters require a different spell for each substance or for each type of object.

Ease Factor 21: Non-biological things regrow their lost parts. The item must be placed next to another item made of the same substance, from which it gradually absorbs material during the process. Characters require a different spell for each substance or for each type of object. Objects that contain both biological and non-biological substances are repaired with this level of spell.

Ease Factor 24: Dead plant or animal products can be returned to life as complete, non-magical, animals or plants. A separate spell is required for animal and plant targets. These spells requires 1 pawn of vis per 3 levels of effect, but take no longer to cast than other Aloe spells. Soqotran magic cannot raise dead humans to life or undeath.

Ease Factor 27:* A Minor Flaw that the character has gained may be removed. A separate spell is required for each Flaw. Flaws based on the loss of body parts may be healed by spells of lower level.

Ease Factor 30:* A Minor Virtue that the character has lost may be restored. A separate spell is required for each Virtue.

Ease Factor 33:* A Major flaw that the character has gained may be removed. A separate spell is required for each Flaw. Flaws based on the loss of body parts may be healed by spells of lower level.

Ease Factor 36:* A Major Virtue that the character has lost may be restored. A separate spell is required for each Virtue.

* Note that Aloe magic does not work on many Virtues and Flaws, and troupes should consider each spell's appropriateness. Social status, for example, cannot be altered using these spells. Similarly, characters marked by other Realms, by Warping, by inadequate teaching as an apprentice, or by age are unlikely to find relief through these spells.

Spells like The Fresh Minting of Swords demonstrate a trick that Aloe magicians use called "seeding." Seeding is the duplication of objects by removing a small portion of a complete object, and then using Aloe magic to have this portion regrow to wholeness. This sliver is called a "seed," hence the name of the technique. Aloe magicians, and those who traffic with them, prize useful seeds.

Aloe magicians use this trick for all kinds of things. For example, an Aloe magician with a similar spell designed for stone can build a wall for his new house, then knock the wall down. Using magic, the sorcerer then regrows the wall from a single block and a mound of gravel. This leaves the sorcerer with sufficient dressed stones to build the next wall, and repeat the process; this allows the magician to create large structures with little manufactured material.

Seeding has significant limitations:

• The copy is exact. It cannot be varied with Finesse.
• A seed only remains active while it retains an Arcane Connection to the original object.
• A seed copies the material, but not the magical nature of the object
• The sorcerer needs sufficient material to nourish the seed of the object being created. Duplicating gold coins, for example, is impossible unless the characters have sufficient gold to feed their coins up to final size.
• Duplicates grown from seed are never alive, but may seem to be freshly dead. Additional spells can be used to bring these animals and plants to life. Note that this does not work on spirits, who merely seem to be animals. It also does not work on humans.

For example, a character wishes to climb one of the cliffs in the mountains to explore a cave complex said to have been used as a retreat by the Egyptian priests in the island's distant past. A sorcerer friendly to the character casts this spell, and the character immediately tries to climb a nearby wall. The player rolls an 8 on his Athletics Ability. While the spell remains in place, the player may instead of rolling Athletics, simply act as if he had rolled an 8. If the player had rolled a lower number, he could choose to disregard it and roll as normal when next climbing. This would cause the spell to end.

Cinnabar Magic Level 9 (Base 3 +3 Touch +3 Censer) / ReVi(CoMe) 15 (Base 5 +5 Touch +5 Censer)

Cinnabar 9

R: Touch, D: Censer, T: Individual

The target makes a Brave check, then this spell is cast. This permits the character to use to use that score in lieu of any further Brave check until the spell expires. If the Brave check was poor, the player may ignore it and roll at the next check, but this ends the spell. It is common for this spell to be cast after a stirring speech is made, to force the Brave check.

Cinnabar Magic Level 9 (Base 3 +3 Touch +3 Censer) / ReMe15 (ReMe 5 +5 Touch +5 Censer)

Flaw. Impotence is one of the side effects of chewing qat, a popular recreation among merchants on Soqotra.

Aloe Magic Level 30, (Base level 27, +3 Touch) / CrCo 50 (Base 45 +5 Touch)

As noted in the Aloe Grimoire, above, the Hermetic levels given in the design notes of each of these spells are for use with Hermetic Magic Resistance and countermagic. They should not be read as indicating Hermetic magi could produce the same effects at the nominated levels.

Cinnabar 9

R: Touch, D: Censer, T: Individual

This spell allows a player to use the roll his character makes directly after the spell is cast in future rounds, until the duration of the spell expires. The player may choose not to continue to use the roll, which causes the spell to end.

Characters skilled in Cinnabar magic age more slowly than mundane humans. This power does not stack with similar effects offered by other traditions of magic. A character making an Aging Roll may claim a Longevity Ritual modifier equal to half the character's score in Cinnabar Magic. As soon as the character does this the first time, he or she gains a Warping point and loses the ability to have children. The character then gains a Warping point every year, much as magicians with Hermetic Longevity Rituals do, because their life is being, in part, sustained with mystical energy.

Many Soqotran sorcerers gain some understanding of Cinnabar magic in their early thirties, to stave off aging for a few decades. But eventually most Soqotran sorcerers reach a point where they feel that additional study of Cinnabar magic is not worth the effort.

There are several reasons why this occurs. Cinnabar magic is far weaker than Hermetic Creo Cropus magic, so every season of additional study to gain longevity is less profitable than it would be for an Hermetic magus. Additional study also involves running a succession of distracting errands for the older Soqotran giant geckos. These beings can provide instruction in higher Cinnabar magic, but have such lackadaisical natures that the magicians correctly suspect that many of these tasks are futile and performed simply for the amusement of the lizards. Then there's the Warping incurred, and the fact that many Soqotran sorcerers are Christians and feel no dread of death.

Cinnabar 15

R: Sight, D: Censer, T: Individual

This spell causes the character to continue to suffer a negative modifier on a dice roll, even if the cause of that modifier is removed.

For example, a wizard wants to be able to sneak past a sentry later in the day. He waits until the morning fog, and casts this spell on the sentry. The sentry has a –3 modifier on Awareness rolls, as if there were a fog regardless of the actual weather, until the spell ends. The spell ends if the sentry ceases to watch, for example to eat his lunch, because it only affects continuous activities.

Cinnabar Magic Level 15 (Base 3 +9 Sight +3 Censer) / ReVi (CoMe) 25 (Base 5 +15 Sight +5 Censer)

Cinnabar 9

R: Touch, D: Ring, T: Circle

This spell prevents all of the food within a circle from being attacked by rodents. It does this by giving the grain a Soak score of 3 against rodent attacks. This means that the occasional, incredibly lucky, mouse will still be able to steal a mouthful of grain.

Cinnabar Magic Level 9 (Base 0 +3 Touch, +6 Ring, +0 Circle) / ReAn 15 (Base 0, +5 Touch +10 Ring)

Cinnabar 12

R: Personal, D:Sun, T: Individual

This spell increases the sorcerer's resistance to injury from fire, by increasing the character's Soak against heat sources by +9. It is particularly useful in shipboard combat.

