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Mythic Europe is a world filled with absolutes. There are four Auras that the Order of Hermes acknowledges. Of these, two are important from a moral perspective - the Dominion and the Infernal. The other two, the Magic and the Faerie, the Order is very comfortable dealing with, but the moral Realms are a bit more tricky in this regard. The Four Element theory holds sway in Mythic Europe. Everything is composed, in various admixtures, of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. Similarly, the Four Humours associated with the Four Elements affect the temperaments of the inhabitants of Mythic Europe. Could it not also be said that the four Auras have a similar effect on its inhabitants? Most magi seem willing to agree with this final proposition...up to a point. Magic is the core of the Order's existence; Faerie is fine, if somewhat chaotic; Dominion's goodness is certainly acceptable, even if the Order at times chafes at the perceived "restrictions" attendant with its power. The Infernal Realm, however, is only considered in terms of containment - ward against demons, do not traffic with demons, do not summon demons, etc. In many ways, the temptations and power of evil, those Seven Deadly Sins (Pride, Anger, Greed, Sloth, Envy, Gluttony, Lust) from which all of Mythic Europe tries to guard itself, are studiously ignored by the Order. But as it is written, Pride goes before the fall.
The Order of Hermes is an interesting institution in many regards. First of all, it is the single most powerful magical group in Europe, especially due to the Join or Die policy that was so prevalent in its early days. Secondly, it is one of the few truly international organizations in Europe, with members stretched from Schleswig-Holstein to Syria and from the Urals to the Emerald Isle. Still, for all of this scope and all this domination, it is a peculiarly limited organization. Not only are all the members of the Order scholars of no little repute, but it also seems that none of the members appear to be truly evil, actively trying to either corrupt or cause harm to the wider community. A few are portrayed as prideful, a few as paranoid, but none as willingly doing evil and destructive deeds in the world in general. It is this second point that I wish to discuss in this article.
Consider the major crises of the Order. We know of the problems surrounding Damhan-allaidh (Dav'nalleous) in the early 9th century. He was not, however, a member of the Order We know of the attempt by Tremere to take control of the Order, yet this is described mainly in morally neutral terms. We know of the corruption of House Tytalus, yet here the evil was primarily on the part of the demons, corrupting proud magi who thought they could withstand the powers of the Infernal Realm. Finally, there was the Schism War in the early 11th century, which is put down to paranoia rather than any truly evil actions on anyone's part. There we have it - in over 400 years there have been four major crises, none of which could truly be said to have been caused by a specifically evil individual in the Order. None of these crises produced any negative consequences of note, none of them caused the Order to sunder, none of them uncovered actively evil individuals in the heart of the organization. Some few might have been misunderstood, or perhaps overzealous, but none of them went out of their way to commit murder or to defraud mundanes into executing sinful acts. None of them were actually evil.
Still, there are some curious provisions in the Hermetic Oath:
I will not deprive nor attempt to deprive any member of the Order of his magical powers. I will not attempt to slay any member of the Order, except in justly executed and formally declared Wizards' War. I hereby understand that Wizards' War is an open conflict between two magi who may slay each other without breaking this oath, and that should I be slain in a Wizards' War, no retribution shall fall on he who slays me.
I will not endanger the Order through my actions. Nor will I interfere with the affairs of mundanes and thereby bring ruin on my sodales.
I will not use my magics to scry upon members of the Order of Hermes, nor shall I use it to peer into their affairs.
Each of these points sounds reasonable in and of itself, yet they give pause. What acts took place (obviously before the formation of the Order, as this oath was administered at the very first formal meeting of the Order) that would require such specific points? Did pre-Hermetic magi regularly slay one another, and did they regularly attempt to deprive others of The Gift? If so, how often were they successful? How often did pre-Hermetic magi interfere in the doings of mundanes? We need not truly go into the concept of scrying - this is all too obvious. But a larger point is raised by all of this - how often are Hermetic magi guilty of breaking these laws?
Now compare these thoughts to the personalities of the magi found in various supplements pertaining to Ars Magica. Some of these magi are quite secretive, a number of them are filled with hubris, some are a bit paranoid, a paltry number might even fall to a bit of gluttony, yet very few of them could be described as truly evil. None of them are stealthy murderers, for example, or rapists. None of them are truly power-hungry, wickedly domineering, or in league with demons. Perhaps they are unpleasant and manipulative, but that is a different kettle of fish. Now several priests have been portrayed in the canon as corrupt or willingly engaging in the Seven Deadly Sins; so, too, have a number of noblemen, as well as a good handful of merchants and even peasants. Where are the murderers, the vast plotters, the poisoners, the truly vile individuals in the Order of Hermes? Are all magi so dedicated to the Oath that they give up any thought of subverting it? Could it be that the quaesitores, as one colleague suggested, are simply too good at their job and that all magi who cross the line are swiftly Renounced and killed? Given the restrictions on scrying magics, this does not seem entirely plausible. Still, perhaps there are other explanations for why evil magi are so poorly documented in the Order.
