Ars Magica 4th Edition - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ars MagicaTM

The Art of Magic

Fourth Edition

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Ars Magica, Fourth Edition

CREDITS

Development, Editing, Layout, and Project Management: Jeff Tidball Development, Editing, and Layout: John Nephew Fourth Edition Design Contributions: Bill Brickman, Bob Brynildson, David Chart, Nicole Lindroos Frein, Geoffrey Grabowski, Peter Hentges, Lydia Leong, Marc Philipp Messner, John Nephew, Chris Pramas, Wade Racine, Roderick Robertson, John Snead, Jeremy Strandberg, Jeff Tidball, and Robbie Westmoreland. Original Ars Magica Design: Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein?Hagen Contributing Authors: Shannon Appel, Bill Brickman, David Chart, Sam Chupp, Ken Cliffe, Christopher Earley, Chris Frerking, Geoffrey Grabowski, Kevin Hassall, Peter Hentges, Lydia Leong, Aaron Link, Dave P. Martin, John Nephew, Wade Racine, Mark Rein?Hagen, Carl Schnurr, John Snead, Jeremy Strandberg, Jeff Tidball, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, and Travis Lamar Williams. Journal of Antoninus of Jerbiton: David Chart Interior Art: Dave Allsop, Neil Edwards, Josh Hoops, Eric Hotz, Janine Johnston, Alexis Liosatos, William O'Connor, Dom Reardon, John Scotello, and Jock Simpson. Cartography: Eric Hotz Wizards of the Coast Fourth Edition Developer: Wade Racine Wizards of the Coast Fourth Edition Contributions: Steve Bishop, Bob Kruger, and Jennifer Clarke Wilkes. Special Thanks: Peter Adkison, Bill Brickman, Bob Brynildson, Jerry Corrick, Woody Eblom, Lydia Leong, Clay Luther, Susann Lyon, Paul Nurnberger, and Jonathan Tweet.

Playtest Coordinators: Bill Brickman, Bob Brynildson, Timothy Carroll, David Chart, Chris Daianu, Jeremiah Genest, Damelon Kimbrough, Scott Lien, Marc Philipp Messner, and Robin Steeden. Playtesters: Bill Brickman Playtesters (Philadelphia): Paul Curtis, Tamara Duran, Erik Hanson, Leonard McCain, Stephen Mulholland, and Christopher Page. Bill Brickman Playtesters (Los Angeles): Tavis Allison, St. John Col?n, Ingrid de Beus, Steve Hanna, Robert Jimenez, Duncan MacClaren, and Gintaras Valiulis. Bob Brynildson Playtesters: David Appleby, Peter Hentges, Joseph Knight, Tony Lavalle, Donald Prust, Robin Sivill, and William Vos. David Chart Playtesters: Dinan Gunawardena, Adam Mosley, Mike Pitt, Helen Steele, and Chihiro Yamada. Chris Daianu Playtesters: Art Apicella, Chris Balow, Richard Brooks, and Steve Drexler. Jeremiah Genest Playtesters: Nathaniel Bennett, Ry Boltors, Charles Schafer, and H. Tyler Stewart. Damelon Kimbrough Playtesters: Robert Angeloni and Richard W. Evans, Jr. Scott Lien Playtesters: Jennifer Cain, William Cain, Mark Ford, Jason Kimnach, Tad Myers, Randy Porter, Clint Warner, and Douglas Welsh. Marc Philipp Messner Playtesters: Tanja Bader, Nina Baur, Alexander Gerber, Jochen Gutjahr, Jens Oesterle, Sabine Vo?lkel, and Stefan Kreutzer. Robin Steeden Playtesters: Gordon Bowie-Reed, Micha?l de Verteuil, Thomas Erskine, John Garay, Ian Hargrove, and Chris Roberts.

