By Midori M. Hirtzel (elspeth@localnet.com)
As Lysandyr was betrothed to Ginevra, Princess of the neighboring faerie kingdom of Luthien, he was forced to leave his mortal lover and half-faerie daughter to their fates in the mortal world to avoid a scandal, but he continued to keep watch over his half-mortal descendants. Eilan grew to womanhood, married, and gave birth to a daughter, Lyssette, who inherited her grandfather's magical powers in full measure. Because of this, at the age of eight she was taken by the Maga Artesia of House Merinita as her apprentice.
One of the other apprentices present at Artesia's Covenant was Elric of House Merinita, a youth a few years older than Lyssette. Oddly, he too was related to the Royal House of Arcadia, for he was the son of Ginevra's sister, the result of one of the faerie's brief trysts with a mortal shepherd. He found himself drawn to the shy young girl, and the two soon became friends. Even after Elric had passed his Apprentice's Gauntlet, thereby becoming a full Magus, their friendship continued. However, as Lyssette grew into young womanhood, Elric found his feelings for her ripening into love. Due to their vast differences in social standing, however, he felt that he was unworthy to woo her and so kept his true feelings a secret.
Things finally came to a head during Lyssette's sixteenth year, when Elric rescued her from the clutches of Lotharius, a Magus of Tremere who was secretly engaging in diabolism and had planned to sacrifice Lyssette to his dark masters. Elric saved her life, and was knighted by Lysandyr himself for his valor. The last obstacle overcome, Lyssette and Elric were married.
Some years after Lyssette and Elric had attained stature as Magi within their own Covenant, they set out with a close friend of theirs, a Magus of House Bjornaer named Talon, to establish another Covenant. Elric and Lyssette, along with their two young children, moved into the new Covenant and set up housekeeping there with a number of companions and grogs.
For the next several decades, Elric and Lyssette were busy with the rearing of their growing family and the day-to-day administrative duties of the Covenant, and they were quite happy as they watched it grow from a small gathering of only a handful of Magi to a thriving community in its own right. So many apprentices had they trained, that they formed another, though minor, House of the Order of Hermes: House Rhiannon. Their eldest son was soon to be married to Talon's daughter, and the Covenant continued to grow; it seemed that their happiness would continue to bloom.
However, such was not to be. Lotharius had returned, having made contact with, and been Embraced by, the Vampiric members of House Tremere. In the fifteenth century, he led the forces of the Inquisition to the Covenant under cover of darkness. When he arrived, he discovered Elric and Talon waiting for him, the two having gotten the rest of the Covenant safely away. They managed to drive the vampire-mage and his human pawns off, but the price was terrible: Elric was mortally wounded in the battle, and Talon, consumed with grief over the loss of his friend, took refuge in the shape of his heart-beast, a falcon.
When she heard of her husband's death, Lyssette's grief knew no bounds; only her devotion to the House and her family, as well as a burning desire for revenge upon the ones who had stolen him from her, kept her sane. She sought in vain for Elric's murderer, but the Vampiric Tremere had apparently vanished, and so her rage slowly cooled to a smoldering coal instead of a raging inferno. To protect the House, she moved the Covenant to border on Ginevra's lake (and, hence, the Lady's Faerie regio as well), and vowed that in return for that protection, the House Rhiannon would aid the Fae whenever they asked.
As the Age of Magic began to wane, the mages of House Rhiannon saw their fellows losing much of their power as the perceptions of the masses changed and supplies of vis began to dry up. Justly concerned, Lyssette sought an audience with her grandfather, now King Lysandyr of Arcadia, in the hopes of avoiding the fate of her fellow Magi.
Lysandyr and Lyssette conferred for many days and nights, and finally came to an agreement. In return for use of the Fae's sources of vis, the members of House Rhiannon would guard Ginevra's regio and aid any fae who had lost their way home and were trapped in the world of mortals. Thus it was that the House became the guardians of one of the few remaining gateways to Arcadia, while receiving the gift of being able to draw upon the power of their faerie blood in order to continue utilizing their magic. However, the gift carried a price: alone among the Magi, the members of House Rhiannon were forced to use the energy present in their own bodies to power their magics.
When the Council of Nine Traditions was formed, Lyssette was among those of the Order of Hermes who resented its insistence that the various Houses unite under one "Hermetic" Tradition. She nearly broke with the Order, but then the threat of the Cabal of Pure Thought reared its head and House Rhiannon threw in behind its Hermetic brothers and sisters in order to combat it. A number of the House's Magi and its faerie allies lost their lives in the battle, and this began their eternal hatred of the Cabal and its successors, the Technocracy.
