[Arsm supplement Sanctuary of Ice] Gifts from the Moon By Timothy Ferguson Moonrise Moonrise, by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law The Gifts from the Moon project is a result of the four-year project history of Sanctuary of Ice. Essentially, when the first draft of Sanctuary of Ice congeale d in 2000, research materials concerning many elements I wanted to include were not available. Sanctuary's project outline was designed using what could be had in available sources. In the following years, as more material became available, some of it was adapted to the evolving drafts. Far more either did not fit the scope of the project, or remained unavailable until now. The most important of these sources is The Pale Mountains, a book of legends fro m the Dolomite region, which - deliberately - surrounds the Covenant of Valnasti um. I knew that the book was written late in the nineteenth Century and translat ed from Ladin to German, but my attempts to find the English translation consist ently failed. In July 2003, I discovered that there had been an "American transl ation" in 1927, and had a beaten-about copy of it shipped from Rhode Island to C entral Queensland. By this time the text of Sanctuary had been finalised. Even h ad it still been open, sections of The Pale Mountains would have suited a book l ike Living Lore better: a collection of folktales, particularly of this length, would have distracted from the tight focus on the Order that was a feature of th e Sanctuary draft. Gifts from the Moon is my response to The Pale Mountains and other sources, like True Story by Lucian, which I could not include in Sanctuary of Ice. A Brief Note on Using these Stories There are two main ways to use these stories; by using them as historical events and by retelling them with the player characters as protagonists or bystanders. This guide tends to focus on the first option, because retelling is comparative ly simple, and because the author has spent years thinking of them in the Alpine context, where they make most sense as origin stories for geographical features . Sagas set in other tribunals, however, may find that retellings are the prefer red form of use. Some of the stories include statistics for items and creatures. These are usuall y unsupported in the original story. They are suggestions that are included to a llow storyguides to use this material with a minimum of effort, but they should be tailored to individual sagas. You will find occasional references to "XXXX" in some of the stories. These refe r to information that will be filled in as soon as it becomes available. Copyright Note The Pale Mountains is still protected by copyright law in Australia, where Gifts from the Moon was written: Carl Wolff died in 1966, and his rights will wane in 2016. That being noted, he was a folklorist, and folklore is not protected unde r Australian copyright law, except in certain cases of indigenous sacred busines s. What is protected are his dialogue and any original characters he added. Taki ng faith in his assurance that his tales are authentic, I have based these stori es primarily on Francesca Le Monte's translation of Wolff, but removed her dialo gue and avoided duplication of her prose, with the exception of brief, marked qu otes. Where possible I've compared with modern retellings, but I've kept Le Mont e's titles. It is my belief that this is a fair use under local law, and I apolo gize to any offended party if, in other jurisdictions, it is not.

During this project I became aware of the Sagen website, which contains alternat ive translations of most of these tales and a handful of others. At time of writ ing it was at http://www.sagen.at/english/index.html, with the deeplink for thes e tales at http://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/italien/legends_in_english/sagen_lege nds_in_english.htm, as the click-through menu seems not to lead to these stories . Sagen's copyright position is that works in its jurisdiction are protected for 70 years from the author's death, which makes me wonder at their Wolff material . Their Wolff stories are from the German version of Wolff's work, Dolomiten Sag en (1913), which was notably more verbose than the American edition, which is in turn more florid than my version. Ars Magica, its titles, terms and intellectual property belong to Trident Inc., operating as Atlas Games. The Stories The Pale Mountains King Laurin's Rose Garden The Nightingale of Sass-Leng The House in the Forest The Pale Mountains The story that explains the paleness of the Dolomites is given in Sanctuary of I ce. The material there is based on Tomie de Palao's retelling of the story, beca use it is more coherent, in the sense that the motivations of characters arise f rom their interactions, not from the simple assertion that they are so. Some of the additional material in the Wolff version is, however, of use. Retelling The Prince was the only unhappy person in his kingdom because he desired to go t o the Moon, and had wished to do so for as long as he could remember. He sought out the wisest men he could find to assist his passage, but all failed to satisf y him. One day, the Prince became separated from his hunting party and camped out under the stars in a box canyon filled with Alpine roses. He had a dream in which he saw a group of people on a monochromatic landscape. A red Alpine rose provided t he only colour. He offered the rose to a beautiful maiden, who introduced hersel f as the daughter of the King of the Moon. He awoke, then picked some roses whil e he considered the dream, and wallowed in the sort of self-pity expected of the obsessive and vaguely delusional. The Prince heard voices and, suspecting evil spirits, went to investigate. He dr ew his sword, but forgot to put down his bouquet of flowers. He then climbed one of the cliffs, following the voices, while somehow retaining both his drawn swo rd and roses. It may be that this was simply a very steep hill. When he reached the level where the cloud shrouded the peak, so that no moonlight reached it, he groped about and found a doorway. In later tellings, the Prince finds this door way with the assistance of a spell from Tsicuta, a witch, after an epic adventur e involving the avalanche spirit Ce-de-Lu, and a battle with Spina de Mul. When he entered he found two small, extremely elderly men, who were alarmed by h is presence. After he calmed the men, he conversed with them for some time, and during the conversation they stated that they lived on the Moon, and were about to take the lengthy journey home. The Prince described, at length, his fixation with visiting the moon, becoming pale with excitement, and the two old men agree d to take him along on their journey. The cloud surrounding the mountain lifted away, bearing the three of them aloft. On their voyage, the Prince and the old men described their home kingdoms to eac

h other. Here the moon men gave a hint as to the size of their kingdom - they sa id that everything - "the meadows, mountains, woods and cities" - was a dazzling white and that the rivers and lakes were like quicksilver. Their kingdom was, t herefore, larger than a city-state. The voyage ended with the cloud coming to re st about a lunar mountain. The old men proceeded off to the west by foot, but th e capital was to the east, so the party divided and the Prince set off alone. The capital's houses and towers were of a white stone. A gate of glittering meta l, fantastically wrought, prevented entry into it. A gardener working behind the gate saw the roses in the Prince's hand and asked him where he found them. Afte r the Prince replied that they were from the Earth, the gardener instructed him that the daughter of the King collected rare blooms and would reward him handsom ely for his bouquet. The Prince laughed and pointed out that as a Prince, he did not need any reward. The gardener threw open the gate, asked the Prince to come inside, and ran off to tell the King that a Prince had arrived. Midnight Iris Midnight Iris, by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law The Prince met the King of the Moon and his daughter. The Prince and Princess ma rried then, and since he could not stay on the Moon without going blind, they re turned to the Earth. The people of the Alps, who were intensely curious about th e Princess, welcomed her, noting that she looked normal but glowed slightly. The vivid colours of the Earth fascinated the Princess, particularly those of the f lowers, and so the Prince took her on long tours of the kingdom so that she coul d experience them all. Some flowers she had bought from the Moon were planted in the garden outside her window and quickly spread to the rest of the Alps. These are now called edelweiss. After so long that it seemed their happiness would be life-long, the Princess be gan to pine for the Moon. Her growing homesickness became incapacitating, and he r father came to the Earth to take her home. The Prince followed her home, but h is eyesight rapidly began to degenerate, and his duty to his Earthly kingdom pre vented him from embracing blindness as the price for remaining with his love. When the price returned to Earth, his obsession with the moon was worse than bef ore. He stayed in the palace only during the nights of the new moon, spending hi s remaining time under the stars in the secluded places of the kingdom. After se veral weeks he stopped returning to the palace and became something of wild man. One evening, when the weather turned bad, he retreated to a small cave, where h e met an equally-desolate stranger. The strange man was three feet high and had the extremely long beard one associa tes with faerie kings in the local folklore. He was also wearing a crown, which no doubt assisted in his identification. He explained to the Prince that he was the king of the Salvans, a people who had once lived in a beautiful country far to the East. His kingdom had been invaded and burned and his people killed or sc attered. The neighbouring countries had refused to take the migrs in, except for o ne, which had taxed the Salvani so appallingly that many more had died working i n mines for their new hosts. The few Salvani who remained had fled further west and were scattered. The Prince, to console him, told him of his own misfortunes, and then the canny king burst into a smile and said "Prince, we are both saved! " The little king offered the Prince a deal. He stated that the Princess had been forced to leave because lunar people were used to a far brighter light than Eart h people and because the mountains of the kingdom were so ominous and black. The king suggested a trade: if the Salvans could make the mountains as white as the Moon, then the Prince could get his father to grant the Salvans the right to li ve free of molestation in the kingdom. The Prince noted that his half of the dea

