Return to Literatus Season: Fall, 1220 [From THE ROLLS OF DRAGON'S RISE]: Full Members: Ahmed of Flambeau Hunter (Scott) Arturo of Mercere Protector (John) Lysander of Jerbiton Chancellor (Chris) Malcolm of Jerbiton Lab Worker (Matt) Nicholi of Jerbiton Teacher (John) Pumilio of Erimor Hunter (Dave) Tolas of Tremere Leader Apprentices: Maria Apprentice of Nicholi Primus Apprentice of Tolas Mundanes: Iago, Copper Grog Guardian of Tolas Luchino, Mercury Grog Guardian of Pumilio Nickoli Story Teller (Eric) Reginald, Mercury Grog Guardian of Malcolm Samson, Silver Grog Guardian of Lysander Segunda Daughter of Flamma & Tolas Turati, Mercury Grog Guardian of Ahmed * * * [Dramatis Personae]: Alboin of Quaesitor Magvillus Magus Arichis of Jerbiton Literatus Magus Arroald Student Authari Student Benvolio Bell Ringery Berthari Student Brescello of Mercere Harco Magus Carlomen of Mercere Literatus Magus Domenico Librarian Duro of Jerbiton Literatus Magus Exhilaratus of Jerbiton Literatus Magus Favia of Jerbiton Literatus Magus Geno Student Genseric Student Helmichis Student Hunneric Student Magister of Jerbiton Literatus Magus Masino Literatus Grog Maurice Student Monferrato Literatus Grog Odoacer Student Pelagius Student Rothari Student Theodric Student Theopholis of Criamon Literatus Magus Turry Kitchen Boy William of Ex Miscellanea Literatus Magus * * * [A Timeline of Literatus]: Summer, 1200 Tribunal of Rome narrowly votes to require attendence at Literatus, one year out of seven. -Vardian Log #10, "Tribunal" Summer, 1207 Literatus requirement almost voted down. -Vardian Log #32, "Tribunal, 1207" Fall, 1212 Suspecting diabolists at Literatus, Certus sends magi to investigate, hoping to discover dirt. Typically, they bungle the job. -Vardian Log #48, "A Trip to Literatus" Summer, 1214 Literatus requirement almost voted down. -Vardian Log #52, "Tribunal, 1214" Spring, 1218 Dragon's Rise charter declares that "while at Literatus, magi of Dragon's Rise shall not sit upon the roof." -Rise Log #1, "Living in Harmony" * * * [From THE RISE LOGS OF TOLAS OF TREMERE]: The Council Meeting of Fall, 1220 began slowly. Various trivialities were discussed. Nicholi mentioned that he had begun training Pietro's daughter, Maria, in his position as Covenant Teacher. Ahmed and Arturo were made Full Members. Fabricatio was assigned the manufacture of a magic pick. Several inocuous votes were taken. While the other magi were acting mellow, concerned with little more than idle conversation, I sprang my latest plan upon them. They never knew what hit them. I reminded the magi of Certus' plan of eight years past, in which he had sent several to Literatus, hoping to discover nefarious activities. He had planned to use knowledge of those activities to blackmail Magister, lest disclosure of those embarassing activities be made. Unfortunately, Certus sent a group of incompetents, including Angus, Turbator and Verdan. They bungled the job, telling Magister why they were there, and then leaving when he suggested it. When I completely my recitation, I stated that I still believed diabolists to be within the heart of Literatus, and I suggested that discovering them might do our covenant the same good that it could have done Vardian's Tomb. I stated that since I was leaving for my regular service at Literatus, I planned to try and discover the diabolists while I was there. I asked for help, and Ahmed, Malcolm, Pumilio and Lysander all volunteered. I was not surprised of course, for I had been careful to not undertake my mission until certain undesirable magi had already done their service at Literatus. Thus, I had assured myself of competent aid. Before we quit council, one last vote was taken. It was unanimously decided that for the length of our investigation, we would be allowed to sit upon the roofs of Literatus. * * * [From the RISE LOGS OF TOLAS OF TREMERE]: The trip to Literatus was a pleasant one. In Cagliari, Lysander had one of his merchant ships ready. Without mishap, we boarded it, and set out for Ancona. On the trip, I briefly outlined the scant facts that had been learned before. I told of the occult club at Literatus, and their suspicious activities. Also, I mentioned the two magi who had appeared strange, the Criamon Theopholis and the spirit master William. I was careful, however, to warn my magi to be wary with the information that I gave, for it had originally come from most questionable sources. After I gave that short briefing, on the first day of our voyage, I was able to enjoy the rest of the trip, which was most pleasant. My children, Primus and Segunda, had come with us, for Primus was my apprentice, and Flamma wished Segunda to meet the young magi at Literatus, but they were not a bother in the least. The storyteller Nickoli kept them occupied. So, I was able to appreciate the crisp breezes, blowing strongly across the turquoise oceans. It is a tremendous job, being responsible for an entire covenant of lessers. Occasionally, it is refreshing to be free of that burden. For an entire week, I ignored the magi around me, who so often look to me for guidance. When Ahmed and Lysander bickered, I refused to arbitrate, and when Malcolm was obsessed by self doubts, confused by his twin identities, as Bonisagus and Jerbiton, I neglected him. It was decadent, I