by Chris Cooper (Mage: The Ascension | Resources)
Contents of the Unofficial Mage Guide to the Houses of Hermes in order of appearance:
Disclaimer: The Order of Hermes and all its myriad inhabitants are copyright of either White Wolf or Atlas Games. No permission has been granted for their use in this article. No attack on the copyrighted material is implied or intended. This is solely a free online supplement for role-playing use and is not intended for personal gain. The extra material introduced is neither White Wolf�s nor Atlas Games�, but mine.
This may be considered the unofficial Tradition Book: the Order of Hermes for Revised Mage: The Ascension, but it isn�t. What I have written is a primer � a Storyteller�s Gumbo - extra material for bringing the Order up to date for 2003. I have no idea what will be published in the official Order of Hermes Tradition Book, and I�ve not tried to replicate any previously published official material other than the information upon which I have expanded. The Unofficial Mage Guide to the House of Hermes does follow the original Order of Hermes Tradition Book (pub. 1997) and Blood Treachery (pub. 2000) and bits and pieces from the other books in the Revised Mage line. Apart from the first Order of Hermes Tradition Book, I have avoided material (where possible) from the First and Second Editions of Mage.
I have intentionally diverged somewhat from what was inherent or assumed in the Revised Mage line. I felt the need to act with revisionism to create a blissfully murky political and informational landscape and some sort of distinction between player and character knowledge.
Not all of the information and crunchy bits are just for the dusty Boys of Hermes. Anything that takes your fancy is yours to play with. "Appendix Quattuor: Trafficking with the Nephandi" is a rules expansion for using Infernal Investments in Book of Madness: Revised to generate Nephandi critters.
Finally, I replaced specifics with vague hints to what is going on with certain Houses (What is going on with the damn Janissary?). This will hopefully allow each Storyteller to work in his own plot threads (the Solu are unwitting Infernalists corrupting the Order). Naturally some connections will not make any sense (Is Tytalus allies with Shaea or not?). Make up something, post a query to the forums, or email me directly.
For those that do not have access to the first Order of Hermes Tradition Book, I am sorry. I purposefully omitted specific, published mechanics, like the Umbrood Protocols, despite the fact that I reference them in certain areas. I cannot in good faith plagiarise the original work. If you get access to the published work and incorporate them into your game, then you do so of your own recognisance.
Magus Julian Wax snapped the tiny plastic tray shut and slid the CD-ROM case into his suit jacket and grinned. Quaesitor Mickail Vaszic and Abaris bani Bonisagus kept their poker faces and professionally clasped their hands together.
Adam Murkow was still leaning against the wall in his disagreeably black jeans and some sort of liquor brand on his T-shirt. He spoke first. �That�s what we found.�
He pulled a cigarette from the packet of camels from his pocket and when he placed it in his mouth it was lit. He sucked in, and then exhaled, grinning.
�The formulae sound intriguing. Indeed, the math appears congruent to your claims. And all that�s needed is a test subject to complete the praxes?�
�Pretty much, but our own should be coming along shortly.�
There were several seconds of silence as everyone whirled the implications about.
�If this hurts anyone, I�ll personally kill every single one of you,� murmured Vaszic. �But I�m going along with this to watch the fucking lot of you.�
�We appreciate this, Mickail,� nodded Murkow, �And since we are in accord, we start preliminary feeding to the primi and let it mull a bit with them until we announce it to the order."
They all agreed�
Following the multiple tragedies suffered by the Order of Hermes of late, an emergency Hermetic Tribunal was held in early 2003 to reorganise the Order, and to collate damage suffered and how to rectify it.
The following topics were considered and debated:
The Massasa War has pretty much reached a stalemate, but is still considered a hot war with occasional sniping between the Tremere and the Hermetics. Apparently House Tytalus has been very quiet about the Vampire Debacle, but ominously smug, too.
The attack by the Euthanatos has led to severe Tradition restrictions regarding the relationship between the two Traditions. Each is blaming the other and recent diplomatic entreaties have enforced a cease-fire within the two sparring Traditions. Each Tradition is expected to investigate what the opposing Tradition calls their own enemy and release the details to the New Council. Until the event is fully brought into light, the Order of Hermes has retreated to an isolationist attitude with the most tenuous of diplomatic contacts.
Although worried, the other Traditions are keeping a distance and are looking at Euthanatos� recent and unanswered cowboy tactics, and their sudden lack of transparency has left the Traditions concerned. This, coupled with the Euthanatos� suspected flight from the Traditions as a whole, has left many Traditions tacitly siding with the �Besieged Order of Hermes, victims of a savage and unprovoked attack.�
The New Council of Traditions has been seesawing around pointlessly (like a cock with its head cut off � noted by the Ecstatic Primus). The biggest sore point with the Order is the New Council�s unwillingness to act upon Euthanatos.
In August 2002, a fellowship of Hermetics, Cultists, an Etherite political scientist, a Virtual Adept Memetic drift specialist, a prominent politician who is a Verbena, and an owner of a successful Revivalist/Charismatic Evangelist television network all pulled together in a retreat in Mauritius for two months. Afterwards, they submitted their proposal to the Primi of the Traditions.
It was the blueprint to a new political structure that encompassed all the Traditions and old Council but shied away from a specific Tradition's influence. It worked in much the same way corporate holdings structures are used to umbrella a number of different businesses. Membership in this structure would be the Nine Traditions and it would work on a rotating shareholder�s portfolio and would be valued by majority-rule votes of confidence. It also would have strong elements of the British Parliamentary system and the United Nations.
Each Tradition has to appoint a �Tradition Ambassador" or "Herald� that is not the head of his Tradition.
