Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults Chapter Two: House Bjornaer

The childhood of our House has passed. We were born into darkness, weaned in the wild places of the world, took our first tottering steps in the shadows of our forefathers. Now it is time for us to come forth from the wilderness and experience the full light of the Order of Hermes. Now it is time for us to honor the memory of our ancestors by living our own lives, filled with the wisdom we have learned — and still learn yet — at their knees. Now is the time that we stand proud as heirs, as adults, as magi.
— Primus Salmo, speaking to the House in 1023

When asked, all that most magi know about the members of House Bjornaer is that they can change shape. The more arrogant magi dismiss them as practitioners of primitive magic; the more misty-eyed ones see them as the last remnants of a forgotten people — noble savages. Neither group will be easily able to find a magus of the House who fulfills either stereotype, yet they endure. Few can mention a famous historical member of the House, fewer still know any historical event which involved a Bjornaer magus. Although the Order does not realize it, they know next to nothing about this secretive House, and what they do know is unsupported by fact. This is a result of deliberate efforts on behalf of the followers of Bjornaer, who recognize the power inherent in secrets. In truth, House Bjornaer is a cult of the ancestors, gaining power in the present because of the weight of all of those who have gone before. They believe that it is the ancestor-spirits that reside within them that gives them the power to change shape; through greater communication with these spirits inside them, they seek to become creatures of magic.

Key facts

• Population: 79
• Domus Magna: Crintera in the Rhine Tribunal
• Prima: Falke. She had this position in the House thrust upon her, and is struggling to acquire the qualities of leadership. She currently strives to carry out a strategy of isolation and patience, and is trying to regain the trust of the Quaesitores and others in the Order. Falke’s heartbeast is a silvergray falcon with white-banded wings.
• Favored Tribunals: The Novgorod and Loch Leglean Tribunals, where there are still many wild places left in which to roam undisturbed, followed by the Rhine Tribunal.
• Motto: Potentio super ipso potentia super allis. (Power over the self is power over others.)
• Symbols: A cone. When Trianoma was devising the iconography of the Order she chose the cone as a symbol for House Bjornaer; as it can cast the shadow of triangle or a circle, but never both at the same time, thus refl ecting the heartbeast. House Bjornaer also uses another symbol; a Janus-style head combining the face of a bear with that of a woman.

Crintera: Domus Magna

The domus magna of House Bjornaer is Crintera, situated on the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea, just off the northern coast of Germany. Its permanent members are the six members of the Bjornaer Council. The covenant proper is situated in a regio in the middle of a magical forest. As well as the six huts of the Bjornaer Council, the top level of the regio has a large meeting area where the Gathering of Twelve Years is held. More information about Crintera and the members of the Bjornaer Council here.

Famous Figures

• Birna: Gothic witch and Founder of the House.
• Hérisson: Founder of the Harmonist philosophy; unappreciated in his time.
• Salmo: Primus following the Schism War who refocused the House in a more traditional Hermetic mould.
• Urgen: Previous primus, a direct and sometimes violent magus who resigned in favor of Falke.

History

Over the four and a half centuries since the founding of the Order of Hermes, House Bjornaer has changed substantially in its demeanor, politics, and magic. From primitive shapechangers to savage defenders of the wilderness, and now to upstanding members of the Order of Hermes, these dramatic changes have left scars on the House that are still apparent today. To fully understand the Bjornaer magus, one must understand the history of the House, and it is no accident that much of this history lies shrouded in mystery — House Bjornaer do not want other Houses to understand them.

Bjornaer the Founder

As with many Mystery Cults, the story of the central figure of House Bjornaer — the Founder herself — is as much legend as it is history. She was from a remnant tribe of the Gothic people who once occupied the whole of northeastern Germany, and her name was actually Birna, which means ‘she-bear’ in the language of her tribe. As an initiate of a witch-cult, Birna received visitations from an ancestor, who took the form of a spirit-bear. It told her that the witches enslaved ancestor-spirits with evil magic, and convinced Birna to try to find a way to break the power of the cult. Birna pretended that she was magically weak, while learning the hidden lore of her tradition. She was scorned and mocked by the witch-cult for her meager powers, and her resentment for them grew daily.

When stories of a traveling witch came to the ears of the tribe, Birna’s superiors naturally sent their most expendable member to face her. However, this “witch,” named Trianoma, told Birna of a new magical society where she would be treated as an equal and be taught magic that would surpass that of those who despised her. Birna readily agreed to join the Order of Hermes, but advised Trianoma that there was little point continuing further east into the territory of the German tribes, as the sorcerers there were both hostile and of little consequence. This petty revenge denied her former tradition the possibility of joining the Order, and they in turn assumed that Birna had been killed by the witch and mourned her not.

The Name “Bjornaer”

Birna spoke no Latin when she met Trianoma, and was never much of a scholar. Her first apprentices called themselves the barns Bjornaer (meaning “The Children of Birna” in Old Gothic), which became the auditores Bjornaer (“Followers of ‘Bjornaer’”) to the nascent Order. Neither Birna nor her followers saw fit to correct the grammatical error, recognizing the power inherent in names, and Birna was therefore known as Bjornaer to the rest of the Order.

