| The Willow Sourcebook |
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The office of High Aldwin is sometimes ceremonial, but most Aldwins become the informal leaders of their villages. In Willow's village the High Aldwin exerts major influence. And as High Aldwin, he leads the lesser Aldwins of all the villages in Nelwyn Valley. The exact nature of his duties is unknown, for Aldwins, like all magicians, are secretive. The Aldwin hasn't let his (considerable) power corrupt him. He loves his people. He knows an Aldwin's functions: pray for good weather, abundant harvests, and rich mineral lodes. Stave off premature death and physical catastrophe. Consult the bones to find omens of the future. But - and here is his wisdom - he also knows an Aldwin's true purpose: see that the villagers are content. Instruct them in ways to treat each other. Appease or torment consciences as need be. Remind them that a higher power likes to see them behave. When the whole village wanted to abandon Elora, and Willow stood alone against them, the High Aldwin could see the young farmer's love for the Daikini child. The Aldwin knew that leaving the child to die would be cruel. So when the the bones proved unhelpful, he followed his own heart - and Willow's. THE OFFICE OF HIGH ALDWIN Nelwyn villagers elect their councilmen, and the councilmen appoint the Prefect (see BURGLEKUTT). But nobody elects the Aldwin. The office is old beyond memory, and each Aldwin appoints his or her own successor. All Aldwins in Nelwyn Valley help in the selection of the High Aldwin, but how they do so is a closely guarded secret. An Aldwin customarily selects an apprentice from among the young men and women of the village. The apprentice can be from any social rank, but usually shows some aptitude for magic. When an Aldwin retires or dies, the apprentice becomes the new Aldwin. If there is no apprentice, a neighboring Aldwin appoints a replacement - often his own apprentice, an "out of towner" to the villagers. Almost always, villagers speedily accept the new Aldwin. Nelwyns are superstitious, believe the Aldwin controls great forces, and would not wish to incur his displeasure. An apprentice Aldwin (sometimes called "Low" or "Lesser" Aldwin) keeps his or her own name. On succeeding to the high office, however, the apprentice abandons his former name and is addressed only as "Aldwin." Upon death, his birth name returns to him, so he may be registered in the voluminous Nelwyn archives. ALDWINS PAST AND PRESENT Willow's village is fortunate indeed to have such a wise counselor. The current High Aldwin's predecessor, whose birth name was Lugumph, terrorized the village with constant pronouncements of doom: drought, famine, the playing out of the mines, attacks from Daikinis, moral collapse, and infestations of ticks. He absolutely wore everybody out. Lugumph made a nasty Aldwin, and his apprentice looked nastier yet. That was Glog, a bulky pig-eyed oaf, son of the village drunkard. Glog endured the Aldwin's beatings day to day, taking out his anger by beating local children. His favorite victim was a stout Nelwyn teenager named Junn. At Midsummer Festival one year, the High Aldwin made the whole village nervous by calling for war against the nearby village of Lilton. "Heretics!" he cried. "They clear the forests for their fields. They conspire to burn the trees around us, then seize our lands for their own use!' Lugumph railed unceasingly against Lilton. If he could only promote a war, the Aldwin would become the unrivaled leader in the village, and go on to conquer the valley. His problem was that Nelwyns are by nature peaceful. Both his own villagers and Lilton's were about as bloodthirsty as two rows of turnips. He needed an atrocity to foment battle rage. So one crisp autumn night during the Leaf-Turning Festival, Lugumph gave Glog, the apprentice, a secret mission. "Take this wand," said the Aldwin, giving Glog an ordinary-looking piece of blackroot. This root worked something like the acorns that Willow used to turn his enemies into stone, except that the wand turned its victims into blackroot fungus. "While I am at the feast, go to the Wickerman and use the wand to transform it. And - mind you! - leave the wand at the scene!" The Wickerman, symbol of the Nelwyn's pastoral life, ruled the villagers' hearts. Showing the magical device as a clue, Lugumph would tell them that Lilton's Aldwin used his magic to desecrate the statue. This awful offense would provoke the Council to declare war within hours. In night's blackest hour Glog stole through the village to the Wickerman. Every