Our
saga is set in the first half of the XIII century. Most of the magi belonged
to a provencal covenant destroyed in the Cathar Crusade, and had to flee to
Italy to avoid persecution. Their new home is Demetra Hyblaea, founded in 1234
in the place where once stood the greek colony of Demetra Hyblaea, about 20
miles north of Siracusa.
In their early years in Sicily the magi struggled to survive, fighting the faeries of the nearby Forest, the cyclops of the Etna, the sirens of the sea and the many dangers of the cities. In 1240: the covenant's underground complex has been completed, and the magi found some good friends in Siracusa and in Palermo. In 1245 they entered political struggle within the Tribunal, to gain the right to vote and to be recognized as a "official" covenant: after the War of the Treaty (1249) and the re-organization of the Tribunal they succeded in their efforts and entered Summer, but they also found a powerful enemy in the new Primus of House Quaesitor, the maga Insatella.
In the last years the magi of Demetra Hyblaea dedicated themselves to lab activity or to explorations of distant lands: in 1254 they had to fight, alongside with the Seelie Court of the Faerie Forest, a terrible ancient dragon known with the name of Asden, and in 1257, during an expedition in the holy Land, they found a precious relic: the spear used to torture Jesus on the cross (the Heilige Lance). This powerful object's going to play an important role in their lives....
To date, the chronicles of the inhabitants of Demetra Hyblaea are only available in italian.