The New Council does feel that a change is needed to reflect the current age of the Traditions. Work has started in preparation of a brand new Council. Many think that if something is not done soon, the Traditions will dissolve into pointless bickering and internecine fighting. The Traditions are doing to themselves what the Technocracy wasn�t able to -- breaking them apart.
Recently the Order of Hermes has reasserted its original mission statement (for lack of a better phrase), searching for new magic and bringing it into the Hermetic fold so that the old and new may both share in the exchange of knowledge. While the Traditions were necessary for the Ascension War, and a great treasure of occult lore passed through them, the Order is incorporating the discovered knowledge under its own aegis again.
The readmission of the Thrice-damned Solificati as a True House of Hermes has led many to approach this idea of rethinking archaic wrongs and advising temperance to those who are actually innocent of their parents' mistakes. Although this has had an energising effect on the Order as a whole, House Tytalus showed everyone how over enthusiasm burns collective fingers.
After the declaration of Free House Ngoma�s sponsorship to True House status two years ago, House Shaea has wowed the Order again with their latest project. In the spirit of House Solificati�s renewal, House Shaea has brought forth its trump card. In December 2002, a new Free House membership was secretly proposed and conditionally accepted by the rather stunned True House Primi. If House Solificati symbolises Rejuvenation, this new House represents Resurrection.
The Order in general is rather shocked at the excitement generated by this secret admission. Although the truth has yet to be released to the Order, the few that already know can easily see the negative implications of such an audacious action. The most that people hear is the new House's name, and they wondered what all the fuss over another Salad Magic House is about.
This new House has created deep divisions through the upper levels of the True Houses, but no one is speaking of them. House Janissary�s redeployment and Houses Tytalus� and Flambeau�s rethinking of tactics and strategy are obvious preparation signs to some. Bonisagus and Criamon see this event as the Holy Grail. Others see this as one the many fashionably reconciliatory trend-setting events for which Shaea is getting a name.
What shall happen? Only when the new House is officiated and all the ramifications are met...
The House of Hermes has already started an as-yet-unnamed Lesser House investigating all findings and evidence of the mysterious Sphinx Public Address Messaging System. The Order is never pleased when a new player shows up and shows off its �high and mighty special effects� regardless of its morally sound consequences: "The Devil can quote Scripture, too," is the most common reply.
One current rumour in the Houses involves the re-emergence of the Batini into the playing field, coinciding with the Web of Faith �switching� itself on. This theory is flimsy except for Hermetic texts that state the Batini has an exceedingly mutated steroid version of Arcane that feeds upon itself. This super-Arcane will be able to produce the same evidence-nullifying effects the Messages themselves display. Perhaps the Batini arcane is used as the message delivery system.
House Quaesitor has been told to punish any evidence of fanatical response from any of the Houses of Hermes. Not only is it dangerous, but counterproductive; the Emissaries should apply their emotions to their Antinomian Praxes. To quote Alfred Hashad Pashada bani Shaea: �They are, by God, members of the Order of Hermes and will act like as such, and not as a bunch of f**king football hooligans!�
The Order of Hermes is divided into True Houses, Free Houses and the Lesser Houses.
The True Houses is built up of the remaining Founding Houses or what is colloquially referred to as The Big Four: Bonisagus, Flambeau, Guernicus (Quaesitor), and Tytalus form the first and most influential group. House Criamon was reinstated as a True House in 2001 but technically shouldn�t actually be there.
Although Ex Miscellania is a True House of the Founding Houses, and technically still has a vote in Tribunals, it still is considered the Basket House, a dumping ground composed of numerous hedge magician�s collectives, too-thinly populated groups, redundant ex-Houses, and the general experimental mishmash. Ex Miscellania is still the Salad of Sorcery it has always been.
The Branch Houses, the remaining True Houses that form the second power bloc and Founding Houses opposition: Fortunae, Janissary, Shaea, Solificati and House Thig. These are all the newer Houses that, over the centuries have been inducted because of necessity, replacement, or have worked their way from Ex Miscellania.
The Free Houses are the up-and-coming-out-of-the-hash Houses of Hermes (such as Hong Lei and Ngoma), or the slow spiralling decrepitude of Houses like Verditius and Merinata. The Free Houses must all decide on a vote for the Ex Miscellania in its entirety.
Except House Jerbiton. House Jerbiton is the only True House-cum-Free House that retains its vote independent of the House X vote.
Not houses as such, but merely little fraternal or experimental research-and-development societies within the entire Order itself. All of the Hermetic-sided cross-Tradition experiments fall into Lesser Houses.
A magus with a bit of political currency can form an official Lesser House. The mages of the Lesser Houses are often, as well, members of True or Free Houses. This is still used today as a method of giving cabals the Official Stamp of Hermetic Approval.
There was once a vogue in the nineteen-tens and -twenties for solitary magi to form Houses in their own names emulating the Order of Hermes� Founding Magi. Any House that doesn�t possess active membership greater than two for a year is immediately dissolved and expunged from the roster.
The most prominent Lesser House is the Soci�t� d�Lucifuge or the Solu, more commonly referenced as the Society.
During character creation, the magus will tend to exhibit his teachings in actual mundane traits as well as his magic. Here is a sample list of common choices the magus can choose a handful from.
Abilities: Alchemy (Solificati), Astrology (Fortunae), Awareness, Chantry Politics, Cosmology, Crafts (Verditius), Cryptography, Diplomacy (Jerbiton), Dreaming (Criamon), Enigmas (Criamon), Enochian, Etiquette, Goetia, High Ritual, History [Hermetic] (Quaesitor), Law [Hermetic] (Bonisagus, Quaesitor), Linguistics [Arabic, Enochian, Greek, Hebrew, House Tongue (Each House), Latin], Specialised Lore [Hermetic, Other Tradition (Jerbiton), Spirit, Vampire (Tytalus)], Lucid Dreaming (Criamon), Occult, Path of Magic (Ex Miscellania), Research, Subterfuge [Intrigue, Spy craft].
