Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults Chapter Three: House Criamon

Practices & Beliefs

Stigmata

The House’s view of the human body is complex. The body is the vehicle for the mind. The body is the medium that expresses The Gift. The body represents the universe. The skin, where the magus and the universe touch, is an avenue of expression for the accord between the world within and the world without. Marks on the body are more than decoration, because the body is more than meat.

Criamon magi have intricate skin markings that represent their progress toward enlightenment. Each design, called a stigma, represents the magus having understood a vital element of the Enigma, or his role in the search for the answer. The first stigma usually appears when he answers the Riddle of the Magus. The magus does not choose the appearance of his marks, although the player does.

New stigmata appear, and older ones move and become more complex, as the magus absorbs transformative ideas (or, in game terms, increases his Enigmatic Wisdom score), or completes tasks that draw him along his mystery path. This includes learning the Inner Mysteries of any group, beginning or completing the training of an apprentice, seeking or binding a familiar, or producing a great work of the Art. A magus’s stigmata represent the character’s history and true nature. Stigmata are inevitably honest, but only other Criamon magi can interpret them accurately.

A Criamon magus’s stigmata have no mechanical cause and cannot be removed, even by magic. If a magus loses a stigma, for example by suffering burns that destroy that patch of skin, the stigma regenerate, or migrate so that the burn forms part of their pattern. On rare occasions, a magus’s stigmata have migrated to a familiar, talisman, or apprentice. Magi shifted into other shapes retain their stigmata in the new shape.

Certain symbols repeat across the bodies of the House’s members: the most common is the loop of the infi nite. This represents the prison of cyclical time. It appears on the forehead of each Primus. Criamon magi who have entered Twilight often develop loop marks on their wrists. This shows that they have broken their manacles, if only for a moment. Each path has stigmatic symbols, which are described in detail in their sections.

Other forms of body modification find temporary popularity in the House, but most members think Criamon’s teachings forbid them. Criamon was branded repeatedly by his teacher, and suffered other physical mutilations. Criamon magi still know how to do these things, but have been told that these external interventions offer only power, not wisdom, and so they are a distraction that should not be pursued. A few Criamon magi do not heed this prohibition, because the House does not enforce it. Their apprentices are more disfi gured, and psychologically damaged, than usual for a Criamon magus. One example is the current Prima, whose child-like appearance came about through a form of magical body modification.

Stigmata for Outsiders

Players interested in religious matters may be aware that the term “stigmata” is also used for the miraculous appearance of the wounds of Christ upon the bodies of the faithful. This has yet to occur in Mythic Europe: the first documented case will be in 1222 in England, if your saga follows real world history. The first famous case, Saint Francis of Assisi, develops in 1224. His wounds are unusual, in that they are lumps of flesh on his hands that take the shape of nail heads on one side of the hand, and sharp nail points on the other. Later, bleeding wounds become the usual form of stigmata. Unlike Criamon stigmata, these hurt and often smell like jasmine.

Magical stigmata, like those possessed by House Criamon’s members, sometimes appear on magi from other Houses. Each stigma usually represents a single, terrible incident that influences the magus for the remainder of his life. Rarely, Gifted children develop stigmata before the Order discovers them. One form, blotches that look like bruising, sometimes appears in newborns. The House prizes these children as apprentices.

Body Modification Rules

Magi from many Houses understand these techniques, but Criamon magi are those most likely to use them to modify themselves and their apprentices.

Tattoos

Magi use the term stigma for both tattoos and the mystical markings of the Criamon magi, but understand that they are different classes of thing. Criamon stigmata cannot be enchanted items, but any magus can have ink tattoos that perform magic.

Tattoos do not have wide favor in Mythic Europe. The Book of Leviticus states that having tattoos is a sin, and the Romans used them to mark slaves and criminals. Pilgrims, however, are beginning to popularize tattoos. A cross inside the wrist, made by the Coptic priests of Jerusalem, is seen as proof that a pilgrim completed his journey.

The typical Criamon magus, covered in designs, is thought to be a sinner deformed by his own acts. A single visible tattoo is suffi cient to earn the Disfigured flaw, being more ugly than a scar to most medieval people, since it cannot be an accident. Some young Criamon magi are not Disfigured, though, because their marks have appeared in locations usually concealed by clothing.

Enchanting Tattoos

The rules given here are for simple tattoos used as enchanted items. The Mysteries Revised Edition gives an alternative system using a Minor Virtue called Inscription on the Soul, which is too lengthy for repetition. It allows magi to craft their own bodies into talismans. Members of the House may learn Inscription on the Soul from other Criamon magi, or from the ghosts at the Cave of Twisting Shadows. It is common only among House members following the Path of the Body, described later.

A tattoo has a base material score of 2, multiplied by a size modifi er. A tiny tattoo has a multiplier of one. A tattoo the size of the magus’s palm or forehead has a multiplier of two. A tattoo that entirely covers a limb, or the scalp, has a multiplier of three. A tattoo that entirely covers the back or front of the torso has a multiplier of four. A tattoo is designed as personal magic, so it does not cause Warping. Tattoos may gain material bonuses by use of unusual inks, or by depictions of mystically resonant subjects. With minor modifi cations, these rules also describe the effects of mystical branding.

