Against the Dark - The Transylvanian Tribunal Chapter Two: Hermetic Culture

Transylvania is more than House Tremere’s center of power: its magi believe the Tribunal is a practical demonstration of the validity of House Tremere’s ethos. House Tremere believes that magi should work together to create a better world. This sounds idealistic, but the magi of Tremere are patient and pragmatic. This Tribunal is the best way of living they have implemented so far, but they haven’t finished yet.

The Tremere believe that life in Mythic Europe is far harder for the average magus — even the average peasant — than it needs to be. Europe is awash with petty nobles and childish magi who gradually but continually are making things worse. It’s possible that, by working together, magi can halt the pointless chaos that keeps plunging Europe back into war, famine, and poverty. There seems little likelihood of rapid change.

House Tremere, through centuries of struggle, believes it can redesign society so that it becomes a perfect vessel for human achievement. Eventually skill and glacial persistence might wear down the vapid, the greedy, the insular, and the ignorant. It will take many generations. It will demand heartbreaking sacrifices. It will require terrible acts. In Transylvania, it has already begun.

House Tremere

House Tremere’s policies and ethos directly affect the life of every magus living in Transylvania. This section reviews the parts of Transylvania society over which the House retains direct control.

Armed Force

House Tremere is the core of Order’s militia during crises. The Code must be enforced to be effective. House Tremere is the most credible threat to the dominant covenants in any of the regional Tribunals. Some magi see House Tremere as a guarantor of the stability of the Order. The Tremere capability to threaten the dominant covenants of other Tribunals makes some of these covenants hostile. The House does not station its members in the Tribunals where its presence is unwelcome. There are few Tremere in the Greater Alps, Normandy, Theban, and Novgorod Tribunals. This creates a concentration of force in Transylvania, which makes neighboring Tribunals cautious.

Logistics

The House is only able to respond to crisis if it has the supplies necessary, and the transportation required to deploy them. The many resources used by Tremere magi in peacetime, detailed in House of Hermes: True Lineages, are elements of the Tremere logistical system that are surplus to prudent insurance. Player characters can access these resources directly if they are members of the House, or can convince a Tremere magus to aid them. House Tremere is always interested in having promising young magi owe favors.

Military Saga & Story Seeds House Tremere is always looking for allies, and this lets player characters become involved in House Tremere’s military skirmishes. The House seeks allies because it can’t commit its resources everywhere, because in distant Tribunals there’s no easy way for it to garrison territory, and because it sees its military allies as political assets. They are people used to the Tremere mindset and way of operating, who have tasted success with Tremere support. Allies also have unusual abilities, which extend the options of Tremere field commanders. Saga Seed: The Fires of Winter The player characters encounter increasingly powerful demons as their saga progresses. After several encounters, the player characters go on the offensive and capture a diabolist, who they discover is tied to a Winter covenant in their Tribunal. The characters present their information to the Quaesitores, and an emergency Tribunal is held. The Winter covenant is Renounced and a Wizards’ March declared. The player characters are approached by the Quaesitores with a problem: none of the major covenants in their Tribunal wants to take the lead in prosecuting the March. Perhaps the Winter covenant’s location is too remote and well-defended, or perhaps the Tribunal is fractious and its members feel that a weakened leader would fall prey to the others. The Quaesitores ask the player character covenant to act as coordinator for the March, since it has clashed with the Winter covenant before, and has deeper motivation than the other covenants. They will, of course, be due the resources of the Winter covenant, when it is brought to heel. House Tremere offers assistance to the player characters. They can provide vis and magic items, if that’s all the player characters require. Alternatively, the Tremere can provide combatants. If they do this, House Tremere demands the leadership of the campaign, and uses the player characters as scouts and auxiliaries. Story Seed: Disaster Relief House Tremere’s skill at organization and logistics can be used in peacetime, for disaster relief. In this story seed, a plague, flood, or famine has descended on a large swath of Mythic Europe. The endangered section includes the player characters’ covenant. The Tremere are initially not willing to intervene, because it may cause trouble with the nobility and their resources can probably be better used elsewhere. Characters who frame their argument for intervention using elements of the Tremere ethos — about making the world a better place, where disasters can be countered by skill and cooperation — can convince the Tremere. Aid may take the form of physical goods or magic items, which the player characters can use to end the crisis, or may take the form of skilled assistants, whom the player characters command. The player characters then investigate and remedy the cause of the disaster. Logistical Saga & Story Seeds House Tremere’s transportation and supply network can provide hooks for stories, when it fails or extends, and can provide ways to get characters to stories, if they are distant or in inhospitable environments. Story Seed: Rescue House Tremere has marvelous devices which allow travel not merely through inaccessible woodlands and across the sea, but through the air, under the earth, or submerged in the oceans. A basic problem for House Tremere is that a percentage of all journeys into hostile environments go wrong. Contact is lost with the voyagers, and rescuers need to be sent. For this, Tremere magi prefer outsiders. They know that the members of their House tend to study magic along similar lines, and assume that whatever has caused the sailing ship, tunneller, airship, or submersible to lose contact is not best handled with Rego or Mentem magic, which the crew must have had available. Saga Seed: For Want of a Nail A plague of violent faeries beset another Tribunal. Three covenants fall to the raiders who, scattered survivor accounts seem to indicate, can ignore the Aegis of the Hearth. While the most potent magi in the Order gather at Durenmar to consider what response, if any, is suitable, House Tremere summons its allies and any young magi who owe it favors. The House plans to prepare a base for heavy deployment, in case the Tribunal votes for retribution. The player characters aid the Tremere in creating secret, warded places throughout the deployment zone, which can act as rest and resupply points for warrior magi. They also supervise shipments of war material, which the faeries are sometimes skilled enough strategists to anticipate and intercept. While doing this, the player characters seek the few survivors of the attacks, to gain eyewitnesses of the enemy’s methods. If this is used to start a saga, these survivors could be the player characters. The Tremere learn that the new faeries can ignore the Aegis of the Hearth if invited in by someone given a token at the yearly ritual, and if they gain such a token, they can invite others in themselves. From this, the player characters can develop new security measures, like Aegis tokens that are implanted in the skin and disintegrate if removed. When the war begins, the player characters keep channelling useful supplies to the combat forces, their success in stories being directly mirrored by the success of the magi fighting the faeries. If the player characters suffer a serious setback, then faerie raiders break through the combat forces and into the army’s rear zone. The player characters need to hold the faeries off until the combat forces can reform and relieve them or, better, use the stores of logistical material to crush the faeries between the logistical team and the combat forces. The saga ends when the player characters discover the source of the new faeries, and destroy them, or recruit them for their own purposes.

Communications

House Tremere is strongest when its many members act in concert. This requires an excellent communications network. It is obvious to the House that any attacker would attempt to disrupt its communications. In response, the House has developed multiple, independent communication networks, backed by a series of contingencies for lost contact.

Redcaps

Non-secret communications within the Tribunal are sent by Redcap. The Tremere consider Redcaps especially useful because they carry the ideas that reinforce the Transylvanian culture. They are also guides in war, since they are familiar with the mystical terrain of Europe. Redcaps are not just mail carriers; they disseminate news, art, and propaganda on behalf of the House. House Tremere would like there to be far more Redcaps in the Order than there are at present, which is a source of historical tension between the two Houses. For story seeds relating to Redcaps, see the later chapter on Histria, which describes the Mercere House for this Tribunal.

Capacity Building

The House wants the resources of the Tribunal’s lands to be fully and efficiently utilized. There is a vexillation of magi and Redcaps who are primarily responsible for this. The group was instigated by Tremere himself, under the name the Earnest Sons of the Grid and Chain.

The Earnest Sons’ scouting teams lack the killing power required to tame the dangers of the Transylvanian wilderness. Their initial assessments are fed back to the groups’ leaders, who send more powerful magi to secure areas, or seek the aid of nearby oppida. The group also identifies areas suitable for the foundation of new oppida. They pass these recommendations to the Prima of Tremere, who in turn directs the Praeco to recruit suitable magi for the task. The Praeco prefers to offer the role to the apprentices of allies of the House, and may gather them from several Tribunals.

Story Seed: The Book of Places To Avoid The Earnest Sons precisely note the location of places that resist the presence of its assessment teams, and the nature of the obstacle faced. Over centuries, these reports have been compiled into a great book. This is perhaps the largest list of places it is considered unwise to go in all of Mythic Europe. The book fascinates magi who would like to make a reputation as killers of magical beasts and tamers of wild faeries. These candidates send details of what sort of thing they’d like to face in combat, or what kind of problem they wish to solve, and the vexillation scours its records for a suitably challenging site. This sort of combat tourism isn’t officially sanctioned by the House or Tribunal, but has become a rite of passage for some young magi, and is popular with those seeking magical components from particular spirits.

Tribunal Overview

The Tremere view the Order as fragile but useful, so they support it. They believe the Order to be, for now, the best tool available to prevent magi in other Tribunals from slaughtering each other, making pacts with Satan, or declaring themselves gods. These aberrations of good sense, they believe, happen regularly when magicians are left to decide their own fates. The Order allows sufficient peace for the Tremere to build strength and evangelize.

House Tremere dominates the Transylvanian Tribunal, but does not need to corrupt it. The Tremere method of block voting ensures that its members can get what they want, entirely legally and democratically, within the Order’s structures and traditions. House Tremere sees the Tribunal as a valuable tool for the maintenance of the society that it has constructed. House Tremere wants the Tribunal, as a legal institution, to flourish.

The Difference Between House Tremere and the Transylvanian Tribunal House Tremere does not directly control every aspect of life in this Tribunal, although its influence is ubiquitous. The House directly controls the resources which it requires to feel secure. That is, it controls directly the things it feels it needs to respond to prepare for emergencies and rebuild afterward. It uses its allies and the Tribunal’s primary officer, the Praeco, to control those resources which are vital for the progress of Transylvanian society, but which can be reconstructed after an emergency passes.

The Praeco

The Praeco is the theoretical leader of the Tribunal, although the Prima of Tremere actually makes policy for Transylvania’s governance. Praecohood in Transylvania is not earned by age; it is assigned by a democratic vote. This allows the magi of Tremere pick whoever they like. The Praeco of Transylvania is a servant of House Tremere, but still has far wider authority than his equivalents in other Tribunals. A magus does not become Praeco in Transylvania without the approval of the Prima of Tremere, and does not stay Praeco if he angers her. The current Praeco is Archmagus Albertus of Lycaneon.

The Transylvanian Praeco is an experiment in ceding power from the House to the wider population of the Tribunal, but it’s a very careful experiment, done in slow and reversible stages. House Tremere’s leaders hope that, eventually, enough magi will think as House Tremere does that it will be possible to invest the Praeco with real power. Much as the Romans eventually offered citizenship to the urban classes of the entire empire, so, one day, the Order’s Praecones will be worthy of respect and empowerment.

Oppida and Aediles

Magi of the various Transylvanian covenants live intermixed in settlements, which in this Tribunal are called oppida. The membership of an oppidum is more fluid than the membership of a Western covenant. Many magi change oppida as their personal projects conclude or the interests of House Tremere change. Some oppida are static, but many change location as their tasks are completed.

The Tribunal has made a series of binding rulings concerning oppida. Every maga must, in some sense, belong to one. Every maga is required, in a broad sense, to be aware of the activities of all other members of her oppidum. No oppidum may have fewer than two members. Every oppidum must have a cives, described later, as a member. No oppidum may have members exclusively from one House.

The final two rulings effectively mean every oppidum must have at least one Tremere member and one non-Tremere member. This odd member, appointed to prevent corruption in House Tremere, and treason in the non-Tremere oppida, is called an aedile. Aediles have no particular duties, but they have a right to emergency audience with the Praeco and chief Quaesitor. The disappearance of, or declaration of War upon, an aedile is considered serious by the Quaesitores. In oppida with even numbers of cives and non-cives, there are two aediles.

