No, I think that's correct.
Sorry about that. I'm willing to try and clarify however I can.
I first heard it about 15 years ago at a Rennaissance Fair, referring to the people who weren't in costume, but I don't know where it originated.
It's mostly a game balance thing. Inoffensive to Magic, Faerie, and Animals isn't really worth three points of Virtues all together, because you're still offensive to Divine, Infernal, and human beings. There's still enough of an overlap between magic animals, faerie animals, faerie humans, and magical humans that I'd rate it closer to two. What you want is best achieved by taking Gentle Gift and Offensive to Humans, and there should definitely be Initiation Scripts that allow Merinitae do this.
A normal english word, with typical etymology reaching back to Latin. From dictionary.com:
mun·dane
adj.
Of, relating to, or typical of this world; secular.
Relating to, characteristic of, or concerned with commonplaces; ordinary.
[Middle English mondeine, from Old French mondain, from Latin mundanus, from mundus, world.]
hug
No problem. 
Personaly merenita were and are my favourite magi, i love the 4th edition sourcebook (its full of wonders) and i love the detailed house Merenita and its mysteries now. What i find very interesting is in how many things the new Merenita magic (anima at the first) und the whole thing about arcadia is very close to the animistic view of the world in Werwolf: The Forsaken: a living world in which everything is alive and everything (places, objekts, emotions, good and bad actions ect) have/create a spirit. And arcadia would be the perfect place for a Werwolf to hunt... like in Pangea, the Wolf Paradise.
So i give and the other authors my respect for your great work. Or a Dankeschön as i would say.
But one thing is a little bit confusing: in the GoTF Book the fearie courts are divided into dark/bright Summer/Winter, as in 4th edition. But in Covenants there are Seelie/Unseelie Fearies (like on page 74). Pherhaps it was a mistake. Personally i hate the White Wolf Seelie/Unseelie crap and love the mysterious bright/dark Summer/Winter thing and i hope in a Realms of Power: Fearies this fearie society will be the one which rocks.
Edit: thank you dog, i think the german word for it is "weltlich". Another piece of wisdom obtained.
I don't know anything about the White Wolf books. I never got the Vampire/Goth craze. But, Seelie/summer/bright are interchangeable as far as I am concerned. Unseelie/winter/dark are likewise equivalent. If one is used versus the other it is mostly shorthand or author choice.
As for Arcadia being close to the world in Werewolf...I think it's more likely the arrow goes the other way.
No you miss a thing: there are bright Summer but there are also dark Summers, and bright Winters and dark Winters and they are not simply put in terms like "good guys" "bad guys" like in the Seelie/Unseelie-crap, every aspekt like dark or summer can vary in power, so a dark summer could be an underwaterworld with good mermaid-fearies and a light winter could be a freezing hell.
And the Arcadia-Pangea-Stuff, i think both worlds have much in common but it is hard to tell which world is older and who stole an idea from who. 
Lucius,
I only speak one language, my native English/American, and I'm very impressed by people like you who can understand and write in more than one. You are awesome! I'm very glad we can share our ideas with each other because of your ability to communicate.
For what it's worth, I like the Bright/Dark and Summer/Winter matrix as well.
hiddenspamm
The Seelie/unseelie definitions are laymans terms:
Seelie = pleasant (humans like to be around these)
Unseelie = unpleasant (humans don't like to be around these)
Whereas the summer/winter & bright/dark axises are from a more learned view.
Just don't hold your breath expecting them in the immediate ! I've been just returned a submitted paper and it looks like I'll have to rewrite half of it 
Well, it all boils down to the SG making some decisions to how widespread faerie regiones are in ME. I assume that Arcadia and the Magic Realm (we really need an official cool-sounding name for it; maybe Olympus might indeed be a good one) are indeed both spiritual and physical "alternate dimensions" which character can enter both spiritually (dreams/visonquests) and physically (mystery Virtues) enter. Arcadia is the place of "all possible stories", while the Magic Realm is the place of "all possible nature". Could Arcadian Travel be used to travel to/through magical realms, too, or would it require a different "Olympic Travel" Virtue (maybe gained by means of a Theurgic Mystery, as that seems to be the one whoich focuses on giving mages an even stronger magic affinity than the Gift)?
