The Ancient Fief of Winchester

The fief of Winchester is the oldest in Britain after London. Originally sited at Glastonbury, it was the center for the first Tremere migrations to Britain. Now the Fief enforces a strict policy of isolation, claiming Southampton and Portsmouth as it's exclusive hunting ground. Those who try to hunt there are invariably never seen again.

Rumours about the fief (from WoD) suggest that there are few Kindred there, possibly only seven. They are alleged to be Tremere, with perhaps Gangrel and Malkavians. If this is true, the fief seems to be generally cut off from the politics of the rest of the clan in Britain, although Dee is rumoured to visit the fief on rare occasions.

The Fief of Winchester is a major center of Thaumaturgical research for the Tremere and is one of the reasons they have fought Mithras and the Ventrue for control of Britian. Soon after the first Tremere came to Glastonbury, they discovered that the whole Southwest region was a place of high magical energy, centered around Salisbury plain. Since then, the Tremere have been trying to discover the source and nature of the magical power and tap into it.

The magical area has it's source deep in the granite under the region. Here (in Werewolf terms) a channel opens directly into the deep Umbra, through which Wyld energy flows into the material world. This energy moves through the rock to the surface, slowly leaking into the world above. Magic of all kind functions more easily in the area and the weakening of the Gauntlet it has caused makes the region popular with Garou, Fairies and other magical creatures. The presence of these creatures has proved something of a hindrance to the Tremere over the centuries.

The Wyld magic is not evenly distributed but collects in what could be considered hollows in the magical topography of the area. These magical contours change over time, usually slowly but also in sudden catastrophic fluctuations, when a build-up of magical force in the granite is suddenly released. These changes have been one of the sources of frustration for the Tremere in their attempts to channel the energy.

The energy can only be effectively tapped from one of the magical 'sinks'. In other areas it is too diffuse to be utilised. Whenever there is a radical change in the distribution of the power, the Tremere have to first find the new sites and then relocate their studies. Even during periods of stability, an area which was rich in energy one day may become inexplicably 'dry', due to the chaotic nature of the Wyld energy.

There are some places in the region which have proved constantly rich. These include Glastonbury Tor, Stonehenge, Avebury and other ancient sites. However, these sites have become attuned to the needs of the peoples who built their monuments there. While they are easily manipulated to produce weather and fertility-based effects, they are very difficult to channel for other ends. The Tremere believe that the priests of the Stone and Bronze age tribes had learned to manipulate the energies of the area to bring favourable weather and good harvests to their followers and the resonances this chanelling produced is still influencing the sites.

The Tremere regard this theory as 'proved' by recent experiments which resulted in the Great Storm of 1987 which hit the south of England unexpectedly and with great violence. As a result of this insight, the Tremere have attempted to create their own channels over other energy rich sites, in an attempt to attune the energy to their needs. These include Boscombe Down, Porton Down and the new motorway extension at Tywford Down.

Another problem the Tremere have experienced is that they do not really understand the nature of the forces they are trying to control. Tremere thaumaturgy is heavily based in their traditions of Blood magic. Few Tremere know of the Garou trinity of Wyld, Weaver and Wyrm and even fewer would connect such to the events in the fief. The current Prince of the fief has begun to seriously consider the 'Garou theory', despite opposition from other members of the Clan and he has made some progress.

The first theory explored by the Tremere in the fief was that a 3rd or even 2nd generation Kindred was in torpor within the fief. This theory was finally rejected after many decades of searching. Other theories have included a powerful artifact buried in the fief and the possiblity that the ancient human monuments in the area had created the energy fluxes rather than harnessed them.

Recently, the Tremere have finally admitted to themselves that they have no knowledge about the source. They have begun to concentrate more on the study of ancient methods of exploiting the region, by sponsoring archaeological digs in the area and in trying to manipulate the forces through new 'monuments' of their own. One fact they have discovered is that heavy urbanization somehow destroys the magical pools in an area and even the background levels of magical power fall. Therefore, most of their attemps to create channels have been built in isolated locations.

However, the most successful use of the area have been in the creation of new rituals. Magical research is easily conducted in the area. In game terms, difficulties are substantially reduced when using or creating rituals. However, botches are somewhat more spectacular then usual, often resulting in the creation of wierd creatures and objects as well as unpleasant and often fatal effects on the caster.

Rituals created in the fief are sent directly to Vienna, from where they are distributed as needed to Tremere around the world. This is part of the Tremere policy of keeping their studies secret until they have cracked the problems they are experiencing. The elders in Vienna back the research strongly as they see it as a potnetially limitless source of power which, when understood, will make their domination of the Camarilla unopposable.

Dr. John Dee is the senior Tremere in London. His orders regarding the fief are to protect it's secrecy at all cost, to give them any aid requested and to stay out of their way. In practice, Dee visits the fief occasionally to discuss progress and also has a number of rituals created for him personally at the fief.

As well as the Tremere, the fief contains several Gangrel and Malkavians. The Gangrel live mostly in the extreme southwest around Penzance and other towns. The Tremere do everything they can to ensure that the Gangrel do not discover the nature of their work there. The Malkavians have arrived in the fief over the years. It quickly became apparant to the Tremere that the Malkvians' arrival usually coincided with one of the catastrophic rearrangements of the magical field.

The Malkavians seem to be subconciously drawn by the build-up of energy and usually leave the fief after it had been released. However, they occasionally make suggestions about the location of new power concentrations, which usually prove correct. It was a Malkavian who suggested the siting of Porton Down, several years before the shift which created the magical site beneath it.

Since the Malkavians seem to know about the sites anyway, the Tremere are trying to ignore their presence. They are often useful in predicting shifts.

The Garou have proved to be a more persistant problem. The Tremere have been forced to keep at bay the urbanisation which might have driven out the Garou as it damages the energies they are trying to study. In addition, there are several powerful Caerns in the area which strengthen the Garou. The Tremere would dearly like to study these at first hand and not a few neonates have been destroyed attempting just that. The low Gauntlet in the area meens that the Garou can come and go through the Umbra as they please, a trait which seriously disturbes the Tremere.

Over the centuries there have been several massacres of Tremere in the fief at the claws of the Garou. However, the Tremere have recently hit on what seems to be a winning strategy. By allowing the army to take over much of the land in the area, they have a perfect cover for hunting down Garou who interfer with their activities. This has the added benefit of 'tuning' the magical energies in the areas occupied by the army in a fashion which the Tremere find highly satisfactory.

There is one final problem which has begun to concern the Tremere in the fief. Over the past few years, there have been increasing reports of large black cat-like animals in the area. At first, the Tremere believed they were a concern of the kine, probably resulting from escaped or released pets. Recently, however, they have begun to investigate more closely and have grown concerned at how difficult the animals are to find and capture. Although they are often spotted around Tremere areas of activity, the Tremere have yet to succeeed in capturing one. They are beginning to fear that the animals may be a by-product of some of their experiments.