Legislature

The Transylvanian Tribunal, as a lawgiving body, has many roles. The process of voting at Tribunal on contentious issues is similar to all other Tribunals, as described in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages. In Transylvania, Tribunal meetings are quick and short, and parties attempt to reach consensus. Attendance is high, but this is because Tribunals offer opportunities to socialize and make agreements outside the formal meeting, most of which is reading foregone conclusions into the Peripheral Code. Criminal matters are usually dealt with separately, as part of the “emergency” Tribunals, described in the Judiciary section, later.

Regulating Magical Settlement & Residency

In Transylvanian, the Praeco, as representative of the Tribunal, enters a written agreement with each resident magus, which grants him his place in Transylvanian society. Each agreement must be witnessed by a Quaesitor, and they are formally entered into the Peripheral Code at Tribunal meetings. This agreement is called the magus’ “privilege.” There are five broad styles of privilege, although individuals may have slightly different rights and duties, depending on the negotiations which preceded the signing. Further differences may be added as punishments or rewards. Each privilege permits membership of at least one of the five covenants.

After the Sundering, the Transylvanian Tribunal’s expansion was checked by a Grand Tribunal ruling, limiting it to five named covenants. In the intervening centuries, all of these covenants have moved location or changed heir style of membership, but legally they persist. Magi do not generally live at the main site of the covenant of which they are a member. Most live in various other settlements, called oppida, as noted earlier. The magi of Tremere do not wish to revisit the rulings punishing their House for the Sundering, because that would worry other magi needlessly. Other magi do not wish to agitate for change because there’s no advantage in success.

Decorations Decorations are ornamental jewelry pinned to, or patterns embroidered into, the robes of magi who have performed services which the Tribunal wishes to particularly note. Some magi wear their decorations daily, while many think that ostentatious and wear them only for Tribunal meetings. The expression and placement of the decoration varies at the whim of the wearer, although Tremere magi prefer subtle designs. Decorations are not repeated. If a magus performs the actions required to earn a decoration twice, it is not awarded a second time. Characters with a lesser decoration replace it if they do something notable enough to earn a higher decoration. Laurel This decoration is offered to a magus who leads the Tribunal in a campaign against foes who could destroy the Order. No one currently wears this decoration. Myrtle This decoration is given to the general of a campaign against a foe who could not have destroyed the Order, but required more than one magical battle to subdue. Several magi have this decoration. Oak This decoration is given to a general who masterminds, but does not fight in the field for the significant battles of, a Myrtle Campaign. Grass This decoration is given to magi who save other magi from death. It was originally presented to those who defended key covenants against the Diedne, and has a cultural link with sieges. Parsley This decoration is awarded for landing the mortal blow upon a magus expelled from the Order by the Tribunal.

Asclepius and the Privileges of the Coloniae

This covenant was initially a settlement of Dacian sorcerers, on the site now inhabited by Coeris. Its original membership has now been completely absorbed by House Tremere. Its modern members are young magi from other Tribunals, who have come to settle the Tribunal. The leadership of Asclepius is an honorary position, and is awarded annually by acclamation of the covenant’s members.

The coloniae, or settlers, are young magi from other Tribunals permitted to develop underutilized sections of the Tribunal, under tight agreements. Coloniae may expect:

• Aid in war or disaster.
• Free use of resources negotiated in their privilege.
• A proportion of new resources discovered, as negotiated.

Coloniae may not:

• Select their aedile.
• Act in scandalous ways.
• Seek office in the Tribunal, saving aedilehood.
• Use the title “archmagus.”
• Take apprentices without permission.
• Invite other magi to visit the Tribunal, excepting Quaesitores, Redcaps, and hoplites.
• Wear shoes at Tribunal meetings. Originally this meant they had to attend meetings in bare feet, but custom now allows them sandals and slippers.
• Wear anything that looks like a Decoration to which they are not entitled.
• Eat any aphrodisiac during Tribunal meetings, including but not limited to shellfish, carrots, truffles, and pepper.

Triumph of Asclepius Following the Sundering, Tremere held the Tribunal together by offering concessions to the leaders of the other covenants. Each of the covenants also made various binding contracts with the others, to make secession unprofitable. These resources are still dispensed, although they are now collected and distributed by the Tribunal. The leadership of this covenant, and the resources granted to the leader as part of Tremere’s concession, are called the Triumph of Asclepius. Each year, the members of this covenant elect a leader. The Primus invites the leader to Coeris, and then grants him or her the annual payment promised by Tremere after the Sundering. This includes 16 pawns of vis, three pounds of pure gold, six requested books copied from a certain library, a fine dinner, and several other minor tokens of esteem. In exchange, he owes several minor duties to the leaders of the other three covenants. These tasks are usually nothing onerous, nothing so horrible that a person would decline the Triumph if it was offered again, but enough to use up two seasons in various stories. Magi of Tremere, Mercere, or Guernicus, by tradition, belong to the covenant now led by their House, but they have often been selected as leader of Asclepius. All covenants allow this dual membership. Similarly, the Tribunal permits the Triumph to be awarded to non-residents.

Coeris and the Privileges of the Cives

Coeris was Tremere’s home, and is ruled by his direct successor, the Prima of Tremere. It was originally on the site of the oppidum of Lycaneon, but after the Sundering it was moved to its current location, which at that time held the Covenant of Asclepius. All members of House Tremere are automatically members of this covenant, although they may resign and resume membership at whim. This is necessary since some foreign covenants demand Tremere magi belong to only one covenant.

Magi with the cives privilege are offered membership of the covenant as well. A cives, or citizen, is usually a Tremere magus living as a Tremere magus should. Some magi of other Houses are granted the status of cives as a sign of esteem by the Tribunal, which effectively means the House.

Citizens are permitted to:

• Access House Tremere’s methods of assistance, as per Houses of Hermes: True Lineages.
• Be represented at Decennial meetings of House Tremere by a Tremere magus of their choice.
• Stand for any office in the Tribunal, including Praeco.
• Raise apprentices within the Tribunal.
• Relocate from camp to camp as desired, if non-Tremere.
• If numerically dominant in an oppidum, select the aedile. This effectively must be a non-Tremere, because the aedile needs to come from the non-dominant group.
• Dress in black or grey at Tribunal meetings.

Citizens are required to:

• Live as a Tremere should, if Tremere.
• Live in a way that Tremere persistently admire, if non-Tremere. This includes cooperating with the House, performing useful work, mustering for war, paying taxes, and acting in an unobjectionable way.
• Not wear Decorations to which they are not entitled.

Domostron and the Privileges of the Socii

This covenant was founded by Tremere’s Hermetic allies. Its initial site was later destroyed by raiders from Thebes. Its current members are almost all of the Tribunal’s Quaesitores, Merceres, and hoplites. Its legal leader is the senior Quaesitor of the Tribunal, but it doesn’t generally meet as a covenant.

All of Domostron’s members have the Socii privilege. The socii (“allies”) are nonTremere magi treated in many respects as if they were. All Redcaps, Quaestiores, and dedicated hoplites are automatically socii, if they are not civitates.

Socii may:

• Be supported in their tasks by dedicated resources and by extraordinary taxes in times of crisis.
• Expect military protection and aid.
• Stand for any office in the Tribunal, except Praeco.
• Raise an apprentice within the Tribunal.
• Relocate from camp to camp as required by their duties.
• If numerically dominant in an oppidum, select a list of at least three worthy candidates for aedile, from which the Praeco must choose. If there are fewer than three possible candidates, the Praeco may select whomever he likes.
• Wear designs that look like Decorations.

Socii are required to:

• Fulfill their duties, or renegotiate their covenant. Dedicated hoplites who cease in their role as lictors, for example, lose this status.
• Avoid doing things which would make the average magus believe a declaration of Wizard’s War against them is reasonable, as determined by the Praeco.
• Seek permission before founding oppida.
• Provide aediles, on a temporary basis, when others cannot be found.
• Wear prominently their badges of office while at Tribunal.

Diodorus and the Privileges of the Hospites

This covenant initially housed the followers of Muj, a faerie magician whose followers now form an odd little sect of House Tremere and are members of Coeris. Its current members are all magi living in the Transylvanian Tribunal as hospites. Hospites (sing. hospes) means “guests,” and most of them live at Lycaneon.

The hospites elect their own leader, subject to the approval of the Praeco, every seven years. This role has far more honor than power, but it does get an annual concession similar to the one described earlier for the Triumph of Asclepius. The payment is far smaller, and is often divided with the leader’s supporters, but the responsibilities can be completed in a week of meetings as Tribunal, or fobbed off to younger magi paid with copying rights, gold, or vis.

These are magi hired to practice particular skills on behalf of House Tremere. They have few rights, but are paid well for their services.

Hospites may:

• Receive fair payment for their work, as negotiated.
• Use such resources as are allotted to their tasks.
• Expect protection if Wizard’s War is declared on them.
• Ignore many of the taxes placed on other magi.
• Expect not to be asked to join the Wizards’ Marches.

Hospites are usually required to seek permission before:

• Seeking office in Tribunal.
• Taking a new apprentice.
• Binding a new familiar.
• Creating a new talisman.
• Founding oppida.
• Changing oppidum.
• Voting for a particular person as their oppidum’s aedile.
• Wearing things which look like Decorations.

A hospes may have such permissions ratified in her initial covenant, but this affects the payment she receives, as a greater proportion of her time is spent on private projects.

Pannonia and the Privileges of the Foederati

Pannonia was founded as a fortified Tremere House covenant near what was then the border among the Transylvanian, the Greater Alps, and the Roman Tribunals. The aura of Pannonia’s site was destroyed by the foundation of a powerful monastery at the springs of the river which the covenant used for water. The magi of Pannonia were the first to disperse into oppida, or “camps.” Their magical resources are now primarily collected by the magi of the oppida of Histria.

Some covenants in the neighboring Tribunals, exhausted by political infighting or Wizard’s War, have sought sanctuary by joining the Transylvanian Tribunal. Transylvania cannot accept new covenants, so all members of these covenants became members of the Covenant of Pannonia. The magi of these covenants usually negotiate an agreement in which they are permitted to continue their local customs, even if they are offensive to Tremere magi, provided they do not breach the Code or damage the society of the Tribunal. Magi from such covenants are called foederati, (sing. foederatus) or “confederates.”

When only one group of outsiders are Pannonians, it operates much like a foreign covenant, although the Praeco of Transylvania has the right to deny any changes to the Pannonian written covenant, or return it to its original state. The Pannonian Covenant and the Peripheral Code are designed so that if there are ever no suitable outsiders, several magi from other covenants automatically become Pannonians, but retain their membership of, and privileges of, their earlier covenant. This ensures Pannonia’s legal continuance.

Pannonia is currently led by the Orphic cult dwelling in the Tribunal’s south. The leader of Pannonia does not, unfortunately for him, receive the concessions of Tremere given to the other covenant leaders. Centuries ago the members of Pannonia sold almost all of these rights away to the leader of the Transylvanian Merceres.

Foederati have individually negotiated agreements, but usually they include the right to:

• Expect military protection and aid.
• Retain exclusive use of the resources held at the time of confederation, even if they move to a different oppidum.
• Retain specific customs, detailed in their privilege, despite Tribunal rulings against such customs. Such customs may be limited to their oppidum, however.
• Train apprentices.
• Expect their eldest apprentice to be accepted as a foederate, under conditions comparable to those of the magus.
• Wear designs that look like Decorations, if these designs are part of their tradition before joining the Tribunal.
• Change oppida as often as they wish, but they must notify the Tribunal they are doing so.
• Seek any office in the Tribunal, although the democratic nature of the Tribunal means that this is merely a matter of form.

Foederati are usually required to seek permission before:

• Ceasing whatever duties are written into their covenant. That is, the Tribunal usually accepts foederati on the basis they have something to offer; this is detailed precisely in the covenant. These duties can only be changed with the permission of both the Tribunal (as represented by the Praeco) and the signatory magus; they cannot be changed simply by vote of Tribunal.
• Using the title “archmagus.”
• Founding new oppida.

