This week, perhaps, the last of our Cornish episodes. It’s the last of the material from Scilly and Its Legends by Henry Whitfeld. There’s an island called St Agnes and next to it is an area called “St Warna” but pronounced “Saint Waound”. It’s the home of a cult of wreckers, where it was considered perfectly normal to go to her holy well, throw pins in it, and hope that ships would be wrecked upon the coast.
The version that comes from Whitfield has them as deceived by a demon that takes the form of a saint, which in Ars Magica terms is a False God, but I’ve statted her as an Aerial Power. I have read other accounts of the
cultists and their standard prayer was after dropping a pin into the
well to say:
“Good night Mother.
Good night, Father.
Good night enemies and friends,
and a ship for us tomorrow.”
In some other areas the usual prayer was something along the lines of “Blessed lady we do not wish for a wreck, but if there must be a wreck – if it is God’s will – please let it be upon our shores.” which is a little less homicidal, perhaps. given that you could pray for the wreck not to happen
at all.
The sound used was a LibriVox recording. The original legend is about 20 minutes long, but I’ve just cut out the five minutes that I think gives us the best material for translation into a false god.
The Legend of St Warna
The power that dwelt in St Warna was believed to be strong over those who followed their business on deep waters. Many a time when a gallant ship was seen approaching land in safety, walking grandly upon her way, the dim shadow of the hostile Saint was thought to appear brooding like a
cloud above her, and leading her unconsciously upon some one of the
concealed terrors that lurked below. Many a time a light burning upon the shore, like a friendly signal, hurried the homeward bound barque and her trusting company upon rocks, from which you no human hand could rescue them. In all these cases St Warna was held to be the presiding influence – the unseen shade that did her terrible spiriting even at her own stone well,
At that period, as i before said, five families alone were left upon St. Agnes. They were unwilling to admit strangers among them, unless they should be obliged to share the advantages of their wicked gain with a greater number, and so diminish their unholy store. They bowed daily before the altar of St Warna, and daily threw pins into her well, and offered up their supplications for wrecks.
Many of these there were and their hearts were gladdened and they grew wealthy on their spoils. The corpses of the crews they stripped and then flung back into the sea. Some missionaries of the reformed belief assayed to come and teach them the things that concerned their peace, but the Islanders stoned them and drove them away. They were like the leeches of a craving for more blood, for those still unsatisfied even by the abundance of their ill got goods.
People prophesied against them and foretold for them an evil end, but those of San Agnes were ever and are now a dour race, disagreeing among themselves and only uniting to oppose some common enemy, so they went on sacrificing to St Warna, and laying snares for unhappy mariners and increasing their profits at the expense of their souls. The preachers of the gospel faith held that the demon was permitted for a time to personate the saint and so to do these works of darkness, and truly it seemed probable for they prospered in their ungodliness, and even went so far as to take up their parable against the new ministers and they appealed to their well-doing as a proof of the efficacy of their prayers, and the influence of St Warna.
One day a vessel was seen to approach the island in a quarter the most dangerous and generally and most carefully avoided. The five households of San Agnes were on the alert. They knelt before the shrine and made their offerings. In case their prayers were heard they then hurried to the shore, and saw there, as they believed, a plain proof of the power of their patroness. The vessel had, by some miraculous chance, passed Annet with its wide reefs and shoals. Tempted by the appearance of deep water and safe anchoring ground, the crew bore up and went straight for shore.
For some time there was no sign of danger. The tall ship came on bravely and without fear. At last however the foam ahead gave notice of breakers on the bow, and the helmsman endeavoured to wear, but in vain. The devoted craft missed stays and was next moment lifted upon a sharp rock, the peaks of which pierced her sides and held her fast. She struggled and reeled ,to and fro, but every shock lengthened her agony, and the water rushed in through the leak thus made. Then, as her timbers gaped and yawned from each successive blow, she parted amidships and the sea was covered with her fragments.
Her crew and passengers were beheld in the water, swimming with the energy of despair, or clinging to portions of the wreck on which they hoped to reach the shore, but men held out to them no helping hand. One by one they sunk and was seen no more. The wretched Islanders watched their expiring struggles, but made no effort to aid them. All their exertions were directed towards seizing and dragging forth, high and dry upon the beach, such articles of value as the tide had already begun to cast up.
***
We will drop out of the legend there . This legend is about how the folk of St Warna were destroyed. During the particular shipwreck that’s being described they leave a missionary and a baby to die of exposure. The missionary’s ghost appears and challenges the demon. He lays a curse on her followers, saying that they will all be killed.
The following Sunday they traveled to a nearby island to have an official marriage. It’s required that they have it on the large island for legal reasons. As they are returning home, God smites them all by sinking all
of their boats or, in other versions of the story, he just washes the entire
island clear with a great wave.
The legend as you may have guessed, from continuous references to the Reformed faith in the original, and from some of the technology in the ship,
is from far later than the usual game period: it’s from the 16th or 17th century. In the 12th century, the cult is active – they have their little Infernal aura and their False God. They could wreck the covenant’s ship.
The easiest way to stat up this group is just to reuse the material
for Demonic Pirates in Tales of Power.
One tiny teaser of further folklore for Infernal auras: the way that people were put to death in Scilly at this time is that they would be taken out to a particular sea-swept rock and left there with two loaves of rye bread and a pitcher of water. As the tide came in they were swept to their death, and therefore no man had killed them. Still if somewhere’s going to have an infernal aura, this is likely the place, because it’s where a lot of inveterate sinners met their end.
In Scillonian folklore there’s a surprising lack of ghosts. A few of them turn up on the big island, but other than that no ghosts anywhere. Why is that? I’d suggest it’s because the entire place is under a Faerie regio, but we’ll
work that out in the eventual collection of all this Cornish material into a
single ashcan.
You saga may vary
Saint Warna
In the podcast episode I said Saint Warna is a False God, but for variety I’ve designed her as a variant of Argenta, the Goddess of Piracy in Tales of Power, but flipped her to being an Aerial Power.
Order: Aerial Power
Infernal Might: 25 (Auram)
Characteristics: Int +3, Per +1, Pre +2, Com +2, Str +7, Sta +2, Dex +3, Qik +2
Size: +3 (can appear as human in dream, though)
Confidence Score: 5 (5)
Virtues and Flaws: Enjoys worship +3
Personality Traits: Untameable +4.
Reputations: Goddess of Wreckers 5 (Infernal)
Combat (uses an oar as an improvised weapon, in mockery of the real saint): Init +2, Attack +17, Defense +15, Damage +14
Soak: +6 – her body is loosely material
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, 0, –1, –1, –3, –3, –5, Unconscious.
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–8), –3 (9–16), –5 (17–24), Incapacitated (25–32), Dead (33+)
Abilities: Various, including Single Weapon 8 (oar)
Powers:
Coagulation, 1 point, Init –1, Corpus.
Elemental Control, variable points, Init. -1, Auram. May create and Creo, Muto or Rego effect in the Auram for for 1 Might per magnitude of effect. Cannot create an effect with a level higher than the demons current Might, or duplicate Ritual effects.
Envisioning; 1 point, Init +0, Mentem.
Obsession, 1 point, Init –5, Vim: Avaricious.
Recalcitrance: 0 points, Init constant, Vim. Any attempt to control (but not destroy) an Aerial Power with any supernatural power, of any Realm, treats the demon’s Might as if it was 50% higher. Ease factors are similarly 50% higher.
Weakness: Cannot directly harm the ordained.
Vis: 6 pawns Auram vis (sordida).
Appearance: Looks like the crude statuette of the Irish saint found by her well, but made of cloud and expanded.
Games From Folktales 