Against the Dark - The Transylvanian Tribunal Chapter Three: The Hungarians
The Hungarians (Magyars)
In 1220, Hungary dominates the north of the Tribunal. Even those areas which are not formally part of Hungary often have nobles of Hungarian descent, and communities of Hungarians in larger towns.
Political Structure
The current king of Hungary, Andrew (Andrais), has embarked upon a scheme of social change, the “new institutions,” to strengthen his kingdom. Devolution of power and wealth to his nobles is meant to make Hungary more formidable in war. The reforms are, however, incomplete, and may be ill-advised.
Traditional Political Structure
Hungary’s royal lands are divided into a series of megye, or counties. Each is led by an ispán, or count, appointed by the king. There are 72 counties, and most counts rule more than one. They are represented in each extra county by a deputy, called a curial count. Counts support themselves with rent from peasants, plus a third of the taxes, tolls, and fines of the county. Counts are considered equal in status to a bishop. Each county surrounds a “castle.” The term, in this sense, usually refers to a fortified town. Hungarian fortified towns are defended by a ditch, embankment, other earthworks, and a wooden wall. Private castles are illegal, although there are a few exceptions. Stone castles are very rare, the three obvious exceptions being those from which the king rules. Many castles are named after their first governor. Frontier counts are called marchio, in Latin. A march has a defensive system of earthworks and logs that block routes into the realm. Beyond this is a large frontier zone that is left unsettled. It is defended by light mounted archers (Szelkers or Pechengs) and a group of castle folk called “guards” (speculatores). The fringes of Hungary do not have counties. Transylvania is ruled by a line of voivodes (princes) appointed by the King of Hungary, each holding the role only for a few years. Croatia is ruled by an appointed governor, whose title is ban. Slovenia may also have a ban. Dalmatia’s cities rule themselves under an agreement with the Crown.
New Institutions
King Andrew has created a new class of nobles, his barons, who are considered superior to counts. There are 20 barons, each holding at least one county, who are selected from the highborn nobility. Andrew can dismiss a baron from an office, but generally only by giving them an alternative and lucrative role. Among the barons, certain titles give higher status, although several different titles may give the same status. In order, they are: • The palatine, the judge royal (two justiciars), the ban of Croatia, and the voivode of Transylvania. • The head of the queen’s household, and the master of the royal chamber. • The master of the horse, the master of the table, and the master of the cup bearers. • All other barons. Andrew has also given vast royal territories to his barons. Those who favor his cause say that this allows his nobles sufficient wealth to arm themselves and their retinues in the manner of Western knights. His detractors say that it is to buy loyalty, and to pay the massive debts he accepted when he raised the largest crusading army ever, for the Fifth Crusade. Nobles in Hungary do not give military service or taxes for their lands, so his actions are more extreme than equivalent disbursements of land by nobles in Frenchor German-speaking areas. Andrew has also arguably damaged the county system in two other ways. Foreign settlements, such as those granted to the Saxons, are outside the jurisdiction of counts, which erodes revenue. In the last decade, King Andrew has created many “royal servants,” free men who are arguably outside the control of the counts. This has created tension between the old nobility and the newly free.
Social Structure
Hungarian society is similar to that found in other Tribunals, with a few unique features. Hungarians are restrained, polite, and formal. They are very pedantic about their precedence, which is set at birth. Hungarians give their surnames, then their first names, a unique feature for Europeans. They do not discuss money, but are open to all other forms of conversation, even on taboo subjects like heresy.
Serfs and Free Men
Serfs are property and may be bought and sold. Serfs may be ordered to do work, unlimited in nature or extent, and cannot represent themselves in court. If you kill a serf, you owe his master for material loss, and must do penance, but owe no penalty to his family. Serfs technically own nothing, but many are allowed to own things, and live like prosperous serfs of other lands. Most “free” men are in bondage: that is, they are required to fight or do work for their lords, and may not leave their lord. The work free men do is limited by custom or law, unlike that of a serf. Few free men are able to do entirely as they wish. Such freedom is called “golden freedom” and is enjoyed only by the gentry and foreigners. Even among the bonded free men there are two classes, the wealthy and poor. Wealthy free men pay larger fines. For example, manumitting the serf of another person is illegal. The fine is 50 steers if the liberator is rich, and 12 if poor. Membership of these two classes is by birth, not real wealth. A free man has the right to do many things, for which a serf would have to ask permission, or may be forbidden by custom from doing. A free man may attend court as an accuser or witness so long as he owns at least a plough, so he can pay a fine for perjury. A blood price of 110 steers is due at the death of a free man: 50 for the kin, 50 for the king, and 10 for the mediators. Free men pay an annual tax of eight pence each. On the other hand, a free person who has sex with a serf becomes a serf. On a noble’s allod, free men are all but unknown — his household servants are serfs, almost by definition. The exception is the king. Half of the peasants on his personal lands are free, but bonded to agriculture or craft. Just fewer than 20 percent are free but bonded to warfare. Around a third are halffree, as described later. Castle Folk Castle folk are the hereditary servants of a castle and its count. They are free, and pay the annual taxes of the free, but are bound to serve at their castle. They live on castle land, which they do not own, but cannot be deprived of it so long as they pay rent for their “lodging,” usually in food and service. One in eight castle folk are peasant warriors, whose duty it is to fight. They are not noble, and cannot become noble. They are not true “castle warriors” in the sense described later. They have land, but it can be taken by the count or king if he wishes. Their task is hereditary. Castle Warriors Each count has a band of free warriors as the core of his banner. They may not leave his castle’s service, or they are treated as fugitive serfs. All are landed, and their land is passed hereditarily. Even the king cannot take their land, provided they give service. They pay no taxes. They differ from nobles in that they can be compelled to fight continuously, whereas true nobles pick which battles they attend. The leader of this group is the count, or one of his officers. Some castle warriors eventually become petty nobles. Half-Free There are two main groups of half-free, the udvornici and the conditionarii. The udvornici are “royal serfs.” That is, they are serfs on the extensive royal lands. They live like castle folk and are governed by a subcaste called “the free of the udvornici.” These men do military service as warriors, at the rate of one per ten udvornici. The udvornici have tasks they must perform, but these are limited by custom, like those of free men, despite the udvornici not being free. The conditionarii are peasants who have a duty, at a village level, to provide a good or service to the king. These duties are very specific. One village provides all of the royal cooks, another all the door keepers, another all the coopers, another all the jesters, and so on through dozens of professions. Some groups instead provide goods to the court. One group is required to pay in beaver furs, another marten furs, another honey, another blocks of iron, and so on. Conditionarii are half-free, because their duties, like a free man’s, are limited by the custom of their tax conditions.
