Magonia

Basic Information

In the 9th Century in France there were several reports of airships causing bad weather (via weather magic) and stealing grain from the fields. In the writings of Bishop Agobard of Lyon in 815, it was claimed that these criminal air-pirates and Tempestarii hailed from a floating island or castle in the clouds called Magonia.

Comparisons have been drawn to modern-day UFO sightings.

Sources

Bibliography

1. Agobard of Lyon's On Hail and Thunder talks about 9th Century beliefs about weather-magic and Magonia

2. Jacque Vallee's Passport to Magonia talks about Magonia to suggest UFO sightings go way back

3. Ken And Robin Talk About Stuff podcast episode #420

Game and Story Use

• Cool public domain mythological location that can be tied to magic, ufos, and similar weirdness.
• Justification to use steampunk in a much earlier century than you might otherwise expect.
  • Compare, for example, to the city of Laputa, in either the Swift or Miyazaki versions.
• Could be the cover story for an aerial time machine or spaceship spying on the people of the middle ages.
• Provides a way to tie alien contact to the Merovingian dynasty, Arthurian Legend, French Mythology, etc.
• Magonia may be the secret base of a stone-flying wizard, kept aloft by the power of ley line energy channelled from archaeoastronomical sites.