Mazandaran

This is the collective name given to the provinces between the Caspian Sea and the Alborz mountains. Gilan is the easternmost province (see Chapter 7: Mythic Mesopotamia), with Daylam to its south, then Tabaristan further west (whose chief city is Amul), then Gurgan in the far west (whose capital is also called Gurgan). During the Muslim conquest of Persia, Mazandaran was never taken, partly due to its protection by the Alborz mountains to the south and partly due to the strong resistance put forth by its aristocratic Mazdean families. The Bavand family remained in control of Mazandaran for 200 years, before they were eventually brought down by the Nizari Isma'ilis (see later) in 1125, who are now dominant in the region.

Mazandaran was known to the ancient world as Hyrcania, a land famous for its tigers (see insert). The region is exceptionally fertile with a tropical climate, and the Zoroastrians believe that it was especially blessed by Ahura Mazda. Unlike most of Persia, houses in Mazandaran are usually built of wood rather than brick, and it is

Vis is plentiful in the lush and fertile lands of Mazandaran. The yatus attribute this to Mount Damavand, believing it to be the source of all vis in the world, whereas the Daylami mobeds consider it part of Ahura Mazda's bounty.

Vis commonly accumulates in the unique or unusual in Mazandaran: for example, if a chicken lays three brown eggs and one white, the white one contains vis. In a field of wheat, it is the ear that has thirteen grains that has the vis. The furthest piece of driftwood on the Caspian shore might also contain vis.

Characters can spend time searching for vis by following up on rumors gleaned from locals, and the hunter can expect to follow blind alleys or find that the vis has already gone. Searching for vis takes a base time of one season, and the character must travel through an area the size of a small county. Make a Perception + Area Lore: Mazandaran roll against an Ease Factor of 9. Success indicates a pawn of vis. For every point in excess of the Ease Factor, either another pawn of vis is found, or the time taken is halved. These can be combined in the case of a good roll; for example, a character who makes the roll by 8 may take 11 days (halving four times) to find five pawns of vis. Renewable sources of vis cannot be found using this method; those should result from stories instead.

Search for Vis: Per + Mazandaran Lore + Modifiers + simple die against an Ease Factor of 9

Condition: Spell that detects vis* Modifier: + magnitude of spell with highest Target parameter

Condition: Magic Sensitivity*

Modifier: + Ability

Condition: (Realm) Lore**

Modifier: +Ability

Condition: Entire region searched

within a Magic aura

Modifier: +aura

Condition: Searched this area in the

last season Modifier: –15

Condition: Searched this area in the

last six months

Modifier: –9

Condition: Searched this area in the last year Modifier: –3

* Only one of these bonuses can be used ** Cannot grant a bonus greater than the character's Mazandaran Lore. Further, if Magic Lore is not used, half of the vis found (rounded up) is tainted by the Realm applicable to

the Lore used.

The storyguide can adjust the Ease Factor according to the density of local magicians or magical creatures. For example, if another sahir has searched in the region in the previous year, then the –3 penalty from the table is appropriate, even if the character has not searched here recently. At the storyguide's option, this mechanic can be used to find vis in other regions (with the appropriate Area Lore), although the yield is typically lower. The Ease Factor would be 12 for a typical wilderness region, 15 in a settled area, and 18 in a city.

Most sahirs living in the region whether of yatu or Nizari training — discover or are granted a Personal Vis Source (as per the Virtue) early in their career.

particularly famed for an exotic hardwood called khalanj.

Mazandaran is a magical battleground between three factions of magicians. First, in the southwest is Daylam, which is one of the few strongholds of Zoroastrianism remaining in Persia. Second are the Nizari Isma'ilis, who have strongholds in the Alborz mountains and dominate the political scene in Mazandaran. Finally, there are the yatus of Mount Damavand. The members of these three groups clash regularly. All three groups have deep religious convictions that they will never agree upon, and Isma'ilism in particular is a proselytizing faith which seeks to unite all men under its banner, and remove those who refuse to convert. Furthermore, the yatus and the Nizaris fight over vis sources, the mobeds and Nizari fight to influence or control the local rulers, and the mobeds detest the yatus for their paganism and presumed diabolism.

This highland region resides in Gilan and Mazandaran, but may as well be a country in its own right. At the height of its power in the tenth century, Daylam encompassed all of Gilan, Tabaristan, Gurgan, and Qumis; now all of these provinces are under separate rule, and Daylam is identified culturally rather than geographically or politically. The Alborz mountains isolate Daylam from the Persian plateau, and it is inhabited by a fiercely independent people who resisted the rule of the Sasanids and the Arabs. The Daylami were one of the last peoples in Persia to accept Islam, and Zoroastrianism is still relatively strong here, existing uncomfortably alongside Isma'ili Islam. The Nizari Isma'ilis hold fifty castles in Daylam, of which the chief is Alamut (see later), the strongest is Maimun-Diz, and the most remote is Lamasar.

The province of Qumis lies at the eastern Alborz mountains south of Tabaristan. Its chief settlement is the city of Damghan, which is virtually the only non-Isma'ili settlement in the province. The emir of Qumis is under siege in his own land, and he treads very carefully so as to not upset his subjects, never knowing which of them is a Nizari. Isma'ili efforts in Qumis

are coordinated from the great mountain stronghold of Girdkuh. Girdkuh charges a toll on all travelers through Qumis, since it is on the only route between western Persia and Khurasan that does not cross the Great Desert.

