Flanders and Picardy

Flanders and Picardy are the two northernmost realms of the Normandy Tribunal, with the North Sea and the English Channel to their west, and the lands of the Rhine Tribunal to their east. Flanders is a great industrial center, densely populated, with many large and wealthy cities. Picardy, a more spacious land to its south, consists of more typical rolling farmland dotted with a handful of venerable Carolingian cities, in several of which grand cathedrals in the new French style are at various stages of completion.

As far as the Order of Hermes is concerned, this area is a bit of a backwater — the few covenants here are dominated by the liege of Florum; it and its vassals isolate themselves somewhat from the rest of the Tribunal, who have little interest or influence here. Sites of interest to magi — such as vis sources — are relatively few, apart from the somewhat tame wildernesses of the Boulonnais coast, the valley of the River Somme, the Forest of Cuise, and the Montagne de Reims.

Flanders is a small, flat lowland province bounded by the North Sea, and the River Scheldt to its east. Despite its modest geography, it has an importance far outstripping its size, for it boasts a great density of population with numerous sprawling cities. Uniquely in Mythic Europe, it is primarily an industrial, not an agricultural region. Flanders is renowned for its production of fine woolen cloth, based largely on raw wool imported from England, and nearly all the major cities are centers of textile production.

Many centuries ago, this land was largely deserted and consisted of nothing but coastal marshlands and creeks. The first firm settlements were monasteries, and from the seventh century onward their monks gradually began to reclaim the land from the sea, constructing ditches to drain the land, and dykes to protect and enclose grazing fields. Flanders came into being as an administrative entity in 866, when it was granted to Baldwin Ironarm, son-in-law of Charles the Bald. Successive counts have continued efforts to reclaim marshland by organizing societies of landowners (called Wateringues), and have built fortifications that protected the north of France against Viking raids.

After the threat of raiders vanished in the 11th and 12th centuries, Flanders grew rapidly and achieved great prosperity. The clothmaking industry and the wool trade with England were established, towns were chartered, churches and belfries were erected, and the counts built several castles to maintain order in the new cities. The main castle and palace of the Counts of Flanders is in Lille, but they have castles in all the major cities. Among the grandest is the great keep in Douai; it is surrounded by giant ramparts and has walls twelve feet thick.

Unlike the rest of the Normandy Tribunal, serfdom is waning rapidly in Flanders. The burgeoning population cannot nearly be fed from its own lands, and so it is reliant on imports of grain, which is traded for wool cloth and linen. Powerful merchant gilds and patrician families control most of the cities, who have gradually extorted power from the counts, and who control the lucrative wool trade. The rival craft gilds (weavers, spinners, and dyers) are more sympathetic to the counts, who often ally with them to counteract the power of the merchants. With this rivalry, and the lurking resentment of the hordes of grimy workers who make barely enough to survive, there is currently considerable tension in all strata of Flemish society. The majority of the folk here speak Flemish, a dialect of Low German.

The current ruler of Flanders since 1205 is Joan of Hainault, niece of King Philip of France. Her father and predecessor, Baldwin IX, was elected Emperor of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, but died in captivity a year later. Her husband, Ferdinand, a scion of the King of Portugal, currently languishes in a prison in Paris, where he has been held for ransom for the last six years. Joan, who has little love for Ferdinand, refuses to pay her uncle the ransom of ten thousand pounds, and runs the county by herself, which Philip does not appear to mind.

Bruges (Brugge) was founded in the ninth century when Baldwin Ironarm, the first Count of Flanders, built a castle to protect against Viking attacks. It was an early port, accessible from the sea until the channel gradually silted up, causing growth to stagnate. In 1093, Robert the Frisian made Bruges the capital of his county. In 1134, a great tidal wave struck the North Sea coast, reshaping much of the Flemish coastline and causing a deep channel to appear in the Zwin estuary — a new navigable link to the sea. A harbor was thus built on this estuary at Damme, five miles away, which has since been linked to Bruges by canal. Thus the city prospered once more, growing to become Flanders' greatest port, and one of the most important centers of the wool and weaving industries. Some merchants in rival cities appealed to the Church to investigate the tidal wave — the more fanciful claims held that it was conjured by some sorcery in conspiracy with patricians of Bruges. Quite separately, this incident attracted the suspicion of several magi who thought that either the covenant of Florum or Infelicitas might be to blame, but sufficient evidence was never presented for the Quaesitores to mount a full investigation.

The castle is at the center of the city, surrounded by brick ramparts that also enclose a spacious market square and the church of St. Donatius, the city's largest. Amongst a cluster of other churches is the Basilica of the Holy Blood, which houses a reliquary containing the Blood of Christ, brought from the Holy Land after the Second Crusade by Thierry of Alsace, a former Count of Flanders. As with many Flemish cities, there is a large cloth market. The council of patricians that governs the city has granted a number of tax immunities and trading privileges. They allow foreign merchants, unlike local craftsmen, to purchase property — these traders have established a number of enclaves outside the city walls.

For the legend of Bruges' founding and a possible explanation of the channel of the Zwin, see City & Guild, page 33.

Flanders and Picardy Covenants

Current Covenants: Florum, Spider's Palace, Requies Aeterna
Ruined, Abandoned, or Lost Covenants: Infelicitas

The Flemish Cloth Fairs

The cycle of trade fairs in Flanders runs from February to November, and is held successively in the towns of Lille, Mesen, Ypres, Torhout, and Bruges. Unlike other trade fairs in Mythic Europe, these fairs are dominated by the trade in fine woollen and linen cloth. The Counts of Flanders ensure the security of these fairs, keeping the roads and waterways (along which most of the goods pass) safe. For more information on trade fairs, see City & Guild, page 97.