l was easy, and the Salvans' half was too good to be possible. "We have done muc h harder things than that!" noted the little king, so the Prince agreed and took the Salvan to see his father. They hiked for two days to reach the castle. The King was initially opposed to the agreement, because it seemed dangerous to allow a foreign people to establish themselves in the country. The little king s aid that his people wanted to live only in the deserted forests at the fringes o f the kingdom and would not use the meadows or pastureland at all. The king's co unselors thought this was a lot less threatening, and so they agreed and solemn oaths were sworn. The little king then left to collect the scattered Salvani. The Salvan king returned a few days later at the head of a procession of tiny pe ople, which wound through the kingdom into the high forests. They chose homes "i n among the rocks, in caves, behind waterfalls, and under heavy networks of vine s." Some retellings suggest that this Salvan King was Laurin, and that the Roseg arten was founded at this time, although that does not appear in the La Monte/Wo lff text. The Salvan king then sent word to the Prince that the great magic woul d begin that very night. The Prince, who was all but insane with anticipation, w aited on top of one of the higher mountains so that he could watch their efforts . As night fell, seven dwarfs (a term never used for their king) wound their way to the summit of the mountain on which the Prince waited and formed a circle. The Prince watched the flying motions they made with their arms and the odd move ments of their fingers and asked "What are you doing?" "We are spinning moonbeams," answered a dwarf, and a luminous clew formed in the centre of the circle. As their spinning continued, the clew grew larger, and th e Prince, scanning the peaks of all the mountains in the kingdom, could discern other dwarfs at work on each peak, illuminated by their clews. When the Moon wen t down each dwarf seized a thread from his clew and sped off toward another moun tain. They wove a net of light that hid the dark outlines of the mountains. The Prince returned to the Moon and went to the Palace. He met an attendant who told him the Princess had only moments to live. She was dying for the lack of hi m. He burst into her room and told her the good news, and her will to live was r ekindled. When she returned to the Earth, she was never troubled by nostalgia, b ecause the kingdom, now that it had both the paleness of the Moon and the colour s of the Earth, was more beautiful than her old home. The Princess's nostalgia did not die entirely, however. Those who see the beauti ful peaks are infected by it and will feel a persistent pull, drawing them back to the Dolomites. Notations Forms and Effects A key question you should answer is this: in your campaign, are objects from the surface of the Moon considered to be from above the Lunar Sphere, and therefore , as in The Fallen Angel, immune to Hermetic magic? As a guide to response, if y our characters are ever going to actually go to the Moon, the answer should prob ably be "no," If, however, they are going to encounter rare items of lunar prove nance, then an interesting answer is "yes." Alpine Roses Bonuses: Mountain rose: +3 Charm faeries, +1 Create passion, Rusty-leaved rhodod endron: +3 Charm faeries, +1 Resist aging The term "alpine rose" is used for three different species, the Rosa pendulina ( Rosa alpina in older nomenclatures), Rhododendron ferrugineum and Azalea indica. It is not clear which flower the Prince carries. The rosa alpina and rusty-leav ed rhododendron are both found in the Alps and both sometimes have crimson flowe

rs, as required by the story. The Indian azalea, sometimes called Chinese honeys uckle, is probably not the flower described, although it shares the red-pink ran ge of the other two. The bonuses for the mountain rose differ from those of the more conventional ros es because it is usually a thornless variety and is usually pink or mauve. Edelweiss Bonuses: +3 devoted love, +3 clouds, +2 protection from Alpine conditions, +1 de ath by falling The name edelweiss ("noble white") is too modern for the Hermetic period. Two ol der names are wollblume ("wool bloom," but sometimes translated as "cloud flower ") and alpine star. Edelweiss is, according to the tale above, a xenobotanical weed. In a campaign w ith few lunar influences, Virtuous Edelweiss might be immune to Hermetic magic. This great secret, lost with the Druids, would allow the crafting of arrows that ignore the usual Hermetic protections. The edelweiss is rather a dull plant by modern botanical standards. It is a pere nnial that grows in gritty soil. It is hardy, and traditionally grows in places that are difficult for people to get to, for example under cliff overhangs. Its growth corridor lies from 1,600 to 2,800 metres. Its older name is derived from the thick coat of wool-like fibres that the plant grows to protect its leaves fr om high-altitude sunlight and weather. Its flowers are tiny and yellow but are s urrounded by a star of white, floral leaves. Getting an edelweiss flower for a young woman was a traditional sign of masculin e bravery, since falls when climbing cliffs for edelweiss used to kill people oc casionally. This is the key reason why, although enchanted edelweiss items could help defend redcaps from the weather, they refuse to use them. They believe the plant is unlucky. In the wider Alpine community, the flower is considered a bit of romantic novelty, a sign of things pure and difficult to obtain, and a usefu l cure for dysentery. It is traditional for the Swiss to decorate their doors with garlands of edelwei ss on Ascension Day. Moonstones Bonuses: +4 moon, +2 safe travel, +2 protection from cold; in this region, +6 to affect the illuminated stones It is tempting to suggest that all stones on the Moon are made of moonstone or, better, its close relative, adularia. Moonstones are yellow and when exposed to light develop a blue or white halo about the edge of the stone - a property conf usingly called adularesence. Adularias are clear and develop a blue halo. Adularias are native to the Alps, w ith most coming from a tiny area around Adula Mountains. It is not clear if medi eval people considered adularias to be anything other than moonstones. It is tempting to suggest that the Moon is a giant, clear adularia that takes it s brilliance from the Sun. This would create a blue haze that blinded the Prince . Alternatively the Moon might be a pale yellow moonstone that has white or silv er adularesence. In the myth this clearly is not true, because the haze of the m oon is like the sun on dolomitic limestone. This presents a Storyguide whose characters are mining on the Moon with a couple of options. They can have it made out of moonstone, which is aesthetically plea

sant, or made of limestone, which is pleasant due to its bizarreness. Why is the moon made of coral, and given that coral repels demons, does this make it a gre at place to found a covenant? Moon Water Bonuses: +3 to potions that affect things strongly connected to the Moon The water of the moon is like quicksilver, but is potable. This would make is su itable for use as a potion base for effects that are linked sympathetically to t he Moon. Virtuous water from the Moon might contain vis - or something similar t hat is not quite vis. Moon Metal The gate of the capital of the Moon is made of a glittering metal. This is odd, because it is one of the few things on the moon that is not luminous. It might b e silver, traditionally linked to the Moon, but to glitter there would have to b e a fellow wiping it over every week or so with a polishing cloth. If that is th e line you are following, then the Buffer of the City Gate is probably a better NPC to meet the characters than the gardener. Possibly silver does not tarnish o n the Moon, which is a great boon for butlers. In another version the city is su rrounded not by a wall but by a hedge with shining stakes. In that version, shin ing armaments are found on the walls of the castle. Moon metal could be just about anything you would find on Earth. Powerful people , like kings for example, collect props that demonstrate their power and wealth, otherwise people wonder if they are entirely up to their jobs. The King of the Moon might send people to the Earth to collect things like flowers and steel gat es for the same reason that Earthly kings used to keep menageries. If this is th e case, simple objects that the characters carry as a matter of course may be tr emendously expensive. This idea was used in the television series Alf, in which the alien life form's ship had gold plumbing and platinum taps. The most valuabl e substances on his planet were wax and foam. Spun Moonlight Spun moonlight is the substance that the dwarfs create to remodel the mountains of the kingdom. It is difficult to be certain what this is but it might be radia nt vis - the Moon's raw astrological power to fix fates. Astrologers designed us ing the supplement, The Mysteries, should treat spellcasting in this region as i f it were always receiving direct and powerful influence, either positive or neg ative, from the Moon. In some areas, particularly Faerie Auras tied to the Brigh t courts, they may reduce the amount of vis required to create periapts that are based on the fields that the Moon influences (Mysteries, page 64). Standard Her metic magi cannot benefit directly from the lunar correspondence, but they can u se the stones of the area to gain bonuses in enchantments linked to the areas of the moon's significance, and can also use the auras that occur in the area as n ormal. Faerie Tribes Lucent Faeries Wolff does not ever specifically state that the people of the Moon are a faerie race, but for the purposes of Ars Magica this is the most useful alternative. Fo r faeries they are particularly human. They live in cities, have a monarchical s ystem of government, and practice the custom of marriage. Their system of govern ment and style of life are not described in any detail. Their capital is a walle d city, but a stranger, like the Prince, can wander up to the gate of the city a nd be met not by a guard but by a talkative gardener. Why the men who ferried the Prince to the Moon were on the Earth is absolutely u nclear. They have a little waiting room, with a smooth door, hidden in the side of the mountain that their cloud departs from. This suggests that the trip is no