Cinnabar Magic Level 12 (Base 6, +6 Sun) / MuCo 20 (Base 10, +10 Sun)

Cinnabar 21

R: Touch, D: Censer, T: Group

This spell, used for the defense of the island and to aid piracy, makes the crew of a vessel all but immune to arrows (Soak +12). This allows a friendly crew to attack an enemy warship successfully, by remaining at bow range and peppering the rival crew when they attempt to work their ship. The Red Sea is notoriously difficult to navigate, so with sufficient patience and the steady elimination of anyone who tries to steer his ship clear of obstacles, the enemy ship can be driven onto rocks. As an alternative, after this spell has been used to soften the victim, the rival ship can be boarded and seized.

Cinnabar Magic Level 21 (Base 9, +3 Touch, +6 Group, +3 Censer) / MuCo 35 (Base 15 +5 Touch +10 Group)

The cinnabar tree has magic that preserves things, such as health and luck. The spell effects of this tribe last a very long time, and its most-skilled users live to tremendous ages. There are relatively few young magicians skilled in Cinnabar magic, but most older magicians in the other three tribes learn at least a little, to extend their span of years.

Cinnabar magic is effective in four main ways. It allows characters to preserve their bodies by resisting damage and deprivation. It allows characters to sustain useful Personality Trait checks over vast lengths of time. Skill in Cinnabar magic acts as an age retardant. Cinnabar magic also allows characters to maintain good or poor fortune.

Mechanically, this means that a player can roll an Ability stress die at the beginning of the spell, and then choose to use that rolled number, instead of rerolling, on all suitable checks until the spell expires. Similarly, a character can force an enemy to continue using a single unfavorable Ability roll, instead of rerolling on all appropriate checks, for the duration of the spell. A Confidence point, if used to increase the roll, affects only the roll's first use. The preservation of Ability checks may not be used for spellcasting or checks that abstract a lengthy period of work.

The base Range for these spells is Personal, the base Duration is Momentary, and the Base Target is Individual.

General: Dispel a currently active magical effect of the Cinnabar style that is of lower level than this spell, or another supernatural effect that the Cinnabar school could mimic at a level lower than this spell.

Ease Factor 0: Add +3 to Soak rolls against a single material no broader than an Hermetic Form, or to a deprivation roll (ArM5, page 180), or to a roll to resist damage from disease or poison (ArM5, page 180). Add +3 to all rolls to sustain a currently active passion or emotion.

Ease Factor 3: Add +6 to Soak Rolls against a single material no broader than an Hermetic Form, or to a deprivation roll, or to a roll to resist damage from disease or poison.

A spell cast successfully against this Ease Factor forces a target to maintain good or bad luck, carrying a roll or roll modifier into future rounds of a continuous activity.

Ease Factor 6: Add +9 to Soak rolls against a single material no broader than an Hermetic Form, or to a deprivation roll, or to a roll to resist damage from disease or poison.

Ease Factor 9: Add +12 to Soak rolls against a single material no broader than an Hermetic Form, or to a deprivation roll, or to a roll to resist damage from disease or poison.

Ease Factor 12: Immunity to a single material no broader than a Hermetic Form.

Ease Factor 15: Immunity to a particular poison or particular disease.

Ease Factor 18: Immunity to deprivation of water.

Ease Factor 21: Immunity to deprivation of food.

Ease Factor 24: Immunity to deprivation of air.

As noted in the Aloe Grimoire, above, the Hermetic levels given in the design notes of each of these spells are for use with Hermetic Magic Resistance and countermagic. They should not be read as indicating Hermetic magi could produce the same effects at the nominated levels.

Myrrh 6

R: Personal, D: Diameter, T: Individual

This spell grants the Keen Vision Virtue, which allows +3 on rolls involving eyesight. This is a facet of the Awareness ability.

Myrrh Magic Level 6 (Base 3, +3 Diameter) / MuCo 10 (Base 5 +5 Diameter)

Myrrh 9

R: Touch, D: Censer, T: Individual This spell grants the Large virtue, and

adjusts the character's wound ranges to suit.

Myrrh Magic Level 9 (Base 3, +3 Touch, +3 Censer) / MuCo 15 (Base 5 +5 Touch +5 Censer)

Myrrh 12

R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Individual

This spell grants the Lesser Faerie Power Virtue, and the Faerie Power Flight (as described in Realms of Power: Faerie, pages 54 and 62).

Myrrh Magic 12 (Base 3 +3 Touch, +6 Sun) / MuCo(Vi) 20 (Base 5 +5 Touch +10 Sun)

As noted in the Aloe Grimoire, above, the Hermetic levels given in the design notes of each of these spells are for use with Hermetic Magic Resistance and countermagic. They should not be read as indicating Hermetic magi could produce the same effects at the nominated levels.

Olibanum 3

R: Touch, D: Concentration, T: Incense This spell controls the harvesting knife used by the Olibanum magician, allowing it to levitate and perform simple tasks. It may be used to attack a foe, but this requires an Attack roll using Finesse instead of the character's combat Abilities. This is generally the first spell taught to young Olibanum magicians, as it aids them when practicing Finesse and Concentration. Older wizards often have more complicated versions of this spell, or other spells that affect their knives, to take advantage of the relative ease of spells targeted on olibanum harvesting equipment.

Olibanum Magic 3 (Base 0, Touch +3, Concentration +3, Incense –3) / ReTe(An) 5 (Base 0, +5 Touch, +5 Concentration –5 Incense)

Olibanum 6

R: Sight, D: Momentary, T: Incense

This spell attempts to steal an opponent's incense. This spell is used to grab and throw the essences that a rival magician is using to cast his spells. It is ineffective if the essences are tightly held or enclosed in something that is secured, like a bag, so its practical use is rare. It is, however, known by virtually every Olibanum sorcerer, and they take childish delight in its successful use. A spell of the same level, Deprive the Adversary of the Gift of Prometheus, is used to knock over censers, which often extinguishes them.

Olibanum Magic 6 (Base 0, +9 Sight, –3 Incense)/ ReVi 10

Olibanum 12

R: Touch, D: Perpetual, T: Incense

One of the most popular of the spells used on harvesting knives is this one: it allows the knife to fly while carrying tremendous weight. It's not particularly comfortable or dignified for a sorcerer to fly this way, but it is far easier than spells that are targeted at the magician's own body. A character flying this way for more than five minutes must make a Strength check against an Ease Factor of 3. If the character fails, he

The Myrrh Tribe has magic that commemorates things. Myrrh magic is able to enhance objects, places, and people so that they become more like mythic predecessors. The Myrrh Tribe is linked to stories, and to memory, and so they are the tribe most strongly linked to the island's faeries.

Myrrh magic grants Virtues, but not every Virtue is available. Virtues that require a particular role in society, that would rewrite the character's past, that are due to the influence of the Divine or the Infernal, or that provide immunity from harm cannot be granted with Myrrh magic. Most Hermetic Virtues are also inappropriate: the Gentle Gift and Magic Resistance are particularly so. Myrrh magic can also only grant attributes that are recorded in folklore; players should limit their effects to attributes commonly seen in European faerie tales.

The base Range for these spells is Personal, the base Duration is Momentary, and the Base Target is Individual.

General: Dispel a currently active magical effect of the Myrrh style that is of lower level than this spell, or another supernatural effect that the Myrrh school could mimic at a level lower than this spell.

Ease Factor 3: Grant Minor Virtue. A Minor Virtue must: be listed in an Ars Magica supplement; or grant a +3 bonus in a situation far narrower than an Ability; or grant a +2 bonus in an Ability, through the Puissant Ability Virtue; or grant a +1 bonus in a situation wider than a single Ability.