Yep, however, this brings to me yet another couple questions: IC, does the mage knows what kind of ordeal Flaw will he get from the Initiation in advance, and can ask the mystagogue for a substitution (I'm a Perdo specialist, your Harmless Magic would ruin my entire life's work, please provide a different way to initiate your discoveries, mr. Pendule) ? And every time a Mystagogue creates a variant (either because the supplicant already has the Flaw, or the supplicant refuses to accept the ordeal), does a new Initiation Script gets created, which other characters may use subsequently, or does it require full-fledged Script experimentation ??
Well, either Transforming the Body alone or in combination with Transforming the Spirit still does not equals Criamon Body Path, since the Becomed faerie mage still has to eat, drink, and breateh. So your concerns are fulfilled. And the Becoming immortality methods has drawbacks (losing use of Fatigue, becoming subject to faerie wards), just like sticking to Criamon "apt life" restrictions. The only significant improvement of Becoming is in comparison to stuff like say Immortality of the Forest and that Zoroastrian ritual in RoP: D in that the character does not accumulate Warping from it. Yet, I reserve judgement until I see Alchemical and Theurgical Immortality methods in TMRE (I bet Theurgist have ways of becoming a magical spirit which is the magical equivalent of Becoming).
I would loathe making the Criamon way too superior, though. The idea that you really ought to forsake sex, meat, just war, healthy self-pride, and a normal appearance, in order to get cool cosmic powers or a long, good life is not really one that I wish to RP, no matter what the author of the Criamon chapter thinks 
After reading that chapter, I someahow wished to have skills to write the Flambeau or Tytalus chapters in order to get poetic about the beauty and righteousness of getting enlightned through strife and struggle... and nail it in canon, too. 
Well, It's a minor tribble, but even so, you can only be Offensive to one class of beings (e.g. you cannot be Offensive to humans and demons). These limitations get in the way of making a character say Alluring to magical and faerie creatures, and Offensive or Unbearable to Divine and Infernal ones, which IMO would be an excellent concept for a Bjornaer or Merinita maga, especially if the Virtues and Flaws were picked up through Initiations (e.g. it would be quite appropriate for an Animae or Theurgist maga). I think the "no more than one" limitations should simply be done way from Alluring/Inoffensive/Offensive/Unbearable Virtues/Flaws.
I offer you my sympathy-- I know what that's like. 
Yes, Arcadian Travel allows you to step into any kind of regio, and for Merinitae it's equally easy to go to a Magic one as a Faerie one. The penalty for Divine and Infernal regiones makes them too difficult for anything but an expert, though.
It depends. If the character has access to the Initiation Script, I'd say he can figure out what will happen if he undergoes the ritual. However, not all Mystagogues would allow him to see it, as some of them like to initiate their followers without telling them what's going on.
I think a new Script requires experimentation. Modifying a Script is something you do during the ceremony, if I recall correctly.
If you think Inoffensive to Faerie and Magic are worth two points of Virtues, go for it, with my blessing. As a storyguide, I wouldn't give two points for Unbearable to Divine and Infernal, though. Maybe you could take The Blatant Gift instead?
Yup. Especially when you are the youngest of the research team, and short in the favor bank 
As in "AT may be used to enter regiones" or in "Merinita may use AT to travel Mythic Europe even if the start or arrival locations are magical, not faerie, regiones" ?? If the latter, I may see why Mercere would see the Wanderers as unfair competition. Merrily hopping from covenant to mystical location and viceversa with no vis cost 8)
Well, at least for the House Mystery Cults, especially for the Bjornaer and Merinita ones I'm mostly concerned about, they did not strike me as having typical Mystagogues striving for that kind of paranoid secrecy.
