The Cradle & the Crescent
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Travelers tell of lands to the east, beyond the shattered Byzantine Empire and the Crusader kingdoms of Outremer, where sorcerers ride carpets and whirlwinds, where jinn worship and trade openly in the great cities, and where fi re is the sign of God. Those travelers speak the truth. Take your saga to the east, with details of the Islamic lands of the Mythic Middle East — Arabia, Persia, and the lands beyond. Zoroastrian priests still call on Divine power, although their days of glory are long over, and scholars rejoice in libraries and schools that dwarf the young universities of Europe. Jinn haunt the deserts and mountains, and live and trade in the cities. But this is not a land ready for Hermetic magi to seize, for the Order of Suleiman is no myth, and its sahirs are everywhere. Were you to tell of these lands for a thousand äÓnÊUÊ- Ê£xnÇn£ÓÎÈ nights, you still would not exhaust their wonders! äÓnÊUÊ- Ê£xnÇn£ÓÎÈÊUÊfÎÓ°x 53295 9 781589 781238 777°/- -° " ^Ó䣣Ê/À`iÌ]ÊV°ÊÊÀ} ÌÃÊÀiÃiÀÛi`° The Cradle & The Crescent Credits AUTHORS: Niall Christie (Intro & Saga, History, Arabia, Mesopotamia, ture references that they don’t get. Niall would like to thank his co-au- Appendix), Erik Dahl (Order of Suleiman), Lachie Hayes (Intro & thors and the line editor for all their help, and in particular for picking Saga, Jinn, Arabia, Silk Road), Mark Shirley (Mesopotamia, Persia, up the magic lamp that he dropped; and also Guy Le Strange and Mu- Appendix), Alex White (Zoroastrians) hammad ibn Jubayr, invaluable guides through the desert. He would like DEVELOPMENT, EDITING, & PROJECT MANAGEMENT: David Chart to dedicate his portion of this book to three people: to Matt Ryan, for LAYOUT & ART DIRECTION: Michelle Nephew setting this genie free; to Angus MacDonald, for much sheik, rattle, and PROOFREADING & ART DIRECTION ASSISTANCE: Jessica Banks roll; and to Steph van Willigenburg, for being his Water of Life. PUBLISHER: John Nephew Erik Dahl lives in a strange, far-off land with its own rules of magic COVER ILLUSTRATION: Grey Thornberry and its own order of exotic wizards who are surely secretly plotting to CARTOGRAPHY: Sean Macdonald, Jesse Mohn, Michelle Nephew, take over Mythic Europe. His contributions to this book were inspired by Andrew Smith and dedicated to the participants of Grand Tribunal America 2008, which INTERIOR ART: Jason Cole, Kelley Hensing, Jeff Menges, Grey Thornberry took place August 15–17 in Berkeley, California, and included: Jerry ADDITIONAL ART: John Leighton, 1,100 Designs and Motifs from Historic Braverman, Paul Briscoe, Toshi Casey, Niall Christie, Mark Faulkner, Sal- Sources; Ernst and Johanna Lehner, Astrology and Astronomy; Gustave ly Hutchinson, Kurt Konegen, Angus MacDonald, Mark Pascual, John Doré, The Doré Bible Illustrations, Doré’s Illustrations of the Crusades, Doré’s Post, Thomas Scott, Chris Van Horn, Eric Vesbit, and Debbi Winslow. Dragons Demons and Monsters, The Doré Gallery; Jean Lêon Gêrôme, Many thanks to all of you, for your help in establishing such a memorable Great Men & Famous Women III; Matthäus Merian, 1300 Real and Fanciful and enjoyable magical tradition! ARS MAGICA AWESOME EST. Animals; Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Treasury of Bible Illustrations The jinni known as Jarkman (Lachie Hayes) hails from far beyond ARS MAGICA FIFTH EDITION TRADE DRESS: J. Scott Reeves the Mountains of Qaf, in a city where it always rains and seasons change PUBLISHER’S SPECIAL THANKS: Jerry Corrick & the gang at the Source. within a day. Perhaps one day he’ll master the Travel magic to attend a FIRST ROUND PLAYTESTERS: Pelle Kofod, Christian Rosenkjaer Andersen; Grand Tribunal, but until then he’ll stick to Storytelling. Lachie thanks Jason Brennan, Justin Brennan, Elisha Campbell, Robert Major; Niall for summoning him into this circle, then letting him loose to make Donna Giltrap, Malcolm Harbrow, Aaron Hicks, Richard Love; mischief. He also thanks his other co-authors Alex, Erik, and Mark for Angus MacDonald, Brian Watson, Quetta Watson, Sarah MacDonald, their help and support along the way. Special thanks to Timothy Fer- Wendell “BSP” Joyner; Paul Briscoe, Bryan Jacques, Erik Johnson, Kurt guson for inspiring Lachie to start writing seriously and helping him Konegen, John Post; Matt Ryan, Alexis Kristan Heinz, Daniel Ilut, understanding faeries, which was invaluable for the Jinn and Silk Road Robert W.B. Llwyd; Christoph Safferling, Jan Sprenger; Sean Winslow chapters. Apologies to Marko and the Light of Andorra crowd for disap- SECOND ROUND PLAYTESTERS: Pelle Kofod, Christian Rosenkjaer pearing without explanation just as the saga got going — now you know Andersen; Mark Barltrop, Alex Coyne-Turner, Mark Lawford, why. Lachie would most like to thank his