Other Modifications

Head binding causes the most common disfi gurement in the House, excluding stigmata. A tight bandage is tied around the head of a child, to warp his developing skull. A magus whose skull has been altered during infancy has an aptitude for a single path symbolically linked to that particular skull shape. This acts as a +3 bonus for his Initiation Script for the fi rst station (Mystery Virtue) of that path. The commonest skull shapes, the cone and double-lobed, suit the Path of Seeming and the Path of the Body respectively. The paths are described in detail at the end of this chapter. Other rituals of modifi cation, for example castrations, breaking of bones, and severing patterns of fi nger and toe joints, have similar effects. Most Criamon find these modifications distasteful.

Final Transmission

Transmission is the process through which a magus passes what he has learned on to other members of the House. Some Criamon magi report what they have found to their clutchmates. Others train skilled apprentices, or write books on their specialties. Some members of the House choose not to rest in death so that they can ensure the perfection of their transmission. Of these options, spectral tending of the House is considered most laudable, but many magi are unable to resist the reward that awaits them in the Hypostasis.

Some magi, fading into their path’s repose, have perfect transmissions. In this instant, the magus’s wisdom is encapsulated into a place or object, from which other Criamon magi may study, by contemplation. The covenants built in these Magical auras seem destined to play out tales that are allegories to the insights of the magus. Places of perfect transmission can be designed using rules given in Covenants Chapter 7: Libraries. As a simple alternative, treat the place as if it were an excellent book the magus wrote in the instant of entering Twilight, which a student reads by spending time meditating in its presence.

Perfect Transmission Site Example

One site, particularly popular in the House, was created by the transmission of the Maga Niobe, who longed to be Prima but was never selected by the communal vision. As she faded into Twilight, a small pond appeared around her feet. A magus with Enigmatic Wisdom who meditates at this spring for a season can study from it. Use the rules for studying a pawn of vis in a standard laboratory, with no possibility of experimentation. The magus may study any Art in which he lacks the knowledge to train an apprentice (a score of 5). Several magi may use the pool simultaneously, but all must study the same Art in a given season. The area about the pool has a Magical aura of 1.

Repose: House Criamon’s Alternative to Death

Every path of Initiation into the House’s Mysteries ends at a place where the magus ceases to strive. This is a point of blessedness and bliss. A conundrum recognized by many Criamon magi is this: to become so wise as to deserve repose, a magus must develop such compassion for other people that he cannot leave them to suffer. Most magi hold off repose so that they may aid others in the quest for the answer.

The different paths that members of the House follow end in different paradisaical states. The repose of each path is described at the end of that path’s section, as are the powers granted to those who stand at the threshold of repose, choosing to abstain from bliss. These powers are simple but sweeping. Troupes desiring more limited and detailed powers may prefer those found for immortal magi in The Mysteries Revised Edition.

The Paths

Criamon magi have not idled away the time since the Founder. Their inquiries into the nature of the universe have shown them many strange connections, and granted them many abilities not shared by other magi. Their fi elds of research, called paths, are traditional ways of acquiring wisdom. Each path has a clutch that acts as its center, but most clutches contain members who are not on its usual path. These magi travel to their path’s clutch, or to the Cave of Twisting Shadows, when they require further training or guidance.

All Criamon magi see life as a spiritual journey, and it usually follows one of the paths that have been marked by their predecessors. This chapter does not describe all of the paths of House Criamon. Troupes are encouraged to develop further paths that suit their stories. Those trying to develop their own paths should follow the rules for discovering new Virtues given in The Mysteries Revised Edition.

Some magi, particularly the young, do not attempt to develop themselves spiritually, either by following a path or pioneering one their own. Criamon magi say that those individuals are following the Winding Path. This refl ects the idea that all magi are living and acting, so they must be on a path to somewhere. Older magi say that directionlessness is the widest path, because those on it are hardly the fi rst to eschew the dictates of Wisdom. Characters on the Winding Path sometimes stray from apt action concerning pacifi sm, which includes inappropriate sex and carnivorism. Most magi on the Winding Path eventually fi nd spiritual direction, sometimes with intriguing results.

A magus may follow only one path at a time. A path includes a mental framework that is incompatible with any other worldview. Changing paths is a life-shaking decision, because it means abandoning much that was learned on the previous path. A magus who steps from his path to another begins without the use of any stations upon it, save Enigmatic Wisdom. Magi rejoining a path regain the understanding they had before they left it. The Primi of the House are the single exception. They retain the stations on their previous paths when they step onto the path that only Primi travel, the Path of the Mirror.

Secrets

Most mystery cults enforce secrecy with dreadful oaths and terrible threats, but Criamon magi do not consider this necessary. The things that the House has discovered on the paths to the Enigma are so obscure that a magus not trained in the Criamon way of thinking, through the riddle technique, simply cannot understand them. Those with suffi cient Enigmatic Wisdom to support the House’s mission, conversely, are welcome to know them. Those who try to develop Enigmatic Wisdom outside of the structure of the House’s beliefs and practices inevitably fail — the House has been molded by the Mysteries. This means that House Criamon does not have to hide its secrets; its secrets hide themselves.

