Untitled - The Secrets of the Mind & Body Shaping

The spectral Primus Cato, who was a
Bonisagus magus before joining House
Criamon, has always believed Criamon
magi create the majority of all adulterations.
He pursues this idea among his
other hobbies and sometimes, as a favor
to him, his descendants study the lives of
young, violent magi from other Houses,
to determine if a narrative of transgression
and expiation is discernable.
The Cave
of Twisting
Shadows
The Cave of Twisting Shadows is a
regio that leads from the mortal world to
the refuge Criamon discovered outside
time. The covenant’s inhabitants do not
live in the mortal world at the base of
the regio, nor in its highest level, the
Hypostasis. Criamon magi call this regio
the Axis Magica. It is, they say, the great
pole around which the world’s tides of
magical energy circle. It is their domus
magna.
Hundreds of dead covenfolk and
magi haunt the Cave of Twisting Shadows.
These ghosts do not have the monomaniacal
personalities often noticed in the
unquiet dead. The covenant’s ghosts form
extended families governed by their living
members. These spirits believe that,
once the answer is known, they will be
able to enter the refuge outside time, as
Hermetic magi can now. Many hundreds
rest in their ashes, kept in urns within
each family home, waiting for the call of
the answer.
The Central Clutch
The Central Clutch is the custodian
of the House’s store of wisdom. Its primary
task is to support the other parts of
the House, whose specialists continue to
research the answer. The Central Clutch
trains most of the apprentices, engages in
Mystery Cults
Hermetic politics, and assists the senior
members of the other clutches, when they
require it. The Prima leads this clutch.
The Prima
The Prima of the House has many
duties. She leads the council, of magi and
elected covenfolk, which rules the Cave
of Twisting Shadows. She coordinates the
House’s activities, and is its spokesperson
to the other Houses. Most Primi also
engage in research. The Prima ascends
to the role through a complicated ritual,
during which many Criamon magi enter a
communal vision.
killing tHe PriMa
When the Prima feels close to Final
Twilight, the members of House Criamon
gather at the Cave of Twisting Shadows to
kill her. A procession wends to the ninth
level of the regio, where a non-Criamon
ceremonially murders her. Her ghost then
fl oats free and announces its intention
not to pass through the gate into the
Hypostasis. It chooses instead to stay in
the mortal world to tend the House until
the Enigma is answered.
Those magi present who have an
Enigmatic Wisdom score of 3 or more
then enter into a communal trace fi lled
with incomprehensible images. When
one believes the images indicate that
he should accept the role of Primus, he
stands and announces this to be so. The
magus is acclaimed by his sodales. The
only other formality of investiture is sending
letters to Criamon magi unable to
attend the ritual, and to the Primi of the
other Houses.
The House tries to limit the time
between the death and ascension of Primi.
They believe the Hypostasis is inaccessible
when there is no living Primus. Thus,
they believe that magi who have fallen
into temporary Twilight cannot return
while the offi ce is vacant, and that magi
whose circumstances would usually force
them into Final Twilight cannot shelter
there during such periods; they simply
die.
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faMous PriMi
The Primi who followed Criamon
were younger and less mystical than outsiders
usually expect. The personality and
aptitudes of the Primi appear to predict
the crises the House faces during their
custodianship. During the Schism War,
for example, a militant Primus from the
Path of Strife drew the House back to the
Cave of Twisting Shadows. He offered
sanctuary to members of non-combatant
Houses, some of who joined the House
afterward, creating unusual Criamon lineages.
Three past Primi have left particularly
signifi cant legacies for the House.
Before becoming Criamon’s successor,
Juliasta fi lia Criamon was the fi rst
follower of the Winding Path. These magi
do not live in the House’s covenants, and
some wander Europe seeking subjects
for study. Juliasta also lived, for a time,
in several non-Criamon covenants. She
shared much of the House’s knowledge
with outsiders, learning useful arcana in
exchange. This rounded out the capacities
of Criamon magi, making their Arts
comparable to their sodales in other
Houses. Juliasta prepared the House for
its journey.
The third Primus, Verderis, wrote
an epic poem called The Travels of Fedoso,
which many apprentices use to learn
Latin. Fedoso is a young man who travels
through a strange landscape facing mystical
obstacles, fi gurative enemies, and
perplexing situations. He fi nds allies and
companions, but ends his journey alone at
the peak of a mountain.
Many Criamon magi claim that The
Travels of Fedoso is a map for the future of
the House. Those versed in the text claim
that it predicted the Corruption of House
Tytalus and the Schism War. A few magi
refuse to allow their students to read this
book. They believe it causes the calamities
it predicts.
The ghost of Verderis does not reside
in the Cave of Twisting Shadows, one of
only three Primi who are absent from the
succession. He predicted that he would
die away from the Cave of Twisting
Shadows, and that his spirit would be lost
for a time. He said he would be found,
literally “netted in,” as a harbinger of the
coming answer. Many Criamon sought