t a singular event. The only other clue offered by the story is a possible link to one of the king's courtiers. The old, old men told the Prince that the Moon would blind him if he stayed, but the Princess did not believe this until a wise old man of the court confirmed i t. It is possible that the old wise man (wizard?) and the old, old men were in s ome way connected. Was there a Lunar style of magic working? If the Lunar people are not faeries and are simply an odd human tribe, then clearly there should be . Even if the lucent people are faeries, they are so human, in other respects, t hat their mystical activities might be learned. The people of the Moon are only slightly exceptional, physically. The men are al ways described as old, although two are described as "very, very" old. The only woman described is the Princess, and she is as young and beautiful as folk-tales require. The Princess, while on Earth, glows sufficiently that she banishes sha dows under all the nearby trees. This is more remarkable than it sounds, because using two light sources does not banish the shadows of both - it means objects have two shadows. Perhaps items around the Princess become luminous. Lucent faeries - well, the Princess, if she can be considered an exemplar - are particularly susceptible to death from melancholy. Moonlight seems to spread mel ancholy, so that the Prince - who is admittedly a lunatic from the beginning - a cts in a manner appropriate only for the insane or religious when his wife retur ns to her father's palace. People of the Dolomites suffer gentle homesickness th at draws them back to their mountains, but this may be the effect of a minor enc hantment rather than just the usual sentimentality. As a guide lunar faeries gai n 1 experience point in their Nostalgia trait for every week spent on Earth. Whe n this trait reaches 5 they withdraw from company. When it reaches 6 they lose a long-term fatigue level and tire easily. At 8, they are bedridden and lose a fa tigue level per week. When their Fatigue levels are exhausted, they enter a coma and lose one Body level per week. If they visit the Moon they recover rapidly f rom the physical effects of their nostalgia, but their Nostalgia score only decr eases at the rate of one experience point per month. They cannot simply drop by for a visit to revive themselves. Lucent faeries do not seem to display other supernatural powers, other than a ca pacity to travel by cloud between a particular mountain on Earth and a similar o ne on the Moon. This may be an almost mechanical process. The Prince, at the end of the story, returns to the Moon without apparent assistance. It may be that t he Moon people keep a few clouds about on Earth in case their people need to get home in a hurry, or it may be that the Prince had some private method of travel arranged by his father-in-law. The clouds that permit travel between the planet s are not used for other purposes; for example, when the old, old men arrive at the moon, they have to travel westward on foot. They do not use the cloud to fly to the west and then land it at their destination. A second supernatural power might be in force about the lucent faeries. The Prin ce does not enter either the room of the old, old men or the city without an exp licit invitation to do so. This may simply be because he is polite; he does not ask the Salvan king for permission to share the cave in which both shelter, and likewise, he also "pushed the attendant aside and burst in to the Princess' bedr oom," although it is likely in this case that he has been invited there at some stage during their married life. However, it is possible that the capital of the Moon lacks guards because you simply cannot enter until someone asks you in. It is possible that the version of the Moon that the Prince visits is a regio at the top of the mountain from which he and the very, very old men depart. It mig ht also be a segment of Arcadia. Salvans

The Salvani are dwarfs who are an odd mix of forest fairy and subterranean dwell er. Their king is never described as a dwarf, but he is about three feet high an d has a long beard, so his race is likely not caste dimorphic. When looking for a new homeland, the king asks his neighbours for "a forest, a mountain or even a swamp in which to dwell," so it is unlikely that his people are entirely subter ranean. The Salvans seem to be able to die in mining accidents, which is unusual for the species. Salvan blood is basically dwarf blood. Salvan history indicates an invasion and a period of confinement in slavery. A s cattering into wild places, then the foundation of a new kingdom, which draws ba ck the disaporic people, follows. It is almost certainly not Wolff's intent to d well on Biblical themes, and he wrote over half a century before the formation o f Israel, but the parallel is interesting to the reader. The Salvans' Far Easter n kingdom is never named, nor are the invaders identified. Were the story being retold in the 1220 setting, a strong candidate for the invading power is the Mon gol Horde. As described in The Dragon and the Bear, they are preceded by a wave of destructive spirits that annihilate the faerie realms of the lands into which the Horde advances. The powers of the Salvani are ill defined. Their king says that they have done t hings much more difficult than make the mountains like the Moon in a single nigh t. The Salvani seem particularly skilled at making magic thread, as demonstrated here and in the Rosegarten story. Dwarfs skilled at magic involving thread are known elsewhere; for example, the story of Rumplestiltskin is known, by various names, over much of Europe. They are also capable of some form of swift travel, because the King manages to round up all of his people in a couple of days. Oath s made to them seem binding. The initial reluctance to allow the Salvans to settle in the country seems odd t o the modern reader. Why prohibit it? The key reasons relate to population. Most Alpine lands are already populated to the full capacity of their ability to pro duce food. This means that newcomers would force out some of the human king's ex isting vassals - a theme reflected in Alpine tribunal population law. The dwarf' s promise not to use meadowland or pastureland is made to reassure the king on t his point. The second problem is that with a sparse population, the king may fea r that the dwarfs will overthrow him. They give a binding promise to remain on t he fringes of the kingdom. A third reason, that the invaders or exploitative kin g that they fled from might follow them to the Alps, is not discussed, but such villains might be useful for a campaign. The Salvans might make useful allies or trade partners for a covenant. They have the ability to produce items and effects that are beyond Hermetic scope, and th ey have enemies that they cannot handle on their own. If running a retelling of the Salvan story, some Salvans are still enslaved in the mines of their exploita tive neighbour, and some of their treasures probably remain hidden in their burn ed homeland. Even in a saga where the Salvan escape from slavery is a historical event, since they are a faerie people, Salvan slaves may need rescuing centurie s afterward. The Salvans are, it has been shown, ready to make a deals with huma ns. New General Virtues Lucent Blood (+1 or +2) Lucent faeries seem to show their age far more than normal faeries. The men are described as "very, very old," and yet are able to make lengthy journeys by foot . The Princess is not described as looking very, very old, but it may simply be that she and the young Prince are of compatible age. The Strong Lucent Blood Virtue (+2) gives a character a +3 bonus on aging rolls and the Faerie Sight Virtue. Characters do not gain the Faerie Eyes Virtue, but they are luminous, so they rarely need it. The character makes everything Near t

hem slightly florescent. This light is sufficient to read by, and the character lacks the ability to suppress it. Clothing does not muffle this effect. For the purposes of magic resistance this is treated as a CrIg spell of tenth level. Characters with this type of strong faerie blood gain the usual benefits of not rolling for aging until they turn fifty and being able to use longevity potions as though they were a Hermetic magus. These benefits are, however, slightly rest ricted in that although the characters do not age in the sense of losing statist ics, apparent aging is not inhibited. Strong Lucent Blood carries with it the threat of Nostalgia, but this is blunted by the influence of the human parent's blood, so that experience is gained at t he rate of a point per month. Nostalgia may be lost on the Moon, in the Dolomite s, or at any suitable alternative location at the rate of one point per week of stay. These faeries do not seem to have any fear of iron, and their descendants suffer no discomfort from it, unless they select it as a Flaw. Characters with the Lucent Blood Virtue (+1) gain +1 on all aging rolls, and may become luminous at will. They develop Nostalgia at the rate of a point per year and never actually die of it, although if they are unattended while in a coma d eath follows quickly from dehydration. Four Handed (+1) The Prince in this story has the bizarre ability to act as though he had four ha nds. He holds two objects, for example a sword and bouquet, and uses his hands t o climb and grope about. A character with this virtue has the ability to act as if he never actually put down some objects that, obviously, he must have. In pra ctice this means that the character can state, at any time, which possessions ca rried are in his hands. This does not cost the character an action. At the Story guide's discretion, this can include objects that are probably on his mount. The character cannot use this ability in a way that is directly apparent to other c haracters; for example, if a guard has just searched the character for weapons, he cannot suddenly have a weapon. Characters observing the character will generally not notice that he has this ab ility - he is not aware of it himself. The precise mechanism of this virtue may vary from character to character. Perhaps it is the effect of the presence of a friendly poltergeist? Maybe it is just that the skill of losing socks, keys and pens is reversed in him, so that his possessions are always in the first place h e expects them to be. Environmental Effects A Tapestry of Moonlight The tapestry of moonlight is not, as far as can be deduced, an illusion. Those w ith Faerie Sight do not mention that the stones are actually black. Individual s tones, when separated from the mountains, retain their whiteness. When churches are constructed from dolomitic stones, they do not darken. Perhaps the Salvans merely transformed the stone from one type to another. This is the simplest and in some ways the least interesting solution. However, there is something slightly otherworldly about the Dolomites. This othe rworldliness first occurred when the King granted the remote regions of his land to a Faerie King as his demesne. It may be that the distant parts of the kingdo m are not actually in the mortal world anymore - they are in a regio that is eas y both to enter and to observe from a distance. A third option is that the stones were originally white and something had made t

