Scribed by Jari
Spring 1324AD
The first meeting of 1324 offered little in the way of new beginnings or fresh hope for the future I’m sad to say. However, as a dedicated chronicler, I feel obliged to record that the slightly crone-like look that Branwen had worn recently had faded. Some aspect of her magical practice no doubt, though said maga bade me add that she had at least been a nice-looking crone and so let it be recorded!
There has been no word on the emergency tribunal which we’d previously been threatened with, which at least gives us a little more time to see if we can resolve this before politics binds our hands. Conversation then returned to how we might be able to save Theoclea. Somehow, several of us, myself included, appear to have moved from mourning her passing to believing there’s a chance that she can be saved. I’m still not quite sure how that came about, desperation probably but if there is a chance…
Naevius proposed that he investigate the Chalice as he was confident that he could detect the substantial effects that it undoubtedly possesses, though there was some debate about just how substantial bringing someone back from the dead would be! Given that even the pale imitation of such that hermetic magic can muster, the ‘Shadow of Life Renewed’ is of the 15th magnitude, this seems extremely improbable. Naevius estimated he could discern powers of the 12th or 13th magnitude. Pyrrhus volunteered that, with his assistance, this could rise by a couple of magnitudes. Though after a moment’s thought he decided that was possibly overly optimistic and revised his addition to merely a single magnitude.
The beauteous Branwen then said that she could go and speak with the Anu to get her perspective on Theoclea’s prospects, given the Anu’s well-known affinity with life and healing. As this will involve a journey and entry into a regio, it was deemed that this would constitute a season’s service, though quite where Branwen was headed was not disclosed.
I said that I would be travelling to Carrion Moor as I had planned, to be taught how to cast Arcanus’s old spell, ‘The Wizards Anchor’ by Phaedra over the course of the year.
Given our weak vis reserves and my desire to learn the spell for my investigations into stone circles in addition. Naevius suggested I could count two of those four seasons as covenant service. I said that I was fine with that, but it sparked some debate amongst my sodales as the lovely-looking Branwen and Terentius both stated that I should be awarded all four as covenant service, given the primary aim was to help get Theoclea back. Naevius called things to a vote and with Pyrrhus, Branwen and Naevius voting in favour of it (I being a virtuous sort abstained) and such was duly granted. I said I was happy to pay the 30 pawns cost of the learning myself, though Naevius insisted that we revisit that next year when it is hoped the covenant will have more resources. Such a resolution was duly voted through. I added that I expected to be able to attend council meetings, using the usual week or so’s free days with seasons.
We then formally ratified the council ruling that Theoclea is not yet dead but hovering at death’s door. Thus, we would be contesting Romanus’s ruling that she was dead.
The council agreed to look for the Chalice in Theoclea’s sanctum while she is incapable of communication, all voted in favour, save Terentius who abstained. While we believe that she, very wisely, never took up the Sword and Scabbard, we think she did eventually take the Chalice in addition to the Crown. Naevius will conduct the search.
After Naevius had set aside some creo and corporem vis for possible use of the Chalice, there was only enough to reward each season’s service with a single pawn of vis. So be it. Better to preserve whatever vanishingly faint options we have of saving Theoclea, and possibly magic itself, than to let magi have a couple more pawns of vis in their stores. With that, the Spring council concluded.
Apparently, Naevius was able to find the Chalice in but a day and thus set to examining it with his trusty new laboratory assistant. Meanwhile, I made my way back to Carrion Moor without event and so began my studies under Phaedra. She clearly harboured some doubts as to whether I’d be able to understand the arcane metaphysical aspects of the theory underpinning the spell, but I think I was able to assuage at least some of those doubts during a long discussion on the philosophical nature of time and she felt that we had made good progress over the course of the season.
Summer
Naevius began the council meeting by detailing what he and Pyrrhus had managed to learn about the Chalice. They believe they have uncovered all but one enchantment, which they think is of the fifteenth or sixteenth magnitude. Naevius said that he believed that the use of the item was not too complex if you have the appropriate vis to put in it. The vis needs to be sympathetic to the effect that you desire. Thus, our spring water with its creo or corporem vis should work well for bodily healing. Vim vis to repair a damaged Gift would need to come from a regio or similar perhaps, it likely wouldn’t work using vim vis extracted from an aura. While the Chalice has strong powers to cure disease, whether or not it would be able to treat the plague that looms ever closer from the Shadow in the East is unclear at best. Certainly not something to pin our hopes on.
Branwen reported that she had spoken with the Anu who told her that while the Chalice could heal someone’s body, mind, spirit, magical essence even, it could not bring one back if they had passed the threshold of death. The Anu would not gainsay the Morrigan’s statement that Theoclea was dead and she said that she hoped that in time Theoclea’s spirit would be free to be taken to Arawn. She warned that those who try to return from death will surely be corrupted and that is a fate worse than death, especially for the Queen of the Land. Branwen was unequivocal. Theoclea was dead. There is no path that can bring her back.
As we sat back, considering the ramifications of what Branwen had said, Pyrrhus piped up with an idea he’d had to release Theoclea’s spirit, freeing Myrddin from the Crystal Cave, his prison for so long. He blithely accepted that it would have massive repercussions but said that it could help against the Shadow from the East. Quite how he did not say. Branwen noted that she believes that Myrddin may well know something that could help. Terentius added that Theoclea had told him that Myrddin knew who she was and why she had come. Branwen then suggested that perhaps Myrddin’s memories could be accessed through the crystals and that maybe the spell that Phaedra is teaching me could help with such investigation.
Clearly feeling he was on a roll, Pyrrhus then suggested that Theoclea’s nephew could be Gifted. Tempers then flared after I, irritated by the utterly baseless faith everyone seemed to be placing on Myrrdin, unhelpfully suggested that her nephew’s Gauntlet could be to defeat the Archdemon that is bringing the plague.
Once the shouting had stopped, there was some debate as to whether it was worth checking the Crystal Caves for any memory of Myrddin’s that could help us. Naevius pushed hard for it though this was surely little more than his and other’s desperation expressing itself? I certainly hope so for the history of this covenant suggests that the Crystal Caves are more likely to mean death rather than hope and Myrddin’s goals are unknown to us. He is not an honest actor in this story and his true goals and motivations are wholly unknown to us.
