Immortal True Love

[OneShot]

@Cyborg

There was also a whole-hearted try in 4E's The Mysteries, on which the historical Hermetica was a major (perhaps the major) influence, but it didn't catch either.

P.155f The Line of Hermes there is a mix of different Hermetic magical traditions, which have little to do with Hermeticism of antiquity, but are assembled around a chapter The Hermeticist Mythos (p.162ff).

That chapter summarizes old literature from Hellenism to Church Fathers about Hermeticism. It finds to my recollection no substantial role at all for that Hermetic mythos in the Order of Hermes, and neither in the mysteries described before: The Huntress of the Woods, The Followers of Pendule, The College of Isadora and The Pillar of Hiram.

P.161 box Hermetic Missive: The Legacy of Hermes, summarizing what is written also in E2 OoH p30f box, looks styled as a missive from a Mystery Cult: I can't find from which one of those above.

That text is at most a shallow rhetorical attempt to claim a place for Hermeticism in the Order of Hermes. It does not even locate a Mystery Cult which follows it.

No wonder that it didn't catch either.

[Rmoshe (Oliviia)]

@temprobe

I believe that True Love doesn't require a human soul in the mythic europe paradigm. Bear in mind the belief that animals, and in particular, animals of virtue, represent virtues and sins that the humans can learn from to better understand god's will which can often be thought of as examplars for humans to follow, or avoid. Therefore, yes, if animals embody sins and virtues, they can embody love, and if they can embody love, I see no reason why the examples that god put on earth to represent what love should be cannot have a true love virtue. After all, how could mankind learn from false embodiments of love? I would point to the turtledove as an example animal that was praised for a number of virtues, including loyalty, chastity and true love: https://www.worktime.com/ , https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/f002rp.htm

Edit: I wouldn't allow faeries to have it, however, because their emotions aren't true, typically, however a faerie story could be about true love somehow - a human's true love.

yes, I agree with your thoughts

[silveroak]

On the other hand, a faerie can emulate true love (especially one whose vis is external, and thus can die for love repeatedly), and one who can get a mortal to develop feelings of true love for them could get a substantial payout in vitality- which will likely continue to pay out when it becomes lost love...