Hospites
Hospites are “guests” who, in exchange for taxes or services, are allowed land on which they may live by their own laws and customs. Hospites have golden freedom, and they may leave their land if they wish. All Transylvania Saxons, Khwarezmians in the royal service, and Szeklers, for example, are free men.
Petty Nobles
A landowner is noble in Hungary, regardless of how small his property is. Land comes to a family in a number of ways: ancient ownership; land grants from the king, the Church, or a nobleman; or invasion of surrounding lands. Inheritance in Hungary is by equal division among sons and grandsons of the property of the deceased. This makes even large estates implode into tiny fragments over generations. The usual way of preventing this is for a nobleman to give his land to a favored relative before he dies, cutting off tiny slivers to give to his other children so they retain their noble status. The royal house does not evenly divide its lands, which allows it to retain its strength. All land in Hungary not owned by the Church or loaned by the King to one of his officers is allodial. That is, it is owned by the nobleman, not held as fief from the king. A noble has no duty to fight on the king’s behalf in order to retain his own land. Many of the lesser members of this group own their land, but perform hereditary duties for it. Many of the greater nobles are counts. As royal officers, they have a duty to fight on the king’s behalf using the resources of their
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Nobility: A Clarification
There are moves afoot in Hungary to define the role and status of the nobleman. If your saga follows history, these will crystallize in the Golden Bull in 1222, which ties nobility to landholding. In 1220, however, various Hungarians believe that people are noble by whichever one of the following best describes the holder of the belief: • Holding office from the Crown. • Owning land. • Being of noble blood. • Doing what a noble does, via military service. • Doing what a noble does, via excellent manners. A player character can claim to be noble if she has any of these attributes, but other nobles will not necessarily agree that they share status. Note that the victorious premise in this tussle, that the landed are noble, means that many magi are noble, or can become so with trivial effort. This does not require an Oath of Fealty, and so does not breach the Code.
Hungarian Social Classes as Virtues and Flaws
Serfs, udvornici, most free men, and castle folk use the Peasant Free Virtue. Conditionarii are usually Peasants, although some must practice the Ability which is referred to in their condition, and these are best designed as Craftsmen. Castle folk who act as soldiers use the Peasant Free Virtue, but should also select the Warrior Minor Virtue. Hospites usually have the Peasant, Craftsman, or Merchant Free Virtues. Those who are in the royal service are often Educated. Companions who are castle warriors have an Oath of Fealty to the king, and therefore to his local representative, the count. All are at least Warriors, and some are Knights. Player character grogs cannot generally be castle warriors, because they cannot have Story Flaws; a character with this sort of divided loyalty would draw too much story attention to count as a grog. A free man who does not own land, but fights as a horseman in the service of a lord, should take the Knight Virtue and the Oath of Fealty Flaw. Nobility in Hungary is not based on land ownership. Some nobles are simply Wealthy Peasants. A noble who maintains himself only with the aid of rich family members should take Gentleman. A noble who can maintain himself as a mounted warrior only with constant currying of favor or raiding is a Poor Landed Noble. A Landed Noble, lacking other Virtues or Flaws, spends two seasons a year on maintaining his lifestyle, with a spare 10 pounds a year for largesse. He may call up ten peasant soldiers (doubled for defensive war) and three other professional horsemen, who will fight for him. A Wealthy Landed Noble has three seasons and 20 pounds per year to spend as he likes. He may call up fifty peasant soldiers (doubled if defensive) and nine professional horsemen. Note that no Oath of Fealty is required of nobles in Hungary. Hungarian nobles tend to have less expensive armor than western nobles. Lords who can call up more men than this are Greater Nobles. Players should discuss their characters with their troupes before designing greater nobles. Counts must take the Oath of Fealty Flaw. Bishops are both Priests and Greater Nobles. Troupes who find that the Oath of Fealty Flaw is preventing the player from taking an alternative and equally interesting Flaw may agree that the Oath will not be used to hook the character into stories, and so another choice may be made.
|] county. They are under no obligation, however, to rouse their personal servants.
