Against the Dark - The Transylvanian Tribunal Chapter One: Introduction

Introduction

The Transylvanian Tribunal is a fantastic setting for sagas. It is all that a reader expects. It is a land of haunted mountains, of dimly lit forests, of ruined castles and moonlit roads. Werewolves and vampires flourish, and folk magicians hunt them with silver and prayer and hawthorn and whips.

It is also a land beyond what the reader expects. Transylvania is unique. It is not like the Western kingdoms, which have so influenced the Order of Hermes. Mundane society is different here, and its differences favor the magi.

Nobles in the Tribunal do not owe fealty for their land or peasants, so magi may be nobles without swearing fealty, or breaking the Code. Magi may use their powers openly since magic is not illegal. Hungarian law allows magi to live by their own Code, with their own courts. The Order in Transylvania does not hide behind petty, puppet noblemen. The Order rules what it owns: no royal tax collector calls, no minor lord makes trivial threats.

The people of Transylvania are a mixture. In Hungary, it is unexceptional to meet merchants from the Low Countries and scholars from Persia; indeed, there are whole villages populated by both groups. Player characters in Transylvania, even simple ones like grogs, can be drawn from a tremendous variety of communities and professions. The interests of the magi weave through society, not limited by the Western need to avoid any possible offense to the powerful. This creates a plethora of story opportunities.

Transylvanian society is constantly under pressure, as it straddles the border between the East and West. The king of Hungary is the richest in Europe, but perhaps the most foolish. To make his country more Western in its armament, he has made his nobles far wealthier and more independent, and invited Crusaders to garrison part of his kingdom. He is now finding it difficult to control either. The emperor of the Bulgars plays a deadly game with the other claimants to the throne of Constantinople. Lesser leaders see opportunities in the distractions of the great kings. Regional leaders, like the nobles of the Serbs and Slovaks, have begun to consolidate their power. Magi do not officially pick winners in these struggles, but a single spell, perfectly timed, is sometimes enough to win a battle, destroy a nobleman, and shake a kingdom.

The magi of Transylvania differ from Western magi also. They have been welded into a great machine of governance and war by House Tremere. Their life is peaceful but their obligations are far greater than in Western Tribunals. Transylvanian covenants, or what the magi here have instead of covenants, are interdependent. They specialize in a way not seen in the West.

A Note on History

The history of the many ethnic groups present in the Transylvanian Tribunal has been cobbled together from the folklores of the real world nationalities presented. No historian, holding any of the many competing views, would agree that our history is correct. Further, some readers may find the way we have mangled their national history offensive. We apologize for this.

The competing national histories of the Balkan states simply cannot be resolved, without offense, because so many of them contain material that is false. We choose not to judge which these are, and instead we have selected the pieces of folklore which best suit a game manual. This setting, therefore, includes groups who may not have been in any designated area historically, to allow players broader scope for their character designs. Similarly, folklore with storytelling potential from nations which make no claim to a 13th-century presence in Transylvania, like the Roma and Turks, has occasionally been allowed to sneak into the work.

A Note on Tone

Transylvania is synonymous with horror for many readers. The horror stories set there are, however, not really set there at all. The Transylvania of horror stories is a tidy version of England, with German names. To sate readers who bought this book expecting horror, there is chapter about telling stories of fear. This is not, however, a book about the Transylvania of the Western imagination. It’s about Transylvania as described by the people who lived there. It has horrific elements, but they are not the focus of this book.

A Note on Oppida

Transylvanian magi call the legal entities they are members of “covenants,” but the physical places where they reside oppida, or “camps” (sing. oppidum). Many covenants outside Transylvania call the multiple places of residence within a single legal covenant its “chapter houses” but this term is of Jerbiton invention, and is based on a metaphorical similarity to the way monks meet in Western monastic dependencies.

Transylvanian oppida differ from chapter houses in two ways. Chapter houses are usually dependant on a “mother house.” This sounds like the Hermetic feudalism of the Tytalus-dominated Normandy Tribunal, which from the Tremere perspective is so politically inchoate that no further evidence is needed of its wrongheadedness. Oppida are independent.

