Order of Hermes
The Order of Hermes is one of pillars of the Traditions. A Fellowship during the Dark Ages, it draws upon a potent fundus of magical knowledge and has shaped occult history to great deals.
Its failings however, are equally grand. Hubris runs strong within the elitist Order and with the Reckoning, many of their traditional ways are challenged. Old, carefully hoarded secrets are gone forever in many cases, while mystical items and powerful patrons are destroyed or locked away beyond the hostile Gauntlet. The survivors on Earth can only hope to remember their teachings and learn all that they can. The Order will survive, but it may not be the same Order that it once was.
Paradigm
Hermetic philosophy is complex and many-layered. At the heart, the Hermetics profess the drive to perfection. This drive manifests through trials, tests, self-discovery, and the rejoining of fragmented patterns like disparate languages or mathematical conundrums. Ideally, each individual has a Word, a divine imperative that drives the figure's revelations. By exploring the boundaries of that Word and all of its meanings, the individual rises to his inner nature, then beyond. Each step in the process is a challenge that requires a leap of perception but also opens the way to the next path. Eventually, the human passes far enough to become something cosmically divine.
In the Dark Ages, the Order of Hermes practiced four Forma based on a Foundation of Modus (formidable discipline): Anima (command of life), Corona (command of the mind), Primus (command of Quintessence), and Vires (command of elemental forces).
History
Early History
The Tradition traces its roots to the Sumer and ancient Egypt of 5000 years ago around the time when the first writing systems were developed. Before written language, names were thought to be inherent to the objects they designated as reflections of their true natures. With writing as an ability to catch and manipulate names, the scribe was able to imprison the object and manipulate its very nature. The catching of names was considered a magical act in ancient societies so the ability to write was reserved for the clergy under the direct influence of gods of wisdom and magic such as Thoth.
From the summonings of Babylonian priests to Egyptian priest's divining the Nile's flooding from stars to Solomon's seals, which gave him control over world, it was the time of the greatest mages of Western tradition. It was also the time when the greatest grimoires and talismans were created. However, apart from Solomon we don't know their names and so the body of knowledge consisting of theurgia, goetia, astrology and alchemy was known as the work of a single Ascended being called Hermes Trismegistus.
Letters provided useful metaphors for abstract concepts, so for the first time in history thinkers were able to ascend from the physical world into whole new realms of ideas. First, Plato formed the theory of realism that allowed a secular paradigm for controlling every element of reality. Mystics then equated ideals with divinity developing manicheic, gnostic, neoplatonic and other dualistic theories around 2nd century CE, forming the Cult of Mercury as one of the first united magical traditions. But the great intellectual upsurge of the 2nd century was soon squashed by the rapid expansion of Christianity which strove for orthodoxy in the Mediterranean region. Soon Rome fell and Western civilization fell onto Dark Times. The Cult of Mercury officially disbanded itself in 415. Hermetic scholars fragmented, the sharing of ideas halted and wizards secluded themselves in their towers for protection and to study free of the Church's inquiry.
Dark Ages
The Order was formally founded in 767 in the german city of Durenmar, thanks to the efforts of the wizard Bonisagus, developer of the Parma Magica, which allowed mages to meet each other without fearing an attack, and lady Trianoma, who united the disparate remnants of the old Cult of Mercury. In the Pax Hermetica, the joined Houses united their magical knowledge to form the Ars Hermetica, which would later have significant influence on the Sphere model of the Traditions.
| House | Founder | Specialization |
|---|---|---|
| House Bjornaer | Mistress Bjornaer | Shapeshifting |
| House Bonisagus | Lord Bonisagus | Magical Theory |
| House Criamon | Lord Criamon | Enigmas |
| House Diedne | Boann Diedne | Druids |
| House Ex Miscellanea | Tytalus | Maga Pralix |
| House Flambeau | Tempus Flambeau | War Magic |
| House Jerbiton | Augustus Jerbiton | Mundane Affairs |
| House Mercere | Henri Mercere | Messengers |
| House Merinita | Lady Merinita | Faeries |
| House Quaesitori | Guernicus | Justice |
| House Tremere | Tremere | Hierarchy/Magical Duelling |
| House Tytalus | Master Tytalus | Will |
| House Verditius | Lord Verditius | Enchantment |
These mighty magi signed the Code of Hermes and began the hard work of assimilating other lost hermetic knowledge. They met several enemies in less civilized lands, who opposed the Orders claim of magical superiority. The Houses of Tremere, Tytalus and Flambeau became the foremost soldiers in this conflict, developing the tradition of Certamen for magical duelling. In 817, Pralix bani Tytalus brought an alliance of celtic wizards into the fold. Against protests from some of the more conservative members, a new House was formed: Ex Miscellanea, which would contain all smaller traditions.
