Expediente de Estudio Socioeconómico

In ancient times, the inhabitants of Toulouse propitiated a spirit in a lake on the Garonne in what is now this district of the city. When pestilence spread from the marshy regions around the lake, of- ferings of gold and silver were conse- crated and sacrificed to the lake waters, and the disease died away. No one knows the name of the deity who dwelled in the lake, but in 106 BC the Roman governor Quintus Caepio Severus had the lake drained, and took the great treasure that had accumulated in the muddy bottom. Rumor has it that something else, some- thing more potent, more disturbing, was recovered from the lake; no one knows what it was, but many stories are told to this day. No immediate harm befell Severus despite the warnings of the To- losate priests, and he founded a temple to Apollo here on what was once the site of the mysterious lake.

The Tolosates, however, took the sacrilege badly, and rose for the first time in revolt against Rome. Within a year Severus was dead, killed in battle, and his treasure taken. Some say it is the

same as the mysterious treasure that the Cathars are said to hold, rumored to be kept at the mountain fortress of Montse- gur in the Pyrenees.

The Romans retook the city, and re- built the temple to Apollo. Later the tem- ple was replaced with the church, with its mysterious Black Madonna. Yet the lake still exists; if one knows the right signs, or is simply lost in an evening mist amidst the twisting alleys of the waterfront, it is possible, though difficult, to enter a re- gio (Magic aura 3). Within the regio the houses and streets exist, now empty, and the streets become increasingly deep in water as one moves toward the river. Soon only the roofs of the houses project above a lake lost to the mundane world for well over a millennium, and swirling mists drift over the still black waters. Those who know the secret ways can pass from roof to roof to where the final house vanishes beneath the lapping waters, and a row- ing boat waits to take visitors to the small island on which an octagonal tower and cluster of houses hold the labs and council chambers of the magi of Tolosa Paratge.

White Brotherhoods claimed the support of some of the magi. All of them share a pas- sion to protect their Southern homeland against the Crusade, yet the religious ques- tion is tearing them apart. As madness drags them deeper into Winter, perhaps only a Quaesitor’s intervention can prevent their self destruction.

The covenant is hopelessly divided into two factions. The magi who support Bishop Foulques are currently too fearful to enter the regio and have established laboratories in the city. The pro-Cathar magi have holed themselves up in the regio, fearing to leave, besieged by their former colleagues, and waiting for the inevitable outbreak of fur- ther Wizard’s Wars. Both sides are acting in a manner that would scandalize most of the Order if it were more generally known.

History

Tolosa Paratge was founded in the first wave of the Order of Hermes, and was one of the four original covenants of the Val Negra Tribunal. A House Diedne covenant, it was unusual for its size, having six or more members for two centuries. Once a leading site for Diedne magical research, the magi were rumored, unusually for their House, to be specialists in spirit magic, and developed a slightly sinister reputation within the Tri- bunal. Their refusal to admit a deputation of Quaesitors following the mysterious death

of the senior Tremere maga in the Tribunal was one of the first incidents in the tragic events leading up to the Schism War.

During the Schism War the magi of the covenant were killed in a spectacular assault led by a group of Flambeau magi, and the site was garrisoned by them until the ar- rival of the Gorgiastic Cathar Anaïs. She led the reconstruction of the covenant as a multi-House site. As Toulouse expanded, so the regio became harder to access, but the covenant grew in power and prestige. Some Hermetic historians believe Anaïs’ teachings, which proved influential among the grogs, may have been a factor in the development of Cathar doctrine; others believe the influence was entirely the other way. The covenant is home to the lineage of Gorgiastic Cathars, religious dualists prac- ticing a theurgical faith.

Through a series of brilliant magi, To- losa Paratge became known for its culture, cosmopolitan ways, and the subtle influence it has exerted on the development of many of Toulouse’s intuitions, especially many be- lieve the capitouls. There are also rumors of

a legendary treasure concealed at the site, possibly the same treasure Quintus Caepio Severus tried to steal centuries before.

Recently, disaster has befallen the cove- nant. While all the magi resolutely support- ed the southern cause against the crusaders, following the destruction of Mistridge and Lariander there were increasing fears that very survival of the Order in the region was at stake. Historically the magi of the cov-

enant, proud of their city, have had strong links with many factions within the walls — the guilds, the bishop, the capitouls, the count, and so on. Magi have occasion- ally found themselves at cross purposes in their subtle influence of the political fac- tions, but the greater good of Toulouse and the covenant had held them together. The covenant leader Augustus was a high rank- ing Quaesitor, and made sure no one looked too closely at issues of interfering with mun- danes, providing there was no risk of harm to the covenant or Order.

The city has changed hands several times during the crusade, but the covenant has remained loyal to the city and refused to deal with a foreign master. However in the weeks before the death of de Montfort in 1218, Augustus was convinced by Bishop Foulques that the city would fall; as a re- sult he asked the Gorgiastic Cathar magi to leave the covenant for their own safety. They refused, and one of them, Marc, bit- terly accused the Quaesitor of betraying Tolosa Paratge and all it stood for. He called a Wizard’s War against his covenant mate, something almost unknown in Hermetic so- ciety. It seems Augustus did not take this se- riously; Marc was, after all, a Cathar pacifist. Marc however, convinced Augustus was un- der demonic influence, slew him in a rather confused argument in the tower.

A month later, St.Tropez declared Wiz- ard’s War on the unresisting Marc, and slew him in turn. Mariola was appointed the new Council Leader, but her inaction led to the

covenant rapidly dividing in two: one party, the Blacks, favoring the Cathar cause; the other White party favoring expelling the heretics for bringing ruin upon their sodales. The Blacks are stronger, and currently hold the covenant. The Whites wait in the city, plotting to retake it. Whether this happens by appeal to Tribunal in 1221 or by Wiz- ard’s War remains to be seen. The violence and madness of the times have infected even these covenant mates.