8 Inviting other magi to visit the Tribunal (for example, to copy books or trade).

• Trading vis with outsiders (although the socii of the Tribunal are not considered outsiders).
• Selling magic items to outsiders (although the socii of the Tribunal are not considered outsiders).
• If numerically dominant in the oppidum, selecting a particular person as their oppidum’s aedile.

Manorial Covenants are a Sign of Weakness and Poverty House Tremere believes that the way magi live in many other Tribunals is inefficient. Covenants, in the foreign sense, are generally manorial states. Resources, manufacturing, and defense are provided for each covenant, by each covenant. True specialization is rare, and dreary repetition of mediocre facilities is common. This is due to the capriciousness of the senior magi in other Tribunals, who prefer free but stunted lives to cooperating with each other. In Transylvania, specialized magical settlements work together in a single economy. Legalities of Residency The agreement between a magus and the Tribunal cannot overwhelm a magus’ rights under the Code. Technically, the Grand Tribunal could rule that, despite a magus accepting a privilege, he is not bound to forsake rights which are granted him by the Code, such as the right to train an apprentice. This has not occurred for several reasons: No magus has ever taken this issue to the Grand Tribunal. The Grand Tribunal limits the number of topics which can be debated, and its members tend to be potentates of other Tribunals. That a magus has signed a deal and then wants to go back on it, without negotiating with the Tremere, has never seemed significant enough to the participants to be discussed. Many Tribunals have rules of residency, or proscribe particular behavior for members of different covenants. A challenge to the Transylvanian system that also threatened the residency regulations in other Tribunals could not succeed. Very few magi formally challenge the residency rules. In part, this is because they know what they are letting themselves in for when they first become residents, and so magi who bristle at the very thought of regulation do not settle here. The Praeco is also willing to reach private agreements with magi, to prevent cases reaching judgment. Many of the border oppida joined Transylvania to escape political difficulties in their original Tribunal. The residency rules may be inconvenient, but at least Coeris doesn’t raid their vis sources. Some foederati offered the status of cives decline, so as not to lose the special dispensations offered in their covenant. Senior magi in other Houses and Tribunals tacitly support the Transylvanian system. Currently, every Tremere oppidum has at least one outsider who has a legal duty to reveal corrupt practices. If the Transylvanian residency system were overturned, House Tremere might cast all of these magi out. A resentful, insular House Tremere, with few informal channels of communication and no foreign observers, is not in the interests of the other Houses. Membership of the Transylvanian system is voluntary. A magus can leave the Tribunal at any time. If he was hired for a particular task, he may need to give back some or all of his payment, but beyond this there’s no penalty. Magi who leave the Tribunal and take powerful magical items, large quantities of vis, or other treasures with them are legally pursued by the Tremere. Other regional Tribunals have come to various conclusions concerning the legality of the privileges. Some magi feel that offering a restrictive privilege is, itself, illegal. The magus has no obligation to do what is described in his privilege, and since the resources were offered to him as part of the commission of a crime, their return cannot be demanded. Some magi believe that the privilege is a faulty contract, and only the faulty clauses are struck out. This tends to mean a magus must complete the other tasks promised, but gets to keep his entire payment. Some magi believe that the privilege is not a true contract, so the results of the labor of the magus return to him, and the resources offered for that labor must be returned to the Tribunal, or such mutual compensation as is just. Some magi believe that the privileges are binding contracts. If you hire a magus to make a longevity charm next season, and he instead trains his apprentice, he owes you your fee back, plus compensation for your trouble. Magi who break privilege similarly owe the original resources given, plus compensation.

Public Financier

The Praeco collects and distribute taxes for a range of projects that the Tribunal has approved. The projects assigned to the Praeco by the Tribunal vary after each meeting, and so the taxes she is permitted to levy are also adjusted. Civitates, socii, coloniae and some foederati are required to give reasonable aid to the Praeco’s projects. At minimum, a large vis source has been set aside for the use of Praeco. This income was originally intended to provide for the maintenance of the wards of the Tribunal site, but the Quaesitores now fulfill this duty.

Stipends

The Praeco also collects the stipends given to the Redcaps and Quaesitores, and distributes them. The resources used to provide stipends are described in the Peripheral Code. Collections are made under the auspices of the Praeco, and Redcaps under her direction make the deliveries. This legal separation allows the Tremere to monitor how much vis the Redcaps and Quaesitores are claiming without spying. It also allows the Quaesitores to state that the stipends are not a vast annual bribe from House Tremere.

Promissory Notes

The Praeco’s current method of funding her activities, through reserved vis sources and specific taxes, sits alongside an older system that is still used for diplomacy and trade. Before the Praeco was granted taxing powers, she funded her projects from reserved vis sources, but was permitted to take loans against that income, issuing letters promising payment. Promissory notes are still issued, and some ancient notes are still traded, having never been redeemed, because they act as a high-value currency.

Judiciary

An effective system of law is vital to the members of this Tribunal. The roles of Praeco, Quaesitor, and Hoplite are treated with respect and given extra powers and duties in Transylvania. Where the law is weak, as in some Western Tribunals, magi need to huddle in castles that defend their greatest resources from raiders. Transylvanian magi refuse to live fearful, stunted lives.

Quaesitores

The Quaestiores have little to complain of in this Tribunal. The Code is followed consistently, even if the interpretation is heterodox and the concentration of Tremere votes makes true democracy rare. Powers some Quaesitors have been seeking in other Tribunals, to levy taxes and demand aid against renounced wizards, have been granted them here. In this Tribunal, the senior magi do not view the Quaesitores as inconvenient barriers to their plans, but as valuable supporters of society. Tremere magi prefer Transitionalist Quaesitors, because they do not see the Order or the Code as strong institutions.

Public Financier Story Seeds

Collecting Stipends The oppida of the Tribunal are expected to help the Praeco to collect stipends on behalf of the Quaesitores and Redcaps. Usually this isn’t either difficult or timeconsuming, but magical and faerie sites attract strange creatures, and securing the stipend can require be challenging. These small, self-contained stories make great filler for when only part of a troupe is available, and they decide they don’t want to push the main story forward until the next game session. Infrastructure project For many years, magi have been discussing how useful it would be to have a Mercere’s Portal link the oppidum of Old Histria with its chapter house in Venice, in the Roman Tribunal. The Tribunal finally decides upon this, and the Praeco is charged with the completion of this task. This may affect the player characters in many ways. The player characters may: Need to find extra vis to pay a special levy to the Praeco. Be drafted as guards for the Redcaps carrying levy vis. Aid an allied colona, which is unable to meet the levy. Accompany the Praeco’s messenger, with a promissory note, to Harco. Accompany the chief Redcap of Old Histria to Harco, to argue with his housemates about the importance of the project. Accompany the invested arch from Harco to Old Histria. Forged promissory note Forging promissory notes is a crime in Transylvania. It’s considered a form of fraud that intends to deprive a magus of his magical power, by taking vis he rightfully owns. While cleaning out the laboratory of a magus who has passed into Final Twilight, the characters discover a rather foolish forgery of a valuable promissory note. Someone has instilled the face value of the note into its fabric. This is silly, because if the vis in the note is used, the parchment is destroyed, thus voiding the additional vis due to be paid upon its presentation to the Praeco for redemption. The note, though, isn’t a forgery. It’s genuine. As the magus was trying to extract the vis of a faerie prince, it moved its anchor to the promissory note (see Realms of Power: Faerie for more on anchors and external vis). This allowed the faerie to survive the extraction process, although it is now trapped, unconscious, in the note. A side effect of this is that any character holding the note can see a faint glow around raw vis. This effect has a Penetration of 0. The trapped prince is slowly and subconsciously attempting to rebuild his body. Characters may discern this with an Intelligence + Faerie Lore roll against an Ease Factor of 12, once they notice the effect the note’s presence is having on the environment. Wooden objects on which the note rests become brittle, and trails of sawdust lead to the note. Nearby milk or beer, if left uncovered, vanish. Small faeries may try to steal or consume the note, rescuing the prince, or stealing his role.

Annual Emergency Tribunals

Quaesitores are permitted to call emergency Tribunals to deal with legal matters in all Tribunals, but only in Transylvania do they call them annually. A group of advocates from House Tremere hold proxies for all their Transylvanian housemates at these Tribunals, so the final vote always suits House Tremere. The purpose of these Tribunals, from the perspective of House Tremere, is to keep their allies comfortable with the Transylvanian system. Concessions are often made that would not be in other Tribunals, where the person with the most votes gets exactly what he wants.

Some Quaesitores have, in the broadest sense, never approved of the Order’s system of trial by jury. A crime should not be forgiven because the political connections of the magus protect him from the enforcement of the Code. The Code is, however, a practical document: magi are only guilty if the people who will have to perform the lynching agree upon that guilt. In this respect, Transylvania is no worse than anywhere else. House Guernicus could, if sufficiently annoyed, ask that a Grand Tribunal reopen a case concluded by the Transylvanian Tribunal. The problem for the Quaesitores, though, is that unless an overt breach of the Code occurs, Tremere block voting is perfectly legal.

Wizard’s War

It is the distinct preference of the majority of magi in Transylvania that wizards fight wizards only during Marches approved by a vote at an emergency Tribunal. Transylvanian magi retain their right, under the Code of Hermes, to capriciously declare War. The Tremere, and the Quaesitores, would prefer they never invoke that right.

In Transylvania, personal Wizard’s Wars are extremely rare. Mediation, by the Quaesitores or representatives of the Prima of Tremere, is the most common method of dispute resolution. Those who cannot agree perform certamen. It is rare for this to escalate to Wizard’s War without further escalation to Wizards’ March. The magi of Tremere and their allies prefer to reserve lethal force for their own use.

Certamen is a Direct Proxy For War

Certamen is used in this Tribunal as a direct proxy for Wizard’s War. A challenge to certamen is an announcement that if the challenger were less civilized, he would now attempt to kill his rival. A certamen victor has won the right to be treated as if he could have killed his enemy, but chose not to. A defeated magus is required to act as if he is alive because of the generosity of the victor. As a sign of this, a Transylvanian magus victorious in certamen is permitted to physically strike his opponent in the face once.

Transylvanian magi take this convention, that the loss of certamen is death leavened by mercy, seriously. They believe trivializing certamen, as an institution, leads to Wars, like those regularly fought in some other Tribunals.

Judiciary Story Seeds

Annual Tribunals The annual “emergency” Tribunals aren’t treated with the great pomp of the seven-year Tribunals, but attendance can still be profitable for an oppidum, so most send a representative to the Tribunal site. This can be as simple as hiring a Redcap to act as a purchasing and sales agent. Since deals can be made pending approval by an oppidum’s magi, younger and less experienced magi are often sent as sales agents to these Tribunals, allowing more senior magi to engage in politics or socializing. The annual Tribunals are also great sources of stories for non-magi. These are an opportunity for the servants of different magi to socialize with others who share their strange social role. Fleeting romances are common, as are incautious bets, sporting contests, and inebriated gossip. More detail about the Tribunal site is in the Seuthopolis section. Mediators Two wizards, a hospes and a colona, are at odds over an exceptional apprentice each claims to have first taken on. The hospes, a Verditius magus, vows that he took the child in, and has been raising him since he was five. The colona, who is a skilled Flambeau maga, claims that she discovered the child when it was barely a year old, and at that time taught it the Latin word for “bread.” She has since had a priest in its community teaching it occasional Latin phrases. This is irregular, but might just meet the Code’s requirement that the child receive training. The player characters accompany the Praeco’s mediator to interview each magus. Their duty is to determine for the mediator why each magus is so insistent that this particular child be their apprentice. This will give her leverage during negotiations. The characters can determine this by questioning servants. They discover that each magus hopes the other does not know that the child’s bedclothes become saturated with Corpus vis if he sleeps in them for a year. This makes him valuable to either magus not only as an heir, but as a commodity. The Flambeau maga believes her claim is the superior, and has demanded an apology from the Verditius, who is too proud to give it. The Verditius magus estimates the child to be worth 48 pawns of Corpus vis over the next 12 years, and sees no reason why he should budge an inch on his claim. Interception An illusionist and a shapechanger from the Rhine Tribunal have fought a series of skirmishes as part of their War. Due to a botch by the illusionist, they are now convinced they are many miles to the northwest. They have accidentally strayed into territory considered part of the Transylvanian Tribunal. One has slaughtered some faeries for vis, and the other has harvested a vis source belonging to a Transylvanian oppidum, so this cannot be ignored. The player characters are asked by the Praeco to attempt to contact the two duelists and warn them to move northwest, or face the wrath of the Tribunal. The two duelists, however, think that this is a trick on the part of their rival. Can the characters convince, calm, or involuntarily transport the warring magi, or will they need to call in the hoplites?

