House Ex Miscellanea
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House Ex Miscellanea (literally "House out of hash") was founded by the Order of Hermes shortly after its founding in order to accommodate all the smaller magical traditions within the Order — including traditionally non-Hermetic traditions. It has its own internal House structure, making for a wildly diverse mix.
Paradigm
The mystical structure of House Ex Miscellanea is one of the most flexible within the Order. As they serve no primary purpose within the Order than to act as a protective measure, the Order nonetheless values Ex Miscellanea. Their diverse techniques demonstrate the clear supremacy and adaptability of the Hermetic way and within the House, new Hermetic practices can be developed and pre-tested before they are utilized within the wider House. In this way, House Ex Miscellanea mirrors the other Traditions and shows what a Hermetic could learn from them. As a result, members of House Ex Miscellanea are given enough leeway to do as they like, as long as they do not violate the Code of Hermes and the Protocols.
Magical systems within House Ex Miscellanea range from Taoism to shamanic rites to pagan ceremonies. Each member has their own style and is even encouraged to construct their own personal paradigm.
History
Following the end of the Cult of Mercury after the decline of the Roman Empire, the Hermetic arts splintered far and wide, being incorporated into several other belief systems that mirrored pagan, ecstatic or even more esoteric paradigms. During the Pax Hermetica, none of the wizards who attended and had studied these "bastardized" arts were in sufficient numbers to warrant their own House, so the Order was, at first, content to let these savages run wild, as long as they did not oppose the new Order of Hermes.
Dark Ages
Motto: Multitudo totum componet (Latin: "The whole consists of many parts")
In 817, Pralix bani Tytalus gathered the support of numerous independent British wizards in order to defeat the necromancer Dav'nalleous. In the aftermath, she founded her own Order of Miscellany together with these pseudo-hermetics. At first, the two Orders stood as rivals, but Trianoma petitioned the Hermetics to allow Pralix to found her own House for similar marginalized groups, so that their knowledge could nonetheless prove useful for the Order. Agreeing, the Hermetics shuffled all disparate magickal traditions that mastered the basics of the Hermetic art they could find into House Ex Miscellanea and told them to sort out the matters of organization for themselves.
For centuries, Ex Miscellanea was regarded as a dumping ground for sloppy Hermetics, bastardized arts and a way to placate savages through the noblesse oblige of their obvious betters. As a result, members of Ex Miscellanea were the least withdrawn and political ambitious House, making them the way to go for Hermetics who wished to interact with different Fellowships of mages. During these days, the own, internal House organization that would make Ex Miscellanea unique within the Order begun to form, with several magi seeking different organizational systems for themselves within the House.
In the wake of the Massassa War, loyalist Tremere mages fled into the auspices of Ex Miscellanea, where they hoped to prove their continued devotion to the Order's cause. The first of the Great Houses to enter Ex Miscellanea, however, was House Merinita, whose membership had dwindled in the 1300s since their fae magic failed thanks to the Shattering.
Renaissance
Before the Grand Convocation, the Order of Hermes was approached by the Cult of Serket, whom they adopted into House Ex Miscellanea in 1412 as House Shaea, the first House to be founded directly within Ex Miscellanea. During the Grand Convocation, former Great House Bjornaer was demoted to Ex Miscellanea before the entire House left for the Verbenae. In the late 1400s, House Jerbiton was forced to join Ex Miscellanea due to its dwindlings numbers and receding political influence.
In the aftermath of Heylel's betrayal, the Order adopted some members of the Solificati who disagreed with leaving the Traditions behind. These remnants, however, did not form their own House. In time, more and more Houses fell to Ex Miscellanea, first House Verditius (due to political machinations), then House Mercere (due to dwindling influence) in 1630 and in the aftermath of the Naseby Catastrophe, Houses Validas and Ziracah too fell from their former places as Great Houses, followed by House Criamon in the 1700s. This long period of Houses falling into Ex Miscellanea is sometimes referred to as the "Dwindling" within the Order. All these additions allowed House Ex Miscellanea to become one of the most populous Houses within the Order, although their fractured nature did not allow them to assume any political influence. Some regarded House Ex Miscellanea as a "retirement centre", where old and vigorless Houses could spent the rest of their days in comfort. House Validas was expelled from the Order a short time later after allegations of infernalism, followed by House Ziracah in 1780.
In 1716, a band of Orphans was accepted into Ex Miscellanea as House Janissary. While not special at first, House Janissary was the first House to leave the Hodgepot and become a Great House in 1764. This would lead to a precedent that would allow other Houses to rise up from Ex Miscellanea.
Victorian Age
Early in the 19th century, a cabal of Orphans was admitted under the name "the Ruby Children." While not distinguishing themselves right away, only thirty years later, these cabals and sister cabals were raised to Great House status, as the newly-christened House Thig. House Thig's ascent paved the way for several other inclusions into the Order, leading to the formation of House Luxor within Ex Miscellanea in 1872. The inclusion of so many figures spurned some of its internal traditions on to gather themselves and prove their worth to the Order. In this way, the qabbalistic Fortunae group was founded in 1910, which rose to full Great House status in 1936, after joining with the remnants of House Mercere to grant them legitimacy. When the Ahl-i-Batin left the Traditions, some that chose to remain with the Council of Nine were accepted into House Ex Miscellanea, as House Batini.
Organization
House Ex Miscellanea is, compared to the other Houses, extremely fractious. The only time they seem to converge is to defend the rights of their House within the Order. Members communicate through informal channels referred to collectively as the "Grapevein", combining telepathy, emails, phone calls and carrier pigeons. This systems, however, as become even more frayed during the Avatar Storm, making it even more difficult to gain a sense of scale over the House. Ex Miscellanea, however, continues to prosper despite these adversities.