Oh, and commendations for Faerie-Raised Magic, too. Quite cool and useful for this Diedne fan. I can't wait till I have TMRE so I can use it, too, in combination with other spontaneous magic virtues to set up a full-fledged Mystery Cult slowly re-discovering and covertly spreading Diedne magics from within houses like Merinita, Bjornaer, and Ex Misc, just like the way of "old Merinita" nature cults. What do you think of it, Mr. Merinita Guru ?
Yup. I really can't wait to get those rules, too. I bet Script Experimentation will be even more fun than original research, as in you can weave all kinds of cool stories in it, instead of being stuck in the lab.
I was thinking more of combining Alluring to Magical Beings and Faeries (undecided about mundane animals) with Normal or even Blatant Gift for a Animae-Theurgist summoner, even if a strict reading of the rules would forbid it. I can see where your game balance concerns came from, but I really think you should have placed a "Storyguide permission is required" warning instead of all those "no more than once" outright prohibitions on mutiple pickings of these Virtues/Flaws.
As it is, you can do a character that has a thing with one limited subclass of beings, but not one that is charming (or neutral) to one half of the (animal/magical/faerie/human/divine/infernal) crowd, and annoying or unbearable to the other half, though you can do it with the familiar cords, and it's a typical character concept. You ought not need the familiar to do the concept. OK, it fairly easy to HR, but you could have done better. Friendly critic for the next book.
Erik, I've got two other questions concerning mages who have Transformed the Spirit:
a) I assume that their spells now should be treated as faerie powers, as concerns interaction with Auras. But what about Magical Auras ? I was thinking that since any such character should have Faerie Magic, it should now work "from the other side", so to speak, and grant the mage a full bonus and a lack of extra botch dice in magical auras, too.
b) mages who have Transformed the Body and the Spirit are required to expend Confidence Points to give an extra boost to spontaneous magic in leiu of fatigue. Could they expend an extra amount of faerie might points to do the same (dunno, double the magnitude) ? What about Life-Linked Spontaneous Magic ?
c) If no, could they give themselves such a power with a lesser transformation ritual, or a custom-made Mystery Virtue, and which form would it take ?
Righty-o.
If that's possible, that would be part of the Faerie book, not Merinita. For now, I'd suggest that they can't; they're faeries through and through.
No, faeries don't have Fatigue, and while they can use Confidence in its place, they can't substitute Might. For Life-Linked Magic, I'd say the character can spend Confidence as Fatigue levels, but if she has no Confidence or is unwilling to spend it, she always takes the wound instead.
You're asking if they could discover a lesser transformation ritual that gives them Fatigue levels, or that allows them to spend Might as Fatigue? I suppose that's theoretically possible, if it's something that some faeries can do. Whether or not that's the case will unfortunately have to wait for the Faeries book to address, as I don't think any of the faeries published thus far have that sort of power.
I don't think Mercere will be much concerned about this. Arcadian Travel appears to be verrry botch prone, and unreliable even in level 3 Regios. To transfer between two arbitrary Regios you might need to pass through Arcadia, and there (MC p.80) just about everything might happen at SG whim. So Arcadian Travel appears to be much more about exploring Faerie Regios than just passing through them bearing Vis and letters.
Kind regards,
Berengar
I don't understand the "faerie book" part, since I think this kind of situation may only arise with partially-Become Merinita, as other kinds of humans-turned-faerie are obviously completely fae, while partially-become magi are part and part. However, I'll assume that you rule that Transforming the Spirit cuts off whatever link the mage might have has with the Magical Realm. This would also mean that any Magical Supernatural Vitue the character may have had (say Entrancement or Second Sight) turns into a faerie version of it.
A fair ruling. Ok, good advice.
No, no, the latter option. I was wondering about a lesser transformation ritual that would allow them to spend Might in addition to Confidence, as a substitute of Fatigue. I don't think any kind of magic could ever rework a faerie's body to give him fatigue... except to completely reverse the effects of Transforming the Body. I think some kind of Mystery Virtue or original breakthorugh research might be devised to transform a faerie into a human. Speaking in a purely theoretical sense, of course. I cannot think of any reason why a mage would bother the effort to devise such a ritual (except maybe to reverse a Becoming whose effects he finds distasteful), or a faerie would want to become a lowly, puny human and become subject to age and death.
