 |
Autumn 1221 |  |
| Calendar for 1221 | This is the Vilicus' personal view. |
Note: Speranda's and Joach's travels are recorded in a short separate diary, which crosses the Season boundary.
Autumn Equinox,
Thursday, September the 16th:
The III home magi, and the II visiting Criamoni spend the day running in and out of the Regio, disappearing and
reappearing at random. When they do appear they make demand upon me, so that
I am stretched more than ever to appear efficient and ready in their eyes.
At some point in the afternoon, Magus Joachus disappeared without trace, and failed to reappear. The remaining magi consulted, and decided to equip III grogs with food, travel gear and money, and to send them down the same path.
They later reported that Joachus was alive and well, but in Normandy, and would take a while to return.
Magi!
Friday, September the 17th:
The Criamoni have been reviewing the previous day with the magi,
in the Scriptorium: perhaps they are writing some account of the
episode?
Saturday, September the 18th:
The visitors depart - peace begins to return, although we remain
concerned for our absent friends.
We hope Speranda and her party return soon, too!
Monday, September the
20th:
Speranda and her grogs return,
footsore perhaps, but having completed their quest to find the source of the Statue. We all expected
her to return with the Statue, but it seems she no longer has the Statue. This
sort of return-with-loss is starting to show a pattern. Is Maga Speranda under
a Curse of Losing?
She seemed pleased withal, so it cannot be all bad!
Tuesday, September the 21st:
Speranda has reported to Council: apparently the Statue bound a
Nymph, who originated from an ancient Temple, now built over by a
Monastery. She liberated the spirit, who gave her a Magical Pearl instead.
Saturday, September the
25th:
Aversus returns again, travelling his rounds. He brings letters
including one from Reneus
Taurus concerning the departed Maga Saskia - it seems she
will not be returning. The remaining Magi are to hold a full
Council when Joach returns. Meanwhile, after hasty discussion,
Speranda sent a letter
to Petrusca, to see if they will help translate the spells we
are left written in German, which we none of us can read.
Wednesday, September the
29th:
Joachus and his three guides and guards return from the magical path, but
arriving by purely mundane means having walked home.
As the aching in my old bones anticipated, Joach brought guests with him: a Magus of the Order and party - one Constantinus Flambonis, from Burnham (in the Englisc tongue) Covenant. Perhaps we will have our very own Heir to Merlin?
Constantinus brings two personal grogs: Redwald, his Shield Grog, and a young lad William. He also brings a Priest, one Father Edwin, who will no doubt start a competition with Brother Joseph and Father Albertus to see who will be first to change our Magic Aura to one of the Dominion...
Skulking in the background, trying not to be noticed was a disreputable fellow,
name of Abel, who will no doubt
turn out to be a recruit for the
Turb or somesuch. Apparently he is not to be blamed on Constantinus, but is
Joach's personal choice! (Apparently he acted as Guide
for their party, when lost in Normandy.)
I cannot get the Magi to pick vouchsafed grogs, but rather they
will pick whomsoever takes their fancy!
Thursday, September the 30th:
Constantinus has talked to the Council, and seems keen to stay
here for some while, perhaps even to join as a member.
Meanwhile, talk of Rights of Members, of Applicants and Visitors, has drawn the Magi's attention to the rest of the Charter - and the absence of Maga Saskia. Now that Joachus has returned they have gathered for a Formal Session, to expel Saskia for dereliction of duty. Iuris Perita has also put forward a number of amendments and consolidations which they will also vote upon.
Saturday, October the 2nd:
Constantine has applied to become a member of the Covenant! He
has accepted the terms
of the Charter, and agreed to perform Service until he is accepted for
full Membership.
He has started to tidy and adjust Saskia's old lab, now cleared of leaf-mold and other unspeakable debris from her "nest".
Monday, October
the 4th:
It appears the Confessor priest of Constantine's, this Father
Edwin, has been celebrating Mass every day, and on Sunday held
Mass outdoors "so that as many as possible might attend".
It seems he is quite popular amongst the Grogs: there must have
been at least LXX attending his service!
Next thing I know, Speranda is storming down, saying that Hoolio has been telling her about his attending Mass; and that I must send to Iuris Perita [Speranda durst not enter Iuris' Sanctum of course]; so I sent a grog up to Iuris, and she hears all about it, and sends for Constantine, who admits is it true - it is in the nature of Priests to say Mass everyday.