admit, but I was possessed by my short lived freedom, and thus lost in a wash of contemplation. Looking back in the past, as I did during that week, I am still amazed by what has been accomplished. It was exactly twenty years ago that I attended my first Tribunal for Postestas. I was the youngest of the Covenant, the least in all ways. Garvil had decided that the Tribunal would be a good test of my political meddle, and thus I was sent out alone, burdened with the six sigils of my home. I did well enough, I suppose, but my performance was a most uninspired one. Today, the only thing that I can truly recollect about that Tribunal is Flamma, for that was where I first saw her, fiery in spirit and strong in will. All other images of that Summer fade away, almost in deference at that first meeting. After that Tribunal, life continued as it had before. I carefully followed orders, doing what my five masters told me to. Even Tiana I treated with respect, only challenging her on the proscribed days, by the old rituals. I fear my life might have continued thus if it were not for, as much as I hate to say it, a Bjornaer. Rupes. And, of course, Flamma. They welcomed me into their conspiracy, showing me how much one, or rather three people could impact the world. Though the plot failed, the lesson remained. Now, we are three again, myself, Flamma and Marlon. An entire covenant is ours, and together with Postestas we are carefully molding others within the Tribunal to our will. It shall not be this Tribunal, but perhaps the one seven years past, or even the one seven years beyond it that we, with our carefully picked allies shall rise to ascendancy in Italy. I believe that in my life time, we shall even go beyond that, taking the Order for House Tremere, centered in my native Italy, of course. Flamma and I are already working to that eventual goal. Within two decades, I expect we shall both be Arch Magi of the Order, two of the youngest that have ever existed. A decade ago, Rupes' plan brought us our fame. Flamma has just created her great spell, and several years ago, her apprentice was released. Soon, I will follow in both things. Then, we shall both attain the coveted position that we have yearned for, and the power that shall come with it shall be great indeed. If Marlon can be convinced to follow in our footsteps, then the power of our Covenant will be even stronger, when we choose to exert that force across the Order. I remember thinking, that week, that our activities at Literatus were just a stepping stone. I knew that if I could gain power over Magister, as I hoped to, our position within the Tribunal would be increased slightly. Still, we would be many moves from the end game. The impact that one person could truly have upon the world was the first lesson that Rupes taught me. The second was patience. When our ship finally docked in Eastern Italy, my thoughts were lost, and, once more, I was a slave to the fleeting seconds of time. I gathered together my magi, their grogs, my children and Nickoli and quickly judged several arguments that had arisen. Then, we set off, heading for the disgustingly pleasant covenant of Literatus. * * * [From THE RISE LOGS OF TOLAS OF TREMERE]: When we arrived at Literatus, I kept Pumilio with me, desiring protection if we did stumble upon a hive of diabolists. The rest of my people, I dispersed, telling each to seek out different groups, and to look for suspicious activities in them. That first day was a most uniformative one. With Pumilio, I began to speak with the magi of Literatus. First, there was Alboin, a Quaesitor of Magvillus. He seemed proud and haughty, belittling Pumilio's choice of Houses, and the arrogance of its founder. Then, there was Arichis, who I found in lab with a comely maga named Favia. They were both members of Literatus, and that they were lovers was obvious. They were able to provide little information, however, beyond a general distrust of the Riddle Club, which, by some fluke of the world our own Criamon, Dubius, had created during his last visit to Literatus. And, that was all I was able to accomplish in my first day at Literatus, for the afternoon was full of the Arabic class that I had to teach and numerous other interferences. Still, the little that I had accomplished was much greater that the bungling of the others. I found that my grog, Iago, had gotten into a fight and broken his arm, while Lysander had spent his time bickering with my son. Malcolm had learned little from his former master, Duro, and the others had seemingly spent the rest of the day upon studies and other trivialities. I reminded all that our true purpose at the University was not to study old tomes, but rather the people at the institute, to find the diabolists carefully concealed among them. Before I slept that night, Iago came, to me, asking a boon. he told how several grogs of Literatus had ambushed him, and asked for my aid in dealing with them. I explained to him that the best vengeance was always a personal one, for then you could see your former tormentor crying for mercy, at your own hands. I suggested that he go out the next day, and see what he could do to put the grogs of Literatus in their own place. The next day, with Pumilio again at my side, I continued working through the magi at