Ease Factor 6: Grant Minor Flaw. Similarly, a Minor Flaw must: grant a –3 on rolls narrower than an Ability; or grant a –2 on rolls as broad as an Ability; or grant a –1 on rolls wider than an Ability.

Ease Factor 9: Grant Major Virtue Ease Factor 12: Grant Major Flaw

There are no spontaneous spells in Soqotran sorcery, which prevents Myrrh magicians from having the appropriate Virtue for every situation. Troupes should veto Virtues that do not suit the style of story they wish to play, particularly those that are highly adaptable. Many Faerie and Magical Virtues — like Focus Powers, for example — allow characters to simulate spontaneous spellcasting, and they are not acceptable for Soqotran magicians.

To partially compensate for this, Myrrh magicians are aware, through their spirit allies, of which spells are available as favors from other members of their extended clan. This poses a second problem for players: spells that are highly useful in dramatic situations may garner them less social status than more modest powers that can be used regularly. A magician who has a spell that creates Lesser Purifying Touch for toothache is far more likely to be sought out than one who has the power to turn enemies to stone with his gaze, or crush them with his massively enhanced Strength.

Myrrh magic cannot be tailored to individuals, and so constant effects procured from it grant Warping. Soqotran magic appears to be incapable of granting Magic Resistance.

must land in the following round or lose his grip and fall. A new check is made in every subsequent minute, and the Ease Factor increases by 1 for every added check.

Olibanum Magic 12 (Base 0, +3 Touch, +12 Perpetual, –3 Incense) / ReTe(An) 20 (Base 0, +5 Touch +20 Perpetual –5 Incense)

Olibanum 12

R: Voice, D: Momentary, T: Group

This is a simple offensive spell that works by flinging gravel and small stones at a designated target. It is a common offensive spell used by dueling sorcerers because the material for it is ubiquitous, but this means that most of the other tribes know to expect this effect. In turn, this means the Olibanum sorcerers may choose not to employ it, because they assume countermeasures are in place. Instead, they may reserve it for wild animals and non-magical people.

With smooth, natural pebbles, this spell does +10 damage; but nails, usually carried by a magician planning to cast this spell, can cause +15 damage.

Olibanum Magic 12 (Base 0, +6 Voice, +6 Group) / ReTe 20 (Base 0, +10 Voice +10 Group)

Olibanum 24

R: Touch, D: Perpetual, T: Group

The centipedes of Soqotra are venomous and around a foot long. This spell commands a nest of them, in perpetuity, even if those commands will result in the death of the centipedes. The people of the island, who are aware of the venomous nature of the centipedes, must make a Brave check against an Ease Factor of 6 to face a nest of them. Olibanum sorcerers often have nests of vermin near their caves, which are commanded to stay in place and attack intruders. Spiders and rats are also frequent choices. Vermin are also particularly useful for sabotaging crops and damaging the personal possessions of enemies.

Olibanum Magic 24 (Base 3, +3 Touch, +12 Perpetual, +6 Group) / ReAn40 (Base 5, +5 Touch +20 Perpetual +10 Group)

Olibanum 33

R: Touch, D: Perpetual, T: Individual This spell is the most famous cast by Olibanum magicians; its effects are known by virtually every pirate in the Red Sea. When this mark is upon part of a vessel, it will not leave port regardless of the wind or tide. The sorcerers of Soqotra use it to prevent the escape of pirates who have harmed locals. Drawing a mark in cinnabar dye onto the hull of the ship is not actually a necessary part of the spell, but

it is good theater and has a psychological effect on troublemakers.

Mark of Justice is very rarely used, because it is a difficult spell. That being noted, there is a second spell, called the Lesser Mark, which has a Censer duration and has an Ease Factor of 21. The public ceremony of marking the ship is visually indistinguishable between spells, because it is pure theater in both cases, rather than a requirement of the spell.

Olibanum Magic level 33 (Base 18, +3 Touch, +12 Perpetual) / ReHe 55 (Base 30, +5 Touch +20 Perpetual)

Olibanum 33

R: Sight, D: Censer, T: Individual

This spell allows Olibanum magicians to order the wind to draw a vessel to any particular place on the island's shore. It can be used to prevent escape from the island, but can also be used to draw ships onto rocks. Some magicians do this to allow their mundane allies to scavenge through the debris, which shows an attitude to the value of vis entirely alien to the European mindset, while others use it to defend the island from invasion. A similar spell commands seawater.

Olibanum Magic 33 (Base 21, +9 Sight, +6 Censer) / CrAu 55 (Base 35, +15 Sight, +10 Censer)

Olibanum magic allows its users to issue magical commands. Of the four styles of magic practiced on the island, Olibanum magic is most similar to a style of Hermetic magic. Rego specialists can produce many of the effects produced by Olibanum magic. The only substantial weakness of Olibanum magic compared with Hermetic Rego magic is that Rego permits orders that are implied, whereas Olibanum magicians have never learned that this is possible; indeed, it may not be for Soqotran magic.

Olibanum magicians must give verbal orders to the targets of their spells. As an example, the Hermetic spell Repel the Shafts of Wood allows the magician to prevent any arrows from striking him, for the duration of the spell, regardless of how far he travels. An Olibanum magician would only be able to deflect those shafts within range when the spell was created, because his spells are orders to particular objects. A Soqotran sorcerer warding himself against arrows would instead use Cinnabar magic to make his Soak against arrows so high that he could not be harmed by them.

Note that the target need not hear the sorcerer, and need not speak Soqotri, to be forced to obey. Dumb rocks at the bottom of a river will respond to Olibanum commands, provided the magician can see them or has an Arcane Connection to them, and can enunciate what he wants them to do. Commands must be simple.

Olibanum magic has a second limitation, which its practitioners call the limit of object or action. A spell by an Olibanum sorcerer can only have one variable: the type of object affected, or the action that the type of object must perform, but not both. Some Hermetic magic is markedly more flexible than this.

As an example, it is possible for an Olibanum magician to have a spell that commands a knife to follow commands, or a spell that makes any object fling itself toward a given target. He cannot, however, create spell that allows him to give any command to any small metal object, as Hermetic magi can with Rego Terram spells.

Olibanum magic cannot affect the mind directly. An Olibanum sorcerer wanting a person to leave his cave can command him to leave, but it is obvious to the victim that muscle control has been taken away, as he is marched out the entrance. Olibanum magic may affect ghosts, spirits, and demons because they are thought of as subtly physical things. Manipulation of the emotions is left to Myrrh sorcerers.

Olibanum magic does have some advantages over Hermetic magic. Although these are slight, they would fascinate researchers. Olibanum sorcerers do not require, indeed do not understand the need for, requisites when casting spells on items made of mixed materials. Also, Olibanum magic does not differentiate between materials, so it is no harder to control sand than plants, or even people.

Olibanum magicians often work together to create large, impressive effects. This is not, however, accomplished through combined ritual magic. Instead, the serpent allies of each magician have them gather, slightly out of sight of each other, and each cast a similar spell at a target. These spells have a cumulative effect on the target; so, for example, if several of these magicians are gathered to change the winds and current to stop a ship escaping the island, then the minor contribution of each is sufficient to complete the task by making the water too rough to navigate.

The base Range for these spells is Personal, the base Duration is Momentary, and the Base Target is Individual.

General: Dispel a currently active magical effect of the Olibanum style that is of lower level than this spell, or another supernatural effect that the Olibanum school could mimic at a level lower than this spell.