After a while, the conversation turned back to Theoclea and the apparent hopelessness of her situation. Naevius called for a re-vote on her status and this time we unanimously agreed that we would withdraw our objection to Romanus’s ruling that she was dead. Naevius will travel to Blackthorn to pass such information on.
Attention then turned to the likely mundane response to Theoclea’s death. What if the King wants to see her body? What should be done? We agreed that we would hand over her body but would provide no details as to the cause of her death until we heard from Argentius or other wizards with better knowledge of affairs at court. Naevius asked what if the King wants the Crown? Do we give him the facsimile?
Naevius then pivoted a little by asking whether the Amaranth could bring Theoclea back to life, given the tales of it resurrecting people. I had to disappoint him, saying that, while of great power, being of faerie nature it was not the same person who came back. Instead, they were some form of faerie simulacra, not unlike the faerie versions of Turold or Tiarnan.
While speaking of the faerie, another potential disastrous deadline looms large this midsummer. Branwen, Eanfled, Races and I will head to the Nynniaw’s glade for Midsummer in the hopes of forestalling the closing of that Silver Gate. I believe it is likely the last remaining such Gate, so its closing would mean the loss of the faerie from this world altogether. A difficult prospect to conceive of for a Merinitan such as I, even one not of the Quendalon persuasion.
Naevius will study some art or other to continue with the vain hope of learning whether the final power of the Chalice an help us restore Theoclea.
More intriguingly, Terentius asked after aquam vis for his personal studies as he hopes to be able to learn how to turn into a dolphin before the end of the year! My mind drifted back almost 40 years when, buoyed by magically conjured currents, I swam across the North Sea as a dolphin with Marissa to visit Archimagus Tatius in Novgorod in 1285. I’d gone at Marissa’s urging, for the then Primus of the House was a practicing pagan and she was greatly concerned as to what he would do if he learned what I knew about the Queen and the treasures of Britain within her reach. He and Marissa, both water seelie by nature, convinced me that it would be unwise to attend the house meeting that year because of the pressure I would come under to reveal what I knew about the dread sword that that malignant old fat head Oratio had asked Nimue for. As it turned out, that would be the last ever House meeting of House Merinita and I would never get to see Irencillia before it was destroyed by the Templars.
After the council, I caught ship once more down to Carrion Moor to speak with Phaedra and, fortunately, she was content to pause the training for the season now that the urgency was gone so I headed back to the covenant for our last desperate mission to the Nynniaw’s Glade.
A couple of days after I’d left for Carrion Moor, an armoured woman on a black horse arrived at the gate. It was Maga Salustria of Tremere who said that she had ridden hard from London with urgent news for the council. She was swiftly shown in and those magi present hurried to hear what she had to say. It seems that, last season, Argentius had as private an audience with the King as was possible and told him that the King’s sister had suffered a misadventure while exploring a magical site in Wales. The King was deeply aggrieved and questioned Argentius closely. Argentius said that she had been exploring deep caves in a magical area when she had had an accident with magic that took her life. He gave no further detail on the exact cause of her death. He said that she had been on an expedition with Terentius but they had become separated just before her accident. He added that wizards had been able to retrieve her body whereupon the king promptly ordered it to be brought to his hunting lodge in Lydney so that he could see it for himself. While Argentius thought that the king believed his story, he said that the King was convinced that if Theoclea had truly died then he would have sensed her passing. Argentius added that the Order’s foremost medical expert, meaning Romulus, had declared her dead but the king still remained unconvinced. Salustria noted that she was but a week ahead of the royal party.
There then followed a lengthy debate about how best to present Theoclea’s corpse to the King. With crown or without? With the real crown or the fake one? With some uncertainty as to whether the King actually knew that she had claimed the crown, it was decided to place the fake crown on her chest, as though lying in state.
I arrived back a couple of days later and, having caught up on the news, promptly departed again, leaving my sodales to deal with the King while I set off into the faerie forest to try and salvage things with a wholly different court.
About 6 days after I left, the King and all his outriders, knights, soldiers, courtiers and miscellaneous other hangers on arrived at Lydney. Terentius made it known that he was at the King’s convenience should he wish to speak with him, and after being kept waiting a good long while, he was called for. Terentius was pressed for more exact details of the ‘curse’ that had struck Theoclea down, the King saying that Argentius had not been wholly clear. Terentius replied that they had become separated when Theoclea passed through a regio boundary and when he was able to cross it himself he found her in her current state. He said after that he thought that the King believed his story but remained convinced that she had not passed on. The King said that he could still feel his sister’s presence, and that he got momentary senses of her and where she is, insisting that she was not dead and her spirit was not in the Otherworld. He said that he had a sense of an older man walking and talking with her. He underlined the gravity of the situation for us by saying that “I know she is alive. If the Order gives up on her perhaps she will be lost forever and I will be gravely disappointed.” He said that he doesn’t think that Argentius will help further and pressed Terentius to begin the investigation into what happened to her again to which Terentius could only reply “Your command is clear.”
The King rebuked him slightly, saying that it was not a command but rather an appeal to loyalty between members of the Order before adding that if that is what it takes then “consider yourself commanded under the terms of the Great Charter.” A charge that he said applied to Terentius and the rest of the council. Terentius bowed and left, calling an informal council as swiftly as he could.
When reporting all this back to the council, Terentius started by saying that, just before his audience with the King, he had a strange dream in which Theoclea was present. It was troubled as he felt as though Theoclea was reaching out and saying things that on wakening he couldn’t recall. The consensus was that the only likely way to convince the King that she was gone, and thus avoid all the disastrous consequences of making an enemy of him, was to somehow free her spirit from the Crystal Caves, where it seems most likely that it is trapped. No decision was reached but from what was subsequently reported to me of the discussion on how this might be done, further highlighted the alarming amount of faith in Myrddin within our council. Whether he is technically immortal is probably moot, but he’s certainly powerful and long-lived enough to be subject to Merinita’s wisdom to ‘beware immortals’ in my mind.
