Hello,
I am looking to setting a saga in Ireland during the Schismatic War that destroyed House Diedne. Now this makes me curious about a two things.
1.) what info on Ireland for ars magica is there. I know it does not have a tribunal book, but what info is there?
2.) Aside from the Core book, what books detail information on the schimsatic war and the Diedne?
Any other advice and suggestions are welcome,
sincerely,
-herkles
There was a plan to do a House Diedne Book when the Kickstarter for the Ars Magica Video Game would have been sucessfull.
Sadly this Kickstarter failed and so this book wont see the light any time soon from what I read.
"The Order of Hermes" from Lion Rampant 1990 - that's ArM2 - has a short rundown on the problems and structure of the Tribunal (p.47), two pages listing and describing its covenants (p.52f), and a list of the numbers of magi in each of them (p.54).
"The Order of Hermes" has also one page on House Diedne and the schism war (p. 78). HoH:TL p.40f has an interesting account on the schism war, from Guernicus perspective. HoH:S p. 11f holds one about the Flambeau role in it - and it is worth while looking through the history of each house in the HoH:-books for further snippets.
Cheers
Is that actually all the information on Ireland that there is?
Ah thanks for that, though I suppose there is not much actual info on the Diedne and what they were like prior to the Schism war?
thanks for the info given though 
Well, DC did list Hibernia as the highest priority Tribunal book now that "Transylvania" is out, but given that that book just came out and we know the next two releases are, I don't think we'll be seeing anything soon.
Edit: D'oh! I just remembered, "The Champion's Portion" from ToME is set in Ireland. It's probably my favourite adventure from that book too... 
It doesn't actually say much about structure or politics, but does provide an interesting feel for the tribunal - I'd say more, but don't want to risk giving away any spoilers...
ooh, I will have to read that section then. I can't wait for the Hibernia tribunal book, no idea when it will be. But this does make me excited.
I am wondering though, how strong would House Diedne be in Ireland? They are said to be pagan, even though by the 1000s Ireland was throughly christianized; so not sure. I am also curious besides the Merinita and the diedne, which houses would exist in Ireland in this time period?
The Fallen Angel also has information on Ireland, specially the area around Dublin and the Wicklow hills. Not fantastic, but quite OK as a general overview. Ordo Nobilis (IIRC also had some information on the area.
Finally, Project:Redcap has several covenants set there in their archives. Peruse them for ideas.
And obviously the internet is quite bountifdul for bird's eye views of the area at the time.
In my case we used Ireland as one of our areas. Most of our info is in Catalan, and mostly offline, but in general I structured (I was the one in charge of that area) the tribunal in terms of pro-English / pro-Irish divide and Roman / Celtic church divide (with some pagan-ish remains in winter covenants). Finally there was the wilderist harmionist debate raging quite strongly around, with some powerful fae kings and queens even sensding representatives to tribunal. Representatives that could enter a level 30 aegis uninvited. A large number of covenant-less magi live in the tribunal, formally grouped in two imaginary covenants (only exist on paper, so that the hermits have rights to vis sources and the like). They tend to be pro-irish, but were certainly much more flexible in their motivations and susceptibility to switch votes. And they had loads of petty rivalries among them. It created an interesting enough political landscape.
Cheers,
Xavi
Since the Diedne are going to play a major role in the saga I am planning I thought I would mention and speak on my ideas about this House as well as the Schismatic war. Let me know what you think of this. This is just ideas that I am jotting down.
Key facts:
population: 62
Primus: Ailean, a fiery Scottish mage who despises the Tremere.
Favored Tribunal: Loch leagan, Hibernia, and Stonehenge.
Symbol: A triskele.
General information
House Diedne are the heirs to the druidic tradition of the celts. While they are the heirs to the Druid traditon, time has passed the druids by. By the time that the Order is founded the British Isles have been thoroughly Christianized. The old pagan religion had at this time faded from the lands were they had their strength. The house though refused to move with the times, and they stayed pagan. This is partially why they were secretive; as a house they were insular and secretive. This bred distrust and suspicion. In regards to dealing with Mundanes, they wanted to preserve the old pagan views and religion. Hence why during this time, they were sponsors of monks who wrote a number of the myths down.
They however did strongly support the Code of Hermes, and believed in the laws of the code. The old druids, were more then priests, they also served as Judges. As such the house brought this with them, and have a healthy respect for their own laws and codes as well as the Order's. In the grand tribunals they tend to support the non-latin houses, such as house mertina and Bjoronear.
As a house, they are somewhat of both a Mystery cult and True legacy. In that every person has a master-appreintince relationship going back to Diedne herself. But also that there is an inner mystery. Where they learn the secerts of the house, as well as becoming a druid and member of the old pagan religions of the celtic lands.
The schismatic war
The Schismatic war to me repersents a breakdown in politics. The order has a number of both Latin and Non-latin houses. House Diedne and House Tremere have two visions of the Order. One repersents a strong house/weak order(diedne) the other repersents a strong Order and weak house dynamic(tremere). But the larger issue is the non-latin vs latin houses.
No side is without blame for the conflict. House Tremere thought that the House had fallen to infernalism, which is a false for the most part. but the tremere do not know about. Diedne though did not help things when the Tremere asked to watch their rituals, they refused them. They told them that they had no right to view their secrets. The fact that House diedne's rituals were pagan in origin. Both sides would not bulge from their positions, and this increased tensions in already tensious time. The wizard wars did not help. All this resulted eventually into what would be known as the schismatic war.
I can't remember the source, but I do recall reading that House Diedne was about 20% of the order at the time and was the largest house by far. That population is way too small. Before the Schism war the order of hermes would have already been bigger than it is in 1220. If the standard 1200 magi in 1220 is used, the order around 1000ad should be about 2000 magi.