Expected Timeline of Events

Before the story starts, Lucia makes passing contact with the player covenant, sending letters enquiring as to whether she might trade vis in exchange for access to the library, or asking after ownership of some invented vis source or other. She is trying to get hold of an Arcane Connection, in the form of a letter, to at least one of the covenant's magi. She ensures that her own letters bear no Arcane Connection to her, but she has Al-'Aqrab waiting to fix any that she receives.

The following time line provides gaps between the major story events, which allow time for the player magi to prepare for the conflict with Lucia and her followers.

Season One Giuliano asks the covenant for help against his brother

Season Three The Trattato cast their Fate of Carthage ritual against Selvaggio lands

Season Five The magi of Trattato, excluding Lucia, declare Wizard War and then attack Castello del Selvaggio

Season Seven Verona approaches the covenant for mutual protection

Season Ten The Trattato cast their Fate of Carthage ritual against covenant lands

Season Twelve The magi of Trattato, excluding Lucia, declare Wizard War and then attack both Verona and the covenant

The time between events can be reduced where the players take a more pro-active route through the story, perhaps by confronting the Trattato over the attack on Castello del Selvaggio.

rienced, and the barons who hold land from him vie for power and influence.

If Verona is too large a city, it can be scaled down to a town or castle, and the same can be done with Casalmaggiore. The key is simply that the duke gains the power to challenge a larger force, and in doing so Lucia gains the power to challenge another covenant.

Storyguides may want to change the nature of the duke's election if this story is played in areas with strict laws of primogeniture. This can be done by changing an outright election to a council gathered to rule on points of inheritance law and by weakening the relationship between Federico and Giuliano to more distant cousins rather than brothers.

A key location is the small covenant of Castello del Selvaggio. There's a degree of leeway in this, so long as your telling of this story makes Castello del Selvaggio a valuable site for launching an attack on either Verona or the player covenant. This dwindling covenant should be introduced prior to this story being run. Alternatively, storyguides could consider one of their saga's existing covenants as the target of the Trattato's first action. This brings the danger home in a very clear manner, but at the cost of sacrificing saga NPCs.