The other difference is that members of an oppida don’t all need to be members of the same covenant. The five covenants of this Tribunal are more like classes of citizenship than the covenants of the West. It’s perfectly normal for a new settler, with the colonist covenant, to live in the same camp as a magus hired to make magical items for the House, who is a member of the crafter’s covenant. The camp may be led by a Tremere, who has a different covenant again. Further detail is given in Chapter 2.

Geographic Primer

The Transylvanian Tribunal includes the lands of the Carpathian Basin, the mountains that cradle them excluding the Alps, and some additional areas to the west and south. These added territories push the Tribunal’s borders out the Adriatic and Black Seas. The Tribunal’s southern border lacks any geological basis. The boundary is entirely political, based on the location of vis sources claimed by magi on either side.

Local folklore and further geographical details are given in the chapters for oppida in each of the Tribunal’s regions.

Mountains

The greatest features of the Tribunal’s topography are the mountains, the rivers, and the plains. The Carpathian Mountains form a great crescent, divided by many passes and valleys, which shields the mundane kingdom at the core of the Tribunal from Eastern invaders. A series of other mountain ranges, in the west and south of the Tribunal, complete the basin’s edges. The mountains have few inhabitants, but the mines for silver, gold, and salt, which support the royal court and much of the country’s economy, are hidden among them. Within the boundary of the mountains lies the Great Plain.

Plains

The Great Plain is a fertile but floodprone area. In areas with sufficient elevation and drainage, grain crops and vineyards thrive. The soil in this Tribunal is, on average, far more fertile than that in other parts of Mythic Europe. Settlement on many parts of the plain is difficult, because there’s little timber or stone to build with. The plain, in places, is a sea of grass, filled with folkloristic monsters and ancient cairn graves.

On most parts of the plain, flooding is common. In these areas, livestock grazing is the most common farming method. Among nobles, horse studs are a sign of status, and a source of wealth. Small parts of the plain are infertile, and come close to being desert. People who live in the cities tell many folktales about the plain – the great, empty sea of grass – because people travel through the plain all the time, but few travel to the mountains. The plain is divided, and periodically flooded, by the rivers.

The Danube and Tisza

The Danube is navigable through much of the Tribunal. It was, in ancient times, considered the physical embodiment of a goddess, and faeries from as far away as Ireland claim to be her children. The river and its many tributaries – Tisza, Alt, Sava, and Pruth – are great avenues for trade and travel. Most of these lesser rivers also have faerie embodiments: the two major rivers in Transylvania, the Olt and Maros are, for example, sisters.

Some Hungarian writers suggest that the rivers can be used to give travelers an idea of their degree of safety on the plain. The area to the west of the Danube is civilized and comparatively safe, where such threats as there are come from humans. The land between space between the Danube and the Tisza is still populated, but more sparsely, and characters here are more likely to encounter faeries. The lands to the east of the Tisza are a shield against eastern raiders, and nightmare creatures from the mountains. There is great wealth, but great danger there.

The Coasts & Southern Mountain Ranges

The Tribunal has settlements outside the great basin of the Plain. These oppida are usually alien covenants that have joined the Tribunal. These serve as gateways to other Tribunals, and provide services that the Tremere and their allies find useful.

Sites For New Covenants

Players looking for sites for new covenants or oppida might consider the following:

Kal Valley and Lake Balaton

The Kal Valley is a secluded region in the west of the Tribunal. It is suited for sagas that want to have a base near the major cities of Hungary and Italy, while still being in the wilderness. In folklore, it is remarked as being perhaps the most boring place on Earth. Its name is a cliché for the back of nowhere, but this means troupes can put whatever they like here, without disrupting those pieces of real history which they wish to keep.

It’s also close to Lake Balaton. This watercourse is the gateway to the Tribunal from the west. The lake is never more than three meters deep, and is surrounded by fertile farmland. A settlement here is on major trade routes, and story hooks can literally walk by.

Cakoc

This town has some strange fascination for dragons. Saint George slew a black beast here, centuries ago, to destroy the local custom of feeding it maidens. In 1220, a green dragon lives in the mountains nearby. It does little harm beyond terrifying people and stealing their sheep, so it’s not clear if it is Infernal in nature. It can speak, but doesn’t often deign to talk to humans, beyond instructing the occasional shepherd to restrain his dog, lest it be eaten.