Backgrounds: Allies, Apprentice, Certification, Chantry, Contacts [Occult], Cult, Debts [Mentor], Demesne [Criamon only], Familiar, Infamy, Influence, Library, Mentor, Notoriety, Resources, Retainers, Rival House, Sanctum, Status.
Merits and Flaws
[Mage, Revised]: Conditional Magic [Verditius], Primal Marks [Criamon, Tytalus], Monstrous, Probationary Member [All Free Houses], Concentration, Lightning Calculator [Fortunae], Compulsion, Cyclic Magic, Manifest Avatar, Unbondable, Fae Blood [Merinata], Lucky [Shaea], Ghoul [Tytalus], Devil's Mark, Echoes, Geasa (must be attached to another Merit or Flaw), Crucial Component, Dark Fate.
[Bitter Road]: Tradition Herald, Faction Founder [Ex Miscellania], Anachronism, Horrifying, and Territorial.
[Blood Treachery]: Driven, Celestial Affinity, Nephilim, Inglorious Pedigree [Ex Miscellania, Thig, Janissary], Renunciate, Blood-hungry Soul, Massasa Contact [Tytalus], Faust�s Burden [The Society].
[Guide to the Traditions]: Anachronism, Personal Talisman, and Beast Within [Flambeau].
[Sorcerer, Revised]: Faction Favourite [Hong Lei, Ngoma], Ritual Congregation [AOAR], Black and White, Pacifist, Style Sleeper [Hermetic Paradigm], Wild Talent [Ex Miscellania, factota], Blood Magic [Tytalus], Struggling Awake, Unsettling Effect, Big Mouth, Ritual Sleeper.
[Guide to the Technocracy]: Bigot, Icy. Although technically for Technocrats, these Flaws are apt for the magi of the Order. Just switch a few names and concepts around and there you go.
This is the judging system the Order uses to Rank its sorcerers. It automatically slots the magus into the general Hermetic pecking order and gives a rough judge of power. In the Order power and respect go together as a single unit. The apprentice is only considered a magus at the Fourth Degree, passed his Gauntlet and has received his sigillum.
First Degree: Neophyte. This is the start of instruction on Hermetic-orientated skills, including the basics of Enochian and goetic theory. The course includes mundane aspects and the current political standing.
Second Degree: Zelator. History of the Order and initial courses delving into Enochian and goetic practice, and the theory of Vis and magic. Instructions on the Augeoides and its use as an instruction tool.
Third Degree: Practicus. Application of Enochian and goetia (in a safe environment) and controlled experiments with Quintessence and sorcery to rouse Avatars or Awakening. The Apprentice has at least one Arete at this point. At this point, the apprentice is initiated through his Gauntlet.
Fourth Degree: Initiate. The famulus learns rank One in a Sphere and if he passed his Gauntlet, receives his Sigillum. The famulus is allowed to call himself magus.
Fifth Degree: Initiate Exemptus. The apprentice learns Rank Two in a Sphere.
Sixth Degree: Adept. The student has learned Rank Three in a Sphere and at least Rank One in another. As the world goes today, many of top mages of any Tradition are Adepts.
Seventh Degree: Adept Major. Rank four in a Sphere, Rank Two in another and Rank One in a third.
Eighth Degree: Magistae Scholae. Rank Five in one Sphere and Rank Three in two others. There are maybe a handful of these in the world today. It is unlike that any Ninth Degree magi are around.
Ninth Degree: Magister Mundi or Archmage. Rank Six in one Sphere and master or adept level in the remaining Spheres.
Tenth Degree: Oracle. A mythical degree that implies some kind of Ascension has happened. Because Hermetics are Hermetics the term for Oracle is Ipsissimus � a magus of godlike ability.
Factotum (3-point Social Flaw): Your apprentice never passed his Gauntlet or Trial of Initiation and is now a permanent apprentice. Perhaps politics, perhaps bad luck, or maybe just laziness has now stunted your sorcerer's political passage. A factotum is a second-class citizen; he has no status, no vote, no sigil and no official Craft Name. Your address to the chantry is always taken Under Advisement and other past-Initiation mages are given automatic preference to your wishes. It is wholly frustrating, because your skill can often outshine those that passed Initiation. Factota are considered Acolytes most of the time, Consors at worst and are often given menial work. Most of the time Factota leave the order and become Journeymen. And after a period return and are re-examined as a renunciate.
Faction Envoy (1-point Social Merit): This is a required merit for House Solificati. It represents that the mage is a member of a faction that also exists outside the Tradition. This is a common Merit for the Wu Lung and Templar factions of the Akashic Brotherhood and Celestial Chorus, respectively.
Patois du Ch�teaux (1-point Mental Merit): When the character was being trained under is House, he picked up on the subtle elements of slang, imported pidgin dialects, jargon, formulaic notation, and body movements that�s present in every House, but unique to each House itself and mutates with every new generation. It called the House Tongue. Outsiders listening in can try to understand the conversation by rolling Wits + Linguistics at difficulty 8. If one of the speakers wishes to hide some sort of important fact, she can spend a point of Willpower and make the conversation complete gibberish to the listener.
House Speak by the Houses as referenced by the Student Proxy Gazette 1990-1999.
