Order of Hermes

‘Ours is the Thunder, the Word and the inspiration. As all humans rise to perfection, so too does our Order rise to glory!’

Specialty Sphere: Forces

Associated Abilities: Occult, Linguistics, and Politics.

Grandfather to the Traditions, mystics without peer, holders of Heaven’s keys – the Order of Hermes claims many titles. Whether these claims are truth or hubris, the Order has donated more to the Traditions, tutored more Archmages and created more codified magical theories than any other group within the Council. These formalized willworkers stand proudly upon their achievements as high wizards, masters of ritual and spell, sages of great renown and learned builders of artifacts and Chantries. Yet their unity hides powerful political intrigue. Their heyday is gone, washed away in the myths of yesteryear. Their most powerful Chantries are shattered. Their newest Initiates abandon the ancient codes in favor of new ways. The Order has survived for centuries through its intensity and dedication, but the new millennium may be its death-knell – or its rebirth.

Tradition Paradigm: The power to shape reality comes from a forceful will and resolute authority.

Philosophy: Hermetic philosophy is complex and many-layered. At the heart, Hermetics profess the drive to perfection, through trials, tests, self-discovery and rediscovery of lost languages and truths. Ideally, each individual has a Word which guides their actions and revelations. By exploring the nature of their chosen Word, the individual raises his inner nature, then beyond. Eventually, the human passes far enough to become something cosmically divine.

More than any other Tradition, the Order believes that their magic is a result of their will. Paradoxically, they are also the Tradition most reliant on tools and rituals in their magic. The Order has great respect for things that can be learned, codified, and repeated, such as mystic languages or rituals. The ritual itself does nothing without the power of the Hermetic behind it, yet Hermetics cannot conceive of working their miracles without some sort of tool to focus their will. One relies upon the other.

Highly concerned with symbology, Hermetic magic calls upon angelic names to open the gates of Creation, often through the secret language of Enochian. With the vibrations of the language of the angels, Hermetics can induce changes in the world. Other Hermetic tools include swords, wands, and staves, traditional instruments representing violence and power. Also, circles, triangles, and other perfect geometric symbols aid in bringing direction and order to the world. Hermetics also call on spirits, binding them into contracts of servitude.

The Hermetics are noteworthy in that they pioneered nearly all the ideas we now take for granted: Traditions, Spheres, Chantries, Mentors, and the like. Whether their claim of being the oldest Tradition is true or not, it is true that they have had the greatest impact on formalizing and classifying magic so it might be more easily taught.

Failings: Although the Order has a great unity and body of knowledge, its own political divisions are its downfall. Hermetic history is full of decisions made for reasons of ego, and of Mages full of pride, hubris, and absolute certainty in the superiority of their own belief. Internally, the various Houses of Hermes have fought amongst each other for resources, students, and even theoretical arguments. The Order has also covered up many atrocities and disasters to preserve the face of the Order. Hermetic politics are often referred to as quicksand – and they can pull down an unwary Mage in a heartbeat.

Likes

Sons of Ether: Modern alchemists and artifact-makers, there is more magic in their work than they realize. By winning them over to our side, the Order has won a great victory against the Technocracy.

Verbena: Their rituals, like ours, are powerful and ancient. They place the ritual above the will, while we do the opposite – but little better could be expected of these hedge-witches and herb women. As long as they don’t do anything too extreme to annoy us, we shall be allies.

Dislikes

Celestial Chorus: We overcame any need for reliance on some far-off deity long ago. Now we only rely on our own power. They desecrate their own talents by attributing them to some higher power. The human will is the highest power!

Dreamspeakers: They know the names of the spirits, true. But they spend their precious time bowing to and serving Umbral beasts, becoming slaves to these inhuman creatures. We command the spirits’ allegiance; we do not bow to their whims.

Euthanatos: They continue to make unjustified attacks on the Houses of Hermes. If they truly wish to serve justice, they will back off and allow the Order of Hermes to police itself.

Hollow Ones: This is the result of magicians without true mentors, a bunch of street urchins who think they can band together and be a Tradition. If they wish to play, let them. If they wish to learn, they may enter the Order as apprentices.

Virtual Adepts: Bah, another group of youngsters who think they’re so much smarter than the rest of us. Our ways have lasted for 500 years for a reason – because there’s real truth and power behind it.

Hates

Akashic Brotherhood: We both seek to perfect our minds, overcoming the limits of our humanity. However, they waste their gifts staring into the skies, puzzling over meaningless koans and enigmas and speaking in riddles. They selfishly choose to pursue their own enlightenment, rather than fix some of the problems that plague the Traditions. Just because they’re ‘ethnic’ doesn’t mean they’re excused from doing their fair share.