St. Amand, an apostle of Flanders, founded two monasteries, those of St. Bavo and St. Peter, in the seventh century. The settlement that grew up around them, at the confluence of the rivers Schelde and Lys, was named Ghent (Gent). In the ninth century, Ghent was plundered twice by Vikings; in the following century Baldwin II erected a stone castle and the settlement thus recovered. The abbeys now stand in the center of a great city that has grown to become not only the largest in Flanders, but the biggest in northern Europe after Paris. With perhaps forty thousand inhabitants, Ghent is easily bigger than either London or Cologne, and many merchant routes meet here at this wealthy center of trade for northern Europe. As with all the great Flemish cities, trade is dominated by wool and cloth, but just about any goods imaginable may be bought and sold in Ghent's huge markets. Many kinds of luxuries from the Mediterranean and Orient arrive here via the trade fairs in Champagne. A nascent banking industry is run by Italians, Jews, and the Knights Templar. Among numerous guilds in the city, the wool workers' guild is becoming increasingly powerful.

Many of the wealthy merchants of Ghent have built themselves stenen, grand fortified stone townhouses. Responding to this perceived threat to his rule, in 1180 the then-count, Philip of Alsace, responded by rebuilding and enlarging his castle in an effort to assert his authority over an increasingly rebellious mercantile class. The construction was inspired by the crusader castles of the Holy Land, and consists of a sturdy keep with an elaborate curtain ring of watch turrets, surrounded by a moat formed from the adjacent River Lys. The huge Church of St. Nicholas stands half-complete, with a second phase of building having just begun. The Graslei, Ghent's main docks, run northsouth through the center of the city.

In Roman times, a giant by the name of Druon Antigon plagued the estuary of the River Scheldt, waylaying and wrecking many ships. The villainous beast exacted a toll, and cut off the hands of those who refused to pay, or of those to whom he simply took a disliking. A soldier named Silvius Brabo challenged the giant to a duel and ultimately prevailed, severing the giant's hand and tossing it into the river. This hero was granted the land at the site of the battle, and thus was the city of Handwerpen, meaning "hand-throwing" (later Antwerpen in Flemish, Anvers in French) founded. To this day, the city's coat of arms depicts two severed hands before a castle.

The settlement that grew up around a Roman fort was Christianized by St. Amand in the seventh century. Antwerp has long since been an important harbor, although the city itself is not so large or noteworthy as the great Flemish cities. It prospers on the trade of fish, grain, and salt, as well as the import of raw wool from England.

Story Seed: A New Lifestyle

A new beguinage is established near the covenant, and the mother of the convent proselytizes in the local area, to great effect. This new lifestyle appeals to many of the disaffected womenfolk of the covenant, who promptly quit en masse, living the covenant seriously short of staff. How might the magi be able to persuade them to stay?

Story Seed: Neighbors in Need

A beguine convent is being oppressed by an overbearing landlord, and looks to the covenant for help. The pious women of the beguinage may be willing to labor for the covenant in exchange for protection and being freed from their debt, although the magi may make an enemy of the landlord.

Cat Hurling

Ypres is home to a sizable population of cats, many of which live in the city's central Cloth Hall. During the winter, the cats are tolerated since they help to keep the voluminous hall free of mice and rats that might otherwise damage the cloth stored there. Come springtime, however, the cats are unfortunately surplus to requirements. The superstitious townsfolk of Ypres regard them as agents of witchcraft, and catch all that they can lay their hands on. The luckless cats are taken in sacks up to the top of the belfry of the Cloth Hall, adjacent to the large cloth market, and are hurled down to their deaths, in a ritual known as the Kattenfeest. The wisest and stealthiest felines manage to hide up and avoid this grisly fate, ensuring that there will be enough cats left over to hunt next winter's vermin.

Story Seed: Save the Cats

An intelligent cat at the covenant, perhaps the familiar of one of the magi, hears of the plight of the cats of Ypres and beseeches the magi for aid. If they are able to stop the killing, they will earn the eternal gratitude of the cats.

Story Seed: Magical Cats

An odd-looking and sinister fellow in motley garb is the principal agitator of the Kattenfeest. He whips up the townsfolk into a frenzy of feline-grabbing and leads the procession to the belfry of Ypres with macabre laughter. Later on, the jester may be seen skulking around the corpses of the cats, seemingly collecting something. Perhaps this is an urban hedge wizard who is collecting vis from the cats?

The Beguines

The Beguines are a spontaneous movement of widows and unmarried women who have begun to settle into urban convents. Taking their name from St. Begga, the mother superior of a covenant in Andenne, Brabant, in the seventh century, beguines differ from nuns in that they are not bound by vows, nor do they renounce the possibility of marriage, although there are other rules. The single women who choose to enter such convents are mostly drawn from the wealthy classes — the apostolic poverty (which in any case is not overly severe) espoused by the beguines is a matter of choice. A woman's decision to enter a beguinage might be based on personal piety, unfortunate family circumstances, a desire to lead a simple communal life with some measure of independence, or some combination thereof. Manual labor is valued in such communities and the women typically occupy themselves with acts of charity such as caring for the sick, or small cottage industries such as sewing and weaving.

A typical beguinage, or beguine convent, takes the form of a tiny walled town on the outskirts of a larger town or city, consisting of terraced rows of cottages arranged in one or more large square courtyards around a convent church. Beguinages have just started to flourish in Flanders. By the middle of the 13th century, large beguine convents are established in both Ghent and Bruges, and several other cities in Flanders, Brabant, and northern Picardy.

Ypres (Ieper) is located on the site of an ancient settlement from Roman times and was re-founded in the 10th century, growing to become one of Flanders' largest and most important cities. As with all such populous cities here, its success derives largely from the production of woolen cloth — there is a large cloth market in the center of the city near to the Church of St. Martin. Ypres also specializes in linen weaving, since the waters of the River Lys are suitable for retting flax, which is grown all around.