For all the school-kid giggly humour involved with the House Speak, they are actually considered a valuable asset. Many magi actually use this rough do-it-yourself-kit and apply it to Linguistics and the hundreds of years' worth of codes and learn what is effectively a new language, Secret House Code Language or House Tongue, as it is known nominally. Testimony spoken in House Speak or House Tongue is admissible in diatribe politics. Mages without the Patois du Ch�teaux merit can never learn the House Tongue in the future.
True Birth Name (3, 5, or 7-point Supernatural Flaw): By some dint of cosmic fluke, your character�s birth name is so woven into his Pattern that opponents can use it if they know of it and hit the mage where it hurts. Each level of True Birth Name gives the opponent a free scored success to spend on the Correspondence/Range chart to affect the mage by Sympathetic Magic.
Twilight (1-point Mental merit) House Criamon only: Twilight is only possessed by Criamon mages, and perhaps it is taught or "given" to them during their apprentice journeys into the Dreamlands. Criamon with Twilight automatically start with one rating in Quiet. Twilight can only be used with Dreaming. Twilight allows the Criamon to enter Quiets by using the Dreaming skill. Unfortunately Criamon must use always use Dreaming as a "replacement" skill mentioned in the Dreaming Background. It is rumoured that the old Criamon had a pumped-up 5-point version of Twilight that allows them to enter Seekings... There are no new Criamon that possess Twilight and the hunt for new ones is taxing the crippled House unbearably.
Note: Mundane abilities all have a standard difficulty of 6, while quasi-magical abilities, such as Do; all have a base difficulty of 7. Enochian and Goetia both are abilities that still work penetrating the Gauntlet. If they are required to penetrate the Gauntlet, they are affected by the Avatar Storm and have a non-reducible difficulty increase of +3 (which makes the roll Difficulty 10, a threshold). Regardless of what has been used, the difficulty can never lowered further than Difficulty 8. It was the premise for Tytalus resuming the Massasa War.
�Schr�dinger�s Cat� Ultimate unpredictability� Think of this way. You phone in a Surf & Turf pizza and a little later the delivery guy brings you the pizza, takes his money, and leaves.
�You�re sitting there just waiting for that slice of Surf & Turf pizza, when you realise that you haven�t checked the box. Until you actually open the pizza box you cannot actually be sure what pizza you have in there. It could be the right one, a similar pizza, something vile with olives, a bloodied knife that the delivery guy used to stab his previous victim to death�
�You see, until you actually open the pizza box, you�re never going to be sure what you going to get inside. Are you?
�That�s the cat in the box effect done with pizza.�
Possessed by Mentors, Personnel, Workshop operators, and physical education instructors. Specialities: Talents, skills, knowledge, political patrons, debriefing, vocational training.
Instruction is the skill by which your character can teach whatever he personally knows. The rules used are the same as Seasonal Play [Guide to the Traditions pgs255-259]. The character�s ranking in Instruction functions as ranking in Mentor. If the instructor does not have the knowledge to teach � such as a lower Sphere Rank that the student possesses � Instruction just isn�t going to work.
Brendan Booth and Magic Timmy ran for their lives. Apart from their feet-slaps and panting everything else was quiet. Except when they cleared past windows or glass or broken bottles, their reflections would distort and hiss and spit.
They cleared the warehouse door and slammed it shut, bolting it until the felt safer. The cobweb wards they had erected would hold most spirits away and The Spinning Dandelion misdirection magic would throw off �meatier� pursuers.
�You horrendously stupid twerps. I have broken into a sweat. Ergo I have to cut for fingers off with a pair of pruning shears,� spoke the shadows in the centre of the room.
�How the hell did you do that? How did you get here?�
�Made my shadow all frisky and latch onto yours. Magic with shadows.�
Timmy�s curiosity peaked� �How? This isn�t Tremere magic.�
�We didn�t only hunt Tremere��
*The Slave Sphere Requirement can never be reduced below two. It also works in any combination of spells and Sphere Rank reductions.
Possessed by mages that specialise in a narrow fields based on a theme such as fire magic, weather crafting, cabala, elementalism, House Flambeau War Magic, spirit animation, necromancy, etc.
This way a mage can have access to a spell that technically should be out of his area of expertise. Each spell has to be specialised (see Rote Specialising) when the mage selects it for his Path; remember they all have to have thematic parallels. Once chosen the rotes are fixed, but multiple paths are allowed.
For examples check sorcerer paths, mummy hekau, vampire thaumaturgy (popular with House Tytalus and their vampire war), changeling cantrips, etc. One Path equals one Path. If the mage tries to vary the spell to greatly from its originator it lapses into standard Sphere requirements.
Specialising in the Path of Magic
If the mage sub-specialises at Path rank four, all his vulgar Path spells may be cast as coincidental as long as there are no witnesses. Casting vulgar magic in front of witness is still vulgar with witnesses. At level five sub-specialisation, the mage may cast all his Path spells without foci.
Determining a rote�s validity with the wizard�s chosen path, a [Intelligence + Path @ 6] check must be made.
Any other form of magic available in the World of Darkness that operates to a Path system such as Vampire Thaumaturgy, Sorcerer Paths, and Changeling Cantrips can all be converted into the Path system.
When the Order of Hermes discovered looted books of arcane lore from the renegade House Tremere, they proceeded to incorporate level-ranked sorcery into Sphere magic. Of course it was difficult, but not impossible. By converting the vampire magic into Avatar magic, the Hermetics discovered that the rituals kept to a common element, although sometimes varied wildly.
Investigating the spells the Hermetics found they could reduce the costs of research and necessary Spheres by keeping to the underlying patterns. Of course vampire magic requires blood, but it worked with other systems too.
