Hadramawt

Hadramawt is a relative backwater in the Muslim world. Its valleys contain few sources of water and are only sparsely populated, while the hills, though at some points heavily forested, are too steep to make agriculture or coppicing viable means of subsistence. Very few pilgrims or other travelers make it this far south, and the people tend to be surprised when they encounter strangers. It is remarkable only for the unusual creature known as the nisnas (nis-NEHS) and being the source of many of the resins and spices traded throughout the Mythic Middle East passing along the coast to Mythic Europe.

Like other distant areas of the Mythic Middle East, its isolation may make it appealing as a potential site for initial Hermetic settlement, because the magical resources of the wilderness and the various Magic jinn aligned to its natural features are relatively unknown to all but a handful of itinerant sahirs. The extreme lack of mundane resources, sparse population, and its distance from larger settlements will require magical solutions for the covenant to prosper.

Both these resinous materials are obtained from gnarled trees that grow predominantly in the fog-wrapped mountains of Hadramawt, although groves can be found in parts of Oman, Ethiopia, and on the isolated island of Soqotra. Harvesters tap the trees, making small incisions that allow the milky sap to exude slowly and then harden into "tears" of sticky resin over three months. The two resins form the main ingredients of incense used throughout the Mythic Middle East and

Mythic Europe. Myrrh was traditionally more expensive in ancient Rome, although frankincense has always been more popular, and each is worth more than its weight in gold when traded.

The resin trees are found on the more inaccessible wooded slopes of the area and guarded by flying serpents known as syrenii (or iaculii). These mundane guardians must be driven off by harvesters with smoke created by burning a similar resinous reagent imported from Anatolia known as storax.

Frankincense, literally "incense of the French," comes from the stunted and hardy mogar tree. It is commonly referred to as olibanum (al-lubban, "that which results from milking"). It is a light yellow resin, often tinted with green, known for its medicinal qualities, in particular its ability to quicken the blood. The quality of the resin depends on the exact climatic and soil conditions, with each tree having a specific time when it produces its best resin. When burned, it gives off a slightly balsamic and lemony fragrance characteristic of incense. The charred resin is one of the main components of the eye-powder referred to as kohl (see earlier). Frankincense resin has the following Shape & Material bonuses: +3 medicine, +5 promote life.

Myrrh, in contrast, is a reddish-brown resin, with the best quality specimens being both darker and more translucent than

inferior examples. It has a sharp pleasant scent and when burned gives off a heavy, acrid smoke with a hint of vanilla. Apart from its use in incense, it is used as an additive in wine, for embalming ointment, and in the holy oil used by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Myrrh has the following Shape & Material bonuses: +3 relieve arthritis or inflammation, +5 preservation, +2 sanctify.

The flying serpents known to Pliny as syrenii are found in great numbers in southern Arabia and on the island of Soqotra to the far south of Yemen (see Rival Magic, page 110). The Arabian snakes are typically white in coloration with batlike wings, and an individual syrenus may sport a pair of short legs. These snakes perch in the incense trees of Hadramawt and are known for their darting attack, leaping out of trees onto passing prey. Flocks of syrenii attempt to migrate into Egypt each year, only to be destroyed by their natural enemies, the ibises.

Hermetic magi refer to these snakes as iaculii, but most mundanes call them "javelin-snakes" or "darters" due to their unusually rapid and lethal method of attack. As the ibis is linked to Thoth and therefore Hermes, most Hermetic magi consider an iaculus an ill-omened creature, but at least one Quaesitor uses them as aids to his investigations. Exceptional syrenii are believed to have additional powers allowing them to ignore wards and other protection magic in order to deliver their venom, but these claims have yet to be investigated by Hermetic magi. Their exact relationship to the magical Olibanum Serpents of Soqotra is unclear but the Arabian serpents are much less sociable than their kin and appear resistant to being tamed short of magical means. It is not known whether the syrenii originated on Soqotra or the more aggressive variety represents a more primitive species that was then imported from the mainland.

