The Spider War

The following account can be gleaned from careful research about Damhan-Allaidh and Pralix. Much of this information derives from or has been extrapolated from a number of sources for Ars Magica Fifth Edition, including Hedge Magic Revised Edition, Houses of Hermes: Societates, Realms of Power: the Infernal and Ancient Magic. For ease of reading, references for individual facts have not been provided.

In the late eighth century, a group of Saxon rune wizards allied with a select group of Pictish and British magicians in order to keep foreign wizards from the island of Britain. This coalition opposed the Order of Hermes, the viking rune wizards from Scandinavia, and the Irish druids. The leader of this group is known to the Order by the name "Damhan-Allaidh," meaning "Spider" in Gaelic (and pronounced "DAV-un alli"), although it seems that this was a title, since it had been borne by an archdruid (or perhaps more than one) for a century beforehand. Hermetic annals record the name 'Atorcoppe', which may have been his personal name.

Damhan-Allaidh had established a series of fiefs in the north of Britain. The Saxon rune magicians ruled the north and east coast of England, while the British elementalists guarded the west and northwest. The Scottish druids took central Scotland and the Pictish priests occupied the north and the islands. All magicians paid tribute to local aldormen, who in turn paid their dues to Damhan-Allaidh. In return, the aldormen adjudicated disputes and provided protection from both supernatural and human threats. The aldormen brokered the magical services of their subjects to the various petty kings of Britain, although this amounted to little more than extortion: a key tenet was that magic could not be used against another aldorman, requiring that both sides in any conflict had to employ a magician to neutralize the magician employed by the other. Membership of Damhan-Allaidh's coalition was mandatory for any wizard wanting to make a living out of their Art, and enforced through threat of repercussions. Some wizards fled Britain rather than live under the yoke of Damhan-Allaidh.

Damhan-Allaidh considered foreign wizards to be a threat to his hegemony. There were vitkir accompanying the Viking raiders, and Irish druids and corrguinecht amongst the raiders from the west. Further, rumors reached Britain that a group of Roman wizards had formed a new alliance in the Black Forest. The aldormen were therefore charged with closing the borders of Britain to all incoming wizards. Although he claimed to protect the whole of Britain, in reality Damhan-Allaidh's control was less than complete and he had virtually no influence over many of England's kingdoms other than Northumbria and Mercia. Nevertheless, the aldormen aggressively pursued any rumor of foreign wizards wherever they were, and made several successful expeditions into the southern kingdoms.

Giaro was the adopted son of Mercere and one of the first Redcaps. He joined Pralix in Northumbria after the Battle of Bowland Forest and served as her aide-de-camp throughout the war against Damhan-Allaidh. Like his more famous 'sister' Belin, he was the epitome of diligence and bravery, serving Pralix loyally throughout the campaign. His exploits in Pralix's service are a matter of legend. He tricked oafish giants when carrying battle plans through hostile territory by telling them that he was one of their own, just further away than he seemed. He escaped imprisonment by rune wizards with nothing more than a magical straw and a cupful of oats.

He quested in the far north to obtain a piece of the unbreakable chain made by the dwarfs to fetter the titan-wolf Fenrir. These and other stories are the pride of his line.

It was only at the very end when his devotion to Pralix faltered. Once the enemy was defeated and Pralix revealed her plans for the Ordo Miscellanea, Giaro felt that he could not in good conscience be part of a group that opposed the Order of Hermes and with regret he abandoned her in Britain and returned to the continent with his father. He did not see her again, even following the formation of House Ex Miscellanea.

First Contact

Damhan-Allaidh and the Order of Hermes became aware of each other at about the same time. The Order first heard of Damhan-Allaidh from Diedne the Founder, who had adopted into her House wizards who had fled his brutal regime. Magi of the Order had ventured into Britain, but the aldormen they encountered demanded that they swore oaths of fealty to them and to Damhan-Allaidh. Furthermore, they would be required to sell their services to local kings and noblemen, something forbidden by the Code of Hermes.

The first confrontation began in Brittany, when a magus of House Tytalus aggravated Damhan-Allaidh by kidnapping one of his trusted aldormen. The sorcerer didn't even waste time negotiating; he simply caused the stones of Carnac to crush his impudent foe and his three companions. Damhan-Allaidh made it clear to the sole survivor that the Order of Hermes would not have a foothold in Britain. If he'd known more about the Order of Hermes, Damhan-Allaidh would never have uttered such words within earshot of Fudarus, and Pralix won the right, as eldest filia of the Founder, to accept the challenge he had unwittingly set.

Damhan-Allaidh was declared an enemy of the Order by the Tribunal of 799 following the slaughter of the four magi at Carnac. Pralix filia Tytalus arrived at Wearmouth in the Kingdom of Northumbria in 803 with seven magi and a half-hundred of grogs. At the time, the Kingdom of Northumbria covered most of southern Scotland and northern England, and was believed to be the seat of Damhan-Allaidh's power.