The Gothic Shapeshifters

According to House Bjornaer, the Gothic witch-cult practiced Infernal magic. The ancestor-spirits of the Goths took the form of animals, and protected their descendants from ill-fortune. Once these spirits were enslaved by the cult, a witch could become any animal whose spirit she controlled. The witches could also force the ancestors to prophesy, or to reverse their protective powers and instead lay curses. Denied the Order by the vengeful Birna, this magical tradition was gradually wiped out by the civilizing forces of Charlemagne’s Empire, expanding Christianity, and the secret pogroms of House Bjornaer. The last remnants of the Goths were assimilated into the Slavic people of the region, and the shapeshifters are believed to have been eradicated shortly after the Schism War. Unbeknown to the House, the descendents of this magical tradition — the witch-women and their skin-changing people — still exist in secret in the forests of Pomerania (and perhaps elsewhere). They bear a deep and abiding resentment for the great traitor Birna, whose name is reviled in stories transmitted from generation to generation.

The Founding of House Bjornaer

Birna’s native tradition relied on shapechanging and ecstatic trances, while the magic of Bonisagus was based on a classical understanding of natural philosophy, and Birna found it necessary to change her entire worldview to adopt the new magic. However, Merinita proved to be a kind and patient mentor, and they became as sisters. With her help, Birna was able to overcome her shortcomings, and over time became an equal of the other Founders. Birna referred to the bear-shape granted by her ancestor as “the beast of her heart,” and it forever frustrated Bonisagus that his theory had no means of penetrating the “disguise” of Birna’s bear form. Birna realized that it should be possible to cause other Gifted individuals to come into communion with their own ancestral spirits. Using her knowledge of her tribe’s magical rites, and Merinita’s training in the pagan Mysteries, the two magae devised the Ritual of Twelve Years to do just that.

Birna chose her apprentices only from among the Germanic tribes. She initiated them into the heartbeast as well as Hermetic magic, and her early apprentices assisted in the teaching of the later ones, mirroring Birna’s own “apprenticeship” under Bonisagus and Merinita. Midusulf and Maruhs came from her own tribe; Midusulf literally means “mead-wolf” in Old Gothic, and signifies a bear, whereas Maruhs means “stallion” in the same language. When her third apprentice proved to be a spy from the witch-cult, Birna hunted down the traitor and ended his life with her claws and teeth; henceforth she turned her attentions to other Germanic tribes. Ilfetu (“Swan” in his native tongue) came from the marshes of ancient Frisia, whereas Wilkis (“Wolf”) and Arelie (“Eagle”) came from a Prussian tribe. Finally, Sirnas (“Stag”) originated from amongst the Wends of the Baltic Coast.

The Formation of the Clans

The last instructions offered to Birna’s followers were characteristically enigmatic. To each of her six apprentices she said but one word. To Midusulf she said “Lead,” Sirnas was told “Protect,” Ilfetu was commanded “Teach.” Maruhs was told “Strive,” Arelie “Remember,” and finally, to Wilkis she said “Nourish.” The apprentices divided the House into six clans, each of which undertook one of these duties. Wilkis, the most eloquent of the six, was appointed to be the first primus of the House on the passing of Birna. The second primus was Fauho, the filius of Midusulf, with the heartbeast of a fox.

Appendix A: Story Seeds

The Secret Enemy

The Gothic shapeshifters gain a charismatic chieftain who unites some of the tribes under one banner. This leader becomes sufficiently motivated to try to eradicate House Bjornaer, possibly due to actions performed or witnessed by the player characters. These people do everything in their power to wipe out every last one of the Bjornaer followers, even at the expense of their own lives. They are magically weak compared to Hermetic magi, but they are physically strong, highly loyal to each other, and fanatical in their task. More about the Pomeranian witches can be found here.

Appendix B: Mundane animals

Only Ilfetu learned the Ritual of Twelve Years from his master, and the House met on a regular basis to conduct this ritual for new apprentices at Birna’s eventual home, the covenant of Crintera. At one of these early Gatherings in 831, the ancient Birna, then over a century old, imparted some last instructions to her House and disappeared forever in the form of an immense bear. Birna’s six “children” continued to recruit apprentices from the shapechanging traditions of the Germanic and Slavic tribes, just like their mater. Due to this predominance of “pagan barbarians” among the barns Bjornaer, the House quickly gained a reputation for savagery, a reputation that the House is still trying to shake. The goal of most of its members was to defend the wilderness against the invasion of the Dominion brought by the expanding human population. Birna had taught that the wilderness holds a great secret of magic, a secret that can be experienced, but not tamed. The soil unturned by plowshare, the river untouched by the prow of a boat, the forest that had yet to feel the bite of an axe; these things were sacred to Birna’s Children.