Places for Mystery Initiations

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

So, I've got a place (or places) that is supposed to be particularly favorable for Mystery Initiations and is maintained by attendants to help with Mystery Initiations. But who are not themselves part of any particular Mystery Cult.

My problem, of course, is that there's no particular justification for this in the Mystery Initiation rules. There's a bonus for "initiate has to be at a special place at a special time for the Initiation" and I feel this can be used as a basis.

The place(s) have high Magic auras... not directly additive as a Script Bonus but fits the "special place" requirement.

I'm pondering something like Shape & Material Bonuses, but for places which would justify a circumstantial bonus to Mystery Initiation... and would then have to decide what bonuses the place gets, which would define which Mystery Cults would want to use the place. I think if I kept the bonus low it wouldn't get too potentially abusive (e.g, in the +1 to +3 range... not "+7 for magical gates & portals initiations").

Anyone have other suggestions? Or an idea for what the attendants might bring to the table since they don't have the [Mystery Cult] Lores to help?

2

Doesn't this sound to you like a generic place for religious rites, but without association to a specific sect or religion?
Places shared by two similar religions / sects for centuries are already quite rare in European history, but they do exist: see interdenominational churches like the Bautzen Cathedral.
There are also places reputed to generically strengthen magic and used by several sorcerors over time, like the Sybil's Cave.
But generic staff in waiting just to help with mystery initiations in such a place looks really weird. Wouldn't these gather a reputation of - gasp! - selling out the secret of their place? They certainly would have to coordinate the claims and expectations of different parties with regard to time, preparation and cleaning - risking to make the place into an event hotel.

3

Maybe the place can give a sympathy bonus which is necessary to make the script useable by "current mystagogue Cult lore+presence" levels?

If the script was designed by someone with Prs +5 and Cult lore 10, and the "current" mystagogues Prs ranges from 1 to 3 and their knowledge (due to loss of texts, accendital/unexpected death of previous mystagogues) is on the 5, that means a script may lack 7 to 9 points.

Modifying a script is a risky endeavor so using those special places which may give +5 sympathy provides only a 2 to 4 point missing in the script, which with some efforts is remediable where 7 to 9 may take decades of dedicated practice (since without text nor teacher, that remains your only source of XP) and going from 5 to 12 score (not even speaking about 14) is 315 xp, thus 80 seasons.

For the staff, maybe they prevent enemies of the cult (maybe responsible for the unexpected death of previous generation of mystagogue) to enter, by creating a neutral ground. Maybe they are paid. Maybe they are doing this as initiation season(s) service(s) for initiations of various scripts of another cult, like one of protection of the order/magi/other traditions.

I could see a mystery giving "hermetic prestige" or "puissant parma magica" or "affinity with parma magica" or "puissant order of hermes lore" to include seasons of service such as "protect a potent place of magic which is perhaps used in another tradition and is, in every case, historically important from being pillaged by anyone" for a single +1 in their own script. But repeat that loss of time, and you have avaible script (just taking a lot of time) and a solution for their reason to do so.

4

My campaign is quite variant so I'm not really beholden to European precedent. I'm thinking of a place like Delphi or an intact Mithraeum -- likely to be attractive to multiple different Mystery Cults. But with... caretakers, maybe? Who wrangle the Python or provide the sacrificial bulls, or perhaps are attendants to the Sibyl.

I'm trying to sort out what that means for the Mystery Initiations. They're not part of the Mystery Cults, so they're not doing the initiations. Maybe they do just do the scheduling & booking; don't want the Mithraists showing up on the weekend the Shriners are there.

5

Although I don't want the attendants doing the Mystery Initiations, the idea of them being neutral guardians might have legs... not just against Mystery Cult rivalries but ensuring that some vis-hunter doesn't come kill the Python, or to make sure random mundanes don't wander into their passage to the Underworld. hmm.

6

Is there a particular reason why you don't want the guardians to be in a mystery cult?

Do they have some other magical mojo that doesn't need a cult?

7

if the "attendants" are from another mystery cult, they are not able to do the initiation for that mystery since it's a different cult lore with its distinct scripts.
Besides having a score in cult lore does not provide scripts per se so they could even have it and still not be able to do it. Creating a script is very difficult (and requires cult lore scores of high level for someone not wanting to spend 20 seasons to create one script).

To be honest, your description of the attendants made me think of the dwarves of the Godsmooth arc in the order of the stick webcomic.

light spoilers for the Order of the stick webcomic

They created the place where a meeting of the high priests of the northern gods met, but were not by themselves, priests of any deity.

8

It's a background setting element of a region in my campaign where there are multiple (non-Hermetic) Mystery Cults that have been around for a while. They might get up to the usual intrigues one expects of secret societies but I don't want it to be outright conflict over resources that more than one Mystery Cult might want to use. Hence, having a neutral group as mediators for the places.

These aren't Mystery Cults the players would be joining; they're background for that region. BUT having the location be useful to potential Mystery Cults the players might get involved with is a good hook.