The Massacre in Bowland Forest

The Hermetic army first clashed with Damhan-Allaidh's forces in the following year in the Forest of Bowland.

This was an utter disaster for the Order, resulting in the death of all five of the junior magi, leaving just Pralix and Ignes Nefastus of House Flambeau still alive. The two magi retreated south and were offered succor by a group of native magicians called swynwyr. These magicians had an impregnable stronghold in North Wales that had resisted Damhan-Allaidh for many decades, for the swynwyr were experts in warding magics.

Using the swynwyr's island fortress as a base, Pralix spent three years gathering together wizards from the British Isles who, like the swynwyr, had suffered the tyranny of Damhan-Allaidh and his allies. Many of these came from the midlands and southern kingdoms where the influence of his aldormen had yet to spread. Her recruits included beastmasters, cunning men and women, craft magicians, weather witches, and a Pictish sorcerer called Damhadh-Duidas. This latter claimed to know Damhan-Allaidh of old, and Pralix began to rely on him as a source of information about the enemy. Ignes Nefastus expressed his reservations about this sorcerer, and his letters back to the Primus of Flambeau reflect his growing unease about the influence that Damhadh-Duidas had over her.

Each recruit was trained by Pralix and Ignes Nefastus as to the best use of their magic in battle. Many of these wizards were magically weak and many of them lacked The Gift; nevertheless Pralix per-

severed rather than following Ignes's advice to ask for more volunteers from the Order. Pralix felt that these native magicians were fighting to defend their home and their way of life, and had more at stake than what amounted to mercenaries from the Order of Hermes. The only help she accepted from the Order was a redcap by the name of Giaro.

During this period, Pralix visited Ireland in order to gain recruits to the cause against Damhan-Allaidh. Here she met with Diedne on the shores of Loch Cuan in 806. Diedne refused to allow her to enlist Irish magicians; she was insistent that any druids must join the Order of Hermes or else die. Diedne was further incensed when Pralix laughed at her and called her stupid and petty. The two magae fought an illegal Wizard's War there and then, but both survived the encounter (although a local monastery did not) and neither brought charges against the other at Tribunal. It is notable that after the war with Damhan-Allaidh, Diedne was one of the most vocal detractors of Pralix and insisted that she be Marched for her crimes. Despite this encounter at Loch Cuan, Pralix still returned to Britain with a cadre of Irish druids who were prepared to oppose their Scottish counterparts.

The Battle of Hunnum

In 807, Pralix decided her army was ready. She tracked Damhan-Allaidh down using shape-shifted scouts and flying witches, then met him in battle on the Roman Wall, at an abandoned fort called Hunnum. Rather than being alone as she had hoped, Damhan-Allaidh was accompanied by several magicians, a force of Northumbrian soldiers, and two giants. It seemed that he had been warned of Pralix's approach. The Battle of Hunnum ended in another defeat for Pralix, but this time her retreat was orderly and her casualties manageable. She withdrew to a camp to the north called Loch Leglean, and regrouped. Damhadh-Duidas ventured that their opponent had seers at his command who could see the future; Ignes Nefastus considered a spy amongst them to be the more likely option, and his aspersion on the loyalty of Damhadh-Duidas was not missed.

The Battle of the Wounded Glen

At Loch Leglean, Pralix gathered her council to discuss tactics. She proposed teaching the Gifted members of their army the Parma Magica; it was the only way to gain an advantage over the enemy. Ignes Nefastus vehemently disagreed, and accused her of wanting to betray the Order's secrets. The two had an almighty row that nearly came to blows, although Giaro managed to avert actual violence.

Ignes Nefastus stormed out from camp vowing to have nothing more to do with Pralix, and walked straight into the path of Damhan-Allaidh himself. The sorcerer had been spying on Loch Leglean, and an immense magical battle was joined. The hills rocked with the power of their magic. Ignes Nefastus flung flames at his opponent, only to have them turned back upon him. None of his spells seemed to get any purchase upon The Spider, but likewise the Flambeau magus's Parma Magica protected him from the worst of his opponent's spells. This duel became known as the Battle of the Wounded Glen because of

NOTE: This section contains information that is known only to Damhan-Allaidh, and is suitable only for storyguides. Players should stop reading here.

The creature known as Damhan-Allaidh was born to a tribe of Southern Picts in Galloway (southwest Scotland) at the beginning of the sixth century. While they had been formerly converted to Christianity by St. Ninian, the Southern Picts had sunk into apostasy, and the pagan faith had never been stronger. As a Gifted child, Damhan-Allaidh (his Pictish name is unknown) entered the priesthood and became a devotee of Sluag, the god of the dead and of knowledge. The priests of Sluag were experts in matters of spirits and the soul. It was they who taught the Pictish priests the mystery of the External Soul, and were able to transmigrate their essence from one body to another

as a means to escape death. This was achieved by first transforming oneself into a Magic Spirit and then taking over the body of a child. The priests of Sluag typically reincarnated into an apprentice of their tradition, thus ensuring continuity of beliefs and practice.

