I was wondering if anyone knows the 'official' spell sigils of any of the Founders. That is, if any have ever been mentioned anywhere.
I'm especially interested in the spell sigils of Bonisagus and Trianoma, as I plan on using one of the story seeds from HoH:TL, in particular a modified version of the last one on page 6... (I'm being obtuse on the off chance one of my players has snuck onto this board.)
But if anyone knows any of the others, please share. Such information could provide story-fodder.
If none of them are known, perhaps we could come up with some. Personally, I've always been terrible at coming up with spell sigils.
I'm not sure of any...but I like to think the following are true:
objects changed colours near Jerbiton (cut from SoI).
the colour white for Criamon (explaining why ghosts in Roman ghost stories are black, and yet in modern ones are always white. Criamon changed how ghosts work when he moved the Axis Magica.
objects vibrated in the prese3nce of Tremere (which si why his name means "that which trembles".)
With my reflexive hatred of all things Tremere (long story, and the 5e version of the house doesn't make my teeth itch), I can't help but think evil of it...
Actually in Latin tremere means "to tremble" - it's the infinitive. It does not mean "that which trembles", which would be "tremulum". "He who trembles" would be "tremulus", which is how Tytalus called Tremere.
Ah, righto...but the obvious question is, if it was just an insult from his older brother, why not change it when he gained his own House? There must be a second meaning, because if it was just "Hey, bro. I'm naming you Sh*teater! People will call you that forever!" then there's no way the name woukld have survived.
Perhaps he had grand mal siezures or something? Still not the sort of thing you'd keep as a name, unless in your traidtion this was a sign of being Touched by God.
I think there needs toi be a plausible reason for him to keep it.
(I also think that in future editions his name should be changed. It's a trademark of White Wolf, after all. Sure that means I think the Order should be renamed too, since they own Ordrr of Hermes.)
Ah, righto...but the obvious question is, if it was just an insult from his older brother, why not change it when he gained his own House? There must be a second meaning, because if it was just "Hey, bro. I'm naming you Sh*teater! People will call you that forever!" then there's no way the name woukld have survived.
Perhaps he had grand mal siezures or something? Still not the sort of thing you'd keep as a name, unless in your traidtion this was a sign of being Touched by God.
I think there needs toi be a plausible reason for him to keep it.
(I also think that in future editions his name should be changed. It's a trademark of White Wolf, after all. Sure that means I think the Order should be renamed too, since they own Ordrr of Hermes.)
I would go with, when Tytalus told Tremere something Tremere simply did it. That's the ethos I live by and so should we all live by the dictates of Tytalus. ((hahahaa... certain Marko will have a thing to say about this))
Ars Magica has a long tradition of Magi with silly names. As I mentioned in another thread, just to quote some examples from GoTF we have "Gadfly" (an annoying Quaesitor), "Heavy" (the fat Bonisagus of Irencillia), "Lier" (an evil, scheming Jerbiton - with a name like that, he really needs Guile 7 to fool anyone...), and the feminization of "Wineflask" (for the prima of Merinita, which we can then implicitly understand is a merry drinker).
My opinion is that, until David Chart took over in fourth edition, Ars Magica was developed by people who could not even spell Latin correctly, and thus tended to make up names of magi either choosing words (or sometimes just syllables) from a dictionary at random, or at best "hiding" clues about the magus' nature in his name. To someone who does not speak English, the name "Looser" probably sounds more English than "Arthur" (and, dictionary in hand, a fantastic name for a great king who fails to establish a dynasty). Somehow, this became a tradition, and thus was maintained in later editions.
But perhaps there is an in-game mystical reason why magi tend to choose foolish names . It may be tied to the "phthonos theon" of classical greece - the "envy of the gods" for mortals who overstep themselves, which invariably leads those mortals to ruin. Magi, who command powers that rival those of the gods, are particularly at risk. By choosing a silly name a magus symbolically claims to be an idiot ("idiotes" in ancient greek means "common person" as opposed to an important public figure), and through this self-humbling act reduces the risk of attracting the negative attention of the powers that be.
Yes, but the characters don't know the OOC reasons, and so if Tremere was simply an insult, TRemere the character cannot go "Well, it may seem reasonable for me to change my name, but I will not do so."
And sure, SoI has a magus called "Donald the Duck" in it, and half a dozen other joke names. The point is that, inside the game world, these need to make sense and "Tremere was a boyhood insult of Tytalus's that Tremere chose to wear with pride." seems a bit silly to me.
This is just brilliant. This makes so much sense for some Mystery Cults. You should write this up for Sub Rosa.