Certamen for Love

The vast majority of certamen duels are fought “for love,” that is, they are used as sporting contests, or to decide matters of less than mortal importance. So that this does not demean certamen and make it less viable as a substitute for War, duelists for love engage in a series of elaborate rituals, and respect a series of prohibitions.

Duelists for love must clearly state, before at least two witnesses whom the Tribunal could question:

• That the challenge is for love.
• The stake for which they are fighting, if any.
• A victory condition, if other than to yield. Other common conditions are first sound blow, first wound, and unconsciousness.
• Their forgiveness of each other, in advance, for any injury which may befall in the duel.
• Their capitulation, if defeated.

Duelists for love may not:

• Land a physical blow as a mark of victory.
• Use vis during the duel.
• Gamble in a demeaning way.
• Accept as stake any wager which affects the duties of an officer of Tribunal.
• Fight while naked or drunk.
• Cast spells or use items to affect the duel’s outcome, or permit observers to do the same.
• Combine sexual intercourse with certamen.
• Challenge a duelist weakened by a previous duel.

Negotiations with Outsiders

The Tribunal’s representatives, often appointed by the Praeco, act as diplomats on behalf of the inhabitants of the Tribunal. Magi who live in Transylvania, who are not senior Tremere, are required to limit their interaction with outsiders in a few key areas.

Diplomacy

Many oppida are forbidden to enter treaties with foreign covenants or Tribunals. Various commercial engagements can be developed with foreign covenants, but they must either be read into the Peripheral Code, or approved by the Praeco and witnessed by a Quaesitor.

Recruitment

Magi may not import Gifted children into the Tribunal, or invite magi as settlers. They may, however, request that the Praeco invite a particular magus to settle, and may request a particular Gifted child be bought into the Tribunal. This allows the Tremere to limit the population of the Tribunal.

Vis & Magic Item Sales

Most Transylvanian magi are forbidden to sell vis or magic items to outsiders. The exceptions are the Praeco, the Primus of Tremere, the socii, and their delegates. The Tribunal has appointed the camp of Old Histria, which is dominated by socii, as the site of record for all sales of vis and magical items in the Tribunal. Magi selling goods do not necessarily need to ship them to Histria, but can instead exchange matching letters, which are notarized by a Quaesitor.

This system allows the representatives of the Praeco to act as alternative buyers on any items which are considered of interest to the Tribunal. Note that this has few negative effects for sellers, as it can force the price of their goods higher. It does disadvantage buyers of rare items, but buyers of generic vis can receive a list of speculative promissory notes lodged with the master of vis trading at Old Histria, which allows them to conveniently compare prices.

The system barring vis sales also limits the sale of many types of magical animal. House Tremere has used magical animals in its doctrine of war for centuries and is continually seeking new breeding stock. This legal restriction allows them to act as preferred buyer for exports, or co-bidder for imported animals.

Story Seed: Smuggling Animals

The Tribunal forbids the unlicensed export of magical animals. These are highly sought in vis-poor Tribunals, which lack a wide range of creatures suitable as familiars. The player characters, off on another story, stumble upon evidence that a magus is penning magical animals for smuggling. How do they investigate this? Why is the magus not simply selling the animals to the Redcaps, and having them sell to outsiders? Using Redcaps as middlemen is perfectly legal, but it’s also meticulously recorded. What secret use do these animals have?

The Oppidum of Coeris

Coeris is House Tremere’s main place for storing the tools to complete its designs. It’s also, by tradition, the seat of power of the Primus of Tremere. This means that if the Primus decides something is urgent, and requires first call on the resources of the House, she can access them immediately.

History

The site of Coeris was used in ancient times by Dacian magicians. The remoteness of the region, called Maramures, prevented the Romanization or Christianization of the area, allowing a variant of Dacian magic to continue until the arrival of the Tremere. Tremere slew the faerie god, burned its heart, and drank the ashes in wine. The faerie’s priests either accepted his message of secularization or thought this was the correct ordeal for their high priest, and became his followers. Hermetic Coeris was initially built as a respite center for injured Tremere magi.

Following the Sundering, Tremere no longer trusted the security of his domus magna, and so moved his headquarters, keeping the name, from where Lycaneon now is to current Coeris. Tremere’s successor, Albanus, used anger directed at Tremere’s legacy to solidify the House under his leadership. This allowed the successive Primi of Tremere to redefine the role of Coeris. This prevented Coeris from looking like the older parts of Lycaneon, Tremere’s first “throne from which to rule the world.”

Setting and Description

Coeris overlooks a river that flows through the valleys of Maramures. This is a region of low, picturesque mountains and deep, difficult valleys, which provide excellent defense against conventional armies. The elevation of this region means that winters are very cold, and summers almost Mediterranean. The area around Coeris is still heavily forested, with oak and silver birch, but all the trees within a mile of the oppidum itself have been removed.

The oppidum was built on a series of terraces carved into a mountain using magic. The mountain’s interior has been thoroughly exploited to provide custom-designed rooms for many purposes. The external buildings have a geometric look that is stark, yet strangely elegant. They are obviously the work of many crafters, working over centuries, yet nothing seems tacked on.

Coeris has many layers of magical defenses. Many of these were built by a magus named Hermanus after the Schism War. His obsession with security eventually alienated his Housemates, and when he was cast out, even further defenses were added, in case he should turn against the House. More information about Hermanus is found in Legends of Hermes.

Deep beneath Coeris lies a cave, called the Altar of the Standards. Within it is a cleft in the earth, claimed to be the path taken by Orpheus into the underworld. It is called the Gate of Eurydice by the magi of House Tremere. Surrounding it are memorial niches, commemorating all the Tremere who have ever died. The sigils of most rest in their recesses, including that of Tremere himself.

The walls of Coeris are a glowing white, from centuries of limewashing. Many of the roofs are made of slates of rhodochrosite, a mineral found in the cave complexes of this region. It is made up of red, white, and pink bands.

What is the Gate of Eurydice?

There are many caves claimed to be that of Orpheus, and the Tremere magi make no particular claim that theirs is the true one. If asked, the Tremere answer, “The magi who lived here before the Founder arrived thought it was the Path to Hades used by Orpheus, but we do not celebrate the Orphic mysteries and have no proof they were right.” This line means they do not need to describe in any detail what the Gate really does. It is a permanent, open connection to the Magic Realm. It connects to an insula called The City Below by Tremere magi. The City Below is a place to which the people of Coeris will retreat if the covenant becomes indefensible. It’s almost an afterlife, but perhaps one the House could return from, after time passes and its enemies cease to be wary. In your campaign, you might prefer an alternative explanation. The Gate might: Be a Portal to a distant, magically protected cemetery, deep in Africa or Asia. Go to a fortress deep in Faerie, designed as a final refugee during the Sundering. Lead to a special prison constructed for Diedne magi who, since humans do not age in the Magic Realm, are still alive. Open to the garden of a pleasant manor house in which a cheerful old man, named Tremere, lives surrounded by the ghosts of his family, growing roses, playing ball with his wolf, and wondering if his brother will visit today.

Dragonesti

A large town called Dragonesti is one and a half miles to the east. The residents of Dragonesti are free, but the town acknowledges that it lives on the land belonging to the wizards. The town’s stone walls, paved streets, sewerage system, and wells were created with magic. Dragonesti provides food and craftsmen to Coeris, but the taxes here are lighter than elsewhere in Hungary. The residents of Dragonesti are skep tical of outsiders, including priests, but are Christian. Dragonesti and Coeris both have a magnificent church built by ritual magic. These are the residue of an experiment to see if they would fall down when consecrated. This would have allowed House Tremere to weaponize consecration and use it on the mystic towers so popular in the Order. The experiment failed. The priests for these buildings are appointed by the Bishop of Transylvania.

Culture and Traditions

Coeris is designed to allow the Prima to do what she considers necessary. House Tremere is designed to ensure that Primae consider useful things necessary. Coeris is the point where the theoretical power of the House is transformed into strategy. Its culture and traditions all revolve, eventually, back to its role as the center of an ambitious and militant House.

Politics

House Tremere’s values are enforced internally, not just because the Tremere believe they are right, but because it makes Hermetic politics easier. Other magi know what House Tremere’s members stand for. They also know that a publicly notarized deal with the Tremere will be fully executed. Tremere magi can make deals with outsiders that require a certain level of trust. Outsiders know that a Tremere magus who fails to meet his agreements will be censured by his House, and some provision made for his debts. Unlike other Houses, when a Tremere magus does the wrong thing, other Tremere magi feel a personal slight.

Some politically-motivated magi believe that power is based on resources. If you have more vis, for example, you have more power. From this, they conclude that the way to exercise power is by altering the resources of others. For them, politics occurs as a series of deals, in which there are only threats or bribes, given and received. A covenant or House is powerful if it has a large membership who work together to control a rich territory and to project military force. This maximizes their capacity to threaten or bribe.

The Tremere believed this until the Sundering. Tremere reached a position of resource dominance, and yet he still failed to conquer Europe. This is because resources are shorthand for power, not power itself. Power is about influencing what people do. The translation of resources into control of actions of outsiders is a special art, at which the modern House excels. It has two elements, coercion and co-option.

Coercion

Coercion is the style of politics that the rest of the Order understands best, and which detractors of the Tremere claim they favor. Coercive politics has two main facets: forcing others to do what you command them to do through threats, and convincing others to do what you want them to do through bribes.

Hard Power Story Seeds

Stories based on the coercive force of the House use elements of hard power as the thing the characters must rescue, or the reward for a story well played. War The fundamental hard power story is a war story. House Tremere feels that the only way it can get what it wants is to kill, or at least demonstrate its willingness to kill, a powerful rival. As an example, there is a powerful Autumn covenant in another Tribunal that is threatening war against a weaker Spring one. House Tremere could, if it wished, support either side with military force, but should it? By what standard does it pick the winning side, and how much aid should it give its ally, and what peace terms should it counsel its ally to accept? War Planning House Tremere’s younger members are often given, as an intellectual exercise, the task of compiling an invasion plan for a covenant in their Tribunal. These plans are then compared to an official plan kept in Coeris, which is updated if the young magus has developed any useful insights. These plans have names that are color-coded: the plan for taking Stonehenge and Loch Leagan is called the Red Contingency, and all of the covenant plans are a variant (ruby, garnet, carnelian, and so on.) The Normandy contingency plan is Blue, the Alpine plan White, and so on. Most interestingly, Transylvania (Black Contingency) includes a method for invading Coeris (Night Contingency). This is kept secure, and likely has false information seeded through it. Forging Alliances In this style of story, the characters are sent to broker a complicated deal which allows the covenant and the House to assist each other. As an example of this, House Tremere has started making friends with mid-strength covenants near powerful covenants over which members of House Tytalus have political influence. House Tremere believes that these are likely flashpoints for future trouble, because House Tytalus members deliberately provoke chaos. The characters are sent to such a covenant and need to make an agreement which gives differing scenarios, and varied levels of support in each, in exchange for a series of actions by the covenant’s residents. Threats to Deter, Coerce and Protect In these stories, characters need to find the weak spot in a potential foe, and then find a way of using that weakness to control the foe’s actions. These weak spots are often represented with character Flaws or covenant Hooks. Playing through stories where the player characters take advantage of the Flaws of others makes players think more carefully about the Flaws and Hooks they select. Aid House Tremere uses loans of vis, books, servants, and magic items to assist weak covenants, and create allies. The characters, in this story, are assigned an educative test by a more senior Tremere. They are told that they have a certain aid budget, and told to do the most good for the House by assigning it to covenants in the Tribunal or, if close to a Tribunal boundary, their region. Characters are considered to have done well if they forge useful political and personal alliances with the aid. If the assistance moves new allies from Spring to Summer, or revives a covenant slipping into Winter, this is considered particularly commendable. Characters may need to choose between giving small amounts of aid to every covenant who wants it, and choosing a single covenant for most of their budget. The first is likely to annoy no one, but do little good unless the aid is very specifically targeted by character actions in stories. The latter is likely to effectively strengthen the ally, but may disappoint all of the other covenants who sought aid.