To the south of Ypres lies the Heuvelland, Flanders' modest uplands and most sparsely populated region. A ridge of wooded hills up to 500 feet high affords a commanding view of much of the Flemish lowland.

Story Seed: The Giant of Steenvoorde

A clever giant by the name of Yan den Houtkapper (John the Woodcutter) lived in the town of Steenvoorde and crafted a pair of everlasting boots, which he gifted to Charlemagne. In return, the emperor presented him with a princely (and suitably huge) set of armor. To celebrate their hero, the folk of Steenvoorde dress up a giant mannequin with the set of armor, which they proudly carry through their town in a procession to this day.

The armor might be blessed or magical, and attract the interest of a character with Giant Blood (the only kind of person whom it would fit). However, the townsfolk would surely become enraged if their most prized possession were to be stolen.

Tournai, the seat of Flanders' bishopric, has an ancient pedigree and is a cultured and pious city, in stark contrast to the unrelenting industry and commerce of most of Flanders' towns. The Roman town was converted to Christianity by St. Piat, and it became the capital of a Frankish realm under the kings Chilperic and Clovis, the former of whom is buried here, and the latter of whom was born here and established the bishopric. Since 1187, the city has been independent from the Counts of Flanders, being now directly subordinate to the French crown.

The city is dominated by the grand cathedral of Notre-Dame and its belfry. It is split in two by the River Scheldt, but its walls still manage to encompass it completely, crossing the river in a series of elaborate stone arches, which forces river traffic to stop and pay a toll. Tournai is home to many kinds of artisans, and its gold- and silversmiths are especially famed.

In the county of Hainault, hidden in the forest on the eastern edge of Flanders at the border with Brabant and Picardy, lies a crumbling milestone at the meeting point of seven ancient Roman roads, which are now disused and overgrown. A short distance away from this monument may be found the remains of the Roman city of Bavacum, now thickly covered with forest and undergrowth. This settlement, an administrative and supply center sacred to Mercury as well as a military post, was sacked and subsequently abandoned at the end of the third century.

Around the junction and the adjacent ruins is a Magic aura of 3. On any given time and date, one of the seven straight roads radiating out from the milestone may be found to have a special property: it provides a clear route through the forest, and after only a morning of travel, one will emerge from the woods within sight of the destination city at the other end of the road: a much-shortened journey of hours instead of days. The other six roads function exactly as one would expect — an awkward trek along an overgrown forest road that is not particularly useful and proceeds to its destination at the usual pace. The particular road with this power depends on the configuration of the seven heavenly bodies in the night sky, and may perhaps also be governed by some long-forgotten Mercurian magic. For example, the southernmost road is active when Mars is ascendant, since that route emerges from the Forest of Cuise on the road to Reims, within distant view of the Roman Porte de Mars in Reims' north wall. Starting with the road leading directly south and proceeding clockwise, the roads lead to Reims, Soissons, Cambrai, Boulogne, Utrecht, Cologne, and Trier. An Intelligence + Artes Liberales roll against an Ease Factor of 12 may be made to accurately predict which road will be active at any given time.

On the day of Mercuralia, the Roman festival of Mercury (May the 15th), it may be found that all roads possess this magical journey-shortening power. On this day, ancient footsteps may also been be spotted on the road. If they are dug up carefully, each imprint is worth a pawn of Rego vis.

This covenant and its vassals depend on the emerging industrial area in the Low Countries. The odd rules for claiming magical resources in this Tribunal have forced this cluster of covenants into a tight alliance, since each has a portion of the resources usual for a covenant in another tribunal. As a group, these covenants want to opt out of the Tribunal, and are supporters of the putative Lotharingian Tribunal.

A group of the native magicians who dwell in this covenant has an odd origin story. It includes a magical oak, a spider who marries a princess, and the creation of flax. These folk magicians do not have the Gift; Pelagius of Jerbiton discovered them soon after the formation of the Order, and drew them into the service of his House. The blue flowers of the flax plant give the covenant its name, and serve as its symbol.

Florum, as the covenant is usually called, was for most of its early history a small Jerbiton House covenant situated between Bruges and Ghent, at the site of the covenant now called the Spider's Palace. It avoided the Schism War entirely: most of its members moved to Ghent temporarily, so that they could not be attacked without rousing the wrath of the Church.

House Jerbiton has experimented with many fashions of covenant governance, each of which has affected this covenant. In the 10th century, the Primus advocated living for much of the time in cities. The Jerbiton magi from the Spider's Palace moved back to Ghent, but founded a vassal house at the Palace so that they would not lose their claim on its magical resources.

During the 12th century, a different Primus asked all Jerbiton covenants to open their membership to magi of other Houses, which the two covenants both did. The modern covenant remains in Ghent, and has members of many Houses.

The city of Ghent is rapidly expanding, as the wealth generated by its textile industry draws people from the countryside. The spreading suburbs are filled with strangers and foreigners. Florum predicted this, and fifty years ago established a large flax farm a mile south of Ghent. The city has enveloped the farm, which the covenant has developed into an industrial complex. This supplements the smaller sites that the covenant has acquired in Ghent over the centuries.

The Farm, as the covenant's servants continue to call their neighborhood, has a population of almost three hundred. In its middle is a huge factory, but this is not used for its obvious purpose. The covenant uses the magical powers of a family with a unique faerie heritage to create most of its cloth, but needs a factory to make its source of wealth inconspicuous, and therefore legal according to the Tribunal's Peripheral Code. Under the cover of illusions, the covenant uses this space for the magical processes of cloth creation.

