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Location: The Rhine Tribunal, inside the Odenwald Forest, on the river Neckar north of Wimpfen
Year Founded: 1098
Aura Type: Magic
Aura Level: +5
Living Conditions Modifier (Magi): +1
Living Conditions Modifier (Mundanes): 0
Season: Winter
Power: Medium
Aegis of the Hearth: 30
Reputations: Once Good Covenant (Order of Hermes) 2, Strict Toll Keepers (River Traders) 1
Build Points: 1250
Boons and Hooks:
Type of Governance: Democratic (Charter of Arae Flaviae)
Prevailing Loyalty: +2
Magi: Shivinaya of Criamon, Stephon the Sulfurus of Flambeau and Roderick of Jerbiton
Companions: The old and crotchety magi of this covenant have no companions any more; they either are dead or have been driven off.
Specialists: Vintner, Turb Captain, Steward
Covenfolk: Fishermen, Tollhouse Turb (Veteran Soldiers)
Total Gross Income (before expenditure): 350 pounds/year
Noteworthy Expenditures or Cost Savings: 172 pounds/year (after cost savings). 33 pounds in cost savings due to vintner, laborers (fishermen) and magic item (all saved in Provisions)
Total Net Income (after expenditure): 178 pounds/year
Sources of Income: Fishing (Typical, 100), River Toll (Wealthy, 250)
Lands and Possessions: Island
Noteworthy Mundane Items: 12 Rowboats
Noteworthy Weapons or Armor: Several suits of armor and high quality weapons
Physical Form: A small bronze anchor
Effect 1:
Technique and Form: InIm (An, Aq)
Level: 30
Range: Sight
Duration: Sun
Target: Group
Brief Description of Effect: Detects fish in a river, stream, or lake.
Effect Frequency: Constant (Two uses per day with sunrise/sunset environmental trigger)
Total Modified Level of Effect: 34
Effect 2:
Technique and Form: ReAn
Level: 40
Range: Sight
Duration: Sun
Target: Group
Brief Description of Effect: Brings to the lure all fish detected by first effect.
Effect Frequency: Constant (Two uses per day with sunrise/sunset environmental trigger)
Total Modified Level of Effect: 44
Physical Form: A decorative iron anvil
Effect:
Technique and Form: CrTe (Aq, Pe, He)
Level: 35
Range: Touch
Duration: Sun
Target: Room
Brief Description of Effect: Protects and maintains arms and armor.
Effect Frequency: Constant (Two uses per day with sunrise/sunset environmental trigger)
Total Modified Level of Effect: 39
Physical Form: A length of bronze chain
Effect:
Technique and Form: ReHe
Level: 25
Range: Sight
Duration: Concentration
Target: Individual
Brief Description of Effect: Stops a boat or wooden float on the water.
Effect Frequency: 6/day
Total Modified Level of Effect: 28
Physical Form: A golden ring with an amber stone
Effect 1:
Technique and Form: CrCo
Level: 30
Range: Touch
Duration: Sun
Target: Individual
Brief Description of Effect: Provides a +18 Recovery bonus to the wearer, activated when put on.
Effect Frequency: 2/day
Total Modified Level of Effect: 31
Effect 2:
Technique and Form: ReCo
Level: 25
Range: Touch
Duration: Sun
Target: Individual
Brief Description of Effect: User feels no pain or fatigue. To activate, user twists the ring once towards the thumb.
Effect Frequency: 3/day
Total Modified Level of Effect: 27
Summae:
Laboratory Texts:
Casting Tablet:
Summae:
Vis Sources: 3 Cr/yr (Apples; Covenants page 72; harvested in Summer), 4 In/yr (Lens of Wisdom; Covenants page 73; harvested at Summer Solstice), 4 Mu/yr (Chrysalis of Rebirth; Covenants page 74; harvested in Summer, specifically July 20), 5 Aq/yr (Magic Water Wheel; an arcane and ancient water wheel that slowly turns filling a barrel with purified water; harvested in Spring), 4 Co/yr (Spring of Asclepius; Covenants page 79; 1 per Season ), 3 Te/yr (Gargoyle's Blossom; Covenants page 79, but replacing Herbam with Terram; harvested in Winter ), 7 Vi/yr (Spider webs; Covenants page 83; harvested in Autumn)
On a small island on the River Neckar, sometime after it splits off from the Rhine within the Odenwald forest, lies the somewhat legendary covenant known as St. Simprin's. Unwary river travelers, hoping to avoid paying the expensive tolls on the Rhine, might take this branch of the Neckar. Unfortunately for them there is a vigilant toll keeper whom they will encounter before they exit the forest. The island on which the covenant is located is closer to the southwestern bank, which only has enough room for small rowboats to get through. The other side is wide and has a toll-house facing it, with a chain across the river that is secured in heavy rocks on the opposite side. There is a small tower in the center, perhaps 20 paces from the toll-house. The island itself is covered in small wooden outbuildings, housing the people who keep the covenant alive. The crumbling tower and toll-house cannot be taken lightly; the soldiers within take their work seriously, and they have strong and well polished weapons and armor with which to do their job. It is also whispered that they bear the relics of St. Simprin, a monk from antiquity who lived on the island. The surrounding forests are cloaked in mystery, and some say that wizards live and cavort with faeries deep within it. There is a village on the southern bank a few miles from the island, the inhabitants of which have known of the wizards of the tower for a long time and have provided supplies and even their youth for the magis' use for decades if not longer.