The trick to Sorcery is that instead of being tailored to various Spheres, it is tailored to Focus themes. Each has its own internal paradigm � and the magic can vary wildly if the theme is kept intact. Each level seems � to mages � to be a new rote or rotes that gradually increase with power according to the Path�s theme.
Each entry lists the name and level of the Path Rote. Then by a Primary Sphere and rank needed. Slave Spheres and their respective ranks. Remember only the Slave Spheres are subject to reduction by redundancy.
Each level of Path Rotes allows the mage to learn the next rank of Rotes. Your mage cannot automatically jump to rank four in a Path.
The Massasa War brought in many tomes explaining and detailing rituals for vampire magical Paths. The Path of Blood is no different from the rest, but it is the most common.
The Taste for Blood_ 1
Blood Rage_ 2
Blood of Potency_ 3
Theft of Vitae_ 4
Cauldron of Blood_ 5
Lure of the Flames
Lure of the Flames is a pointless Rite. It is an application of Forces. Apparently vampires suffer terrible wounds with fire. It is worth noting. The simple Forces effect is far more flexible and terrifying.
Similar to Lure of the Flames, this Path holds very little in the way of impressiveness. It, again, is an application of the Arts of Forces.
Appearing simple, the Path of Conjuring seems to be a collection of Matter effects, but actually is intriguing in the range of spells classified under it.
Summon the Simple Form 1_
Permanency_ 2
Magic of the Smith 3
Reverse Conjuration: This is a simple Anti-magic spell.
Power Over Life: A truly amazing spell, by Matter, basic functioning homunculi are created. It requires ten points of Quintessence. The creatures are capable of simple, directed tasks. I must add this to the Chantry library.
�In the Middle Ages before Sphere magic we had our own magic, not just this cobble it out Spheres nonsense. Sure Spheres are just dandy, but then we had our own sorcerous ways�
�Then we were true alchemists and our Art was terrifying. Now this is all that remains. But you can still perform miracles with the simplest of alchemical solutions whereas the mages need Spheres.
�After all who invented Napalm?�
Possessed by Solificati, select Cultists, Wu Lung Taoist Alchemists. Specialities: Brewing elixirs, chemognosis, strengthening armour, preserving vampire blood.
Alchemy is a quasi-magical skill that enhances and is enhanced by magic. While most of the magic does come from the mage�s Avatar, Alchemy acts like a Unique Focus. While concocting a substance, treat the effect like the creation of Charms or Talismans but the mage can reduce the Quintessence necessary by his Alchemy�s Complete Successes. The mage can also generate more Duration with the Complete Successes of the Intelligence + Alchemy pool. The preparation for creating such items and the enchantment takes weeks and months.
Alchemy can also prepare and keep Tass, remove undesirable Resonance and Echoes, or change the Resonance to another type, and alter Merits and Flaws.
Quintessence: The alchemist with basic Prime effects can alter the substance of Tass, extend the shelf life of Tass, remove Quintessence form Tass, or add Quintessence to Tass. The common word from Journey engaged to the Hollow Society suggest a bastardised version of Alchemy being practised that allows certain Orphans to brew and sell Jujujuice � essentially Quintessence suffused mineral water.
Fortification: Alchemy can also increase the effectiveness of certain items or qualities to a maximum of the Alchemist�s rank in dice in any area. Each Complete Success in an Alchemy roll gives the bonus dice to the specific Trait.
Potions: The staple of any fantasy game, the alchemists are able to perform an action like the various Time__ effects. An alchemist can add his extended scored successes on to an effect�s duration as Hanging Time or until a contingent action triggers the magic. Although commonly used with potions, it has been applied to a number of experiments.
Awakening the Sleeper: While no Solificati has demonstrated this technique, it has been recorded in journals and texts that they can do this. No one is pressurising the House of Alchemy� yet. If the Solificati can do this miracle, so many promising pupils might have a second chance.
The plain-looking circle was a simple scrawl with string and chalk. Pasid stood grinning with a flush from the panicked circle scrawling. Sandy pushed the door open with his staff. He was in no mood for the run around he was getting.
�Cross and you�ll burn,� said Pasid smugly. �No way through for you.�
Sandy looked over the young magus Pasid to the door that was behind his circle, blocked by his circle.
�Really?� Sandy started muttering and his fingers twitched with mnemonic key gestures as the formulae flooded his consciousness. The muttering reached a staccato, Sandy�s arms spread wide. He spun and punched Pasid a mean shot through his circle. By god did it hurt, but he was over the worst of it.
Pasid sprawled and flopped, trying to reach for his dagger. Sandy just stepped over him and went through the door.
Possessed by the Order of Hermes only. Specialities: Enchanted weapons, Fire magic, Spirit Charms, Gifts.
Parma Magica is an old, powerful but dead technique known the mages of House Bonisagus. The mage performs a minor ritual and keeps the successes. His Avatar ultimately limits the mage as the skill utilises stored Quintessence. Every Complete Success counts as Countermagic Arete.
This used to be a staple skill in the Order, but has long since fallen away do to simple spells based on Prime__ or Prime 2 effects. House Bonisagus and Tytalus are resurrecting this obsolete talent for some reason known only amongst them. All their apprentices are now being instructed in its use.
The mage rolls Wits + Parma Magica [Diff7] and generates successes from that. The Parma Magica is ablative and countering magic reduces the deflection pool. A mage cannot generate more Complete Successes as his rank in Parma Magica.
The sorcerer drains one point of Quintessence from the Avatar and converts that to countermagic dice. The mage can also burn the countermagic reflexively by adding the Parma Magica score to initiative the mage can countermagic effects before his action.
The weather had soured in the fifteen minutes Gavin had parked his Ford Armadillo. He waited until the sky was slate-grey across to the horizons.
