Scribed by Jari
Spring
I approached the year’s first council with a spring in my step for the first time in many a year. I can now see a genuine route to success in our long and oft-thwarted efforts to rouse the power of the land to save both magic and our own livest. The ritual that I developed with Theoclea’s aid “Air for Awakening the Ancient Aegis” seems to work. The spell is a bit of a mongrel effort, incorporating: elements of hermetic magic, what I’ve learnt of Arcanus’s understandings; my own capabilities with the magic inherent in music; and, a combination of both Theoclea’s and my knowledge of ancient magics, the differences between which complement each other’s well. Plus of course the little bit of luck that any such powerful magics require, this spell being nominally a Rego Terram effect of the eight magnitude.
The test was performed on a minor standing stone, known locally as Arthur’s Stone, which stood in a remote patch of countryside a little to the North of Hereford. The aura about it was merely of the first magnitude, connected to animals and healing. Unsurprisingly, given the low magnitude of its aura, the stone was ‘sleepy’ when I attempted to speak with it. A ley led off it to the Northwest, linking it with a small group of stones, just over a league into Wales. That group, known as the “Lucky Seven”, had a similarly low magnitude. Their purported power being linked to leading those who touched the stones to find gold or silver.
Research dragged out as much as I could, I steeled myself to cast the ritual. As it neared completion, I felt a deep vibration in the earth that made it a little hard to concentrate, though fortunately I am somewhat less easily distracted than I was in my younger days and I was able to bring it to what felt like a successful completion. I let my vision drift into the magical realm and was delighted to see flames like pillars of starlight flickering into the air. Looking at the stones themselves there was a clear change in the vibrancy of the colours of the ancient magic flickering about the stone. This was confirmed when the ‘Keen Intuition of the Magical Veil’ revealed that the aura was now of the fifth magnitude!
I settled down to talk to the stone once more and was gratified to find that it was more awake and happy to converse at some length with me. It said that it felt something “sour in the soil” when asked about the coming plague. I asked about other nearby stones, interested in learning how such an awakened stone might in some way ‘link up’ with its neighhours. It said that it could sense seven stones to the Northwest and others beyond that, but those not so clearly. When I asked about its sense of centres of power in the land, it said that it could sense one very far from there to the South and that it was not the only one awake. Three days later, just before we needed to return home for the council, the aura at the stone was still of the fifth magnitude, so it does seem like the ritual should last long enough to allow for such castings needed to complete the wheel. Presumably moon duration or longer, though given all the non-hermetic elements within the ritual it is best not to rely on this and I determined to check as often as I could.
We discussed the matter at council. Is it Stonehenge that is awake already or is it Avebury? Branwen said that she will ask Morgana. I will spend Spring with my portable laboratory at Arthur’s Stone to more fully analyse what the results of the ritual have been, and hopefully gain a greater sense of the ritual itself.
Terentius reported that he has drawn a map of the boundary of the ‘wheel’ of stone circles with all centres and features included. He will spend Spring overlaying that map with the magical aurae that lie upon it. At my request, he will also identify a readily walkable route around it. I will also in future make an assay of the ley lines that travel through the area.
Naevius said he would continue with his study of personal vis to better cast ‘Conjure the Wizard’s Tower’. Theoclea then made the amusing suggestion that she develop the spell ‘Gift of Reason’ to cast on me so that she might better glean the precise cymric words I had dreamt at Stoney Littleton. After some mock outrage, I suggested that she might more simply just visit those stones herself.
Naevius noted that there will be much to discuss at the next council, the last before the tribunal. It is already clear that there will be disagreement on what we reveal to the tribunal and what we do not. For my part, I think that telling the tribunal what we are planning puts at risk everything. What if they decide that such a ritual is too dangerous for us to be allowed to do it? What politics are they at play that might predispose groups such as the Tremere to look for reasons to stop us? I see no real benefit in doing so but others, most clearly Terentius disagree.
Jari’s private journal
Given all that we have faced and the repeated instances of other hermetic magi opposing what we have needed to be done to overcome the various enemies we have faced, it seems incredible to me that my sodales could still be so naive. There is a bitter irony to the fact that while hermetic magic cannot avail us against the scale of the dark power that looms ever nearer, hermetic magi may yet be that which stops us from succeeding in our efforts against it. The witches might be selfish weasels who are quite content to let all save they perish but they at least have the great good sense to do so in secret.
With our discussion concluded, we moved onto more mundane matters such as vis distribution. All save Pyrrhus, who had not done any prior to his sudden departure deep into Africa, had done multiple seasons so we agreed to just claim one each.
By the turn of the season, the aura at Arthur’s Stone was still of the fifth magnitude. That stretched for some fifty paces before it dropped to the fourth magnitude and thence quickly down to the first magnitude. I think it likely that an injured animal brought here would be restored to health but I lack the time to find one such, as well as the inclination to injure one to test it. Races the Wind might have been able to give further insight into the animal aspect of the enhanced magic thereabouts were he not spending his time attempting to run fast enough to catch up with himself and picking fights with bushes which apparently vaguely resembled another hare. Some less mad wild animals did however approach the stone while I was there, I believe they sensed on some level that it was a good place to be.
On the last phase of the full moon, the magic declined precipitously, thus indicating quite clearly that the ritual was of moon duration. I remained there, keen to assess the change in ancient magics as best I could, as well as their impact on neighbouring stones, animals and so forth. Thus Spring passed quietly, although I found out when I returned home that Pyrrhus had returned just after the equinox.