High-Born Nobility
The gentry of Hungary are drawn from 108 families that claim to be descended from a pagan chieftain (not necessarily Hungarian) in the initial invasion. The members of this group may use “from the kindred of X” as a title. The greater a family’s poverty, the more they insist they are noble using this method, since they have no other way of demonstrating their status. Kindred use the same symbol on their coat of arms, an idea borrowed last century from the king. They are not political entities, and hold no property in common except perhaps a burial abbey.
Greater Nobles
The greater nobility of Hungary are descended, in the most part, from royal servants. Royal servants may be native or foreign. They are raised from bondship to nobility, given a little land, and become men of the king’s household. In return for excellent service, they are given increasingly large sections of land and, with it, great economic power.
The King
The king’s allodial land is the vastest in the kingdom. It is a mixture of territorial blocks and villages. Each section centers on a curtis (royal manor). Much of it is “forest,” in the legal sense of land reserved for the royal use. The forest is tended by villages of custodes silvarum, a type of conditionarii, and these are lead by a procurator. The court progresses around the three largest cities in Hungary, as described in a later section.
The Three Court Cities
The royal court proceeds around three cities and this triangle is the core of the Hungarian state.
Esztergorm
Esztergorm is the capital of Hungary, and its largest city. The city is ancient, and was a camp for the Romans, Attila the Hun, and the first king of the invading Hungarians. The Castle Hill (or Várhegy) lies close to the river, allowing fortification and the control of river traffic for taxation. The royal palace lies on the northern edge of the hill. One of the predecessors of the current castle was the birthplace of Saint Stephen, so he is expected to watch over his descendants with particular attention while they dwell here. The current palace was built a few decades ago by Western masons, and is considered a marvel. The court uses it to impress magnates from overseas. When foreign kings visit Hungary, for example when traveling to the Holy Land by overland routes, they are always received here. The center of the hill is topped with a basilica dedicated to Saint Adalbert, who first baptized the royal family of Hungary. This is the throne of the Archbishop of Esztergorm, who is the leader of the Hungarian Church. The Archbishop reserves the right to crown the King of Hungary. The Hungarian Church is, theoretically, firmly allied to the King, but in reality, the Church is highly critical of the King’s laxity with Muslims, pagans, and Jews. The proximity of the royal forces to the throne of the archbishop reduces public tension. The city lies between the hill and river. It has around 11,000 inhabitants, many of whom are foreigners. This large international presence comes from two main sources. The king
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King Bela’s Finances
King Bela, the grandfather of the current king, prepared a list of his finances when attempting to arrange a marriage to a foreign princess in the late 12th century. He claimed income of 166,000 marks (110,666 pounds) a year, plus services. He may have been exaggerating for effect, but this is 50 percent higher than the income of the king of France, and double that of the king of England. Bela was ridiculously wealthy, and his income was in silver, not in service or agricultural products. Assuming Andrew’s income is similar: • 36 percent of his income (60,000 marks a year) comes from coinage. The money of account in Hungary is the penza, and a penza is equal to 40 pence. Various weights and purities of coin are in circulation. Mark ingots are slightly more common than coins. A mark is divided into fertones (onequarter of a mark) and pondera (oneforty-eighth of a mark). Coins are reminted yearly, and a tariff of one coin in three goes to the king. All mines in Hungary belong to the king. Panning for gold is common in Transylvania, and one-tenth of all gold found is owed to the king. • 18 percent is from tolls for ferries and markets. The main trade routes are to Kiev, Constantinople, and Regens burg via Vienna. Eztergorm sits at the junction of these three routes, and is on the obligatory itinerary for foreign merchants of most goods. The main imports are luxuries for the king and his court. One of the main exports is horses. These are lighter breeds, although heavier bloodlines are in development. Every noble who can afford it has a horse stud, as a matter of personal honor. Other exports include cattle, copper, silver, and gold. Slave exports stopped around 20 years ago, likely as part of the king’s drive to populate the fringes of the country. • 15 percent is the portion of the tax of the 72 counties due the king. • 10 percent of royal revenue is from a salt monopoly. Salt is mined in Transylvania in many places, and then carried by boat up the Mures to Szeged or overland to Sãlacea. It is shipped in cubes, and the unit of measure is the tumen, which is 10,000 cubes. The king makes his annual payments to the monasteries founded by the royal family in salt, and the salt cube is used as currency in many areas. • 9 percent is from a tax on the Saxons of Transylvania. • 6 percent is from an annual gift from the counts. • 6 percent is from a tax on Slavonians.
|] often hires foreigners to bring skills useful to the court into Hungary, and these servants live in the city to be near their employment. Second, the laws of the kingdom require all foreign merchants to offer their wares for sale at Esztergorm, so that they can be conveniently purchased by the court. Some of these merchants settle in the city, to act as agents and suppliers for their countrymen.