Throughout much of Damhan-Allaidh's life, the southern Picts were at war with the Britons, and he lived to see his people defeated by the forces of Coel Hen ("Old King Cole"). Damhan-Allaidh had gradually warped into a monstrous, hunchbacked form, and he deemed it time to move on to a fresh young body. Rather than moving his soul into a member of his own doomed race, he chose the apprentice of a Strathclyde witch. Now calling himself Copynnau ("spider" in Brythonic), he learned a magical tradition which is similar to philosophic elementalism, concentrating on the manipulation of raw material and natural animals tied to the elements. The Strathclyde witches used these powers equally for weal and woe. Beneficial members gathered scattered livestock, drove vermin out of the crops, redirected storms, and quenched fires. Baneful witches did the opposite.

After five decades masquerading as a Briton, his body had warped again into the hideous form he wore as a Pict. He cast his eye around and discovered the new race of Scots who had entered Scotland from Ireland, and were busy conquering territory in the north and east. With them they had brought druids, and the sorcerer identified a suitable lad into whom he transferred his soul once more. Taught the secrets of druidry over a long apprenticeship, the sorcerer now adopted the name for which he was most famous: Damhan-Allaidh ("spider" in Gaelic). Druidic magic consisted of laying curses and blessings, giving and

the damage that it inflicted on the local environment. It ended with the death of Ignes Nefastus, his mutilated body thrown over the walls of Loch Leglean. Spectators noticed that Damhan-Allaidh fled the battlefield sorely wounded.

With Ignes Nefastus gone, Damhadh-Duidas became Pralix's chief adviser. They proceeded with the plan to share the Parma Magica and drilled the hedge magicians in its use. Each winter Pralix retreated to Wales to plan and in the summer she campaigned in the kingdom of Northumbria using Loch Leglean as her base.

Damhan-Allaidh's wizards harried the hedge wizards with magical traps and ambushes, rarely meeting them on an open field of battle but rather conducting guerrilla warfare from the shadows. A second, more subtle approach was to turn the local populace away from Pralix's allies with lies and rumors, giving them a poor reputation that was somehow enhanced with spells. A handful of Pralix's band were slain in local uprisings; the rest found themselves shunned even by their own families, and found it difficult to resupply when no one would sell them provisions. They were forced to turn to thievery and banditry in order to eat, which further muddied their reputations.

A few battles stand out in this period; their names are part of Hermetic legend. With the notable exception of the Night of the Sluagh, these battles ended inconclusively. Damhan-Allaidh himself was never seen and no great victories were won.

The Battle on the Irthing

Late in 807 as Pralix and her band were traveling from Loch Leglean back to Wales, they were ambushed as they crossed the River Irthing in Cumbria. The waters of the river suddenly swelled, and a crashing wave of water swept several magicians away. Their drowned bodies were later recovered, with marks like hands around their throats. The wizard conjuring the flood was soon identified and torn apart by wild animals commanded by beast masters. From the other direction came shape-shifted gruagachan, who were countered by a summoning from Damhan-Duidas. Pralix herself took on hideous spider-giant hybrids that climbed down from the trees, by hurling massive boulders she rent from the fabric of the Roman Wall which overlooked the battle site. The attackers were eventually driven off with no more casualties on Pralix's side.

The Siege of Goole

In June of 808 a group of Pralix's magicians sailed into the estuary of the River Humber. At the small port of Goole they encountered a blockade across the river, which was manned by a rune magician called Centwine. This single wizard managed to hold up the magicians for three days by harrying them with his magic. The ship was somehow stuck onto the blockade, unable to retreat or break through. The sea swelled violently and landing boats were swept away. The ship's inhabitants were struck with a raging thirst, and the river water retreated from their lowered buckets.

taking shapes, and the summoning of visions (basically the same powers as gained by the Pictish priests of Gruagach). Damhan-Allaidh reveled in his new powers, keeping secret his knowledge of Pictish necromancy and British elementalism. It was at this time that Damhan-Allaidh began to exert control over the magical communities of Britain. He fought his way into the position of arch-druid, and made formal alliances between the druids of Alba and the witches of Strathclyde. He also made covert contacts amongst the remaining Pictish priesthoods, revealing his native magic in order to convince them that he was one of their own. His aim was to establish a chiefdom of magicians, where protection was traded for tributes of vis, but it was never quite realized in his lifetime. While able to hide his growing deformity with his ability to shapeshift, Damhan-Allaidh's secret was threatened

by one of the last remaining priests of Sluag. This tradition had lost many of its secrets since Damhan-Allaidh's day due to the persecution of Picts and of pagans; significantly they were no longer able to transmigrate their souls into new bodies. To compensate for their losses, the priests of Sluag had turned to chthonic powers and supplemented their magic with malice and evil acts. Unwilling to be blackmailed, Damhan-Allaidh and the priest fought. Damhan-Allaidh was clearly the stronger, but the battle only ended in a marginal victory for him. His opponent escaped alive, vowing revenge (indeed, he returned years later calling himself Damhadh-Duidas). Damhan-Allaidh decided that, after sixty years as a druid and his identity nearly revealed, it was time he moved on to a new body.

