Guiverna's Quarter

Guiverna's Lab

Description

The entrance to Guiverna's Quarter is located in the basement of a town house owned by the merchant captain Ramon de Montoya, who lives there with his wife Laureta and three children. There is a passageway that, if one enters it with their eyes closed and continues on the same way, will lead them into the Regio. (The children had discovered it playing hide-and-seek, but their parents never believed their tales). This passageway, curiously, is as wide as it needs to be, and doesn't always seem to be the same length. That is, if one is simply walking through the tunnel with their arms outstretched, they could quite easily run their fingers along both walls; if they were carrying a large bed, however, the entire bed would easily fit into and through the tunnel, even though it doesn't seem like it would fit through the entrance. Sometimes, it only takes a few seconds to pass from the basement to Guiverna's Regio, while other times it seems to take several minutes. This tunnel is actually a small Regio (Magic Aura: 1).

The tunnel entrance, from the Regio side, is the mouth of a cavern that appears to have been worked into an isosceles trapezoid at the base of a cliff overlooking a wide river. The regio is roughly 950 meters (3,115 feet) north-south and 700 meters (2,300 feet) east-west, with very irregular boundaries. The cliff forms the western bounds of the regio, while a wide river forms the other three.

The Regio is mostly grassy, with a few small copses and scattered bushes, some ponds, and hillocks, and the entire landscape is breathtaking, to say the least.

Guiverna's house (which is about as large as the house that contains the regio entrance) and laboratory are built at the approximate center of the regio, with the house north of the lab. A 70-feet-tall obelisk is built about 106 feet (32 meters) east of the laboratory, between it and the river. Outbuildings scattered around the main house contain storage rooms, guest cottages, and several shrines to her gods and goddesses.

A series of dirt pathways has been cleared connecting the regio entrance, Guiverna's house, her lab, and each of the outbuildings, as well as paths leading from the lab and the house to the entrance to the Vestige regio. Many of the shrines are a few feet off the path, in a small three-sided shed to protect the god's image from the elements. When the shrines are built, the icons are painted images on wood; Pierre de Troyes (see below) has been commissioned in large part to carve and paint idols to replace the lower-quality images she now has.

Shared Boons and Hooks

Healthy Feature (+1 bonus to all aging and recovery rolls).
Vivid Environment
Scattered Location
Edifice (the main building – Guiverna's sanctum and laboratory)
Outbuildings
Sailors
Chapterhouse
Criminals
Veteran Fighters
Superiors
Outside Influences (the Covenant of Barcelona)
Public Vis Source
Hidden Ways
Minority

Personal Boons and Hooks (+5/7)

Regio: +0
Aura: +4
Location: -1
Construction: +2

Regio

Partially Controlled Regio: Guiverna has limited control over access to her regio. This means she can control or limit access from one direction (the tunnel beneath Ramon and Laureta's manor), but there are always minor holes in security, and likely other ways to access the regio beside the two she knows of.

Status

Journeyman (mandatory)

Aura

Strong Aura (+3), increasing the Quarter's Aura to 3 and covering the whole area.
Favorable Aura (+1): The regio's Aura is aligned with Corpus.

Location

Inland (+0), about half a mile (760 meters) from the Badia de Palma.
Difficult Access (+1): the entrance to Guiverna's Regio is located in the basement of a house in the city.
Healthy Feature (+1): The regio grants a total bonus of +2 to Aging and Recovery rolls.
Urban/City (-3): The entrance to the regio is located in a major city (Palma).

Construction

Special Feature (+1): a 70 foot (21 meter) tall obelisk stands to the east of Guiverna's laboratory. It is positioned in such a way that when the sun is exactly half-way up in the sky, it forms a nimbus around the tip of the obelisk (as seen from the window of her laboratory).
Important Building (+1): a large mauselum, with several small rooms in addition to the main burial chamber, is being erected to the west of the main building, in a straight line from the obelisk.

Inhabitants

Guiverna is only using her base allotment of 10 points of inhabitants. Unbeknownst to her, some are actually in the services of Arachné, who has employed them to keep an eye on Guiverna and to report to her should she show herself to not be as trustworthy as she seemed.