Eventually they reach a compromise, that Constantine will help to clear a new plot of forest to the north of the main Glade, and will help Fr. Edwin make a small Chapel there, and that the Mass will be held there. [Now I happen to know that the magi have been worrying for some time about the crowded settlement growing up in the Glade, and the effect this might have on the Aura, the Regio and the magical Flowers that grow in the Regio - and that they have already discussed moving some of the Grogs to a new settlement, to become the Village of Caribet. Methinks they have made Constantine take blame for a decision they did not want to make themselves.]
Tuesday, October
the 5th:
Constantine has pleased Council by announcing that he has finished converting
the IIIrd floor Laboratory, and has now started to Distil Vis, which is his
Service for this Season, although he has now lost 18 days since the Season started.
Thursday, October the 7th:
Constantine refuses proper meals - he eats only once per day, and then only
the plainest food, and no meat - I think he follows some Penance set by his
Church-mate!
Monday, October the 11th:
Now that Constantine has made a "little hut", or "Chapel"
as they call it, I hear that Magus Joachus has been over and has carved them
a Gargoyle to "defend" it!
Tuesday, October the 12th:
The Hermitage are about again: Fr. Michael (the Bottom-Prior, or Under-Prayer,
or somesuch) came nosing around. It seems he only wanted to find Fr. Edwin.
They had a long talk, and Edwin emerged looking sheepish. I presume it's some
Church hierarchy business...
Wednesday, October the 20th:
Fr. Edwin has gone to the Hermitage for a few days, collected by two of the
Brothers. They have "kindly" "lent" us a Priest in his place
- Fr. Albertus of course!
Strangely, while most of the magi are sulking over this intrusion, or storming at myself, Magus Speculor is in good spirits, and spends time with this troublesome Priest. At least it keeps him out of our hair! [I do wonder what M. Albert thinks of our Speculor, with his Blatant Gift!]
Monday, October the
25th:
The Merchant Bertrand came over again, bringing a young woman to me. He tells me
she is a candle-maker, name of Louri, fallen on hard times in town.
He tells me she works hard and well, but wishes to start a new life - he suggests
she may fit in here...
Bertrand's visit coincided with Jourdain-the-Peddler, of Ploeuc. They set to bargaining against each other (and calling each other names). This time I think we came off better, with Bertrand the loser.
Bertrand also brought a tale from St. Brieuc, where it seems the Duke of Brittany was out hunting with his family, and they were set upon by Bandits. In the confusion the horse carrying his infant son was separated from the main party and some Lawyer saved the child by riding down several bandits. He has the distinctive name of Achilles, like the Hero of ancient times.
Now Iuris Perita has taken interest in Bertrand's tale, for it seems she recognises this name Achilles d'Azé, and it fits some scheme of hers.
Tuesday, October the 26th:
Iuris Perita has broken habit and volunteered information! She
told us that when she was a child, before she became an
Apprentice Maga, she was the daughter of a minor noble in
Burgundy, and that this Achilles d'Azé was her Cousin - indeed
was fostered in her household for some years.
She has some scheme to thwart the ambitions of Lady Marta, Jean de Ploeuc, Alain de Robien and the Hermitage all in one go - by placing her cousin in the role of Lord of the Manor. By making him Consortis and living within the Covenant, she can bring him inside the Code rather than outside (and protected by it), so that she and the magi may use him as some figurehead without being too inconvenienced by it.
It sounds complicated and dubious to me, but she is a Quaesitor, and so an expert in the Hermetic Law that covers these cases, and so the Magi have all agreed to this scheme. Iuris is to visit the man in St. Brieuc and recruit him.
Wednesday, October the 27th:
Iuris Perita set out today, on her scheme to recruit a tame Lord...
She took Duncan and Caspar, and also Pernelle and Galienne.
Friday, October the 29th:
It is now one month since Constantinus arrived here, and slightly less than
that since he moved into IIIrd floor Laboratory. I have observed several of
the Covenant's young women creeping up the stairs since then, all of them, it
seems, heading for Constantine's chambers.
There is a rumbling dissent among some of the grogs - these women are in fact married to our grogs, and should behave better! I shall have to speak to the grogs, lest the magi get annoyed.
Monday, November the 1st:
Now that the Grogs have their own Chapel, they are no longer distracted by going
down to Plaintel to hear Mass - this should mean they work longer, but somehow does
not happen so.