Gyogy-to

Europe’s largest thermal lake is in this area, and it supplies both Ignem and Aquam vis. It is not linked, insofar as is known, to Hell, as many of these places are. The site is just far enough off the main route to the Redcap settlement in Histria that it has no Redcap coaching house (or mansio, as they are called in this Tribunal). There’s some evidence of Roman and pre-Roman magical practice. This lake is next to Heviz (see page 36).

Tomb of Attila

Somewhere along the length of this river, Attila, king of the Huns, ancestor of the Magyars and founder of Buda, is entombed. After his death, his servants diverted the water of the river Tisza with a canal, and buried him with great ceremony. His warriors all slashed themselves so that they bled, and rode circles about his corpse, reciting dirges. They then enclosed him in caskets of iron, silver, and gold, and killed the laborers who had played any part in his burial, so that the location of his corpse should pass from memory. His grave goods may include the Sword of Mars, a magical weapon which fell from the sky and gave him the power to scourge the world.

Sunken City

This is a Roman city that has fallen, mostly intact, into the Black Sea. It was connected, in ancient times, with astronomers and their Mysteries. It gives the player characters easy access to Greek culture and trade, to the Tribunal’s heartland, and to the non-Hermetic lands of the East. Many of the islands in the Black Sea also have odd myths surrounding them. Players seeking this site on modern maps should look for Karvana.

Klingsohr In 1207, the Margrave of Thuringia held a contest to find the greatest bard in the world. The finest musicians came from across Europe, and were allowed to name their own prize. They agreed that mere gold was an insult to their calling, and that the winner should be given the title of “king of poetry,” the homage of all other poets, and a crown of bay leaves. To mark the earnestness of this musical war, it was agreed that all who competed for the crown, but failed to win it, would be so disconsolate that it would be a mercy to have them put immediately to death. Only two bards dared to present themselves for the battle. Henry of Ofterdinged sang first, of love and its consolations, but he was bested by Wolfram von Eschen bach, who sang rousing songs of Crusader valor. Henry prepared for his death, but noted that it was a pity that the only bard he knew of finer than he had not attended. Wolfram was incensed, because this meant his victory was incomplete, and with the Margrave’s permission, allowed Henry to search for this bard. Henry knew that the people of Hungary seemed to learn songs by a strange osmosis. The music of the hidden bard echoes through the whispers of the leaves, is carried by the birds, and wafts through the storm clouds of Hungary. It settles in the mind without effort, and is learned almost without thought. Henry followed these hints and clues. He found Klingsohr singing to an empty field near Tisza. Klingsohr was utterly uninterested in wealth, and felt no need to be told he was a better poet than others. He eventually did agree to return to Wartburg, because he wanted to save Henry’s life. Klingsohr sang of his deep love for the plains of Hungary, and Wolfram von Eschenbach gave him the crown of bay. Klingsohr asked that the other bards not be killed, for that was simply foolish, and then sang a prophecy concerning the future of the Margrave’s family, which has been correct in every detail. Klingsohr still lives somewhere in this area, wandering in peasant clothes, and singing Hungary’s beauty to itself. He predicts the future to those who need it, or are kind.

Isle of Achilles

In the Black Sea, there is a small island on which Achilles, the hero of the Trojan War, was buried. The temples to him have fallen now, but during Roman times, some unique mystical event took place here, and since it has been inhabited by the spirits of Achilles, Helen, and some of their retainers.

The spirits of the island forbid any woman to ever set foot upon its shores, and permit men to visit only during the day. Those who wish to visit for more than a single day must sleep on their ships. Some of the fishermen of the Black Sea know the island as a secure anchorage during storms, but few are willing to trust their lives to the whims of the spirits ashore. Achilles murders any visitor of Trojan descent. Trojan princes founded Rome and settled as far away as Britain, so who can say if he has Trojan ancestors?

Tremere magi, and their companions, sometimes seek out Achilles to discuss warfare with him. His spirit is less angry and driven than it was during life. Others seek out his love, Queen Helen, to discern the locations of ancient cities and temples. Some researchers suggest that Achilles and Helen, as the paragonic Man and Woman, are the core of a mystery cult, but House Tremere has no record of this.

Wasn’t Achilles Gay and Buried Somewhere Else? The best known version of the story of Troy, the Iliad, certainly has him buried elsewhere. Philostratus, Maximus of Tyre, Pausanias, and, of course, all the local people, believe the story given here.