hem black. What could have caused such widespread harm, and its accompanying aur a of grief for sensitive fae, is unclear. To go back to The Fallen Angel for a m oment, perhaps the mountains were blackened when one of the Fallen struck the Ea rth here on the way to Hell? Perhaps it was the site of a meteor strike that kil led a lot of dinosaur-loving faeries? Perhaps it was the site of an ancient myst ical battle that was so terrible that it caused the mountains to mourn, and, slo w thinkers that they are, their spirits had not yet cast off their grief? Nostalgia The Notalgia that afflicted the Princess now influences those who have lived in the Dolomites and left. The effect is a weak one, deflected by the humblest form s of magical protection, and causes the development of an experience point in No stalgia every ten years. It is extremely rare for a human to die of homesickness , although it sometimes claims elderly people, tortured soldiers, or others who are susceptible to minor shocks. Plot Hooks Counselling for Lunatic Princes The Prince seeks out wise men to find a way to travel to the Moon. Hermetic magi , as learned scholars, might be drawn into the story at this point. His key prob lem is not how to get to the Moon, it is that he is moonstruck. The Prince clear ly has a Flaw, possibly Obsessed or Delusional (although in the story he has the rare fortune to discover that his Delusion is true). He is a lunatic in the mos t literal and gentle sense of the term. Is the Princess a Striga or a Salvan? It is possible that after the Prince falls asleep much of the rest of the legend is a dream, crafted by an unscrupulous mountain witch or spirit. Does he have m uch proof that he ever went to the Moon, beyond the presence of his beautiful wi fe? If this is the case, then does she have an alliance with the Salvan King? Gi ven the similarity of the lucent faeries - old, old, little men - and the Salvan s, is it possible that the Salvan species is extremely gender dimorphic? In the real world the edelweiss probably came from Asia - where the Salvans come from. Are the Moon folk just Salvani hiding out in Tibet? If this is all pretence, then what is the objective, and how is it served by the reformation of the land? For example, this might be an invasion of a Dark Winte r area by Dark Summer Faeries. They forge a treaty with the king - see Faeries f or details - marry one of their own to the local heir, spread their signature fl ower over the place, then change the colour of the mountains as a mark of ascend ancy. An Order of Endymion? The two elderly men who visited the Earth from the Moon might be courtiers to th e King, his agents on the Earth. They might be private individuals, conducting i nterplanetary business. How far their network of contacts extends is unclear. Th ey may be connected to the wise man of the court. The Court of the King of the Moon contains a wise man who understands the effect s of lunar life on Earth humans. Who were the poor humans who suffered blindness on the Moon? Who reported this and passed the information to the wise man? Is t here a magical tradition on the Moon? What can lunar magi do on Earth? The Moon Attacks! It is possible that some of the Moon people are descended from the first humans whose blindness was reported to the Princess by the wise man of the court. These hybrids could stay on the Earth with comparatively little Nostalgia. Now that t he Dolomites have been lunaformed, they can serve as a recreative space for the lunar people on Earth. This makes them the perfect staging ground for a lunar ar my.

Living on the Moon Characters might consider moving to the Moon and founding a covenant there. How difficult this is depends on if this is actually the Moon, a regio, or an Aracad ian realm. The key problem is the blinding luminescence, but simple preventative spells should be of some assistance there. If this is truly the surface of the Moon, the magic may work in a way unfamiliar to Earth-bound or even Arcadian-tra ined magicians. The Moon is subject to a series of astrological influences that differ from thos e that irradiate the Earth. It is closer to the Sun, the planets, and the energi es they emit, but is it further from the energies that surge from the core of th e Earth. It is beyond the field of magical energy that most Hermetic magicians u se to power their effects, but if one accepts the Stibbons doctrine, that magic is what makes everything hold together, then it must have a discrete magical fie ld of its own. This field would aid and resist effects in ways unusual to those trained in the Earth's vis field. It is possible that another Hermetic group has already colonized the Moon. A par ticularly unpleasant alternative, for example, is that druids settled it. Even i f these druids are the unfortunates who were blinded by the Moon, their descenda nts will not look favorably on the arrival of magi from the Order. Earth Attacks! When the Order finds out that there is a faerie-inhabited planet where the capit al seems to have no guards, someone is going to suggest colonization by force. P layer characters attempting this might, depending on what sort of stories you wo uld like to tell, face the Armies of Endymion, described in a later chapter. Rescuing the Salvans A series of plot hooks are given in the Salvan entry concerning the rescue of en slaved Salvani, the recovery of their nation's treasures, and the extracting of justice from their tormentors. Protecting the Salvani The conversion of the mountains is part of a contract between the two kings. If the Salvani are hunted to extinction, for example by Hermetic magi, the mountain s might revert to their old state. When the tapestry of moonlight shatters, its pieces might be collectable. They would be made from spun moonlight, described a bove. Certain powerful magi, then, may find a way to kill Salvani at a distance, perha ps by creating magic items that hunt the dwarfs. Other magi would rally to the d efense of the faeries. Player characters in the area might be forced to choose s ides. Bibliographical Note Other retellings mentioned in this text are "Prince of the Dolomites" by Tomie d e Paolo and "Travels in the Lost Kingdoms" by G. & M. Palmeri. King Laurin's Rose Garden The Rosegarten story is described in detail in Sanctuary of Ice, and is slightly less than three pages long in the Wolff version, so retelling it isn't necessar y. A few additional points may be of interest. The Defences of the Rosegarten Three barriers prevented enemies from plundering the Rosegarten and Laurin's cav erns filled with treasure. The beauty of the realm was, itself, defensive. Enemi es who saw it were so enthralled by its beauty that their aggressive urges fled

them. Laurin had a magical silken thread looped about his kingdom, and anyone wh o crossed it would be forced to fight him, which prevented surreptitious thiever y. Laurin was also armed with potent magical weapons and assisted by five giants . The beauty of the Rosegarten did not protect Laurin because one of those assaili ng his realm, the ferocious warrior Witege, was insensitive to it. Witege presum ably had the Fury Virtue. Other characters viewing the Rosegarten seem to have s uffered an effect similar to "Blessing of the Childlike Bliss." Witege cut the t hread about the kingdom, summoning Laurin and freeing his comrades from the spel l of the Garden. The thread was an alarm. Those who crossed or cut it warned Laurin of their exis tence and location. Laurin arrived, with ill-described magical weapons and a ret inue of giants, and did battle. Laurin fell in battle with the heroes who came to rescue Princess Similde. One o f them was the famous Dietrich of Bern, described in XXXX. They took him to be t he buffoon at the court of Bozen, but he escaped, as noted in Sanctuary of Ice, and transformed the Rosegarten to stone, by day or night. Plot Hooks The Rosegarten The Rosegarten still exists and remains visible, beckoning Hermetic explorers. L aurin dislikes humans, because he has been humiliated at their hands, and knows what has been done to other faerie courts by priests and magi. He is, however, c onfident of his power, and is therefore willing to discuss matters of trade with suitably polite visitors. Founding a Covenant The Rosegarten may be an excellent site to found a covenant upon. No covenant ha s ever publicly admitted to conquering the Rosegarten, and in the Alps they are more forthcoming about such things than elsewhere. Founding covenants in the Alp s is difficult because magi need to demonstrate that they can supply sufficient vis that the new organization's members will not trouble their sodales. The Rose garten is one of the few places in the Alps in which a large, untapped vis sourc e is universally-known but difficult to reach. To settle the Rosegarten, characters will need to subdue Laurin - or his success or - the retinue of warriors that serves him, and his subjects. These are likely to include giants and dwarfs respectively. If they can find a way to cross the warding thread without activating it, the characters might be able to face indiv idual defenders, unprepared for assault, instead of facing Laurin's host in a ma ss. Characters may find that the Rosegarten is too small to contain the cropland req uired for a manorial economy. How they provide food for themselves will be one o f the determinants of their covenant's long-term interests. If they can loot the treasure caves of Laurin they will not need to worry about their income for som e time, although arranging to pay for simple items, like food, with gold or gems tones involves negotiations with noblemen, which brings its own complications. A s a further barrier, dwarfs are known for putting potent curses on their treasur es - curses that even the Asgardian Gods, in one well-known story, cannot dispel . Uncivil War It is possible that some of the variations on Laurin's story are true, and that he has passed away. In that case it is unclear who will control his kingdom, sin ce his daughter seems to have cried herself to death, creating an Alpine lake. I n other variants he has at least two living daughters, one of whom may still be

insane with grief. Laurin's youngest daughter, untrained in rulership and unsupp orted by his army, might choose exile over forced marriage to the warrior who co mmandeers her father's throne. This provides a pair of story hooks. The Princess of the Rosegarten might seek a llies to retake her throne, either from an established covenant or from a band o f young magi seeking a place in the world. Alternatively, a character with stron g faerie blood might be the grandchild of Laurin, who in this variant may not be a dwarf, and may seek the throne stolen from his or her family. Gigantic Victory Characters with connections to dwarfs or giants might, of course, fight on eithe r side of the civil war. The giants in the Alps have, for the most part, friendl y relations with House Merinita, and some of their magic-using caste are progres sive thinkers who understand the value of interaction with the outside world. Cr eatures similar to these were the source of the gruagach magic found primarily i n Loch Legean, so Bonisagus magi might be drawn in on their side. Were a magic-u sing giant to take control of the Rosegarten, his magically-trained servants mig ht become involved in Hermetic society. An unusual campaign, where the character s are gruagachan in the service of a gigantic master, is a possibility. A gigantic victory, under the leadership of one of the more brutal members of th is race, could make life very difficult for humans in this region. The Rosegarte n is very difficult to get to, if you are human-sized, and raiding parties of gi ants could retreat there to recuperate after foraging in surrounding villages. The Nightingale of Sass-Leng This title contains an archaic translation. The mountain referred to here is cle arly Sasslong. Retelling A Princess who lived in the castle of Sass-Leng, was looking into her garden one morning when she saw a falcon circling one of the bushes. She thought that some small creature must be cowering there and so scared the falcon away. Looking in to the bush, she saw a trembling nightingale. It spoke to her and said, "Since y ou have saved me, I will give you a magical power. You may become a nightingale when you wish. You will lose this power with someone's death." The Princess did not entirely believe the bird, but the next evening she decided to test its promise. She went out into the garden and wished to be a nightingal e. Finding herself transformed, the Princess flew about the garden, and discover ed that her voice was transformed into the most beautiful music she had ever hea rd. When she was tired, she simply landed and thought that she wanted to be huma n again, and she was. On following days the Princess traveled far about the Alps , investigating distant places. She discovered that she could understand the speech of birds. One day, when a fl ock of ravens approached, she hid in some bushes and listened while they gossipe d. They spoke of a fine hunter who lived in a half-ruined castle in Grden Gorge, who knew nothing of the outside world and had never seen a woman. Her curiosity was piqued; she decided to visit the hunter. The man was as the crows described: a handsome knight dedicated to physical spor ts like hunting with his pair of dogs. The Princess enjoyed watching him but was too shy to approach. One day, while she watched him, she sang. This attracted t he man's attention and he searched for the bush from which her beautiful song ca me. She ceased, and he begged her to continue. She began to sing again, and ther eafter she always sang while she visited the man. At each visit he sat enrapture d, listening to her.