Shortly after the council, Argentius and Salustria visited the covenant. Argentius spoke long with Terentius, expressing his concerns about the possible psychic shock that the King could suffer when Theoclea’s spirit passes on. He likened it to the loss of a familiar, which would be grave indeed. Who knows how such a powerful man might lash out when in thrall to such grief and pain? Argentius counselled leaving Theoclea’s spirit in its prison to avoid such a risk though that of course is likely very hard to square with the King’s explicit threats to the covenant and the Order if he believes she is still alive and we are not helping to rescue her. Argentius underlined how serious the risk of madness is by stating that he will speak with Praeco Voressio and call for a tribunal ruling to prevent anyone from freeing her spirit. As to quite how our council will avoid his ire in the meantime when his connection to her spirit endures, I am told he was not forthcoming. What leadership!
Meanwhile, despite all the stresses and hard choices afflicting my sodales, I was having an even worse time. Branwen, Races, Eanfled, Gwernifan and I journeyed through the forest to the faerie regio within. Branwen pressed me about making a copy of the ‘Wizard’s Anchor’ as soon as I am able, her previous concerns about it seemingly vanished. As we continued along the trod, I pondered what best to do. Maybe I’m being a little paranoid but I wonder whether her Prima has tasked her to learn my spell to speak with the henges so that it is known by more than just me. To be fair, it wouldn’t be an altogether unreasonable request if so. But, if I do teach another the spell, will I then lose my unique access to Stonehenge and other potential sites? Yet, in the face of the likely end of all things magical, as long as someone can forge a route forward for magic does it really matter if it is not me?
As I pondered my internal battle ‘twixt my selfish ego and what may be a nascent conscience, there was a debate about what hope exactly we could offer Nynniaw to persuade him to stay. Eanfled unhelpfully, but worryingly given his links to the covenant and this regio, said in his usual cheery voice that it was “time to go to the Summerlands.” If I hadn’t been so concerned about losing him forever I might have kicked him. It wouldn’t be the same without him. No matter how cunning I think I’ve been with my shoes, there’s still always one missing when I want it. And my sanctum would seem much quieter and duller without the near-constant background squabbling and inane chatter between Eanfled and Races, though I could possibly stand to miss a Spring or two when Races manages to surpass even Eanfled in chaos.
Anyway, as we moved through the forest, we could see hosts of faeries, making their way through the trees to the Summer Glade. Silver-eyed animals, green-skinned goblins, even a giant. And, as we entered the Glade itself, it was full of all the faeries I had ever seen or heard of living within the regio, and a few more besides: the Morfan; Tegid Foel and a motley band of swarthy knights; Jago and a herd of centaurs, eyeing Tegid Foel suspiciously; the assorted denizens of Stonevale; even the bright-tailed birds whose feathers reputedly contain auram vis but have not been seen by magi since the early years of the covenant’s Refounding.
All eyes quickly turned to the great tree as the Nynniaw emerged and greeted all. He listened patiently as I tried to convince him to stay but his mind appeared set. He told me that this land and its people have few bonds now with the mundane world as they have not been visited enough of late by me and mine. He claimed however that Gofannon’s Stone (one of the ancient treasures of Britain) could restore a spark of life to Theoclea. Furthermore, he said that it could be a real restoration. I was quite taken aback by this. All my understanding of what faeries can and cannot do, and indeed the reason why they crave mortal company so much, is that they lack something of the fundamental essence of our lives, call it our souls if you will. How then could such a power fully restore Theoclea in the face of all we have learned that indicates she is dead? It didn’t seem like a trick or game, though of course we were dealing with an immensely powerful immortal entity who was faced with closing the last link to the mortal lands that hold such fascination for the faerie so it is impossible to be sure I was reading him right.
However, in so doing the Stone would give up its power, and as it is Gofannon’s power that imbues the Stone, he would lose such power himself. I dread to think what cost he would demand for giving up a sizeable proportion of his own power, it’s hard to see how it could be anything less than a similarly great sacrifice by whoever wanted the Stone. Even were I selfless enough to give up such of my Gift, I simply do not believe, based in part on what Gofannon himself has said before, that it can truly restore Theoclea to life. All other portents and sources indicate clearly that she is dead and that there is no truly coming back from that.
Anyway, Nynniaw said that he would keep the Gate open for now, while that small sliver of hope remains. He added though that he could not help with the debate with Gofannon lest faerie politics interfere.
Then, as the last of the assembled faeries save Nynniaw filed through the Gate, Gofannon arrived with his full court. He nodded formally to Nynniaw and then addressed Branwen and I, fixing us with that dark inhuman, ineffable gaze of his. He told us that the power of this land had once drawn the fey to here from Arcadia. A vast resource it was, this extraordinary flame that attracted their attention, but it was not one that mortals had the tools to use. With neither of us believing that his Stone could bring Theoclea back, there seemed little that we could say in reply. It felt like their decision had been reached and mere reason would not suffice any more.
As Gofannon’s court began to disappear through the Gate and it seemed like everything was slipping irrevocably away, as indeed it was, I launched into a desperate last song, but to no avail. My voice was choked and my heart sick, and it stayed them not.
Jari’s private journal
As my song tailed off, Branwen took half a step forward and told Gofannon that “Cran Bethad lives”. He then asked her whether she planned to take the crown, telling her that she did not have long to decide. My breath caught in my throat; I wasn’t sure what the consequences of Branwen taking the crown would be but at that moment it seemed like our salvation. Frankly, if Pyrrhus had offered to take it then I might have considered it, albeit for the briefest of moments. Races piped up “Don’t do it! You’re not the one!”
Branwen thought for what seemed like a long while but in truth was probably naught but a heartbeat or two and then said that she could not commit to it. Whatever that means. And then the moment was gone.
Seeing the last of his court pass through the Gate, Gofannon gave a last bow in our direction and strode into Arcadia and memory.
Nynniaw then called to Eanfled and our little fox trotted over, his manner as unaffected by the gravity of the situation as it ever was. I called out desperately to him, my voice catching as I did so, hoping against hope he at least might stay “Who is the once and future fox if you do not have the promise of a future?” but he simply replied that we didn’t need him anymore and gambolled through the gate.