Székesfehérvár
This city is surrounded by marshland, which made it defensible in ancient times. When the Hungarians invaded, their king saw the military potential of the place and fortified it. Saint Stephen built a basilica here and appointed a bishop. Since that time, it has grown as a center for ecclesiastical learning, with many monasteries, churches, and the largest cathedral school in the kingdom. Székesfehérvár is not the capital, but it is the city that the royal family uses for many ceremonial functions. The king is always
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The Estate of the Wizards
For as long as records have been kept, there has been a large, elegant building, similar to a Roman villa but three stories high, in the royal capital. Its residents say it was once outside the town, but that the city has expanded around it, leaving a moat of formal gardens. The Estate of the Wizards is a mansio, a place where magi can stay that is maintained by House Mercere. The local nobility know that if they have complaints against magi, they can be lodged here. In cases where the right of justice is disputed, the king’s judges and the servants of the magi can contest jurisdiction here. That magi usually interact with mundanes through servants is a traditional right, protected by the Holy Crown of Hungary. Similar mansios are scattered around the Tribunal: some public, many private.
Story Seeds for the Royal Mint
Esztergorm contains Hungary’s only mint, and the reminting of coins is one of the main sources of royal income. Enforcement of standards is taken far more seriously in Hungary than in other countries, where the right to mint is sold to noblemen. Coins are regularly reminted, and the king’s staff is very skilled at detecting forged coins. Magi who do not take sufficient care when making coins with created silver are more likely to be caught in this Tribunal than in any other. Attacking the king’s revenue by making metals without passing on the equivalent of mining taxes, or minting coins at all, is a very serious breach of the king’s rights, sufficient for him to raise an army and attempt to crush an oppidum. Characters who breach the Code in this way can expect little support from the Order. Buying the County of the Mint The king’s debts following the Fifth Crusade are so great that he decides to farm out a monopoly on the right to mint coins in Hungary, by annually auctioning the office of Count of the Mint (comes camere). The only way to pay upfront for such a right is to call off debts the king already owes you, to pay in land, to be a nobleman, or to form a consortium of wealthy individuals. Groups favoring each of these approaches form. Player characters, openly or sheltering behind any of these ruses, could buy the right to mint coins in Hungary. Buying rights offered in fair and public sale is within the Code. Characters who are in charge of the mint also have the duty to find counterfeiters, and to enforce the taxes on miners. Counts of the Mint who keep the king’s staff may clash with the Archbishop of Esztergorm, because the minters are all Muslims. Magi who use magical methods to stamp coins, and make a show of dispensing with the services of the kaliz (as Hungarians call all minters, because they are all Khwarezmians) may favorably impress the Church. If the characters do an excellent job of managing the currency, Hungarian silver trades at a premium in foreign ports. This makes their money literally worth more simply because it has their stamps upon it. If the player characters do not win the rights of the mint, it will instead fall to a syndicate funded by Venetian bankers. Local members of House Mercere catch rumors that their own domus magnus, as well as some of the other covenants active in Italy, are behind the syndicate. Can House Tremere let this sort of interference in Transylvania pass, or will they arrange a syndicate for the next auction? Later, the king splits this monopoly into regional rights, so that he can get money from all of the interested syndicates, not just the richest. Mints are es tablished at Csanad, Szerem, Buda, and Zagreb. The rights to sell salt and charge tolls are also farmed out on a regional basis. Characters not previously interested may be drawn into minting, mining, or trade, by the lower price and relative lack of competitive chicanery. Faerie Forger A problem here is that a lot of faeries make coins, and sometimes mark them with prominent landmarks or the symbols of powerful mortals. A faerie has started spreading coins marked with the sigils of magi, or the mark of their oppidum. How do the players track down not just the faerie, but the coins he has created? Missing Minter One of the king’s inspectors of coins has disappeared. The king’s minister thinks the man has been taken so that the tests used to uncover forgeries can be extracted from him through torture. The Redcaps become aware of the missing man, and pass the word around the Tribunal. Some oppida want to return the coin inspector to gain favor with the king, others want to the information he has. Some want to make coins, others want to check rumors that the minters have magical items, or techniques, which allow them to perform their duties.
|] crowned, and preferably buried, in Székesfehérvár. Important pilgrimages start here. When the nobles gather for a diet (like a parliament), it generally occurs here. Although the king’s treasure is stored in Esztergorm, those pieces which have ceremonial functions are usually kept in Székesfehérvár. The most important of these is the Holy Crown.
Veszprém
The smallest of the three cities, the castle here predates the Hungarian invasion. Saint Stephen founded the first bishopric in Hungary here. The town was a favorite of Stephen’s queen. The bishop here has the traditional right to crown the queen-consorts of Hungary. This was most recently reaffirmed after a different bishop crowned the current queenconsort. This caused a serious breach in the Hungarian Church that eventually had to be smoothed over by Papal intervention. The bishopric of Veszprém is, in part, poorer than other, similarly ancient foundations because the nearby Monastery of Pannonhalma is even older. The Bishops of Veszprém, weakest and poorest of their class, are usually closely allied to the Order. From the perspective of the magi, they serve as a useful counterbalance to the Archbishop of Esztergorm. Veszprém houses a college where royal diplomats are trained for international service. The artes liberales are taught here, together with law. The library of the college is one of the finest in Hungary.
