A bunch comes from Lion of the North, 3rd edition.
It's probably a matter of inconsistent source material. You can chalk it up as the reporting source chronologies being a bit loose.
As my Saga will start in 828, these will be recent events...
I think that I will stick with the dates from the detailed chronology, with one change: Ordo Miscellanea will be founded shortly after the end of the Spider War, in 811 rather than in June 816. They will stay independent a few years, becore joining the Order of Hermes in 817.
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Thrice Told Tales (Arm5e) has a full Appendix on the Spider War. The Chronology takes mainly from this and Lion of the North, but there are so many references in nearly half of the released books, and many inconsistencies, so it's been hard to capture. I'm doing a bit of fine-tuning right now to make it make more sense overall.
This includes @Ptitboul change (which is exactly the same I was thinking of) to found Ordo Ex Miscellanea right after the Spider War and not 5 years later (makes no sense). It is stated that Pralix disappeared a bit for "nearly a year" before doing so though.
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It really seems I wasn't quite done with the Spider War...
Thanks to @Ptitboul and @maastrictian1 and everyone else who pointed things out. Keep them coming...
OM version 2.23 update 2024-12-15
- Thanks to Ptitboul who prompted further update to The Spider War entries at the beginning of 9th century. Theyâve been cleaned up a bit further (including the Four Major Crisis Entry at the beginning - an earlier oversight). This includes the founding of Ex Miscellanea and Diedne vs Pralix fight. The earlier âCanonâ date for founding of Ordo Ex Miscellanea does not make sense in relation with the Spider War. Date of founding has been moved from 816 to 811 to fit better with the rest of history. The 816 date was actually not part of any of the main 5e iterations (I could find no date set, or where I found that date eaerlier). Overall the Chronology should now be very much in line with what youâll find in the Core Rules, Thrice Told Tales (has the 5e full appendix on the Spider War) and Houses of Hermes books.
One identified exception: According to Thrice Told Tales; âPralix never rejoined the Orderâ. IMHO this really does not make sense as 1) Her entire Order did, and 2) Sheâs revered and noted as an additional Founder in so many other places. Her heart might not have been in it, and she stuck to Cad Gadu - but not rejoining, and not being at Grand Tribunal 817 does not make sense. - Several entries with Quendalon and Guernicus, including 817 Grand Tribunal have been extended.
- 830 Rome entry on Magvillus was fixed after maastrictian1 kindly pointed it out.
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At least in my saga (which starts in 828, but where I want to have details of what happened during the years just before that, because the characters lived during those times) Pralix will have participated in the 817 Grand Tribunal, to confirm that see agreed for the Ordo Miscellanea to join the Order of Hermes and to confirm that she will require that all existing members will agree to the Hermetic Oath (the parens of one of my characters being one of those existing members).
But HoHS p111 mentions "the first Prima of the House instituted the tradition of holding a council seat for Pralix" which means that that the first Prima is not Pralix. And HoHS p126 agrees with TTT: "Pralix never officially joined the House that she created, and since she had foresworn the Order of Hermes, she remained outside of Hermetic circles until her eventual disappearance". Which means that when the House Ex Miscellanea was created, some other maga than Pralix was appointed as Prima, and I suppose that Pralix left the Grand Tribunal of 817 just after this appointment.
(addition December 22nd)
I found in HoH:MC p99 a strong suggestion that Pralix went to the Grand Tribunal: "At the inauguration of House Ex Miscellanea in 817, there was a great party of non-Hermetic wizards from the British Isles who accompanied Pralix to the Rhineland and participated in her welcoming ceremony as the thirteenth House."
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From time to time still worth bumping a version:
OM version 2.24 update 2025-02-20
- Added Ars Magica Open Licensing attribution.
- Fixed several dozen spelling and grammar errors. Thanks for reporting them through comments!
- Added non-canonical 1091 London Tornado for fun.
Question: With the open licensing now available and the decent state of this. Would a more nicely formatted PWYW pdf edition be of interest on DriveThruRPG?
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It would definitely be of interest. I've bought nearly all of the 3rd party stuff on Drive Thru and bought all the back issues of Sub Rosa. I think a formatted edition would be really useful to have on hand when planning stories and adding historical flavour.
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Certainly feel it would get traction. PWYW does attract a large percentage of "0" cost sales.
Personally I would use this as is and place it into a spreadsheet and tagged the events by tribunal, local, order wise etc, so they could be filtered out as required.
This could be then mail merged as required, only presenting relevant facts.
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I'd be interested, for sure!
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@TimOB @Erik_Tyrrell I believe you were the original fathers of the pre-5e edition "Hermetic Timeline" I originally based this on (besides it now being another magnitude). Since there's likely a few entries left with your original contributions, I hope it being released in nicer open license format PWYW would be alright with you? If there's an additional attribution needed or wanted I'd be happy to incorporate that too.
Note: You're both thanked in the intro.
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Something like "Original Version, Research, and Development, Timothy S. O'Brien" would be nice.
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Thanks @TimOB , I've just made a new release and incorporated more or less that. Please review if you are happy with attribution 
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OM version 2.30 update 2025-02-27
- Beginning preparations for reformatting and PDF release. The intent is to make an open license âPay What You Wantâ release on DriveThruRPG and possibly elsewhere. I will remain available for free.