Enigmatic Wisdom and House Criamon Lore

House Criamon’s members have the Enigmatic Wisdom Ability, described in the core rules and elsewhere in this chapter, and House Criamon Lore. The latter Ability quantifi es each magus’s understanding of the House’s task, and its strategy to reach its goal. This strategy encompasses the paths and stations, described below, but also includes the function of each of the clutches, and the roles of senior magi within the House.

Guides

A key fi gure in some Mystery Cults is the Mystagogue. This charismatic person commands a probationer, and grants him Initiation. Criamon magi believe that wisdom itself Initiates, and that the traveler on the path to wisdom does not need a master so much as he needs a guide. The game mechanics governing the roles of guide and Mystagogue involve the same numbers and formulae. The roles differ in how the characters behave in stories. Criamon magi have a non-hierarchical approach to spiritual development. Tasks based on impressing the guide are not usually signifi cant — one cannot impress the Enigma.

Two exceptions are the Paths of the Mirror and Strife, which do have formal Initiation by superiors. The Path of the Mirror, followed only by the living Prima under the instruction of her predecessors, is a series of Initiations for those who choose to serve the worldly House. The Path of Strife transgresses the mores of the House.

Psychodrama

Some of the avenues below require periods of introspection and meditation. Superfi cially, these times lack story potential: the magus is simply thinking. This underestimates the effort, and potential for failure, involved. Magi pausing to refl ect are engaged in a process of excruciating self-examination that amounts to spiritual combat against the self. Player characters best experience this as an allegorical story that takes place in the mind of the magus.

For example, a magus sealed in a glass coffi n for a year, in darkness, seems to have perfectly avoided any potential for story involvement. This is not the case: the magus, closed away from the petty distractions of life, has no choice but to confront his own nature and his role in the universe. He is forced to acknowledge, and replay repeatedly, his moments of greatest moral failure. He is constrained to confront the consequences of defects in his character and lifestyle, unflinchingly. He is compelled to explore the universe, his body, and the links between, despite the pain and perversity of the process.

Many magi claim to meet ancient spirits in this state — Strife, Uncertainty, Harmony, Surety, Swiftness, and so on. Some magi generate fantastic delusional worlds that assist their minds to deal with such diffi cult concepts, and conventional stories can be played within them, remembering that each character in those stories and worlds is invested with profound allegorical meaning.

A magus who fails to complete this ordeal may not progress on his path. Often the magus may attempt the avenue again, assisted by knowledge gained through prior failure. Absolute failure during psychodramatic stories sometimes has terrible effects. The magus is in a mystical mental state, so failure can force checks for Twilight. Magi occasionally die during their meditations, leaving highly troubled ghosts.

Stations

Each path described below divides into fi ve grades of progress, called stations. Stations are psychological states that, because of the wisdom they provide, allow magi to understand profound insights. This, in turn, gives magi supernatural powers, which players use as Mystery Virtues. To Criamon magi, insight is the more important; the powers are mere effects of the process of increased enlightenment.

The process of reaching a new station is called following an avenue. Each avenue is a process of spiritual awakening, purifi cation, and testing that is mechanically refl ected by three elements. The magus must have a House Criamon Lore score of at least one more than the station’s position on the path, undergo a trial or ritual investiture, and fi nd insight in a story. This means that to reach the final station on the path, magi require a House Criamon Lore score of 6. This is usually only gained by extensive study at the Cave of Twisting Shadows, through instruction from the spectral embodiments of the House’s collective lore, who guide the House’s strategy.

The Initiation Script calculations given below for each avenue assume the guide’s Presence + House Criamon Lore score equals 6. The House selects guides for young magi, and ensures that satisfactory teaching is always available. The ghostly magi at the Cave of Twisting Shadows also sometimes act as guides. Assume that these have a House Criamon Lore score of 9, and a Presence refl ecting that which they had in life. They prefer to allow the living members of the House to perform Initiations into the lower stations.

A character proceeding on a path may fi nd that she already has a Virtue or Flaw that lies on her route. The player should negotiate with the troupe to substitute another Virtue or Flaw, to balance the paths. It is possible for a magus to learn House Criamon Lore without developing the Flaws that typify the House, but all followers of the paths are eventually Disfigured, and all have either the Vow or Pious Flaw.

To Do is to Be. To Be is to Do.

The avenues and stations are not, of themselves, suffi cient to use new Virtues or powers. These benefi ts represent a state of spiritual purifi cation. A magus who lives badly is rejecting that state, and loses the associated powers until purity is restored. This is reflected by the Vow Flaw found in the first avenue of many paths. The Pious Flaw, similarly, is the deep desire to follow the lifestyle of a path. A magus who has the Pious Flaw and fails to act aptly ceases to advance on her path and, very slowly, loses his path’s mystical abilities.

Enigmatic Wisdom

Enigmatic Wisdom lies at the beginning of each path. Criamon apprentices learn to view events and objects in unusual and intuitive ways, usually by meditating on 15 riddles related to the Arts. This training helps them to find connections between concepts, and place this knowledge into the context of the Enigma. This in turn allows Criamon magi to understand the nature of humans, the universe, and the ties between them in ways incomprehensible to other magi. Once a magus has grasped the foundational elements of wisdom, he may develop deeper understanding by considering the insights of others, which can be transmitted through books, discussion, or mystical experiences.

Symbolic Understanding

A Criamon magus may use his Enigmatic Wisdom score to understand subtle symbols. This allows magi to interpret arcane events, perplexing situations, dreams, and visions.