In 848, the Founder of House Tremere sought to become the Orders sole leader, but was stopped by a cabal of independent mages. Despite this, warnings to the other Houses of the danger of House Tremere went unheeded. In 876, the Order seized its prime covenant, the fortress of Doissetep, from the hands of Infernalists (although critics claim that the Hermetics merely painted the former owners as Infernalists as a justification for their prize) and moved it to the Pyrenees in 891 as their new headquarter. Under their stewardship, magical traditions in Europe began again to consolidate and prosper again.
House Tremere, however, schemed steadily to gain more power within the Order. They turned on House Diedne, the most clannish isolate house, and accused them of diabolism. In the Schism War of 1003, House Tremere and House Flambeau turned on House Diedne and destroyed them, with the sanction of the other Houses. It was during the war, that some mages felt a shift in the nature of magic. Spells began to fail and former rituals that worked without flaw began to cease. Tremere, fearful of losing any iota of his power, comissioned researched from the Chantry of Ceoris, which later yielded insight into vampirism thanks to captured members of the native Tzimisce. Convinced that vampirism is the key to unlimited power, Tremere and seven of his disciples underwent a ritual in 1022 that turned them into vampires, becoming the first of Clan Tremere.
The rest of the Order did not notice the corruption of one of their founding Houses. In 1171, thanks to new insight from the Middle East brought home by the Crusaders, the Hermetic Lorenzo Golo of Florence laid hands on the Kitab Al-Alacir. His fascination with the text led to the formation of his own House, House Golo and later, in 1188 to his desertion of the Order to throw his lot with the Templar Simon de Laurent, who would form the Natural Philosopher's Guild. The growing of an academic class within the population suited the Order, who found many eager apprentices for their own arts.
In 1199, the Order discovered Tremere's crime and declared war upon the rogue House in 1204. The first Massassa War saw an alliance of House Tytalus with the Tzimisce in order to destroy the upstarts, but the Tremere were prepared. Gargoyle swarms and Blood Sorcery, as well as the quicker capabilities of vampires to propagate left both sides of the war devastated and in 1299, the Order simply abandoned the war, hoping that the Tremere would die out on their own. In the conflict, House Jerbiton was demoted and placed amidst the rabble of House Ex Miscellanea, the first of the Founding Houses to fall, later followed by House Merinita in 1300s. Also, the covenant of Mistridge fell to the Craftmasons in 1210, generally believed to be one of the first shots fired in the Ascension War. At the time, no one noticed the significance of the event.
The new millenium brought several upheveals. The Bubonic Plague devastated the Orders infrastructure and led to further disgruntlement among the population to the arrogant wizards in their towers, who lorded over the peasants like kings and cared nothing about their plights. The begin of the Progrom by the newly founded Order of Reason, who sought to end the tyranny of superstitionists and wizards further destabilized the Orders hold upon the universities. In 1412, the Order adopted the Egyptian priests of Isis into their ranks, as House Shaea. In 1429, the prominent mage Gilles de Rais bani Ex Miscellaneae became barabbi, after a failed attempt to use the young peasant girl Joan d'Arc to drive out the English and her burning as a witch in 1430. Infighting and distrust between the Houses after the failed Massassa War paralyzed the Hermetics and would surely have doomed them.
In 1440, the word of other mages reached the Order who sought alliances to fight against the depleting of magic. A meeting between the witch Nightshade, the priest Valoran and the Hermetic LaSalle in the ruins of Mistridge further cemented the need of cooperation. After the Order of Reason attacked Doissetep itself and forced the mages to relocate it to the Shard Realm of Forces in 1448, the construction of Horizon began to prepare for the Grand Convocation of mages from all over the world. The Order allied itself to several Dragons and declared war upon the Order of Reason. LaSalle, part of House Tytalus, dueled the masters of several Houses to force unity into the Order, aided by House Criamon and House Verditius. It was hard work and lasted eight years before the Order could make its stand at the Grand Convocation.
During the Convocation, House Bjornaer split from the Order to join the nascent Verbenae. Hermetic arrogance costed them many friends and proposals that all other magical Traditions should join their Order as Hermetic Houses (or as part of House Ex Miscellaneae) were met with ridicule and scorn. The Order maintained its identity thanks to its exploits against the Daedalans of the Order of Reason. Plans of uniting with the Ngoma or Wu Lung were met with derision from the Order, who didn't believe that anything would be gained by allowing savages and primitives in their ranks. Also, the other Traditions rejected the supremacy of the Order, despite major contributions in the magickal theory and organization of the Council of Nine. The Order then assumed the Seat of Forces within the Council, but many Masters were bitter about this. Some Hermetics wondered if joining the Order of Reason might be feasible. After all, both Orders required discipline, discretion, scholarship and a passion for understanding; both believed a small elite must guide and protect the masses. This was quickly abandoned by the majority of the Order.