Seventy-Seventh Island

The 77th island of the Black Sea is plunged in darkness so thick a spoon can stand in it. In the middle of the island are three reeds, and trapped inside the center reed is a maiden, said to be the fairest on the Earth. The other two reeds contain her handmaids. They are guarded by a witch, who must die the instant the Reed Maiden is released. The darkness is so thick that only a mount reared on dragon milk, fed burning coals, and given fire to drink can penetrate it.

Languages in the Balkans

The South Slavonic language covers a family of languages which in the 13th century are poorly differentiated. The main groups are Bulgarian and Serbian, with the former having the most speakers. Bulgarian principally uses the Cyrillic alphabet, whereas the Serbian group (which includes Slovene, Bosnian, and Croatian) is mostly written with the Latin script. Church Slavonic is a dialect of South Slavonic used in the Orthodox Church in Slavic lands, and uses the Glagolitic alphabet.

Vlach is spoken by the Romanians, and it is a variant of the Vulgar Latin spoken in the late Roman Empire. Speakers of Latin find some mutual compatibility between that language and Vlach. The Aromanian dialect is spoken in Illyria and northern Greece.

The dominant language in Hungary and Hungarian-occupied Transylvania is Magyar (pronounced “MORD-jor”), a tongue unrelated to any other in the region. Magyar has its own alphabet called Rovasiras, but since the start of the 11th century, it has officially been transcribed using the Latin script. Popular use of Rovasiras persists, particularly among the Szekely. The Transylvanian Saxons in Burzenland speak Low German, and various dialects of High German are common among the Teutonic Knights.

The Cumans speak Kipchak and the Pechenegs speak Oghuz, both Turkic languages that are also related to Oghur, the dead language of the ancient Bulgar people. Neither language has a native written form, and use instead the Rovasiras or Latin alphabets.

• South Slavonic (Bulgarian, Serbian, Church Slavonic)
• Vlach (Romanian, Aromanian)
• Oghur* (Bulgar)
• Oghuz (Turkish, Turkman, Azerbaijani, Pecheneg)
• Kipchak (Cuman, Kipchak)
• Magyar (Hungarian, Transylvanian)
• Low German (Saxon)

* Dead language

Even without knowing a specific language, a character who knows a language that is closely related to another language can still potentially understand a speaker:

Languages	Penalty (for both speakers)
Same language, different dialects	-1
Vlach vs. Latin	-1
Kipchak vs. Oghur or Oghuz	-2
Low German vs. High German	-2
Low German vs. English	-3

So, a native Bulgarian — South Slavonic (Bulgarian) 5 — has an effective score of 6 when talking to his countrymen, but can still converse with a Serbian with an effective score of 4. However, even if literate, he cannot read Serbian unless he is also familiar with the Latin script.

Names

The following names are appropriate to characters in the Transylvanian Tribunal. Where appropriate, English equivalents have been given. The Slavic letter “š” is pronounced as “sh,” and “ž” or “zh” is pronounced like the “s” in “measure.”

Slavic Names, Male

Aleksandar, Andon, Andrej, Bartol, Bogdan, Boris, Borislav, Božidar, Branimir, Branislav, Branko, Dalibor, Darko, Dejan, Djordje (George), Dragan, Drago, Dražen, Dubravko, Dušan, Emil, Goran, Grigor (Gregory), Grozdan, Hristofor (Christopher), Ivan, Javor, Jovan (John), Kaloyan, Kiril (Cyril), Krešimir, Ladislav, Ljubomir, Matej (Matthew), Mikhail (Michael), Miloš, Miroslav, Mladen, Nemanja, Nenad, Obrad, Pavel (Paul), Petar (Peter), Radomir, Radoslav, Stanislav, Stjepan (Stephen), Stoyan, Todor (Theodore), Vasil (Basil), Vladan, Yavor, Yoan (John), Zoran

Slavic Names, Female

Adrijana, Agata, Albena, Anastasiya, Anna, Bisera, Branislava, Branka, Cecilija, Danica, Doroteja (Dorothy), Dragana, Dragica, Dubravka, Ekaterina (Katherine), Elena, Elisaveta (Elizabeth), Eva, Grozda, Hristina (Christina), Irina, Jadranka, Jagoda, Jelena (Helen), Kalina, Magdalena, Marija, Nadežda, Polina, Radmila, Radomira, Rosa, Snežana, Suzana, Svjetlana, Tatiana, Tereza, Toma, Vesna, Višnja, Zhenya, Zora