Village Life
The average village has 30 to 40 households. The houses are scattered about, not confined to streets. Most Hungarians only use their houses for bad weather accommodation, and have tents near their houses that they use in preference. Huts are timberframed, lack windows or chimneys, and have
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The Holy Crown of Hungary
The traditions of the Holy Crown lie at the center of royal legitimacy in Hungary. The Hungarians were originally a central Asian people, and so their ideas concerning legitimacy are strange from the perspective of Western Europeans. The Doctrine of the Holy Crown was first explained by Saint Stephen, although it has been developed by other thinkers since that time. • The Holy Crown is a living being, and it connects God to Man. It rules Hungary on behalf of the Virgin Mary, to whom King Stephen gave the country as a gift. • The territory of the kingdom is the body of the Holy Crown. Nobles, including the king, have the right to possess land, but they cannot sell it, or mortgage it, without the permission of the Crown, as given by the king. • All Hungarians are equal under the Crown: the people of the nation are collectively sovereign. Serfs are a later exception to this. • The king rules on behalf of the nation, so he can be legitimately resisted if he is breaking the laws of the Crown. The king cannot change the traditional laws of the Crown, even though these have not been formally written. The king (or any other noble) may be resisted if he: • Tries to alienate any of the land of the Crown by giving, selling, or mortgaging it to foreigners. • Fiddles with the ownership of lands he does not personally hold. • Imposes novel methods of justice. • Ignores the traditional rights of Hungarians. • Ignores the rights of foreigners. • Subverts traditional methods of land administration. • Fails in defense of the Christian religion. Transylvanian magi have occasionally observed some strange effects due to this system. The Holy Crown, acting as regent for the Virgin Mary, makes it a moral duty for them to resist bad and corrupt nobles. If they do, sometimes miracles aid them. In addition, their right to be tried for crimes under the Code of Hermes is guaranteed by the Crown, a Divine being, not the king.
|] reed thatch roofs. They are recessed a foot into the earth. Famine is almost unknown in Hungary, which is so unusual the Quaesitores have checked for Hermetic tampering with crops. Wheat is plentiful and cheap in this Tribunal. The other main crop is barley. Other grains are rare, but rye is grown in some areas, and millet and oats are grown as fodder. Vineyards have been planted throughout the country, even in completely unsuitable areas, to supply wine for mass as part of the Christianizing process. In traditional Hungarian agriculture, a farmer does not own particular pieces of land. There is so much land that he just plants as much as he can manage, and when it is exhausted, he plants somewhere else. Only the most fertile land is planted, and this is why marginal grains are rare. Most villages have large areas of pasture and woodland at their disposal. Querns are used by individual households to turn grain into flour, rather than mills owned by lords. Villages move as land becomes exhausted. In 1092 a Church council demanded that once a village had a church, it could not move far from it. Only one village in ten has a church, however, and even villages with churches are only tethered to a circle of a few miles about the church. Where the population is densest, the field system is changing over to the open field style found in much of the rest of Europe. Walloon and Saxon settlements look Western, and bring the techniques of urbanization to Hungary. Animal husbandry hasn’t dominated agriculture in Hungary for a couple of centuries, but it still holds a central place in Hungarian culture. There are huge pasturages owned by nobles all across the country. Cattle and sheep are the commonest stock, followed by pigs which are fed on mast. Peasant animals are penned in winter. Peasants are permitted to fish, and sturgeons reach as far up the Danube river as Pozsony and Tokaj. Peasants are allowed to hunt — indeed, in some areas they are required to, because hospites often pay an annual tax in marten pelts, honey, mead, or wax. Bears, wolves, wisents, and aurochs are all found in the Tribunal, and are not reserved for noblemen, as in some other kingdoms.
The Church
Saint Stephen, the father of Hungary, introduced Roman Christianity as a tool for centralizing power. He used it to eradicate paganism, which is extinct in the country with the exception of the Cumans. He also used Christianity to destroy tribalism, which he replaced with the county system. Several counties make a diocese, and each diocese has a bishop. Each bishop answers either to the Archbishop of Esztergorm — who is the senior and crowns the kings of Hungary — or the Archbishop of Kalocsa. Each of these is, theoretically, a close ally of the King.
