In the "Oppidum of Héviz" saga, one of the players mentionned something that caught my attention:
It got me wondering what sort of path a Verditius would come up to achieve immortality. First thing that came to mind was that of a magical cyborg.
The Verditius, over the years, crafts replacements pieces for various parts of his body, enhancing it at the same time. Enchanting each part so that it provides him with various effects.
Ultimately, enchanting a fully mechanical body (modular so that he can transfer over the previously enchanted parts) within which he can transfer his consciousness (if he's good with Mentem), or which will host his frail flesh for eternity (insert image of the Daleks).
Don't know if any of the existing mysteries would allow him to echieve the ultimate goal, but many of them might be useful.
Well, Living Corpse from Hermetic Projects would seem fairly well-suited to a Verditius magus.
Some sort of cyborg body would be interesting, but not quite in paradigm, I think. Still, a suit of armour, attuned as a talisman could make a nifty anchor for a magus' disembodied spirit should he be so inclined.
The question assumes that Verditious cult lore has the capability to initiate immortality. While the rules don't specifically limit the number or type of mysteries that a cult can initiate they do suggest that the virtues be themed and limited. I for one don't think that the number of virtues that can be pulled out of given mystery cult lore is limited only by how much research and effort go into searching out new initiations, I prefer the idea that there is only so much value that can be gained from any given cult lore. I think that the setting and game are better served by mystery cults that sharply limited in their scope. (I'm not even sure that nature lore should be seen as an exception).
I don't want someone coming to me with claiming that being able to research any number of virtues that stack bonuses in the same area -for example affinity (character's favorite art), puissant ( character's favorite art), magical potency (something relevant to character's favorite art), magical focus (something relevant to character's favorite art), special circumstances (targets relevant to character's favorite art), deft (character's favorite art), extractor of ( character's favorite art) vis, etc) is totally appropriate because it's "in theme".
I agree. It's a mistake to presume mysteries are practical. Wanting to live forever is an obvious practical goal. But a Verditius achieves immortality through his craft.
What does the body matter? Make a flying castle, and you become a legend. That's real magic.
I agree that they should fit, the theme, but we already have an example of a cult with limitless scope. The children of Hermes. That's their entire shtick!
I do like the idea of a cybernetic Verdi. Although with more magi-tech, and medieval technology feel to it. It would be cool. Turn yourself into an automaton.
Perhaps not for the whole body, but I know of at least one myth about replacing part of an individual's body: Nuada Airgetlám of Celtic mythology. He lost an arm in battle, which was replaced by one made of silver.
Byt the way, I'm not saying that this would necessarily be a specific mystery cult, but rather that an individual Verditius might try to learn various mysteries that would help him achieve this. Or simply investigate such magics on his own. For example, he might first make himself a silver arm to replace his weaker flesh, make it into his talisman, and then use a Verditius mystery (I forget which one and I don't have my books with me) that allows him to make this into a composite item. Then he could add more items to the arm, up to the point he'd be ready to transfer himself into it.
I don't want to say a verditious that eventually transferees their consciousness permanently into a dragon automaton isn't worthy of a story. I just don't think that it is a given that he can, the storyguide is well within his rights to say no that's not what this mystery cult is about or say that may be what this cult is about but even so the cult can not provide that particular virtue.
And yes that is the schtick of the Children of Hermes and that is why (in my opinion) the section on the Children of Hermes of mystery cults revised is arguably the worst few paragraphs of text in the entire 32 book Ars 5 line. The deal with mystery cults is esoteric knowledge and understanding has power, and that characters can alter themselves with this knowledge. Except in the case of the Children of Hermes where knowledge doesn't matter. You can take any given initiation and completely divorce it from the understanding that makes the initiation meaningful and have it work perfectly. It isn't about the character immersing themselves in the mystery. It's about the recipe and any specific cult understanding is meaningless. One set of esoteric knowledge is completely and easily interchangeable with any other set.
Note that in my initial post I mentioned mysteries. As in the mysteries of House Verditius, not those of Mystery Cults. I wasn't excluding those, by neither was I really thinking of them.
Edit: And of course it's not a given that such a project would ultimately succeed. It never is, anyway, no matter what your path to immortality is. Life is a bitch, and then you die.
It would evoke Lord of the Rings -like feeling to tie ones own life to items of power. Or like it says on back cover of HoH:MC - House Verditius crafts the greatest artifacts in Mythic Europe, putting a little of themselves into their finest creations. Since Verditius mysteries twist both magi who delve into them and who hold their items (hubris and covet item -personality traits) I thought it would be more appropriate for mystery to be related to that. Perhaps there could be a talisman mystery that slowly inflicts personality traits of talismans creator to whoever wields it thus keeping alive creators way of life. Already talisman with right kinds of enchantments probably leads problem solving into certain paths and with right enchantment even memories could probably dribble to its wielder (leading to other items of power). Perhaps some pieces could be hidden into attuned items too. As you find more pieces of mighty Verditius of past you also start to understand him and start to covet missing pieces while seeking to join house Verditius to truly understand him and to hold same mysteries as he held. In a way magus could create a mystery cult of his own self that grants his mysteries and items to whoever follows his own path.
I agree this probably isn't suitable for a generic Verditius cult, but then again most cults don't exist IMO. The order is too small for that. For a particular saga, this idea could work. As a general cult, or a one-man-madness/genius.
I also share the dislike for the idea that any cult can develop any mystery, but in TMRE's defense I see The Children of Hermes as an ironic twist on mystery cults that will only be really appropriate for a very few sagas. It's there as an idea, not as defining how mysteries work.
