Against the Dark Credits AUTHORS: Timothy Ferguson, Richard Love, Matt Ryan, Mark Shirley Trygve Kalleberg, Dag-Erling Smørgrav, Karin Lagesen, DEVELOPMENT, EDITING, & PROJECT MANAGEMENT: David Chart Heikki Sørum, Torbjørn Stirler; Donna Giltrap, Malcolm LAYOUT & ART DIRECTION: Michelle Nephew Harbrow, Aaron Hicks; Rasmus Strandgaard Sørensen, PROOFREADING & ART DIRECTION ASSISTANCE: Jessica Banks Christian Rosenkjaer Andersen, Pelle Kofod ADDITIONAL PROOFREADING: Michelle Nephew PUBLISHER: John Nephew COVER ILLUSTRATION: Grey Thornberry AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES CARTOGRAPHY: Andrew P. Smith Timothy Ferguson is a librarian, and lives on the Gold Coast, INTERIOR ART: Alan Dyson, Jason Cole, Kelley Hensing, Christian St. Pierre Australia. He’d like to dedicate his part of this book to his wife Linda, and to thank her for repeated trips to local ADDITIONAL ART: Dover Castles, Dover Dragons and Wizards, Medieval Life Illustrations, Treasury of Medieval Illustrations vampire-themed theater restaurants. Richard Love spends many of his days sequestered in a laboratory. ARS MAGICA FIFTH EDITION TRADE DRESS: J. Scott Reeves He knows for a fact that the world outside his laboratory is PUBLISHER’S SPECIAL THANKS: Jerry Corrick & the gang at the Source. full of dark mountains, forests, lightning, thunder, and rain. Richard would like to thank his partner Paula for bravely FIRST ROUND PLAYTESTERS: Mark Barltrop, Alex Coyne-Turner, Mark Lawford, David Staveley, Simon Turner; Jason Brennan, slaying the terrifying mouse. Justin Brennan, Elisha Campbell, Robert Major; Christian Matt Ryan lives in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York Jensen-Romer, Lloyd Graney, Tom Nowell, Kevin Sides, State. He enjoys hiking and camping the many state parks Luke Price; Donna Giltrap, Malcolm Harbrow, Aaron Hicks; and forests in the area, and fishing the multitude of lakes Joan Bauza Soler, Antoni Morey i Pasqual, Melcior Parera and streams with his son, who has the better “catch and Mas, Vincent Palmer Richardson, Guillem Gelabert Perello, release” record. Llorenç Nadal Sanso; Pelle Kofod, Christian Rosenkjaer Mark Shirley is a computational biologist living in Newcastle- Andersen, Ronni Fich, Sune Johannesson, Rasmus Andreasen, upon-Tyne, UK. This is his fourth Tribunal book for Ars Rasmus Strandgaard Sørensen; Volker Bürkel, Björn Ole Magica Fifth Edition. He found the research on vampires Mußmann, Andrew Smith particularly interesting, even though it raised some eyebrows among the university librarians who knew him to be a SECOND ROUND PLAYTESTERS: Christian Jensen-Romer, Thomas Nowell, Lloyd Graney, Andrew Oakley; Eirik Bull, Karl biologist. Mark would like to thank the usual suspects for their help and support. 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 © 2012-2013 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 Against the Dark Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 6 Certamen is a Direct Proxy for War ......20 Greater Nobles ............................. 38 Certamen for Love .............................21 The King....................................... 38 A Note on History .......................... 6 NEGOTIATIONS WITH OUTSIDERS ........ 21 THE THREE COURT CITIES ................ 38 A Note on Tone .............................. 6 Diplomacy .................................... 21 Esztergorm .................................... 38 A Note on Oppida .......................... 6 Recruitment .................................. 21 Székesfehérvár .............................. 39 GEOGRAPHIC PRIMER .......................... 7 Vis & Magic Item Sales ................. 21 Veszprém ...................................... 40 Mountains ....................................... 7 THE OPPIDUM OF COERIS ................. 21 ILLAGE IFE Plains ............................................... 7 V L .................................. 40 History .......................................... 21 THE CHURCH .................................. 41 The Danube and Tisza ........................7 Setting and Description ..................22 Coasts & Southern Mtn. Ranges ..... 8 Finance .......................................... 41 Culture and Traditions .................. 23 Law ............................................... 42 SITES FOR NEW COVENANTS ............... 8 Politics .............................................23 Kal Valley and Lake Balaton ........... 8 THE OPPIDUM OF LANIENA ................ 42 House Culture ...................................24 History .......................................... 42 Cakoc ................................................8 Magi .............................................. 26 Gyogy-to ...........................................8 Setting and Description ................ 43 Primus Poena of Tremere ...................26 Culture and Traditions .................. 44 Tomb of Attila ....................................8 Angiola of Tremere ............................26 Sunken City .................................... 8 Fector Characters ..............................44 Dominic of Tytalus, Aedile of Coeris ......26 Hermetic Fectores ..............................44 Isle of Achilles .....................................9 Horatius of Tremere ...........................27 Seventy-Seventh Island .....................10 Magi .............................................. 44 Janus of Tremere ...............................28 Lexander of House Tremere ................44 LANGUAGES IN THE BALKANS .............. 10 Isaac of Merinita ..............................28 Names ........................................... 10 Murat the Younger, Juturnus of Tremere ...........................28 Magus Ex Miscellanea .....................44 Slavic Names, Male .............. 10 Tatiana of Tremere ............................29 Slavic Names, Female ........... 10 Covenfolk ..................................... 44 PLOT HOOKS .................................. 29 Bendis ...............................................44 Hungarian Names, Male ....... 10 Allies in Foreign Tribunals ............ 29 Hungarian Names, Female .... 11 Culture .......................................... 29 Vlach Names, Male .............. 11 Chess ................................................29 Chapter 4: The Bulgarians 45 Vlach Names, Female ........... 11 The Laureate .....................................29 GEOGRAPHY OF BULGARIA ................. 45 Cuman Names, Male ............ 11 Mortals .......................................... 29 The Danube .................................. 45 Cuman Names, Female ......... 11 Assassination ....................................29 Tarnovo ............................................46 Non-Combatant Evacuation .............30 The Stara Planina .......................... 46 Chapter 2: Hermetic Culture 12 Recovery Team .................................30 Ivan Rilski’s Cave .............................46 HOUSE TREMERE ............................. 12 Politics .......................................... 31 The Seven Lakes ................................47 Armed Force ................................. 12 Border War ......................................31 The Plains ..................................... 47 Logistics ........................................ 12 The Magic Item Tax .........................32 Sredets ..............................................47 Communications ........................... 14 A New Red Spell ..............................32 Starosel ............................................48 Redcaps ............................................14 A Portrait of Diedne? ........................32 The Madara Horseman .....................48 Capacity Building ......................... 14 Housekeeping Letter ...........................33 The Southern Mountains .............. 48 BULGARIAN HISTORY ......................... 48 TRIBUNAL OVERVIEW ........................ 14 Submersible .......................................34 The Praeco .................................... 14 Security ......................................... 34 BULGARIAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE ..... 49 Oppida and Aediles ..........................15 The Killer on the Road ......................34 The Bulgarian Church .................. 49 Magic Flowers ..................................34 The Bogomils ................................ 50 LEGISLATURE ................................... 15 Regulating Magical Successions ................................... 34 THE OPPIDUM OF EVREDIKA .............. 50 Settlement & Residency ................ 15 Prima ...............................................34 History .......................................... 50 Asclepius and the Privileges Primus Past ......................................34 Setting and Description ................ 50 of the Coloniae ..................................15