The man, however, felt a deepening depression and consulted a wise old Salvan wh o lived in a cave nearby. The Salvan told him that "a child of the forest" could not possibly be ill, but the knight persisted. The Salvan went into his cave an d returned with a crystal, which he told the hunter to stare into deeply. The Sa lvan then did the same. "Ah, you are in love. You are under the power of a maiden!" said the Salvan. The hunter pointed out that he had never actually seen a maiden, and the Salvan rep lied that even so, his illness was the fault of a woman and unfixable. The hunte r left, doubting his diagnosis, but the Salvan said that there was nothing he co uld do to help. When the nightingale returned, the hunter had a flash of insight and said to her , angrily, "The Salvan was right! You are a woman!" The Princess was frightened and fled despite the knight's pleas for her to return. He waited for many days, sitting on the battlements of his fortress, hoping the nightingale would return. The Princess continued her explorations. On one trip, as she returned home, she was attacked by a falcon. Hiding under the bush in her garden where she met the original nightingale, she met a lamb and complained to it about the falcon's beh avior. "Who are you to judge the falcon," asked the lamb, "when you have caused a death yourself?" The Princess asked whom the lamb thought she had killed, and it replied that she should seek out the hunter she once visited. Dread rising in her with every mile, she flew to the hunter's castle. She found him in the courtyard of his castle, beneath the tower from which he had listened to her sing. His dogs whimpered about his lifeless body. Filled with remorse, s he fled home. When she wished to become human again, nothing happened. She remembered the nigh tingale's warning that a death would remove her power. Unable to resume her huma n life, she lives still in the forests of the Alps, and when people hear the bea utiful song of the nightingale, they know it is the Princess of Sass-Leng. Notations Characters The Initial Nightingale The nightingale in this folk story is an extra-ordinary animal. It is unable to defend itself from a falcon, yet it is able to talk to humans and grant them a m agical power. Its gift is made dangerous by an almost prescient ambiguity. The n ightingale and the lamb - which the Princess can talk with, despite only having the power to talk to birds - may be the same creature. The motive for the gift m ay expose the nature of the bird. Some suggestions for the motive of the nightingale are that: The nightingale is cursed to remain in that form until someone else, granted the ability to change shape, causes a death and so takes over its role. In this case, the Princess might be freed. The curse might perhaps be broken permanentl y if the recipient is a Bjornaer magus, whose Will Over Form would provide them with an escape from the nightingale shape. The nightingale is male, and the Princess makes a fetching female nightingal e. If this is the case then their descendants might also practice the same decep tion, and a gradually-increasing population of birds who give powers of question able value fills the Alps. Such a tribe might form a familiar lineage, like the Cats of Valnastium, if they are linked to Hermetic magi. The nightingale is a guardian, and it has passed its role on to the Princess . She serves a function similar to the wren witch, described elsewhere. The nightingale's oracular functions indicate that the Princess will be usef

ul to its causes in the future, and so it has cursed her with a form of impotent immortality, from which it will recover her in time. The nightingale might always have been a nightingale. Delusionary magical an imals are hardly uncommon in faerie forests. Perhaps the knight's longing for lo ve distorted a small faerie bird, so that when he announced that the bird was a woman, she came to believe it. The nightingale and Salvan might be the same character, torturing the knight to death for some slight. The Princess The Princess now takes the form of a nightingale and has the ability to talk to birds and the lamb. She is apparently immortal, and so may have become a faerie. The exact nature of her curse should be tailored to your saga, but her statisti cs are those of a small, inoffensive bird. The Salvan The Salvan is a dwarf who lives in a cave; indeed, "salvan" means "cave dweller. " Those visiting the Salvan do not enter the cave; it goes inside to fetch whate ver object it needs for its purposes. Its diagnostic use of a crystal is interes ting for two reasons. The Salvan's power is not used directly upon the knight, b ut must flow through an intermediate object, which might be, in the Hermetic sen se, a charm, magic item, or casting tool. The Salvan's method of using the cryst al is for the man to stare into it, then for the Salvan to read the crystal. Thi s implies that the crystal in some way records information that allows the Salva n to make its diagnosis. It is noteworthy cannot identify im to forget his a broad range of love that makes Virtues Transform (+3) that the Salvan says it can do nothing about the man's love. It the girl, give the man hope about his wooing of her, or allow h love. The Salvan does not say whether this is because it lacks mystical abilities, or because there is something special about it inviolable.

The Transform virtue can be used to represent the Princess' ability to change sh ape. Transformation occurs at the whim of the virtuous character, without a dice roll. It takes a combat phase, and unlike the Bjornaer ability the change inclu des basic clothing. While in nightingale form, the Princess can understand the s peech of birds. She can fly and sing excellently from the moment of her first tr ansformation. The Princess is under a Conditional Curse, which reduces the cost of this package to +1. Child of the Forest (0) At the discretion of the storyguide, characters with the Ways of the Woods virtu e may choose to be a Child of the Forest. This prevents them from suffering the effects of illness so long as the forest about them remains well, and they retai n their link by participating regularly in activities that bring them into the g reen realm. Children of the Forest develop illnesses when their forests are harm ed, although they lack the ability to interpret their symptoms. For example, a c hild of the forest has no immediate method of discovering that their hacking cou gh is due to the poison of a magical serpent that has made a lair in the bank of a forest pool. An alternative Children of the Forest virtue may be designed using the genius lo cus rules in Sanctuary of Ice. Places Sass-leng and Grden Both of these fortresses are lost to history.

Sass-leng's garden may be an unusual place - it is there that all the major work s of magic described in the folktale occur. Sass-leng may be a place that awaken s the heartbeast, similar to the Covenant of a Thousand Caves in the Novgorod Tr ibunal. The Princess originally fled Sass-leng, but she, or her descendants, mig ht have returned there, to build their nests in their ancestral home. Grden is a simple ruined fortress in a ravine in the middle of a wilderness. It m ay be haunted by the knight or by his faithful dogs. It would make a good place to set a saga where the storyguide wants just a pinch of Alpine folklore to flav or an otherwise original creation. The Cave of the Salvan The Cave of the Salvan may contain items of interest to Hermetic magi, but the s tory provides no further guidance with regard to its contents. Its inhabitant is particularly wily, even for a Salvan. Items Quartz Crystals Quartz is found in crystalline form in the Alps, so it is useful to assume that the crystal the Salvan used when examining the mind of the knight is composed of it. Clear quartz acts as a magnifying glass and, by extension, as an aid to mag ical vision. The most powerful stones are the natural globes found occasionally. Quartz is su fficiently powerful that even folk-practitioners know that a ball ground from cr ystalline quartz is of great use in divination. Presumably intact crystals are m ore useful than balls, because otherwise the Salvan would have ground his crysta l down. Balls are, therefore, made from imperfect crystals. The size of a crysta l or ball seems to influence its ease of use, but even tiny quartzes can be used for divination. Smaller stones must be held closer to the eye, which is less fi ddly and inconvenient for salvans than for humans (who are hampered by their gre ater size). Crystal balls created with vis are treated as if they were ground from crystals, not as natural balls. Similarly, Hermetically created asterisms do not provide magical bonuses. Few Hermetic magi can explain this, although the Pillar of Hira m has some interesting theories about the role of formative influences on the ma gical powers of crystals that they claim explains this effect. Certain mystae ha ve rituals that allow stones to become more virtuous and these allow some manufa ctured stones to become as useful as natural materials. The human-sized crystals used as the foci for rituals in some of these sects, and by certain - gauche Hermetic diviners are created using this process. Quartz is found in a wide variety of colors and shapes, and each of these has sl ightly different powers. The bonuses listed below do not stack with each other u nless explicitly stated. Clear Natural ball: +5 Intellego Crystal: +3 invisibility, +3 divination (including seeing through illusions as n oted in WGRE), +1 ice, +1 Intellego Ground ball: +3 divination Broken crystal or worked stone other than ball: +5 invisibility (as in ArM4), +1 divination, +1 ice Crystal with inclusions: +5 ice