If I didn’t have the blood of Court of Winter flowing through my veins then I would surely have cried at that moment. Then Nynniaw passed through too and the Gate shut forever, vanishing in an instant as if it was never there and the blood of Winter was gone, as were all things faerie, and the tears flowed.
Back at the covenant, on Midsummer’s Eve, a wind swept over the covenant and the pear tree’s lustre faded, as did that of the trees that make up our wall. A hasty check of the aura by Terentius revealed that it had dropped by a level, even at the heart of the Spring.
The rest of the season is something of a blur. I don’t really remember walking back through the forest, save that for the first time in my life my feet felt cold. When I got back to the covenant I shut my sanctum door behind me, grabbed a bottle of wine from my plentiful supplies and lost myself in it.
Autumn
Jari’s private journal
The day before the Autumn council, I made an effort to rally myself. However, looking in the mirror I was clearly no longer the same person as I had been at the start of the season. Ignoring the usual effects of a prolonged binge, the blue of my eyes looked duller, my skin no longer so pale and smooth, and a patchy beard grew on my face, which had lost some of its previous symmetry. I shivered as I dressed, donning my formal robes over my usual casual dress in an effort to keep out the cold.
I couldn’t help feel philosophical as I regarded myself yet again. It’s not such an unusual state for me but now this was not some pretentious abstract wondering about the meaning and truth of things. Rather it was about the nature of self, what makes anyone who they are? How much of who I am, or who I was, came from that part of my blood gifted to me by my father, some nameless ljósálfar from the Snow Queen’s court?
Everyone who lives long enough and has even a modicum of reflectiveness experiences the feeling of time taking its toll on the bright-eyed young selves we once were but to live through it in an instant is not easy. Some small part at least of my distress, if I’m honest, was that I’m more like most other people now. And most other people, including most other magi, are dull and boring, and spend their lives doing dull and boring things.
But it’s the loss of the faerie in their entirety that I find it hard to move past. The finality of it all. The dreadful impact it will have on the magic of this Land. Whatever my thoughts about them, it is undoubtedly true that the world is much the lesser for their departure. Could I, should I, have visited the courts more often? No doubt. Would it have made a difference in the end? I doubt it but will never know. Egotistical to the end no doubt to always think I alone could have made all the difference but I was there at the end. What if I had have asked for the Stone? What if I was wrong and it could have brought Theoclea back? What if, what if.
Normally I’d have resolved any internal meanderings by the time I headed down the two flights of stairs from my sanctum to the council chamber, but I still felt confused and uncertain, and there was no cocky spring in my step. I slid quietly into my seat, eyes downcast, still not ready to see either pity or contempt in my sodales’ eyes.
I listened half-heartedly as Naevius and Terentius updated us on the situation with the King. Apparently, the King’s court is now in Chepstow but Theoclea’s corpse is still in Lydney so that the King may continue to return there regularly.
We discussed the implications of the closing of the last Silver Gate. The impact on magical aurae will depend on the proximity of faerie aurae to them, for the strength of those with a close-by faerie regio was surely at least in part dependent on them, so they will weaken as ours has.
The ‘ancient magic’ which powers so many parts of the magical world, was as I understood it a mixture of both faerie and magic, though that is an over-simplification resulting from the way hermetic magic predisposes us to see the world and perhaps also some limitation of what our minds can perceive. In any event, I have seen the faerie involved in construction of one of the Treasures of Britain and in the construction of Stonehenge, so we should assume that the loss of any link to Arcadia and presumably any ‘faerie’ part of such magic will have some effect.
I said that I thought the henges, or at least the power they are designed to tap into, will be fundamentally undiminished, though the help they can give mortals such as us to focus that power or to shield us from the sheer magnitude of it may well be impacted. All the more reason to continue to learn ‘The Wizard’s Anchor’ lest the control of the stones is weakened. I do not care to face the unabated power of the Land again. The effect on the Treasures of Britain will depend on the extent to which they depend on faerie magic for their power. Some will probably be lost entirely.
Pyrrhus was monomaniacally focused on the possibility that the protections surrounding the Dell may be weakened even though, as Branwen and I both recalled, it was the Jack of the Green who plugged the gaps not the faerie. And Branwen believes that the Jack will likely claim the area where the faerie regio once stood. Given her location within the faerie realm it seems likely that the Morrigan will also be somehow diminished.
Branwen’s first thought was much more troubling and likely impactful, what of the Crystal Caves? They were constructed by Nimue and Gofannon, so it is hard to see how they can endure in anything like their current state. What would that mean for Myrddin’s and Theoclea’s spirits? Terentius volunteered to go to Mynydd Myrddin this season to endeavour to find out, though he will avoid visiting the Crystal Caves.
Branwen, in her spare time this season, will have a nose around the forest for any changes more locally, starting with the Myrddyn Stone.
Naevius said that he plans to ask Edenia to help with the investigation of the Chalice and will owe her a favour in return for such aid. Such an investigation would also presumably show how the Treasures of Britain have been affected by the loss of the faerie given his previous investigation of it earlier this year. He said that the Chalice will be studied in the covenant and not taken beyond its walls. The council voted in favour of such, with only Branwen voting against.
Pyrrhus will go to King’s College in Gloucester to study the history of plagues, Naevius hastily forestalling Branwen’s attempted interjection that such study will be hopeless given the infernal nature of the coming plague. What harm can it possibly do?
Just over a fortnight after the council, with Terentius and Pyrrhus not yet returned, Gaines arrived bearing news. He told us that word has spread throughout the tribunal of Theoclea’s death and the King’s discussions with Argentius and other magi. As a result, Primus Tremere and Prima Ex Miscellania have asked for a tribunal to be called to discuss the clear concerns arising from all this, notably the decline in relations with the King.
Stories of a sudden, massive decline in faerie sites also abound and he bore the terribly sad news that Druscilla has taken her life. Sertoria of Cad Gadu and Lyvius of Narwold have reported the decline of magics and some covenants, including Narwold, have had their covenant aura reduce. Gaines’ last bit of news was a verbal message for Pyrrhus. A Tytalan is interested in exploring “the North” and Pyrrhus should expect a Magus Cassius to arrive soon at Severn Temple.