Name Position Pts Description Charles Tailor 1 Guiverna's tailor learned his craft in Paris (because, after all, why wouldn't a Frenchwoman want haute couture from Paris?) and continues to correspond with his peers to keep up on the latest fashions. A widower who is starting to get on in years (b. 1202), he doesn't have any qualms about being a "kept man," since Guiverna keeps him busy. Charles does sometimes worry about what will happen to him when he's no longer able to satisfy the maga, whether in the wardrobe or in the bedroom. That being said, he takes a lot of pride in his work, and preens at even the slightest compliment. Charles also makes the clothes for Guiverna's staff (after all, her servants, and their clothing, should reflect well upon their mistress…and upon him), and has let it be known that he is willing to take commissions for the other magi as well (if he can work it into his busy schedule…which he pretty much always can). Èric Cook 1 Èric is not immune to Guiverna's charms, and has found himself in her bed often. At the same time, he is more than a little put off by her Blatant Gift, and tries to keep himself as busy as he can so as not to be put in a situation where he would fall to temptation. He's convinced that she talks about him behind his back and comparing him unfavorably to her countless other lovers, and that his attraction to her is more due to her magical charms than her physical ones. Èric is also very dutiful (as evidenced by the amount of time he spends sequestered in the kitchen and how often he goes to the market in the village to get the freshest everything). Guillermo Groundskeeper 1 Guillermo is the regio's groundskeeper. He not only keeps the roughtly 160 acres (66½ hectares) of grass maintained, but he also keeps the pathways clear, the bushes and hedges trimmed, the ponds clean, and does the maintenance on the house and the shrines that dot the landscape. Young and fiery, he is fine living in a…whatever this is, away from a lot of people. Almost as insatiable as Guiverna, he has been known to bring strange women through the tunnel to keep him company. Girauds Butler 1 Girauds runs Guiverna's household. Secretly placed there by Arachné, he has absolutely no interest in women…not that Guiverna hasn't tried time and again to get him to come around. He is remarkably clever, and quite adept at anticipating the maga's (other) needs. He has an annoying habit of getting Guiverna what she needs before she realizes that she needs it. (If it helps, imagine Radar from the M*A*S*H* series. But taller, and without the glasses.) Henriette Washerwoman 1 Henriette is Guiverna's washerwoman, responsible for keeping Guiverna's vast wardrobe clean and mended, as well as keeping fresh sheets on the maga's bed (which, Henriette complains to Johann and Girauds, is almost a full-time job in itself). Hervé Shield grog 2 Hervé is not exactly fire-tested, as Guiverna has yet to go on expedition, so the young man spends most of his time training with the other members of the guard. He hasn't really worked with his maga to try to develop any tactics or strategy in case they do find themselves in trouble; the handful of times he's broached the subject with her, she simply tells him that she'll leave herself in his hands, as she's not really a combat maga. He is another favorite partner of hers, due in large part to his muscular physique and youthful stamina. While not one of Arachné's "plants", he would be more than willing to speak with her in confidence about Guiverna's security and protection. Johann Housekeeper 1 In addition to being Guiverna's housekeeper, Johann serves as Arachné's eyes on the young maga. Between her and Girauds, they manage to keep Guiverna from having to give a second thought to anything that happens outside her laboratory, and does her best to keep Guiverna's laboratory as spotless as the maga will let her. She is a little put off by Guiverna's wantonness, and concerned by Guiverna's devotion to her "little heathen gods" to the point where she has to force herself to touch the altars when she's cleaning; she does her best to hide these feelings from Guiverna, but is not shy about expressing them to Arachné when she gives her reports. When Eva (b. 1231) is old enough, she would take Johann's reports herself. Pierre de Troyes Artist 2 Pierre de Troyes is an artist who works under Guiverna's (and, to a lesser extent, Sa Dragonera's and Andorra's) patronage. His preferred medium is stone, although he is also a more-than-passable painter who usually does frescoes and oil paintings. Guiverna has him sculpting the idols that are placed throughout her Quarter, her house, and her laboratory; he also has painted several portraits of her, and scenes of what few exploits she's had. He often has to go to Paris to research the animals who comprise in part many of the gods of Egypt. Pierre is one of Guiverna's favorite playmates, due in no small part to his talented fingers and vivid imagination.