The island and the lands around it have occasional patches of dead earth, almost as if whatever was there was literally plucked from existence. This is grim testimony to the power of the path that Shivinaya walks and the effects it has on the world.
St. Simprin's somewhat famous library and numerous labs did at one time attract many peregrinatories, but they never stayed for long; the agreement required from those who might wish to stay is rigorous and exacting.
St. Simprin's history goes back to the founding of the Order itself; it was the island sanctum and laboratory of Simprin, one of Verditius' own apprentices. He had the idea, which more than a few Verditians believe in, that if the Order (especially the Verditians) supplied mundanes with magical trinkets and enchantments, they could replace both the nobles and the Church with themselves and remake the world like it was during the Cult of Mercury's days. He was partly successful; his many items of simple use and ability were handed out among the peasants, the nobility and even the Church. Long after Simprin passed, his items, his laboratory, and his legend grew. The island became known as St. Simprin's, the holy site of some local and obscure saint.
It was not until 1098 that Malifax the Flambeau and some of his compatriots from the Schism War came to the mystic site and easily convinced the few inhabitants to serve them. The wizards were old already when they took over, some near the end of their lives, but were determined to live out their days in relative peace, making use of the many powerful but decaying devices left behind by Simprin. Only Malifax is mentioned in the records of St. Simprin's (known then as Fulmen's Isle), and only his apprentice Stephon the Sulfurus even remembers the other magi who lived there (numbered at three others). Malifax died shortly after his apprentice passed his Gauntlet, and despite Stephon's efforts, new magi came and brought change with them. A new charter was written, one much more democratic and progressive. The name of the covenant was changed with the penning of the new charter, the magi taking the name the locals gave it: St. Simprin's (Stephon bitterly contests the name, claiming that a mundane scribe named the covenant thus).
Shivinaya and Roderick are the only two of these new magi left, the others having passed to Twilight or mischance. They get along well enough; Shivinaya merely wishes to be left alone, and since he insists on having a lab outside the Aegis, this is not too difficult. Shivinaya and Stephon have similar magical strengths and attitudes, and each wonders who would win in a contest between them. Roderick's natural demeanor and social skills are enough to win over even these two, at least to keep the peace and prevent the covenant from exploding into violence.
It was in 1159 that the local Faerie Court first exerted itself upon the covenant, and rather than fight an open battle, which they knew they could not win, Roderick managed to negotiate a contest that appealed to the Faerie Prince's sense of honor and competition. Every Summer on the solstice, a contest is held, called King o' the Field, in which a team from the covenant matches with a team from the Faerie Court to try and pull a brass crown off a tall pole in the center of the field and bring it to their side. The contest lasts for 3 Diameters and has two 'runs' as they call it. A third is run in the case of a tie. The rules are rather complex at this point, having developed over close to a century. The covenant needs to participate in this every Summer for the right to put up their Aegis and gather some of their vis. Furthermore, if the covenant should lose for three summers in a row, then they must become subjects of the Faerie Prince. In the year 1220 and 1221 the covenant lost; in 1220 they encountered a new strategy that they had not seen before (the Fae being notoriously poor planners), and the next year their trainer and captain died before the match began, drowning mysteriously. Should they lose in 1222 some very interesting consequences could result. Roderick is concerned that a rival covenant in Odenwald forest composed mainly of Merinita and Ex Miscellenea magi might be behind this. Both Shivinaya and Stephon could care less; both of them claim that they will slay any Fae or wizard that dares cross the threshold and have never had anything to do with the contest.
The grogs and covenfolk are a bit unusual, in comparison to most covenfolk. Under the tutelage of one of Roderick's custodes/lovers they have organized, timing their demands for when Roderick was the Praeconis of the Island, knowing that if the others were in charge they would likely be attacked outright. Roderick was delighted at this, as he would likely be able to maintain easy control of the grogs even when he was not the Praeconis. The grogs demanded higher pay, pensions, and the right to negotiate their services should they feel the need. This greatly increased their loyalty and made them nearly impossible for outsiders to influence or infiltrate. It is difficult to bribe them and they are generally content in their duties. Shortly before 1221 Roderick managed to make a deal with the Sheriff of Wimpfen, the authority in the nearest major town, to legitimize their toll business, which they had been unable to do for more than a century, and he managed to add twelve professional soldiers to the turb to help run the toll house. They were quickly initiated into the Guild and have become its core enforcers. With this Roderick was able to easily secure the position of Praeconis again, to happen after the tribunal of 1221. The office had been left vacant for five years with the death of the last one, allowing the covenant to crumble and slide further into Winter.
At the covenant meeting before the tribunal, Roderick made an impassioned speech to his two colleagues about the importance of adding new blood to the covenant. Much to his surprise he got the unanimous vote he needed to do this. It was not so surprising in the case of Stephon; he often voted with Roderick mainly because he seemed to value Roderick's practicality and the covenant clearly prospered under the latter's rule. Shivinaya had always voted against new wizards joining, never mentioning why, but this time voted an affirmative yes; Roderick even wondered if Shivinaya might have called for this vote if he had not brought it up himself. Armed with this approval, Roderick will attend the Rhine Tribunal meeting of 1221 with the intention of recruiting as many new and young magi as possible before it is too late for the covenant known as St. Simprin's.
Text copyright © John Padavic 2006.