Spring 1324AD
The first meeting of 1324 offered little in the way of new beginnings or fresh hope for the future I’m sad to say. However, as a dedicated chronicler, I feel obliged to record that the slightly crone-like look that Branwen had worn recently had faded. Some aspect of her magical practice no doubt, though said maga bade me add that she had at least been a nice-looking crone and so let it be recorded!
There has been no word on the emergency tribunal which we’d previously been threatened with, which at least gives us a little more time to see if we can resolve this before politics binds our hands. Conversation then returned to how we might be able to save Theoclea. Somehow, several of us, myself included, appear to have moved from mourning her passing to believing there’s a chance that she can be saved. I’m still not quite sure how that came about, desperation probably but if there is a chance…
Naevius proposed that he investigate the Chalice as he was confident that he could detect the substantial effects that it undoubtedly possesses, though there was some debate about just how substantial bringing someone back from the dead would be! Given that even the pale imitation of such that hermetic magic can muster, the ‘Shadow of Life Renewed’ is of the 15th magnitude, this seems extremely improbable. Naevius estimated he could discern powers of the 12th or 13th magnitude. Pyrrhus volunteered that, with his assistance, this could rise by a couple of magnitudes. Though after a moment’s thought he decided that was possibly overly optimistic and revised his addition to merely a single magnitude.
The beauteous Branwen then said that she could go and speak with the Anu to get her perspective on Theoclea’s prospects, given the Anu’s well-known affinity with life and healing. As this will involve a journey and entry into a regio, it was deemed that this would constitute a season’s service, though quite where Branwen was headed was not disclosed.
I said that I would be travelling to Carrion Moor as I had planned, to be taught how to cast Arcanus’s old spell, ‘The Wizards Anchor’ by Phaedra over the course of the year.
Given our weak vis reserves and my desire to learn the spell for my investigations into stone circles in addition. Naevius suggested I could count two of those four seasons as covenant service. I said that I was fine with that, but it sparked some debate amongst my sodales as the lovely-looking Branwen and Terentius both stated that I should be awarded all four as covenant service, given the primary aim was to help get Theoclea back. Naevius called things to a vote and with Pyrrhus, Branwen and Naevius voting in favour of it (I being a virtuous sort abstained) and such was duly granted. I said I was happy to pay the 30 pawns cost of the learning myself, though Naevius insisted that we revisit that next year when it is hoped the covenant will have more resources. Such a resolution was duly voted through. I added that I expected to be able to attend council meetings, using the usual week or so’s free days with seasons.
We then formally ratified the council ruling that Theoclea is not yet dead but hovering at death’s door. Thus, we would be contesting Romanus’s ruling that she was dead.
The council agreed to look for the Chalice in Theoclea’s sanctum while she is incapable of communication, all voted in favour, save Terentius who abstained. While we believe that she, very wisely, never took up the Sword and Scabbard, we think she did eventually take the Chalice in addition to the Crown. Naevius will conduct the search.
After Naevius had set aside some creo and corporem vis for possible use of the Chalice, there was only enough to reward each season’s service with a single pawn of vis. So be it. Better to preserve whatever vanishingly faint options we have of saving Theoclea, and possibly magic itself, than to let magi have a couple more pawns of vis in their stores. With that, the Spring council concluded.
Apparently, Naevius was able to find the Chalice in but a day and thus set to examining it with his trusty new laboratory assistant. Meanwhile, I made my way back to Carrion Moor without event and so began my studies under Phaedra. She clearly harboured some doubts as to whether I’d be able to understand the arcane metaphysical aspects of the theory underpinning the spell, but I think I was able to assuage at least some of those doubts during a long discussion on the philosophical nature of time and she felt that we had made good progress over the course of the season.
Summer
Naevius began the council meeting by detailing what he and Pyrrhus had managed to learn about the Chalice. They believe they have uncovered all but one enchantment, which they think is of the fifteenth or sixteenth magnitude. Naevius said that he believed that the use of the item was not too complex if you have the appropriate vis to put in it. The vis needs to be sympathetic to the effect that you desire. Thus, our spring water with its creo or corporem vis should work well for bodily healing. Vim vis to repair a damaged Gift would need to come from a regio or similar perhaps, it likely wouldn’t work using vim vis extracted from an aura. While the Chalice has strong powers to cure disease, whether or not it would be able to treat the plague that looms ever closer from the Shadow in the East is unclear at best. Certainly not something to pin our hopes on.
Branwen reported that she had spoken with the Anu who told her that while the Chalice could heal someone’s body, mind, spirit, magical essence even, it could not bring one back if they had passed the threshold of death. The Anu would not gainsay the Morrigan’s statement that Theoclea was dead and she said that she hoped that in time Theoclea’s spirit would be free to be taken to Arawn. She warned that those who try to return from death will surely be corrupted and that is a fate worse than death, especially for the Queen of the Land. Branwen was unequivocal. Theoclea was dead. There is no path that can bring her back.
As we sat back, considering the ramifications of what Branwen had said, Pyrrhus piped up with an idea he’d had to release Theoclea’s spirit, freeing Myrddin from the Crystal Cave, his prison for so long. He blithely accepted that it would have massive repercussions but said that it could help against the Shadow from the East. Quite how he did not say. Branwen noted that she believes that Myrddin may well know something that could help. Terentius added that Theoclea had told him that Myrddin knew who she was and why she had come. Branwen then suggested that perhaps Myrddin’s memories could be accessed through the crystals and that maybe the spell that Phaedra is teaching me could help with such investigation.
Clearly feeling he was on a roll, Pyrrhus then suggested that Theoclea’s nephew could be Gifted. Tempers then flared after I, irritated by the utterly baseless faith everyone seemed to be placing on Myrrdin, unhelpfully suggested that her nephew’s Gauntlet could be to defeat the Archdemon that is bringing the plague.
Once the shouting had stopped, there was some debate as to whether it was worth checking the Crystal Caves for any memory of Myrddin’s that could help us. Naevius pushed hard for it though this was surely little more than his and other’s desperation expressing itself? I certainly hope so for the history of this covenant suggests that the Crystal Caves are more likely to mean death rather than hope and Myrddin’s goals are unknown to us. He is not an honest actor in this story and his true goals and motivations are wholly unknown to us.
