Salvete Sodales,
As I mentioned in my previous thread here, I am currently in the process of creating the groundwork for a Saga to be set in Britain somewhere between 1025 and 1035. From that thread:
I've got mundane research coming out my ears: overview histories, biographies, monographs on Anglo-Saxon Oxfordshire, a little book about the medieval Wychwood, a few sources in Latin, the works.
My mind now bends toward Hermetic research. In the previous thread I wrestled with the question of how large the Order was right after the Schism (I settled on about 770ish Gifted magi and about 50 Redcaps, or ~820 total members). I was about to similarly wrestle with the division of Europe into Hermetic Tribunals (which I feel should not be identical in 1030 and 1220) when I realized that I did not know nearly enough about the Order in this period. In the past I've tended to run in and around 1220, and never earlier than about the 3rd Crusade. This history was consulted and read, but not actively enough to run confidently in this period. I will of course deliberately tweak both real history (I am making the Wychwood a little wilder, larger, and less settled than it actually was, for instance) and the Hermetic history to fit with my Saga, but I have no wish to alter either unintentionally through ignorance.
I don't expect anyone to do the research for me - I'm going through the books one at a time. However, if any of you can answer questions off the top of your head because you just know the material that well, I would appreciate any help you can lend. I would also appreciate suggestions of particularly detail-rich passages in the books that I must read. I have the whole 5th edition library except Broken Covenant and Fallen Fane, and I have all of the 4th edition Tribunal books.
I'm primarily interested in one specific question, and three broader subjects:
When did the Schism War actually end?
I get some contradictory information here. I see some tables and charts saying 1017 or 1018, but then there's a strange reference under Tremere in True Lineages which suggests it might have been over as early as 1014. Since the concept for my saga is "you are all among the first of the 'generation' of Magi to have begun your apprenticeships after the War was concluded", I want my starting date to be X+(15 to 20), where X is the year the War ended. I get that there can be some fuzziness here - maybe all actual hostilities were ended by 1014 but the war wasn't 'officially' over until 1017?
Personalities of the Era
I'm trying to compile a list of the 'notable wizards' of the era, canonically speaking. I'm happy to create the others and may 'overwrite' some existing ones if I have a pressing need, but again, I don't want to act out of ignorance.
For instance, let's look at Primi. I know that until he's disgraced and discredited, Entisimon is still the Primus of Flambeau. Tytalus is most likely led by Klynoites, who may or may not have had a hand in the murder of the previous Prima. Guernicus is probably still led by Antonius, who commited human sacrifice to help end the War. Salmo is leading Bjornaer and bringing their behavior more in line with the 'Roman standard'. Merinita is headed by Rhiannon, who was a 'timid young maga' in 997 and ruled until she 'died of old age', which is unlikely to have happened by 1030.
What about the other 7 Houses? We know that Bonisagus was lead by Thamus Collis, but he stepped down at the conclusion of the Schism War. Who replaced him? And do we know of any other major personalities who are active at this time?
General Differences between 1030 and 1220
This one is a little bit more difficult to nail down, so instead of trying to explain what I mean, I'll provide a handful of examples:
- Under this heading would fall, for instance, the fact that until a series of rulings in 1061, the sale of magical items to mundanes is not out-and-out prohibited (though one must be careful not to do anything which could bring one into trouble with the Code.)
- Another example, stemming from my reading of Societates, is that since we're still fairly close to the era of the reformer Basilicus's reign over Ex Miscellanea (he was the one who disappeared before the vote on Diedne's renunciation, right?), House Ex Misc. has probably not atrophied into a totally decentralized political non-entity yet, though it's starting to crumble.
- Although Salmo's leadership and reforms mean that a freshly-Gauntleted PC Bjornaer may be fairly 'civilized' in behavior, the older generations of that house still retain a much more tribal structure.
What is the role of Ireland and Scotland in Hermetic history before 1030?
For my Saga, I very much want to characterize Scotland as a semi-settled hinterland of the Order, and Hibernia as terra incognita. (Both will be rolled with England into a larger Tribunal Britannia, legally speaking.) I am aware that his necessitates some changes. For instance, I'll be spending some time either rewriting Rhiannon or explaining how she came to be Hermetic. What, if anything, else am I going to have to rewrite or figure out how to incorporate into my vision?
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