This immense fortification stretches from the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea eastwards and north to end in the Pishkamar Mountains. The wall is over 120 miles in length, with 35 forts placed approximately every 30 miles. The wall is 25 feet wide, about 20 feet tall, and has a central canal carrying water throughout its entire length. It is made of red bricks, reinforced by steel and adamantine — an unbreakable metal

Through the province of Qumis runs the road from Rayy to Nishapur. This road passes through the Caspian Gates, or Sirdara to the Persians. The "gates" are an interminable narrow gorge cutting through the mountains; carts can only advance in single file between the vertical cliff faces, and progress is hindered further by the water pouring down the rocks and the swarms of serpents that haunt the area. Merchants still risk the road in preference to taking the route across the Great Desert.

made from diamonds by certain magicians. There is a Magic aura of 5 along the length of the wall. Legend holds that the wall was built on the order of Alexander the Great (and thus is sometimes called Sadd-i-Iksandar, the dam of Alexander) to keep the descendents of Gog and Magog from entering Persia. In this purpose it seems to have failed, for the Ghuzz (see earlier) entered Persia a century ago, and were invited to stay.

One of the reasons it might have failed to repel the Ghuzz is a breach in the wall, at the closest fort to the Gates of Alexander, which mark the western terminus of the wall close to the Caspian shore. No one knows how recent the breach is, but since its discovery the local sahirs have noted the lack of the aura alignment (Realms of Power: Magic, page 16) that used to mark the Wall of Gurgan, in that spells

Magic Might: 10 (Animal)

Season: Spring

Characteristics: Cun +1, Per 0, Pre –2, Com –5, Str 0, Sta +1, Dex +2, Qik +5

Size: 0

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: Magic Animal; Affinity with Athletics, Improved Characteristics, Puissant Athletics; Proud

Magical Qualities and Inferiorities: No Fatigue; Improved Abilities (x3), Improved Attack (trip), Minor Virtue (Great Quickness) (x2), Personal Power

Qualities: Crafty, Fast Runner, Pursuit Predator, Tireless*

* A magical Hyrcanian tiger suffers no fatigue, but a mundane tiger has this Quality.

Personality Traits: Vain +5, Swift* +3, Brave +1

* This is an Essential Trait; see Realms of Power: Magic, page 54.

Combat:

Bite: Init +5, Attack +11, Defense +12, Damage +1

Trip: Init +4, Attack +11, Defense +13, Damage n/a*

* If the tiger exceeds its opponent's Defense Total by 3; it is knocked prone.

Soak: +2

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

Abilities: Athletics 6+2 (running), Awareness 3 (gazelle), Brawl 5 (bite), Dasht-i Kavir Lore 2 (oases), Hunt 4 (gazelle), Survival 3 (semi-desert)

Powers:

Swiftness of Thought, 1 point, Init +4, Animal: A Hyrcanian tiger can naturally move at incredible speeds, but by spending a Might point it moves an extra 500 paces for a single round. ReAn 20 (Base 20, by analogy with ReCo) Personal Power (20 levels, –1 Might cost)

Vis: 2 pawns Animal, in feet.

Appearance: The Hyrcanian tiger is a long-legged tawny cat, about 7 feet long (including a 3 foot tail), and weighing about 150 pounds. Tigers in Mythic Europe have spots rather than stripes, although naturally you can have striped tigers in your saga if you prefer.

Hyrcanian Tigers are found in Mazandaran and Persia's northern desert. The tiger is named after its swift flight (coming from a word meaning "arrow"), and gives its name to the Tigris River. The ancient Persian kings loved keeping Hyrcanian tigers as pets, and even today the nobility set hunters to steal cubs to be trained for the hunt. The pursuing mother can be distracted by glass spheres; on seeing her own reflection she thinks it is her cub and is cheated from her revenge.

The tiger receives a +3 to all rolls involving running.

For a mundane version of this creature, remove the Might score, Magical Qualities, Powers, and vis from the earlier description. A Hyrcanian tiger is more than twice as swift than the fastest horse, even without magical powers, but can normally only sustain such speeds for one or two rounds. Its prey's only hope of escape is to dodge and weave, since the Hyrcanian tiger cannot make sharp turns when traveling at full speed. It is in the magical tiger's nature to hunt, and it consumes its prey — principally gazelles — even though, as a magic animal, it doesn't need this to survive.

The characters are aware of a threat to Persia's security, whether from the Mongols, from a Zahhak, or from an enemy yet to reveal itself. They learn the yatus of Damavand are the guardians of an initiation script that grants the Major Magical Focus of "Enemies of Persia," but it can only be performed in the aligned aura of the Wall of Gurgan. The characters must try to repair the breach in the wall, which might involve going head-to-head with whatever supernatural foe caused it.

directed against giants used to receive twice the normal aura bonus. It is obvious to anyone who inspects it that the breach was intentional, and there is evidence of non-Solomonic magic used to enforce the gap in the wall's protection. The sahirs of Mazandaran have showed little interest in repairing the breach since the Ghuzz are of no current threat to them.

The Simurgh is an immense bird that lives on Mount Damavand, although she makes expeditions to all corners of Persia and most of its inhabitants have seen her at some point. The people of Persia are oddly comforted by her presence, as she is a bringer of fertility as well as a symbol of national pride. The Simurgh is so old that she claims to have seen the destruction of the world three times over. During her exceptionally long life she has accumulated wisdom, and she is an authority on many subjects. In her most famous legend, the simurgh adopted the albino Zal (the father of Rostam), when he was abandoned by his father in the Alborz mountains. Zal learnt much from the Simurgh, and when he left her she gave him three of her feathers, with which he could summon her in need. The Simurgh is so large that nor-

This distinctive mountain dominates the whole of Tabaristan, and its snowcapped summit is visible for hundreds of miles across the plains of Persia. Damavand is the home of the Simurgh, and the evil tyrant Zahhak is believed to be imprisoned below the mountain. There are seven settlements on the lower slopes of the mountain, each one with its own bayt al-hikma composed of mostly yatu-descended sahirs (see insert).