After a while, the conversation turned back to Theoclea and the apparent hopelessness of her situation. Naevius called for a re-vote on her status and this time we unanimously agreed that we would withdraw our objection to Romanus’s ruling that she was dead. Naevius will travel to Blackthorn to pass such information on.
Attention then turned to the likely mundane response to Theoclea’s death. What if the King wants to see her body? What should be done? We agreed that we would hand over her body but would provide no details as to the cause of her death until we heard from Argentius or other wizards with better knowledge of affairs at court. Naevius asked what if the King wants the Crown? Do we give him the facsimile?
Naevius then pivoted a little by asking whether the Amaranth could bring Theoclea back to life, given the tales of it resurrecting people. I had to disappoint him, saying that, while of great power, being of faerie nature it was not the same person who came back. Instead, they were some form of faerie simulacra, not unlike the faerie versions of Turold or Tiarnan.
While speaking of the faerie, another potential disastrous deadline looms large this midsummer. Branwen, Eanfled, Races and I will head to the Nynniaw’s glade for Midsummer in the hopes of forestalling the closing of that Silver Gate. I believe it is likely the last remaining such Gate, so its closing would mean the loss of the faerie from this world altogether. A difficult prospect to conceive of for a Merinitan such as I, even one not of the Quendalon persuasion.
Naevius will study some art or other to continue with the vain hope of learning whether the final power of the Chalice an help us restore Theoclea.
More intriguingly, Terentius asked after aquam vis for his personal studies as he hopes to be able to learn how to turn into a dolphin before the end of the year! My mind drifted back almost 40 years when, buoyed by magically conjured currents, I swam across the North Sea as a dolphin with Marissa to visit Archimagus Tatius in Novgorod in 1285. I’d gone at Marissa’s urging, for the then Primus of the House was a practicing pagan and she was greatly concerned as to what he would do if he learned what I knew about the Queen and the treasures of Britain within her reach. He and Marissa, both water seelie by nature, convinced me that it would be unwise to attend the house meeting that year because of the pressure I would come under to reveal what I knew about the dread sword that that malignant old fat head Oratio had asked Nimue for. As it turned out, that would be the last ever House meeting of House Merinita and I would never get to see Irencillia before it was destroyed by the Templars.
After the council, I caught ship once more down to Carrion Moor to speak with Phaedra and, fortunately, she was content to pause the training for the season now that the urgency was gone so I headed back to the covenant for our last desperate mission to the Nynniaw’s Glade.
A couple of days after I’d left for Carrion Moor, an armoured woman on a black horse arrived at the gate. It was Maga Salustria of Tremere who said that she had ridden hard from London with urgent news for the council. She was swiftly shown in and those magi present hurried to hear what she had to say. It seems that, last season, Argentius had as private an audience with the King as was possible and told him that the King’s sister had suffered a misadventure while exploring a magical site in Wales. The King was deeply aggrieved and questioned Argentius closely. Argentius said that she had been exploring deep caves in a magical area when she had had an accident with magic that took her life. He gave no further detail on the exact cause of her death. He said that she had been on an expedition with Terentius but they had become separated just before her accident. He added that wizards had been able to retrieve her body whereupon the king promptly ordered it to be brought to his hunting lodge in Lydney so that he could see it for himself. While Argentius thought that the king believed his story, he said that the King was convinced that if Theoclea had truly died then he would have sensed her passing. Argentius added that the Order’s foremost medical expert, meaning Romulus, had declared her dead but the king still remained unconvinced. Salustria noted that she was but a week ahead of the royal party.
There then followed a lengthy debate about how best to present Theoclea’s corpse to the King. With crown or without? With the real crown or the fake one? With some uncertainty as to whether the King actually knew that she had claimed the crown, it was decided to place the fake crown on her chest, as though lying in state.
I arrived back a couple of days later and, having caught up on the news, promptly departed again, leaving my sodales to deal with the King while I set off into the faerie forest to try and salvage things with a wholly different court.
About 6 days after I left, the King and all his outriders, knights, soldiers, courtiers and miscellaneous other hangers on arrived at Lydney. Terentius made it known that he was at the King’s convenience should he wish to speak with him, and after being kept waiting a good long while, he was called for. Terentius was pressed for more exact details of the ‘curse’ that had struck Theoclea down, the King saying that Argentius had not been wholly clear. Terentius replied that they had become separated when Theoclea passed through a regio boundary and when he was able to cross it himself he found her in her current state. He said after that he thought that the King believed his story but remained convinced that she had not passed on. The King said that he could still feel his sister’s presence, and that he got momentary senses of her and where she is, insisting that she was not dead and her spirit was not in the Otherworld. He said that he had a sense of an older man walking and talking with her. He underlined the gravity of the situation for us by saying that “I know she is alive. If the Order gives up on her perhaps she will be lost forever and I will be gravely disappointed.” He said that he doesn’t think that Argentius will help further and pressed Terentius to begin the investigation into what happened to her again to which Terentius could only reply “Your command is clear.”
The King rebuked him slightly, saying that it was not a command but rather an appeal to loyalty between members of the Order before adding that if that is what it takes then “consider yourself commanded under the terms of the Great Charter.” A charge that he said applied to Terentius and the rest of the council. Terentius bowed and left, calling an informal council as swiftly as he could.
When reporting all this back to the council, Terentius started by saying that, just before his audience with the King, he had a strange dream in which Theoclea was present. It was troubled as he felt as though Theoclea was reaching out and saying things that on wakening he couldn’t recall. The consensus was that the only likely way to convince the King that she was gone, and thus avoid all the disastrous consequences of making an enemy of him, was to somehow free her spirit from the Crystal Caves, where it seems most likely that it is trapped. No decision was reached but from what was subsequently reported to me of the discussion on how this might be done, further highlighted the alarming amount of faith in Myrddin within our council. Whether he is technically immortal is probably moot, but he’s certainly powerful and long-lived enough to be subject to Merinita’s wisdom to ‘beware immortals’ in my mind.