- Updated Attributions on page 2 (feel free to let me know if I forgot anyone, or if you prefer to be removed or name-changed).
- Added new âWhat is this?â abstract at beginning of document.
- Added a Table of Contents
- Added 6 pages of Glossary of Terms (a significant update, and will make the document more self-contained).
- Fixed more spelling and grammar errors throughout. Due to the many non-standard words and language used, as well as present tense in main entries - this remains a toil. Always happy for your kind reporting through gdoc comments (Iâm trying to make sure the attribution lists whoâs helped with identified significance).
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Good by me.
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OM version 2.40 update 2025-03-01
- Another major update! (spending far too many hours, but enjoying it)
- Removing âAge of Ariesâ since 1) Ars Magica removed it with 5th edition, and 2) it differed from real-world astrological ages, which was quite a bit jarring. It really made no sense to keep it around.
- Removing Age of Aries as a concept and from all chapters, which resulted into needing new chapters segmentation. I ended up doing a completely new and more logical set that divides hermetic history into much more logical ages. I put some real thought into this, and I think itâs a great improvement:
- The Age of Creation and Exile
- A New Dawn and The Age of the First Magi
- The Age of Hermetic Predecessors (1685-250 BC)
- Rome and the Cult of Mercury (250 BC â AD 476)
- The Dark Age of Magic (AD 476â731)
- The Hermetic Ascendancy (AD 731â832)
- The Age of Ambition and Intrigue (AD 833â910)
- The Tides of Mars (AD 898â1018)
- The Age of Faith and Fire (AD 1018-1160)
- The Age of Dominion and Discovery (AD 1160- )
- The problem was now I had to write-up ALL new Ages headings, describing and summarizing the age at a higher level. This took a ton of effort and time. But the new headings here combined can now stand out as the complete high level story throughout Hermetic history (you can skip and read just them if you want). Should be a huge improvement in readability and enjoyment of the whole Chronology.
- Changed authorâs foreword to match new structure.
- Since had to do that anyway, I reworked the early BC history quite a bit, making it more medievally biblical with maintained Ars Magica flavor. After all, this is what people believed at the time, âcanon knowledgeâ. I realigned timings and dates more with various versions of Genesis and apocrypha (while trying to stay somewhat on Saint Jeromes version, itâs very early and suitable for here) - for example matching biblical ages and lifespans of Adam and descendants and timing on things and expected number of years in-between and between eden and the Flood so itâs all much closer to the actual religion now. Nothing was really removed, but prehistorical and biblical dates were moved around and a ton of things added to make a more engaging Divine Lore - and what people actually believe(d) - or at least the unreliable narrator, being a somewhat read-up christian.
- Added Gilgamesh in prehistory
- Cleaned and updated Imhotep in prehistory
- Changed Hiberian early history a bit when it comes to timing (matches better to various sources):
- Partholons arrival C. 2600BC to 2300BC
- Nemeds arrival C.2500BC to 1800BC
- Fir Bolg arrival C. 2300BC to 1400BC
- The Tuatha DĂ© Danann arrival C. 2100BC to C. 1050-1000BC
- Tower of babel moved from 2200BC to 3001BC, and solidified some interesting lore.
- Titanomachy moved from 3500BC to 3200BC
- Improved Mongol invasion and added several entries 1220-1260
- Reorganized appendix and versioning information a bit
- Minor errors and language in places
- This was the most fun update in a while (and Iâm not making more of these I think). Enjoy!
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Well, there were some uses of "Age of Aries" for dates of local Code rulings in Guardians of the Forest, and I vaguely suspect it was used elsewhere in early 5th. But in general I agree.
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I have to ask: Did you answer the important question: "How tall is Imhotep?"
Bob
Wow, fantastic cleanup, the Age of Aries always gritted with me.
I would love to know the sources, as it doesn't seem to match the earlier version of the Lebor GabĂĄla Ărenn (first redaction - The Book of Leinster).
I think the time timeline of invasion is a lot tighter. Here is my logic.
If we take the Great Flood as 2350 BC
- Fomoiri arrival 200 years ~ 2250 BC (yeah questionable St Patrick footnote)
- Partholon arrival 300 years later ~ 2000 BC
10 years later - all dead
30 years of nothing - Nemed arrival ~ 1960 BC
Let's be generous here - 25 years for building/clearing/battles.
Big battle Flees in 3 directions.
230 years later - Firbolg return ~ 1700 BC
Lineage of Kings 62 years - Tuatha DĂ© Danann return ~ 1650
(debate if there was a generation of peace, let's say there was +20 years)
Lineage of Kings 196 years - Sons of Mils (man) arrive ~ 1425
Yeah, it stunned me when I added up the math too. Mind you the fading of the DĂ© Danann is meant to take a good 500 years..
I noted the summary in tCI deliberately left out some of the timescale details. Happy to be corrected, if my merger sources and logic are wrong. Always looking for new discussion on the mythological aspects of this part of the world.
Is this a reference to some old Imhotep (The Mummy movie) meme, or am I missing something?
Anyway nope I didn't, but as a well to do high class sorcerous egyptian at that time he could even be up in the 180-190 cm range I guess ;).
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