Ease Factor 0: Control the movements of a non-living object smaller than a loaf of bread.

Ease Factor 3: Control the movements of a living thing smaller than a loaf of bread.

Ease Factor 6: Control the movement of a non-living object of human size.

Ease Factor 9: Control the movement of a living thing of human size.

Ease Factor 12: Control the movement of a non-living object the size of a hut.

Ease Factor 15: Control the movement of a living thing the size of a hut.

Ease Factor 18: Control the movement of a non-living object the size of a ship.

Ease Factor 21: Control the movement of a whale, or any other living thing the size of a ship.

Ease Factor 24: Control all visible parts of an object of enormous size, like the ocean, sky, or mountains.

Soqotran wizards are trained in magic by other magicians, their spirit allies, or by the other members of the spirit tribe to which their ally belongs. Soqotran sorcerers could learn from books or vis, but do not. Their society has been designed (by the spirits) so that they do not understand the potential of vis, and do not scribe magical books.

The social obligations that surround teaching vary markedly in each tribe. The olibanum serpents grant sorcerers the most skilled aides, and these act as teachers but also control the lives of these sorcerers to a marked extent. The herons of light, in comparison, only appoint spirits of middling power as aides, so older magicians are required to seek and bargain with older birds to gain additional teaching. A similar process of bargaining occurs in the Cinnabar Tribe, while the Myrrh Tribe uses the bonds of family to constrain the development of its magicians.

Myrrh spirits evolve into more mature forms using the rules given in Realms of Power: Faerie, pages 64 – 65. As faeries draw some of their vitality and concepts of role from their surroundings, the Myrrh faeries show greater individual variation than the magical spirits of the other tribes. Like most faeries, jinniyah cannot train humans in skills. This creates a need for human teachers, which accounts for the filial structure of the Myrrh Tribe.

A Soqotran magician gains added experience in Supernatural Abilities through practice or training (as described on page 166 of ArM5). Soqotran Supernatural Abilities do not reduce the Source Quality for training in other Soqotran Supernatural Abilities.

A Soqotran wizard gains levels toward spells each season that he studies with a teacher. The number of levels gained depends on whether the teacher is a sorcerer or a spirit, as the formulae below show:

Levels Gained Under Sorcerer Teacher Each Season: Teacher's Communication + Magical Ability + Teacher's Sources of Power* – Ease Factor of the spell, until gained points equal Ease Factor

* Sparks used are limited by the teacher's score in the appropriate Magical Ability.

Levels Gained Under Spirit Teacher Each Season: Communication + (3 x Magical Ability) + Teaching + Aura + Might Pool points* – Ease Factor of the spell, until gained points equal Ease Factor.

* No more than equal to student's Magical Ability if he has an ally; no more than twice the student's magical Ability if he has an aide.

The method of teaching is faster for Soqotran sorcerers than Hermetic magi, but the political considerations that surround Soqotran training limit their development. High-level spells must always be taught by ancient spirits, who seek favors in exchange. Training in spells from outside the character's native school, is usually similarly purchased by doing favors for a magician or spirit from the desired school.

Hermetic magi cast minor spells spontaneously, and save their study for a few potent spells. In contrast, Soqotrans sorcerers often have many small spells instead, since they are easier to obtain training in. They try to work out ways to use little spells in versatile combinations, as a result.

Instead of suffering Twilight, Soqotran sorcerers transform into the shape of the tree corresponding to their tribe. This transformation may be triggered whenever the character gains 2 or more Warping points in a single event. The character's ally can transform the sorcerer back by spending Might points equal to the Warping gained during the following spring. After returning to human shape, the character gains Experience points in his Magical Ability related to his tribe equal to the number of Warping points gained. In the tree form the character is not self-aware.

Transformation Avoidance Roll: Stamina + Magic Ability + stress die

Warping Score + number of Warping Points gained + aura modifier + stress die (no botch)

These trees are magical, and after many years of care they produce vis. After many more years they develop the capacity to generate spirit guardians. Many Soqotran sorcerers believe that these spirit guardians are, in fact, the dead sorcerers themselves, returned through a form of spiritual transmutation. It does appear that some of the memories of the magician are vested in the spirit guardian of his tree form, but this is an inconclusive proof.

The Soqotran sorcerers are unusual, from a Hermetic perspective, in that their tradition has access to the complete resources of a kingdom. The islands of the archipelago, although they are admittedly small and distant from the Order, are rich in desirable products like incense and metals, and have access to trade links that stretch as far as Serica.

All of the main island of Soqotra, and the lesser islands that the magicians have claimed for their own, have a Magic aura of 2 in any place that is not otherwise influenced. That is, the island is filled with magic, the largest exception being the city and the port, which have a Dominion aura. Many villages and burial grounds have Dominion auras, and there are rings of faerie sites around each human settlement. A few Infernal sites are found in the wilderness, as well. This aura does not increase in size if the sorcerers claim more territory away from the island. The political and mystical boundaries of Soqotra are identical because the magicians choose not to expand their territory beyond the area richly endowed with magic.

The main island in the archipelago, Soqotra, is approximately 80 miles long, and around 20 miles wide for much of its length. It has three basic terrains: plains, mountains, and plateau. Discontinuous coastal plains ring the island, but these are widest and most fertile at the north. Most Soqotrans live on these. The Haggeher Mountains fill the center of the island. These are considered uninhabitable, except by sorcerers. The rest of the island is filled with limestone plateau.

The plateau is dotted with caves, and these have been inhabited by Soqotra's poorer people since the earliest of times. Caves are also used as cool places to store perishable trade goods. Some of the largest caves, either natural or human-extended, have been passed from one sorcerer to the next for thousands of years, and have potent Magic auras. Other caves are used as family burial sites, and are protected by the spirits of the dead.

The three smaller islands in the archipelago are low lying. The largest, Abd Al Kuri, has a few hundred inhabitants; the smallest, Darsah, lacks any inhabitants.

The population of the archipelago varies, historically, from around 1,000 to about 40,000. Storyguides should vary the population to suit the stories they wish to tell. A larger population makes a bigger ruling caste of magicians possible, but also provides armed naval forces, for stories involving the clash of nations. When Soqotra's population increases, its deficit of locally produced food becomes more severe, which tempts its people to conquer neighboring port cities and convert them into tributaries. If a storyguide selects a heavily populated Soqotra, he might also consider a stronger Soqotran presence in Red Sea ports.

The population of Soqotra is concentrated on the northern side of the island. The people who live here are a mixture of indigenous South Arabians, Arabs, Africans, and some few from places further east. There is a single city, Panara Tamara, although a town called Shiq (a loanword from the Arabic "suq," or market) serves as the main marketplace for outsiders, and is also populous. The mountainous interior of the island is far more sparsely populated than the coastal communities. The population of the interior highlands predates the arrival of the Arabs. The small villages scattered across this region elect their own headmen, who are then approved by a representative of the sorcerers.

In this chapter the island is assumed to have a permanent population of 25,000 people, which increases by up to 1,000 during the peak seasons of trade and piracy. This supports a population of 80 Gifted sorcerers, most of whom were not born on the island. Ancient writers claimed that the people of the island lived communally, and had a warrior caste for the defense of the island, but this is not true in 1220.