Cult of Ecstasy: They take the gifts of enlightenment and wield them without focus or discipline. Their once-great ability to divine the future has been lost to their modern generation, replaced with bodies pumped full of drugs and semen. The Order has executed Mages for offenses less than those the Cult commits on a daily basis.

Factions: The Houses of Hermes

House Bonisagus is charged with the greatest of the Order’s tasks: the realization of the Tenth Sphere, which will unlock the secrets of Creation itself. In their view, only one who continually exercises the mind and spirit towards realizing Truth has any chance of doing so. Nobody stumbles across enlightenment. The Bonisagi are not ‘lost in contemplation’; they are envisioning the million things that must come to pass before Perfection can come into being.

Faction Paradigm: Greater knowledge, and thus greater power, comes through study and thought.

House Ex Miscellanea collects all the minor houses of the Order, allowing divergent ideas to grow and thrive. At least that’s the official version. Most Hermetics just consider Ex Miscellanea their ‘dumping ground’ for minor magical styles that don’t deserve their own House. But where there is diversity, there is innovation. Among their minor houses are: House Criamon, House Hong Lei, House Jerbiton, House Merinita, House Ngoma, House Skopos, and House Xaos.

Faction Paradigm: Our individual cultures give us a collective strength.

House Flambeau focuses around power and energy, bringing their Light to banish the Darkness. Life is corrupt, the world is an illusion, and death will set you free. They are foremost among the Order’s forces, as they see it as their personal goal to change the paradigm of disbelief which the Technocracy has imposed upon modern humanity.

Faction Paradigm: A powerful, radiant spirit brings light and burns away darkness.

House Fortunae attempts to understand the numbers of Creation. Existence is a question, and knowing God’s mathematics allows one to discern the answers to the ongoing equation that is reality. Language, aesthetics, history, the future, religion, and consciousness can all be represented by numbers. He who controls the numbers, yet realizes they are only representations of greater things, can begin to study, analyze and even shape the underlying designs of the Divine.

Faction Paradigm: All things can be reduced to numbers, and he who controls the numbers controls all things.

House Quaesitor believes that the world is based on fundamental truths, ideal laws from which human laws are modeled. We only perceive the world as a chaotic and unjust place because we cannot see the order behind it. Whenever a Mage serves to enforce these fundamental rules, he illustrates that truth is, and always will be, more powerful than illusion. They focus on bringing justice and balance to the world.

Faction Paradigm: There exists an Ideal, from which all human laws are derived.

House Shaea is deeply tied to Egyptian mythology. Their belief is that all of creation can be distilled down to the Names of the things in it. Take away the Name of a person, place, or thing, and it ceases to be. This is why Egyptian nobility sought to destroy their foes not merely by killing them, but by erasing their name from history. Names symbolize power, more than even the person does.

Faction Paradigm: Control the Name, control the thing. Destroy the Name, destroy the thing.

House Solificati practices Alchemy, but more importantly the nature of transformation and purification. The transformation of lead into gold is nothing more than a metaphor for the evolution of the spirit into a thing of perfected beauty and splendor. However, this House is still overcoming the scandals of its history, including the historical betrayal of the First Cabal by one of the trusted members of Solificati.

Faction Paradigm: By practicing alchemical transformation, we learn how to transform and perfect ourselves.

House Verditus has always been interested in creating powerful artifacts and interesting trinkets. In the modern day, they work to control information and technology, the two hallmarks of the modern age. They are tinkerers and smiths, but they are wise enough to set aside broadswords and talismans in order to produce things that have a useful purpose in the modern day, such as enchanted computers and electronic equipment.

Faction Paradigm: Influence and power are gained by applying our ancient knowledge to modern technology.

Elite Cabal: House Tytalus knows the value of struggle towards advancement. If a thing comes without work or conflict, what use is it? Such empty acquisitions merely weaken the will. Sleepers want something for nothing, and as a result, they are apathetic, hopeless, and helpless. By confronting the many forces that oppose enlightenment, the Generals of Tytalus gain power and serve as a trailblazer for the weak. Because of this philosophy, they have become known for their brutal initiations and harsh treatment of their apprentices. They do, at least, enjoy a measure of respect among the Houses – being a Tytali doesn’t mean you’re smart or skilled, but at least you’ve got guts.

Cabal Paradigm: Struggle strengthens the will; hard-won success is the only means to personal advancement.

Requirements: Occult at 5, Politics and Linguistics at 4, two other Abilities at 4. Forces at 3, one other Sphere at 3.

“I speak the secret language. I know the meanings of numbers. I perceive more subtle truths than your unsophisticated mind can fathom.”