A woman called Kadi turned up at the gates, claiming to be looking for Johan Staen, our Vintner. I do not know the details, but when summoned to meet her, they fell to talking, and next I know he is asking can she move into the Covenant - they are to be married!
Saturday, November the 5th:
Iuris returned without Galienne, who she left "to help" (myself, I
think the girl is simply obsessed by Nobles and will do anything to be near
one!)
It seems Achilles is impressed by the description of the Covenant - mighty stone tower, twenty men-at-arms, and so forth. He will come to visit us, and decide for certain once he has seen it.
Tuesday, November the 9th:
Achilles d'Azé - Knight and Noble, and his retinue (hired from
the look of them), including Mistress Galienne (looking very smug
and pleased with herself). I do not think they fully enjoyed the
ride through the Forest - they rode fast all the way from St.
Brieuc in the one day, and have arrived here late, with the light
fading fast. The Forest is said (by outsiders) to be Haunted,
although our own Grog patrols find little we cannot deal with.
Wednesday, November the 10th:
Achilles seems impressed. His cousin "Marie Helene" (!) has shown
him around, and indicated how they have a new Chapel a-building, and will build
a fine Manor-House from carved stones. She has shown how the Quarrymen use the
Stone-Cutting Knife, so that
they carve the hardest rocks, to make fine building stone, which our masons
then work with skill into stout constructs. [It seems our magic is no secret
from him!]
He announced himself well satisfied, and pleased to appoint himself our Lord; he will arrange deeds and parchments with the Duke, and return in a month, maybe a little more.
Tuesday, November the 16th:
We have another mouth to feed - the patrols found a woman lost in the forest, one
Mered, who has run away from Uzel.
She was lost in the forest, and has tried to "claim Sanctuary" from us
(I think she has us confused with some other institution, perhaps the Hermitage?)
I have interviewed her, and it seems perhaps she has useful talents - she has a
way-with-animals, perhaps even a Talent, so we will let her stay a while and see
what happens.
[It is often the way that those in trouble, the outcasts from the Mundane World, become the best of Grogs, with the most reason to fit in with the ways of Coven life.]
Monday, November the 29th:
Two months since Constantinus arrived to turn upside down our marital arrangements.
The three "witch's daughters" are the most frequent on the stairs, but they are not the only ones I have seen. The menfolk are not happy either: some because it is their women who come and go so, some perhaps because they are jealous of the success of another man, and others because they are Pious and take a moral stand - they listen to Father Edwin and his preaching too much.
Somehow I must make them understand that this is a Magus they talk about - they must accept his little ways... Perhaps I must refer the matter to our Princeps for advice?
Tuesday, December the 7th:
Aversus came past on his rounds (his last before the Solstice I expect).
He brought word to Iuris Perita who had asked the Quaesitores at Objurgator
to check their records for the new magus Constantinus Flambonis ex Britannia
filius Scintillae. I did not see the words, but the Council seemed satisfied,
and Constantinus remains.
Friday, December the 10th:
A month since Achilles left, promising to return now - and the Manor House should
have been ready now according to the estimates I was given.
Our Princeps, Maga Iuris Perita has come to me and announced that since the Manor House will be ready tomorrow, she wishes to inspect the finished construct! If have to explain to her that mundane tasks do not always follow the calendar so well as Hermetic studies...
It is to be hoped that Achilles is delayed, for we are some way behind schedule. The outside is now finished, though not yet to the satisfaction of Master Joach, for there is too little carved decoration for his taste - no gargoyles yet! However, the various disputes among the grogs mean that the structure was late, and now the interior is not finished. A common soldier could camp in there, but it is not a fit place to represent the Magi of the Order of Hermes to the outside world.
It also seems that there are excuses being made to explain the chaos caused by the simple task of moving from the Magic Glade to the New Village. The grog-huts are of simple construction, and it ought to be a simple matter to dismantle one and re-erect it out there. They say that rain and mud hampers their work, or that they have had other duties, but I have carefully planned the work to include the Manor House construction. I suspect they are spending too much time in Chapel now that they have one of their own.
Perhaps if they were so keen, we should have given them an Outside Chapel from the beginning? We did not have this problem at Mummolides, where we were long established deep in our swamp, and we could be illuminated by listening to the teachings of our Criamon leaders.
Tuesday, December the 14th:
The Solstice! Another Journal sits beside this
one, waiting for my pen...
Up to the diary link page, or back to Summer 1221 or on to Winter 1221, or out to the Travel Diary
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