The Council of Tribes maintains a special group of servants, called the Date Tribe. The members of the tribe have two key responsibilities. They are sent as information gatherers into the mainland cities that surround the island, and alert the islanders if one of those states begins preparations for a military campaign. They also seek out children with The Gift, and transport them to the island for training as sorcerers. Some members of the Date Tribe select Gifted children simply by finding those with the magic air that causes distrust and loathing. Others have pet Soqotran chameleons that have been trained to spot Gifted people. The Date Tribe's name comes from the use of ground dates as long-lasting, easily carried, highenergy provisions by those planning to travel long distances in harsh country.

The people of the islands speak Soqotri, an indigenous language not found elsewhere. Many townsfolk also speak Arabic, because it is the language of commerce with outsiders. Young sorcerers often speak poor Soqotri, because they are bought to the island from Arabic-speaking areas and are insulated from Soqotri speakers by their spirits, who act as translators and messengers. These spirits speak the young magician's native language to distance him from the native population.

Soqotra's population lives in an agrarian economy. The coastal people are often fishermen, and their surplus fish are dried and exported. Soqotra is also famous as the source of four different kinds of tortoiseshell. Some Soqotrans engage in whaling, as well. They spear the whale with a harpoon made of iron, with a rope and float attached, so that they can track the whale and recover its body once it has died of its injury. Others scavenge from the corpses of whales that wash up regularly on Soqotra's beaches. The most valuable substance taken from whales is ambergris (see the insert, later). Whales also provide cetacean oil, meat, and ivory.

Farming of the four great trees aside, Soqotrans supplement their fishing with crops that include millet and vegetables. Dates are also grown and exported in quantity. Goats and an unusual breed of miniature cow are raised, and killed for special celebrations. The island exports ghee, which is made by clarifying butter, and this is the main cooking oil on the island. Ancient writers claimed the main cooking oil on the island was rendered from the meat of enormous lizards, although they do not mention if these were farmed or hunted.

The island exports few manufactured goods, but cotton and pottery are both produced. Many other manufactured goods are bought to the island by pirates, who trade them for the exports listed above, or for valuable metals or gemstones mined on the island's plateau.

Soqotra is on an ancient trade route, an alternative to the overland Silk Road. The Red Sea route was supported by the Romans as a way of cutting the natives of the Middle East out of their trade with the East, to reduce the prices paid for spices; the route is well known to any student of the classics. Most of the spices exported from Egypt come along the Red Sea route, rather than by way of the Silk Road.

Soqotra is a perfect haven for pirates. It lies on a valuable and highly trafficked

The Soqotran Church is a Nestorian Church that was founded by St. Thomas when he was shipwrecked on the island in 52 AD. It is headed by a bishop who is appointed by the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church, and its writings use the East Syriac script. The Bishop of Soqotra does not approve of magic, and has formally condemned its sinfulness to the inhabitants of the island on many occasions, but the locals simply don't agree. They counter that magic is their ancestral custom, and that as such they will continue with it. Most Soqotran sorcerers are practicing, although not fervent, Christians. The bishop does not excommunicate them, because he feels that would just make matters worse.

A common burial practice on the island is to wall up the dead in caves. This creates little pockets of the Dominion in otherwise wild-seeming places. The sorcerers of the island can feel the flickering of The Gift in these places, much as Hermetic magi do, and avoid them when casting magic.

trade route. It is independent of any of the neighboring states, and able to repel raids on its harbors. It has a population and trade network sufficient to purchase plunder at a profit. Soqotra's Christian rulers do not persecute pirates so long as they limit their predation to Muslims. Soqotra's pirates are a scourge for neighboring states, but are forced to behave themselves while on the island by the magic of the Olibanum Tribe.

Soqotra is cut off from the rest of the world during the monsoon. The ports are closed from June to September, although some local fishing still occurs.

Soqotra has some native animals that are unusual, and can be commanded by Soqotran sorcerers to useful effect.

The islands contain many enormous, venomous varieties of vermin found in other places. Natural spiders with bodies a hand span wide, and venomous centipedes 18 inches long are both often found in the caves. One of the native scorpions of Soqotra has a sting that does not poison the victim, but instead creates a sort of chemical burn into the flesh, which rapidly necrotizes and is often fatal. Plagues of grasshoppers sometimes swarm out to the island from Africa, devastating crops that they are guided toward.

Soqotra lacks any native amphibians, or mammals other than bats. The apex predators on the islands are crocodiles. Civets have been introduced to the island and are hunted for meat and for civet paste, which is an extract that acts as a fixative in perfume so that its scent lasts longer. Magicians can capture civets and harvest their excretions without killing them, but this is unusual. Dogs are unknown on the island. Soqotrans unfamiliar with them react particularly badly, assuming they are likely to behave like wild animals.

Most deadly of the native inhabitants of Soqotra is a fly that is found in marshy areas. If swallowed, it causes the victim to die of pneumonia. There are few cures, so the areas where the fly is found are avoided; many people wear masks or stuff their beards into their mouths in marshy areas. The fly makes a distinctive noise, so many older men, who have heard the fly before and know to shut their mouths when they hear its unique sound, do not take precautions against it.

There are several Soqotran creatures that have unusual magical abilities. The sorcerers of Soqotra control these creatures, and use them to harm their enemies.

The Soqotra chameleon is an unusual animal that contains a pawn of Imaginem vis. In addition to the power of changing its color to match its surroundings, it has the ability to steal a man's voice simply by staring at him. The power, similarly, prevents animals from crying out. The sorcer-

Ambergris is a grey waxy substance usually found floating in the sea, or in the digestive tracts of whales. It is highly valued as medicine and as a base for perfume. Soqotrans extract ambergris from the whales they kill, and often find it washed up on beaches. There are two stories that explain the tremendous amount of ambergris found in these waters.

The Soqotrans believe that deep beneath the ocean, there is a great tree made of ambergris. This tree is browsed by whales, which eat it as a medicine when they are ill. To grab branches from the ambergris tree, the whales must fight their way through the tree's defenders. To make this simpler, some whales attack the tree in pods. When the whale, who is rushed by the battles about him, snaps off a piece of the tree and chews it down, some small fragments break free like the crumbs of a cake. These bits float to the surface and are, eventually, deposited on the beaches of the island.

The Arabs have another story, recorded in one of the voyages of Sinbad, which indicates that on one of the islands in the Red Sea there is a river of ambergris that flows from caves deep in the earth. The ambergris congeals at night and when it strikes the cool waters of the ocean, but is liquid when the day is hottest. This river of liquid ambergris is hidden in a valley with cliffs on all sides, which Sinbad found only by chance, and escaped only through luck.

packs. A group of leapers can be used to create perimeter lines for the defense of campsites, and larger groups can be scattered over territory to deny its use to the enemy. The red leapers are called "spear snakes," or "iacului" by some ancient writers.

Soqotra is also home to a species of small winged snake, called a syrenus in Hermetic lore. These snakes, which are of conventional size, have skins of bright, metallic colors. They have batlike, leathery wings. The creatures are guardians of mundane olibanum trees, and live in close association with the olibanum serpents, whose commands they understand and obey. These snakes are social and may be tamed by magicians with sufficient patience and Ability in Animal Handling. These creatures are used as spies, to carry written messages, and to protect valuable sites. Any character who makes an Intelligence + Magic Lore roll against an Ease Factor of 9 or more will recall that these creatures can be scattered by burning the resin of the storax tree.

ers of Soqotra see little advantage to this power, because no predator that stalks the chameleon uses a cry to co-ordinate with others. The effect lasts only as long as the chameleon concentrates.

