Having just read The Legion of Mithras in Mysteries, I find myself liking the looks of the cult alot. Is there any more info on it in any other books? Has anyone used the cult in their games? I was a little disappointed with the mystery virtues though - the lower ranking ones seems too focused on the mundane ideal of a warrior/crime fighter, whereas the higher ranks seem totally random....spirit familars and talisman body & soul...how do they relate to the Legion? The cult is all about the Order, but yet doesnt prompt magical power (within its ranked mysteries at least)???
The Legion of Mithras is mentioned in HoH-Societates, in the Flambeau section (about two pages worth). I don't think there is much there that is not in Mysteries, but if you have the book you might want to look at it.
I will come out and say it. I do not like the Legion of Mithras. Not in Arm4 or ArM5. And I do not like they have invaded and coopted House Flambeau. Flambeaus master, Delendar, is supposed to be a Mercurian wizard of Visigoth heritage.
I think, Marko, your views on the 5e write up for House Flambeau are well known to everyone.
Let's keep in mind that the Legion of Mithras and the Cult of Mithra (aka the Mithraians), while perhaps historically related in canonical Mythic Europe, are not the same things. The degree of cross-pollination between the two looks to be left to the individual storyguides and troupes. It seems appropriate to me that there be a Cult of Mithra legacy in one of the Latin Houses and one with a strong warrior ethic. YMMV.
To Kal's original point, however, I don't think that there is much more to refer to in canon outside of the example in Magi of Hermes. Yes, he is a member of House Flambeau, but he doesn't have to be.
Where the Legion sits in the scheme of things is largely, and appropriately, left to the individual storyguides. For some, they are the M.E. equivalent of the Men In Black. Others have them as a tool of the Queasitors. Where the hoplites are the fist, the Legion is the stilleto in the dark. Still another view that I have heard has the roles reversed between the hoplites and the Legion. And in one other, they have been completely rewritten to be very small, super-secret except for the name, and in pursuit of thier own inscrutable agenda. It is left to you to figure out what is going on. In my opinion, that is as it should be.
To Kal's other question about the relationship between the Mysteries that the Legion persues and why those particular virtues were selected, I can't speak with authority since I am not the author (or write anything for the line except for the occasional unsolicited "enthusiast" post). That said, if I look at it from the perspective of the path of perfecting the inner -- not outer -- warrior magus, it makes more sense to me. One couldargue that the spirit familiar is not so much an inner virtue making the better warrior but I think that that can be addressed by selecting the spirit as an amplification of one of the in-bred virtues of the warrior in question.
Do what you will. If the Legion is in your version of M.E. then it needs to make sense in your version of M.E. Rewrite and re-imagine as necessary and then drop it in. Have a grand time with it.
I think this is a good opportunity to plug Marko's alternative origin story for House Flambeau in Sub Rosa issue #3. Admittedly it does not have a lot directly to do with this thread's main topic (the Legion of Mithras) but it has a lot to do with interesting organizations of warrior-magi. If you like the Legion of Mithras, it is probably worth a look.
Didn't mean to start nothin'. Just grumbling, that's all.
And if you're gonna plug Markoko, I am chefing it up live every Friday and Saturday night at Excalibur in Chicago! It is an open display kitchen. You get to see me play with fire
Oh yeah, and I wrote a Sub Rosa thing once also
It is pretty cool, you should check it out.
Okay, the real reason I don't like the Legion of Mithras dates back to 4th edition. It actually has little to do with the revision (though because I already didn't like the LoM, I really didn't like the Labarius character that replaces Delendar). To me, the LoM just doesn't feel right. It isn't classical Roman, it is latter day Roman using a mythos imported from the East. And it just doesn't seem like a Flambeau thing to me. More of a Tremere concept maybe, the whole "dutiful soldier" concept, and being just a cog in a mysterious organization with a secret agenda.
Plus there is the whole "New Age Alternate Christianity" and comparison thing (a topic I don't want to get into). The LoM just irks me. It has always rubbed me the wrong way.
Suppose there are people in school like us? I would have read this kind of thing at school. I am not talking about 7 year olds here - we have 14-19 as well. The whole point of a library is to provide stuff they will not learn in the classroom.