He slammed the door shut and the alarm beeped. Gavin strode away.
Agent Sasquin folded his newspaper into a card-sized wafer and slid it into his biker jacket�s pocket. Looking across the road, he walked to the Ford Armadillo. Gavin always waited for the clouds to come over. They hid his face from the orbiting satellites. Or so the Intel brief said.
He double verified with Control: the Armadillo was never from any Ford production line although the Paper Trail said differently. He walked up to the car and got his Ever Key ready in his fist. That way he could open locks or slam it into someone�s eye.
Ping! Sasquin stopped ready to unholster his Ballistic Hand Cannon from the Works. Ping! There it was again. It was the car. Sasquin crouched nervously and looked in. Only those shitty Asian cars had proximity beepers.
Ping! �You are closing to the vehicle�s body! Please move backing away!�
Sasquin almost laughed aloud. Damn stupid alarm, he thought. With an annoying anime squeak too. He slid the Ever Key into the door lock with his body cupped over his twisting hand. The lock clicked open.
�Ah-loh-pah-ameah-ameah-adanah-loh-hah-tau-ah! Thank you very much for away moving!�
The door clicked as it locked.
Possessed by the Order of Hermes and only Order of Hermes. It used to be all Hermetic magi needed to be at least partially viable in Enochian and goetia, but that is not the case anymore. Many younger magi consider excessive praxes of the Pyramid to be stodgy-thinking and counterproductive other options of exploring the New Sorcery. Specialities: Craft Names, True Names, Ars Daemonica, Demonology, Conjuring Sigilla, and Talismans.
Enochian is an Order of Hermes speciality and it can only be purchased if the Hermetic mage has bought the Ability in Enochian, the language of angels. Typically, the following abilities are used Expression, Performance, Academics, or Linguistics. Enochian is most commonly used as a versatile focus.
Hermetic Enochian has about as much in common with normal Enochian, that simple arithmetic has with abstract mathematical theory. Enochian can be purchased as part of Linguistics but none of the benefits of Enochian as a separate ability.
Enochian is the language of True Names.
Basic Enochian: While the mage may have Enochian as a speciality language, it doesn�t apply too much except as a method of encrypting speech, and as an effective focus to magic. With deeper understanding, pure Enochian, as a Knowledge can grow a deeper, more fluid understanding of the world of Souls. Other Traditions whisper of the Hermetic ability to speak directly to a person�s soul � or a mage�s Avatar.
True Names: Enochian is a subtle and versatile Art; it can be used in many ways. If the Hermetic rolls his Intelligence + Enochian while researching someone�s True Name � the word that aligns to that person�s actual Pattern � then the magus can reduce the Correspondence Range difficulty by the Complete Successes off the Intelligence + Enochian roll.
Craft Names: Since a magi�s True Name can be derived from his mundane, given name, Hermetic magi build attention-deflecting Craft Names for themselves. The Complete Successes off the magi�s Enochian roll can reduce the Correspondence Ranges from foreign magic and increase the needed successes. Craft Names cannot reduce successes off Line of Sight, if someone has you in their sights, tough luck.
Learning True Names, Craft Names and Sigilla: True Names cost time to study and interpret. To use a True Name it must be memorised first, one experience point per Complete Success must be spent not just to memorise the True Name but the whole formulae for deriving it. What people consider the True Name, the weird squiggle surrounded with Latin, is in fact merely a Sigil. A Sigil is essentially akin to a theorem to be solved.
Using Enochian on the Fly: When using Enochian on the fly without spending experience merely means that the Complete Successes generated will only modify a +1 or -1 to the Casting difficulty. Because True Names are to some degree in permanent flux, the spontaneous Sigil must be used within a turn of it being formulated or its relevance and importance fades to uselessness.
Spirit Etiquette: Enochian is also a way of ranking prestige amongst the myriad spirits of the Umbra. The magus is allowed to add his rank in Enochian to any social-based dice pool when dealing with spirits. Spirits lack a �social� attribute and this is the closest approximation they have � it works almost like etiquette. It also sorts the magus in the spirit hierarchy or ranking. The magus may add his Enochian rolls Complete Successes to any willpower roll when dealing with spirits.
There are other avenues of specialising in Enochian and they give different powers. Many of the Order of Hermes old guard are loath to divulge these to others.
Bone-Dry-Meat squinted for a second as its insect eyes adjusted to the visible wavelength on the electromagnetic spectrum. Magus Jesus cleared his throat. The thing was shaped like a tree branch or twig. It was all unsymmetrical and jointed. Its head spread its two half-mouths wide and they resembled a grin in the current dim lighting.
Its bone spurs clicked and membrane stretched like bubble gum, �Hey Jesus! What�s this? Want to get in touch with your bad side? Get a needle full of bad mojo in your veins? Ha ha ha ha!�
�I am curious about what you have to offer for a little political problem of mine, Axarus-Bone-Dry-Meat,� Magus Jesus paced in front of the demon. He twirled on his heel and continued pacing.
�Well I can give you some smooth words that will settle all arguments like Brylcreem over cowlicks or a sense of impending Destiny. I can even give you the diet versions � it would show up on the scales God has in His bathroom.�
�I need something from you. It will be a custom job. It might be a� difficult, painful procedure��
�Sure. I think I can handle it. I�m intrigued, what is it?� Bone-Dry-Meat was starting to wonder what the hell this was all about. There was no circle, no ward, no abjurations, and no stinking incense.
�I need you to shut up.�
�You little mortal whore-wipe!�
It was too late. Magus Jesus was through the doorway. Only in the then did the demon see the tiny, etched glyph. It was his name, inverted. It clenched its arm-fingers into a spider-like fist and roared. The glyph has regularly etched every 4.38 meters. Bone-Dry-Meat could only feel the symbols effect when he got within 4.38 centimetres from them. It was like trying to claw water.