Following the pattern of his last two incarnations, Damhan-Allaidh latched onto yet another magical tradition. It

was now 774, and the Saxons had extended their kingdom of Northumbria from the Firth of Forth in the north to the Humber and the Mersey in the south. The Saxon rune magicians resembled those amongst the Norse, but knew an extended rune row with nine extra runes. Damhan-Allaidh became Atorcoppe ("spider" in Old English), and learned Woden's runes. The lieutenants of Damhan-Allaidh had attempted to keep the alliance strong, but without his leadership the structure had begun to crumble. As soon as his apprenticeship as a rune magician was done, Atorcoppe identified himself to his cronies using passwords established before his resurrection, and began to weld his fiefdom together with a combination of violence and threats until he had control of it once again.

All of their food turned to maggots and beetles. Even the locals of Goole joined in by hurling flaming rags and sticky tar at the beleaguered ship. At the end of the three days, Centwine was joined by his allies, and the boat was boarded and the occupants killed.

The Battle of the Awful Hand

In September 808 an elementalist raised the Grey Man of the Merrick, the genius loci of the mountain range known as The Awful Hand (because of its five spurs) in Galloway. He lay in ambush for Pralix and her warband, but the ambush

General: The target receives a bonus or penalty equal to the magnitude of this effect on actions requiring speed and swift reactions; this includes Initiative, and Athletics rolls involving running fast.

General: Increase the running speed of the target by four paces per magnitude of this effect. Humans can normally run at 4 x (10 + Qik – Encumbrance) paces per round.

Level 10: Causes the next thunderstorm that occurs within three miles to peal with thunder, and flash lightning between clouds. The display continues until the rune script is defaced, or the storm dissipates or moves out of range.

Level 10: Summon a rumble of thunder from still air. This rune script is often drawn in rainwater and lasts just a few rounds

Level 15: Summon a deafening clap of thunder, requiring a Stamina roll against an Ease Factor of 9 to avoid temporarily losing one's hearing.

Level 20: Summon a bolt of lightning from the next thunderstorm that occurs within three miles. If no target is designated by another rune, it strikes the rune script; if someone is holding or touching the script then they share the full effects of the strike.

was spotted and battle joined. The tide turned in Pralix's favor when the mountain spirit realized it was being used as a weapon in a petty human battle, and abandoned the field of war.

The Battle of Clennell Street

In 809 Pralix fought the war on two fronts, with herself in command of one force in the south and Damhadh-Duidas commanding the other in the north. In May, Giaro was running messages between the two forces when he came across an expeditionary force of druids and giants quite by chance in Redesdale (on the current Anglo-Scottish border). They were clearly trying to outflank Pralix's forces by taking a shortcut. Realizing that he had no time to warn Pralix, Giaro went amongst the wild border clans of Redesdale, famous for their banditry and lawlessness. He convinced them through subterfuge and bravado to stage an ambush against the interlopers and successfully drove them back, killing two giants in the process. Redesdale men still find favor in the turbs of magi who know their history.

The Night of the Sluagh

On All Hallow's Eve 809, Pralix's forces were delayed in Loch Leglean by bad weather. They should have set out for Wales a month earlier, but the snow was blocking all passes through the Southern Uplands. As the moon set, there was an unearthly howl, and a truly dreadful host fell upon Loch Leglean. It was the sluagh, a vast horde of angry ghosts raised by dark magics from the kingdom of Sluag (the Pictish god of death). They swarmed over the camp, killing indiscriminately. Less than a dozen magicians were killed that night, but it was still the greatest single loss suffered by Pralix's army since she taught them the Parma Magica. Many more were left insane, gibbering at the horrors they had seen and unable to sleep for the rest of their lives.

Finally, Pralix and Damhadh-Duidas got lucky in discovering the whereabouts of Damhan-Allaidh, and arranged an ambush. All of the preceding battles had provided vital information to Pralix; she had ruthlessly quizzed combatants about the capacities of their foes, and made extensive use of shapeshifted spies. She was therefore aware of the importance of the spoken word in gruagach magic, and prepared her attack carefully.

In March 810, Pralix and Damhadh-Duidas together faced The Spider at Blencathra in Cumbria. His gruagachan allies had gathered with hundreds of their kinfolk to perform some mighty ritual working, and it was the perfect time for what she had planned. Pralix reached into her pre-Hermetic training to summon and release Lethe, a mighty spirit of forgetfulness. Lethe plucked the memory of the Pictish language from Damhan-Allaidh's gruagachan. Without knowledge of their magical language, the gruagachan were left powerless, unable to cast the simplest spell. With the gruagachan neutralized, Pralix's soldiers fell on the Picts, while her magicians provided magical support. It was the largest battle fought so far, and the most decisive victory achieved by Pralix. To Pralix's great anger, Damhan-Allaidh escaped her clutches once again. In fury and frustration she blamed Damhadh-Duidas for this failure, accusing him of colluding with the enemy. The maga and the sorcerer fought, first with words, then with spells. Damhadh-Duidas was driven away by Pralix's assault and was not seen again.