Around the factory are a series of tenements, which take up several city blocks. These are of higher quality than is usual for accommodation in the newer sections of Ghent. The tenements were originally constructed for the workers of the factory by the de Spinnens, a fictional family maintained by the magi. The tenements house the covenant's staff and their families. Not all of these people know that they work for magicians, although all know that their landlords are the old family, currently led by Piet de Spinnen.

The covenant pretends to be a suburb inhabited by a group of families who have resided here since the area was agricultural. All of the property is owned by the old farming family, and so it is never sold or rented to outsiders. The oldest families share a secret magical power that has proven lucrative to their Hermetic masters.

The False Leader: Piet de Spinnen

Piet de Spinnen is actually Petrus, the mundane son of Calvinus of Jerbiton, described below. He was born in Valnastium, and like many young Alpine men, served as a mercenary in Italy. He was modestly successful, and became wealthy and famous enough to develop such strong rivals that he faked his own death and returned to Valnastium. The House needed to provide an heir to Arne de Spinnen, who was childless. Petrus was trained by an old Redcap for the role.

Many of the leading de Spinnens have been people who owe their lives and success to the House. Arne, who was also not who he seemed to be, accepted this "bastard of his youth" as his heir. Piet's bastardry is a convenient form of dismissal by aristocratic rivals, and explains Piet's deep interest in the works of the Church. Petrus is the willing spokesman of the covenant, and is very pleased with how his life has turned out. He has several children, two of whom have been sent to the new university in Paris. They spent a year there and then secretly went to Valnastium for further training as servants of the House.

The Spinnen

Characters with Spinnen blood are all members of a family founded soon after the arrival of Christianity in Belgium. Knowing that the old ways were ending, the ancestral oak of a fair maiden summoned a series of faerie and mystical princes as potential husbands. She declined them all, and then the oak explained that its thousand years were done, and that the best way to preserve her family was to wed Spin Head, the last and ugliest of the princes. He would give her a great gift as dowry, which would replace the fallen forests. The oak then died and after a simple test, the spider was able to take human form. As her dower, Spin Head gave his wife the first flax plant, and wove its fibers with his fingers into a wedding dress.

New Minor Virtue: Faerie Blood (Spinnen)

A character who has Spinnen Blood can convert his or her own body weight of fiber into cloth per day, simply by touching it. Old cloth, or products made of cloth fibers, can be unwoven using the same ability, but this counts toward the maximum weight of cloth a character can alter per day. Some Spinnen, particularly those who have served as companions to magi, create other useful objects, like tents, ropes, or sails in lieu of the same weight of cloth.

Only a few of the descendants of this strange match, in each generation, have the magical ability to weave cloth with their fingers. When Pelagius discovered the Spinnen, there were a dozen people with this ability. In 1220, there are almost thirty. The covenant employs all of the Spinnen, who live far better than before, now that the covenant can sell their wares to international traders.

The covenant keeps the existence of the Spinnen secret by hiding them in plain sight. Many of the Spinnen are members of the Weavers' Guild in Ghent. The covenant maintains a large workshop where some of the relatives of the spider-kin weave garments using mundane methods. Much of the spider-kin's output is secretly exported. The origin story for flax is widely known in Belgium, so a character who has sufficient clues to develop suspicions might guess the nature of the spider-kin.

The membership of the covenant is fluid. It generally has between four and six members. Two of the members currently reside at the Palace of the Spider, described below, to use the excellent laboratories there. The covenant is also hosting three visitors, a Quaesitor, a Tytalus hoplite, and a Redcap, who are using it as a base for exploring sites for a House Guernicus covenant should the Lotharingian Separation occur. The four members currently in residence are described below.

Rhesus of Verditus

Age: 85 (Apparent age 54)
Personality Traits: Proud +3, Dependable +2, Stubborn +1

Rhesus of Verditus is the leader of the covenant, among the magi. He is a clean-shaven, muscled man who appears to be in his fifties. Rhesus is interested principally in the magical uses of flax. Rhesus came to Florum, from the Roman Tribunal, in part because of the professional jealousy that infects members of his House, and in part because he is a weaver and was interested in the spider-kin. He supports the Lotharingian ideal because he finds Normandy's culture, where he needs to keep defending resources that in any other tribunal would simply be his, to be tiresome.

Calvinus of Jerbiton

Age: 59 (Apparent age 45)
Personality Traits: Wily +3, Aloof +1

Calvinus is a middle-aged magus with the Gentle Gift. He is believed, in Ghent, to be the younger brother of Piet de Spinnen's father, who left Ghent to go trading in Italy decades ago. It is readily apparent that Piet takes notice of his counsel. Many people say that Uncle Calvin's money allowed the family to pay for the last round of construction on the Farm. Calvin is a private man, who spends a lot of time reading his books. He is believed to speak five languages, so he often negotiates on behalf of his nephew, or translates for him.

Calvinus, like many Jerbiton, is trained in urban magic. He is skilled at illusions, spying on the covenant's mundane rivals, and arranging criminal actions. He had a (fictional) wife in Italy, and his supposed daughter, after being raised by her (equally fictional) maternal grandparents, has recently arrived in Ghent. Calvinus' apprentice, named Sophia, is charming but as bookish as he is, which makes some of her cousins worry that she might never marry.

Alroy of Flambeau

Age: 82 (Apparent age 60)
Personality Traits: Brave +3, Easily bored +1

The Norman tradition of fighting for resources requires most covenants to have a champion. For this covenant it is Alroy, an older Flambeau magus with a distinguished record of combat in the Levant. Alroy decided five years ago to train an apprentice, and he chose to settle at this covenant because it was wealthy, comfortable, far from Muslims, and promised the occasional excitement of Tourneying.