As the Age of Magic disappeared and the Technocracy began to impose its world-views on reality, House Rhiannon withdrew to its Covenant and began the selective breeding and training of the next generation of Magi. Distrusted for their apparent immunity to the "Paradox" which affected other Magi, they concentrated on their ties with the fae, and honored their oath, helping a number of lost Changelings in the British Isles to remember the ir past and sheltering them in the faerie trod near the Covenant. They also began a guerrilla war against the Technocracy by acquiring positions in education and disseminating their views that way.
In order to ensure that the talent for magic would remain in the family, Lyssette instituted a program of arranged marriages and selective breeding for the offspring of the House. In this way, the family began to produce a number of powerful Magi.
As the years passed, the members of the House (and their families) grew, and Lyssette found herself the mother several times over of a great number of descendants. While not all of these were Magi, a large number of them were psychically gifted in other ways (such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and so forth).
In order to keep up appearances in the mortal world, Lyssette (whose aging was greatly retarded by both her mighty magics and the strong faerie elements in her blood) began posing as her own descendants, a ruse she keeps up to this day.
These days, the Magi of House Rhiannon remain staunch, if reluctant, soldiers in the Ascension war. Their forays against the Technocracy are legendary.
For every effect a mage of House Rhiannon uses, he will take a number of levels of fatigue (equal to one less the rating of the highest Sphere in the effect). These penalties correspond to the Wound levels on the character sheet, with the exception that they are regained with rest (no spell-casting). If a character wishes to continue spell-casting after all levels of fatigue have been used up, she must make a Stamina roll (difficulty 7+). Success means she may ignore one level of fatigue per success, failure means taking an additional fatigue level, and a Botch will cause the mage to lose consciousness for a number of rounds equal to her current leve l of fatigue (as she pushed herself too hard).
Rest times for each Fatigue level are as follows:
| Fatigue levels | Penalty | Rest time |
| 1 | No penalty | 5 minutes |
| 2 | -1 die | 10 minutes |
| 3 | -1 die | 30 minutes |
| 4 | -2 dice | 1 hour |
| 5 | -2 dice | 2 hours |
| 6 | -5 dice | 4 hours |
| 7 | "Exhausted" | Overnight (8 Hours) |
(Note that with a full night's sleep you regain all fatigue levels)
Perhaps due to their faerie blood, the Magi of House Rhiannon also suffer a strange vulnerability to cold iron (as per the Changeling: The Dreaming rules). While it does not affect them adversely physically as it does their full-blooded cousins, it does seem to be more resistant to their magic. In game terms, this translates as the mage suffering a +2 difficulty penalty to all spells attempting to affect an item of cold iron.
Magi of House Rhiannon are strictly forbidden to work vulgar magick in front of mundane witnesses. The gift of King Lysandyr is a treasured secret of the House, and they believe (perhaps rightly so) that if their immunity to Paradox were discovered by the Technocracy, or even the other Traditions, they would have the secret of it wrung from them, thereby violating their oath. For this reason, the members of the House are strictly forbidden to display vulgar magical effects in the presence of mundanes. To do so will bring the wrath of the entire House down upon the head of the offender. The first such offense results in the censure of the House and a stern warning; the second in the offending Magus being judged by a Tribunal headed by the Quaesitor of the House. The third such offense is punished by Gilgul. Needless to say, few Magi would dare to violate this precept.
In addition, all members of the House are honor-bound to offer aid to the fae whenever they are asked. This takes precedence over any other goals the mage may currently have. When the fae call, they must respond.
Celestial Chorus: Our dealings with them are strained at best; be wary around them, for they distrust us for our dealings with the fae.
Cult of Ecstasy: They lack focus and discipline. With a little more direction, they might be able to pull themselves out of the whirl of hedonistic self-indulgence.
Dreamspeakers: We could learn much from them, for they seek a return to the old ways, just as we do. Perhaps we could bring about one together.
Euthanatos: Their obsession with Death frightens us. They must be stopped before they drag us all down.
Hollow Ones: We don't claim to understand them. Are they truly Magi at all?
Sons of Ether: They won't let go of their devices, and they keep too much cold iron around for our magics to work properly. Best to keep your distance.
Verbena: We are similar in many ways, and have learned much from one another. They can be valuable allies, if our purposes coincide with theirs.
Virtual Adepts: Strange. They live in a world of their own making, and cannot see beyond it. Best to keep your distance from them.
The Technocracy: Our enemies. They destroyed our Covenants, slew our families, and drove our brothers and sisters from this world. For that, we shall never forgive them, and we shall fight them to the last.
Marauders: These insane ones must be stopped, or they will destroy all that we have worked for.
Nephandi: The Code of Hermes states that dealings with the Infernal should be harshly punished. Enough said.
Vampires: A few can be trusted, but the majority are too dangerous to deal with. When you meet one, be on your guard.
Garou: Cousins to our Bjornaer brethren, they might make fine allies if we could figure out how to approach them...
Wraiths: The Restless Dead are better off being put to their final rest whenever possible.
Changelings: Our lost brothers and sisters. Aid them whenever they ask it.