Soqotran chameleons can be trained to recognize The Gift. Some are trained to respond by immediately stealing the voice of any Gifted person they see other than their owner. Others change color. This is of little use against Hermetic magi, because the chameleon lacks Penetration. It is useful when seeking apprentices, though, because the Soqotrans lack magic that detects The Gift directly.

The red leaper is a sort of serpent that hides in a burrow beneath the earth, covering the entrance to its lair with a fine layer of sand, or with leaves. When a creature approaches its burrow, the leaper shoots forth with tremendous speed and force. Local forklore varies concerning the deadliness of these snakes. Some think they kill merely with their swift and deep bite, which leaves the victim and serpent coated in blood. Others state that the red leaper has venom that always kills if the person is bitten above the waist, but that its victim may be saved by quickly delivered medical care if the strike is lower.

These serpents are used individually as traps, but can also be commanded in

The olibanum serpents recall that in ancient times there was an even more powerful king than their own. He dwelt near a town called Ubar, famous for its olibanum. The Koran records that God pushed Ubar into the sands, as chastisement for the spiritual transgression of her people. Ubar is another name for Irem, the City of Pil-

lars, fabled for its incredible wealth. A Soqotran magician might pretend to be from Ubar when making contact with Hermetic magi, or if interrogated. An expedition to Ubar by Hermetic magi would force the King of the Olibanum Serpents to respond, since it hides information and power he wants to remain hidden.

The story of Gilgamesh is little known in the European part of Mythic Europe. It is the saga of a great hero king, part god, who fears death and completes a series of quests to find death's cure. At the end of his quest, Gilgamesh goes to an island and plucks a flower from deep beneath the water. Following this, he goes to a cool lake to bathe, and a serpent steals the flower and eats it. Some students of Soqotran lore think the flower was a coral, and Soqotra is one of the few places near the

Red Sea where coral is found. This also provides a possible origin story for the King of the Olibanum Serpents.

Gilgamesh is best known to modern readers through a group of 12 tablets that remained hidden for thousands of years in the destroyed Library of Ashurbanpil in Nineveh. These were excavated after the Ars Magica game period, but could provide a suitable treasure object for characters on a quest to unlock an ancient mystery. Characters finding the tablets might follow Gilgamesh's footsteps.

The sorcerers of Soqotra are not driven by a hatred of the Order, and lack any desire to expand their territory. This means that the Order as a whole can safely ignore them, or can attempt to develop peaceful relations. This is the default state for the Soqotrans.

Conflict between parts of the Order and the Soqotrans may, however, become inevitable. The Soqotrans do believe that the Order is likely to attempt to exterminate or enslave them, which makes them aloof and secretive with the magi. For this reason, too, initially they are unwilling to enter into talks with House Ex Miscellanea or other ambassadors of peace. And of course, there are elements in the Order who, once they discover how rich the Soqotrans are, live up to Soqotran prejudices.

This young sorcerer is keen to test himself in battle, but his olibanum serpent and superiors know that he has little experience and may find mystical threats too difficult to deal with. His body does not react normally to Cinnabar magic, so he will age at close to the normal human rate. Knowing this, he has specialized in military magic, determined to lead a glorious, if brief, life. This character is designed to substitute for a player character Hermetic magus of similar age.

His Gentle Gift has made him suitable as a recruit to the Council of Three Birds, so characters may encounter him distant from Soqotra. When in strongly Christian areas he uses the name "Thomas," after the saint who bought Christianity to Soqotra. Many members of the Council of Three Birds do this — a small flaw in their information-gathering network that they have not detected. His place in the Council of Three Birds, which is sponsored by the King of the Olibanum Serpents and contains co-operative magicians, has allowed Ali to develop spells outside his tribe's usual focus.

His greatest flaw is that he lacks skill in conventional weapon use. Soqotran magicians have great difficulty overcoming Magic Resistance, so many are skilled with non-magical weapons. His ability to fly and Soak attacks even without armor provides him combat advantages that he has yet to learn to exploit.

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

Age: 21 (Apparent: 21)

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: The Gift, Soqotran Sorcerer, Gentle Gift, Puissant Olibanum Magic, Special Circumstances (Major: Member of the Council of Three Birds), Well-traveled, Oath of Fealty (effectively the servant of the Soqotran spirits), Higher Purpose, Difficult Longevity Ritual.

Personality Traits: Brave +2, Proud +1 Combat:

Harvesting knife (dagger): Init 0, Attack +5*, Defense +3*, Damage +3

* Assumes the knife is being wielded magically, using Finesse; if being used manually, reduce each by 1.

Soak: +3 (1 point from sturdy travel clothes)

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: Aloe Magic 1 (healing), Area Lore 1 (Shiq), Artes Liberales 1 (incense rituals), Athletics 1 (walking), Awareness 1 (magical animals), Bargain 2 (peasants), Brawl 2 (sailors), Charm 1 (peasants), Cinnabar Magic 1 (self-defense), Concentration 1 (Olibanum), Etiquette 1 (other magicians), Faerie Lore 1 (Soqotran), Finesse 2 (Olibanum Magic), Folk Ken 2 (Soqotran), Magic Lore 2 (Soqotran), Myrrh Magic 1 (heroic), Olibanum Magic 5+2 (moving objects), Penetration 1 (magical animals), Profession 3 (traveling merchant), Speak Arabic, or as suits saga 5 (peasants), Speak Soqotri 5 (spirits), Swim 1 (ocean).

Equipment: This magician pretends to be a merchant, so he often has trade items and a cart, plus pack animals or a small boat to carry them. His serpent hides in one of the barrels. The sorcerer often pretends to be an Arabic trader.

Encumbrance: 0 (0) Spells Known:

Closing Lacerations of the Skin: Aloe 9/+4* Enhanced Resistance to Bone: Cinnabar 9/+4* Adds +6 to Soak against teeth and

bone weapons, although not, unfortunately, claws. (Base 3, +6 Sun)

Enhanced Resistance to Steel: Cinnabar 9/+4* Adds +6 to Soak against steel weapons. (Base 3, +6 Sun)

Flying Knife: Olibanum 12/+10* Harvesting Knife: Olibanum 3/+10*

Rain of Rocks: Olibanum 15/+10* Ali carries a pouch of nails for use with this spell, so that it does +15 damage.

Theft of Essences: Olibanum 6 / +10* The Toughness of Achilles: Myrrh 9/+4*: Grants the Tough Virtue (+3 Soak). Stacks with Enhanced Resistance to Steel and similar spells. (Base 3, +6 Sun) He has learned 3 spell levels toward another, unlisted, spell.

* Includes Communication, Ability, specialization in Ability and Puissance if applicable, but does not include aura, minor incense ceremony (+2 for Artes Liberales score), assistance from spirit's Might (up to +5 in Olibanum Magic), or assistance due to membership of the Council of Three Birds (up to +10 per day, split between spells if desired.)

Appearance: A young man of Arabic heritage.

In 1220 the sphere of influence that the Soqotrans maintain, in order to ensure grain deliveries to their islands, is on the very fringes of the Hermetic world. The two groups are beginning to become aware of each other, although the information they have is incomplete and misunderstood.

