Neo-Mercurian Locations
Below are a few ideas for temple site or places of interest for the Neo-Mercurians.
The Hibernian Tricephalos is a recently discovered regio site in Hibernia, in the southern reaches of Airgíalla in Ulster. There is no sign of anything magical, or even any mundane structures, on the mundane level. The regio boundary is located in an unremarkable spot in open terrain. The regio can be entered very easily by stepping through a specific spot (just big enough for a person). This is how it was discovered – magi investigating the supernatural disappearances of a number of locals over many years.
Inside the single regio layer is a small ring of standing stones. It is not possible to leave the ring. Trying to do so results in entering from the opposite side, a very disorienting sensation. There is no way out of the regio without second sight or magic. On discovery there were around a dozen skeletonised corpses inside, since removed. Also inside is a small cache of pre-christian religious artifacts. Most significant is a three-faced tricephalos idol, sitting on top of a pole in the middle of the regio.
As far as the cult can tell, a priest brought the objects into the regio, perhaps to protect them, and then died inside – unwilling, or unable, to leave. Some believe the head was used in theurgic rituals – each face an aspect of a single being. Others think it was used in divination – another divination stone is held in the cathedral of Clogher to the north. Despite the location and apparent age, there are Latin inscriptions which seem to identify at least one face as a Celtic interpretation of Mercury. The other faces are a mystery, but this inscription is enough to warrant further investigation. Other inscriptions are in some kind of druidic language or secret code and may reveal the true names of the beings venerated if they could be decoded. If this happened, another debate would start about the wisdom of summoning unknown daimones.
Opinions are mixed about this site: is it a sign that the influence of the Cult of Mercury extended even into Hibernia? Perhaps a remnant of some Romano-British tradition that survived the collapse of the Cult of Mercury and fled to Ireland? A Roman artefact misused by ignorant druids? Or, and this is only whispered, might it be younger than it seems – a Deidne idol, hidden away during the chaos of the schism war?
This location can easily be relocated to anywhere in Loch Leglean, Stonehenge, or Normandy - anywhere with a historic Celtic population and plausible Roman influence. It's based on the real world "Corleck Head", part of the collection of the National Museum of Ireland.
The Mons Mercurius , now called the Montmartre, is a hill near Paris where St. Denis was martyred. On it now stands a Christian church and a royal abbey. But centuries before it hosted temples to Mars and Mercury. Early on Neo-Mercurian magi in the Normandy tribunal declared an intent to reclaim this site, in spite of the potent dominion aura covering the hill.
Unfortunately unlike many site of the Cult of Mercury there is no regio or magical remnant of the destroyed temple, though many suspected a subsumed magical aura persisted, smothered by the overwhelming power of the dominion and inaccessible. Building a temple in the open in such a public place would be impossible, so the magi involved hatched a reckless plan to awaken and empower the slumbering Genius Loci of the hill, and convince it to create a magic regio. This process took decades, and hundreds of pawns of vis, but, against all odds, it succeeded.
Today the entrance to the regio is a small house in the village near the abbey. This humble abode is inhabited by a messenger, one of the ungifted servants of the cult, and has a gateway created using the mystery of hermetic architecture – what appears to be an alcove in the back of the house is in fact a mystical doorway opened by invoking Janus. Inside are two temples, one dedicated to Mercury, and the other to “Mars”.
A nasty consequence of the awakening of the Genius Loci through the uncontrolled process of feeding vis to it is that the spirit has destabilised. It has acquired numerous flaws and the delusion that it is an aspect of Mars. Believing itself to be the protector deity of the local region, it demands its “cult” act for the good of Paris at all times. Unfortunately for the local Neo-Mercurians, the spirit is now too powerful to easily cow and its idea of “the good of Paris” is erratic at best as it lacks a clear understanding of the area beyond Montmartre. As the Genius can revoke access to the temple regio, the local cult is forced to placate it. Many desire a more permanent solution, but any solution is by definition experimental here and there is a real risk of making the situation even worse.
This can be relocated quite easily to any site where a Roman religious site was taken over by Christians. This happened very frequently, so a locational like this can be found in pretty much any tribunal.
The Temple of Liber Pater is located in the ruins of Salona, the birthplace of the Emperor Diocletian. Salona was destroyed by the Avars in the 7th century, and the surviving people fled to the ruins of Diocletian’s palace, which formed the core of the new town of Split. Now uninhabited, the dominion aura has faded completely from most parts of Salona revealing a patchwork of magic and infernal auras.
The temple proper was a site dedicated to the worship of Liber Pater, the Roman counterpart to Dionysus. As far as the Neo-Mercurians have been able to tell the local cult descended from a magical tradition practicing a form of nature magic, but that over time this gave way to faerie influence as the local fertility spirits were absorbed into the mythology of Liber Pater, Bacchus, and Dionysus. Some speculate they may have practised something like a precursor to the faerie magic of house Merenita, but the matter is ultimately of little interest to the cult and has never been fully investigated.
Thankfully for the Neo-Mercurians the faerie god departed at some point in the past, leaving only the magic aura resulting from the spells cast here in ancient days. The magic aura in the temple is a 3. The cult has rebuilt the temple but hides its presence with illusions and mentem magic designed to subtly ward off the curious.
Unfortunately, the connection to the great persecutor Diocletian and the violent destruction of the town mean that most of the ruins are blanketed with a malevolent infernal aura of strength 2, rising to as high as 5 in some spots. The cult suspects this, and local Neo-Mercurians donate vis and their services to raise a powerful Aegis around the temple each year. Still, there is always the risk of infernal influence creeping in, and the local cult members severely underestimate the spiritual danger that can be found in parts of the ruins.
The cult owns some property in the town of Split which is available for the use of members. There is an ongoing effort to investigate the palace of Diocletian for any Roman artifacts.
This can be relocated to any Roman town or city destroyed in the chaos of late antiquity and never repopulated. You may need to swap Liber Pater for whatever god the local temple(s) were dedicated to, and adjust the ancient magical tradition to match (it wouldn't make make much sense for a nature magic cult to take to worshipping Pluto, for example).