Finance
The Church is a major landholder in Hungary. The largest holdings belong to the two archbishoprics, and to the bishoprics of Pecs and Ordea (which keeps the Divine Dexter, the mummified hand of Saint Stephen) The richest and most powerful cathedral chapter is at Székesfehérvár, which keeps the Holy Crown (which is alive, and Divine) and looks after the buried kings of Hungary. Its provost is like a count, with archdeacons administering each county on his behalf. The largest and richest monastery in Hungary is at Pannonhalma, which had 2200 households under its governance in
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Witches Don’t Exist (So Magi Are Not Witches)
In the 11th century, King Coloman the Learned passed a law which said simply this: witches do not exist, therefore no trials for witchcraft may be held. The Quaesitors investigated this, as circumspectly as they were able, but were not able to find a Hermetic magus responsible for Coloman’s action. King Coloman’s law persists: witchcraft is not a crime in Hungary. What the Order does is not considered “witchcraft.” It’s treated, in a legal sense, as an ethnic custom, predating the foundation of Hungary. From the perspective of the Crown, magi retain their “customs” and have the right to live by their own laws, and appoint their own judges. The Crown has a similar duty to Saxon peasants, Dutch merchants, the Crusading Orders, the Szelkers, the Pechengs, and various other groups. Magi see to their own law. When they commit offenses in areas where someone else also has a right of law — for example, if a magus kills a Saxon peasant — then, theoretically, the king’s representatives mediate between the relevant judges to decide jurisdiction. Practically, the courts in Hungary operate the same way as courts in other countries: they don’t take cases where they can’t identify, or can’t capture, the defendant. This means that magi are only held to outsider law if they offend the powerful, which is a breach of the Code, allowing magi to deal pre-emptively with their own. The greater nobles of the Tribunal know that magi exist, and that they have their own law. They know they can appeal to the judges of the magicians by approaching their ambassadors, Redcaps who dwell in expensive but discreet mansiones in some of the cities. The nobles do not, however, precisely differentiate between folk magicians and magi. The Order finds it easier to deal with minor magicians than expose more of its secrets to the nobility. As a result, the Tribunal polices lesser magicians. Most hedge magicians in this Tribunal know they need to be discreet, or only victimize those unable to interest the Tribunal in their problems. Hedge magicians in desperate trouble with someone else who has the right to dispense justice can claim the right to be tried under the Ancient Custom. This rarely occurs because the punishments in the Code are stricter than those in all other forms of Hungarian law. The Order does not dare to fail in its duty to police its own. The right to do so is guaranteed not by the King, but by the Crown, and the Crown of Hungary is a quasi-angelic presence whose body is co-terminous with the kingdom. The Crown is no more interventionist than its mistress, the Virgin Mary, but compared to the petty mortal kings of Stonehenge or Iberia, it is far more able to bring magi to task if they fail to deliver justice.
|] 1200. It is Benedictine in its rule, and acts as a motherhouse for many other monasteries. The Church tithe in Hungary is less onerous than in other lands, because of the large lands the Church holds, and the low population of Hungary compared to the Western European kingdoms. The tithe is always collected on grain and wine, and in some places it is collected on other farming or mining products. Tithes are increasingly paid in coin, a recent, but almost complete, innovation. Romanians, being Orthodox, do not pay a tithe, but pay a sheep tax called the fiftieth instead.
Law
The systematic foundation of churches has been royal policy since Saint Stephen’s time. Every ten villages must have a church. It must be built and maintained by the villagers, and supplied with two manses, two serfs, a mare, a horse, six oxen, two cows, and thirty small animals. Books for the church are provided by the bishop of the area. The vestments of the priests and altar cloths are provided by the king, or his local representative. Failure to build, maintain, or provide for a church is a serious offense, punished by royal officers. Many of the laws defining punishment for failure to live in a manner appropriate to a Christian date from Saint Stephen’s time. These are more severely enforced in Hungary than is found in much of the rest of Mythic Europe. Talking in church, for example, is punished by public whipping and head shaving. Church lands are treated as royal protectorates, and encroachment on or damage to them is punished severely. There are some exceptions to this stridency, all useful to Hermetic magi. The Church in Hungary is very confident in its power, and so sees little need for draconian measures to prevent conversion to other faiths. Pagan activities are so rare in Hungary that the Church has reduced the penalty for them to simple fasting. Large groups of Jews and 30 villages of Sunni Turks work in the royal service, particularly in trade, coinage, and the treasury. The proscriptions from the Lateran Council, that Muslims can’t handle Christian money and that Jews need to wear distinctive clothes, are not enforced.
The Oppidum of Laniena
Originally part of the Scholomance, Laniena soon developed into a separate oppidum and relocated to its current location. The principle business of Laniena (“slaughterhouse”) is the training of the Fectores. These are an experiment by House Tremere, a cadre of hunters of supernatural threats who wield potent non-Hermetic magic derived from the native magical traditions of the Balkans. So far, this experiment has been deemed a success.
History
In its history, House Tremere has been plagued by vampires. The biggest threat has been infiltration following the death of a dhampir magus, which has become enough of a problem that House Tremere now forbids its members to take a dhampir as an apprentice. The last incursion was about a hundred years ago when the vampire of a deceased magus sought out dhampirs, had them trained, then killed them to make them into vampires. It was at this time that a famous vampire hunter called Murat of Terezin came to Coeris. He teamed up with Radomir of Tremere and, between them, they rid the House of every last vampire. Murat himself killed the chief of the nest. Radomir and Murat petitioned the Tribunal to form an oppidum devoted to training hunters, and after Murat joined House Ex Miscellanea, the Praeco agreed. Murat’s ace in the hole was an ancient store of initiatory scripts recorded by a Gnostic scholar who had covertly ob
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The Founders of the Fectores
Radomir was a young, idealistic, and especially bright member of House Tremere. Although he was no initiate himself, he had made a particular study of a necromancer cult called the Disciples of the Worm (The Mysteries Revised Edition, page 129) whom he believed were descendents of the Dacian necromancers who had supported Tremere. His interest in ghosts and the walking dead proved a perfect foil to Murat’s in-depth knowledge of vampire lore. Murat of Terezin was already quite experienced before he approached Coeris, and had gathered many scraps of hunter lore, discovering that the Arts need not be restricted to vampires. Murat of Terezin was secretly a dhampir himself, and became a vampire upon his death. The vampire survived long enough to become a kukudhi (a human infiltrator, see “Vampires That Take Human Form” in Chapter 8: Creatures), and now lives distant from Laniena with his fourth mortal wife. The vampire is the father of over twenty children, all of whom are dhampirs. Only Murat the Younger is aware of the elder Murat’s status, and he permits him to exist knowing that the vampire provides a steady supply of Faerie-Blooded hunters, and thus far, at least one Gifted child.
