Comments and such on Rob's ideas:
: The Mage: Alanus Scotus, a grizzled old Scots clerk and hedge wizard : The Companions: Margaret May, a.k.a. Maggie Leech, a woman doctor/midwife : from London; Usa'mah, a mysterious Saracen who was Alanus's guide to : Baghdad and the secrets of the Caliph.
(1) Maggie May's connection to Alanus/the Covenant? [note that your Companions don't have to be directly related to your Magus -- they can be related to one of the other Magi, or to the Covenant itself, or even just to the area in which the Covenant is located].
(2) I thought 'Saracen's' were from the Western end of North Africa. Or is it a more general term? All of my reference sources end at the Black Sea, so as far as Baghdad etc. goes I'm totally open to research and development. Who does Persia belong to at this point? Mongols? I did find one map in Shephard's atlas showing a series of multicolored lines running from the Sea of Persia (a.k.a. the Persian Gulf) up to Constantinople, with the cryptic notation: 'Sea routes followed by Arabs and Chinese, through the Indian Ocean to the coasts of Arabia and eastern Africa, thence by caravan and the Nile to Alexandria and other Levantine ports.'
(3) Hey! Just found another cool line on the map, marked 'Route of Marco Polo 1271-1295.' Note that that's only thirty years before the campaign start date, perfectly acceptable to have Alanus or Usa'mah involved somehow. Hell of a line. Bastard went from Venice to Canton and many overland points inbetween, looks like. Funny. I always knew about Marco Polo, but to see the actual route stretched out on a map where I've got some sense of perspective (from all the map-reading I've been doing the last week) is really impressive. Unbelievable, actually. Anyway...
(4) Note that Alanus is going to be a favorite of any children/apprentices in the Covenant -- all those great stories of legendary far-off lands. Several interesting ways to go with that.
: The Covenant: Preferably Summer. Alanus is getting on in years, and I : don't get the feeling that he'd enjoy meeting in darkened street corners, : so a building of some sort is in order.
Waiting for more comments from the other players.
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