Syrenii use the base statistics for Adders listed in The Book of Mundane Beasts or Realms of Power: Magic, page 141, modified as follows: increase Quickness to +4; gain ability to fly; add Ferocity (when leaping) and Improved Characteristics Virtues; add the Fast Flyer and Good Jumper Qualities; add Athletics 4 (jumping). Any character who makes a Intelligence + Magic Lore or Intelligence + Arabia Lore roll against an Ease Factor of 9 will recall that these creatures can be scattered by burning the resin of the storax tree.

The Trees That Cry Blood

In the seaside hills of Hadramawt is a grove of five ancient mogar trees that seem to grow directly from the rock, resisting even the thrashings of the seasonal monsoons of the Erythraean Sea. The resin produced from these trees, when harvested during a violent storm, yields unusually pure frankincense tears that each contain a single pawn of dedicated Rego Terram vis each tree produces several pawns of vis per harvest. The timing of the harvest storms is complex, but well-known to the local inhabitants, who are terrified of the particularly large and aggressive population of syrenii nestled among the branches of the grove. Harvesting the vis is no easy undertaking, as the serpents seem immune to the usual storax smoke and standard wards appear to have little effect.

Even if successfully harvested, the existence of the trees becomes readily known to another magical group, whether they be rival Hermetic explorers, local hedge wizards or sahirs representing the Order of Suleiman. Perhaps renegade members of the Olibanum tribe of the normally isolationist Soqotrans are interested in the unusual resin produced (see Rival Magic for details on these non-Hermetic wizards). Continued supernatural disturbance and intense magical activity or botches in the grove may awaken the trees, providing another obstacle to harvesting as the animated bushes gain the ability to actively resist interlopers with their spiny arms. Are the tears of the trees worth the price in blood?

Discovering the Lost City

There are a number of ways that characters might come across this lost city. They might come across a map indicating its location; they might be approached by a descendent of one of the survivors of the destruction who wishes to recover something from the city; or they might come across it purely by accident, finding a tunnel into the earth or even reaching it after falling victim to a patch of dry quicksand.

However they find it, visitors to the city find it intact in a great cavern under the desert, still filled with the riches of its inhabitants, along with their desiccated corpses, and the Magic auras here remain strong. Indeed, this makes it an attractive site for a new covenant. The major difficulty is navigating the city, for its inhabitants were about 12 yards in height and hence everything is built on a much larger scale than it would be for normal humans.

The discovery of the ancient city may draw the attention of the remaining Giants of 'Ad, itinerant stonesmiths renown for their building skills. Will the giants look favorably upon the discoverers or will they try and prevent the city from disclosing its ancient secrets and treasures?

The Witches of Nizwa

Perhaps the witches of Nizwa are a movement of Infernalists or Faerie wizards who become the arch-enemies of the characters. Banished Soqotran witches may have formed a secret community in exile, or the group may be agents of the Olibanum King trying to discredit and destabilize the Order of Suleiman (see Rival Magic, pages 110–141). The group may even be the last remnant of a tradition of sorceresses privy to the astral magic of ancient Sheba.

Alternatively, the rumors may be utterly unfounded, which has interesting implications if the characters have found an attractive site for a covenant near the city, leading to stories, or even a complete saga, based on the theme of overcoming negative preconceptions and stereotypes.

(The tribe of) 'Ad rejected warnings. Then how (dreadful) was My punishment after My warnings.

Lo! We let loose on them a raging wind on a day of constant calamity,

Sweeping men away as though they were uprooted trunks of palm-trees.

Then see how (dreadful) was My punishment after My warnings!

— The Qur'an 54: 18-21

The capital city of Ubar was home to the people of 'Ad, a race of giants who held sway over much of Yemen, Hadramawt, and 'Uman five generations after the Great Flood, from their mythical homeland of al-Akhaf. However, the people of 'Ad were idolaters, and when God commissioned one of them, the prophet Hud, to bring them back to the right religion, they rejected him, persisting in their idolatry even after God inflicted a drought on them as a warning. In the end God sent a great storm to destroy them, with the exception of Hud and the few who accepted his message. The storm drove the city deep into the sands. There it lies still, waiting to be discovered by explorers.

The great depression in the sands above the surface of the city has a Magic aura of 5, hinting at the greater riches beneath.