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Copyright ?1996, 2003 Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games. All rights reserved. This special digital edition of the game is being provided as a free download. You may copy and print this document for personal use. Any other reproduction of this work by any means without written permission from the publisher is expressly prohibited. If you enjoy this game, we invite you to consider purchasing the printed edition or any of the many supplements and adventures that are available for purchase.

DIGITAL EDITION ? MARCH 2003

This PDF edition has no ISBN assigned. The ISBNs of the print editions of Ars Magica 4th Edition are 1-887801-55-3 (softcover) and ISBN 1-887801-56-1 (hardcover).

Table of Contents

Chapter I: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Chapter II: Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Chapter III: Hermetic Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Chapter IV: Laboratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Chapter V: Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Chapter VI: Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 Chapter VII: Storyguide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Chapter VIII: Saga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Chapter IX: Covenants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Chapter X: Mythic Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Chapter XI: Realms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Chapter XII: Bestiary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Appendix I: Latin Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Appendix II: Conversion Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 Character Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 Virtue and Flaw Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267 Spell Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 General Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Chapter I

Introduction

Extracts from the Journal of

pass our other time in labor and study of the Holy Bible. There is great wisdom in such simplicity, as St. Bernard says.

Antoninus of Jerbiton, formerly

William of York

The Feast of St. Hugh, in the year of our Lord eleven hundred and ninety nine.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the holy Virgin Mary, and Ailred of blessed memory.

May the God of Majesty who has watched over my life watch over the pen with which I write it, lest I stumble in the retelling. I am William, called of York for I was born in that city, and I am an oblate at the monastery of Rievaulx. I came into this world of suffering in the year of our Lord eleven hundred and eighty six, and it pleased God to take my mother to Him at my birth. In my eighth year my father died, and my uncle gave me as an oblate to the monastery, where I have lived since. I shall take my vows as a monk next Easter, and never leave the monastery thereafter.

I was given the book in which I record my life by Fulk of C?teaux, a monk of our Order. He has visited this monastery many times, and is much in conference with the abbot. He has shown a great interest in me, and I do not believe Geoffrey's suggestion that his interest stems from a mortal sin. I believe that Geoffrey will be a bad monk and bring scandal to our Order, but God alone shall judge.

The abbot gave Fulk permission to grant me this book, and required that I obey his command to record my life. The monastic day is unchanging as the eternal God is unchanging: we pray seven times per day, as the psalmist says, and

I, William, write this with my own hand. Adelard wrote the above with my help. I wanted the opening of this book to not be marred by my poor Latin.

The third day of Advent, in the year of our Lord eleven hundred and ninety nine.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the holy Virgin Mary, and Ailred of blessed memory.

Fulk of C?teaux visited the monastery today, and the abbot summoned me to a conversation with him. He wanted to read my book, and I brought it to him. He asked me many questions about my studies, and my life as a monk. He seemed happy, but I do not understand what he wanted.

The Feast of the Circumcision, in the year of our Lord twelve hundred.

May the Lord Jesus Christ, the holy Virgin Mary, blessed Bernard, and Ailred of holy memory have mercy upon me and guard my soul.

I have left the monastery. Fulk of C?teaux, who is neither Fulk nor of C?teaux, came for me and took me away. I am sitting by the fire in a camp, surrounded by men of war, and Julia who is Fulk is watching me write from the other side of the fire. I would leave, but I have nowhere to go. Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison.

I shall tell the story of these days calmly. Fulk who is Julia came to the monastery on the Feast of the Innocents. He went to see the abbot, and I was summoned to speak to them again. Fulk asked me more questions, and then stared at me as if he could look into my soul. Perhaps he could. When I returned to the novices they were all whispering

4

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

5

about me, and Geoffrey said wicked things about Fulk. His imagination fell far short of the truth.

Yesterday I was summoned again to the abbot, and Fulk was with him once more. The abbot seemed distracted, and told me that I was to leave the monastery and go with Fulk to his home. I was shocked, because the abbot has always preached firmly that monks must stay in their monasteries. I began to protest, but he stopped me, telling me that I was sworn to obedience. I left, but it was not true. I have not taken my vows yet. I could have disobeyed him and remained. Instead I left.

