Mage: The Ascension

Order of Hermes

The Order of Hermes' nine Great Houses include:

House Bonisagus
The Bonisagus is an order of theorists and scholars. Eclectic and odd, this ancient order of magi are hard to deduce but still offer amazing new rotes and insights to the Order. Specialty: Prime.

House Ex Miscellanea
Ex Miscellanea is a House for misfit sects and small Houses that can barely stand in their own due to destruction of culture over the centuries. They also include some "minority" Houses from non-Western cultures. Ex Miscellanea includes:

House Criamon: Bizarre esotericists from India dedicated to mad pursuits, this House was founded by secretive illusion master Criamon, who spoke in riddles (when he spoke at all). Subsumed into Ex Miscellanea in the 1700s, these mages channel their Arts through dance, mantras, herbalism, and painful ceremonies of tattoos. Specialty: Time.

House Diedne: The Diedne are Celtic wizards that descend from druidic traditions. They were largely wiped out in the Schism War, but a few exist "somewhere out there". Their status has been reduced to Ex Miscellanea ever since. Specialty: Life.

House Hecate: Predating even House Verditius, House Hecate once served as the sole repository for women Hermetics. The House's mastery of talisman creation was responsible for the production of some of the most legendary magical items found in any Hermetic vault. Specialty: Prime.

House Hong Lei: A small order of high ritualist Chinese elementalists, the "Crimson Thunders" were founded in Hong Kong in 1974 as English immigrants of House Bonisagus took on native pupils in an effort to establish a Hermetic presence in the East. These Chinese mages combine Bonisagi methods with Chinese Taoism and precise ceremonies honoring the Celestial Bureaucracy. Unfortunately, their establishment exacerbated poor ties to the native Wu Lung, who they often rival in ambition and elemental prowess. Specialty: Spirit.

House Jerbiton: Social diplomats and poets, versed in arts as well as the Arts, the Jerbiton was founded by Roman noblemen with no great taste for magick. This House declined during the Middle Ages, joined Ex Miscellanea in the 1300s, and currently enjoys new vitality in the modern era. Specialty: Mind.

House Merinita: Fae-mystics with nature affinities, House Merinita has declined after most of its notables vanished to Otherworlds. Involved in Ex Miscellanea since the 1300s, the House was once waxing, but now it wanes. Though their fae arts have dwindled, they still keep copious amounts of lore on the Fair Folk. Specialty: Spirit.

House Sabazius: The Cult of Ecstasy never had a monopoly on the Eleusian mysteries. Indeed, the highly ritualized nature of such ancient cults were always part and parcel of the Hermetic way. However, since the end of polytheistic paganism in Western civilization, those mages drawn to such mysteries tend to gravitate to the Ecstatics. House Sabazius was reduced to a niche collective of Ex Miscellanea before the turn of the first millennium. Their mastery of horsemanship matched only their wisdom in both rulership and ritualistic nature-worship. Sabazius as a deity was a Roman syncretist of Jupiter (Zeus) and Bacchus (Dionysus) as passed down from the Macedonian and Thracian tradition. They claimed Alexander the Great as one of their own. Unlike many early mystery cults, this Hermetic House was never limited to a single gender, and female Sabazians were often powerful ladies in Roman society. The few Sabazians who remain today still proudly practice equestrian skills in addition to their mystick Arts. Specialty: Mind.

House Skopos: A tiny sect dedicated to quantum reality, it was founded by Spiro Hatzis. This small House has only a handful of members but great potential in the modern era. It focuses on sensory magicks and rigorous esoteric meditations to predetermine the reality of phenomena. Specialty: Time.

House Flambeau
House Flambeau is a competitive and tempestuous order of fire-wizards, dedicated to tactical genius and cunning revenge against their enemies. Founded by Iberian nobleman Flambeau, this House remains well and alive in the 21st century. In their Sancta, these elementalists bind spirits into wands and talismans, then release them in the field as coincidentally as they can. Over time, the healthy Flambeau order has evolved a number of Minor Houses. While the prime House specializes in fire magick, these other Houses focus on other elemental forces that are just as potent and spectacular. They are:

House Aeros: These weather-wizards hail from ancient cosmologicans and almanac developers. Their control of storms, wind, and lightning rivals (and in their minds at least, exceeds) the formidable weather-witches of the Verbena Tradition. House Aeros was formally inducted from the loose affiliation of weather-wizards back in 1874.