Shortly after the council, Argentius and Salustria visited the covenant. Argentius spoke long with Terentius, expressing his concerns about the possible psychic shock that the King could suffer when Theoclea’s spirit passes on. He likened it to the loss of a familiar, which would be grave indeed. Who knows how such a powerful man might lash out when in thrall to such grief and pain? Argentius counselled leaving Theoclea’s spirit in its prison to avoid such a risk though that of course is likely very hard to square with the King’s explicit threats to the covenant and the Order if he believes she is still alive and we are not helping to rescue her. Argentius underlined how serious the risk of madness is by stating that he will speak with Praeco Voressio and call for a tribunal ruling to prevent anyone from freeing her spirit. As to quite how our council will avoid his ire in the meantime when his connection to her spirit endures, I am told he was not forthcoming. What leadership!
Meanwhile, despite all the stresses and hard choices afflicting my sodales, I was having an even worse time. Branwen, Races, Eanfled, Gwernifan and I journeyed through the forest to the faerie regio within. Branwen pressed me about making a copy of the ‘Wizard’s Anchor’ as soon as I am able, her previous concerns about it seemingly vanished. As we continued along the trod, I pondered what best to do. Maybe I’m being a little paranoid but I wonder whether her Prima has tasked her to learn my spell to speak with the henges so that it is known by more than just me. To be fair, it wouldn’t be an altogether unreasonable request if so. But, if I do teach another the spell, will I then lose my unique access to Stonehenge and other potential sites? Yet, in the face of the likely end of all things magical, as long as someone can forge a route forward for magic does it really matter if it is not me?
As I pondered my internal battle ‘twixt my selfish ego and what may be a nascent conscience, there was a debate about what hope exactly we could offer Nynniaw to persuade him to stay. Eanfled unhelpfully, but worryingly given his links to the covenant and this regio, said in his usual cheery voice that it was “time to go to the Summerlands.” If I hadn’t been so concerned about losing him forever I might have kicked him. It wouldn’t be the same without him. No matter how cunning I think I’ve been with my shoes, there’s still always one missing when I want it. And my sanctum would seem much quieter and duller without the near-constant background squabbling and inane chatter between Eanfled and Races, though I could possibly stand to miss a Spring or two when Races manages to surpass even Eanfled in chaos.
Anyway, as we moved through the forest, we could see hosts of faeries, making their way through the trees to the Summer Glade. Silver-eyed animals, green-skinned goblins, even a giant. And, as we entered the Glade itself, it was full of all the faeries I had ever seen or heard of living within the regio, and a few more besides: the Morfan; Tegid Foel and a motley band of swarthy knights; Jago and a herd of centaurs, eyeing Tegid Foel suspiciously; the assorted denizens of Stonevale; even the bright-tailed birds whose feathers reputedly contain auram vis but have not been seen by magi since the early years of the covenant’s Refounding.
All eyes quickly turned to the great tree as the Nynniaw emerged and greeted all. He listened patiently as I tried to convince him to stay but his mind appeared set. He told me that this land and its people have few bonds now with the mundane world as they have not been visited enough of late by me and mine. He claimed however that Gofannon’s Stone (one of the ancient treasures of Britain) could restore a spark of life to Theoclea. Furthermore, he said that it could be a real restoration. I was quite taken aback by this. All my understanding of what faeries can and cannot do, and indeed the reason why they crave mortal company so much, is that they lack something of the fundamental essence of our lives, call it our souls if you will. How then could such a power fully restore Theoclea in the face of all we have learned that indicates she is dead? It didn’t seem like a trick or game, though of course we were dealing with an immensely powerful immortal entity who was faced with closing the last link to the mortal lands that hold such fascination for the faerie so it is impossible to be sure I was reading him right.
However, in so doing the Stone would give up its power, and as it is Gofannon’s power that imbues the Stone, he would lose such power himself. I dread to think what cost he would demand for giving up a sizeable proportion of his own power, it’s hard to see how it could be anything less than a similarly great sacrifice by whoever wanted the Stone. Even were I selfless enough to give up such of my Gift, I simply do not believe, based in part on what Gofannon himself has said before, that it can truly restore Theoclea to life. All other portents and sources indicate clearly that she is dead and that there is no truly coming back from that.
Anyway, Nynniaw said that he would keep the Gate open for now, while that small sliver of hope remains. He added though that he could not help with the debate with Gofannon lest faerie politics interfere.
Then, as the last of the assembled faeries save Nynniaw filed through the Gate, Gofannon arrived with his full court. He nodded formally to Nynniaw and then addressed Branwen and I, fixing us with that dark inhuman, ineffable gaze of his. He told us that the power of this land had once drawn the fey to here from Arcadia. A vast resource it was, this extraordinary flame that attracted their attention, but it was not one that mortals had the tools to use. With neither of us believing that his Stone could bring Theoclea back, there seemed little that we could say in reply. It felt like their decision had been reached and mere reason would not suffice any more.
As Gofannon’s court began to disappear through the Gate and it seemed like everything was slipping irrevocably away, as indeed it was, I launched into a desperate last song, but to no avail. My voice was choked and my heart sick, and it stayed them not.
Jari’s private journal
As my song tailed off, Branwen took half a step forward and told Gofannon that “Cran Bethad lives”. He then asked her whether she planned to take the crown, telling her that she did not have long to decide. My breath caught in my throat; I wasn’t sure what the consequences of Branwen taking the crown would be but at that moment it seemed like our salvation. Frankly, if Pyrrhus had offered to take it then I might have considered it, albeit for the briefest of moments. Races piped up “Don’t do it! You’re not the one!”
Branwen thought for what seemed like a long while but in truth was probably naught but a heartbeat or two and then said that she could not commit to it. Whatever that means. And then the moment was gone.
Seeing the last of his court pass through the Gate, Gofannon gave a last bow in our direction and strode into Arcadia and memory.
Nynniaw then called to Eanfled and our little fox trotted over, his manner as unaffected by the gravity of the situation as it ever was. I called out desperately to him, my voice catching as I did so, hoping against hope he at least might stay “Who is the once and future fox if you do not have the promise of a future?” but he simply replied that we didn’t need him anymore and gambolled through the gate.