The Order of Hermes is aware that the sorcerers of Soqotra exist. They have played no role in the history of the Order. They are far away — too far for the initial gathering of Founders, and too far for the wars of expansion under Flambeau, Tytalus, and Tremere. Trianoma certainly traveled by this area when she ventured deep into Africa to find the dragon that sent her to the cave of Bonisagus, but there's no record of contact in her (known) diaries.

The line of Pralix has often considered sending an expedition to Soqotra, and has collected information about the Soqotrans from the surrounding states, generally using Redcaps already in the Tribunal of the Levant. The quality of the information they have received is poor. They believe it exaggerates the powers and size of the group, although it does not. It casts them as tribes of elementalists and spirit worshipers, although this isn't the case. The Line of Pralix also thinks a dragon monarch of a human kingdom of Christian sorcerers seems unlikely, particularly as part of a ruling triumvirate with a faerie queen and an aloof phoenix.

Pralix's descendants have always been able to find new traditions to interest them closer to their own places of power. In the 13th century, there are some changes that may make this expedition more practical, though. The Order has more Arabic members, which makes the members of the expedition less conspicuous. Trade flourishes in the Mediterranean, and this leads to greater opportunities for travel. Shipbuilding has improved markedly, which makes

The Soqotrans know rather more about the Order than the Order knows about the Soqotrans. The King of the Olibanum Serpents has been aware of the Order's growth since the time of the Founders, but was unwilling to send a participant to investigate it. He knows that the members of the Order hunt magical animals for vis, which is not practiced on Soqotra, and that they have been belligerently expansionist. The king thinks that if the Order discovers how wealthy his magicians are, then the magi will try to seize the island by force. Many of the councilors are also aware that there is a more powerful order of wizards in Europe, and that it is the policy of the Soqotrans to avoid contact with them.

The Soqotrans have a good idea of the structure of the Order, insofar as they know the names, philosophies, and preferred magical styles of the various Houses. They know Tribunals exist, and that they are law-making bodies. They know of the Redcap network, and what it is for. The King of the Olibanum Serpents and Queen of Myrrh have some understanding of the diversity of Hermetic spells, and it is clear to them that Hermetic magic is more powerful than their own. They are aware that Hermetic magi have generic Magic Resistance, although they don't know how the Parma Magica or Aegis of the Hearth work.

Soqotran wizards might come off their island and contest with Hermetic magi for a variety of reasons.

If a raid is attempted on the island, the Soqotrans deal with the immediate group of aggressors. They capture the raiders if it is safe to do so, to interrogate them. Then they gather further information about the Order, by having one of the Council of Three Birds contact the Lineage of Pralix. They hope that the recruitment enticements from the Pralixians will be sufficient to allow them to gain enough information about the Order to formulate a strategy.

The Parma Magica is a fantastic prize, and joining the Order is one way to procure it. At this point it will be clear to the Soqotrans that the possession of the Parma Magica is considered a cause for war among Hermetic magi. It is also clear that there are political alternatives to war.

The Soqotrans are averse to joining the Order, though, because their king does not wish it to be known that he kept the nature of vis from his sorcerers. That being noted, once his magicians have the Parma Magica, the structure of his society must change. It may be easiest for him to claim that this information is new, and to pass it on to his troops as a spoil of war.

A permanent Hermetic presence in the Red Sea triggers an information-gathering response from the King of the Olibanum Serpents. The king sees the Redcap network as the weak point in the Order, and he uses the Myrrh Tribe to draw as much information out of them as he can. This is followed by an attack, if that seems wise.

In this scenario, at least initially, there is no war between the Order and the Soqotrans, merely between the sorcerers and local covenants — perhaps including the covenant of the player characters. On this scale, the Soqotrans are far more threatening. It may be that distant members of the Order do not see a benefit in contesting for power with a remote, if powerful, hedge tradition.

There is the possibility that a Grand Tribunal might nominate the Soqotrans as "allies of the Order." The Code theoretically states that all magi must accept the allies of the Order as their own allies. What this means in practice is unclear, because a group as potent as the Soqotrans has never been permitted to continue to exist in the Hermetic area of influence. Can magi, for example, declare Wizard's War on individual Soqotrans if they are allies of the Order? Can magi cheat them in mercantile transactions, and if they do, how is this resolved? The Order's mechanisms for maintenance of peace are weak, but the Order's more peaceful magi know this, and a series of stories might be constructed around a special covenant set up to develop and police the relationship with the Soqotrans.

An alternative, that the Soqotrans might enter the Order as a new House, is initially even more difficult. The Order has, currently, no way of accepting that a spirit can be the Primus of a House. The addition of another House, with so many members, also changes the voting structure of the Order. If the Soqotrans become a House in the Order, then their society must change, as the relationship between the spirits and humans must be renegotiated.

In the past, various mainland rulers have attempted to conquer the Soqotrans. With the exception of Alexander the Great they have always failed — and the Soqotrans now keep Alexandria's faerie god in a box. The last to make an earnest effort was the brother of Saladin, from whom they just hid the entire island using Aloe illusions and Olibanum currents, so that his fleet could not find it. He decided to ignore Soqotra, which was just conveniently placed on his way to conquer Yemen. The Soqotrans don't see the need to waste their mundane servants on wars with the rulers of neighboring states. There is, however, an exception: ports never close on Soqotran vessels.

Soqotra's population can subsist for about two years on stored food. Beyond this, the people of the island would starve. Some rulers have attempted to use this against the island's ruling Council of Tribes, to demand their subservience. The Soqotrans have always made an example of such rulers, either by sending Date Tribe assassins or, on rare occasions, by the Olibanum Tribe riding their serpents to the city and slaughtering much of the ruling class.

This action may cause friction with Hermetic interests. Now that there are covenants in the Levant, the destruction of the ruling class of a city will come to the attention of Hermetic magi. Hermetic magi often suffer when other types of magician anger the nobility of an area, so the Order's members may wish to curb the activities of the Soqotrans. They may not, initially, realize that the Soqotrans are more than a cabal of hedge magicians.

The faerie Serapis is a god of empire. He chooses a human vessel, and then with the patience of the immortal, builds his forces before striking down his potential enemies. After Serapis escapes, his Soqotran army conquers a section of Africa. After sufficient time to bed down his conquest and train the locals as his armies, a crusading horde of African Christians emerges from the desert and attacks Egypt. Emissaries are sent to the major courts of Europe, asking for aid to crush the Muslims.

Once Serapis has Egypt back, his puppet emperor plays the courtly Christian ruler to Europeans. Simultaneously, Serapis ruthlessly subordinates the economically valuable portions of Africa using his Soqotran magicians and new allies. This process may take decades, but once Africa is subdued and its resources are available, Serapis turns his eyes to Europe.

The Order and the Soqotrans do not need to fight a war of obliteration. Other alternatives exist, and may be motivated by events that force contact between the two groups.

The King of the Olibanum Serpents needs an excellent reason to break his policy of isolation, but the other groups in this book may give him one. The Order is a threat, but not an imminent one. If the Order might be replaced by something worse, like the empire-building Mongols, or if the magi are facing a threat that could destroy the world, like the Muspelli, the king may send aid to them. Alliance with the Order might be the best of his limited options.

An Order that is merely humbled, either by civil war or by successful war against a powerful external group like the Amazons, might draw the King of the Olibanum Serpents into negotiation. A weakened Order is more likely to agree to the king's demands for non-interference and the establishment of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea ports as an area for the exclusive use of his sorcerers. In this scenario, the king hopes that distance, wellwishes toward an ally, and careful politics will protect his people from the more violent Houses.