Pralix's mighty working of magic nearly obliterated the entire magical tradition of the gruagachan. The few Pictish magicians not present at the Battle of Blencathra were able to hold on to the fading threads of their magic, but they never truly recovered. Having no memory of what happened at Blencathra, the surviving gruagachan were at a loss to explain what had happened to them. Blame eventually settled on the shoulders of House Diedne, who had long been enemies of the gruagachan.

While Damhadh-Duidas took no further part in the history of the Order, his name later resurfaced many years later

amongst a tradition of hedge wizards who claimed to have been taught by him following his break with Pralix. Ironically, these "Damhadh-Duidsan" ended up joining House Ex Miscellanea.

Some claim that the vengeful Damhadh-Duidas betrayed the location of Pralix's winter camp in Wales to The Spider; others say that Damhan-Allaidh simply followed Pralix back from Blencathra. Whatever the truth, the final clash between Pralix and Damhan-Allaidh occurred just a month after Blencathra, on the shores of the lake outside the camp. Damhan-Allaidh came with everything he had, and he was faced by nearly all of Pralix's remaining magicians.

As the sun dropped, Pictish priests began to summon the sluagh, while multiarmed giants hurled rocks and a ramheaded serpent dragon plowed through the ranks of warriors. In response, Pralix's wizards summoned a massive ball of fire as bright as the sun, driving the ghosts back into the night. Her elementalists summoned whirlwinds of fire and earth elementals who dragged the giants under the ground. Beast masters led phalanxes of bears, wolves and stags against the dragon. Pralix herself was in the midst of battle, sword in one hand and spear in the other, as she fought her way through to Damhan-Allaidh's redoubt. She had prepared for the moment that she would face him. The mage-smiths amongst her people had made her an unbreakable magic chain, forged from obscure ingredients and strange magics collected over several years. Upon facing Damhan-Allaidh at last, she shackled herself to her opponent with the chain, ensuring that the conflict could only end with one of their deaths. Hermetic magic prevailed against Damhan-Allaidh's spellcraft and the wizard was finally slain.

Repercussions

After the Battle of the False Sun (as it became known), Damhan-Allaidh's body was laid out for cremation but it disappeared overnight and the guards set over the pyre were killed in a gruesome manner. No amount of divination revealed what had happened to it. Convinced that Damhan-Allaidh's magical allies were to blame, Pralix had her magicians scouring every inch of Britain for everyone who had supported Damhan-Allaidh. Each one was brought to her and their secrets ripped from their minds before they were put them to death. During this action every single member of the Saxon tradition of rune magic was exterminated, and the Scottish druids were diminished so badly that they guttered and faded a generation later. Despite this, Pralix never discovered what had happened to Damhan-Allaidh's body.

The years following the vanquish of Damhan-Allaidh were tense for both the Order and for Britain. Pralix was initially lauded by the Order, and Mercere the Founder himself came to Britain to escort her home. However, Pralix declined the offer to return, and Mercere was refused entrance to her winter camp. She instead announced to him from the walls that she renounced both her House and the Order, and declared the foundation of a new order, the Ordo Miscellanea, which would accept all wizards no matter what their tradition.

This action incensed the Order of Hermes. Many called for her head, but the prima of House Tytalus spoke passionately in her defense, and her voice was joined by others, not least of whom was Trianoma. It took the Order of Hermes until 817 to come to a settlement with Pralix, by which time the Ordo Miscellanea had swollen to many times its original size. When the Ordo Miscellanea became House Ex Miscellanea, the size of the Order of Hermes was doubled.

Pralix never rejoined the Order. She

remained in Cad Gadu — the new name for her winter camp in North Wales and ruled the house in all but name. On her advice, seven covenants were established in the former territory of Damhan-Allaidh. These became known as the Praesides Septentrionales, the "Bastions of the North," and their mission was to watch for the return of Damhan-Allaidh. While there were several false alarms, particularly in the early days, there were no further confirmed signs of The Spider, and one by one these covenants abandoned their tireless watch, faltered and died out. One site was reoccupied, but the new magi did not adopt the same mission and did not take up the name of bastion. Several were lost in the Schism War, and the last Praesis Septentrionalis failed just after in 1025.

Damhan-Allaidh is the last surviving rune wizard who has knowledge of the Saxon runes. Knowledge of these runes was lost when the Ordo Miscellanea exterminated every last Saxon rune wizard in Britain. Any vitki Damhan-Allaidh trains is Opened to all the Runes he himself knows; he can also perform a minor initiation into the Saxon runes for vitkir who already know the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark.