Criamon magi can understand what kind of life experience lies behind each of another magus’s stigmata with a successful Intelligence + Enigmatic Wisdom roll against an Ease Factor of 6. They can tell whether a character has been Warped, and how severely, with a Perception + Enigmatic Wisdom roll against an Ease Factor six or more, and if they beat an Ease Factor of 12, they understand, in general terms, what sort of life experience caused the Warping.

This Ability also assists with interpreting dreams and visions. It does not grant supernatural visions, but many Criamon also have that — separate — Flaw.

Labyrinth Meditations

Criamon magi may improve their concentration by engaging in labyrinth meditations. A labyrinth meditation is a non-magical ritual during which the magus walks slowly through a maze while contemplating a problem. Many contemplation mazes are simple ribbons, with a single path leading to a center, then out again. Simple contemplative labyrinths can be created with low-level spells.

The magus’s mental state remains focused for an hour after he completes the labyrinth. This allows a bonus on a single roll. This can be used to untangle a single conundrum (an Enigmatic Wisdom roll), recall a single fact (a Lore roll), or perform a single physical action. Physical actions must take no longer than one minute (ten combat rounds). The bonus is equal to half the magus’s Enigmatic Wisdom score.

The magus must have a score of at least one in the required Ability before it can be assisted by labyrinth meditations. Meditations add grace to the magus’s thoughts and actions, but do not grant conscious skill. A magus who does not know how to swim, for example, cannot use the clarity of thought and action provided by the meditation to swim.

Characters with an Enigmatic Wisdom score of three or more don’t need a physical labyrinth; they can walk in a circle for the same effect. Those with a score of six or more don’t even need to walk — they can imagine the circle. Labyrinth rituals take sixteen hours for characters with a score of one in Enigmatic Wisdom. The time required halves for each level they gain. Characters with brief meditation times cannot, however, perform several meditations and save or stack the bonuses.

Twilight

Criamon magi understand Twilight better than other magi, and so navigate it more safely. This is refl ected in the Twilight rules given in ArM5, pages 88–89.

The Path of the Body

The Path of the Body focuses on the human form. Some Criamon magi believe that the human body and the universe reflect each other structurally, so that knowing the body illuminates the prison of time. Others enhance the body as a tool and as a vehicle for escape from the universe. The Criamon Path of the Body is in many ways the inverse of Hermetic alchemy, which assumes the universe is perfect and a magus who refl ects it perfectly will become immortal. Criamon magi assume that the universe, like each body, is inevitably decaying.

The five usual stations on the Path of the Body, in their most common order, are given below. Some Criamon magi, however, find the Station of Perfect Movement second and the Station of Spiritual Nourishment third. These different branches of this path correspond to the attitude of the magus. Those who see the body as a vessel for the spirit learn Nourishment fi rst, while those who see the body in mechanistic terms learn Movement fi rst. Each type of magus must learn respect for the opposing view before he can understand the Microcosmic Station. If the order is reversed, the Scripts for the two stations change: a Major Flaw (Pious) is always gained in the third avenue.

The followers of the Path of the Body tend toward practical, useful insights. An unusually large proportion of the Primi of the House followed this Path. Primi who have achieved the Microcosmic Station on this path are active administrators under whom the House co-ordinates its ventures effectively.

Path Symbolism

Magi on this path often favor the Art of Corpus, and many are skilled in Intellego, Creo or Rego. The other magi on this path note that the body represents the universe, and the universe contains the other Arts, so one may follow the Path of the Body while studying another Art. The stigmata of this path first appear upon the magus’s back, over the lungs. They rapidly spread to the rest of the body, but remain most dense in their original location, and along the backs of the arms and the tops of the legs. The marks are usually have mirror symmetry, that is, they are a mirror image divided along the spine. The sound of the breath plays an important role in the labyrinth meditations of followers of this path.

Unlike the other paths, there is no discernible motif in the stigmata of the body. This may be because the body represents itself in the design. It might instead mean that the motif is very simple, and is disguised by multiple, seemingly random, expressions. The oldest magus on this path claims that the stigmata are dozens of randomly superimposed images of the constellation of Virgo, but he cannot prove it to the satisfaction of his sodales. Each mark seems to be made of darker skin, in Caucasian magi, or paler skin, in others. Newly emerged stigmata look pink and raw, but are painless.

Followers of this path often have apes or monkeys as familiars. It is considered particularly auspicious to have an Egyptian baboon, because the being known as both Thoth and Hermes took this shape when he descended into time to train the progenitors of human magic.

The Path of the Body, Expressed Symbolically

The Initiation Scripts for the Path of the Body are as follows:

The Avenue of Subduing The Meat and The Station of The Perfect Tool

Target level 21, as Major Virtue (Minor Potency in an aspect of Corpus, may use Enigmatic Wisdom in lieu of Medicine and Chirurgy) Script Bonus +15: Major Ordeal comprising three minor Flaws (Vow to not pollute the body and to use it aptly, Deleterious Circumstances while ill, Disfigured by stigmata) +9, sympathetic bonus (a complete year cycle as a plant, or similar) +3, special time and place (symbolic rebirth) +3

The Avenue of Drinking The Winds of Inspiration and The Station of Spiritual Nourishment

See the note in the introductory section for this path to determine whether this is gained as the third station and Perfect Movement as the second. Target level 12, as Major Virtue 21 (allows characters in high auras to not eat, drink, or sleep and replaces the longevity ritual), fi rst Initiation after Major Ordeal –9 Script Bonus +6: Psychodramatic visions or confl ict to secure a site (Quest) +3, special time and place +3.

