Avalon

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The Covenant of Avalon

Location and best known for

From the ordinary world Avalon is reachable by a gatehouse up the hill on the east side of Glastonbury. The gatehouse appears to be set into the hillside, and is always staffed. From Faerie, it sits astride a tangle of the network of Arthurian trods, and just across the marsh from the lands about Camelot, in a huge faerie regio adjoining Avalon. On one memorable occasion Martin's Mere island, which travels the Arthurian trods most winters, crashed into Avalon's gatehouse. The tunnels into Avalon change frequently, and have defied any attempt to keep track of them, except that we do tell everyone the spiders are assigned to find and guard tunnels.

Within, Avalon is a fair island with about fifteen houses clustered to the south and bigger wooden houses on the hills. There is a central hall, kitchens and a solid stone Library. Further down are farms and various Grog houses. The most obvious landmark is the twenty-five foot high Spider Garden between Geliqué's house and lab. We recommend the Strawberry Tarts made by the fairest granddaughter of Old Wyot, in a house near the swamp.

To the Order of Hermes Avalon is perhaps best known either for its fine library or its long-running feud with Stonehenge Covenant (which predates 1190). The Library includes a high-quality set of Arts Summae but the many excellent tractatus by Duris Custos also deserve a mention. Other books that may draw the curious include Merlin's Diary (original in Cornish with some Latin words), some Perso-Arabic acquisitions in Winter 1239 and the range of mundane subjects including legerdemain and chicken farming.

A map of Avalon from 1190:

Magi

The four older Avalon magi tend to keep to themselves and are but seldom seen at Tribunal. In practise 'they are always arguing with each other about something and it's never important.'

Anna Ex Miscellanea - occasional source of information when the Arthurian story cycle has been tampered with and needs fixing. NPC

Desdevarious of Merinita - loves cows. Quite certain of himself. NPC

Moira of York, Bjornaer - possibly the oddest of a strange bunch. NPC

Stephen of Jerbiton - I guess he gets on with the local nobles? No confirmed sightings outside breakfast. NPC

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PC Magi:

Hugh of Flambeau: Hugh is a well known Hoplite with a minor reputation of having been raised by diabolists. He served as Marshall of Stonehenge for seven years after being appointed at Tribunal, and led a small force of magi to destroy the invading army of giants, dragons and witches in Loch Leglean after this army had wiped out Brabonicum Covenant, Jarrow Covenant, and the Mercer House in London via Brabonicum's Gate. Hugh is possibly the biggest reason Stonehenge don't declare Wizard's War on Avalon. (Those who know him better say he's a nice man who goes out of his way to save children in distress, and it's not his fault he smells of sulphur).

Aisling of Merinita (currently away): Aisling is well known both for her announcement that she had developed a way to guarantee a baby has The Gift and for her very visible and beautiful body. Although she must be considerably older, Aisling, Gentle Gifted, still only looks about twenty and would definitely make Venus jealous. These days she does wear a long dress from neck to calf, but it takes a while to realise this as it is woven from transparent spidersilk.

Scriptor of Tytalus: Scriptor is in charge of the Library, and has authority over all book trades. It is known in some circles that he is a Holy Magus. Other than that - well he seems to like to travel? Five of them have been off to Africa and Asia, but he has the best Arabic of the magi. Although normally gifted, Scriptor does not have other social handicaps.

Aiobhe of Verditius: Aiobhe is best known for her offer to heal anyone from Stonehenge Covenants who turns up injured outside her lab. She has also sent free healing spells to other covenants and crafted quite high level spell rings for a couple of covenants. Reportedly she is also married to Geliqué ex Miscellanea, which became famous when their son, Auren of Verditius, was permitted to gauntlet after more than fifteen seasons of teaching rather than 15 years. Aiobhe is rather lovely apart from the occasional mad cackle, the way certain girls avoid her, the Gift and a hot streak if anyone criticises Geliqué.

Geliqué Lunel, Craft Magus Ex Miscellanea: Geliqué is married to Aiobhe of Verditius, but better known for being blamed for burning down half of Wychwood Covenant when she lived there, and the large spiders she is frequently buying vermin for, and keeps about her person. These spiders seem to be always at least 19 or 20cm wide and grow to the size of two pigs side-by-side seemingly at the will of the spider. She should be better known for her beautifully crafted silk weaving, but it is mainly Avalon who wear this, and various nobles when she occasionally weaves bolts of silk to sell. Gelique has written to every covenant in Stonehenge saying she can weave spell charges into items including silken masks of second sight.

