House Criamon

House Criamon is one of the Houses of Hermes, a Mystery Cult within the Order of Hermes following the teaching of the Founder Criamon. Its magi are mystics following an obscure philosophy in search of the "Enigma". The House's domus magna is the Cave of Twisting Shadows, in the Greater Alps Tribunal.

The core description of the House (in ArM5) leaves the Enigma undefined, going as far as to say that "No one outside House Criamon really understands what their mystery is about". This coincides with previous editions, which left the Enigma vague. The HoHMC description, however, provided detaild explanation of the Enigma, anchoring it to the philosophy of Empedocles and cyclical time. This has met with mixed reviews in the Ars Magica community. The chapter was criticized for removing the mystery and incoherence of the Enigma, and limiting Criamon character concepts. On the other hand, it was also exalted for providing a vision of the Enigma that allows a great degree of latitude in its application, philosophical and historical depth, and at the same time being a totally crazy position. The chapter also provides several colorful paths while leaving room for others, so allows for a greater breadth of Criamon archetypes than may be apparent.

The canonic description of the House refers to the use of Inscription Upon the Soul (from TMRE) as being practiced in the House. While not mentioned specifically, Divination and Augury is likewise fitting, especially the Hermetic Dream Interpreter variant; it is unclear to what degree does Enigmatic Wisdom contribute to these efforts - the most direst interpretation, building on the description of the Ability, would probably allow adding it as a bonus to the Divination ability.

References

ArM5 11 provides the core description of the House.
The full canonic treatment of the House, by Timothy Ferguson, is provided in HoHMC 44-73.

Legacy Page

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