I suppose that's theoretically possible, if it's something that some faeries can do. Whether or not that's the case will unfortunately have to wait for the Faeries book to address, as I don't think any of the faeries published thus far have that sort of power.
[/quote]
Oh, I missed this.
Merinitae with Arcadian Travel can do either, though in the latter case they still have to go through Arcadia to do it. Arcadia overlaps everything in the mundane world (at least, so the Merinita think), so you can cross back from Arcadia to a magical regio or a Faerie one, and for Merinitae either way is about as easy/difficult. But if you're on level 0 of a regio, you can jump to the upper levels using Arcadian Travel as well.
As Berengar points out, that also involves some danger as it means going through Arcadia every jump. The Wayfarers do that to explore Arcadia and various regiones, but they can't really set up trade routes or anything like that. Mostly they just want to be the first to discover things, which many of the Mercere like doing too, thus the good-natured rivalry.
I like it. I'm also glad you like Faerie-Raised Magic-- I thought it was important for Merinita to be able to do something that felt like good spontaneous magic, without their actually being good at spontaneous magic, since faeries aren't generally very inventive. There's also a Virtue in The Infernal that I think you'll really like as well, though of course I can't talk about that yet.
That makes sense. I don't think there's any reason you can't take both, If your character is inoffensive to both Magic and Faerie beings. One way to do this without going against the restriction is to take Gentle Gift, Alluring to Magic Beings, Alluring to Faerie Beings, and Offensive to Humans -- possibly Unbearable to Humans, too. That's probably the most balanced arrangement.
I appreciate the advice, and I'm sorry this doesn't work the way you want it to work. The Inoffensive/Offensive thing is supposed to be a quality of the familiar bond, but some characters have that power innately, without a familiar. In Fifth Edition, being inoffensive to multiple things generally requires the Gentle Gift. I understand why it being a Major Hermetic Virtue it would be nice to be able to approximate it with Minor Virtues, since you can only have one to start, but that's something we can't do. Luckily, as part of a Mystery Cult, you can Initiate Major Hermetic Virtues, so you can get around that limit and take whatever you want.
What I mean is that faeries with powers like Faerie Magic that give them magical aspects is something that would have to be addressed by another book. At that point they're faeries, not magi, so they fall outside my purview as the authority on magi of House Merinita.
Sure, though more likely it's lost entirely as part of an Ordeal. You could always Initiate a faerie version to replace it, of course.
Yes, breaking the "only one Major Hermetic Virtue" is a most welcome addtion of the Mystery system. There are several character concepts where it felt ultimately constraining: e.g. to make a character that was able to wrk effectively with mundanes, you were forced to give up her having a significant magical specialization or "signature trick". The restriction might have some sense from a game balance POV when it was 10 maximum, but now that the Virtue/Flaw road stretches out infinitely up to Final Twilight, it doesn't.
Lessee, you start with a self-initation for Gentle Gift, and you develop Offensive to humans as the Ordeal. Then you pick up Alurring to Faeries in the next one, and then Alluring to Magical Beings in the further one, likey picking something like Social Handicap or Unbearable to Humans along the line.
Would there likely be some extant Merinita script for virtues like faerie-raised magic, and the various Alluring, or would it be self-initiation ??
That's a good analogy. It's also kind of like a supernatural hot-air balloon: you can float up and down between regio levels, or go all the way up to the sky (Arcadia) where you can travel to another place, and then come down again through the different regio levels.
Hmm, in those circumstances, I suppose I might agree that it's fair to take all six Minor Flaws as the equivalent of a Major Flaw: "Offensive and Unbearable to Divine, Infernal, and Human Beings." If you just wanted to be Offensive to them all, I'd probably value that as equivalent to two Minor Flaws.
I imagine there would be Scripts. Any of the Virtues listed in that House are probably generally available for magi in the different lineages and cults that mention them to Initiate.