House Apollo: Illuminations: mathematical deductions meet religious visions halfway in the apocryphal House Apollo. These mages focus on the control, summoning, and oppression of light itself. Though this medieval House's philosophies oppose darkness, its members learn to control both forces. However, House Apollo's fame dates back to its legendary lore regarding the ancient magick of making the sun shine bright as noon even in the dead of night.

House Bandini: Though this is the latest of the minor Flambeau Houses to form, House Bandini's arts are perhaps the oldest. Formed by Master Bandini in 1924, a stage magician who could cloak the most vulgar spells in showmanship (Blatancy), these Hermetics always specialized in the manipulation of raw kinetic force: better known as psycho- or telekinesis and levitation.

House Chyme: The most unusual minor House to date, House Chyme specializes in the power of sound. Its members learn the impact sound and noise -- and the lack thereof -- can have on the environment. Formed in 1801, House Chyme can still boast some of the most experimental and cutting-edge magicks in the whole Order.

House Glazer: Founded in 1789 and headquartered in Iceland, this House specializes in the power of ice and tidal influence. House Glazer considers itself the fire-wizards' greatest challenge to control of the House's interests and power-base. And they may be correct: their element covers more of the earth than any other.

House Terra: As ancient as House Flambeau itself, House Terra was subsumed back in 1392. They always specialized in understanding the earth's internal motions, enabling this wizards to summon earthquakes and manipulate gravity with terrifying effect.

House Fortunea
Fortunea mages analyze and manipulate probabilities, luck, and money. Their truck in Sleeper society makes them the greatest recruiter of the Order. Based on Qabbala theories of numerology and advanced mathematics, the House is rigidly ordered and academically ambitious. Specialty: Entropy.

House Janissary
Fearsome Arabian/Turkish war-mages, this secretive House maintains many spies throughout the Hidden World. Originally, it was not Hermetic at all, but its Masters shaped their styles after the beliefs of the Quaesitor especially. A few Masters outside the Order of Hermes fear it suffered the same fate as the Ahl-i-Batin and has become Nephandic or even Technocratic. So secretive and practical in magickal style are the Janissary, however, that these suspicions cannot be confirmed. Specialty: Mind.

House Quaesitor
Judges and lawgivers of the Order, House Quaesitor was empowered to enforce order within the Order. The House is still active but battered by years of oversight and misjudgment. They view the universe as naturally just. They use blindfolds, scales, gavels, handcuffs, and iron bars, truth oath geasa, and social disciplines. Specialty: Mind or Spirit.

House Shaea
Masters of language and history and based in ancient Egypt, House Shaea originally joined Ex Miscellanea in 1412. Under Maraksha Kashaf, the House was formally inducted into the Order in 1982. Mostly made up of women, Shaea believe in philosophies of polarity and using True Names of divine power, uttered in the Pharonic versions of Enochian. Many Shaea also bind evil spirits to keep them from mischief, much like the Bubasti werecats, or act in Sleeper society to undermine Technocracy power. Specialty: Time.

House Tytalus
Devotees of Supreme Will, gathered by warlike Master Tytalus to challenge other wizards, this House has always been powerful. It expects the most of its members more than any other Hermetic House. Though master strategists and think tanks, the House's judgment is often brought into question due to past and recent activities and opinions regarding the Tremere and Infernalists. Tytaleans prefer to overwhelm their enemies with mentalism, then advance with powerful shapeshifting. Their Arts are quiet, subtle, and practical rather than the loud chants other Houses favor. Specialty: Mind.

House Verditius
The Verditius are masters artisans who make wondrous talismans and devices. Founded by Verditius who never mastered a single spell, the House prospered during the Renaissance, fell out of favor during the Industrial Revolution, and now has become quite powerful today. Merged with the anarchist technomancers of House Thig, this group of Hermetics may hold the key to the Order's future. Specialty: Correspondence or Matter.