The Avenue of The Tiniest Seed and The Station of Perfect Economy of Movement

Target level 15, as Major Virtue 21 (perfectly precise movement), second Initiation after Major Ordeal –6Script Bonus +9: Major Flaw (Pious) replaces Minor Flaw (Vow) +6, Mystagogue’s time +3.

The Avenue of The Spherical Mirror and The Station of tHe Microcosm

Target level 15, Major Virtue 21 (Arcane Connections to most things), first Initiation after Intermediate Ordeal –6 Script Bonus +9: Psychodramatic Quest +3, Mystagogue’s time +3, special time and place +3.

The Avenue of Repose In The Body and the Threshold of Corporeal Repose

Target level 17, Major Virtue 21 (purifi ed of mortal frailties), second Initiation after Intermediate Ordeal –4 Script Bonus +12: Three Quests to legendary places +9, special time and place +3.

The Avenue of Subduing the Meat and The Station of The Perfect tool

Several ritual investitures assist magi to find the first station of the Path of the Body, each of which is descended from a different tradition of mystics adopted into the early House. Those following this avenue develop control over their bodies’ desires and distractions, usually through painful mortifications, or fatiguing exertions, that last a year. A handful of magi have followed this avenue by being transformed into plants for a year. The avenue ends with a guide acting as midwife for a symbolic rebirth.

At the first station of the Path of the Body, the magus realizes that the body is the perfect tool for Hermetic magic because it is adapted for magic, and magic, in turn, is adapted for it. The magus’s close inspection of the body allows the development of Minor Potency in an aspect of the Art of Corpus. Magi who have found this station see the intrinsic links between the body and the magical energies it wields, and so can use their understanding of magical events to minister to the body. They may use Enigmatic Wisdom in place of Chirurgy and Medicine in rolls. They also know, instinctively, if their body is ill, and where, although they may not know the appropriate treatment.

Initiates of this station are bound by the lifestyle of the House (Vow) and find it more difficult to use their magic when their body is ill (Deleterious Circumstances). Some illnesses do not block certain mystical effects; the usual example given is that fevers do not restrict Ignem spells because they are caused by a surplus of fiery humors. Wounds do not prevent magic use, of themselves, but open the body to infections, which may.

The Avenue of Drinking The Winds of Inspiration and The Station of Spiritual Nourishment

A process of purification that involves abstinence reveals the second station of the Path of the Body. The magus travels to an area with a Magical aura of at least 7, and secures safe use of the site. Beginning on the first day of the solar sign of Virgo, the magus begin progressively deeper degrees of fasting, avoids spellcasting, and performs labyrinth mediations. During this time, the magus is usually unable to perform other useful work, as he is only half-conscious of the mortal world. His feverish hallucinations, representing his addictions to fl esh and grain, hound him. Magi may leave their trance-like state for emergencies, but then need to begin the process of purification afresh.

Characters Initiated to this station have drawn themselves away from the universe suffi ciently that their bodies are sustained by the flux of harmony and strife within the Inspirato. Characters Initiated into this station gain a Warping Point each year, but do not age. While in magical or mundane areas, spiritually nourished characters may eat, drink, and breathe, but they do not need to. They must engage in elaborate, delightful labyrinth meditations that take six hours every day, but do not sleep. The delightful mental exercises required to feed mystically engage the magus’s mind. The magus is still aware of his surroundings, and can cease meditating if events threaten, but cannot perform other useful work while feeding. Characters do not gain additional seasons of study due to this station.

Magi feeding on the Inspirato’s flux require six hours of meditation per day in total, regardless of interruption. Those failing to finish their meditations must either eat mortal food or lose weight. Many Criamon magi on this path fast occasionally, by refusing either meditation or food, and often meditate for more than six hours a day if they are recovering from illness.

Spiritual nourishment can fail for a variety of reasons. It cannot be found in places lacking suffi cient magical energy, which includes Faerie or Infernal auras of three or more, or anywhere in the Dominion. It also fails if the character is in an inappropriate spiritual state, having performed inapt actions. Spiritual nourishment is affected badly by venturing into areas under the infl uence of nonmagical realms. The age-resisting properties of this station are countered by two of the other realms. Characters who venture into Arcadia may retain their longevity effects by eating a pawn of Creo vis from the mortal world, per week, while there, but must also eat, drink, and sleep as normal folk must. They still do not breathe, but aren’t sure why. Characters venturing into the Dominion or Infernal areas fi nd that they begin to age again after (Enigmatic Wisdom + 1) days. They are required to breathe, drink, eat, and sleep in these areas; they gain one need back each day. A character who ages, for any length of time, during a year must make an Aging roll at the end of that year, even if he has regained spiritual nourishment before the winter, which players use as a tallying point for aging. A character whose ceases to be spiritually nourished can regain her previous state with a labyrinth meditation once the reason for failure has been remedied.