Alroy is at a difficult stage of life for a Flambeau magus. He has lived far longer than he expected to, and has killed most of the things he considered frightening when he was younger. Raising an apprentice and fighting Tytalus magi are challenges that he hopes will rekindle the fire in his spirit. Alroy is a creature of passionate enthusiasms attempting to throw off a veteran's ennui.

Prunellie of Merinita

Age: 104 (Apparent age 61)
Personality Traits: Generous +3, Secretive +1

Prunellie of Merinita is an elderly maga who travels throughout the Low Countries attempting to understand the strange nature of the Faerie realm here. In ancient times, the Belgians had a series of gods and were guided by ancestral trees. Close to the coming of the Christians, however, the trees and faeries came to some sort of understanding, and actively encouraged the spread of the Dominion and the domestication of the forests.

Faeries assisted the transition to agriculture in many ways. The faeries taught men how to fell the forests, to plow, to plant wheat and flax, and to drive piles into the muck so that they could build dikes and claim land from the sea. An emissary was sent to teach the use of flax, and a gnome developed starch as a gift for humans. The kabouters, a sort of dwarf, made a hundred bells and gave them to all of the missionaries of whom they approved. A choir of kabouters, conducted by a gnome, also sang the first carillon in the Low Countries.

Not all of the faeries of the Low Countries agreed to aid the Christians. The friendly faeries, however, aided the humans by teaching saints where and how to attack the recalitrants. These destroyed faeries are usually found as large stones, sitting unaccompanied in fields. Prunellie could restore these goblins, but usually chooses to harvest them for vis instead.

Prunellie's focus on urban faeries is considered a little bizarre by her fellows in House Merinita. That being noted, she has a firm alliance with a tribe of kabouters, and has trained others in her urban faerie magic. Prunellie selected the site of the Farm. It is directly above an ancient kabouter workshop, which provides it with a Faerie aura. Prunellie's support for the Lotharingian Tribunal stems from her belief that the strange capitulation of the faeries to the Divine is unique to Flanders and Brabant, and perhaps Frisian lands.

Florum has two vassals. Requies Aeterna, described at the end of this chapter, is a covenant in decline. The Spider's Palace, described below, is closer and is significant to the operation of the covenant.

The Spider's Palace is the original site of Florum. This was the site of the thousandyearold oak spirit that guarded the local people, and guided their ancestress into marriage with the spider prince. The spider built a fine palace here for his wife, which in time faded from the mundane world. It is used as the covenant building by magi.

The Palace of the Spider is slightly more than two days' travel north of Ghent. A single magus usually lives here, to maintain the covenant's claim to the surrounding resources, but at the moment two visitors from Ghent are using the laboratories here. That two places so close have to be divided into two covenants, just so that other magi have no legal right to attempt to steal these resources, demonstrates what the magi of these covenants see as a flaw in the Normandy Tribunal's way of apportioning resources.

Picardy is a relatively poor relation to the great regions of Flanders, Normandy, Ile de France, and Champagne, which it borders. A land of rolling hills and plains, dotted with woods and containing most of the sprawling Forest of Cuise in its southeastern reaches, it neither benefits from centers of trade or industry, nor from vast tracts of rich agricultural land. Nevertheless, it is home to several rich bishoprics, including the great Archbishopric of Reims, and numerous wealthy abbeys.

Picardy has no single ruler, but the influence of the French king, Philip, predominates. Since 1180 he has annexed several counties bordering the Ile de France, including Valois, Clermont, Artois, and lands around Amiens. The bishops rule most of the other counties. The northernmost towns of Picardy have swelled from a recent influx of disaffected Flemish workers, bringing prosperity and a nascent cloth-making industry. However, these city folk have also brought the seeds of rebellion and unrest with them, causing the local bishops and the French king to respond with fairly brutal treatment.

Soissons is favorably located in the center of rich farmland in the valley of the River Aisne. It was at a time the capital of a large fragmentary Roman kingdom — the kingdom of Soissons — under a king named Syragius. The Franks, united under Clovis, were a great rival to this realm, and at the Battle of Soissons Clovis defeated Syragius at the gates of his city. The Frankish king immediately ordered the return of a precious vase from Reims, but a rebellious Roman soldier refused him and smashed the vase at his feet, retorting that the king would have only that which his destiny grants him. The next year, Clovis happened upon the selfsame soldier while reviewing his new troops. He promptly raised his sword and cleaved the soldier's skull, declaring "Thus you did with the Soissons vase." For a time Soissons was the Frankish capital under Chlotar, son of Clovis.

The city's Monastery of St. John of the Vines, founded in the 11th century, has enjoyed the patronage of the French kings, becoming one of the richest abbeys in France. Its wealth has funded a great abbey church and the town's cathedral, dedicated to St. Gervais, which are both regularly enlarged and improved.

The great city of Reims, the largest in Picardy, is the seat of the most powerful archbishopric in France, and is famed as the site of the coronation of the French kings. Its name comes from a Gaulish tribe, the Remes, of which it was the capital. It later became an important and wealthy Roman city, and several roads were built to its gates. On a Christmas day at the end of the fifth century, Clovis, the Frankish king, was baptized by St. Remigius (Rémi), bishop of Reims. The phial of holy oil used to anoint him was miraculously brought from heaven by a dove. To this day the Kings of France cite this miracle as a symbol of their divine right to rule. The phial — a potent relic — is still used by the archbishops in a grand ceremony to crown the King of France (see Chapter 2: History of Mythic France, The Holy Oil of Consecration). The power and privilege of the archbishops of Reims to anoint the king has been used wisely to ensure the prosperity of Reims through the ages; they enjoy a powerful role of arbitration between potential contenders for the throne. The great cathedral school of Reims has been a shining light of the liberal arts for centuries. The Archbishop William White Hands granted the city a charter at the end of the 12th century, and it has swelled since.