Story Seed: Sordid Family Business
A character could be one of Murat of Terezin’s children, only finding out later in life that she has a dark legacy and is fated to kill her own father. Alternatively, if Lexander (see later) discovers that Murat the Younger permitted a vampire to live, this news could bring down the wrath of House Tremere on the oppidum.
|] served a taltós clan for many months. Years of experimentation followed before Murat of Terezin and Radomir had discovered a means by which a Gifted individual could be Opened to the Hunters’ Arts (see Chapter 9: Hedge Traditions). Radomir called these individuals the interfectores, or the slayers, but this quickly became abbreviated to Fectores.
Setting and Description
The buildings composing Laniena’s oppidum lie immediately outside the entrance to the largest of the Aggtelek caves in northern Hungary. A few sturdily built houses abut a high semi-circular wall guarding the entrance to Baradla Cave. A thick hedge of black hawthorn has been cultured to surround the homes of the magi and their covenfolk. This complex is a training ground for the Fectores, and it has an arena, several workshops for metalsmithing and carpentry, and its own chirurgeon and apothecary’s laboratory. Baradla Cave is over sixteen miles long, and is a maze of twisting passages, blind ends, and obscured chambers, some of which are believed to link up to other caves in the region. Only Lexander has investigated the caves in any great detail, and even he has not been everywhere. All entrances he has discovered have been protected with powerful warding enchantments, for Lexander’s favorite training method is to release a supernatural creature such as a vampire or werewolf into the cave, and then send his pupils in to hunt it down through decidedly hostile terrain.
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The Aggtelek Caves
All of the Aggtelek Caves are sites of startling beauty, and many of them have a Magic aura. Baradla, as the biggest and most spectacular, has the most powerful aura of 5. Like its fellows, Baradla is filled with fantastic stalactites and stalagmites, columns, rock flows, and other such formations. Many of these features are tinged with red, green, or violet, and in places it seems like the rock has melted like tallow in the sun. Both Imaginem and Muto vis can be collected in Baradla Cave. Dobsinska Cave, further north, has just one apparent entrance, called studena diera (“cold hole”) by the locals, since the cave is always filled with ice, even in the hottest of summers. Few dare to traverse the vertical descent through the studena diera, for fear of an icy death in its wintry depths. Laniena gathers Ignem vis here. Ochtinska Cave is one of the smallest of the caves, and yet one of the most interesting. Within the cave grow the “flowers of iron:” white clusters of rocky spines and needles that grow from the ceiling and walls like urchins. Not only are they Rego vis, but they are also Lesser Enchantment vis (Realms of Power: Magic, page 120) that confers a personal Ward Against Faeries of the Earth of Level 10, with a Penetration of 10.
Fectores Versus Hermetic Fectores
Laniena arranges the training of Fectores in non-Hermetic magic, despite the fact that they all have the capacity to learn Hermetic magic. To some, this seems like a waste. However, many of the Gifted individuals they find or are sent are not suited to apprenticeship. Most are not of a scholarly bent, and have no desire to spend fifteen years of their lives bent over books and learning laboratory secrets. The Fectores are warriors against the hostile forces that assail mankind. Most of them come from backgrounds that do not adapt easily to the life of a Hermetic apprentice — they are peasants, soldiers, or faerie-blooded dhampirs who are driven to the role of a hunter by feelings of obligation toward the community. Fifteen years of study just delays them from doing what they really want to do: hunt down and kill foes. Two of every three Gifted individuals sent to or discovered by the oppidum are trained as Fectores before being admitted into the Order as Gifted Companions within House Ex Miscellanea (see Houses of Hermes: Societates, page 107). The remaining third are taken as Hermetic apprentices by Murat Ex Miscellanea and trained as Hermetic Fectores. Laniena is under strict instructions from House Tremere not to give Hermetic training to any dhampirs, although they may become Gifted Companions within the Order like any other Fector. Murat’s Initiation scripts can Open the Hunter’s Arts for Gifted characters, or teach new Foe Arts, but he has no scripts for the individual Practice Arts, so he cannot train unGifted characters as Fectores. Not all Fectores trained at Laniena end up in the Order of Hermes. Some prove to be untrustworthy or indiscreet during their training, and consequently never take the Oath of Hermes or learn the Parma Magica. These Fectores often find themselves in the front line against dangerous foes, and have an even shorter life expectancy than usual. The Legality of Laniena’s Mission Some magi are of the opinion that training Gifted children as Fectores is equivalent to being a delinquent master, since they are not being allowed to be all they could be, by being denied Hermetic magic. Laniena maintains they are within the law since the trainees are not members of the Order, and therefore not protected by the Code. As soon as training is complete, they are offered a place within the Order’s aegis, as demanded by the “Join or Die” provision of the Code. Ultimately, it is the opinion of the Tribunal (that is, House Tremere) that matters, and current policy is for Laniena to continue to train Fectores, considering them to be a valuable resource. Three Fectores can be trained in the time that it typically takes to train a Hermetic apprentice, allowing their numbers to swell despite the tradition’s notoriously short life expectancy. In a war against supernatural or magicwielding foes, House Tremere will be ready with Fectores on the front line. Laniena is aware that it exists only on the sufferance of the Tribunal. Should they displease House Tremere, it would be simple for them to be charged with the High Crime of depriving a magus of his magical power.