Bone-Dry-Meat roared a terrible and ancient curse but the meter thick door still shut with a hermetic hiss.
Possessed by The Order of Hermes, although individuals may be able to gain access to the lore on a case-by-case basis. Specialities: Elementals, demons, angels, spirit analysis, daimonic recidivism, applied conjury, tutoring, exorcism, and binding
Goetia is a highly specialised variant of Spirit Lore. The Order of Hermes has mages with Spirit Lore, but not both. Goetia is much more powerful as it has applications to magic than just lists of spirits and their favourite days. Your average Hermetic shares a bond with the summoned spirit that is comparable to that of experienced Dreamspeakers.
Remember that Dreamspeakers often have to pay Chiminage (take on Bans, Flaws, Taboos, Spirit Debts, and Conditions) to earn the spirit�s patronage, goetists do not.
The use of daemon or daimon encompasses all spirits - and souls, Sleeper and Awakened - in the Hermetic lexicon. Demons are a sub-grouping of daemons. The Hermetic term for Avatar is Augeoides and it too is considered a daemonic entity.
Goetia is the mastery of the infamous Art of spirit control by means of a strange combination of protocol, etiquette, taxonomy, and ancient Hermetic pacts. It is the use of highly specialised seals, chants, words, circles, signs, symbols and other paraphernalia that assists the magician in controlling and binding the spirit. When books picture overly elaborate circles with candles, bowls, Hebrew and Latin, and weird squiggle-and-dotted symbols, they are picturing goetia being used. The use of goetia is considered, in itself, as an act of utmost respect to the daemon � like receiving an RSVP invite instead of a bulk e-mail. Of course, this doesn�t stop the spirit from trying to usurp control the situation or get angry at the mage�s demands. Unless utterly bound into servitude, a daemon will attempt to take the advantage.
When the mage is applying goetia to a ritual, the player must roll Intelligence + Goetia [at diff7] and score at least one Complete Success � goetic formulae is very complex and abstracted and needs to be perfect. A mage with a bad job may not control the daemon and even insult it. (See Tradition Book: Dreamspeakers pg58: Totem, to determine the rank of the daemon).
When inscribing the seals and circles, the mage may reduce his casting difficulty and penalties by up to a maximum of �3 with each success on the roll reducing the difficulty by one. A magus may use Enochian and Goetia together with tremendous effect.
Daemonic sigils are potent items in their own right � a magus will know one daemon�s complete sigil per rank in goetia. A knowledgeable goetist who has taken Daemonic Allies or Contacts is assumed to be familiar enough with those spirits to be less� formal with them. Speaking a spirit�s sigil is akin to Spirit__ Call Spirit spell, not to be spoken by the dangerously ignorant.
Every Complete Success equates to an automatic success when running the resisted Willpower check when binding spirits.
Goetia, Theurgia (Enochian) and Magia (Arete) are the points of the Hermetic Pyramid of Thought. Combined they produce exceedingly powerful, disciplined magicians that the Order of Hermes is famous for producing. The Order of Hermes didn�t get to be the Tradition powerhouse (albeit crumbling) without craft a superbly tactical and strategic method of education and training.
Many magi combine the triple Arts of Theurgia, Goetia and Magia. Enochian can also add to the magi�s Willpower and speaking a spirit�s True Name in the goetic ritual expounds upon the effectiveness of Hermetic praxis. The magi�s Avatar can magically rotate and control the results with far greater vigour than mere words and symbols.
Note: Pax Daemonica, the Pacts, the Umbrood Protocols actually refers to the same thing. The rules for Umbrood Protocols are written up in the original Order of Hermes Tradition Book pgs.60-61.
Goetia and Enochian have been expanded upon. Although some might complain that it makes the Hermetic practitioner of Ars Daemonica too powerful, the Protocols now only work with spirits that have agreed to the Pax Daemonicus.
House Tongue (extended Linguistics)
Possessed by magi belonging to that house only. Speciality: House Tongue is a speciality in itself.
House Tongue is essentially a House Secret Code Language. In order to learn the character needs the merit Patois du Ch�teaux. Without the grounding it never happens. Although it takes up one slot of Linguistics it felt necessary to demonstrate it as a generic five-rank Trait spread just to show people how House Tongue actually works in the written form.
Domain is generally titled to Quaesitor and Journeymen, and recently, Janissary magi in order to maintain and develop a network of cabals that form the buoyant association of the Order of Hermes. Previously possessing Domain was seen as drudgery, but since the Fall of the Great Chantries, it has become the lifeblood of the Order.
This is a purely Order of Hermes background designed to designate your position with the Houses pecking order. It is a sign of political acumen, an association within the various cabals and sub-groups and basic sorcerous prowess. Each rank in Hermetic Prestige can be worth one vote within your House to determine policy.
Each rank in Hermetic Prestige can buy a number of different abilities. Each can be purchased more than once. Those abilities that are marked with an asterisk (*) are for basic rank one in those backgrounds.
Although it is recommended to buy ranks in Hermetic Prestige, it is a device to encourage role-playing. If the players are successful in the game they may be awarded � individually or as a cabal � ranks in Hermetic Prestige.
For Tradition mages that earn the respect of the Order can be granted one static rank in Hermetic Prestige: Restricted Access. This is automatically assumed for people with titles like Faction Herald.
Retinue is a pool of associates or generic consors that can be pulled into work at short notice. It is unusual that a character will possess this background; it is more of value to a Chantry. Remember that these people want reward for their work. Danger is not worth any insurance. No, really. Retinue is mostly used as a census of the generic staff of a Chantry.