Non-crystalline: +1 ice, +1 invisibility Rose Natural ball: +9 divination of emotions, +3 Intellego Crystal: +6 divination of emotions, +3 gentle healing (does not include Chirurgy , for example), +3 feelings of love Worked stone displaying asterism: +6 divination of emotions, +5 discovering love , +2 feelings of love, +2 gentle healing Broken crystal, worked stone (usually bead or cabochon): +3 divination of emotio ns, +1 feelings of love, +1 gentle healing Crystal with inclusions: +3 barriers to love Non-crystalline: +1 gentle healing, +1 feelings of love Smoky Natural ball: +9 divination via necromancy or diabolism, +2 Intellego Crystal: +6 divination via necromancy or diabolism, +3 obscuration, +1 Intellego Broken crystal, worked stone (usually really big solitaire): +3 divination via n ecromancy, +2 obscuration Non-crystalline: +1 divination via necromancy, +1 obscuration Others White rough: +3 ice Rutilated quartz: Added +3 to highest divination bonus, provided that this does not raise it above 9, except cat's eye quartz (a variant of rutilated quartz), w hich gives +3 to Curses Aventurine quartz is too varied to deal with here. Amethyst and citrine are also quartzes, but have such complicated mythologies that they will not be dealt wit h here. Ametrine is so rare in Europe as to not merit discussion, although it sh ould merit Hermetic awe. Crystal Eyes Hermetic magi might consider the use of a crystal ball as an enchanted prostheti c eye. Quendalon, a pivotal figure in the history of House Merinita, had his eye s replaced with enchanted gemstones, so Hermetic magi understand the concept. Mu ndane artificial eyes in the thirteenth century are not worn inside the eye sock et - they are painted clay replicas worn like an eye patch - and magi with cryst al eyes may alarm even well-educated mundane people. A crystal eye is a small, ground crystal ball, but it is where an eye is, doing what an eye does, which grants it extra power, particularly if it is paired with another crystal eye. In the few remaining magical traditions based on avatism magical competence based on ritual roles, described in Sanctuary of Ice - props like these are particularly powerful, tremendously so if they have been borne s ince the foundation of the tradition. Paired eyes add +3 to all bonuses if of ma tched color. A pair of eyes may be enchanted as two tiny items, or as one small item. If enchanted as a single item, the destruction of one eye renders the othe r useless. The House in the Forest

The House in the Forest is the weakest story in collection. Retelling A Count of the Puster Valley married a beautiful woman and, being of jealous dis position, hid her in a tower over the Fanes Mountains. Her only company was an e vil old woman who acted as her guard. The old woman took pleasure in tormenting the countess. One day the Count declared that he was heading over the mountains to seek a part icular bow for shooting eagles that he had desired for a long time. The nurse al so left to visit family in Andraz. After both had left, as evening drew in, a Ve netian peddler visited the tower and the Countess talked with him as he displaye d his wares. At her mention of the bow the Venetian confirmed he knew its owner, who used to own a silver mine on Mount Latemar, and accepted the Countess' requ est that he travel there and purchase it for her. The nurse saw the tail end of this conversation as she returned from her visit. The Count returned, annoyed at having failed to discover the whereabouts of the bow, and the old woman reported to him that his wife had been speaking with a st range man. In a fit of jealousy, he dragged his wife from the tower to a point a long the road where travelers to the tower had to pass. "I'll kill your lover an d make you watch!" he said, ignoring her protests of fidelity. The Venetian, how ever, failed to return, and the Count became increasingly angry until he struck his wife, knocking her down the bank of a ravine. Soon after this the Venetian arrived and offered the bow to the Count. "How did you know I wanted it?" he asked, and the Venetian reported his conversation with the Countess. Filled with remorse, the Count left to find his wife. The Count c limbed down the wall of the ravine but did not find his wife at the base. This m eant she was alive, so he sought her along the gorge. The Count could not find the Countess and was becoming increasingly fearful when three riders passed him. Through the evening gloom he could tell that two were men and the third wore a dress like his wife's. Struggling to keep up with them, he became convinced that the third rider was the Countess. They outdistanced hi m, and when he stopped to ask an old cow woman about the riders, she explained t hat the two men were sorcerers - with the power of the evil eye - and that the C ountess was probably bewitched. The Count tracked the group for many days down out of the Alps into the Venetian flats, but eventually he lost their trail. He traveled from place to place seek ing them, selling his possessions as his money ran out. Once he had sold his rin gs, sword and armor, he was reduced to beggary. After a year of futile searching , he returned to the mountains and became a shepherd. The shepherd's employer instructed him to never cross the boundary of the pastur e on a certain side. Beyond it lay a forest that was haunted by terrible ghosts and ghouls, even during the day. The shepherd obeyed for a while, but eventually came to the hypothesis that the sorcerers might live in the forest and decided to explore it. After two hours of searching he came to a house, before which wor ked a carpenter who ignored his questions. The shepherd went inside and met the Master of the House in a room lined with books. The Master of the House welcomed the shepherd. He said that he had a bear and a horse and that the shepherd would live well if he agreed to be their keeper. Aft er the shepherd accepted the position, he was led to the stable. The Master of t he House noted that the horse was odd in that it would never drink, but that eac h day the man was to lead it to the spring anyway, since eventually its thirst m ust force it to imbibe. The bear was kept chained in the cellar.

As the days passed, the shepherd noticed that the house was enchanted. During th e day, everything was eerily silent, except for the carpenter in the courtyard, who continued to work without ever speaking. This contrasted with nights, when t here was a commotion like thousands of tiny animals running about the house, and the bear would test its chains, seeking to snap them, shaking the walls of the house. One day the Master of the House left on business. He gave the shepherd a bunch o f keys but said "Do not enter the room whose door the angular key unlocks. It is certain death." The shepherd, of course, explored the house, but did not seek t he room of the angular key. That night, he noticed that all the trimmings from the carpenter's work in the c ourtyard turned into mice and scampered through the house. The next day, just be fore sunset, the shepherd collected all the little pieces of wood into a sack an d threw them on the fire. The carpenter at once began to speak. "At last I am fr ee!" he said "The two sorcerers who are masters of this house bewitched me and t reated me shamefully." "Are there any other prisoners?" asked the shepherd. The carpenter replied that the sorcerers had brought a beautiful woman home with them after a journey. She was to be their prisoner. The younger sorcerer made p lans to flee with her, and the older one quarreled with him before turning him i nto a bear. Adopting the younger sorcerer's idea, the older one told the beautif ul woman that she was to be his bride, and at her horror-stricken expression he trapped her soul in the body of a horse. He then poisoned the spring, but the ho rse knew this and so refused to drink. The shepherd filled a pail of water from the kitchen well, then having given the pail to the horse, threw his arms about its neck and begged forgiveness. The shepherd explored the house thoroughly, seeking a way to break the spell. In the library he perused the books and found one called Enemies of Witchcraft, bu t he found it terribly confusing, and only one sentence "Stones break spells," l odged itself in his mind after he tried to read it. He then opened the door that matched the angular key and found a small room inside furnished with a table. O n the table were some eggshells, a sack of nuts, a sword and two mirrors, one sm all and black, the other large and green. The shepherd then broke one of the egg shells. The house gave a "lurch, as if it had been lifted from the ground," and the shep herd heard his wife calling him. He found the horse in the courtyard, and his wi fe's voice said that she was now free, but her soul was trapped in the horse's m ane and, being bodiless, was invisible. She counseled that he return to the forb idden room and collect all of the items on the table, but that he should do so q uickly, because the bear had snapped its chain and would soon break through the cellar door. Then he was told to mount the horse and flee. They had gone some distance into the forest when they heard a pursuer. The young er sorcerer was mounted on the bear and gaining on them rapidly. At the soul's i nstruction, the shepherd threw a nut onto the path behind him, and a deep crevas se opened between the two riders. The horse, exhausted from galloping, needed to rest for a day, but when they continued the bear did not catch up with them for some time. Using the last of the nuts, the shepherd opened another ravine to bu y more time. When the bear again appeared the soul counseled the use of the smal l mirror, which became a "dark sea" that the bear swam across, but more slowly t han the horse could gallop. When the bear reached the shore, the shepherd threw down the larger mirror, which became a clear, wide lake. The soul in the mane th en stated she could do no more, so the shepherd sought a site in which to fight