hut sat empty, for the Nelwyns (including the Aldwin) were gorging themselves at the Leaf-Turning Feast. As the hulking apprentice pointed the wand and began his chant, he smiled. The only witnesses would be crickets and night owls. –And one more. Junn had reluctantly left the feast because he wanted to lose weight. When he heard Glog's chant, he crept up and watched the transformation magic slithering across the Wickerman. Before he could stop to be afraid, Junn leaped and tackled the apprentice in mid-incantation. The struggle went against Junn almost at once. Glog outweighed him, outfought him, outstripped him in savagery. "Hey," said the piggish apprentice, pinning Junn to the ground and point the wand, "gonna be an extra hunk o' blackroot out here t' the Wickerman!" And he began his chant again, this time against Junn: "Tuatha– lungkwak–" In explaining it later, Junn said he felt like the wand was reaching out to him. The boy had often felt odd attractions to the Aldwin's festival rituals, and to events like the reading of the bones and the births of new Nelwyn children. Acting on instinct, he grabbed the other end of the blackroot wand and repeated Glog's chant. "Tuatha! L-lungkwak!" "It was lucky for me he was such a slow talker," Junn said later. "I finished chanting even before Glog did. I just seemed to know what came next." Junn felt a shooting pain in his arm and became afraid, but he thought intensely of Glog and the wand. Suddenly, Glog began to feel afraid! The apprentice released the wand and flung himself backward, screaming. Junn looked down and saw that Glog's right foot had twisted and darkened like blackroot. Glog's screams drew a crowd of feasters. Before the Aldwin arrived, the panicky apprentice (still afraid of Junn and the wand) told everyone about Lugumph's dreadful scheme. When he finally appeared, the Aldwin faced an angry mob. Then and there, they called for his banishment. Lugumph and Glog left that very night, and have never since been seen in Nelwyn lands. The village, now Aldwin-less, called upon Lilton's Aldwin to find a replacement. The Aldwin, a musty patriarch but still clearheaded, took little time choosing. "Friends, any young sprat who could manage that wand without training shows aptitude for magic. Make Junn your Aldwin. But let me train him, or he'll just get in trouble." The villagers acclaimed this decision. After some speedy on-the-job training, Junn surrendered his name, and has been known as "Aldwin" in Willow's village ever since. MEETING THE HIGH ALDWIN Junn's native ability turned out to be real and significant. As High Aldwin, he has mastered great powers. Unfortunately, life in the village prevents the concentration vital to major magic. The High Aldwin marshals his strength for a really significant spell, and at that moment a farmer knocks on his hut door asking him to bless a pig. And then he has to cure a child's wart. And there's that scroll he's been meaning to write... Left alone, with a lot of notice, the High Aldwin manages some fancy effects, such as the almost impossible teleportation spell. But in the course of daily life, he can't collect his thoughts for more than the occasional blessing or flash of light. The Aldwin lives a simple life, in a hut at the edge of Willow's village. The hut is decorated inside and out with inscriptions, symbols, masks, painted poles in odd arrangements, colored rocks, and tattooed animal skins. Most of these have no magical purpose, but they impress visitors. An Aldwin vows poverty on assuming office, but some Aldwins take this vow more seriously than others. The High Aldwin has little interest in money, but he likes a toothsome snack or sweet dessert now and then. Those who court his favor often approach with sweetmeats outraised. Still, the High Aldwin has been incorruptible in major matters. He keeps the village's welfare uppermost in his mind, and anything that would compromise that earns his scorn. GAMING NOTES 15th skill-level magician SKILLS Leadership, oratory, politics, fortune-telling, counseling, amateur psychology, first aid, animal husbandry, scholarship, writing, magical research. The High Aldwin knows all spells of good or neutral nature that are appropriate to his level. He may also know spells of higher level, but cannot (usually) concentrate long enough to cast them. EQUIPMENT In addition to the possessions in his hut (described above), the Aldwin owns a (nonmagical) staff that he usually carries with him. He always carries a pouch of bones for fortune-telling (see THE BONES). |
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