Secondary Magi:

Bloody Bill, Redcap (companion), based at Avalon, possibly about more given his age. Odo of Flambeau: Hugh's filius, more competent than his reputation. Cadwyn of Tytalus (or Gauntleted name TBA): Usually encountered as a kestrel, when not in her lab. Cadwyn is actually descended from Merlin but I don't think that is common knowledge. Makren of Flambeau (or Gauntleted name TBA): Hugh's second apprentice.

From 1239 - 1242 Auren of Verditius of Asfi Covenant, son of Aiobhe and Gelique, and his wife Zaynab are also here studying at Avalon, and have one of the two two-room guest houses.

Notable Custos:

Duris, Teacher and Writer - Duris has taught everyone at Avalon and is the author of a number of excellent tractati in Avalon's Library.

Neil the Bard and Guard: Neil is a good person to ask about things because he's usually willing to talk and explain things. Some of his stories are wild but you can tell he's telling the truth.

Sven, Viking Guard: Sven has runes about him, doesn't he? Does not look like someone you want to have an axe fight with.

Baron Bedivere: Heir or landowner of several tracts of land south and east of Glastonbury.

Sir Walter de Marisco: Owner of tracts of land mainly north and north-west of Glastonbury, but also the Tor itself.

Jonah: If you've met Jonah, you've noticed he's an old man with a Jewish nose, accent, dress sense and general features. You might not have met him, because he does night guard duty, and is sneaky.

Current apprentices: Hugh's apprentice Jack, don't mind the horns (born 1230), Aiobhe's boy apprentice Rapito (born 1229), Aisling's apprentice Esha (for which Tribunal gave her an exemption), but Esha and Aisling are away till at least Spring 1244.

Magical creatures, some of whom are familiars: A bright pink crow. The colourful faerie Oliphaunt. Two black Jabberwockies, keep away from their tentacles which are poison. There are also a magical cat, Gelique's familiar Nida the spider who sometimes speaks in a croaky kssy voice (spell item required) and a fire lizard about.

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Staying at Avalon: When you arrive, you state your name and business and are let in, unless you look threatening or arrive in force, in which case a guard withdraws (and let us know, the alarm will go off across the regio). On walking in, four to eight spiders twenty centimetres across line up like an honour guard and beg like spaniels (unless you have no lice or insects about you). Someone explains the spiders are asking permission to comb your hair for headlice etc and are quite clean.

There are normally two or three guesthouses, if full there is room in the village somewhere, or a decent inn in Glastonbury. The guesthouses are decently equipped with clean plain linen on fresh straw mattresses with wool blankets above and below in wooden bed frames, and a stone basin and pottery ewer for water in one room, and two chairs, a table and a couple of shelves in the other. There are wooden shutters to each window. The cider and cheese are particularly good here, but the normal fare is apples, chutneys, fresh bread and butter, roast meats etc rather than a princely table. French wine is available, as is an oil and egg spread similar to mayonnaise. There are no insects, including lice, within a ten-mile radius of Glastonbury Tor.

In theory, any magus of the Order of Hermes may study at Avalon's Library, the normal payment is a set amount of vis, but a good tractatus is often acceptable. Please enquire.

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Story seeds: You end up at Avalon on the trods and scare cows out of their paddock. Hugh of Flambeau sees the prize cows stampeding towards him and reduces them to ashes. Desdevarious is angry, and an argument about who to blame ensues. Hugh is famously intolerant of cows, but did you know this?

Stonehenge Covenant ask you to gain information from/about Avalon. Naturally not so they could invade it again, those mercenaries were nothing to do with them sir, just for information...

Some of Avalon's Arts summa were found to have been copied. A scribed copy might appear at a very reasonable price, albeit recognisable as the Avalon one with a different cover and author name.

Someone wants to be introduced to the famous naked beauty, Aisling.

Gelique visits or writes offering you a free item with charges of a spell: a thick waterskin, which when touched against a wall, teleports the first 1,000 insects in the structure into the waterskin. This will work 3 times, and Gelique offers to pay vis for each full waterskin. Perhaps on doing this, a wall that was being held up by its termites, or the bugs in a spiderweb, starts to sag.

You've seen Gelique port to a forest (not Wychwood) with ten big 80cm spiders and turn them invisible before saying something in a set of gestures and skks you can only assume to be spider. Where are they and what are they doing? (Hunting for food).