Riesenstreppe ("The Giants' Staircase") is a relatively isolated covenant in the heart of the Rhine Tribunal. It has never been a particularly large or powerful covenant, but it has become rather well-known for the beautifully-worked stone of its fortifications and luxurious accomodations for guests. Despite this minor fame, the covenant is currently dangeously weak due to heavy raiding of its supply lines by outlaws over the last few years, which has resulted in the deaths of many grogs and convinced most of the consortis to leave in search of safety - or at least a reliable supply of food - leaving these extravagant halls all too empty and falling into disrepair.
The covenant now seeks new blood to restore itself. Some has been found, in the form of two new magi who have just completed apprenticeship within Riesenstreppe's walls. Beyond that, the magi have been actively searching for other recent apprentices and they have been promised a number of additional recruits at the next tribunal. If only they can survive another two years...
One such follower of Criamon was the magus Cudburdus filius Drusilla, formerly known as Cuthbert of Onsbruck. When large-scale attempts to seek out and eliminate supporters of Diedne in other Houses began, he set off to explore privately and seek a safe haven for his contemplations. In the summer of 1007, he happened upon a cave, from which flowed a small stream, and recognized that both the stream and the crystals within the cave were laden with vis due to a powerful magical aura permeating the area. It was sufficiently out of the way to be safe from the warring factions, so he established himself there.
Dwelling in the cave itself quickly grew tiresome and, after collecting the requisite Terram vis from the cave, Cudburdus officially began the process of building what would become Riesenstreppe covenant in October, 1007 with a vis-strengthened Conjuring the Mystic Tower. The tower still stands beside the mouth of the cave and has been lavishly furnished to serve as home to the covenant's two most senior magi. (In theory, at least. In practice, it has come to be traditional to consider the most elder magi of Houses Criamon and Tremere to be "most senior", even if magi of other Houses should outrank them.)
Cudburdus lived as a hermit for several years, maintaining sporadic contact with the rest of the Order and avoiding even mundane contact to the best of his ability, lest he be found and drawn into the Schism War. Because of this, he did not hear of its conclusion until 1017, at which time he immediately began searching for an apprentice. In early 1019, he found a boy in Detmold named Edgar, later to be known as Matthias, and began training him in the ways of Hermetic magic. By this time, Cudburdus had also begun further construction around the cave and a handful of workers were living near the site.
The second member of the covenant-to-be was Atia, a maga of House Jerbiton. Atia came from the branch of her House which is more concerned with art than politics and she was accomplished in both sculpting and architecture. She had heard rumors of a magus engaged in a relatively large-scale building project and devoted two years to locating him, first arriving at the covenant's site in 1025 along with her apprentice, Beniaminus.
Atia was thoroughly appalled at the lack of any discernable design or artistry in the developing compound and quickly convinced Cudburdus to place the construction projects under her authority in exchange for a generous allotment of Terram and Herbam vis from his supplies. This vis was put to good use, as she set about the replacement of the existing structures with walls of living wood and stone grown from the hillside itself, then began sculpting the surfaces of the walls by hand, producing the first of the beautiful structures for which Riesenstreppe has come to be known.
Matthias completed his apprenticeship in 1032 and Beniaminus in 1034, finally giving Reisenstreppe the four magi required to be officially recognized as a covenant. That recognition was granted by the Rhine Tribunal in 1039, 32 years after the first building was conjured.
An easy balance of power was maintained between the Criamon and Jerbiton magi for the next few decades as various others came and went, studying at the covenant and perhaps even petitioning for membership, then moving on to others, generally because they found life at Riesenstreppe to be too chaotic and disorganized. It was not until 1086 that the covenant gained its fifth permanent member.
Ricardus filius Sibylla, a follower of Tremere, was also haunted by the legacy of the Schism war, for his mater was one of the few Tremere magi who did not support the destruction of House Diedne. On the completion of his apprenticeship, Ricardus had few prospects for joining a covenant, as those who sided with House Diedne wanted nothing to do with a Tremere and those who had been against the druids had no desire for the filius of one who had been sympathetic to them. So Sibylla turned to Atia, whom she had known for most of a century.
Atia brought the matter to the other magi of Riesenstreppe and it was decided that the covenant had grown too much for their meager organizational abilities to maintain - the Criamon magi wished only to pursue the Enigma, while those of Jerbiton cared for little other than their architectural magics. Thus it was decided to accept the young Tremere magus on the condition that he serve as autocrat as well as magically. Sibylla and Ricardus readily agreed.
