Pralix

Pralix was a Tytalus maga who, in the ninth century, founded House Ex Miscellanea. Well, actually she founded a whole order separate from the Order of Hermes, but eventually agreed to have it accepted as a house. She was pupil to Guorna the Fetid, along with Tytalus and Tremere, and later joined House Tytalus as the Order formed. She orchestrated the battle against Damhan-Allaidh in the British isles, which ultimately resulted in the formation of the new house under her leadership. She also founded the magical tradition of the Line of Pralix within the House to facilitate the acceptance of exoctic magical traditions into the Order.

In a mirror to Trianoma, Pralix is the only founder of a House who was not one of the original Founders of the Order.

Contradicting Fifth Edition Material

Page ten of the Fifth Edition Core Rule Book indicates that the threat of Damhan-Allaidh came in the early ninth century and that Tytalus the Founder himself gave the task of defeating Damhan-Allaidh to Pralix. However, in discussing the state of House Tytalus following the founder's dissappearance in 807, after describing how Hariste became the first prima of the house, Houses of Hermes: Societates goes on to describe how Hariste manipulated the Order into sending Pralix after Damhan-Allaidh. The latter treatment is probably the more reliable as far as canon in so far as the core book's treatment of the events was by necessity short and in so far as the latter agrees with the timelines presented in prior material.

Publishing History

Pralix was introduced along with all of the Houses for the first time in the 1989 Lion Rampant Second Edition product named Houses of Hermes. In that version, she is a "senior filia of Tytalus". Also in that version, the Robes of Dusty Dawn were given to Pralix by Verditius. The timeline for her battle against Damhan-Allaidh was 814-816 A.D.

The 1994 Wizards of the Coast supplement Lion of the North gives a longer description of the fight against Damhan-Allaidh and the formation of the House. It gives 817 A.D. as the year the House was accepted into the Order, which agrees with the year given in the House Ex Miscallanea section of Houses of Hermes: Societates. This supplement also introduced into the history a return by Damhan-Allaidh which was not a part of the Second Edition version and does not appear to have carried over into Fifth Edition.

References

• A brief history of the formation and early years of House Ex Miscellanea is in Houses of Hermes: Societates, pages 101-102.
• Pralix's struggle against Guorna the Fetid, along the other apprentices, is detailed in Houses of Hermes: Societates, page 71, and her following history in House Tytalus is at pages 72-74.
• The first material on Pralix can be found in Order of Hermes, page 79.
• The Third Edition treatment can be found in Lion of the North, pages 28-31.