Exotic magic and mysteries

Forgive me if this has been asked before, there is a limit to how thorough my searches are on the phone interface.

The ex Misc Children of Pralix have a mMF in Exotic Magic. How does this interact with various Mysteries?

See HoH:S p.126:

This focus applies whenever the magus uses Hermetic magic to investigate, change, control or destroy non-Hermetic magic.
It only applies to magic, not to the innate supernatural powers of creatures with Might, and only applies to powers derived from the Magic realm.

So you ask, whether "various Mysteries" are non-Hermetic magic. Right?

Mysteries are indeed a various lot. Some Mysteries define Houses in the Order of Hermes (see e.g. ArMDE p. 233 Mysteries). Initiating TMRE Mysteries requires the Gift and they typically are only for magi (see TMRE p.9ff Entering a Mystery Cult). But HMRE Hedge magic initiations don't require the Gift (see HMRE p.13 Initiations).

Non-Hermetic magic is not precisely defined.
Clearly, features of non-Hermetic magic can be integrated into Hermetic magic with a Breakthrough (see ArMDE p.279ff Integration). Would that make these features suddenly Hermetic with respect to the mMF in Exotic Magic of a Pralician?
Is a Faerie Magic spell (see ArMDE p.236f Merinita - Faerie Magic) non-Hermetic, because it hails from non-Hermetic origins and requires initiation into Faerie Magic?

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The mystery of the Heartbeat was never understood by Bonisagus

Also, is Aegis of the Hearth still non-Hermetic enough to be covered by the mMF in Exotic Magic? :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

“Poorly integrated” should not be the same as exotic. Just because a Mystery/spell isn’t widely known or doesn’t quite fit within Hermetic magic doesn’t mean that it’s not being accessed through Hermetic magic. It’s a Minor Magical Focus; it should be quite limited in the things that you can use it for.

Mysteries that aren’t accessed through Hermetic magic (e.g., House Mysteries, TMRE Mysteries, etc.) are still around in sufficient numbers that it should still be a useful Virtue. I don’t think it’s intended for spellcasting, though; more for your Integration Lab Totals. (and, of course, once it’s integrated you no longer get the mMF bonus, which is a bit of a weird quirk.)

The Lineage of Pralix are more interested in non-Hermetic magicians than in odd edge cases found within the Order. Yes, they get a bonus on integration, but it also applies to spellcasting. If it all goes down with The Order of Odin, expect them to be in the front lines. See their special Mastery bonuses, for example.

I'm not sure where the line is drawn. I wouldn't allow the bonus for Hermetic spells with non-standard parameters, but I think it should work for Mysteries such as the Heartbeast, as well as Hermetic magic can at all. (As a focus, it can't make anything possible that you can't do with higher Arts, of course.)

I don't know if @OneShot was being serious with AotH, and by extension the other Mercurial Great Rituals.

But it does suggest a possible limit to “exotic” magic - magics that aren't integrated enough to “plug” into Hermetic Magic.

I recall reading somewhere that Bonisagus liked the idea of Mysteries and engineered Hermetic Magic to be accepting of Mystery plug-ins.

So if a Mystery Virtue can be used as part of a Hermetic total, it is not Exotic. But it the Mystery Virtue never involves a Hermetic lab/casting total it probably counts as Exotic

Side thought:

Would a Pralican (Child of Pralix) be better at integrating non-Hermetic magic into Magic Theory than a Bonisagus? Presuming comparable MT scores

Yes. And I would say that in my view, Bonisagus probably had Comprehend Magic.

In sub rosa #16 Voventes Centennales I gave 9th century Bonisagus researchers the option of getting the minor Hermetic virtue Cooperative Hermetic Integration.

It is spelled out as:

The magus has a special talent for Hermetic Integration (as described in
Ancient Magic, pages 7 to 9 and Hedge Magic Revised Edition, pages 14 to 16) while working with a teacher, who knows the magic to be integrated.
If such a teacher spends a full season to answer questions and help the magus, in that season the magus gets a +4 bonus to rolls to gain Insights related to the teacher’s magic, or a +6 bonus to lab totals when creating the effect allowed by such an Insight. Both bonuses are cumulative with eventual bonuses from the Inventive Genius Virtue.
This Virtue is available only to newly created Bonisagus researchers, and then replaces their Puissant Magic Theory Virtue as House benefit.

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There's a quite a bit of wiggle-room there, and I think it depends a lot on the troupe.
Personally, I'd say that the Focus applies to anything (that is Magic aligned and not an innate supernatural power of a creature of Might) that could be done by a magician who could have learnt it without any direct or indirect contact with the Order, including all magics that predate the Order.
Thus, it does not apply to the Aegis, to Parma, and to most Verditius and Merinita Mysteries. It does apply to the Bjornaer Heartbeast (the Outer, "basic" mystery), as well as some Criamon Mysteries that have their non-Hermetic equivalent (e.g. the Dance that Heals).

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