I am sitting in my room, which is lit by a fire which never goes out. The worm which never perishes will come for me when I sleep, for this is an unholy place, surely cut off from the love of God.

It does not look like the mouth of Hell. It is a stone manor house, well built around three sides of a courtyard, the fourth side closed by a wall with a gate in it. Two towers rise from the rear corners, and there are people busy within it. It even looks something like a monastery, but without a chapel. There is no chapel, and no church in the village. Truly, all those here are lost, and I am among them.

Fulk spoke to me before I left the abbot, and told me that we would leave before dawn. I own nothing, and so brought nothing but my clothes and this book. Fulk met me in the cloister, and we left in the half dark. Fulk quickly led me away from the road, and I heard voices ahead, and saw a camp fire. Fulk led me to the top of a hill, and stood between me and the rising sun.

"Watch and learn," he said, "for this is your destiny." I faced the old man, dressed in the plain white habit of the Cistercians, and for a moment nothing happened. As the sun rose above the horizon, a darkness spread through his robes, and through his hair, his skin became fair, and his body changed, and I thought that a demon had surely possessed him. Perhaps it had. The white habit of a monk became rich robes of deepest blue, decorated with shining silver, and I was frozen to the spot as ice seemed to clutch at my heart. The old man was gone, and a beautiful woman stood before me. The silence of that moment seemed to last forever, as she seemed to gather the disappearing darkness into herself.

"I am Julia, follower of Jerbiton, and I am your mistress." The words broke whatever spell held me there, and I turned to flee back to the monastery, but men from the camp had climbed up behind us, and one of them caught me.

We walked all day, the warriors guarding me so that I could not flee, and Julia leading the way. We camped shortly before sunset, and I watched carefully to see if she would change back. She did not, only performing some ritual. Now, she watches me across the flames, and I see my soul in hell, watching her through the flames for eternity. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.

The Feast of Epiphany, in the year of our Lord twelve hundred.

When we arrived it was clear that Julia had come home, for everyone rushed around to make her welcome. She sent a servant to summon a council, and led me to a large chamber in the rear of the house. In this room stood a large table, round like Arthur's, and she sat in a chair finer even than the abbot's, with her name carved on the back. She told me to stand behind her and keep silent. As I waited, the others came.

The first was a man, small and thin, dressed in robes of deep red, the color of blood. He brought with him a smell of burning, and there was ash on his hands. The second was another woman, taller than Julia, and very pale, dressed entirely in white. Her cheeks and forehead were covered with scars in an intricate pattern, as were her hands. In one hand she held a dagger which glittered like ice, and she toyed with it throughout the council. They had entered through the door by which we had come, and I was sure then that I was in a house of demons.

Then a bird, a raven, flew in through one of the windows and settled on another chair. In a moment it had changed to a man, small, with dark hair, who sat naked in the seat, staring at me with hungry eyes.

One chair remained empty, and I fixed my eyes on it to avoid looking at the others, who were talking in Latin, too quietly for me to follow. As I watched, the final councilor appeared in the chair, appearing from nothing amid a stench of rotting flesh. He was robed in rough brown, and his face had the pallor of a corpse. I was about to run, but Julia had seized my wrist, and I found that I could not move. She spoke to the assembly.

"Sodales, this is William of York, my new apprentice. He is under my protection." I am sure that the raven looked disappointed at that.

May our Lord Jesus Christ protect me, the Blessed Virgin Mary send angels to guard me, and Ailred of holy memory intercede for me, for I am in the den of vipers, yea, the very house of robbers.

Then I was sent from the room, and guarded by two of the soldiers who had come with us from the monastery, until Julia emerged to lead me to my room. And now I sit here, and dare not sleep. Oh lord, save me from this place.

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