The avenue of the Tiniest Seed and the Station of Perfect Economy of Movement

The third station on the Path of the Body allows the magus to use the mechanical force of his muscles with incredible precision. The investiture requires a season of complicated training in focus and movement from a guide. Magi who develop perfect economy of movement are supernaturally graceful. Given preparation time, they are able to use labyrinth meditations and the Virtues granted by this station to perform one action of perfect precision each day. To those inspired by such things, these movements appear beautiful.

Once per day, following a labyrinth meditation, the character automatically succeeds on single Dexterity-related Ability roll with an Ease Factor of 21 or less. This theoretically includes the use of missile weapons and aimed spells. The Criamon lifestyle limits the usefulness of this, since these magi are pacifists. A magus reaching the third Station of the Path of the Body is certain, in his innermost self, of the correctness of the path. This certainty is represented by the Pious Flaw, which replaces the Vow Flaw gained earlier on the path.

The Avenue of the Spherical Mirror and the Station of The Microcosm

The insight at the heart of the fourth station of the Path of the Body is one of which most magi are, intellectually, aware. The human form and the universe have identical underlying structures: the body is a microcosm. The usual method of awakening the instinctual, reflexive connections between the magus’s body and the universe is deprivation. The magus is encased in quartz or glass then left in darkness, as if dead, for a season. The magus’s ability to feed from the Inspirato provides sustenance, while the magus learns to sense corporeal connections to the universe, isolated from all distractions.

It was usual, in the early history of the House, for magi to undergo this ritual alone. It was discovered in North Africa, and the perfect site for it is a cave complex in Ethiopia. The extreme difficulty of reaching the complex has made necessary the use of substitute places, with a guide interceding to allow the completion of the ritual. Some of the travelers on the Path of the Body wish to return to the older way, which they believe is more likely to lead to novel insights concerning the Enigma. Others say that the newer ritual, which takes one quarter the time of the original, is itself a wonderful breakthrough.

The microcosmic insight shows the magus that he is connected to all mundane things in the universe. This allows the magus to cast spells as if he held an Arcane Connection to any mundane place he has visited, or any mundane thing he has touched that is currently in a mundane place. People, who are themselves maps of the universe, may not be targeted by spells using this ability. Some Criamon of religious bent insist this is because the soul contains a spark of the Divine and so people are not mundane. This station allows Criamon magi to travel freely about Mythic Europe using Leap of Homecoming.

A limitation on this power is that the magus is only able to use his connections to things or places that he distinctly recalls. The Criamon magus’s player makes an Intelligence roll to determine what he distinctly recalls, with the diffi culty increasing as the magus’s contact with a place or thing becomes increasingly tenuous. The troupe may agree that there are certain places the character sees so regularly that the player need not roll, for example the road outside his covenant, the bridge just outside the nearest village, or his childhood home. Similarly, places where the magus has faced death, or performed great acts, may be burned indelibly in the memory, at the troupe’s discretion.

Places that the magus has visited regularly require a roll against an Ease Factor of 6.

Places the magus visits yearly require rolls against an Ease Factor of 9.

Places the magus visited a long time ago require rolls against an Ease Factor of 12.

Magi may add up to three to their rolls if they have something that evokes their memories of a place, like a souvenir, tattoo, or scar. A botched roll means the magus has recalled the wrong place entirely, but does not know it.

The Avenue of Repose in The Body and the Threshold of Corporeal Repose

A magus prepares for the fi nal station of the Path of the Body, its repose, by making his spirit ready to move from the microcosmic body into its, parallel, macrocosmic form.

The ritual is performed at a place and time where the connection between the body and the universe is strongly apparent. The Axis Magica may serve instead, but the House prefers its members to experience less well-understood connections between the body and the universe. A popular one, historically, has been the meeting of the White and Blue Nile at the moment of the fl ood, which represents the first division of arteries from the heart.

At the ritual, the magus consumes mystical representations of the four bodily humors. One of these representations is found at the initiatory site. The other three must be obtained through Quests to places that are, themselves, so exceptional as to be suitable as Initiation sites. The ghostly Primi remember the sites used by previous travelers on the path, but encourage magi to fi nd at least one novel site.

Storyguides should ensure that these legendary sites are of interest to other player characters. The representations of the humors contain vis, and can assist original research. They are found in strange locales linked to ancient civilizations. Bizarre monsters that served ancient magicians guard some sites.

Those who have gained this station but choose not to depart from the world do so because they believe that their ability to change the physical structures of the universe is seriously diminished when they enter repose. Magi choose to remain behind to work on projects requiring their physical presence, like training apprentices, resisting tyrannical rulers, fighting demons, and penning books. hile they linger, these magi dwell in bodies purifi ed of all mortal frailty. The magus regains any attributes lost to aging and no longer uses the Aging Point system. Any negative physical Characteristics the character has are raised to 0. Short of death, the magus’s body reforms itself if damaged, healing completely at full moonrise. This process causes all of the magus’s mundane disfi gurements to fade away, including his umbilical scar. The magus retains his stigmata and continues to gain Warping Points, however.

Repose in the Body

Magi repose from this path by being reborn as the universe itself. They become one with necessity, and so seek to change it, allowing the cyycle of falling and rising harmony to end.