At the north end of the city are remains from Reims' Roman days. The north entrance of the city walls, the Porte de Mars, is a triumphal arched Roman gate. Nearby are the remains of a temple to Mars and the ruins of an ancient Roman forum. In the center of the city is the eighth-century Monastery of St. Remigius, the patron saint of Reims. He was buried in 533 and a basilica was built over his grave. Since then, the Basilica of St. Remigius has been rebuilt into a much grander structure. The outline of the vast cathedral of Notre-Dame, which begun work in 1210, to be built in the new French style, is at the southern end of the city. The opulent archbishop's palace is home to a famed collection of relics that are used for the coronation, including the aforementioned holy phial; Charlemagne's talisman, believed to contain a fragment of the True Cross; a coronation chalice; and the reliquary of the Holy Thorn.

In stark contrast to the cultured civilization of Reims, there is a hilly forest wilderness that begins immediately to its south, extending southwards for 15 miles as far as the valley of the River Marne, and which is 25 miles across. Trees densely cover a limestone plateau with a crazed and uneven geography, featuring tiny lakes, underground rivers, and chasms. This makes these woods, unlike the Forest of Cuise, somewhat unsuitable for hunting — not that hunting is a pursuit that would interest the archbishops of Reims anyway. As a result, all sorts of wild beasts roam with relative impunity. The Montagne de Reims is home to several peculiar sites and sources of vis.

The Grove of St. Lie

Atop a ridge on the northern edge of the forest, with a commanding view of Reims and the surrounding plain, is an ancient Gaulish burial mound surrounded by a grove of oaks. This tranquil place has a tiny chapel dedicated to St. Lie, a fifth-century hermit-saint. The pale flowers that grow on the mound may be harvested for a few pawns of Creo vis; this constitutes a tropaeum.

The Faux de Verzy

In the eastern reaches of the forest is a sinister grove of deformed, twisted, and stunted black beeches. This place, which has a Faerie aura of 4, is shunned by the nearby peasants. According to some of the wilder tales, villagers who stray here are often taken captive by a dark dwarf-like folk. When they return, they are scarred with some deformity and sullenly refuse to speak about their ordeal.

The Miracle of Our Lady

In the year 636, a small congregation in the chapel of Boulogne was visited by an apparition of the Virgin Mary. Following her divine guidance they rushed out to the sea shore, whereupon they witnessed a boat with neither sails nor crew gently come aground, bearing a statue of the saint. The famed relic is now housed in the cathedral of Notre-Dame, which has become a magnet for pilgrims — it is believed to grant safe journeys to them. The Kings of France traditionally undertake this pilgrimage and several English kings have also visited.

Nanteuil

Near to the center of the forest is a remote vale where the Knights Templar have founded a priory. This is a decidedly odd place to house such an establishment, for it is very difficult to reach, and doesn't seem to lead anywhere. It is recorded in the writings of the magus Norlanus that he once visited the site and found it to be a regio, possibly of Divine origin. Leaving the priory as a guest, he writes that he found himself in a completely different, lighter version of the forest. Others claim, however, that Norlanus merely experienced a potent Twilight episode.

Hautvillers Abbey

Not far from the north bank of the River Marne is Hautvillers, founded in 660 by St. Nivard. There is a large abbey church in a secluded and idyllic spot, surrounded by vineyards. This monastery is now a branch of the Reims school, and some of the most magnificently decorated manuscripts to be found anywhere are produced here. A few miles upstream is the ancient Gaulish town of Ay, a diminutive community of vintners with a royal residence that is infrequently visited by the Kings of France.

Arras is the seat of the county of Artois, bordering Flanders, and tribal town that was originally the capital of the Atrebates people. The Romans settled here and named it Atrebatum. The Benedictine Abbey of St. Vaast was founded on the slopes of the Baudimont hill in the seventh century by St. Aubert; it houses the relics of St. Vaast, the first bishop of Arras. There is a large grain market frequented by Flemish traders, who sell woolen cloth in exchange for grain. Arras is home to numerous troubadours and entertainers of repute, a tradition established in the 12th century by its most famous trouvère **(**minstrel), Gautier d'Arras. His most popular and enduring work is a romance named Eracle, in which the hero Heraclius becomes Emperor of Constantinople.

Boulogne, sited where the River Liane meets the sea between two hills, has been an important port since Roman times. Then named Bononia, the Roman emperor Claudius used it as his base to invade Britain; thereafter it served as the principal port connecting that new province with the rest of the empire. Nowadays it is the seat of an important county, a sizable port and fishing town, and a site of pilgrimage (see insert). The upper town has grown up around an old Roman castle; the current count has just started to rebuild its ruined ramparts and walls.

The Boulonnais hills form the coastline north of Boulogne. This is a windy and wild region of chalk cliffs, capes, and dry valleys. On a clear day, the coastline of England may be seen from the cliffs.

Amiens, the historical capital of Picardy, was the principal settlement of one of the largest Gaulish tribes, the Ambiani. The Romans named it Samarobriva. In the fourth century, St. Martin of Tours, then a Roman horseman, sliced his cloak into two and gave half to a beggar who was sitting freezing in the winter winds. The cloak of St. Martin is one of Amiens' two great relics. The other, and greater, is the head of John the Baptist, brought back from the Fourth Crusade in 1206. In 1218 the main church of Amiens burnt down, but the bishop and his subjects have already started construction on a much larger cathedral church, which will be more worthy of this holy relic.

For about a dozen miles downstream of Amiens, the River Somme meanders so slowly that its valley becomes a swamp of peat bogs and water meadows. The shallowness of the waterway limits river traffic and the swampland is thus sparsely populated, apart from a few hamlets of peat-cutters and hunters.

