In the transylvanian tribunal, the places where magi live together are called "oppida", while "covenant" really refers to the magi's social status.
Why was this change made? Why not just keep the name "covenant" for where the magi live together, and invent some other term ("Station"?) to the magus' social status?
Of course anyone is invited to speculate, but I was hoping one of the authors/editor could chime in...
Hi.
"Order of Hermes" for second edition stated there were only five covenants in Transylvania. It was a way to dodge canon.
:raised eyebrows: All this to perserve canon from second edition? Well, alright. I have to admit I'd have thrown that bit of cannon under the bus. The shift in terms needlessly complicates things.
Especially as its well-recognised in other Tribunals that a single covenant can have multiple sites, making the supposed "restriction" of Transylvania to five covenants meaningless in practice.
Likewise, the Rhine effectively has social classes, though its considered a corruption of the Code. The Tremere would probably do it better.
Yes, but you hadn't received a surprising amount of negative feedback for changing the Primus of Criamon from "Order of Hermes". People had strong feelings at the time.
It also (possibly by designer intent) gives a chance to show that House Tremere will abide by the terms of a compact and have their way too.
"Only five covenants? Very well."
This solution has the interesting feature of leaning on covenants being agreements, not necessarily locations.
Of course, the restriction on covenants might have been evaded through use of chapter houses, but using oppida flaunts the rule.
Well, yes, it does give the "We will tell you when you are civilized." vibe.
One of the big inspirations for Tremere, particularly things dating back to the Sundering, are the Americans in Asia under Commodore Perry. Sondheim fans: Pacific Overtures. You don't get to ignore them. They'll tell you that your traditions don't matter nearly as much as obeying them, because they know better than you and the world will be better if you just do what they tell you what to do. If you won't, they'll replace you with someone who will. I see the Sundering as more like that and less like Tremere wanting to be crowned Emperor of the Earth. A perpetual peace in which the terms of living would be determined by the Tremere. What is a good community to do? What is peace? What is evil? What are the punishments for breaking the rules? The Tremere will tell you. Pax Trementis.
Tremere have built social classes into their system, and they've gotten some people to go along with it because they have the equivalent of money and power, but they are kind of a problem-in-waiting if you happen to be, say, like the Japanese, the Filipinos, or the Hawaiians. They don't do this because they are moustache-twirling evil. They do it because they are very sure that they are more clear-eyed about how the world works than everyone else. They are likely wrong in this belief (indeed in Ars they clearly aren't Christian enough). People cut them a lot of slack because having them do the heavy lifting of law enforcement is convenient and because feudalism is so common that the Tremere practice of it doesn't seem to odd to them as it does to modern readers.
This also explains why the Greater Alps fought them so hard, IMO. The Domus Magnae in the Greater Alps have two visions of magical life that are absolutely different to the ruthless pragmatism of Tremere. You can't just give a little to get along if your core principles are to avoid causing suffering on one hand and avoid causing ugliness on the other. I do wonder if the path of Walking Backwards is a result of the Sundering. Similarly the Brutal Art flaw may have originally been an aesthetic response to war.
Not to mention that House Jerbiton literally joined the order to get protection from Tremere raids in Greece - the tension between the two hermetic groups is unlikely to have disappeared as rapidly as the raids did. And there was probably more resentment on the Jerbiton side - after all, the Tremere attacks wasn't a personal feud from the later's point of view.