Most of the Retinue are aware of who you are and are aware enough to perform special chores provided in their spare time. Any specialised tasks or personal interaction requires the Retainer or Allies background. It is possible over time to build one of the Retinue into an ally or retainer. Members of a Retinue are not considered Sleepers.
The Retinue is loyal as any specialist but they are more savvy than most mundanes and are clued enough not to be Sleepers � they tend to follow the �special union� rules even though they are not protected by any of them. Retinue is essentially a well-trained, experienced cross-section of personnel. Many of the Hermetic Personnel are recruited from the Ancient Order of the Aeon Rites, and so are familiar with the Hermetic Paradigm.
Acolytes and Consors: Acolytes are specialised Consors and are actually trained in the use of magic, they just cannot actually do it. Acolytes can assist the casting of magic when present, consors cannot. Acolytes are considered a better grade of consor, not a separate group of personnel. All acolytes are consors; not all consors are acolytes. Buying acolytes uses the Retainer background.
Acolytes trained in the Order of Hermes might not have magic but the may possess workable skills of the rest of the Pyramid of Thought. Two out of three is not so bad. Exceptional consors or acolytes require the Allies background.
By praxis, the theoretical Arts from the Hermetic Pyramid of Thought: Goetia, Theurgia, and Magia; the Hermetic wizard can rely on ancient Hermetic pacts with powerful spirits called the Pax Daemonica. These spirits will respond respectfully to the summons if done correctly, but may quickly come to despise the sorcerer if respect is not shown back. The abilities utilised to conjure and work with Spirits and the Pacts are collectively called Ars Daemonica.
The Pacts, as they are referred to, is a mutual contract between the Order of Hermes as a whole and certain spirits. It allows the magus to conjure the spirit with relative ease, and it allows the spirits to be summoned without the fear of some little excitable petty-sorcerer from magically binding it to service for aeons. These laws bind not every spirit only those previously agreed to Pax Daemonica.
The only thing in common with the spirits bound by the Pax Daemonica is not that they are all Court spirits (although great many are), it is that they are all relatively human centric in nature. At least understand humans on a semi-psychological level.
Pax Demonica: For a spirit to be Hermetically tolerant, it must have Pax Daemonicus as a power. By using the Dreamspeaker Spirit Allies or Totem rules [TB:D58] the player or Storyteller must have bought Pax Daemonicus for the spirit as a Power with a cost of one (this usually means burning more hard-earned experience).
The magus needs to have at least Goetia to summon the correct spirit and/or Enochian to converse with it, and, of course, magic to bring from the Far Reaches.
The Protocols only really work with wizards using the knowledge gained from the Pyramid of Thought. Non-Hermetic wizards trying will quickly be hurt as the frauds they are. The Protocols allow a quick battle of the wills between the magic and the spirit.
The ancient truce of the Pax Daemonic is rendered null and void if the conjurer tries to magically bind the spirit to his will. Many pact spirits refuse to honour the pact because of some wizard�s past arrogance. If the mage binds a supposed independent spirit, the compelled spirit�s immediate superior, a daemon, bound by the pact and may appear to the wizard and demand the other servitor spirit�s immediate release. In this case it is wisely suggested the wizard comply with the appearing daemon�s demands.
The Ninety-Nine Day Escape Clause: A magus is expected not to call the same daemon for ninety-nine days after a successful summoning. This is rendered void if the wizard and daemon have come to an understanding. The official ruling used to be that an attempt at summoning any other daemon was forbidden for ninety-nine days by any member of the same chantry. This stopped daemons from getting angry at pestering mages, but it established a pecking order with regard to magical rights.
It is also stupid to try and force a daemon to do an action in opposition to its duty or dominion. The spirit maybe compelled, but will remember the magician as an ungracious abuser of the protocols. It might get so livid it might drag the conjurer away after it has completed the task.
Caveat Magus: Misuse of the protocols can lead to a trial and the tried wizard�s Craft Name being given to the offended daemons. Any daemon subsequently summoned has no compunction to obey the Pax Daemonica with that wizard. Sometimes the spirit�s just a wanker and mess the magus around.
Sigils � phone numbers for the AetherNet: Unfortunately many of the Sigils found in old grimoires are dangerous to use because the original daemon has vanished and may allow a Usurper through or the original daemon was actually demon. The daemon was previously upset and is permanently hostile to the Order of Hermes, or the daemon�s new boss doesn�t allow the daemon to be under the aegis of the pacts.
To actually use the Umbrood Protocols refer to the original Order of Hermes Tradition Book pgs.60-61.
Since the Fall of the Great Chantries, certamen has fallen away as a decadent splendour of the old age. Two magi, Trevor Darsus bani Flambeau, and Azimuth Jones bani Jannisary, completed a set of Certamen Duelling Laws and a scoring system. Certamen is now freer than it was previously and it requires a judge, although many informal, friendly Certamen duels take place between apprentices and adepts alike. Certamen is now being used as a testing ground for students' skill and even older magi are holding betting pools.
None of the Laws for Certamen can be circumvented whether due to direct or indirect action or inaction.
The Area: The area within which the magi are to duel must be bordered by a perimeter. This is a standard circle of thirty metres. The duelling area is also limited by the circle's hemisphere.
The Wite: The wite is the agreed upon prize by the duellists and the Judge. A wite usually is some sort of fine the loser has to deliver upon cessation of Certamen but before he leaves the area.
The Duel:
The Judge:
Emergency situations:
The Duellist restrictions:
The Duel to First Blood: The Duel to First Blood is the only duel wherein a magus can intentionally harm another.