If I didn’t have the blood of Court of Winter flowing through my veins then I would surely have cried at that moment. Then Nynniaw passed through too and the Gate shut forever, vanishing in an instant as if it was never there and the blood of Winter was gone, as were all things faerie, and the tears flowed.
Back at the covenant, on Midsummer’s Eve, a wind swept over the covenant and the pear tree’s lustre faded, as did that of the trees that make up our wall. A hasty check of the aura by Terentius revealed that it had dropped by a level, even at the heart of the Spring.
The rest of the season is something of a blur. I don’t really remember walking back through the forest, save that for the first time in my life my feet felt cold. When I got back to the covenant I shut my sanctum door behind me, grabbed a bottle of wine from my plentiful supplies and lost myself in it.
Autumn
Jari’s private journal
The day before the Autumn council, I made an effort to rally myself. However, looking in the mirror I was clearly no longer the same person as I had been at the start of the season. Ignoring the usual effects of a prolonged binge, the blue of my eyes looked duller, my skin no longer so pale and smooth, and a patchy beard grew on my face, which had lost some of its previous symmetry. I shivered as I dressed, donning my formal robes over my usual casual dress in an effort to keep out the cold.
I couldn’t help feel philosophical as I regarded myself yet again. It’s not such an unusual state for me but now this was not some pretentious abstract wondering about the meaning and truth of things. Rather it was about the nature of self, what makes anyone who they are? How much of who I am, or who I was, came from that part of my blood gifted to me by my father, some nameless ljósálfar from the Snow Queen’s court?
Everyone who lives long enough and has even a modicum of reflectiveness experiences the feeling of time taking its toll on the bright-eyed young selves we once were but to live through it in an instant is not easy. Some small part at least of my distress, if I’m honest, was that I’m more like most other people now. And most other people, including most other magi, are dull and boring, and spend their lives doing dull and boring things.
But it’s the loss of the faerie in their entirety that I find it hard to move past. The finality of it all. The dreadful impact it will have on the magic of this Land. Whatever my thoughts about them, it is undoubtedly true that the world is much the lesser for their departure. Could I, should I, have visited the courts more often? No doubt. Would it have made a difference in the end? I doubt it but will never know. Egotistical to the end no doubt to always think I alone could have made all the difference but I was there at the end. What if I had have asked for the Stone? What if I was wrong and it could have brought Theoclea back? What if, what if.
Normally I’d have resolved any internal meanderings by the time I headed down the two flights of stairs from my sanctum to the council chamber, but I still felt confused and uncertain, and there was no cocky spring in my step. I slid quietly into my seat, eyes downcast, still not ready to see either pity or contempt in my sodales’ eyes.
I listened half-heartedly as Naevius and Terentius updated us on the situation with the King. Apparently, the King’s court is now in Chepstow but Theoclea’s corpse is still in Lydney so that the King may continue to return there regularly.
We discussed the implications of the closing of the last Silver Gate. The impact on magical aurae will depend on the proximity of faerie aurae to them, for the strength of those with a close-by faerie regio was surely at least in part dependent on them, so they will weaken as ours has.
The ‘ancient magic’ which powers so many parts of the magical world, was as I understood it a mixture of both faerie and magic, though that is an over-simplification resulting from the way hermetic magic predisposes us to see the world and perhaps also some limitation of what our minds can perceive. In any event, I have seen the faerie involved in construction of one of the Treasures of Britain and in the construction of Stonehenge, so we should assume that the loss of any link to Arcadia and presumably any ‘faerie’ part of such magic will have some effect.
I said that I thought the henges, or at least the power they are designed to tap into, will be fundamentally undiminished, though the help they can give mortals such as us to focus that power or to shield us from the sheer magnitude of it may well be impacted. All the more reason to continue to learn ‘The Wizard’s Anchor’ lest the control of the stones is weakened. I do not care to face the unabated power of the Land again. The effect on the Treasures of Britain will depend on the extent to which they depend on faerie magic for their power. Some will probably be lost entirely.
Pyrrhus was monomaniacally focused on the possibility that the protections surrounding the Dell may be weakened even though, as Branwen and I both recalled, it was the Jack of the Green who plugged the gaps not the faerie. And Branwen believes that the Jack will likely claim the area where the faerie regio once stood. Given her location within the faerie realm it seems likely that the Morrigan will also be somehow diminished.
Branwen’s first thought was much more troubling and likely impactful, what of the Crystal Caves? They were constructed by Nimue and Gofannon, so it is hard to see how they can endure in anything like their current state. What would that mean for Myrddin’s and Theoclea’s spirits? Terentius volunteered to go to Mynydd Myrddin this season to endeavour to find out, though he will avoid visiting the Crystal Caves.
Branwen, in her spare time this season, will have a nose around the forest for any changes more locally, starting with the Myrddyn Stone.
Naevius said that he plans to ask Edenia to help with the investigation of the Chalice and will owe her a favour in return for such aid. Such an investigation would also presumably show how the Treasures of Britain have been affected by the loss of the faerie given his previous investigation of it earlier this year. He said that the Chalice will be studied in the covenant and not taken beyond its walls. The council voted in favour of such, with only Branwen voting against.
Pyrrhus will go to King’s College in Gloucester to study the history of plagues, Naevius hastily forestalling Branwen’s attempted interjection that such study will be hopeless given the infernal nature of the coming plague. What harm can it possibly do?
Just over a fortnight after the council, with Terentius and Pyrrhus not yet returned, Gaines arrived bearing news. He told us that word has spread throughout the tribunal of Theoclea’s death and the King’s discussions with Argentius and other magi. As a result, Primus Tremere and Prima Ex Miscellania have asked for a tribunal to be called to discuss the clear concerns arising from all this, notably the decline in relations with the King.
Stories of a sudden, massive decline in faerie sites also abound and he bore the terribly sad news that Druscilla has taken her life. Sertoria of Cad Gadu and Lyvius of Narwold have reported the decline of magics and some covenants, including Narwold, have had their covenant aura reduce. Gaines’ last bit of news was a verbal message for Pyrrhus. A Tytalan is interested in exploring “the North” and Pyrrhus should expect a Magus Cassius to arrive soon at Severn Temple.