Co-option

The alternative to bribing or threatening is co-option. This occurs when other magi do what House Tremere wants because they themselves want to do it. House Tremere coopts when it can, acting either as leader on an issue, or supporting those magi who are working toward a co-interest.

A problem for House Tremere is that cooption only works when you are admired. There are some Tribunals where Tremere’s attempt to dominate the Order has not been forgiven, and it is difficult for the House to develop a positive reputation and leadership role. On the other side of the balance, the Sundering was 372 years ago. Most magi feel it has no relevance to their daily life, but House Tremere tries to lead the Order by spreading its ethos, and arguing its case on individual issues.

Players trying to use their characters as leaders on issues should familiarize themselves with the key tools used by House Tremere.

Advocacy

House Tremere likes arguing its point of view. This has two effects. First, it reinforces the idea that this is how magi solve things: by arguing them out and voting democratically, which favors the Tremere. The second is that the people arguing an issue get to frame that issue— the first to discuss something even gets to pick the terms used in the discussion.

Aiding Emulants

The Tremere approve of, and assist, efforts in other Houses to organize.

Always Keeping Deals

Tremere magi are seen as credible leaders only if they do what they say they will do.

Defining “Normal”

House Tremere keeps pushing elements of Hermetic culture into the shape it wants, then suggesting to others that these shapes are natural and normal.

Direct Acculturation

Neighboring covenants are permitted to join the Transylvanian Tribunal, provided they agree to live by some of its laws. This policy is called “the voluntary empire” for historical reasons.

Expressing a System of Values

Characters dealing with the Tremere know what to expect.

Information

The House spreads its ideas through literature (which is why so many of its servants are literate), and through theater and art (which is why it sponsors Redcaps who tour with plays).

Latin

House Tremere advocates the use of Latin as the language of the Order. In part, it does this to marginalize its Theban rivals, who insist on speaking Greek. A single language also makes propaganda easier to distribute.

Non–Hermetic Actors

House Tremere is happy to use faeries, senior churchmen, noblemen, magical spirits, and exotic wizards as advocates of its policies or as allies.

Openness

The Tremere are perfectly willing to tell others what they want, why, and what they are willing to do to get it. Everyone knows they think they should rule the world. Compared to that, there’s little need for concealment on most political issues. They are similarly open with mundane noblemen.

Prosperity

The Tremere aid each other, and their allies, in part to show that their system creates wealth.

Soft Power Story Seeds

Stories about soft power are particularly suited for characters whose Abilities and Arts are aimed at convincing others, rather than killing them. The troupe may to select a Reputation score for House Tremere which a character acting on the House’s behalf may use. As soft power stories are completed, this reputation may rise; foolish actions lower it. The use of hard power may also cause the House’s reputation to fall, if it is considered unjustified by other magi. Advocacy A Verditius magus has once again sold a powerful magic item to a nobleman using a mundane proxy, and it has once again led to tensions with the Arab sorcerers, when the device was used in the Near East. The character is tasked with speaking at Tribunal against this Verditius. House Tremere has no expectation that the player character will speak so eloquently that the loophole in the Code that allows such sales will be closed. What the player character needs to do instead is frame the issue, to get magi in the Tribunal to connect the words “reckless” and “magic item sales.” Once enough magi come to accept that there’s something slightly wrong about magic item sales, either one of them will see it raised at the Grand Tribunal, or the Tremere will be able to muster their votes when the time comes to review the Code. Aiding Emulants House Flambeau is becoming more hierarchical over time. The Tremere do not see an organized House Flambeau as a threat; it solves many more problems that it causes. It allows negotiation with a single body, rather than assembling coalitions of Flambeau magi on each issue. The player characters are loaned to House Flambeau to serve as adversaries in war games, while that House shakes out the problem of logistics and small unit tactics caused by its narrow range of magical specialization. The player characters gain greater kudos if they think to dress themselves as Tytalus magi for the exercise. Always Keeping Deals A Tremere magus has broken a contract in a Tribunal not generally friendly toward the House. The Prima sends the player characters to speak to him, and with the people to whom he was contracted. Can the characters find a way to satisfy the wronged magi, so that this does not become a formal claim at Tribunal? The player characters have been selected because they are the best people to finish the task the Tremere has failed to complete. Defining Normal A Transylvanian Redcap has attempted to compete in one of the sporting competitions held in the Normandy Tribunal, but her entry has been refused because she is not formally a member of the House. Can the player characters convince the Normandy Redcaps to make an exception for her, or even to expand the House in the Normandy, in the Transylvanian way? Direct Acculturation The southernmost covenant in the Novgorod Tribunal has, for some time, been asking for aid from the other covenants there, but has not been receiving as much help as it needs to remain viable. The player characters are sent as emissaries with aid, and then as advisors. Is it better for the House for this covenant to remain in Novgorod, supporting House Tremere in a generally hostile Tribunal, or should the covenant become an oppidum of Transylvania? Would this cause border tension, or can that be soothed with skilled diplomacy? Information The author of a wildly popular series of lays about an apprentice who grows up to fight the druids in the Schism War has passed away while on an expedition. The final book of the series has not been written, and the House feels that the series should be completed. The players characters are asked to find the author’s skull, which will allow her ghost to be summoned. Most ghosts cannot learn, so she is unlikely to be able to think through the twists in the unfinished plot herself, but she could act as a consultant to a living “ghost writer.” Non–Hermetic Actors A major point of policy on which House Jerbiton and House Tremere agree are that it would be very convenient the Church to declare that Hermetic magic is morally neutral. There are a few senior churchmen who favor the Order, but can they be welded together into a faction at the Papal court, or do their national ties and other philosophical differences prevent them being an effective force? What can the player characters do, in the region under close observation by senior prelates, to convince them that the Order is not a tool of the Devil?

House Culture

Tremere culture focuses on the maintenance of a filial community. Many details of House Tremere culture are discussed in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages.

Apprentices

An apprentice must spend at least some time in Transylvania, to understand the value of what the House is building. Similarly, an apprentice must spend at least some time in the frontier Tribunals, watching other magi live without the benefits of consensus and organization. The parens of an apprentice likely has duties which prevent her from simply transferring between Tribunals, so it is common for apprentices to spend at least a year being trained by someone other than their master.

House Tremere takes this process of exchange seriously, and magi plan for it in advance. For example, two magi may deliberately take apprentices in the same year, arranging to swap them after a certain time, and then swap back. The years a foreign apprentice spends in Transylvania are deliberately a collegial, affirming experience, to cement loyalty to the House. While in Transylvania, a young magus will stay for at least one season in Coeris, and regularly meet the leaders of the House. The year a Transylvanian spends elsewhere emphasizes the joys of frontier life: the exploring, fighting, and political scheming, to whet the appetites of those temperamentally suited to foreign service.

Rotations and Decennials

Members of the House are encouraged to return to Transylvania regularly. At minimum, every Tremere magus should spend at least a season every ten years in Transylvania, unless kept abroad by pressing duties. Many senior Tremere gather every decade for a planning meeting, called a Decennial, at Coeris. They often take young Tremere magi with them, as assistants and advisors. In the absence of the councilors, magi of middle age form teams to keep the projects of the House stable. This forces the exarch to distribute information about his plans to his subordinates.

Characters whose duties have kept them away from Transylvania for some time are encouraged to return for lengthy stays. This has three useful effects. It allows a magus to recenter, so he does not “go native.” It allows the magus’ replacement to look at the House’s challenges and resources with fresh eyes and new skills. It also allows the magus to meet the new leaders of the House, if the Primus has changed, or if there have been movements in her council of closest assistants.

Players wanting a rotation for their character should discuss it with the troupe. They may simply play a companion for a year. With the troupe’s permission, the player may create a replacement to play while their primary magus is in Transylvania. The easiest way to do this is just to reskin the primary magus (create a new character who looks and sounds different, but has the same underlying numbers). If the primary magus is killed in a later story, the replacement character may be substituted.

Magi of Coeris

Coeris currently houses 20 magi, all of whom are members of House Tremere, with the exceptions of Archmagus Dominic of Tytalus and Issac of Merinita. Five of these magi are in Coeris for a year, either to acculturate their apprentices or as part of a rotation. Two more are young Tremere magi being “seasoned,” performing missions for the House while awaiting more permanent placement in a covenant in another Tribunal. The remaining 13 form the core of House Tremere’s policy-creating body.

Primus Poena of Tremere

• Age: 86
• Personality Traits: Precise +4, Meticulous +2, Specializes in Intellego, Muto, Imaginem and Mentem magic.
• Privilege: Cives

Slight of frame and stern of feature, her hair silver, Poena is arguably the most politically powerful magus in Mythic Europe. Her memory is flawless. She recalls every item in the Book of Legacies. She knows the name of every magus in the House, and roughly what she or he is tasked to do. She has situational reports from her exarchs and spies. She can click all of these pieces together into intricate and interesting combinations.

Poena’s strange ability to find associations among resources makes her a different Primus from many of her predecessors. Many of them preferred to govern the House by announcing a handful of — preferably captivating — projects as top priorities, and pouring resources into those. A few others preferred to just let councilors do whatever they liked, and pursue projects using the remaining, young Tremere. Poena governs her whole House, but she does it subtly.

She is aided by her exarchs, legate, councilors, and three secretaries. Poena’s secretaries are magi of middle age, responsible for operations, contingencies, and emergencies. Each assists Poena by making sure that her policies are carried out, and information about the House’s progress flows back to her.

House Tremere’s councilors are generally performing duties they either enjoy or know are vital. They almost universally feel that they have Poena’s personal support to do useful things, materially represented with House aid. Poena spreads her interest across dozens of projects, without having a single heart-catching policy like her predecessor. This means her flagship policy can never fail, bringing her leadership into question.

Poena needs more pieces for her schemes, preferably pieces not shaped like those she already possesses. Player characters from outside House Tremere are particularly useful to her, provided they can be trusted to act predictably. She has the key to the greatest stockpiles of treasure in Europe. She probably knows precisely what the player characters want, or where to get it, or both.

The Book of Legacies

This vast white tome contains a list of every item, magic or mundane, controlled by the House. There are only 12 copies of the book, and many of those are kept in Coeris. A copy is held by the exarchs of foreign Tribunals, by the Primus, by her designated successor, and by the leader of Lycaneon covenant. The existence of the book is, itself, kept secret. The Tremere have layered defenses on each copy of the book, to prevent them from falling into the hands of enemies who might profit from such a detailed knowledge of the resources available to the House. The book’s case is designed to destroy the pages within if certain passwords are not said, or if it is touched on certain surfaces. It also destroys its contents if it cannot confirm, using Mentem spells, that the person touching it is a loyal Tremere magus. This means that the user’s Parma needs to be down, which leaves them vulnerable to some of the other Mentem spells crafted into the defenses of the book. The Book of Legacies is supplemented by a second book, called the Book of Placements, which records where every item is. It records this, however, by reference only to an item’s number in the Book of Legacies and a number given to each magus, covenant, and oppidum. This means that if the Book of Placements is ever stolen, its contents are meaningless, even with magical aids to decryption. Some of the nosier members of House Mercere have intercepted parts of the Book of Placements, and understand what it is, and from this they infer that something like the Book of Legacies must exist, to act as a key for the messages. House Tremere has noticed that their administration of the Book of Placements is a lot easier if every Tremere magus has a unique identifier. In other Tribunals, the magus’ name and covenant suffices. In this Tribunal, with its fluid residency, an alternative tradition has developed. No two Tremere magi are permitted to have the same name in this Tribunal. A maga moving to this Tribunal may need to perform certamen to defend her name in the most literal of senses. The Blessings of the Dead Within the vast storehouse of material recorded in the Book of Legacies are the talismans of Tremere magi who have passed away. Since talismans are constructed without the usual material constrains of magic item creation, but persist after their makers die, these are some of the most potent magic items in Mythic Europe. Many older Tremere, not particularly interested in laboratory work in their younger years, are assigned time and resources, as Twilight approaches, to ensure they leave behind a powerful talisman. These items are called the Blessings of the Dead, and are treated reverentially by the Tremere. It is an honor to carry the talisman of a great heroine of the House, particularly if she was an ancestor.

