by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
SHR Main Page | Opera Propria | Pax Hermetica Introduction
Surprisingly few changes have occurred to the houses, with no new houses being founded after the middle ages and only one being disbanded. Brief notes follow on the major changes, if any, that have occurred within the Houses.
|
by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law |
Against all expectations, the decline of rural areas has not led to decline in this house. It has changed its nature somewhat, though, in that it is now loosely divided into two traditions, the "rural" tradition and the "urban" tradition. The rural Bjornaer live in remote areas away from cities, continuing in the traditions followed by the Bjornaer of the middle ages. The urban Bjornaer prefer to live in cities, working with the plethora of species that inhabits them. Many urban Bjornaer have heartbeasts that reflect this interest, such as pigeons, foxes, cats, dogs and rats. The rural Bjornaer see their urban brethren as young, hasty and foolish, while the urban Bjornaer see their rural brethren as old-fashioned country bumpkins.
Although nominally still the first among equal houses, House Bonisagus is much afflicted by the fact that no truly impressive advances in Hermetic magic have originated from it in almost 600 years. Nobody denies that what exists has been honed to a high degree, but in most ways Magic Theory differs hardly at all from that which would be instantly recognisable to one of the Founders. In recent years, however, a tendency to experiment in technical areas of magic has been seen by the young turks of this house as "the way forward." Another camp, the "Seekers," attempts to recover lore and secrets lost during the Dark Days, and these magi are responsible, more than any others, for the lack of loss of secrets during the attrition of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.
The Enigma still beckons. As each advance towards it is made, so it seems to recede into the distance. The house maintains its belief in the importance of tattooing, though the younger members have begun to use other, less obvious forms, which include incorporation of the designs into more mundane images and also patterning with ultraviolet sensitive dyes, which show only under UV light. Such Criamon seem almost to ignite when they step into a night-club. Many Criamon are involved to a varying degree in drug culture, using mind expanding substances in an attempt to gain a different perspective upon the Enigma.
House Ex Miscellanea is a special case, because with the Order's decision to compel other wizards to membership, the size of this house has expanded exponentially. This situation was foreseen, however, and it has been ruled that those who join the Order late, not having been trained within it, hold no Wizard's Sigil until two conditions are met. Firstly, they must have faithfully served the Order for twenty-seven years (three to the third power), and secondly, they must submit to a mental search by a Quaesitor in good standing. Strangely enough, few are willing to take the risk that the Quaesitor in question might see something that he views as being subversive or disloyal, and so of those who join the Order from outside, most remain without a sigil for the duration of their lives.
What could change a Flambeau? Would a mere 750 years do so? No. The house, though it contains the subtle and the gentle, is still regarded as consisting of the same insane firestarters that bedevilled the Order in the middle ages. In some ways, therefore, this house presents an interesting dichotomy. On the one side, Flambeau are responsible for more breaches of the edicts against "meddling" than any other magi (with the possible exception of House Jerbiton), but on the other, they provide more Hoplites to support the enforcement of the Pax Hermetica than any other House. Often the individuals involved are the same people at different stages of their careers.
House Jerbiton acts very much as a liaison between mortal and Hermetic groups. Jerbiton tend to swarm thickest at the centres of political power of both kinds, skating perilously on the thin ice of "meddling with the mundanes." There is also a group of so called "Dark Jerbiton" who are involved in more streetwise activities and tend to centre their interest on subcultures and the power structures present within them.
The Redcaps still ply their trade, but it has expanded in scope. The Code forbids using magic to spy on other magi. The Mercere have been, over the last century, honing non-magical means of spying. While they are still trusted to carry messages, their activities between times are beginning to raise some concerns, though of course House Mercere's Primus has assured all magi that such surveillance is used against the enemies of the Order only.
Another House in stark decline, House Merinita has waned with the weakening of the links between Faerie and our reality. There are few Merinitae in any tribunal now, though they still have areas of strength, notably in covenants in rural areas and particularly in those close to unspoilt wilderness.
The Quaesitores are as much the judges of the Order as ever. They still claim the same impartiality and the same encyclopaedic knowledge of the Code of Hermes and the Peripheral Code. Some say, however, that the Judges have too much political power and that their whims are obeyed too often. Held up as a prime example of such a situation is the Stonehenge Tribunal and its centre of power, the Temple, where it is widely felt that it is the Quaesitores who rule the tribunal with far too little scrutiny upon them.
House Tremere is dead. The descendants, magically speaking, of its members can be found in other houses, most particularly in Houses Flambeau and Tytalus.
Some might think the disgrace of the Tremere would reawaken memories of the diabolism of House Tytalus, but in fact this demonstration that others were fallible gave House Tytalus a chance to rise above their history and prove themselves once more the equal of any other house in the Order.
Another convert to the cause of modern ways and especially computer technology, many Verditius magi use computers of unlikely design and staggering complexity and capability. If it is steampowered, with an organ keyboard, and can still out-compute a Cray, the smart money says that it was built by a Verditius.
Text copyright © Tom McKinnell 2006. Artwork copyright © Stephanie Pui-Mun Law 2006.