Magi, for the most part, live in covenants. I say "for the most part" because we have seen time and again notes to magi who strike out on their own. In the Rhine Tribunal, for example, we learn that something like seventeen percent of the tribunal's members have no fixed covenant affiliation. Covenants, being small institutions, would tend to spot evil-doers fairly quickly, at least "quickly" by Hermetic standards. If, however, a magus stays on the move, or sets up shop on his own in a private location, it would be easier for him to hide his evil ways. This may well fit with the folkloric notion of the evil wizard in his lone tower or the evil witch in her small hut in the woods. In these private, secretive spots it would be easier to cover one's tracks. Alone in their private sanctums, evil magi might engage in any number of nefarious deeds, their acts going unnoticed for decades on end. Certainly this is a possible answer to the riddle.
Now this also brings up another question - just why would there be evil magi? We have four Realms - Dominion, Infernal, Faerie, and Magic. In the Dominion all is Good (or tries to be). More importantly, given the standards of Mythic Europe, the Dominion is the place from which all Goodness comes. In the Infernal, all is Evil (or tries to be). As the inverse of the Dominion, the Infernal Realm provides all that is Evil in Mythic Europe. In Faerie one finds a whole range of emotions and reactions - relatively good Seelie, relatively evil Unseelie, and many fay falling into the vast middle ground of simply existing, albeit with a particular take on what actions are to be favoured or avoided. In the Realm of Magic, however, there is little guidance. From the Bestiary (ArM5, Chap. 13) we have very little clue as to whether Magical influences may be directed towards evil. The Ghostly Warder is Protective, the Magical Wolf is Loyal, and Stellatus the Dragon is Proud; none of these traits are particularly good or evil, but could fall in either direction depending on the circumstances. So far Magic appears to be morally neutral.
Another potential way to measure good and evil in the Order of Hermes would be to look at the spells in the core rule book. If we take all the obviously harmful or intrusive spells as evil, all the obviously curative or protective as good, and all others as neutral, we end up with approximately 50 good spells, 110 evil spells, and 190 neutral spells. Of course, this is only one person's interpretation of these spells, and many of them are borderline cases. Still, neutrality still appears to be the order of the day, even if good is down by a fair amount.
An evil magus might very well begin life as a thoroughly moral person who becomes twisted through a rather warped apprenticeship. Potentially, a parens who is not in and of him- or herself evil might so belittle, frighten or maltreat an apprentice that when they become a magus in their own right they might turn to evil. A new magus with Low Self-Esteem might strike back at his parens, especially if it was the apprenticeship that brought about this poor self-image. Then again, a vile magus might go looking for a child with The Gift who is the sort who pulls the wings off flies and kicks puppies just for fun, specifically in order to mold an even more evil magus. Not every magical tradition is going to be moral and upright; there are undoubtedly Mysteries of dark background, hidden under the general cloak of the Order of Hermes. In other words, either by the parens actively striving towards the creation of a dark magus or as a result of simple negligent treatment an apprentice could be turned into a truly vile magician.
So let us look at the factors again. There are strong injunctions against depriving magi of The Gift as well as against taking retribution after a Wizards' War. Equally there are injunctions against scrying on fellow magi and against interfering with mundanes. Magic appears to be a morally neutral power, with the potential to be used for either good or evil, depending on personal decisions and actions. On top of this, it would be difficult to be truly and actively evil within a covenant setting, barring, of course, the notion of an all-evil covenant; even this would eventually be detected. There are injunctions against scrying on one's sodales, but even so eventually rumours would arise. An evil magus, then, would be likely to be either mobile or living on his own. This evil could arise due to personal tastes and actions or due to demonic influence.
Of course it is possible that the primary way, or even potentially the only way, a magus would become evil would be through the active agency of demons. This, in many ways, is canon in Ars Magica - demons are particularly interested in the highly corruptible souls of magi, people who rarely, if ever, attend Mass. But this denies a sense of Free Will and might take us back to the days of 3rd edition Ars Magica when demons were loosely added into supplements without rhyme or reason. It is actually quite easy to assume that there are such corrupted magi about, ones who in their vanity and pride believe they can challenge the power of the Inferno and remain unscathed, yet such figures do not appear in the supplements. Such a magus would be an intriguing villain, especially as the lies and deceptions of demonkind are immune to the power of magic. Lies are the essential nature of demons, and as magic may not alter one's essential nature, the lies would stand up as easily as the truth.
What all of this creates is another level, a potential substratum to the Order of Hermes. As evidenced by the personalities of NPCs created to date, this is not an aspect of the Order that has been explored. There have been complaints on the Berkeley List of the practice of human sacrifice being mentioned in 5th edition Ars Magica; if such avenues to power are available, who but a blackened soul would even be interested in such actions? To this end I created the maga Drucilla filia Edith, who may be found in the Camera Mysteriorum section of this site. She may represent a hidden aspect of the Order of Hermes, one that is not generally acknowledged, the hidden not-quite-brotherhood of evil magi lurking within the very heart of the Order. You might wish to experiment with this facet in your own saga. Perhaps you will find that there is another crisis around the corner for the Order.
Text copyright © Angus Macdonald 2005.