Decennial Story Seeds

The movement of magi leading up to a Decennial provides some storytelling opportunities. Reconnaissance For The Adviser The character is being taken to Decennial as an adviser to an exarch on a pressing problem (for example, piracy, a new breed of faerie with military applications, a new plague, a novel device, or an archaeological dig which may aid Original Research). The character and his allies must, therefore, have fresh information to present to their sponsor and the House. This is gathered during a story. Watching the Store While the exarch is away, the player character and her allies need to keep the House’s plots bubbling. When something goes wrong, she needs to fix things, preferably before her exarch gets back. A skilled character might also find new ways of using personal resources that the exarch has previously neglected to mention. Decennial The Decennial is approaching and Poena wants to build a coalition of support around her strategies in the Levant. To do this, she needs her envoys, the player characters, to contact the councilors most opposed to her plans, and gauge their opinion of where the House should be heading for the next decade. The views of these magi are irreconcilable on some issues, but she needs to carefully find something useful that each councilor wants to do, so that no coalition of resistance to her plans can form.

Angiola of Tremere

• Age: 25
• Personality Traits: Cheerful +3, Assertive +2. Specializes in Muto Imaginem, with some Creo and Mentem.
• Privilege: Cives

Young, blonde, and sarcastic, Angiola is a Gently Gifted maga used by Poena as her spokeswoman to those affected by the Gift. She was trained as an Assessor, and has access to powerful illusions which make her seem older and male, because each of these things adds to her credibility in Mythic Europe’s society. When she casts magic, things around her become crisper.

Angiola is the maga most likely to appear if the characters have dismally failed a task among the mortals, and need rescuing. She’s in charge of tidying up problems between magi and mundanes in this Tribunal. If the characters make any pretense of being noblemen, she regularly checks in with them. She acts as chief aide to Janus of Tremere.

Dominic of Tytalus, Aedile of Coeris

• Age: 90
• Personality Traits: Fascinated by complex things +4, Patient +3. Prefers weather magic, skilled necromancer
• Privilege: Hospes

Dominic is the Tytalus who challenges himself to understand and predict the gambits of all other Tytalus magi, and warn House Tremere about them. Dominic sees himself as challenging his entire House to an incredibly serious game. He believes that House Tytalus underestimates House Tremere badly, and that this is sure to lead to trouble if unchecked.

Dominic is very tall, and wears a devilish beard. His clothes are always black, including his skullcap. He knows this makes him look like he’s trying too hard to intimidate people. That’s the look he wants. His sigil is the sound of thunder which he, privately, thinks is so gauche as to be funny.

In House Tytalus’ culture, Tremere magi are seen as buffoons: the perfect targets for the sort of bullying japes that their cruel founder played on his weakling brother. Young Tytalus magi count it as a day of honor when they first best a Tremere magus. House Tremere avoids the Normandy Tribunal, because, Tytalus magi believe, they cannot compete in challenges of the intellect.

Dominic knows that on one occasion, the Corruption, House Tremere did decide that House Tytalus needed a lesson. They crushed his House, complete with demonic minions, like an egg. Ignoring this, Tytalus magi deliberately provoke, then mock, Tremere magi. Dominic is concerned that the iron pragmatism protecting his House from petulant retaliation may corrode. He is also concerned that the current weakness in the Theban Tribunal leaves House Tremere with spare magi, who could be tasked to deal with niggling problems, like the behavior of House Tytalus.

Dominic is a great ally for player characters to have. He has the ear of the Prima, and is at the center of things in Coeris, but he’s not a Tremere magus. He always needs favors, because there’s always a Tytalus magus trying to do something weird to someone undeserving. He can repay them from his vast number of contacts, tremendous store of devious advice, and his talent for necromantic mayhem.

Horatius of Tremere

• Age: 61
• Personality Traits: Organized +4, Wants to cut a deal +3. Prefers Creo, Rego, Imaginem, and Terram.
• Privilege: Cives

Horatius has the prestigious role of secretary for operations, meaning he takes care of things planned in the most recent Decennial. With some earlier Primi, this secretary wielded vast power, as the Primus set policy and the secretary carried it out. Horatius has less influence than some previous secretaries, because his Prima is so interested in resource allocations. He does, however, still make sure things are running smoothly, and reports anomalies.

He is young for such a senior role, and a little corpulent for a Tremere magus. He and Poena often operated together before she became Prima. He was one of the supporters who helped her arrange her succession. He’s also the brother of her husband. He holds his own sigil and is by training a Signaler. His sigil is comforting warmth.

Horatius rarely leaves Coeris, but player characters from other places may still interact with him. As the manager of House business for Tremere, he’s the magus they will send letters to when proposing deals. He’s more accessible than Poena, and can tap into many of the House’s resources. He’s also the person who can most easily arrange a faceto-face meeting with the Prima. Horatius has an aide, Juturnus of Tremere, who acts as a troubleshooter.

Horatius does not currently seek the Primushood, and is unlikely to win it on his own in the near future. If the House divided, he’d make a great compromise Primus. If Horatius were to become Primus, he would seed the north and east coasts of the Black Sea with oppida. Horatius views the Black Sea as a possible Hermetic lake. The rapid communications and logistical support made possible by the Black Sea are, in his opinion, valuable, and should be brought into the body of the Order.

Janus of Tremere

• Age: 91
• Personality Traits: Chaste +3, Secretive +2, Proud +1. Prefers Creo, Intellego, Rego, and Mentem. His strong specialization in Mentem is well known in his House, which limits his effectiveness in Certamen. He’s a spiritual necromancer.
• Privilege: Cives

Janus is the secretary for contingencies: things that may occur, and that the House must be ready for. He ensures the maintenance of the House’s logistical stockpile, and sometimes requests that members of the House, or of Transylvanian oppida, be trained in odd skills, to ensure the House has the right talents available if one of his lowprobability events occurs. Janus is aided by Angiola of Tremere. His sigil is ribbons of scarlet light.

Janus was raised in the Rhineland. He’s muscular and handsome, but he suffers from a sort of lycanthropy that can be suppressed with magic and affects only his shape, not his mind. He finds this embarrassing, so he does not discuss it with others. He will never attempt to become Primus, because his secret would emerge. His condition is sexually transmissible, so he is aloof with attractive women. He served the previous Primus as secretary for operations.

Janus interacts with the player characters if he thinks that what they are doing might have the remote chance of causing a crisis. He doesn’t stop the player characters, but puts counterweights in place, so that if their actions do rebound on the House, at least it has some warning. His habit of spying on characters and tinkering at the edges of their sphere of influence is less sinister than it often appears. Characters may also contact him for advice, because he’s spent years making plans to deal with unlikely events.

House Tremere may also ask the characters to learn odd skills. Some time after this occurs, Janus may seek the characters’ assistance with an odd situation for which their skills are perfect. This is, of course, because he foresaw the situation, and prepared the characters to deal with it. He has a talent for spycraft and the Visions flaw, so his preparations, although good, cannot be precise. When Janus asks characters to go on a mission, then it’s to resolve a situation where several very unlikely circumstances coincided to create a crisis. Resolving these situations can be problematic, because it’s difficult to establish a single cause for the failure, a single person to be blamed for it, or an easy remedy.

Isaac of Merinita

• Age: Physically 40, but has spent years in Faerie.
• Personality Traits: Manic Depressive +3. Prefers gloomy faerie magic.
• Privilege: Cives

Isaac is Coeris’s resident specialist on faeries. He has been left, if not insane, then deeply disturbed by his experiences with the dark faeries of this Tribunal. His askew view of the world makes him a useful advisor to Tatiana, the Secretary for Emergencies. His hatred for and encyclopedic knowledge of vampiric faeries also makes him useful. His sigil is the smell of burning pinecones, but he claims this was not always so, a matter of some interest to researchers.

Issac looks frail, but his faerie blood makes him athletic and agile despite his appearance. He has large scars on his wrists, ankles, neck, and inner thighs that look like madmen have chewed and torn his flesh. These scars cannot be healed with Hermetic magic, which may be a faerie curse, or could be damage to his Essential Nature caused by faerie tortures. His personality swings from happy to brooding without warning.

Juturnus of Tremere

• Age: 45
• Personality Traits: Cocksure +3, Eloquent +2. Prefers Rego, some Perdo and Intellego, Animal and Terram.

Juturnus is sent to clarify faults in the operations of the House. That is, when something goes wrong and Horatius can’t figure out why, he sends Juturnus to assess things and then fix them. Cocky, skillful, and decisively violent, Juturnus doesn’t act a lot like a bureaucratic Tremere, and has perhaps risen too quickly to his position. His sigil is that small objects near him rearrange themselves into geometric shapes.

Juturnus is black, and has the athletic build common to Tremere magi. A few decades ago, one of the Primi encouraged the Redcaps to find gifted Arabic and African children for his sodales to raise. He believed this would enable them to work in Arabic lands less conspicuously than magi of Hungarian stock. Nothing substantial came of this, but it does add some randomness to the race of the House’s members. Like many of these children, he was trained as an Assessor (a sort of spy) initially, although he has more eclectic training now.

Tatiana of Tremere

• Age: 85
• Personality Traits: Ruthless +3, Calm +2, Prefers Creo, Muto, Herbam and Corpus.
• Privilege: Cives

Tatiana is the secretary for emergencies. It’s her job to come up with solutions when the House is blindsided by events. She’s also in change of making sure the House knows that problems are looming, so she’s Poena’s spymistress. She is aided by Isaac of Merinita. She finds his knack for surviving anything, even if not entirely intact, useful. Tatiana’s family are Szeklers, although she has had no contact with them since she was made an apprentice. She becomes briefly invisible when she casts spells, much to her annoyance.

Characters are most likely to meet Tatiana when something truly awful is about to happen. She appears, commandeers their aid and resources, and then sends them into terrible situations. Her job is to buy time for the House and Order to react, and magi who don’t assist her when she asks are, in some circles, forever tarnished by the disgrace of it.

Keepers of the Silence of the Temple

Tatiana is privately a member of the Keepers of the Silence of the Temple. This small, secretive and unofficial societates takes its name from a historical incident. In 356 BC, a young man set fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, and then readily confessed his crime, because, he said, it would make him famous throughout the ages. He was put to death, and all mention of his name forbidden. Tatiana and her colleagues believe that, on a far too regular basis, Tytalus magi deliberately do profoundly stupid things for fame. Her organization is dedicated to destroying first the person, then the memory, of these vandals.

Plot Hooks

Characters who live at Coeris can be involved in stories on a Europe-wide scale.

Allies in Foreign Tribunals

Normandy Tribunal has always been a problem for House Tremere, because it is full of Tytalus magi. As a counterweight, House Tremere has been aiding one of the Autumn covenants, called Oleron. The Oleronese are politically belligerent, and have set up a small covenant as bait for Tytalus raiders, without discussing this with House Tremere. When the Tytalus magi take the bait and attack the covenant, this draws Oleron into a clash with some powerful Tytalus magi. They assume that House Tremere will aid them. The player characters are dispatched to deal with this issue: how much aid do they want to give, and how publicly do they want to give it? How can they make the conflict stop, at advantageous terms, before it spirals into widespread war?

