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In the urban circles of the Royal capital of Tasfen, he is known as Professor Lorus Cheton-Baumoor, a noted authority on the history and culture of the Horse Peoples of the Northern Continent, who retains his professorship despite the fact that his estate and foreign wife are surrounded by rumours of heresy, animal sacrifices, and possibly sorcery. But on the Western steppes, he is known as Ijamdakar, blood brother of the Humak yan Hijnak, ta-shandak of the western frontier, and an initiated shaman of the Hijnak clan.

In truth, Professor Cheton-Baumoor is a member of the secret Magical Establishment of the Kingdom of Heghom, a clandestine research institution that is the realm's defensive bulwark against hostile magic, but one that must be kept secret even from some members of the Kingdom's regency executive, the Royal Commission. His travels in the steppe have been motivated not only by his anthropological curiosity, but his desire to obtain the magical knowledge of the Horse Peoples for the Establishment.

Recently, the Establishment received a letter from the Professor, in which he explained that the Ta-Shandak Humak, with the blessing of his uncle the Shandak of the Great Chequered Horde, is willing to allow two of his powerful shamans and their apprentices to travel to Heghom and assist the Establishment's work. In return, the Establishment will provide a small fortune in precious metals and send a permanent delegate to the Shandak's nomadic court.

You are agents of the Magical Establishment. Your mission is to deliver the Establishment's "gifts" to the Ta-Shandak and return with the shamans to the friendly port of Fair Choveret, in one of the maritime states allied with the Kingdom of Heghom. It is hoped that the task will be straightforward,  though of course you will be travelling through wild country with a small fortune in precious metals, and the Establishment has many enemies, so it would be good to approach the task cautiously...
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Sir Methed of Heton, a thirty-one year old male knight from the isle of Walby.
The young Methed was a squire of one of the archducal knights of Walby, the third son of his house who stands to inherit little of his family's lands. He established a good reputation in the military, however, and assisted the lord Tuman, now Archduke of Walby, with a delicate matter than earned him the trust of his liege. A pragmatic and patriotic man, Sir Methed was a natural choice by the archduke to help provide security for this mission. Methed is not anti-magic, and trusts that his liege and the Magical Establishment he supports will use it for good, but he is wary of it. He is a skilled horseman and shooter (favoring the hand-dragon), and is exceptionally tall and strong. He is a member of the Unsullied Temple and is a deacon mirror-tender in his congregation.
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Qhūsrephia Vinter, a thirty-five year old female apothecary from Tasfen. Her mother was a Heghomic merchant's daughter from Tasfen and her father was a wealthy Murinali apothecary. Mixed-race people were accepted in the cosmopolitan capital, and Qhūsrephia married the son of a wine maker from Walby, following him back to his ancestral lands when he inherited the vineyard. Qhūsrephia became involved with the magical establishment when her own daughter was found to have magical talent; Qhūsrephia successfully sought employment as an apothecary with the Establishment so as to continue to be more involved with her daughter (Nansa Vinter, now eleven years old.) Considered exceptionally loyal by the Establishment due to her family ties. She is an Ardamarite monotheist, but considers herself non-denominational (her Murinali family were Old Temple converts, and her Heghomic family are members of the Unsullied Temple.) Besides her skill as an apothecary and healer, Qhūsrephia is a good shot with a long gun, having spent many hours blasting the vine weasels on her husband's estate.
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Bremard Clovers, a twenty-year-old male mage from Port Spire. Bremard was born to relatively prosperous peasant freeholders whose lands were within the pale of Port Spire. His family descend from Heghomic colonists who arrived during the fifteenth century crown dominion era. Bremard discovered his talent for magic in his early adolescence, unfortunately in a rather public way, and was caught by agents of the Royal Witch-Hunter General shortly before he could be lynched by superstitious locals. Of course, the Witch-Hunter General's office is entirely subverted by the Magical Establishment, and the young Bremard quickly found himself smuggled off to Walby to be trained as a state magician. Bremard is nominally a member of the Old Temple, but is not really religious, having set aside the Old Temple's teachings on, among other things, the practice of magic. Bremard's magic is mostly focused on invisibility and illusion.


Bremard's invisibility and illusion:
Bremard can turn himself invisible by drawing out a particular magic circle on the ground and saying certain magic words. (The ritual does not work when performed by most other people, even others known to possess other magical powers.) This spell and ritual was found by him in an old book belonging to his great-grandmother. He can return to visibility by returning to the circle and saying different words. (It is not known what happens if the circle is disrupted while he is invisible and does not exist for him to return to.) He is only invisible, and remains tangible and his passage makes noise. Bremard can also create illusionary lights by pointing in a direction and saying different magic words; the lights appear at the location pointed at and persist for about a minute.
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Asoti Tates, an eighteen-year-old female mage from Walby. The daughter of a rustic village cunning man (and a crypto-magic-user), she was found by the Office of the Witch Hunter General as a teenager and taken to the Establishment for training as a state magician. She initially cooperated more out of a desire to protect her father than an interest in developing her magical skills, but proved to be a quick study and soon delighted in her burgeoning power. Asoti is nominally a member of the Old Temple, but like the rest of her family and not a few of the other villagers, actually practises syncretic Walserane Heathenry. She sometimes assists with ceremonies conducted by other Walserane heathens and persons of a syncretic bent in the village of Meterspay, such as the Melei Festival marking the (approximate) vernal equinox. Asoti's magic is focused on telekinesis and levitation.