Spring
I approached the year’s first council with a spring in my step for the first time in many a year. I can now see a genuine route to success in our long and oft-thwarted efforts to rouse the power of the land to save both magic and our own livest. The ritual that I developed with Theoclea’s aid “Air for Awakening the Ancient Aegis” seems to work. The spell is a bit of a mongrel effort, incorporating: elements of hermetic magic, what I’ve learnt of Arcanus’s understandings; my own capabilities with the magic inherent in music; and, a combination of both Theoclea’s and my knowledge of ancient magics, the differences between which complement each other’s well. Plus of course the little bit of luck that any such powerful magics require, this spell being nominally a Rego Terram effect of the eight magnitude.
The test was performed on a minor standing stone, known locally as Arthur’s Stone, which stood in a remote patch of countryside a little to the North of Hereford. The aura about it was merely of the first magnitude, connected to animals and healing. Unsurprisingly, given the low magnitude of its aura, the stone was ‘sleepy’ when I attempted to speak with it. A ley led off it to the Northwest, linking it with a small group of stones, just over a league into Wales. That group, known as the “Lucky Seven”, had a similarly low magnitude. Their purported power being linked to leading those who touched the stones to find gold or silver.
Research dragged out as much as I could, I steeled myself to cast the ritual. As it neared completion, I felt a deep vibration in the earth that made it a little hard to concentrate, though fortunately I am somewhat less easily distracted than I was in my younger days and I was able to bring it to what felt like a successful completion. I let my vision drift into the magical realm and was delighted to see flames like pillars of starlight flickering into the air. Looking at the stones themselves there was a clear change in the vibrancy of the colours of the ancient magic flickering about the stone. This was confirmed when the ‘Keen Intuition of the Magical Veil’ revealed that the aura was now of the fifth magnitude!
I settled down to talk to the stone once more and was gratified to find that it was more awake and happy to converse at some length with me. It said that it felt something “sour in the soil” when asked about the coming plague. I asked about other nearby stones, interested in learning how such an awakened stone might in some way ‘link up’ with its neighhours. It said that it could sense seven stones to the Northwest and others beyond that, but those not so clearly. When I asked about its sense of centres of power in the land, it said that it could sense one very far from there to the South and that it was not the only one awake. Three days later, just before we needed to return home for the council, the aura at the stone was still of the fifth magnitude, so it does seem like the ritual should last long enough to allow for such castings needed to complete the wheel. Presumably moon duration or longer, though given all the non-hermetic elements within the ritual it is best not to rely on this and I determined to check as often as I could.
We discussed the matter at council. Is it Stonehenge that is awake already or is it Avebury? Branwen said that she will ask Morgana. I will spend Spring with my portable laboratory at Arthur’s Stone to more fully analyse what the results of the ritual have been, and hopefully gain a greater sense of the ritual itself.
Terentius reported that he has drawn a map of the boundary of the ‘wheel’ of stone circles with all centres and features included. He will spend Spring overlaying that map with the magical aurae that lie upon it. At my request, he will also identify a readily walkable route around it. I will also in future make an assay of the ley lines that travel through the area.
Naevius said he would continue with his study of personal vis to better cast ‘Conjure the Wizard’s Tower’. Theoclea then made the amusing suggestion that she develop the spell ‘Gift of Reason’ to cast on me so that she might better glean the precise cymric words I had dreamt at Stoney Littleton. After some mock outrage, I suggested that she might more simply just visit those stones herself.
Naevius noted that there will be much to discuss at the next council, the last before the tribunal. It is already clear that there will be disagreement on what we reveal to the tribunal and what we do not. For my part, I think that telling the tribunal what we are planning puts at risk everything. What if they decide that such a ritual is too dangerous for us to be allowed to do it? What politics are they at play that might predispose groups such as the Tremere to look for reasons to stop us? I see no real benefit in doing so but others, most clearly Terentius disagree.
Jari’s private journal
Given all that we have faced and the repeated instances of other hermetic magi opposing what we have needed to be done to overcome the various enemies we have faced, it seems incredible to me that my sodales could still be so naive. There is a bitter irony to the fact that while hermetic magic cannot avail us against the scale of the dark power that looms ever nearer, hermetic magi may yet be that which stops us from succeeding in our efforts against it. The witches might be selfish weasels who are quite content to let all save they perish but they at least have the great good sense to do so in secret.
With our discussion concluded, we moved onto more mundane matters such as vis distribution. All save Pyrrhus, who had not done any prior to his sudden departure deep into Africa, had done multiple seasons so we agreed to just claim one each.
By the turn of the season, the aura at Arthur’s Stone was still of the fifth magnitude. That stretched for some fifty paces before it dropped to the fourth magnitude and thence quickly down to the first magnitude. I think it likely that an injured animal brought here would be restored to health but I lack the time to find one such, as well as the inclination to injure one to test it. Races the Wind might have been able to give further insight into the animal aspect of the enhanced magic thereabouts were he not spending his time attempting to run fast enough to catch up with himself and picking fights with bushes which apparently vaguely resembled another hare. Some less mad wild animals did however approach the stone while I was there, I believe they sensed on some level that it was a good place to be.
On the last phase of the full moon, the magic declined precipitously, thus indicating quite clearly that the ritual was of moon duration. I remained there, keen to assess the change in ancient magics as best I could, as well as their impact on neighbouring stones, animals and so forth. Thus Spring passed quietly, although I found out when I returned home that Pyrrhus had returned just after the equinox.