Note that Saxon vitkir had their own names for the Elder Futhark (Hedge Magic Revised Edition, page 139), but the standard names are used here for ease of reference.

Ac is the rune of Thor's hammer Mjolnir, represented by the lightning bolt. Oak trees are particularly prone to being struck by lightning, and as such they are considered sacred to devotees of the Thunderer. Excessive use of this rune (such as a longlasting rune script that summons thunder) might draw the ire of the Thunderer. Ac is

also a rune governing speed.

As a target, Ac represents thunder and lightning. Combined with Algiz, for example, a rune script can prevent a character from being hit by lightning. It can also represent those things struck by lightning.

Sample Ac Rune Spells

(The runemaster) Brings Thor's Hammer on the Head of this Man

Ac (Mannaz) 20, Method II

The designated target is struck by a bolt of lightning the next time he is within three miles of a storm. The rune script must remain

General: The target receives a bonus or penalty equal to the magnitude of this effect when resisting another's forceful actions, such as stopping a charging opponent, or thwarting intimidation. This includes adding to the Defense bonus of a shield (but not a weapon), and to a stress check to avoid breakage (City & Guild, page 77.)

General: The target (which can be a person or an object) receives the Immovable Object Magic Defense against Mentem or Corpus spells, equal to the magnitude of this effect. When affected by a spell of the appropriate Form which attempts to control the target, roll the target's Strength + Magic Defense – magnitude of incoming spell + simple die, against an Ease Factor of 9. Success resists the attacking spell for a round.

General: The target (which must be an inanimate object) gains supernatural resilience; subtract half the level of the rune script from the Casting Total of any spell designed to directly weaken or destroy it. If no Casting Total is involved (such as from an enchantment), then only effects of a level greater than half the level of the rune script can take effect.

Level 10: Makes the target object into a Wondrous Item for the purpose of making Stress Checks and determining Damage Levels (City & Guild, page 77.)

Level 10: Wards a target object from natural degradation such as rust and erosion, although it can still be deliberately damaged.

within 10 paces of the target. The lightning strike must Penetrate Magic Resistance and inflicts +30 damage. The rune script is always destroyed by the lightning bolt.

Æsc is the rune of stubborn resistance. Ash wood is commonly used to make shields and palisade walls; it is both strong and flexible, and refuses to yield.

As a target, Æsc can be used to represent a wall, shield, or other defensive structure.

Sample Æsc Rune Spells

(The runemaster) Shields Her Son's Ship

Æsc (Raido) 10, Method II

Carved on the prow of a ship, this rune script raises the Damage Levels of a ship or

General: The target receives a bonus or penalty equal to the magnitude of this effect on rolls to do with aiming; this includes Attack rolls made with missiles and thrown weapons, and Aiming rolls for spellcasters.

General: Increase the range between a rune script and its target from ten paces to a hundred paces. This effect can only affect spells of the level of this spell or less, and this rune script must include the runes of the extended spell as well as Yr.

Level 5: Increase the range increment of any missile or thrown object by half.

Level 10: Double the range increment of any missile or thrown object.

Level 15: Causes the targeted missile to strike a particular part of the target.

Level 20 Guides a missile upon which this rune script is carved unfailingly to its intended target. The attacker generates an Attack Total as normal, but the target's Defense Total is zero. The missile only misses if the attacker botches his attack.

boat from 6 (for a standard boat of Size +5) to 15. Furthermore, any Stress Checks have a +5 bonus to avoid damage. A similar rune spell could be carved on all manner of objects, with the target rune changed appropriately. For example, a weapon would probably use Tiwaz, whereas a house might be Ingwaz.

Yr is the rune of skill and precision. It shares some of its nature with Ihwaz, both being runes of yew trees and bows, although Yr is more strictly an arrow rune rather than a bow rune. Yr may be used to extend the range of another spell.

As a target, Yr stands for any thrown object, or any missile shot from a bow or sling. To affect the weapon rather than the missile, use Ihwaz.

General: The target receives a bonus or penalty equal to the magnitude of this effect on rolls regarding concealment or keeping hidden. This bonus or penalty can add to the Ease Factor required to spot an object upon which the rune script is drawn.

Level 5: Rot perishable targets like leather, cloth, meat, or wool.

Level 5: Reduce the amount of light within 10 paces of the rune script to that experienced in heavy fog.

Level 5: Prevent a trivial memory from being recalled by the target.

Level 10: Degrade strong targets like wood and bone

Level 10: Reduce the amount of light within 10 paces of the rune script to that experienced in faint moonlight.

Level 10: Prevent a minor memory from being recalled by the target.

Level 15: Extinguish all light within 10 paces of the rune script.

Level 15: Prevent a significant memory from being recalled by the target.

Level 20: Erode or rust durable targets like metal, stone, and magically-strengthened objects.

Level 20: Prevent a major memory from being recalled by the target.