the bear. The shepherd waited in a clearing, armed with the sword from the forbidden room. He hid the horse behind some rocks. When the bear and rider reached the clearin g the sorcerer dismounted to attack the shepherd. The shepherd soon learned that the sword could not harm the sorcerer, so he discarded it, grappling with his e nemy instead. This did not work, because the sorcerer quickly gained a hold on t he shepherd's throat, although he failed to strangle him. As the pressure increa sed, the shepherd punched the sorcerer in the face. This failed to harm his enem y, but the shepherd's hand was cut, and it felt like he had punched iron. The bear distracted the shepherd. It had discovered the horse, which was fleeing but too slowly to escape. In this moment of horrified paralysis, the sorcerer p inned the shepherd and began to strangle him. Remembering "Stones break sorcery! " the shepherd grabbed a nearby rock and threw it in the sorcerer's face. This s tunned his enemy, so the shepherd leapt to his feet and recovered the sword. He pulled the bear off the horse with his left hand, pinning it against a rock so t hat he could drive the sword through it with his right. As the bear died, the co untess resumed her human shape. The couple then returned to the tower. The Count wanted to put the nurse in a de ep, dark dungeon, which was something of a tradition at the time, but instead th e Countess dismissed her from service. The nurse went to live on a high mountain , where she remained for so long that it is called "The Rock of the Witch." Soon after this, the couple abandoned their isolated tower and went to live in their castle among the people of the Punter valley. Notations "The House in the Forest" is the least pleasing of the stories in this collectio n. The plot has several convenient coincidences, and its connection to other sto ries, which a reader has probably seen better-rendered elsewhere, weigh against its originality. It is notably similar to the Baba Yaga story, which includes it ems that have a stronger symbolic similarity to the effects that they create, an d it has the door of Bluebeard without the related problems. It is placed fourth in the collection, carefully sandwiched between far stronger stories on either side, so the translator may have been aware that it is one of the weaker ones. It may be that the story lacks resonance because it is a folktale about the form ation of a particular set of geographic features, to which readers outside the v alleys lack an emotional connection. "The Rock of the Witch," for example, is a minor peak in the Fanes called Sass di Stria. Men from Venice In Alpine folklore Men from Venice are a type of faerie, called a XXXX in the lo cal language. The Owner of the Silver Mine on Latemar Mount Latemar is southeast of Bolzano, which places it south of the Rosegarten. In one version of Laurin's story, his daughter Moena leaves the Rosegarten when she falls in love with the Knight of Latemar. This knight is likely a faerie, si nce he seems to own an extraordinary weapon. There is an alternative folktale, r ecorded in XXXX, about the inhabitant of Latemar. He is the keeper of hundreds o f magical dolls. Although iron, silver and copper were mined in these mountains, it is unclear if this mine was an actual place. Silver mines have a certain traditional appeal f or Hermetic magi, and the Knight of Latemar is a less formidable foe than King L aurin. Bows for Shooting Eagles

This bow must have exceptional range and accuracy, as eagles in the Alps are ren owned for their ability to fly at great heights. It may be that this is a magica l weapon. The story is old enough that this is unlikely to be a crossbow. Haunted Wood and Enchanted House The translation used in preparing this document says that ghosts and ghouls haun t the wood. Ghouls are not native to the folklore of this area, so it is not cle ar which creature the translator means. The shepherd, when he enters and flees t he wood, meets none of these creatures, so they may be mythological or defensive illusions generated by the sorcerers. The location of this house is not given. Were player characters to seize the house, it is of sufficient size to house a s mall wealthy family and their personal servants. The income to run the household must come from distant business interests. It has a library filled with arcane information, although it is suitable for practitioners of cunning-folk magic rat her than Hermetic magi. Some cunning folk information, such as where to find cer tain monsters, herbs and stones, may prove useful anyway. It might make a good c hapter for an Alpine covenant. Carpenter and Mice The carpenter, or woodsman, works in the courtyard of the house, sawing logs who se chips become mice. At night these mice rampage through the house then disappe ar. When these mice are destroyed, he is set free. There is no explanation for w hy the sorcerers consider his labor necessary. While enslaved he, like the other prisoners, is dumb. Sorcerers The key question when considering the sorcerers is this: why did the older sorce rer not just kill the younger one himself? The story never clearly states that the Shepherd's escape was engineered by the older sorcerer, but consider this sequence of events. The Master of the House sa ys to the shepherd that he will be gone for some time. The shepherd, he notes, s hould under no circumstances enter the room of the angular key. The Master then hands his keys - including the angular key - to the Shepherd, points out which d oor he means, and leaves for the rest of the story. In the room someone has left a set of magical charms. These are precisely the ones that the Shepherd needs t o break the various spells holding the Countess and to kill the younger sorcerer 's bear. A further piece of evidence in support of this idea is the presence of Enemies o f Witchcraft. In the library, there is a book of counter-charms, clearly labeled as such. When the shepherd reads it the only one he can remember afterwards def eats the younger sorcerer's personal protection spells. If the entire story is a plot by the older sorcerer to do away with his young ri val, it is possible he was responsible for the presence of the convenient cow wo man. It is tempting to read her as a ham actor on stage: "Oh, yes. A pair of sor cerers took her that way. I'd know those sorcerers anywhere, I would." Stones Break Sorcery! It is possible that the stones that break the spells of the younger sorcerer hav e a similar effect on his older analogue. That makes it impossible for him to pi ck up a stone to smite his rival, because for that instant he would lack persona l defenses, while his young rival would retain his powers. If the older sorcerer is affected by stones in the same way that his colleague was, it might be sensi ble for him to slay the Count now that his rival is disposed of, so that the kno wledge of his weakness does not spread. The shepherd arrives at the final battlefield guided by the voice of the soul of

his beloved, using magic items to delay the bear and its rider just long enough to arrive at a pile of rocks. It is possible that the voice of the soul is an i llusion created by the older sorcerer and that these particular rocks have a vir tue that allows them to ignore the younger sorcerer's wards. The shepherd, simil arly, faces the sorcerer's bear standing on this pile of rocks because his horse has hidden behind it. The bear spots the horse and pursues it, so the horse cho oses the shepherd's battleground. The rocks might, for example, be Flint of Virt ue, which has antimagical properties. This count's descendants, on encountering Hermetic magi, might assume that stone s are similarly effective against them. The alarming thing is, if they come from this particular source, they might be right. Mystical Obligations It may be that the older sorcerer was or is the teacher of the younger one, and that this means that they are linked mystically. The master may be able to harm his student only in the most circumambulatory way without offending the powers t hat they both serve. If this is the case, these powers may seek a reckoning with the Count. The sorcerer's geas may go further than this: he may be unable to kill. The Mast er of the House obviously wishes the countess to drink from the poisoned well, b ut this seems an inefficient way to kill a horse. He is attempting to force her to commit suicide. Why not kill her himself or order the carpenter to do it? Nemesis The young sorcerer's death may bring a curse down upon his killer. If this is th e case, then the sorcerer was wise to kill his rival through an intermediary. Charms The sorcerers make charms; that is, their spells are held in physical vessels of power. If these physical vessels are destroyed, then the spell itself fades. Th e charms and their vessels include magical eggs, which hold the transformation a nd soul-binding spells; the nuts, which create crevasses; and the mirrors that e ither create or are miniaturized lakes. Eggshells The shepherd, after a moment's thought, knows that eggshells. He leaves some of the eggshells intact, is not described. It may be a secondary effect of g one of the eggshells knows what it is doing, and he needs to break one of the and which spells they control the charm that someone holdin to whom.

The eggshell charm has different effects on the young sorcerer and the Countess. When it is broken the invisible soul of the Countess can speak from the mane of the horse, and when the bear is destroyed the horse changes shape into her huma n body. Meanwhile the young sorcerer resumes his own body immediately and rides the bear in pursuit of the escapees. The bear is not his transformed body, but a fter killing the bear, the shepherd does not attempt to go back and kill the sor cerer, who he has stunned with a rock. An explanation might be found by examining a related question: why did the sorce rer choose these particular animals to hold the souls of his captives? The young er sorcerer is his enemy, and yet the Master of the House contains him in the fo rm of a bear so powerful that it almost pulls down the walls of the house each n ight as it struggles to escape its chains. This hints that the Master of the Hou se cannot choose the form his captives take. The form may reflect the shape of t he soul of the captive. In the example of the young sorcerer, the spell may bind him into the body of hi s familiar. This would explain why once released he has both the ability to tame