Asoti's telekinesis and levitation:
Asoti's magic is wand-based; she has an heirloom wand engraved with runes, the meaning of which is not known to her. The wand she uses is called "the consecrated wand," and it was apparently subject to some ritual conducted in her grandmother's time, the details of which were lost. (Experiments at the Establishment with replica wands have not reproduced the magic.) With a combination of words and gestures with the wand, Asoti can use it to push or pull on objects or areas remotely. The wand can exert about 450 newtons (100 lbs-force). It cannot grip things, only exert a force toward or away from the direction the wand is pointing at the end of the gesture.
Asoti is also capable of flight by self-levitation, which requires the use of a magic circle inscribed on the ground and the recitation of a magical spell. Thereafter, she can control her flight with gestures which occupy her dominant hand. The spell is dismissed with other magical words (hopefully while on the ground.) There are no particular limits on duration or height, though obviously if she flew too high she would go unconscious from lack of oxygen. She can't lift much more than her own weight with this levitation, and notably, her father used to be capable of it too, but now is too heavy and can only jump unusually high using the same spell.
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Dr. Mendar Wike, a forty-year-old male scholar from Tasfen. Though born into the urban lower classes, his intelligence (and unexpected, largely self-taught literacy) was noticed by a university functionary whose shoes he was shining as a teenager, and he was given a scholarship. Mendar is a former student of Professor Lorus Cheton-Baumoor, and once accompanied him to the territory of the Great Chequered Horde. He speaks their language (though not very fluently) and is acquainted with their manners and customs. For a scholar, he is notably quick with a blade, and the scar across his forehead speaks to an involvement in the student duelling culture during his time overseas in the Maritimes as a doctoral student. Mendar is not religious, though he did not hesitate to participate in the rites of the Horse People during his sojourn with them. He is quite charming, and rumours that he has taken many of the more comely inhabitants of Tasfen to bed (without much regard for their gender or marital status) earned him the disapproval of the university's trustees. Dr. Wike found his way to the more liberal environs of Walby to teach, and his knowledge of the Horse People's culture and language caused him to be invited to join the mission.
}}}

{{{
Cheng-El Wot, a twenty-five year old female scholar from Great Anshan. Chengel is the daughter of a former Anshanese diplomat stationed in Tasfen. Her father's family back home embraced the teachings of the Dawn Lord, Shan Buul, and his mystic interpretation of the An Dai Law of Harmony. The family patriarch being a scholar official and provincial governor of Great Anshan, this was not mere sectarian heresy, but tantamount to treason, and so the Wot family was condemned to extermination by the Divine Emperor. Her father was obviously recalled from his diplomatic post, but he unsurprisingly declined to return to Anshan to be executed along with his entire family, and appealed to his friends in the Heghomic royal court for asylum instead. The Wot family were packed off to Walby, so that the court could avoid offending Great Anshan or the Emperor's new ambassador with their presence. Chengel speaks three languages fluently - Heghomic, Anshanese, and thanks to her father's previous diplomatic posting in her early life, the court language of the Horse Peoples. She also has a limited facility for magic, knowing something about Anshanese divination. 

Cheng-El's divination:
Cheng-El knows a traditional form of Anshanese divination for distant vision using a mirror pool. A ritual involving chanting and burning incense is required, which takes about five minutes in a rush. The position of the vision and the angle in which the view is oriented can be adjusted by varying the chanting. There is no particular limit on the distance or duration, though the vision can only be adjusted at the rate of a few meters per second, limiting its applicability. Others can see the vision in the mirror pool as well, though it only appears approximately in the direction of the chanter and so for multiple people to view it simultaneously may require some crowding.
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Date: 34 Waterlifting 1750 PD (later summer)

1750-7-34

The party starts landing at upriver, having traveled with Choveretine traders on their riverboat up the river Sounie. The traders are Toquen FNO and Ali Marel, and their horse person interpreter, Toquen's lover, Aikash yan Rumek.

Tribute - a rather heavy chest containing precious metals (silver and gold heghomic coins, minted with an inscription "Friendship between the Shandak of the Great Checkered Horde and the Kingdom of Heghom," an attempt at a nomadic horseman on the revere and the King on the obverse.)

Representatives of the GCH will be in the town, receiving tariffs. They can take them to the Ta-Shandak (vicereagent)'s court, a half-day's ride inland where his herd is pastured and the court is temporarily stationed.

No challenges on the way.

In the court, the party's dealings will be interrupted by a Presently Guided Temple envoy, Brother Pleise St. Desiex, one of the Red Friars (sort of like Jesuits), widely-traveled magic-seeking agents of the PGT. He will counsel the Ta-Shandak against this dealing and, by the law of the GCH, challenge the party to a duel with magic tomorrow. 
The party will have all night /evening for self directed machinations against the Red Friar, and either defeat him or not, fatally or not.


Great Checkquered Horde acknowledges the God of the Prophet Ardhamar as their Sun God Ngashdak, and as the chief god, though their are non-monolotrous henotheists. 

Fr. Pleise's magic:
  - Teleportation/invisibility (being taken into the subtle world by his patron, moving about there, and being returned to the overt world) - invoked by gestures and words.
  - Magical semi-invulnerability to blows / shots - lingering effect, though he is still pushed, and is vulnerable to falling, suffocation, etc. This is granted by runes on his undergarments.
  - Wand magic - conjuring gouts of flame. (limited range and power, about 3m)

He cannot fly, but he can have his patron lift him up with his 'teleportation' and dump him out in the sky, then be picked up again before hitting the ground. Obviously this move is a bit on the desperate side.