Culture

The unique way that Transylvanian magi live provides opportunities for storytelling.

Chess

Many magi are fascinated by chess and play by post. The Prima Poena wishes to regularize the Order’s great competition for chess players. She wishes to hold it at the Transylvanian Tribunal site in two years’ time. She wants participants to bid with the other attendees for the right to host the next competition. Poena is doing this to add to the prestige of the House, to expose senior magi from other Tribunals to the Transylvanian culture, and to open a non-violent arena for the Tremere to demonstrate their prowess. The tournament needs to run smoothly, and the player characters are made responsible for this. This includes preventing sabotage, finding things for magi not currently involved in matches to do, and finding ways to showcase the Transylvanian Hermetic culture.

The Laureate

House Tremere’s chief poet is elderly and wishes to retire in the next year. His role, in the House’s policy, is to create memorable works which influence the Reputation of the House. The player characters are asked to find his replacement.

Mortals

House Tremere is particularly interested in the protection of its non-magical agents.

Assassination

There is a king in another Tribunal who is seeking ways to pressure magi into paying taxes, and has already intimated to his senior nobles that he would like to cast down all these wizards, and divide their land between his supporters and the Church. The Order has strict rules against disturbing the nobility, but House Tremere think he is an Infernalist. They see deposing this king as a sort of proactive self-defense. The player characters are sent to see if they can cause a faction of his nobles to break ranks and support a pretender to the throne. If this fails, they need to consider if an assassination is possible, and how it can be performed to the greatest advantage of the House.

This includes preparing a defense in case the ungrateful magi of this Tribunal attempt to charge them with interference. Can they tempt the king to attack them personally, so that he can be killed as part of a right to imminent self-defense? Should they trick him into a declaration of war on the Order of Hermes, so that “the enemies of the Order are my enemies” can be used? Will they have to settle for making their efforts untraceable?

Non-Combatant Evacuation

A mortal war is about to flow through an area that contains a lot of people of particular value to one of the other Houses. The player characters are tasked with the evacuation, in as subtle manner as possible, of as many of these people, and their chattels, as possible.

Recovery Team

A mortal ally of the House has been convicted of witchcraft in another Tribunal and is to be executed. The local Tremere do not feel they can do anything without causing an incident that the Quaesitores will take a dim view of. The player characters are sent as a recovery team, but they are told to make the rescue look deniable. The man has already been convicted of using forbidden magic, so making it look like he escaped with faerie or diabolic aid is not, of itself, a problem. They then need to bring the ally back to Hungary, where witchcraft, legally speaking, does not exist.

Monica Ierne of Tremere, Archmaga and Legata

Moinca of Ireland is a skilled combat maga who took the role of legata, field commander of the House, two years ago, when Poena became Prima. As legata, Monica is Poena’s heir. She is expected, should Poena die or become indisposed, to act as Prima for the time it takes to call together an emergency meeting of the Council. Monica has her own sigil, and that of Tatiana, described later. Monica is dark-haired and pale, but has a slightly muscular, athletic look which is unusual in mundane noblewomen. Her sigil is a type of stone, flint. She was raised in Blackthorn Covenant, which dominates much of England. She was, from her earliest training, designated as one of the House’s heavy combat magi. She specialises in Creo, Rego, Terram, and Corpus magic. Player characters may interact with Monica whenever the House decides to field a military force. She is not always in charge; often, she will appoint another officer to act on her behalf. She may also seek their assistance with her duties. For example, she may ask player characters to assay areas around their covenant, if outside the Tribunal, to determine their suitability as battlefields and staging grounds. She is particularly interested in descriptions of battles with hedge magi, demons, faeries, or monsters of unclear origin. Monica may send letters, asking for precise details of the player characters’ conflicts. Monica has no desire to be Prima and would only take the role to evict someone she considered truly odious. If she became Prima, she would push for changes to allow the Primushood to be determined by duel of champions. After this was successful, she would resign to someone more suited to governance. Monica accepts that her focus on combat magic has made her unable to claim the Primushood. Characteristics: Int +2, Per , Pre 0, Com +1, Str 0, Sta +2, Dex 0, Qik 0 Size: 0 Age: 90 (55) Decrepitude: 0 Warping Score: 6 (10) Confidence Score: 3 (3) Virtues and Flaws: The Gift, Affinity with Terram, Clear Thinker, Leadworker*, Minor Magical Focus (certamen), True Friend, Deficient Technique (Muto). * Described in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages. Allows Monica to make small dolls or tablets out of lead that provide arcane connections to the dead or animals which recognize their own names. Also allows her to fix arcane connections without spending vis or taking time from other studies. She has hundreds of these tiny dolls. Personality Traits: Loves reading about combat +3, Loyalty (wolf) +3, Enjoys sailing +2 Reputations: Combat maga 5 (Hermetic) Combat: Club: Init +1, Attack +5, Defense +6, Damage +3 Brawl: Init 0, Attack +1, Defense +2, Damage 0 Soak: +5 (Sta + bronze cord) Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+) Abilities: Area Lore: Hibernian Tribunal 2 (western coast), Area Lore: Transylvanian Tribunal 3 (oppida), Artes Liberales 1 (writing), Athletics 2 (marching), Awareness 3 (faeries), Bargain 2 (magi), Brawl 1 (self-defense), Charm 1 (magi), Craft: Flintworking 3 (blades), Code of Hermes 2 (Transylvanian Tribunal), Concentration 4 (Terram), Etiquette 2 (magi), Finesse 6 (Terram), Folk Ken 2 (Transylvania), Hermes Lore 3 (specializations of magi), Irish 5 (peasants), Latin 6 (magi), Leadership 3 (magi), Magic Theory 4 (Terram), Organization Lore: House Tremere 4 (resources), Parma Magica 9 (faeries), Penetration 8 (Terram), Survival 2 (Transylvania), Swim 1 (endurance), Arts: Cr 12, In 6, Mu 6, Pe 6, Re 24; An 10, Aq 0, Au 12, Co 6, He 0, Ig 0, Im 0, Me 0, Te 30, Vi 0 Equipment: Monica wears a thigh case filled with spikes of flint, which she uses when no better ammunition is available for use with Wielding the Invisible Sling. Some of these flints are soaked in arsenic and then coated in beeswax. The case is itself a magic item, containing, among other things, an enchantment which prevents arsenic from touching the wearer. Cutting yourself is an obvious botch for this spell. She also carries a flint wand, which is her talisman, and various magic items from the House stores. The most powerful of these is a dragon banner, the handle of which was the staff on an archmagus. Encumbrance: 0 Spells Known: Command the Harnessed Beast (ReAn 30/+36), ArM5, page 120. Ward Against Rain (ReAq 10/+26), ArM5, page 128. Circling Winds of Protection (CrAu 20/+31), Mastery 1 (fast casting), ArM5, page 125. Incantation of Lighting (CrAu 35/+32), Mastery 1 (fast casting), ArM5, page 126. Whispering Winds (InAu 15/+18), ArM5, page 127. Broom of the Winds (ReAu 15/+42), ArM5, page 125. Gathering the Stormy Might (ReAu 40/+42), ArM5, page 129. Useful to follow Sudden Well. Chirugeon’s Healing Touch (CrCo 20/+14), ArM5, page 129. Restoration of the Defiled Body (CrCo 25/+20), ArM5, page 156. The Leap of Homecoming (ReCo 35/+33), Mastery 1 (fast casting), ArM5, page 135. Heat of the Searing Forge (CrIg 10/+15), ArM5, page 140. Pilum of Fire (CrIg 20/+18), Mastery 1 (fast casting), ArM5, page 140 Aura of Rightful Authority (ReMe 20/+24), ArM5, page 151. Scent of Peaceful Slumber (ReMe 20/+26), ArM5, page 152. Wall of Protecting Stone (CrTe 25/+47) Mastery 1 (fast casting), ArM5, page 153. Necessary Monolith (CrTe 35/+46) Sense the Feet That Tread the Earth (InTe 30/+59), ArM5, page 154. Stone Tell of the Mind that Sits (InTe 30/+59), ArM5, page 153. Stone to Falling Dust (PeTe 20/+35) Mastery 2 (fast casting, Penetration), ArM5, page 155. Wielding the Invisible Sling (ReTe 10/+61) Mastery 3 (fast casting, Multiple, Penetration), ArM5, page 155. Unseen Porter (ReTe 10/+60), ArM5, page 156. Earth’s Carbuncle (Re(Mu)Te 15/+15), ArM5, page 156. Hands of the Grasping Earth (ReTe 15/+60), ArM5, page 156. Crest of the Earth Wave (ReTe 20/+58), ArM5, page 156. Abrading Stones (ReTe 25/+58) Earth Shock (ReTe 30/+60), ArM5, page 156. A great spell to follow Sudden Well, Creeping Chasm, or similar. Earth Split Asunder (ReTe 30/+60), ArM5, page 156. Creeping Chasm (ReTe 35/+58), ArM5, page 156. Sudden Well (ReTe 35/+60) The Field of Millstones (ReTe 40/+60) Diverting the River (ReTe 50/+58) Gathering the Essence of the Beast (ReVi 15/+26), ArM5, page 162. Circular Ward Against Demons (ReVi 20/+14), ArM5, page 162. Watching Ward (ReVi 25/+26), ArM5, page 162. Abrading Stones ReTe 25 R: Voice, D: Diameter, T: Part This spell lifts all loose rocks and pebbles in a 15-pace radius about the target, and grinds them against the victim. Damage is +5 per round. (Base 4, +2 Voice, +1 Diameter, +1 Part, +1 size) Diverting the River ReTe 50 R: Voice, D: Diameter, T: Part This spell creates a chasm 30 feet wide, 30 to 40 feet deep, and 10,000 paces long (which is just over 5.5 miles). Monica can use this spell to divert rivers with the aid of her Necessary Monolith spell, which dams the original watercourse. She can also create defensive circles, up to a mile and three quarters across, with each casting of the spell. The channel is not stable, and begins to collapse over the next few days, but if has been used to divert a river, the scouring action of the water may keep it clear. (Base 3, +2 voice, +1 Diameter, +1 part, +7 size) The Field of Millstones ReTe 40 R: Voice, D: Diameter, T: Part As Abrading Stones, but affects everything in a circle 200 paces across. (Base 4, +2 Voice, +1 Part, +4 size, +1 Diameter) Necessary Monolith CrTe 35 R: Voice, D: Sun, T: Individual This spell creates a wall 50 paces long, 20 paces high, and 10 paces thick. Monica uses this spell to dam rivers, so that her Diverting the River spell has sufficient water to be effective. (Base 3, +2 Voice, +2 Sun, +4 size) Sudden Well PeTe 30 R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Part This spell creates a shaft 10 feet square and 100 feet deep. The shaft is not reinforced, so it collapses swiftly after it is created. (Base 3, +2 Voice, +1 Part, +4 size) Silexa, a Familiar Wolf Silexa is not one of the native white wolves, being of Irish extraction, but she has great seniority in the strange community of wolves that depends on House Tremere. Magic Might: 10 (Animal) Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Pre –2, Com +1*, Str –1, Sta +3, Dex +2, Qik +2 * Lacks the ability to speak. Size: –1 Season: Summer Confidence Score: 1 (3) Virtues and Flaws: Magical Animal; Essential Virtue (Minor), Improved Characteristics (x2), Ferocity (when hungry), Long Winded, Sharp Ears, True Friend, Wilderness Sense, Infamous, Magical Creature Magical Qualities: Personal Power (Hands of the Magical Animal), 2 x Improved Damage, 2 x Improved Defense, 2 x Improved Fatigue, Improved Initiate, 2 x Improved Soak Personality Traits: Brave +3, Loyal (Monica) +3, Wolf +3* Cautious +2 * This trait is part of Silexa’s essential nature, and so cannot be affected by Hermetic magic. It makes her loyal to her pack, and immune to spells which try to make her act in a humanish way. Reputations: Honorable 4 (Hermetic wolves) Combat: Teeth: Init +5, Attack +11, Defense +13, Damage +6 Soak: +11 Fatigue Levels: OK, 0/0, –1/–1,–1, –3/–3, –5, Unconscious Wound Penalties: –1 (1–4), –3 (5–8), –5 (9–12), Incapacitated (13–16) Abilities: Area Lore: Transylvanian Tribunal 3, Athletics 5 (distance running), Awareness 3 (smell), Brawl 5 (teeth), Hunt 4 (track by smell), Latin 5 (listening), Leadership 3 (wolves), Survival 3 (winter), Swim 3 (rivers), Wilderness Sense (Transylvania) 5. Powers: Hands of the Magical Animal: 0 points, Init 0, Animal. Allows the wolf to carry objects as if she had hands and a Strength of 5. She must concentrate to do anything but carry an object.. ((Base 3, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 constant, Personal Power (15 levels, –2 Might cost) Realms of Power: Magic, page 39) Vis: 2 pawns, Animal, heart. Appearance: A wolf with a pelt the color of flint. Bond Cords: Gold +2, Silver +1, Bronze +3 Bond Powers: 2 Shared senses (Sight), 0 points, Init 0, Corpus or Animal, as per ArM5, page 105 Ever-present Familiar, 0 points, Init 0, Animal. Allows Monica to call Silexa to her side, provided the wolf is within seven leagues. Silexia often recovers Arcane Connections to places, to allow Monica to use Leap of Homecoming. (Base 30, +3 24 uses per day) Mental communication as per ArM5, page 105, complex variant. Talisman: Flint Wand Monica’s wand is a cylinder of flint with bronze bands. It has the following attunements, not all of which are used in the enchantments currently placed within it: +9 Causing Paralysis +4 Control things at a distance +4 Destroy things at a distance +3 Ignem +3 Project Missile +6 Protection from faeries +2 Repel things at a distance +3 Terram Earth Split Asunder ReTe 35 Pen +0, 24/day R: Voice, D: Conc, T: Part As per The Earth Split Asunder (ArM5, page 156). Item maintains concentration. (Effect: Base 3, +2 Voice, +1 Conc, +1 Part, +2 size, +1 fancy effect. Modifications +5, 24 uses per day, +5 maintains concentration) Endurance of the Berserkers ReCo 30 Pen +0, 24/day R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind As Endurance of the Berserkers (ArM5, page 134), but with Touch range. Item maintains concentration. (Effect: Base 10, +1 Touch, +1 Conc; Modifications +5, 24 uses per day, +5 maintains concentration) The Invisible Siege Engine ReTe 15 Pen +0, 24/day R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Ind As Wielding the Invisible Sling (ArM5, page 155-156), but permits the flinging of objects up to three feet across. (Effect: Base 4, +2 Voice; Modifications +5, 24 uses per day) A Second Iteration of the Invisible Siege Engine ReTe 15 Pen +40, 24/day R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Ind The same spell as earlier, reinvested once Monica became more powerful. (Effect: Base 4, +2 Voice; Modifications +5, 24 uses per day, +20 Penetration). Object of Increased Size MuTe 20 Pen +0, 24/day R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind As per the spell of the same name (ArM5, page 154). (Effect: Base 4, +1 Touch, +2 Sun; Modifications +5, 24 uses per day) Obliteration of the Metallic Barrier PeTe 25 Pen +0, 24/day R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind As per the spell of the same name (ArM5, page 155). Often used to follow Wall of Protecting Stone. (Effect: Base 5, +1 Touch, +1 size, +1 Rego to fling the objects away: Modifications +5, 24 uses per day) Sense the Feet That Tread the Earth InTe 40 Pen +0, 24/day R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Part As per the spell of the same name (ArM5, page 154). The talisman maintains concentration. (Effect: Base 4, +1 Conc, +1 Touch, +1 Part, +3 size; Modifications +5, 24 uses per day, +5 maintains concentration) Stone Tell of the Mind that Sits InTe 40 Pen +0, 24/day R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind As per the spell of the same name (ArM5, page 154). The talisman maintains concentration. (Effect: Base 20, +1 Touch, +1 Conc: Modifications +5 24 uses per day, +5 maintains concentration) Wings of the Soaring Wind Cr(Re)Au 40 Pen +0, 24/day R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind As per the spell of the same name (ArM5, page 126). The talisman maintains concentration. (Effect: Base 5, +1 Touch, +1 Conc, +2 highly unnatural, +1 requisite; Modifications +5, 24 uses per day, +5 maintains concentration)