Some events may push the two groups of magicians into each other's way, with only luck deciding if the contact is belligerent or amicable.

The current policy of the Soqotrans is driven by the paranoia of the King of the Olibanum Serpents. He knows that the Order, at times, is a genocidal war machine that would gladly consume his people. He also knows that his servants may hate him if they discover he has deceived them about the nature of vis. To protect his people and himself he has cowed, and in the case of the Cinnabar Tribe perhaps destroyed, the other spirit sovereigns. Matters may change if a fourth spirit sovereign arises.

One source of a new sovereign is the Cinnabar Tribe. They may gain a sovereign by a Soqotran giant gecko simply becoming so old he takes the role, by one of the geckos refusing to give back the tail of the sovereign, or by a Bjornaer with the right Heartbeast falling into Twilight and feeling compelled to travel south. Note that this doesn't need to be a gecko; originally the gecko spirits took the shape of a different lizard. The new sovereign may make contact with outsiders part of the price of his fealty to the King of the Olibanum Serpents, may refuse to bow to the king and call in Hermetic aid in a civil war, or may swear to abide the decisions of the king and run a secret policy of international contact behind his back, seeking to build up his tribe so that it can rebel or force a more equitable political arrangement.

Each of the other sovereigns may die, or be replaced. The bennu is destroyed and reborn periodically. The Queen of Myrrh may pass into Arcadia seeking new stories. The King of the Olibanum Serpents may become some other form of spirit not tied to the island. New sovereigns may have new policies.

In Ancient Magic, characters are given incentives to voyage to the Garden of the Heperides, located off the northwest coast of Africa, which is the only other place where the cinnabar tree is known to grow. There they may discover a great serpent named Ladon, born of the destruction of Atlantis, with stored mystical knowledge and a desire to create a new age of magic. Coupled with this, they know there is another garden of magic ruled by a dragon in deep Africa, because it is there that Trianoma was told to seek out Bonisagus, beginning the current era of mystical co-operation.

When there were but two gardens, one observed and one reported, there was some chance that Trianoma simply lied

The meaning of this pattern isn't clear. Each serpent, if asked, will answer from his own cosmology. Ladon may think that Soqotra was an Atlantean colony. The King of the Olibanum Serpents will believe that the Garden of the Hesperides is another concentration of magic, like Soqotra. Either explanation — that the gardens were left as markers by an ancient, waning society to aid those who followed, or that the gardens are a pattern that naturally recurs in places of great magical significance — leads to stories. If the gardens were left by a falling civilization, what other aids, and what sleeping threats, have they also left behind? If the gardens naturally occur, then are there others — where are they, and can the mystical links between them be used for communication or travel?

A number of breakthroughs are possible to researchers who incorporate Soqotran magic into Hermetic practice.

As a Major Breakthrough, the Soqatran method of binding children to spirits may be incorporated into Hermetic magic. After this occurs, for a highly limited range of potential familiars the Might score of the creature does not increase the Familiar Bonding Level, described on page 104 of Ars Magica Fifth Edition.

Soqotran sorcerers live longer simply by being skilled in the magic of preservation. Their limited knowledge in this field is inferior to that of the Corpus specialists of the Order, but the inclusion of their knowledge, as a Major Breakthrough, adds an extra modifier to the longevity ritual total, equal to (the Corpus score of the ritual's recipient /10).

A character who begins researching the Censer Duration may find that similar work, based on the Fire Duration found in the faerie magic of House Merinita, is already complete. This should be treated as guaranteed Insight, but characters must seek out the magician whose experiments they hope to gain from, and bargain for access to the research. As this is a Minor Breakthrough, and research assistance may come from unexpected places (House Flambeau, for example) this project is one of the simplest of Minor Breakthroughs for a character to attempt.

The Perpetual Duration is a Hermetic Breakthrough. It is of great interest to all magi, as it would allow, as an example, wards that do not require periodic renewal. Similar research may have been done by other magi, since this is an obvious and widely applicable idea.

The ability to preserve luck (or from the player perspective, dice rolls) would be invaluable in mundane combat. How this feature of Soqotran magic works is unclear

Oral folklore records that when Soqotra was invaded in 1800, the Wahhabi destroyed every book on the island that was not the Koran. There is no record, written by the Soqotrans themselves, concerning what their beliefs were during the medieval period.

Records from surrounding cultures giving examples of the great power of the Soqotran magicians, and limited oral records given by modern Muslim Soqotrans, provide only snippets and vague outlines of the medieval sorcerers. The stories from neighboring states often contain fanciful geography, economy, history, and ecology for the island chain. Similarly, some Soqotran folklore has been preferred over fact, so the spiders of the island are poisonous and the pneumonia fly exists. This book also takes many liberties to create distinctive styles of magician that are fun to play.

The author apologizes to anyone offended by this chapter, which, by necessity, must be a fiction constructed from these scraps of history and folklore.

to Hermetic magi. It is perhaps a ReMe(Co) effect. Hermetic researchers require a Major Breakthrough to mimic this effect.

The most valuable secret of Soqotran sorcery, to Hermetic magi, is their ability to use fractions of vis as though they were whole pawns. This is superficially remarkable, but it isn't a completely alien way of spellcasting for Hermetic magi. Verditius magi cast spells much the same way Soqotrans do. Verditus magi create a casting tool that is suited to each spell. The Soqotrans use vis, which is connected to every possible spell that the vis could be used for, instead of specific tools.

Hermetic magi have traditionally thought of casting tools as the crutches of a weak tradition. Research into casting tools has tended to make them "better" in the Hermetic sense, so they are fewer, simpler, cheaper, or incorporated into magical items. The Soqotran form of magic has followed the opposite approach, and embraced casting with tools as superior to casting with gestures alone, then abstracted the individual tools. Verditius magi researching Soqotran integration have guaranteed Insight due to the flaw that requires them to use casting tools.

Research into Soqotran casting rapidly makes obvious that a magus who integrated the vis handling techniques of the two traditions could use them simultaneously. Verditus magi currently use a casting tool at the beginning of a spell's conception, then pour vis into the spell to give it strength. Similarly, a Verditius who had integrated Soqotran techniques could use vis as a casting tool, and then add vis again during the casting as Hermetic magi do. This allows the caster to sidestep the limitation that they may only spend their Art score in vis to aid any particular spell, by allowing them to use their Art score in sparks as a casting tool. It also allows magic to be made far cheaper in some, limited, circumstances by moving the cost of spells from the Hermetic to the Soqotran scale.

You and your friends are newbies at the Renaissance faire. But in a crowd of buccaneer hats and faerie wings, you're the only ones in shorts and t-shirts. You have one afternoon to assemble the ultimate Renaissance costume, but you're low on cash and the only way to earn more is to perform for the crowd!

In the Ren Faire card game, your goal is to outfit your Character card with Costumes whose icons fill the slots on it. To do this, you play

Performance cards that award you coins for doing silly stunts, then buy the transparent Costume cards that stack above your Character card.

Ren Faire features an innovative transparent card design, and Performance cards that are sure to keep everyone enjoying the game!

©2009 Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games. All rights reserved.

Available from Atlas Games NOW! Stock No. AG1320 • ISBN 1-58978-109-0 • MSRP $24.95 US