The Path of Seeming

The Path of Seeming draws upon the insight that the secrets of the Enigma are hidden within the distracting details of the world. The path provides tools that permit magi to examine the world. When the magi comprehend the design of their prison, they see where its walls crack. The Path of Seeming searches for weak points in the circle of time.

The Path of Seeming, Depicted in Digits

The Path of Seeming includes the following Initiation Scripts:

Avenue of gruel, Water, and Starlight and the Station of Differentiation of Seeming Target level 21: Package treated as a Major Virtue (Clear Thinker, Common Sense, and Keen Vision)

Script Bonus +15: Minor Ordeal: Disfigurement +3, Mystagogue’s time +3, psychodramatic Quest representing subduing the senses +3, special site and time (a certain cave complex during the dark of the moon) +3, sympathetic bonus (deprivation) +3

Avenue that Assaults the Modesty of the Universe and the Station of True Sight Target level 18, as Major Virtue 21 (may use Enigmatic Wisdom as if it were Magic Sensitivity and Second Sight), first Initiation since Minor Ordeal –3

Script Bonus +12: Ordeal (Vow) +3, Quest of insane wanderings +3, special time and place +3, Mystagogue’s time +3

The Avenue of the Unexpected Pages and the Station of Vivid Memories from Objects Target level 18, as Major Virtue 21 (may read the memories of objects), first Initiation since Minor Ordeal –3

Script Bonus +12: Ordeal (Major Flaw Pious replaces Minor Flaw Vow) +6, special time and place +3 (or possibly Loss of Talisman +3), psychodramatic Quest +3

The Avenue that is a Crossroad and the Station of Passing Through Seeming Target level 15, as Major Virtue 21 (spirit traveling), first Initiation since Intermediate Ordeal –6

Script Bonus +12: Mystagogue’s time +3, special time and place +3, sympathetic bonus +3, Quest +3

The Avenue that leads to Transcendence and The Station from which to Ignore the Real Target level 17, as Major Virtue 21 (may briefl y ignore mundane objects), second Initiation since Intermediate Ordeal –4

Script Bonus +12: Ordeal (Major Flaw Twilight prone) +9, Mystagogue’s time +3

Path Symbolism

Many magi on this path study Intellego magic paired with any Form, although Imaginem and Mentem are the most popular choices. Most have some skill in a second Technique, because knowledge must guide action. Some of the path’s Mentem specialists have relegated Intellego to their secondary technique.

The stigmata of this path fi rst appear on the bridge of the magus’s nose. They rapidly spread to the rest of the body, but are most prevalent on the head and along the spine. The marks are usually have radial symmetry. The sound of the magus’s heartbeat is vital to the labyrinth meditations of followers of this path. The stigmata of this path are more prone to movement than those of any other path. When the magus is concentrating or performing magic, his stigma may swim through mystically signifi cant patterns. Thematically, the stigmata gained on this path are linked to the element of water, and to refl ective things.

Followers of this path often have familiars that dwell at the border of two elements. Waterbirds are popular, particularly the sacred ibis. This was the form taken by Thoth, also called Hermes, when he instructed early humans in magic. Beavers, otters, and crocodiles also have surprising prevalence.

Avenue of Gruel, Water and Starlight and the Station of Differentiation of Seeming

Young magi commencing the Path of Seeming are flooded by sensation. This makes noise cacophonous, light garish, and food fulsomely rich. These magi perform labyrinth mediations while eating the blandest gruel and drinking only water until they undergo a series of investitures that teach them to tune their senses. These trials, under the guidance of teachers, are traditionally performed in a series of caves. Appropriate sites have been established in three Tribunals.

Travelers on this path come to understand, intellectually, the difference between truth and seeming: what is, and what appears to be. Each magus develops the Clear Thinker, Common Sense, and Keen Vision Virtues, although the player may trade Keen Vision for a similar effect in any other sense. Criamon magi on the Path of Seeming are those most able to communicate with outsiders, because they are lucid conversationalists schooled in a fi erce logic. They cannot, however, successfully discuss the magical insights of the House with those lacking the frame of reference that Enigmatic Wisdom provides.

Avenue that Assaults the Modesty of the Universe and the Station of True Sight

Magi seeking this station can sense the underlying structures of the world, but have difficulty understanding these new perceptions. They sometimes develop imaginary friends and enemies, and have odd escapades. These are much like psychodramtic adventures, except they do not occur solely in the mind of the magus. The magus’s companions, and eventually his guide, must defend the traveler on the path from dangers he cannot understand, while he wanders in madness. The magus usually recovers after a season, but requires intervention by, and training from, his guide during the final weeks.

A magus who recollects himself is confi rmedin his faith concerning the path and develops the Vow Flaw. Magi invested in this station learn to instinctively strip the universe of its illusions. They may use their Enigmatic Wisdom score as if it were both the Second Sight and Magic Sensitivity Abilities.

The Avenue of the Unexpected Pages and the Station of Vivid Memories from Objects

Magi who seek this level of Initiation fall into a coma as their minds flit through the memories of the objects that surround them. The magus takes a role in these narratives, seeking to push them to the point where the magus acquires the object in whose memories he has become lost. The magus needs to recognize the object, then step into one of the roles in its memory, to press the story forward until the magus acquires the object.

