House Bjornaer

House Bjormaer
Motto	"Potentio super ipso potentia super allis."; (Power of the self means power over others)
Symbol	Cone
Prima	Falke
Domus Magna	Crintera

House Bjornaer is one of the twelve Houses in the Order of Hermes, a Mystery Cult house whose members follow the initiations and mystical teaching of their Founder, Bjornaer. Its magi are characterized by their ability to take the form of their Heartbeast, and their inability to bind a familiar. The House's Germanic roots and small size leads to a low status in most sagas. Its domus magna is Crintera, in the Rhine Tribunal.

The House is extensively detailed in the Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults supplement. Canonic Bjornaer magi revere animal anestors and abhor other shapeshifters. They are divided into six clans, each descending from one of the Founder's apprentices, and are further divided into septs. Beyond the Outer Mystery of the Heartbeast, the clans hold the key to Inner Mysteries. The chapter establishes a new and meaningful sense to Bjornaer twilight with its introduction of Great Beasts and the associated secret teachings.

Crintera, the domus magna of the House, is detailed in the Guardians of the Forest supplement. This description includes associations with mundane religions and a means of ascertaining one's heartbeast that do not seem to easily fit the canonic view presented in HoHMC. Note that the House's description implies none of Crintera's covenfolk would be Shapechangers, which is not the impression the raw text of GotF might give but is consistent with the covenant's depiction. The bulk of the description of the covenant and its ruling council conforms to and serves to add to the canonic House description.

Both sources emphasize the conflict between Harmonists and Wilderists in the House. The House is currently led by Falke, a Harmonist, but the former head and still active archmagus Urgen of Bjornaer remains a prominent figure and an active Wilderist. Because of the origins of it's founder and many of the early adherents, the language of the house's myserties is Gothic.

Leadership

House leadership is vested in the Bjornaer Council. The primus always sits on the council, and acts as the spokesperson for the house with the rest of the Order, but sits as an equal on the council itself. Urgen of Bjornaer, a former Primus, is a member and still very influential.

Members of House Bjornaer

Magi of House Bjornaer mentioned in canon include:

Living Members

Eule, member of Fengheld in the [{Rhine Tribunal]]. See Guardians of the Forest, page 85.
Falke is the current primus of the House in the official start date of 1220 A.D. As such, he is a member of Crinteria in the Rhine Tribunal.
Urgen, prior primus of the House, who stepped down because of his failure to prevent the conquest of Crinteria's island. He still sits on the Bjornaer Council. He is an archmagus and member of Crinteria in the Rhine Tribunal.

Famous Members (deceased)

Birna, also known as Bjornaer the Founder
Hérisson, a pacifist member of the House killed just before the Schism War and one of the subjects of Legends of Hermes.

Variations

Although it is non-Canonic, a common House Rule is to allow Bjornaer magi to initiate Inscription on the Soul (TMRE 69) as a House Mystery. This allows them to utilize a Talisman without needing to lug a physical magic item around.

References

The core description of the House is in ArM5 11.
The House is further described in HoHMC 7-43. This description was written by Mark Shirley.
HoHMC 15 provides details on the Council's membership, roles, and the manner of its appointment.

Legacy page

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