The covenant flourished under the hand of Ricardus, gaining several new magi, both as members and as visiting scholars, over the course of the next century and a quarter, forcing Atia, then Beniaminus, then Henricus to frequently expand and upgrade the covenant's structures, yet the Jerbiton architects always found the time to infuse their artistry. In this way, the covenant continued to thrive until the dawn of its third century.
The turn of the thirteenth century saw a rising tide of unrest among Frieslanders in northern Saxony who had enjoyed 200 years of self-rule as the nobility, with the Church's support, attempted to assert control over them. Count Maurice of Oldenburg rallied support from his cousin, Archbishop Siegfried of Bremen, and other local nobles and finally brought the core of these Frieslanders, known as the Stedinger, under control. In 1204, the Stedinger revolted, declared that they would pay neither tax nor tithe, and drove out many of the nobles and clergy. Oldenburg's efforts to reclaim the Stedinger land continues to this day.
Riesenstreppe found itself on the southern edge of this conflict, but has managed to avoid being drawn into it thus far. The effects have been felt nonetheless, as trade has been disrupted throughout the region. Late in 1207, Ricardus acknowledged that Riesenstreppe's supplies were being hit even harder than general trade in the region. He dispatched additional grogs to protect the covenant's sources of supplies, but within two years, they were being lost faster than replacements could be found. It was about this time that the covenant's consortis began to desert the magi and seek safer or more prosperous homes. Visiting magi and scholars were but a memory and by 1210, the covenant was barely able to retain the four magi needed to be recognized as a covenant by the Rhine Tribunal and its buildings were falling into disrepair despite Beniamin of Jerbiton's best efforts.
(For further history, see the saga log.)
150 levels of magic items (45 left)
| Season: Summer | Aura: 5 | ||
| Site: +1 | Buildings: +4 | Defenses: +3 | Stores: 0 |
| Relations: -2 | Improvement: 0 | Library: 0 | Mystical Attributes: -3 |
| Site: +1 (+1) | |||
| Access: | Supplies: | Equivalent to minor clergy (+3) | |
| Distance: | 20% within covenant (0) | ||
| 40% within 1 day: Obernkirchen, Buckeburg, Rodenberg, and local farms (-2) | |||
| 20% within 2 days: Minden, Hameln (-1) | |||
| 20% within 1 week: Onsbruck (-2) | |||
| Seclusion: | 2 travelers per month (+1) | ||
| Environment: | -1 on aging rolls (+2) | ||
| Buildings: +4 (+12) | ||
| Size: | 10 magi, 40 specialists, 100 grogs (+4) | |
| Impressive Structure: Grand Hall (free) | ||
| Impressive Structure: Decorated live stone wall (+1) | ||
| Quality: | Excellent quarters for 2 magi (+1) | |
| Good quarters for 8 magi (+2) | ||
| Good quarters for 40 specialists (+2) | ||
| Excellent Hall (+1) | ||
| Excellent Wall (+1) | ||
| Repair: | Average | |
| Defenses: +3 (+9) | ||
| Site: | 2 sides steep slope (+6) | |
| 2 sides moderate slope (+4) | ||
| Extent: | 2 Watchtowers/gatehouse (+1) | |
| Repair: | 2 spaces Poor: 20 lbs silver/year in repairs (-2) | |
| Stores: 0 (0) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vis Stores: | 50 pawns (-1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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| Supplies: | 988 lbs silver in debt - "debt" is in needed repairs and restocking, not an amount owed to someone else (-2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reputation: | Magnificent structures 2, Rhine Tribunal (+3) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations: -2 (-5) | ||
| Allies: | None (0) | |
| Enemies: | Unknown (-6) | |
| Contacts: | Hans Schenck, merchant in Minden (+1) | |
| Improvement: 0 (0) | ||
| Income: | 50 lbs silver per year - mostly potion sales (+1) | |
| Vis Supply: | 40 pawns per year (+1) | |
| Inhabitants: | 6 magi, 10 specialists, 42 grogs (-2) | |
| Library: 0 (0) | ||
| Spells: | 1,500 levels (0) | |
| Hermetic Library: | 450 points (0) | |
| Mundane Library: | 300 points (0) | |
| Mystical Attributes: -3 (-7) | ||
| Aura: | +5 (+3) | |
| Magical Items: | 150 levels (+2) | |
| Labs: | 8 labs at -2 - when fully-repaired and restocked, this will become 8 labs at +0 and 2 labs at +2 (-12) | |