The magus, playing the role of another character in the object’s memories, rarely fi nds it simple to deliver the object to himself. These visions are not metaphorical, and the roles magi play tend to be people of low social class, who have little legitimate contact with magi. This process forces the magus to see himself through foreign eyes. This engenders a more accurate sense of self and makes the magus a devotee of the path.

If the magus fails to deliver the object, he becomes lost in a new vision from the memories of another object, and must try again. When the ritual is concluded successfully, the magus must bind the delivered object as his talisman. The object is usually symbolically suitable for the magus, but if it is impractical, the magus may transform it with Hermetic magic before enchantment.

A magus Initiated into this station can handle a mundane object without magic resistance, concentrate, and recall its his tory as if the object had human senses. A magus handling a silk handkerchief could remember the Byzantine bazaar where it was sold, the Italian merchant who purchased it, the hold of his ship, the lady to whom he sold it, and the servant to whom she gave it, as if the magus had been the handkerchief. This ability cannot read the memories of humans or other self-aware creatures.

A magus seeking a particular memory makes a Perception + Enigmatic Wisdom roll. The Ease Factor is six for details the item encountered daily, nine for details the item encountered every week, 15 for events that happened occasionally in the item’s presence, and 18 for unique events. The item’s memories of an event are particularly vivid if the event altered the spiritual quality of the item. The moments of an object’s creation and breaking are always vivid. Sins, crimes, or charitable acts performed using the item are also recalled vibrantly. Add +3 to the Perception + Enigmatic Wisdom roll for vivid events.

It is possible to recall a city as though touring it with an appropriate object, and some Criamon get very nostalgic for places they have never seen. They warn that there is a lifetime of memory in every cup, stone, and apple, which is why the solution to the Enigma is so diffi cult to find.

Example: Avenue of the Unexpected Pages

Antigone, a follower of this path skilled in Imaginem magic, falls into coma with a silver candlestick between her hands. Within her psychodramtic Quest, she awakens in the body of a swineherd named Tobias, who lives fi ve miles from the covenant. He awakes holding the candlestick and knows he must deliver it to an oblivious Antigone. Antigone-as Tobias must complete an arduous trek, face robbers seeking the stick, negotiate with surly guards (who are versions of grog PCs), and deal with a patronizing maga (controlled by another player) to complete the Quest.

The Avenue that is a Crossroad and the Station of Passing through Seeming

This avenue allows the magus to approach a station that permits his to send his spirit traveling through the world’s ocean of magical energy. A magus who liberates his spirit in this way fi nds it drawn, sequentially, to the four Edges of the World. These are regiones corresponding to the four elements and humors. The magus must escape each of these lands, coming eventually back to his body.

Initiates of this station can ignore the world, accepting that much of it is an illusion. They seek a place by swimming through the Inspirato to view it. The part of the magus that travels is that which becomes a ghost after death. The ghostly magus ignores gravity, and so may swim through the air. The magus can see at his destination, and speak audibly, but may not handle mundane objects except in auras of eight or more. He may touch enchanted items and other ghostly beings, because they also have a magical nature.

While the spirit of a magician is absent, the body appears to be a fresh corpse. The magus’s body can starve or die of thirst. Its automatic reflexes allow it to swallow soft foods or water placed in its mouth. Caring for the body is a task often given to an apprentice. Magi traveling spectrally — or “passing through seeming” — have limited ability to cast spells. At their destination, they may cast spells at Arcane Connection range. They cannot sense their body’s surroundings, but if they wish to cast spells ranged Personal, they may do so normally.

The Avenue that leads to Transcendence and the Station from which to Ignore the Real

The Axis Magica, on New Year’s Eve, is the only suitable investiture site for this Mystery, but magi who already dwell at the Cave of Twisting Shadows are required to venture spiritually to the other regio, where the Axis emerges from the other side of the Earth’s sphere. Few magi know what lies in these lands, which they call Hypernestoria. Magi who follow this avenue discover that the mundane world is merely a frame of reference. It becomes difficult to differentiate consensual reality from all the other illusions the magus encounters.

A magus who has attained this station may ignore mundane objects, briefly. With a Stamina + Concentration roll against an Ease Factor of six, and a round of preparation, the magus can act as if a single solid object was spectral for a number of minutes equal to the magus’s Enigmatic Wisdom score. The magus may affect as many objects at once as he can concentrate upon. The Ease Factor increases by one for every object after the first. Groups of objects add three to the Ease Factor. This means that, for example, the droplets of a rainstorm, or the shafts of a hail of arrows, pass through the magus on a roll of nine or more. People cannot be ignored because they have souls, and so are qualitatively different from mundane objects.

Characters who achieve this station do not clearly differentiate the mundane world and the Hypostasis. This makes them more likely to suffer Twilight experiences, as their ability to navigate back to the mortal world is impaired.

No Repose

Magi on this path do not fi nd repose. They simply cease to distinguish between Twilight and reality, and so fade away, like illusions. Some have suggested that these magi have withdrawn into prolonged, temporary Twilight, and will return to the world when they wish, probably to hear the answer when it is discovered, but any of them might, theoretically, return at any time.

Some magi of this path fl ee death or Twilight by wandering through an infinite number of memories in moments, living untold lifetimes in mere weeks. These magi descend into comas and eventually float into Final Twilight. What happens to the minds of these magi afterward is unclear, but many suggest that they will live in psychodrama until awakened by the answer to the Enigma.