Literatus. Brescello, a magus of Harco, was next on my list. He was an old man, quite unfriendly, clearly worn down by the tides of time, and most resentful of his impending demise. Our interview with him was most thankfully short. The other magus who we talked to that day was also a Mercere, although one native to Literatus. His name was Carlomen and he was a cartographer. Again, we gained no useful information, but at least that conversation was an interesting one. Carlomen showed us several beautiful maps, wonderfully illuminated and bound together in great tomes. When he showed us a map of Northern Italy, I pointed out the valley of demons which had so long ago befuddled Flamma, Rupes, Luigi and myself. After carefully marking the location in his great book, he promised to pass on the information to certain Quaesitors as well. Hopefully they will be able to rid that valley of the infernal, where ten years ago the magi of Vardian's Tomb failed. I would be quite distraught if the demonic influences which plagued the Tomb began to exert influence at Dragon's Rise as well. After I finally said goodbye to Carlomen, I headed back to my own quarters, for our nightly meeting. Again, the others had learned little, for they were still busy insinuating themselves into their various groups. But, I was patient. Clearly, this investigation would take time. I went to bed for the second time at Literatus, looking forward to a night of uninterupted sleep. * * * [From Iago's Personal Report to Tolas of Tremere]: I'm awful sorry for having woken you in the middle of the night, sir. I suppose you'd probably like a full explanation. You see, it all started this morning when I took your advice, not that I'm saying that any of the problems are your fault, sir. But, anyways, after I spoke with you, I found a magus named Liutprand. He's a Tytalus. I spoke with him and he suggested that I simply beat up the two people who broke my arm. They're named Masino and Monferrato, if I didn't mention it. I'd been hoping for more help then that from one of that Tytalus house, but, when I didn't get it, I decided to take his advice. So, I went and got the other grogs and we decided to catch the two Literatus grogs by surprise this evening, and teach them a lesson. I remembered the lessons you've taught me about being subtle, and I decided to disguise our actions. I had Reginald go and steal some chicken legs, so that we could pretend we were members of the occult club if any one saw us out at night. Turati got us some black clothing so we'd look the part even more. When it got dark, we all went out, just like we'd planned, and we waited for Masino. Then, sure enough, someone came out and wanted to know what we were doing it. It was that real weird magus called William. He made us throw out our chicken legs, go get some goat's blood and help the occult club splatter the beds of several Christians. Reginald was really unhappy because he and I were assigned to mess up Malcolm's room. He's Malcolm's grogs you'll remember. We finally slipped away after working with the occult club for a while, and returned to our watch for Masino. Soon, we saw him headed to the outhouse. When he went in, um, that's when we tipped the whole outhouse over. We were pretty happy then, I suppose, when we ran away from the knocked over outhouse. We planned to rest for a few hours and then catch the other guy, Monferrato, when he went off duty. I guess we all dozed off back in the barracks, because when I woke up, four people were surrounding me wearing hoods. One had a sword to my back. I was scared and mad, so I attacked them, all four of them. I knew Samson and Turati were near by, and pretty soon they were helping me too. Real quick, we'd routed them. One of them was actually still on the floor, from when I punched him. We were all pretty happy. Then, about a minute later, Theopholis showed up. Samson started acting arrogant, talking back to him, and the next thing we knew, he was looking for flies to eat. Then Arichis showed up, then they brought Magister who was real unhappy. They were all real mad, and said that Masino had nearly been killed when we dumped the outhouse on him, and they weren't even sympathetic to the fact that those damned Literatus grogs started the whole trouble. I remember now why none of us liked them back at Vardian's Tomb. Anyways, they yelled at all of us for a while, and now they want us grogs sent out of Literatus. Except for Reginald, that is, who somehow convinced them that he wasn't involved with the whole thing. So, I guess we're in trouble, sir? * * * [From THE RISE LOGS OF TOLAS OF TREMERE]: I would usually have been angry at being awoken in the middle of the night, but the story that Iago told made it well worth it. I was extremely proud of the way that I had taught my grogs to exert authority over their lessers. Magister forced me to send them home, and I did this with appropriate ceremony and feigned anger, but with them I sent a note, addressed to Marlon. I told him that I had been very pleased with my grog's performance, and I wanted them rewarded with a bit of free time after they got home. I was even prouder of Reginald than the rest, for not only had he gotten his proper vengeance, but, unlike the rest, he had not gotten caught. I hope that the other grogs may