The Blue Springs of the Somme

On the edges of the swamplands of the Somme are scattered a number of enchanted pools, some of them alongside poorly traveled roads. Revolving shafts of blue light seem to emerge from within these springs; if you look closely (which is not advisable) you may even spy wealth-laden carriages and other treasures slowly spinning around beneath the waters. Mischievous water sprites are believed to dwell here and steal anything that falls into or becomes trapped by the pools, and waylay travelers with their enchantments. On the other hand, a toddler or babe who slips into one of the springs will be blessed with beautiful blue eyes, and gifts willingly given to the waters may be rewarded. The pools have Faerie auras of differing strengths, up to 3.

A half-dozen miles north of Amiens, on a limestone plateau, is the village of Naours. From above ground it appears to be a perfectly normal settlement of a few hundred peasants, surrounded by plots of dreary farmland. However, barely half of the village is above ground, while the rest is hidden in a giant network of caves that amounts to nearly an underground town in its own right. Centuries ago, the villagers dug out a series of caves known as muches. During the Viking invasions, they hid down here and discovered a powerful cave spirit, a genius loci (see Realms of Power: Magic). They entered into a pact of mutual protection with the spirit, a compact that has been honored ever since.

The complex of underground passages and caves is about 100 feet below the surface, linked to it by chimneys, a couple of stairways, and a steep road. The subterranean dwelling has hundreds of rooms capable of sheltering more than a thousand souls, with more than a mile of "streets," a smithy, a brewery, storerooms, bakeries, cattle sheds, stables, and even a "town square." A Magic aura of 2 pervades throughout. The secretive folk of Naours are quite shy about revealing the existence of their caves. They are, however, not pagan; there is a small church in the village above ground that they attend.

The famous Benedictine Abbey of Corbie, the principal monastic center of northern France, is located in a secluded spot in the valley of the Somme, upstream from Amiens. It was founded in 657 by the wife of Clovis II, St. Bathilde, and rose to ascendancy under the direction of the cousin of Charlemagne, St. Adalard. The monastery grew to house hundreds of monks, and became famed as a great theological center and for its library, where the Carolingian script was first developed. Desiderius, the last king of the Lombards, was exiled here in the eighth century. At its peak, Corbie was arguably the most important center of western Christianity, and founded and inspired numerous daughter houses.

St. Ansgar, the Apostle of the North (see Guardians of the Forests: The Rhine Tribunal, pages 69 and 77), was born in Corbie in 801. He spread the practices of the abbey further north to the borders of Christianized lands, to a site in Saxony. The abbey there came to be known as Corvey. St. Ansgar later became archbishop of Hamburg and went on to proselytize in Norse lands.

The city of Laon is perched dramatically atop an irregular rocky outcropping, over a mile long and quarter of a mile wide, which looms 300 feet above the surrounding plains. Unsurprisingly for such a naturally defensible site, it has been long prized and oft disputed. Fortified by the Romans, who named it Laudunum, it successfully resisted invasions of the Germanic tribes in the Dark Ages. The bishopric of the town was established by St. Remigius, an archbishop of Reims (see below) who was born in Laon, and who baptized Clovis. Laon reached its zenith under the Carolingian kings in the ninth and 10th centuries; Charles the Bald donated richly to its church and his successors resided in a palace here, so that it was the nominal capital of France for a time.

In the late 10th century, Hugh Capet conspired with the bishop of Laon to wrest control of the city away from the Carolingians; he established his capital in Paris, thus Laon was no longer a capital and ceased to be of great political importance. Nevertheless, the ancient and stern city remains a significant intellectual center, with a famed cathedral school that flourished under Anselm of Laon in the 11th century. About a century ago, the citizens of Laon seized on the weakness of their bishop, Gaudry, to secure for themselves a communal charter. The bishop purchased the revocation of this grant from the King of France and ruthlessly exacted his revenge on his subjects. Many townsfolk rose up in revolt, torching the episcopal palace and executing the bishop and his lackeys, before running into hiding. The conflagration also consumed the ancient cathedral. Ever since, the people of Laon have had a distinctly uneasy relationship with their bishop; the Kings of France have alternately ruled in favor of him and his subjects.

The spires and wall towers of Laon culminate in the splendid new cathedral of Notre-Dame, which is nearly completed in the new French style. Adjacent to the older Church of St. Martin is a chapel and commandery of the Knights Templar. From the craggy gates of the city above, a couple of roads snake down the sides of the mount, whose south-facing slopes are carpeted with vineyards, to the smaller lower town.

An elderly eremite magus, Norlanus of House Jerbiton, spends much of his time at Laon's cathedral school. He is well respected for his wisdom and for the clarity of his writings; consequently he has been granted the sole rights to a small vis legacy for many years. He lives in the city, but his sanctum is hidden in the rocky cliffs, where the Terram vis may be harvested.

Compiègne is a small but ancient city by the banks of the River Oise, in the south of Picardy. It came into being when a palace was built by Charles the Bald as a country retreat, as a copy of Charlemagne's palace in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle). A royal abbey that is now named after St. Cornelius and that houses that saint's relics was founded afterward, and the town grew up around it. This monastery is the predecessor of St. Denis as the royal burial site, and ancient Carolingian kings lie at rest here.

To the south of Compiègne is a huge expanse of woodland, a long finger of forest stretching from the edge of the Ile de France to the Ardennes, with a mostly uninterrupted length of seventy-odd miles. Much of the forest is a royal chase, reserved for the French kings to hunt. It is generally a pleasant, sunny, and spacious place of winding rivers and ponds, gently rolling hills carpeted with beech and oaks, and is rich in deer, wolves, and boar — in short, an ideal place for a hunt. The forest is dotted with occasional small villages and monasteries, crossed by a few roads and numerous hunting paths. Magi of the Tribunal are unaware of any significant faerie presence in these woods; if there is any faerie ruler of this forest domain, then he or she is surely both reclusive and generously inclined to mortals.