the bear instantly and the skill to ride on its back. The death of the bear mig ht cause the younger sorcerer to die sympathetically, which would explain the Sh epherd's lack of further concern. Nuts The first nut in the bag creates a great crevasse. The last nuts in the bag crea te a similar crevasse. How the fleeing shepherd loses the rest of the nuts is no t described, although it can be assumed that if he had eaten them the story woul d have ended at that point. There is the possibility that these nuts are not cha rms: they are just magical faerie nuts that rip vast cracks into the Earth. Mirrors Each mirror becomes a lake. Mechanically this means that the mirror charm alters the shape of the Earth and then puts vast amount of water in a newly-created ho llow. The mirrors seem to create permanent geographical features, so feeding str eams nearby must divert into the new lakes. Sword The sword is different from the other items in the room with the angular key for two reasons: the sword does not appear to have any magical property, and the sh epherd retains it at the end of the story. The sword's magical effects, if any, are not flashy. The sword may have been spe cifically designed to kill the younger sorcerer through the sympathetic link of the bear, and if this is the case it may work similarly if used on Hermetic fami liars. As an alternative, the sword may grant superhuman strength. The shepherd pins the bear, using his weak hand, while holding the sword. He then drives a si ngle thrust through the bear. Plot Hooks Assaults on the Count The Count may face attack from one of several sources, depending on why the olde r sorcerer did not kill the younger one himself. If it is that he shared a weakn ess with the younger sorcerer, he may now wish to kill the count. If both served a vengeful power, then it may desire to harm the Count. If killing sorcerers of this tradition releases a curse upon the killer, then the Count will require ai d to protect himself. Someone other than the sorcerer or its master may threaten the Count. The old nu rse, apparently a witch, may hatch a plot against the happy couple. Faeries anno yed at the theft of their nuts or lakes might seek the user of the charms. Final ly, the Man from Venice may have stolen the bow of the Knight of Latemar, and it s true owner may seek a reckoning. Covenant Founding This story contains the tower beyond the Fanes Mountains, now uninhabited, which could house magi who earn the count's gratitude. It also contains a house fille d with magical treasures, owned by a single elderly sorcerer. A party gaining co ntrol of both sets of resources has the basic material for a covenant. If vis so urces exist in the haunted wood - for example a nut tree - and they can find a w ay to take over the older sorcerer's business interests, then the characters hav e the foundations for a healthy Spring covenant. Arrows of Wizard-Slaying Characters may be asked to investigate the death of a young Hermetic maga in a b andit attack in the mountain passes. Their expedition discovers that she was sla in with a flint arrow that ignored Hermetic protection spells. Who crafted this arrow? If they find the culprit, what can they do? Who do they tell about the ar rows?

Text copyright Timothy Ferguson 2004. Artwork copyright Stephanie Pui-Mun Law 20 04. THE PALE MOUNTAINS Once upon a time there lived the son of a King. His father's kingdom lay in the southern territory of the Alps, with its green pastures and shady forests and st eep mountains with black rocks. The inhabitants lived as hunters and shepherds, loved their country, and considered themselves happy. One, alone, was not conten t with his life and the world about him-the King's son. He felt tormented by a d esire which no one could grant him-he wanted to visit the Moon. He had already c onsulted all the wise men of the kingdom as to what he should do in order to rea ch the Moon, but nobody knew how to advise him. The Prince, therefore, was disco ntented and sad. In vain his companions endeavoured to distract him and to turn his thoughts to other things-he talked and dreamed only about the Moon. At the t ime of Full Moon he always became very sad. From evening until morning he wander ed restlessly around on the rocks and meadows, gazing all the time at the Moon. The most expert physicians came to the Court but no one was able to cure the str ange malady of the Prince. And it continued. to become worse. One day, while hunting, the Prince left his companions and lost his way in the f orests. When evening came and the sun had set he found himself in a lonely, high valley, all covered with Alproses, and surrounded on three sides by steep ridge s and mighty towers of rock. No longer hoping to meet with his hunting companion s again that day, the King's son decided to spend the night there. So he lay dow n on a, green lawn in the midst of Alprosebushes and looked thoughtfully, in the distance, at the red clouds and mountain-tops which were just fading away. As h e felt very tired, however, he soon fell asleep and had a curious dream..he stood on a meadow all covered with strang e flowers, and spoke to a wonderful girl whom he had never seen before. All arou nd, as far as the Prince could see, it was white, but he himself held some red A lproses in his hand, and gave them to the beautiful stranger. She, smiling, acce pted the flowers, asking him what his country was like, and after a while she to ld him that she was the daughter of the Moon King. On hearing these words the Ki ng's son felt an indescribable joy, and awoke. It was already past midnight; the Moon stood high, and its silver light shone in to the deserted clefts and on the pointed rocks of the lonely high valley: the P rince looked up and his joy changed, becoming deep sorrow. The usual ardent long ing took possession of him, and for a long time he gave free play top his sad th oughts. Finally a gentle breeze passed through the Alproses, and the King's son thought of what should happen if he really should meet the Moon Princess. So he began to gather the beautiful Alproses and to make a bouquet, and he was occupie d with it for a long time. All at once he thought he heard someone speaking high up in the rocks. He listened, but a great silence ruled, except that in the dis tance a waterfall murmured. The Prince gathered some more flowers, but for the s econd time he heard words, and now very clearly. The sound came down from the hi ghest rocktower, and the top of this tower was wrapped up in a thick white cloud . Up there mountain-demons have to dwell, so the King's son thought, and he gras ped the hilt of his sword. Without putting away the Alprose bouquet he slowly st rode to the tower, went around the foot of the mountain walls and began to climb up on the back wall which was not so steep. The speaking became more clear, but it was not yet possible to distinguish words. Soon the King's son came into a c loud, the moonlight could no longer get through, and he only groped his way forw ard. Finally he struck something hard, a door was opened, and the Prince stood b efore a brightly illuminated little space where two very, very old men were sitt ing. They rose, frightened; but he calmed them, excusing himself by saying that

he was a hunter who had lost his way in the mountain wildness. On hearing these words both went to meet him, asking him to come in, and they became very friendl y. They talked of one thing and another, and the Prince asked them if they were old men of the mountains. But the two old men replied that they were inhabitants of the Moon who had made a long journey all around the world and that they were on the point of returning to their own country. Hearing this, the King's son became quite pale with excit ement and he told them that for years and years he felt an ardent desire to make a journey to the Moon. The two old men laughed, saying that if he wished to joi n them they were quite content, and that they were starting -immediately. The Pr ince was very happy, thanking the good old men with endless words. Meanwhile the cloud had drifted from the rock summit and began to sail towards the Moon with increasing speed. During the long journey the Prince told the two old men many t hings concerning his father's kingdom, and they told him how things were on the Moon, and how one had to live there. Thus they informed him that an inhabitant o f the earth could not stay for a long time on the Moon because everything there was white-plains and mountains, plants and cities - all shining in silver sheen, and an inhabitant of the earth became blind, after a time, from this dazzling b rightness. So also, said they, a Moon dweller could not remain for a long time o n the earth because of the dark colours of the forests and rocks, which are sadd ening, and if such a one could not return soon, very soon, to the Moon he would surely die from too much pining for the white fields of his country. With such conversation and considerations did the three Moon-travellers beguile their time. At last the cloud on which they were, came down upon one of the moun tains, of the Moon and rested there. The first part of their journey was over,. now they had to proceed on foot. The two old men explained to the Prince that th ey had to turn westwards, and they advised him to travel towards the east in ord er to reach the Capital as soon as possible. The Prince said good-bye and went d own the mountain in an easterly direction. All the country around about was whit e, especially because of little white flowers which covered the surface of the M oon in endless numbers. But, in addition, the ground, which in some places was b are, appeared white, and even the flaming walls of rock had faint bright colours . After a while the King's son saw the houses and towertops of the Capital. All these buildings, however, were made, from their foundations to their battlements , of white marble. With quick steps the Prince hastened to meet this white splen dour until he was stopped by a hedge which barred the way. This hedge was made, with great skill, of sparkling metal, and its sticks bore strange decorations. B eyond the hedge a gardener was working. As soon as he noticed the stranger he ad vanced slowly, saluted, and inquired, in an astonished manner, as to the origin of the red flowers which the Prince was holding in his hands. These were the Alp roses which he had gathered during the night. The Prince explained that he had c ome from the earth, and that the flowers grew there. Now, the gardener told him that in the castle, which stood in the background, lived the Moon King and his d aughter. The Princess was very fond of rare and beautiful flowers, and she would surely reward the stranger in a royal manner if he would leave the red bouquet for her. The Prince laughed and said that he would give his Alproses to the Prin cess with great pleasure, but that he would seek no reward for them as he himsel f was the son of a King. At this the astonished gardener opened the gate, and in vited the stranger to enter the garden. Then he ran up to the castle. After a wh ile he returned, breathless, begging the Prince to go with him to the castle. Th e King's son followed his guide through many, many halls and corridors, looking amazedly at the walls of alabaster white, and at the bright arms which adorned t hem. The Prince was received by the Moon King and his daughter in a large illuminated hall, and was welcomed in a very friendly way. The Moon King was a very old man with a long silvery white beard; but, on seeing the Princess, the Prince recogn ised that wonderful girl whom he had met in his nightdream. She accepted the Alp

roses gratefully, praising their glorious colour, and asked the Prince if there were many such flowers in his country, what kind of people lived there, and how large was his father's kingdom. It was only after a lengthy conversation that th ey parted, the Moon King telling the Prince that he was to consider himself as h is guest. The Prince remained then for a time at the royal castle, taking long walks throu gh its surroundings, and became well acquainted with the Moon to which he had so often looked up with longing. After some weeks the Moon King asked his foreign guest, at lunch, how he liked the Moon. The Prince replied that the whi te, shining landscape of the Moon was the most beautiful he ever had seen, but i t's unaccustomed brightness was so affecting his eyes that he feared he would go blind if he did not return soon to