Sample Yr Rune Spells

I, (the runemaster), Emulate Egil's Arrow Feat

Yr 15, Method I

The caster designates a specific target such as a body part as she inscribes this rune on a missile. When shot, she rolls to attack as normal, but if her Attack Total exceeds the Defense Total of her target then she has hit the designated organ. The wound inflicted is accompanied by an appropriate Minor Flaw such as Missing Eye or Lame. This Flaw disappears when the wound heals; if the missile did not penetrate the target's Soak then the Flaw lasts just one round. The same rune spell can be used for trick-shooting, and Egil the Archer is reputed to have shot an apple from the head of his son.

General: The target receives a bonus or penalty equal to the magnitude of this effect when suffering injury or sacrificing something personal in order achieve a greater purpose; this includes rolls for which the target spends a Confidence point.

General: At the cost of a Light Wound inflicted when scribing this script, add +5 to the Penetration Total of another rune spell no greater than the level of this effect. The spell must include the runes for the bound effect as well as Gar.

General: At the cost of a Medium Wound inflicted when scribing this script, add +10 to the Penetration Total of another rune spell no greater than the level of this effect. The spell must include the runes for the bound effect as well as Gar.

General: At the cost of a Heavy Wound inflicted when scribing this script, add +20 to the Penetration Total of another rune spell no greater than the level of this effect. The spell must include the runes for the bound effect as well as Gar.

Ear is the rune of dust, oblivion, darkness, and concealment. It can be used to degrade a non-living object by inscribing the rune script on the object; the item decays or erodes at a hundred times the usual speed. Naturally this eventually destroys the rune script as well, but it is usually the last to go. The grave-rune can also erode memories, although these return naturally over time (taking about half as long to heal as the target was under the effect).

As a target, Ear can affect graves, gravegoods, and corpses, as well as darkness.

Sample Ear Rune Spells

I, (the runemaster), Erode the Smith's Work

Ear 20, Method II

Drawn onto any metal object, this

General: The target receives a bonus or penalty equal to the magnitude of this effect when attempting to remember something, or when trying to recover information that has been lost.

General: Increases a preexisting Reputation of a target by an amount equal to half the magnitude of this effect, rounded up. This Reputation fades to its former level if the target does nothing to reinforce it.

Level 5: Create a trivial memory in the mind of the target, equivalent to a few minutes of speech.

Level 10: Create a minor memory in the mind of the target, equivalent to a few hours of speech.

Level 10: Creates a Reputation for a target, positive or negative, at a score of 1. People may believe they have heard of the person even if he has done nothing to earn this. The Reputation fades if it is not reinforced through deeds.

Level 20: Create a significant repository of lore filled and studied like a tractatus.

Level 30: Create a major repository of lore filled and studied like a summa

rune script causes it to become covered in rust. After a day the metal begins to flake and is in danger of breaking. After a week it is completely destroyed.

Gar represents Odin's spear Gungnir, which gave victory but usually at a cost. More generally, Gar is the spear used to dispatch sacrifices, and grants power through blood.

Rune scripts using Gar must be drawn in the caster's own blood, and grant an additional +1 to the Penetration modifier granted by the rune script against the caster.

As a target, Gar represents any object

General: The target receives a bonus or penalty equal to the magnitude of this effect when inventing something new, or when creating a new thing from an old one (such as forging a sword into a plowshare).

General: Increase one Characteristic by an amount equal to the magnitude of this effect, while simultaneously decreasing another Characteristic by the same amount.

Level 5: Alter one's facial features to resemble anything remotely human.

Level 10: Rearrange body parts, such as moving an eye to the end of a finger, or twisting the head to face backwards. This does no harm, but can be uncomfortable.

Level 15: Duplicates a preexisting body part, for example, to grant a new pair of eyes or arms.

Level 20: Grow new body parts that are not part of a human body, such as horns or wings.

Level 25: Releases the soul from the body to wander freely as a spirit. This temporarily grants the Nightwalker Major Virtue (Hedge Magic Revised Edition, Chapter 9). The caster must make arrangements for the rune script to be deleted after a time, else he can never return to his body.

given as a sacrifice. It can also be used to target someone to whom the vitki owes a debt; in this case it might be considered a Mentem effect. It can also be used to represent blood.

Sample Gar Rune Spells

(The runemaster) Sacrifices Power for Pain

Gar (Kauno) General, Method II

The rune magician draws this rune script in his own blood, taking a Medium wound, then draws another rune script he knows next to it that uses the Kauno rune. That Kauno rune spell has +10 Penetration to harm its target with fire or disease.

Calc is the rune of remembrance. Its shape represents a chalice used to toast heroes and lords. This rune can be used in a rune script to create a repository of knowledge on a subject governed by the target rune. Thus Calc (Raido) could act as a repository on Area Lore, and Calc (Perth) could store Magic Lore or even Rune Magic. Once the repository has been created it must be filled by the caster; this process is identical to a character writing a summa or tractatus (ArM5, page 165), including the time taken. A tractatus written in this manner counts toward the maximum number of tractatus that an author can write. The completed runescript looks no different to any other at first glance, but if studied reveals the presence of hidden depths, unfolding in the mind as if staring into murky water. Anyone in possession of the repository can study the knowledge contained therein, as if it were a text of the appropriate type, as long as they are capable of reading runes. Calc rune scripts can also be used to preserve smaller amounts of knowledge, such as a hero's story imparted to anyone touching his grave marker.