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Against the Dark Culture and Traditions
Laniena’s purpose is to train Fectores, a type of non-Hermetic magician skilled in the Hunter’s Arts (see Chapter 9: Hedge Traditions). Fectores usually become members of House Ex Miscellanea, although the Fectores are loyal to House Tremere rather than the Order of Hermes as a whole. While the stated reason is to maintain the security of the Order, others cannot help questioning the real purpose behind the Fectores. Gifted children who show great promise may become Hermetic Fectores instead, magi Ex Miscellanea who wield both the Hermetic Arts and the Hunters’ Arts. Fector Characters A Fector character takes the place of a player’s magus character. They have both The Gift and the free Fector Social Status Virtue; the latter is akin to Hermetic Magus, and represents the fact that the character has been Opened to the Hunters’ Arts. A Fector has all three Practice Arts of Scry, Ban, and Slay, and can choose three Foe Arts. The character is Opened to these hedge Arts (Hedge Magic Revised Edition, page 7) using his master’s Intelligence + Scry total. Currently, the Fectores only know the Foe Arts of Vampire, Werewolf, Ghost, Nightwalker, and Witch, but are working to integrate other Foes. A Fector also has the Second Sight Virtue at no cost. They are usually apprenticed to a Fector around adolescence, and training takes five years. During this time, the Fector receives 120 experience points that can be spent on the Hunters’ Arts or on Abilities. A Fector can take Martial and Arcane Abilities at Character Creation, as well as Latin, but a Virtue is required to take any other Academic Abilities. The Fectores, unlike many other hedge traditions, do not have Magical Defenses except for those granted by the Ban Art. However, Fectores who are members of the Order (that is, most of them) can be taught the Parma Magica. Hermetic Fectores Murat of Terezin was the first of a new societas within House Ex Miscellanea. He trained three apprentices, the youngest of whom — also called Murat — is one of the magi of Laniena. Hermetic Fectores are just like other magi Ex Miscellanea. They choose one of the three Practice Arts as their free Major non-Hermetic Virtue, along with its free Foe Art. Their free Minor Hermetic Virtue is a Minor Magical Focus in harming a particular supernatural creature; this usually matches the Foe Art that they possess. Their Major Hermetic Flaw is Weak Spontaneous Magic; the methodical preparation typical of a hunter comes at the expense of flexibility.
Magi
Laniena is currently occupied by just two magi, although anyone interested in the Hunters’ Arts is welcome to join. Lexander and Murat the Younger are the filii of the oppidum’s founders, but unlike their parentes, they are at constant loggerheads. Lexander of House Tremere Age: 63 (apparent age 41) Personality Traits: Argumentative +3, Brave +2, Harsh Task Master +2 Privilege: Civis Lexander considers the mission of Laniena to be to train warriors on behalf of House Tremere. He is interested in adapting the Hunters’ Arts to cover the range of supernatural foes that the Order might face in the future, but lacks the capacity and technical ability to do this himself, so is constantly badgering Murat the Younger to do so. More than once he has mentioned the possibility of developing “Hermetic magus” as a Foe, as a means to hunting down Marched magi. However, Murat the Younger will not allow Lexander access to his pater’s Initiation scripts, effectively meaning that all recruitment must go through him. Lexander drills the Fectores constantly, making sure they are prepared for both physical and magical opposition. He regularly captures monstrous creatures and releases them into the caverns. He then sends in his current pupils to face them, often at great risk to their lives. Lexander is an expert in Rego magics, particularly coupled with the Forms of Vim, Corpus, and Animal. Murat the Younger, Magus Ex Miscellanea Age: 52 (apparent age 42) Personality Traits: Thirsty for Knowledge +3, Passive-Aggressive +2, Friendly +1 Privilege: Hospes Murat the Younger was trained by Murat of Terezin, the founder of the Fectores, and took his name upon passing his Apprentice’s Gauntlet. He is especially interested in the regional variations of hunters, and often travels from the oppidum to follow up on rumors of a new manner to face vampires or to ward against witches. Murat concentrates on teaching the Ban Art to his pupils to give them a fighting chance of surviving Lexander’s training. This serves only to frustrate Lexander further. Murat the Younger is a hospes, although his personal privilege permits him to take apprentices without seeking approval from the Praeco, to encourage him to train as many apprentices as he can contribute to the Tremere war machine.
Covenfolk
Laniena employs several elite warriors who are trained to fight under the command of a Fector, whether Hermetic or non-Hermetic. Bendis Bendis is the most capable of the oppidum’s non-Hermetic Fectores. Named after the mother-goddess of the ancient Thracians, Bendis is both warrior and hedge magician. She typically wears leather armor, and carries a bow armed with vampire-slaying arrows. She is a strong leader, and has a hand-picked band of cohorts trained in both weapons and lore. 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.