The board is large and my search fu is weak, though I did make the effort.
Does anyone know in what order the various founders joined the Order of Hermes?
I've been looking through "Mystery Cults", "Societates", etc. for clues (e.g. Merinita helped Birna join, so Merinita preceded Bjornaer), but it's slow going.
That is a good question, and I would like to know as well.
My two denarii is as follows:
Obviously Bonisagus was the first wizard that Trianoma convinced to join the (potential) Order.
I think Mercere was a very early joiner, as he traveled extensively with Trianoma finding other wizards. I am tentatively thinking he is number two.
Diedne was a pagan, so I think she would need to be a member before Flambeau, otherwise militant christian that he was, Flambeau may have tried to block her entry. Tentatively call her number 3.
However, when Trianoma convinced Flambeau to meet the other wizards to form the Order, Mercere apparently was not with her. This possibly means Mercere was still sharing knowledge with Bonisagus, before he took to journeying with Trianoma. So calling him number 4 would be about right.
Since Guernicus had to be recruited, it suggests that his search for his master's killer took place before Trianoma started recruiting, or before news of it spread far. If Guernicus was looking for a magical thief and there was news that wizards were recruiting magical knowledge, surely Guernicus would have checked them out. Thus Guernicus might be number 5.
Criamon and Verditus are difficult to place. Bonisagus couldn't fully understand their Philosophy/Mystery Cults after what seems to be lots of study, but still managed to integrate quite a lot of their knowledge of Twilight and Enchanting into Hermetic Magic Theory.
Apparently it took a year of searching to convince Merinita to appear. So Merinita was either very famous and one of the early wizards to be recruited, or several of the other Founders spoke highly of her so Trianoma spent the extra time looking for her, meaning Merinita is one of the last Founders.
And Bjornaer/Birna would have joined at the same time, or later, with Merinita's sponsoring clearing Flambeau's objections of a pagan. Birna/Bjornaer's lack of Latin meant communication was slow between her and Bonisagus.
I get the impression that the League of Thebes were ignoring the Order's forming, until it began to be obvious that the western barbarians might be successful in forming a super-powerful order, so Jerbiton was sent to add some civilisation to the unwashed wizards. Hence Jerbiton was probably a late joiner.
Tytalus and Tremere (with Pralix) killed Guorna the Fetid after she returned from studying with Bonisagus, and they marched on Guorna's "allies". These were probably the last two Founders to join.
Welcome to the community, Samsaptaka.
The founding of the Order of Hermes took place only 767 at the Fane of the Founders. Its Founders assembled before that time around Bonisagus and Trianoma from the 730s on. But there are no precise dates, just when each of those magi committed sufficiently to Hermetic magic, which then can be put in linear order. Likely some Founders - e.g. Criamon - never did make such a commitment.
Some magi, like Viea and Guorna, were contacted but never became part of the circle to later form the Order. Others, like Bernice of Thessalonica, cooperated from afar on Hermetic magic and died before the Order was formally founded.
Imagine a group of modern-day scholars or scientists on and off working on an important project of common interest, while no higher priority problems impede them. The questions are then rather: Who brought in whom? And which are his main contributions?
Cheers
http://www.redcap.org/page/Founder has a table to give ranges of when founders were active, but some (like Criamon) leave little trace. I have no idea in what order they joined.
Thanks for the rapid and useful replies, everyone! Nice to know the ArM community is as helpful as ever. It's been long enough that I forgot my old login info and had to make a new account.
I suppose I'll have to come up with some other criterion for the order in which the magi in our latest game take turns overseeing the covenant's affairs. Unfortunately, the characters are founding a new covenant and we agreed that everyone would be the same age, so there's nothing there to go on. There is a Tremere in the mix; maybe she'll argue for certamen to settle the matter.