Mystery Cult

A Mystery Cult in ArM5 is a secret society that knows and teaches one or more Mysteries. Characters join a mystery cult and learn its Mystery through the process of Initiation.

House Mysteries

In ArM5, four Houses are considered mystery cults: Bjornaer, Criamon, Merinita, and Verditius. They are also called Mystery Houses, or Exoteric Mysteries. They are described in the ArM5 rule book; the supplement Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults expands on them and describes many more of their mystical secrets.

Other Mystery Cults

Some Houses are mystery cults, but most mystery cults are not Houses.These are known as Esoteric Mysteries.

TMRE describes several example mystery cults and gives rules for creating new ones.

• The Legion of Mithras
• The Philosophers of Rome
• The Children of Hermes
• The Mystic Fraternity of Samos
• The Disciples of the Worm
• The Knights of the Green Stone
• The Order of the Green Cockerel

Other mystery cults are described in canon, too:

• The Titanoi within House Tytalus
• The True Merinitae within House Merinita and beyond
• The Cult of Orpheus within House Ex Miscellanea
• The Huntress in the Wood, largely within House Bjornaer
• A sketch on the surviving Cult of Mithras in House Flambeau can be found in Houses of Hermes Societates
• The Cult of Dedun is a organisation focused on death & immortality. In league with the magic spirit known as the Red.

Levels of Membership

Some cults have more than one level of membership. Cult members are promoted from lower to higher levels of membership through additional Initiations. The mystical secrets known to lower-level members are called Outer Mysteries, while Inner Mysteries are reserved for the cult's elite.

Resources

• 30 Days of Mystery Cult Content discussion thread at the Atlas Games forums for Ars Magica.

Legacy Page

The history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at Legacy:mystery_cult