wife, for putting up with Mid- David Staveley, Simon Turner; Jason Brennan, Justin Brennan, Elisha dle Eastern medieval madness. This is his first book for Ars Magica. Campbell, Robert Major; Leon Bullock, Peter Ryan, Chris Barrett; Mark Shirley is the descendent of Robert Shirley who, with his Paul Briscoe, Bryan Jacques, Erik Johnson, Kurt Konegen, John Post brothers, sold cannons to Shah Abbas of Persia on behalf of Queen THIRD ROUND PLAYTESTERS: Jason Brennan, Justin Brennan, Elisha Elizabeth I. Robert married the Shah’s ward, Teresia, a Circassian prin- Campbell, Robert Major; Leon Bullock, Peter Ryan, Chris Barrett; cess, and became the shah’s ambassador to Christendom. Mark feels Christoph Safferling, Jan Sprenger his Persian bloodline, though many generations diluted, enhanced his enjoyment of writing for this project. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES Alexander White has an Honours degree in medieval and classical history, and a Master of Public Policy and Management from the Uni- Niall Christie is (still) a medieval Islam historian who lives in Van- versity of Melbourne. In between occasionally publishing Sub Rosa (an couver, Canada. He likes books, history (no surprise there), roleplaying, Ars Magica fan magazine), Alex works as the campaigns coordinator tyranids, singing, and tormenting his students with antiquated pop-cul- for the National Tertiary Education Union in Melbourne, Australia. Ars Magica players participate in a thriving fan community by subscribing to email discussion lists (like the Berke- ley list), compiling archives of game material (such as Project Redcap), maintaining fan-created web sites, and running demos through Atlas Games’ Special Ops program. To learn more, visit www.atlas-games.com/ArM5. You can also participate in discussions of Ars Magica at the official Atlas Games forums located at forum.atlas-games.com. Copyright © 2011-2013 Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work by any means without written permission from the publisher, except short excerpts for the purpose of reviews, is expressly prohibited. Ars Magica, Mythic Europe, and Charting New Realms of Imagination are trademarks of Trident, Inc. Order of Hermes, Tremere, and Doissetep are trademarks of White Wolf, Inc. and are used with permission. Digital Version 1.0 2 The Cradle & The Crescent Contents ChapterI: The Formation of the Suhhar ... 20 Al-Iksir (The Elixir of Life) ........41 A Golden Age .......................... 23 Initiating the Arts .......................42 Introduction & Sagas 8 The Crusading Suhhar ............. 23 Experimentation ..........................43 HOW TO USE THIS BOOK ................... 8 CULTURE ........................................ 25 Warping and Corruption .......... 43 ON THE SETTING ............................... 8 Organization ............................ 26 Integration ................................ 44 Strangers in Foreign Lands ......... 8 How Sahirs Live ....................... 29 Hermetic True Names ..................44 Social Structure .......................... 9 CHARACTERS ................................... 29 Scientates Suleimanis ..................45 Islam & Islamic Law .................. 11 Sahir Virtues and Flaws ............ 30 Hermetic Realm Initiation ...........45 Crime and Punishment ................11 New and Modified Virtues ..........30 Solomonic Devices ......................45 The Pillars of Islam ....................11 Invocation of Spontaneous Solomonic Spells .....45 Mosques .....................................12 Names of Power ....................30 Independent Solomonic Magic .....45 BUILDING SAGAS .............................. 12 Sahir ......................................30 SOLOMONIC ARTS ............................ 45 Founding a Covenant Sihr .......................................30 Sihr ........................................... 46 in the Mythic Middle East ....... 12 Solomonic Alchemy .............30 Discerning Jinn ..........................46 Founding a Chapter House .........13 Solomonic Astrology ............30 Summoning Jinn.........................46 Itinerant Covenants ....................13 Solomonic Physic .................30 Bargaining with the Jinni ...........46 Joining a House of Wisdom ........13 Solomonic Storytelling .........30 Solomonic Alchemy ................. 48 Tales of Two Orders ................. 13 Solomonic Travel ..................30 Solomonic Alchemy The Hermetic Crusades ...............14 Vizier ....................................30 Spell Formulas ............................49 The Followers of Yatu Magic ............................30 Sanctuary in the sand............49 the Circle Return ........................14 New and Modified Flaws ............31 [Spirit]’s oasis ........................49 An Hermetic Embassy? ...............14