learn from his shining example. The next morning, I was a bit tired. Several times during my lessons, I stumbled over simple Arabic words. By afternoon, however, I had fully recovered, and Pumilio and I continued our rounds. Exhilaratus of Jerbiton was the next on our list, and he proved to be extremely helpful. He told us that he believed that there were diabolists in Literatus, and, after a bit of convincing, Pumilio and I finally agreed to help him find them. He said that he suspected the riddle club and the occult club and that he thought that books in the library might be diabolic. So, I reallocated my resources, assigning my people to pay special attention to those clubs and to search the library for diabolic material. In the library, we did find several tainted texts, just as Exhilaratus had warned. At first, I thought someone within the covenant might be writing them, but soon, I learned that the books in question had been magically altered. We kept searching throughout the day, however, wanting more evidence to show Magister. That night, Reginald returned from the occult club with even more information. He said that he had been invited to partake in certain strange rituals by members of the occult club. The six suspects were students named Odoacer, Theodoric, Genseric, Hunneric, Rothari and Pelagius. I was extremely happy about this breakthrough, but somewhat cautious too. Theodoric was the son of a local Duke, and I knew that this would cause problems. The next morning, Ahmed, who had been watching the grounds from the roof, reported that he had seen those same six students stealing into the bell tower at night. Everything seemed to be neatly falling into place. Later in the day, Reginald reported that his ceremony of initiation was to be the following Sunday. I mentioned this to Exhilaratus, and he agreed to accompany us when we followed Reginald to his appointment. The next few days were mostly wasted. I taught my class, and we all searched the library, finding several more altered books. During that period, we also investigated the bell tower. It was operated by an idiot named Benvolio. After Malcolm magically knocked him out, we were able to discover a secret back room, full of diabolic items. So, we awaited Sunday, almost eagerly. On Sunday, things went well. After the student-diabolists were all gathered, we invaded the bell tower. The six were taken down easily, before they even started their nefarious ceremony. Exhilaratus promised to bring the matter to Magister's attention, and I left, sure that my job was done. I was a bit irritated, when, halfway through Monday, I had still not gotten entreaties from Magister, begging that we say nothing of the incident. So, I went and spoke with him. He said that he had expelled all of the students except Theodoric and Hunneric, and then made light of the issue, saying it was just a few misguided souls. He considered the matter closed. I got even angrier when Magister refused to examine the minds of any of the culprits, and so I stomped out, showing Magister a bit too much of my temper, I fear. That night, I resolved, I would deal with the problem once and for all. When night fell, Reginald slipped into the library and stole a copy of Peering into the Mortal Mind for me. Then, I slipped into the dorm that Theodoric lived in, with Malcolm and Pumilio to help. Malcolm knocked the brat out, and I quietly intoned the spell from the text. Soon, Theodoric's insipid mind was unravelling before me. I learned that real diabolic rituals were done under the church, and nearly twenty of the students participated in them. Theodoric's friend, Hunneric was the head of the coven, an art that he had learned from his parents. After examining their unholy place of worship, hidden below the church, the group of us headed out to Ancona proper, where Hunneric's parents lived. There, I found one of the stupidest people I have ever known. Of the family, Hunneric's mother was the diabolist. Apparently, she had sold her soul so that she could make excellent bread. Quite satisfied with what we had learned, I returned to speak with Magister, boldly waking him in the middle of the night. I clearly explained out all that we had found, pointing out how embarassing it would be if others learned how he had been willing to ignore this matter, complacent in the four students he had expelled. Promising to say nothing more of the incident, carefully stating that I knew that Literatus was my friend, I left the room, leaving Magister fuming. Poor fellow should have known better than to try and match political wits with a Tremere. For me, the matter is now closed. I never truly cared about the diabolists, but only the power that they could give me over Magister. Still, I believe there are problems at Literatus. I never did discover who magically altered the texts in the library, and I wonder about Theopholis, for the young diabolists seemed to believe that he knew of their actions. But, the rest of the problem is now an issue for Magister to deal with. I am quite happy, for I have successfully completed another step in a long trek. When it is necessary, Literatus will be ours to manipulate, another ally that I have made in the Tribunal, to further my own ends. Another ally to further the end of Postestas and House Tremere.