9

Fair enough. Are they from a shared religious background? Like, using your example of Delphi, I could imagine a group that claims descent from the priesthood of Apollo at Delphi who look after the site and negotiate between, say, Sibyllic, Mithraean and Mercurian cults. They're very different cults but have some shared cultural DNA from the broader classical Mediterranean religious-cultural complex. So the caretakers might be a small-c 'cult' in the sense of a pagan religious organisation without being a full-on Mystery Cult in mechanical terms. They look after the site, handle bookings and ward off intruders, including cultists who aren't from the same 'family'. (E.g. if this was in an Ars context of classical pagans + Christians, Muslims, Jews + non-classical pagans, the caretakers' roles could include chasing off intruders from Christian/Islamic/Jewish mystery cults.)

Somewhat more of a stretch, but given the shared heritage, you could even have them as outer attendants in the lowest level of each of the associated cults, so e.g. if the Mithraeans are holding a ceremony but don't have enough choristers to make quorum, the caretakers can fill in (and don't stay around for the higher-degree ceremonies).

Alternatively, they could be the descendants of a family who were appointed by an ancient authority to look after the site, something like how the Joudeh and Nuseibeh families are custodians of the keys and doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (and were originally appointed by Saladin). (As I understand it, they aren't custodians of the actual church itself.) In this case, they don't have to be the same religion as any of the cultists at all, and being from a different religion actually helps their neutrality status when moderating between cultists from a particular religion.

So, just to make up a fictional example, say there were Sibyllines, Apollonians, Mithraeans and Pythians constantly getting into fistfights at Delphi in the early 300s. Constantine I heard about it, told them to settle down and gave physical custody of the site to a local Christian family. Their descendants don't take part in any of the cult activities, but they keep the outer parts of the site clean, ward off trespassers, negotiate admittance and so on. They might be the owners of the land the site is on as far as the secular authorities are concerned.

(EDIT: Or, to combine the two options, there's a family that claims descent from the last priest of Apollo at the site. Nowadays they're all Christians, but the cultists still recognise the family's authority as neutral caretakers of the site.)

(EDIT 2: A third option, just for laughs: the caretakers are actually fairies who claim to be the descendants of the original custodians of the site.)

10

Perhaps the attendants are a neutral party - they (or their ancestors or cultural heroes) have seen what happens when any one sect or cult has a monopoly on whatever power is represented by the site, so they ensure that it is freely available to all. They're still something of a cult, or at least an Order, but an Order focused on mundane peace-keeping rather than Esoteric Secrets. They may not CARE that much about what goes on at the site, on that it is Neutral Ground. Perhaps they willingly serve as messengers for potential initiates, who might have the Gift. Cult A's Gifted Guy shows up, shares a message, and Neutral Order guy agrees to ferry it to Cult B's Gifted Guy, so that there's only ONE person with The Gift in the conversation, not two, reducing the likelihood of conflict.

Or, perhaps the site, useful for mystery initiations, also is a source of some resource. The people who hold the site don't care about the higher mysteries, but they do care about the black pearls that bubble up from the spring every so often. They're happy to let people use it for initiations as long as they agree to protect their pearl-selling business interests.

11

Could they be worshipers of a Daimon, that gets the Vis payment for use of the site, and in return grants beneficial Virtues?

12

As I said I don't want the caretakers to be part of a Mystery Cult or really to be at all interesting for having stuff that magi (or Mystery Cults) might start thinking it would be useful to have. They're background, not Story generators. But having a reason other than convenience why some Mystery Cult doesn't just move in and take over is also good. I'm thinking they should be like the family that guards the isle of Orpheus in Sandman.

If I was to adapt the Isle of Orpheus to ArM it might grant a Sympathetic bonus of +1 dreams, +2 music, +3 Orphic magic for initiations held there. The Cult of Orpheus, the Seirines, or the Volshebnii Mechtateli might be interested in visiting... but they have to convince the guardian family to allow it and convince them that they won't reveal the isle's secret. If visitors get too pushy... Orpheus' head is still there and had high enough Penetration to make the Eumenides weep. And maybe his relatives would get annoyed, too.

The Necromanteion of Acheron disappeared into a regio at the Silencing of the Oracles, which also stripped the necromanteis of any magical ability. But, their descendants can still lead visitors to the temple in the regio which gives Sympathetic bonuses of +1 spirits, +2 dead spirits, or +3 if your initiation ends up with you being dead. Without their cooperation you can't get into the regio. Necromancers, spirit binders, or diviners may want to visit.

The Temple of the Frog is a pre-Roman pagan ruin in a seaside bog with an icon that looks like a froggy Venus figurine. The bog-folk who have "always" been here are wide-lipped with bulging eyes... probably monstrous blood caused by Warping living in a strong aura. If you convince them they'll let you visit the ruins which give Sympathetic bonuses of +2 fertility & +2 metamorphosis. Ex Misc with Control Fertility or Bjornaer would be interested.