Factions
The Order categorizes its many different magical styles by Houses, groups that follow in the footsteps of a particular founder. There have been many Houses in the past, and although quite a few have fallen, there will be more to replace them. The mages of House Bunisagus keep alive the base erudition and scholarship of the Order's founder. These mages delve deep into magical theory. Many of the great discoveries of the Order come from the tomes of Bo nisagus mages. With their exhaustive research into magical sources and causes, such mages often study the Prime Sphere heavily.
House Ex Miscellanea — literally, "House out of hash" — grew from the increasing need to welcome mages whose studies didn't mesh with any other Hermetic House, but who desired to learn and share the Hermetic style. The House formed in the Dark Ages, and it continues to be strong. Today, it takes in necromancers, spiritualists, students of the fae, naturalists, mystics, artisans, craftsmen and others who find that their talents might lie in the direction of a different Tradition but who desire the Hermetic structure and insight. Old Houses, lost to the ages, are also included in this formation. The Order's tactical weapons are found in House Flambeau. Students of Forces nonpareil, the Flambeau come from a blend of Moorish and Spanish influence. They wield cleansing fire in their crusade for vengeance against the enemies of the Order.
The magic of chance and probability tie easily into the metamathematics of the Order through House Fortunae . This rather modern House concerns itself with high numerology, randomness and the spoils of chance's games — money. Unlike Technocrats, though, they recognize money as a magical concept and draw out an intuitive understanding of chance events that leads to manipulation of happenstance. Naturally, these mages tend to eschew the Order's focus on Forces in favor of their own line of Entropy.
Powerful internal policing falls at the feet of House Janissary. Although the Janissaries don't make the rules of the Order, they do enforce them. These mages watch constantly for signs of internal corruption, for mages who've made the wrong sorts of deals or broken with the ideals of the Order. Then, the Janissaries take care of the problem. But who watches the watchers?
House Quaesitor, one of the original Houses, oversees Hermetic law. While the Janissaries function much as roving enforcers, the Quaesitori hold Tribunals to decide cases of law and punishment, to make new precedents or cast aside old ones and to determine the fates of mages charged with criminal actions. The Quaesitori rarely enforce these dictates directly, but they serve to interpret divine, Hermetic, personal and human laws. Rather terrifyingly, the Quaesitori have the dubious distinction of being the wizards who first discovered the Gilgul rite.
On the outskirts of the Order's practices is House Shaea, a group that embraces the early Egyptian trappings of the Order and promotes base linguistics as a key to understanding thought, perception and thus the universe. From these elements the Sheshati indulge in education, learning and eventually wisdom. Although other Hermetics sometimes scoff at them as simple scribes, the predominantly feminine group maintains records with diligence and doubtless holds many secrets that the other Houses would dearly love to know… or see destroyed.
House Solificati marks the newest group on the Hermetic scene. Several members of the Solificati joined the Order after their Tradition's dissolution in the Middle Ages. Now, the remaining Children of Knowledge, combined with students from Ex Miscellanea, have reunited their former Tradition's strengths and achieved recognition as a full House. The Solificati are alchemists who practice material transformation as a metaphor for the evolution of human to divine. They also experiment with chemical enlightenment, searching for a metaphysical substance to open the doors to higher perceptions. Unsurprisingly, the Solificati have a great wealth of knowledge in Matter, and they study that Sphere more than others.
Perhaps the oddest of the Hermetics is House Thig, also known as the Ruby Children or Crucible of Thig. These modern techno-magicians blend technological devices with the symbolism of the Order. Instead of simply building a better computer, a Thig adept will make a magical one. Where a technocrat might rely on technological innovation, the Thig mage binds spirits and mystical powers into scientific forms. Although somewhat outcast among the other Houses, the young up-and-comers of Thig show great promise in combining old Hermetic ways with new world thought. Perhaps because they did not rely so heavily on Masters and old mentors, the Thig have prospered while other Houses have been hit hard in the wake of the Reckoning.
Lastly, House Tytalus emphasizes growth through conflict. All motion in the universe comes from the interaction of opposite, polarized forces. House Tytalus takes this imperative to every level of existence, and its members constantly seek questions, challenges and trials worthy of their skills. No Tytalus mage is ever content to sit upon his laurels, or to have "enough" — there's always a higher mystery, one that demands a greater level of perfection and erudition. The Tytali certainly strive to improve the Order, but their methods are often dangerous. Some wonder if their presence doesn't bring more strife than it's worth.
