I don't see a problem in the main book it talks about a quest for the Holy Grail as a potential storyline and also finding where a great old one lies sleeping for Mythos. It is your world, if you want King Arthur then have him.
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In the King Arthur Pendragon roleplaying game (Greg Stafford's opus) the Arthurian era is considered an enchantment, in ArM terms something like a regio, where the world (or at least Britain) is changed for the duration. When the enchantment ends, when Arthur goes to Avalon, history reasserts its course.
Something to consider.
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Yes, but is it a magic regio or a faerie one?
If a companion disclosed any secret Hermetic records I think he would be in an awful lot of trouble, and these stories don't feature at all in any history of the Order. Some claim that the Line of Pralix might have learned their unique Supernatural Ability from Merlin (HoH:S, p126), and it is merely claimed, not established, that the founder of the "Heirs to Merlin" of House Merinita was descended from Merlin (HoH:MC, p100). Some covenants in Britain, especially Wales, might have some more information about the pre-Gaufridian stories and poems though, which Geoffrey of Monmouth seems to have largely ignored.
Hard to say. I'd lean toward Faerie, with strong magic and divine pretenses.
Pendragon and Ars Magica do not map very closely.
Indeed. This is the principle of Ambiguity which I find crucial to the design of Ars Magica. Nobody should ever know what the world and its history looks like in any detail. Myths and claims are ample. Some of them are true, some of them are distorted, and some may be fiction. What is true is to be uncovered in the story. Sagas should be played both with and without Merlin.
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Yes - I wasn't claiming that was canonical, or that it wouldn't have ripple effects. I was just using it aa an example to show that you don't need anything convoluted to explain Monmouth telling the truth.
Sems like a bad reason - Arthur and Merlin predates the Order of Hermes by a few centuries, so it seems unlikely that they would have any secret records of that time.
None of the founders were from the British Isles, and the Order didn't even enter there until a few decades after its founding, so older events there would simply not be part of the history of the Order.
Merlin would be much like King Solomon - a long dead legendary magician from some distant land that didn't have anything to do with the Order of Hermes.
Geoffrey was a historian, and tried to write down the historical facts as best he could, is perfectly sufficient as an explanation for why he wrote what he did.
There is absolutely no need to come up with any kind of knotty or convoluted reason - that would just be complicating things for no good reason at all.
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I know Merlin would predate the Order - I meant that the Order might have historical records which mundanes don't have access to, because of the Order's greater interest in magical history. (Also keep in mind that the Order includes a bunch of magical traditions, especially in the British Isles, which long predate itself.) This, to my mind, would be a very easy way to fit "Geoffrey of Monmouth had some facts right" with an otherwise more historically minded saga.
Are we so firmly contained on the islands? Arthur is often associated with Brittany, and the association must have been closer at his time than it was at Bonisagus' time. I do not know the biography of Tytalus, but he did end up with a domus magnum in in Brittany.
OTOH, I totally agree that no convolved reasons are required, whichever way we want to go. You just triggered my curiosity.
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Merlin is also strongly associated with Brittany: the fairy forest of Broceliande is one of the places where Merlin is said to have been trapped by Viviane, somewhere around Paimpont. (And it's also the site of Morgan le Fay's enchanted Val sans Retour.)
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Depends on which version of the legend we look at.
As Geoffrey of Monmouth told it, Morgana was one of nine sisters ruling the island of Avalon, and had little part in the story beyond that. Vivianne trapping Merlin was also not part of his account.
The stories expanding on Morgana's role and adding Viviane, and many of the other elements of the legend we are familiar with, are not written until the early 13th century. Perhaps they are even first written and published in 1220?
Tytalus was from Naples in Italy, just as Tremere and Pralix. They were all apprentices there to Guorna the Fetid.
There is one founder who might have been from Brittany though - Diedne. Who also had her Domus Magnum in Brittany.
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Morgan shows up in Eric et Enide, which was 12th century. And Guiomar also shows up there; Morgan's relationship with Guiomar is central to the Val sans Retour legend, so that part is linked to Brittany prior to 1220. Whether that tradition -- and links to Merlin -- stretch back to the time of the Founders is questionable, of course.
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Of course, you could decide that Geoffrey of Monmouth was really Geoffrey of Monmouth ex Jerbiton, and that he was just writing tractatus on faerie or magic lore. He wouldn't be the first Jerbiton pretending to be in the clergy, either.
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Plenty of British magical traditions were incorporated into House Ex Miscellenea so perhaps they would have known about legendary British wizards even if the Founders didn't. If Merlin had been such a pivotal figure as recently as the 6th Century wouldn't he have left more of a mark on the culture, history and traditions of British magic, that someone would have written about a lot earlier than the 12th Century? As it is, Merlin's possible connections to Houses Ex Miscellenea and Merinita are never more than alleged.
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Alleged or not, those allegations predate Geoffrey of Monmouth and go back several centuries.
Did Merlin have apprentices?
Did he teach his magic to anyone?
No? Then he wouldn't have left much of a mark on any British traditions, other than as a semi-legendary historical figure.
Also, was Merlin really that powerful compared to contemporary hermetic magi?
Or was he just a hedge wizard who happened to be in the right place at the right time to be made famous?
At the very least, Merlin taught magic to Nimue, who either then betrayed him or defended herself from his advances (YMMV), and imprisoned him.
Whether he had other students I don't recall, but lack of record is not lack of fact.
Well, he taught his sister, and she went on to marry an king. I like her as an alternate Founder. Gwenddydd - Wikipedia
Also, his tradition could sidestep through another apprentice of Blaise's. If you don't have a son, your nephew is your heir.