Magonomia: Do you know John Stow?

A quick note this week for a Magonomia magician every player character should seek out: John Stow.

Stow is an occultist and geographer, whose magical practice is tied to the road network of the capital. He’s famous for his book collection, his urbanity, and his willingness to lend material to other magicians. The call his library the Stow’s “storehouse”. Stow’s availability can be invoked with a Contacts roll, but sending him a message and getting a reply takes a day. The storehouse is less well stocked than Dee’s library at Mortlake, but Stow is the sort of guy who will gladly invite you in for dinner, lend you a book, and listen to stories of your adventures. Dee, on the other hand, is busy clawing for supernatural and political power, so tracking him down is tough, and getting him to help you is difficult.

Stow not only wrote the book about all why all the streets of London have weird names, he know where everything you want to find is. You need someone to sell you eight pounds of peacock fat? He knows a guy. You want to know where someone could get an odd dye on their clothes? He knows the place. He literally wrote the book on London’s streets.

You need a magician to help you with something? He’s the guy who knows the guy who knows your guy. Stow, as lending librarian to the antiquarians of London, knows what they are reading, what books they are looking for, and what they specialise in. The odd thing is, he won’t even charge you to hook you up. Stow’s from a merchant tailor family and has no formal education. He’s just happy to be part of a society of lettered men who collaborate with each other.

Stow’s reputation is as a man who is cheerful, diligent as a researcher and has a perfect memory. He does bear grudges, but not on professional matters. He hates his younger brother because of a dispute over their mother’s will, for example, and keeps that going for years.

If something untoward happens to Stow, then a ton of trouble is going to come down on whoever was responsible. Magicians you have not even heard of, with spells you have not ever imagined, are going helping player characters investigate and make an example. Blood may, literally, paint the streets, in some final, significant working for the magician who is a friend to everyone.