As a target, Calc can represent any repository of knowledge, including memories, books, poems, and gravestones.

Sample Calc Rune Spells

(The runemaster) Commemorates the Dead

Calc (Ear) General, Method II

The deeds of the deceased are sharpened in the mind of anyone who walks within 10 paces of the gravemarker on which this rune script is carved. One Reputation is increased by half the Magnitude of this spell.

(The runemaster) Defames the Miscreant

Calc (Mannaz) 10, Method II

Usually carved onto a person's house, or occasionally on a horse's skull erected on a pole on the person's property, this rune script gives the target a negative local Reputation at a score of 1. This is typically used to shame a person who refuses to admit a crime.

Cweorth represents the climbing, swirling flames of the ritual fire, and is associated with alteration and transformation. As the rune of the funeral pyre it represents the transformation of body to spirit, but it can be used to represent alteration to make something new. For such transformations, the runescript must be carved or tattooed into flesh.

As a target Cweorth can represent something that has never been used before.

General: The target receives a bonus or penalty equal to the magnitude of this effect when setting or surmounting an obstacle. The obstacle has to be a deliberate act of another being rather than an inconvenient happenstance. For example, the bonus or penalty would apply if trying to climb a hurdle or wall, but not a cliff.

Level 5: Jam a door closed, rendering it incapable of being opened without destroying the object. Can also be used to seal chests and similar objects. Can reverse the below effect.

Level 5: Open a lock or a jammed door or chest. Can reverse the above effect.

Level 10: Double the weight (and Load) of an inanimate target.

Level 10: Increase by one the number of damage levels inflicted on a structure by a siege weapon.

Level 10: Reduce the weight (and Load) of an inanimate target by one quarter (rounded up).

Level 15: Increase by two the number of damage levels inflicted on a structure by a siege weapon.

Level 20: Reduce the weight (and Load) of an inanimate target by one half (rounded up).

General: The target receives a bonus or penalty equal to the magnitude of this effect when resisting the effects of poison or venom. This includes Recovery rolls to restore a wound caused by poison, but not other sources of damage.

Level 5: Summon a single vermin animal such as beetle, snake, rat, toad, or eel.

Level 10: Change the toxicity of a substance so that it now causes a Light Wound. This can make a non-toxic substance mildly poisonous, or weaken a stronger poison.

Level 10: Induce fear or disgust for a specified target.

Level 15: Summon vermin whose mass totals that of an animal of Size +1.

Level 15: Change the toxicity of a substance so that it now causes a Medium Wound.

Level 15: Induce incapacitating terror or revulsion for a specified target.

Level 20: Change the toxicity of a substance so that it now causes a Heavy Wound.

Level 25: Change the toxicity of a substance so that it now causes an Incapacitating Wound.

Level 30: Change the toxicity of a substance so that it now causes a Fatal Wound.

Sample Cweorth Rune Spells

I, (the runemaster), Exchange Elfin Grace for Troll Thews

Cweorth General, Method I

The caster's Presence drops by an amount equal to the magnitude of the rune spell, and his Strength grows by the same amount. In appearance he becomes more troll-like.

I, (the runemaster), Assume Freyja's Falcon Cloak

Cweorth 20, Method I

The rune magician inscribes this rune script on a cloak or else his arms, and grows a pair of wings. His Athletics Ability determines how well he can fly, and rolls may be needed in a strong wind or where speed is an issue.

Stan is the rune of solidity and weight represented by stone. Poetically called "the bones of Ymir," Stan is principally the rune of obstacles, hindrances, and barriers, or the overcoming of such.

As a target, Stan represents stone or objects made of stone; more generally it can be used for any obstacle such as a door or wall.

Sample Stan Rune Spells

(The runemaster) Relieves the Weight of the Byrnie

Stan (Othila) 10, Method II

Inscribed upon a chainmail shirt (half chainmail armor), the Load is reduced from 4 to 3.

The rune of monstrosity. It has mastery over creatures that induce disgust and fear, such as snakes, toads, spiders, and scorpions. It also has charge of fear and all manner of noxious substances.

As a target, Ior represents any vermin or poison.

Sample Ior Rune Spells

I, (the runemaster), Summon Death by Two Million Legs

Ior 15, Method I

This spell summons 200,000 spiders (Size –15) from the air, who drift down and start to crawl over any surface, climbing upwards as high as they can. They bite flesh if they find it, and are mildly venomous. A similar rune spell could summon 50,000 worms (Size –13) or 5,000 mice (Size –10) from damp soil, 2,000 toads (Size –9) from stagnant water, or 500 rats (Size –7) from food waste.