Hungarian Names, Male

Adorján, Ágoston, Álmos, Ambrus, Andor, Árpád, Bálint, Bartal, Béla, Bertók, Csaba, Dezső, Dömötör, Edvárd, Elek, Endre (Andrew), Fábián, Ferenc, Gábor, Gergely, Géza, György, Ignác, Imre, István (Stephen), János, Jenő, Kálmán, Károly, Kornél, Lajos, László, Máté (Matthew), Mihály (Michael), Miklós, Nándor, Orbán, Rikárd, Sándor (Alexander), Tamás (Thomas), Tibor, Tódor, Vencel, Zoltán, Zsolt

Hungarian Names, Female

Adél, Ágnes, Ágota, Aliz, Amália, Anasztázia, Angyalka, Anikó, Anna, Aranka, Beáta, Blanka, Borbála, Csilla, Edina, Emese, Erzsébet, Gizella, Hajna, Ibolya, Ilona, Judit, Luca, Lujza, Margit, Natália, Ráhel, Rózsa, Sára, Szandra (Alexandra)

Vlach (Romanian) Names, Male

Alin, Andrei, Anghel, Cătălin, Claudiu, Corneliu, Cosmin, Decebal, Dorin, Doru, Emilian, Flaviu, Florin, Ghenadie, Haralamb, Horatiu, Horea, Iancu, Ion (John), Iuliu, Lucian, Lupul, Marku, Mihai, Mircea, Mugur, Neculai (Nicholas), Ovidiu, Petru, Răzvan, Sorin, Tibor, Valeriu, Viorel, Virgiliu

Vlach (Romanian) Names, Female

Adela, Adelina, Aurica, Brândusa, Camelia, Catalina, Crina, Diana, Doina, Emilia, Estera, Flavia, Ileana, Ionela, Ionut, Luminita, Magda, Mihaela, Mircea, Mirela, Nuta, Oana, Otilia, Sabina, Stefania, Tatiana, Uzana, Violeta, Viorica, Zaharia

Cuman/Pecheneg Names, Male

Adem, Alp, Altan, Asil, Aslan, Aydin, Bariş, Berk, Berkant, Berker, Bulut, Burak, Çağatay, Can, Coskun, Direnç, Ediz, Emin, Emir, Emre, Ender, Engin, Erdem, Eren, Erol, Firat, Göker, Hakan, Hikmet, İbrahim, İlhami, İlker, İlkin, Kadri, Koray, Kudret, Levent, Metin, Murat, Musa, Ömer, Onur, Osman, Ozan, Özgür, Savas, Selim, Serhan, Serhat, Serkan, Soner, Temel, Tolga, Tunç, Turgay, Ufuk, Umut, Volkan, Yakup, Yavuz, Zeki

Cuman/Pecheneg Names, Female

Asli, Aygül, Aylin, Ayşe, Aysel, Aysu, Aysun, Basak, Belgin, Berna, Bilge, Burcu, Canan, Ceren, Deniz, Derya, Dilara, Dilek, Ebru, Ece, Eda, Ekin, Elif, Elmas, Emel, Emine, Esen, Esin, Fidan, Filiz, Gizem, Gonca, Gözde, Gül, Gülay, Gülbahar, Gülistan, Hande, Havva, Hazan, Ipek, Irmak, Kelebek, Kiraz, Meryem, Müge, Nergis, Nesrin, Nilüfer, Nuray, Özge, Özlem, Pembe, Pinar, Şebnem, Sevda, Sevgi, Simge, Tülay, Tutku, Yağmur, Yeter, Yildiz, Yonca, Zeynep

Attribution Based on the material for Ars Magica, ©1993-2024, licensed by Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games®, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license 4.0 ("CC-BY-SA 4.0"). Ars Magica Open License Logo ©2024 Trident, Inc. The Ars Magica Open License Logo, Ars Magica, and Mythic Europe are trademarks of Trident, Inc., and are used with permission. Order of Hermes, Tremere, Doissetep, and Grimgroth are trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB and are used with permission.