Can mundanes learn Enigmatic Wisdom?

[callen]

@Saxonous

Well, LimitedEdition, the current edition does not require you to have an score in every Art.

Where does it say that?

@Saxonous

So, as an example, Sunny the Spontaneous has no Magic Theory, and no score in Creo or Imaginem. It's dark and he needs a light. He wants to make sure it goes off, because he's afraid of the dark. So he spends two points of Confidence. It's sure to go off!

Um, no, not at all. With no score in those Arts he can't cast the spell at all. You are still incorrectly differentiating between Arts and Abilities. Ignem 0 is not no score in Ignem, it's a score of 0.

Chris

[callen]

@Saxonous

Well, I could ask what your obsession is with "Initiated into the Enigma"? There is no example given, no example scripts. I looked for flaws so that I could Reverse Engineer a script but there is no flaw. There are scripts without flaws, yes, but nothing in the writings about Criamon seems to fill that niche. They don't have to travel to the Cave to learn Enigmatic Wisdom in canon. No vows are mentioned. No items sacrificed. No high holy day of obligation. None of the things used in Initiations instead of flaws. I take from this that "Initiated into the Enigma" is a throwaway line that accidentally gained new meaning as Mysteries were added to the game. In the current understanding of the rules, it is a "Hermetic skill", which each mage has at "zero", just like an art with no exp in it. That's what I think is going on. Your game may be different.

Now that I've had a chance to look through some other books, here are some reasons the above line of reasoning is flawed:

1. The first of these is pretty explicit. The second and third both strongly suggest what the first says explicitly.

@ArM5 92

Characters may not learn Enigmatic Wisdom without being initiated into the mystery of the Enigma.

@HoH:MC 60

Once a magus has grasped the foundational elements of wisdom, he may develop deeper understanding by the insights of others, which can be transmitted through books, discussion, or mystical experiences.

@HoH:MC 58

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.

2. Mysteries were not added to Ars Magica later. They are in ArM5 itself. The mechanics were added later.
3. As far as I can see there is also no example script for Initiating Faerie Magic. Perhaps I missed it, but otherwise we have multiple cases of the same thing. Regardless, a lack of example does no show that there is Initiation to be false.
4. Why does it take a year of instruction for other magi to pick up Enigmatic Wisdom? (HoH:MC 49) If Enigmatic Wisdom were just another Ability for Hermetic magi as you suggest, the instruction should take just a season, not a year. If, however, it requires Initiation, then you would require an instructor and need to spend at least one and potentially many seasons. So this is consistent with Initiation but not with the regular learning rules.

Chris