Politics

Hermetic politics is played slightly differently as the representative of a militant House, expected to enforce order.

Border War

After the destruction of House Diedne, many of that House’s vis sources were claimed by Houses Tytalus and Flambeau. The exact division of these spoils has never been for malized, mostly because House Tytalus’s members like having to compete for them on a regular basis. In one of the more recent clashes over these resources, a Flambeau magus died. This was probably an accident. The Flambeau Primus believes that the accident was a foreseeable consequence of the Tytalus tactics. Its possibility was disregarded because it was unlikely and their tactics were just so clever. House Tytalus is now treating the legal case surrounding the magus’ death as yet another game, which they win if the magus responsible escapes conviction.

House Flambeau’s members are passionate people, and House Guernicus is concerned that raiding, or even general war, may result. A Trianoman negotiator is being sent, with security provided by the player characters. They are to assist him to soothe the situation, or at least turn it to House Tremere’s advantage.

The Magic Item Tax

The Houses of Verditus and Bonisagus are co-sponsoring a Grand Tribunal resolution to tax all covenants a pawn of vis a year. This is to be given to a research team to perfect a new type of magical device. House Tremere is in favor of establishing the right of the Grand Tribunal to tax magi for the benefit of the Order. The player characters, as Poena’s envoys, must deal with some obvious concerns.

It seems to Poena that House Bonisagus and Verditius get all the vis, but leave the collection and enforcement, with its costs and dangers, to House Guernicus and its militant allies. How will the vis be collected, what will the penalty for non-payment be, and how will that be enforced?

She is also concerned that the project itself is less worthy than others the vis could be spent on. Is it better to establish taxation as a principle, then make what it is spent on useful, or demand it be useful to begin with?

The device should be tailored to each campaign, but does something which can also be done by interested parties in the Order. Examples include:

• A distillery that creates a pawn of vis each year, but costs a hundred pawns to create. It pays for itself in the very long term, but alchemists might be able to do this more quickly (see The Mysteries: Revised Edition).
• A tiny mobile device that finds Gifted children and gathers Arcane Connections from them, like hair samples. Redcaps might be able to do this faster.
• An invisible floating globe that traps magical animals suitable for familiars. Some magi already breed and train magical animals.
• A small machine that detects vis sources, and collects Arcane Connections to their locations. Some Redcaps, Bjornaer, and Merinita magi already perform this function.

A New Red Spell

House Tremere wants to campaign at Grand Tribunal to have a spell, called the Ashes of Victory, declared forbidden. It’s a complicated ritual, but when successful, it burns down the crops of a village while its people sleep. Then, it destroys the crops of every village to which refugees flee, once they sleep. Other elements of the Order think this spell particularly useful, because they can cast it on one of their own people and use it to sabotage the supply lines of mortal armies, or particularly clever, in that its contagious nature is the first expression of a breakthrough. Can the player characters negotiate with the holdouts to make sure this vote succeeds at Grand Tribunal?

A Portrait of Diedne?

A team of Redcaps helping a magus move from one oppidum to another has drawn the House’s attention to a statue their client owns. It is part of a set that displays the likeness of each founder, and is carefully relabelled “Pralix,” but does not match any other portrayal of her. They believe that it is of Diedne, and that, as a complicating factor, it is one of the works of art that the Founder Tremere looted from a Jerbiton House covenant that fell under his power during the violent period just before the Sundering. The characters are sent to deal with the matter. Their goals are to prevent embarrassment to the gossips from House Mercere, to procure the item from its owner, and to decide what to do with it. If they give it back to House Jerbiton publicly, then they may be forced to destroy it, by ancient laws for bidding the display of the House symbol of Diedne. Perhaps they can trade it back privately, for political concessions?

Housekeeping Letter

Poena sends an annual letter to every member of House Tremere, and the Primi of all other Houses, describing the current state of the House, her opinion of current political issues, and House Tremere’s goals for the year ahead. This is basically a propaganda letter and is read with some interest, but also with the understanding that significant correspondence is private. A mathematician in House Bonisagus claims he has developed a technique of analysis which, when used on Poena’s letters, divulges short and cryptic instructions. Poena notes that this isn’t actually true: she has no reason to communicate in this bizarre way. She sends the player characters to interview this magus, to see who has put him up to this. One possible resolution is that the magus is sincere, but he has not noticed that his technique generates the same vague and sinister orders when used on any piece of text, including the Code of Hermes. If the player characters discover and demonstrate this, it conclusively removes a potential shadow from the House’s reputation.

Submersible

The House owns some uncrewed, magically powered submersibles which are used for spying. One has been attacked by a magical creature, and is currently wedged in its lair. The player characters are tasked with assessing ways to recover it. The complicating factor is that its presence in the waters outside a covenant that is unfriendly to House Tremere clearly violates the Code.

Security

The House’s widespread interests make it vulnerable to local disruptions.

The Killer on the Road

A serial killer has murdered three people, whose link seems to be that they are close friends of the mortal children of Tremere councilors. Is it a demon, a faerie, a magus, or a spirit? What does it want, and who will it attack next?

Magic Flowers

There’s a type of vis drawn from a faerie flower called amaranth, which causes pleasant hallucinations in magi, but also leads to addiction and Warping. Amaranth is destroyed wherever it is found in Transylvania, but the characters have just discovered a massive amaranth source. Do they keep the vis, and use it for non-drug related purposes? Do they harvest it as a drug? Do they use their new stash to infiltrate the Amaranth supply chains that run through House Mercere and Merinita?

Successions

The House’s method of succession, by appointment and dueling, is straightforward and quick, but that doesn’t stop magi from trying to influence the outcome.

Prima

Poena discovers that she has an illness that will make her progressively weaker, and may impair her judgment. Without alarming other members of the House, she sends player characters as envoys to measure up her possible replacements, before selecting and training one for a decisive certamen battle at the next Decennial. If her strength fails more swiftly than this, the characters may hide her condition, so that her rivals without the House are kept at their useful tasks, or betray her, so that a stronger leader immediately takes her place.

Primus Past

The previous Primus of House Tremere is theoretically in charge of the Burning Acorns Vexillation, which hunts Diedne survivors. This allows him to basically go wherever he wants and follow his personal interests, as a balm to prevent him conspiring against his replacements. The House has lost contact with the past Primus during a trip into the depths of the Novgorod Tribunal, and his memories of the House’s structure and Coeris’ security are valuable strategic assets. The player characters are dispatched to ensure his safety.

Primus Future

Poena suddenly dies of natural causes, and this makes Monica Prima pro tempore. The player characters are sent to summon each of the councilors, and to gauge their interest in the Primacy, their policies, and level of support. Monica is unlikely to attempt to become Prima herself, but she’s not going to just leave the succession to chance. Alternatively, while the consiliari are being summoned, Monica is Prima. This gives her time to wrap up some of Poena’s plans, and rush through one or two of her own initiatives. Characters who have been loyal servants of Poena might be rewarded, in Monica’s brief Primahood, with the chance to pitch some of their most outrageous and unlikely schemes to a sympathetic leader.

Exarch

An exarch in another Tribunal has had a conversation about how, if he had his choice, he’d just kill the local bishop and put the Christians to the sword, to sort out this whole Dominion problem. This was overheard and has circulated as gossip through the Redcap network. Later, the bishop is murdered. The Quaesitores say it was done by a mortal political rival, but there is a scandal regardless. Poena needs to remove the exarch and select a replacement. The more difficult task for the player characters is reconciling the disgraced magus with his loss of status, and finding a way for him to become an asset to the House again.

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