The abbey of Prémontré lies in a secluded valley in the Cuise Forest about ten miles west of Laon. St. Norbert, a German from near Cleves, discarded his worldly possessions and vowed himself a life of poverty after a divine revelation — he was thrown from his horse in a storm. He came in midwinter in 1120 with the bishop of Laon to a clearing in the forest, at the site of a former failed monastery, where the bishop ordained him. Norbert founded a monastery there and soon became a friend of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The order that he founded, the Premonstratensians, also known as Norbertines, was inspired by the Cistercians and formally recognized by the Pope in 1126. They are a severe order of canons — their work is to preach — who have adopted the rule of St. Augustine and who wear a white habit. The Premonstratensian order has since established several hundred monasteries throughout western Europe, principally in northern France, Germany, and England.

Requies Aeterna (Eternal Rest) is a small Winter covenant of Ex Miscellanea magi from a tradition known as the Donatores Requietis Aeternae, "Givers of Eternal Rest," who are dedicated to assisting the dead in leaving the world of the living. A vassal of Florum, the covenant is politically unimportant, but it has attracted the unwanted attention of the Tribunal's Quaesitores in the past. Nowadays, the covenant is little more than an empty shell, most of the Donatores magi having since moved away from this place, the site of their tradition's founding.

A rise in sinister encounters with the restless dead was observed in many parts of France during the 11th century, with frequent hauntings and visitations, and hordes of the walking dead blighting some areas. These occurrences were blamed on a cult of the dead, which was believed to be especially active in Picardy. Early in the 12th century, a group of hedge wizards, clergy, and others combined forces to combat this threat. They received divine instruction to travel to the town of Nesle in Picardy, which was being ravaged by a band of undead warriors. They prevailed in a great battle, banishing the restless dead, although many of the group lost their lives and the town was ruined. Thus were the Donatores formed, and several of the hedge wizards in the group decided to remain at the ruins of Nesle, in case the undead should return. The Quaesitor Muirgheal met with this group and ultimately arranged for them to join the Order of Hermes, despite the misgivings of many magi in the Normandy Tribunal. For more details of these events, see Houses of Hermes: Societates. Those of the newly inducted Ex Miscellanea magi who stayed in Picardy declared themselves a covenant in 1123, arranging an oath of fealty with Florum.

Since its founding, Requies Aeterna has been closely monitored by the Tribunal's Quaesitores, who remain suspicious of their mundane dealings, especially their contacts with the Church — a number of the Donatores magi were trained clergymen. It gradually became apparent that the local problem with the restless dead had been permanently resolved, and so most of the magi of the covenant moved away and spread across western Europe, in search of those blighted places where they might practice their art. Thus Requies Aeterna became neglected and slipped into Winter, although it remains the spiritual center of the Donatores and the main repository of their collected lore.

The covenant is located amid the abandoned ruins of the old town of Nesle, in the plains of central Picardy. The site, widely believed by the locals to be haunted, is centered around an unconsecrated graveyard that was the site of the final climactic battle in which the Donatores banished the undead. As a result of the powerful magics that were unleashed, the site has a Magic aura of 5. The magi of the covenant constructed a set of catacombs beneath the graveyard, where most of the covenant's modest structures are hidden. The new town of Nesle has been rebuilt a couple of miles away from the ruins.

Donatores magi are dedicated to aiding the dead in passing from the world of the living, and banishing the restless dead; for more details of this tradition, see Houses of Hermes: Societates.

Requies Aeterna now has so few magi that its internal organization is practically nonexistent; they struggle to maintain their sancta and the library, but otherwise take no interest in outside affairs, Hermetic or otherwise. The local townsfolk have long forgotten the heroics of the Donatores, now simply regarding the place as a haunted ruin, and relations with the Church have lapsed. When they travel, the magi pass themselves off as monks, for they wear humble robes. The covenant has a minimal relationship with Florum, its liege, and the Tribunal at large, although it attracts Hermetic interest in two ways. Firstly, the site is rich in vis, roughly half of which finds its way to Florum, and secondly, the covenant is home to the noted library of Donatores lore.

The covenant currently consists of only two magi, both Donatores, although, as always, you may add magi of your own devising should you so wish. The decrepit magus The Lion and the Lily Eulogius, one of the founders of the Donatores, runs the covenant; he is assisted by his youngest filius Henri, who stays mostly out of a sense of duty to his tradition, taking it upon himself to preserve the covenant's library and lore for future generations.

Eulogius of House Ex Miscellanea

Age: 130? (Apparent age 104)
Personality Traits: Addled +3, Forgetful +1, Sinister +1

Eulogius is perhaps the only remaining founder of the Donatores, but his years of fame and active search for the restless dead are many decades behind him. Now an elderly man, he is likely not far from Final Twilight. One of his most crippling Twilight scars is that his body is slowly becoming cadaverous; he is now almost impossibly gaunt and his skin is withered and lifeless. Another is that he is pained by sunlight, therefore he mostly remains in his subterranean sanctum. Despite these handicaps, Eulogius is a peerless banisher, and he has become a master in the Arts of Perdo, Corpus, and Mentem in the long years since his induction into the Order.

Virtually all of the covenfolk of Requies Aeterna either died off or departed some time ago, and the magi were unable to recruit replacements in the local area, their site being a place of ill repute. They begged for some replacements from their liege, Florum, in exchange for an increase in their vis tithe. Every year, therefore, Florum sends a small contingent of servants to labor at the covenant. The covenfolk of Florum dread picking the short straw, which means they are assigned a full year of service away from Ghent at this dreary ruin, and do everything they can to try and avoid it.