{"id":"mage/faction/tradition/the-order-of-hermes","type":"faction","system":"tradition","line":"mage","name":"The Order of Hermes","sources":[{"source":"M20","page":159}],"entries":["Just as Solomon bound spirits to his bidding, as Merlin","raised a stable boy to kingship, as John Dee named","Elizabeth’s realm an Empire and then anchored","it in time and space at Greenwich, so too do","the Houses of Hermes turn the hidden wheels of the world. Their Arts are the most refined, their knowledge the most exhaustive, their Wills the most dedicated to excellence. In many minds (most especially their own), the Order of Hermes defines the word mage.","As the largest and most organized Tradition, the Order of Hermes has influenced – they would say “defined” – the Western experience of magick. Hermetics command a huge range of secrets and wards. Their wealth is vast, their Wonders potent, their libraries breathtaking. The Order boasts the greatest number of Chantries, Masters, and Archmages. Its achievements include the first codification of magickal study, the formulation of the Spheres, and, indeed, the formation of the Traditions themselves.","Still, the Order has faced setbacks and catastrophes: the loss of both its greatest Chantry, Doissetep, and its leading Master, Porthos Fitz-Empress; the extermination (some say “self-destruction”) of its most powerful luminaries; the devastation of priceless archives. Yet the reaction from other Traditions appears to be a collective sigh of relief. Why?","Because Hermetic wizards are, to a one (and to a fault), meticulous, pedantic, majestic, and haughty. The Preface to","the venerable Hornbook – a thick volume presented to each new apprentice – captures this attitude in one paragraph: “What mage in any rival Tradition, of whatever skill, can boast the comprehensive knowledge of our least Adept? What other mage can offer any shred of theory to support his magick? The aboriginal shaman with his drums and rattle gives over his body to a spirit he knows not. The cleric with his song begs like a child for the favor of deities. The Ecstatic with his vice burns like a meteor and vanishes, and the witch with her blood-rites aspires only to procreate. Even the Akashic with his meditation and exercise seeks passive contentment in false belief. Meanwhile, the Hermetic with firm Will commands, ‘Do!’ And it is done.”","This bombast reveals the Order’s obnoxious confidence; the average Hermetic can back it up, too. Among the Traditions, only {@tradition The Verbena|M20|the Verbena} and Dreamspeakers have as violent a history with the hated Technocracy. It’s no accident that the Craftmasons (themselves formed from a renegade Hermetic sect) chose to initiate hostilities by blowing up one Hermetic citadel and to stage the Convention of the White Tower in another. Nor is it an accident that Master Baldric LaSalle chose to host the Mistridge Tribunal – the first step toward the Grand Convocation – in the ruins of that first attack. An Ecstatic might have provided the inspiration, and {@tradition The Verbena|M20|the Verbena} might have secured new allies, but the Order of Hermes forged the foundation upon which the Traditions have been built.","Stereotypes","The Technocracy: In the end, only one of us will survive.","The Disparates: Talented amateurs, lost to their own separation.","Even rival Traditions accept the Order’s vast and spectacular history. In ancient Egypt, two auspicious precursors invented the alphabet. Archmagus Solomon bound many spirits that still serve the Order today. Pythagoras founded the cult of Hermes in Greece. The Corpus Hermeticum, attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (“Thrice-Great Hermes”), forms the basis of the modern Tradition. Even Sleepers recall a few Hermetics from those storied times: Merlin. Paracelsus. Saint-Germain. Cagliostro. From Gandalf to Crowley to Potter, the popular acceptance of magick has arisen from Hermetic archetypes. In the new millennium, the group enjoys more popular acceptance than ever before. The Masses might not pursue the Hermetic Arts, but in a subconscious sort of belief, they accept the Order’s ways as the face of Western wizardry.","And so, though their various setbacks have cost the Order dearly, Hermetic mages greet this age with renewed vitality. The loss of the Archmages, the destruction of Doissetep, the war against vampires, the purge of corrupt House Janissary… they’re all like the collapsing Tarot Tower: the shattering of bondage that compels transformation. This age’s Hermetics are rolling up their sleeves and remaking the Order from its foundations while keeping those foundations – confidence, knowledge, excellence, and Will – intact. Guided by a vision of the City of Pymander – the ideal of global Ascension under Mystic Will – Hermetics remain committed to perfection. Given their high purpose, they can accept no less.","Quaesitor, Tytalus, Verditius, and the catch-all Ex Miscellanea);","others are newer, even quite recent (Fortunae, Hong Lei, Ngoma,","Shaea, Skopos, Solificati, and Xaos).","Initiation: Recruited from academia, esoteric religious orders, science, or the military, a student must survive a punishing apprenticeship under an unforgiving mentor (a mater or pater). The Order recognizes nine Degrees of mystic advancement: Neophyte, Zelator, Practicus, Initiate, Initiate Exemptus, Adept, Adept Major, Magister Scholae, and Magister Mundi. The training aims to provoke, by the conclusion of the Third Degree, a gradual Awakening more akin to a process than to a single jolting moment.","Affinity Sphere: {@sphere Forces|M20} provides the core of Hermetic training. Certain Houses favor {@sphere Life|M20}, {@sphere Matter|M20}, {@sphere Mind|M20}, and {@sphere Spirit|M20} as secondary pursuits, but {@sphere Forces|M20} is always essential.","Focus: A Hermetic mage commands nothing less than the keys to the universe. And so, these consummate scholars master ancient and arcane rituals through constant study and intense practice. Tapping elemental currents through incantations, signs, seals, paraphernalia, and secret languages, the Hermetics are – by necessity – secretive and suspicious. They command tremendous power, after all, and their rivals lurk everywhere.","{@sorcery_path Alchemy|Sorc}, dominion, and High Ritual form core practices within the Order’s ranks. No Hermetic mage lacks such training. Certain Hermetics add {@focus_practice Chaos Magick|M20|chaos magick}, the Art of Desire, {@focus_practice Hypertech|M20|hypertech}, {@focus_practice Craftwork|M20|craftwork}, weird science, yoga, and occasional malficia to that core, pursuing such paradigms as A Mechanistic Cosmos, {@focus_practice Divine Order and Earthly Chaos|M20}, {@focus_practice Might is Right|M20}, {@focus_practice Tech Holds All Answers|M20} and, naturally, Bring Back the Golden Age."],"section_id":"M20-0151","organization":"The Order is rigidly hierarchical, disciplinarian, and regulated. The Code of Hermes and its Peripheral Corrigenda dictate behavior, protocol, rules for certámen challenges, and the proper inscriptions for Chantry doorways. Thirteen Houses still exist as factions in the Order’s endless, brutal infighting. Some Houses predate the Norman Conquest (Bonisagus, Flambeau,","mage":{},"_qa":{"flags":["no_nickname"],"parser":"section_entries","confidence":0.9,"extracted":"2026-10-12","job":"m20-traditions"},"faction_type":"tradition","_links":{"self":"/api/v1/records/mage/faction/tradition/the-order-of-hermes","html":"/records/mage/faction/tradition/the-order-of-hermes","parent":null,"children":"/api/v1/records/mage/faction/tradition/the-order-of-hermes/children","sources":[{"abbr":"M20","page":159,"folio":159,"title":"Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition"}]},"_db":{"title":"Order of Hermes","props":[],"parent_id":null,"level":null,"category":null,"summary":"Just as Solomon bound spirits to his bidding, as Merlin raised a stable boy to kingship, as John Dee named Elizabeth’s realm an Empire and then anchored it in time and space at Greenwich, so too do the Houses of Hermes","tags":[],"children":[]}}