Mythic Europe

Ars Magica Primer
Game Setting
Mythic Europe
The Order of Hermes
The Order of Hermes The Code of Hermes The Peripheral Code Hermetic Book Cycle

Mythic Europe is much like the Europe of 1220, the middle ages, but with dragons, demons, angels, and faeries all unquestionably real, and no aspect of society is untouched by myth.

-Ars Magica Fifth Edition, p. 4

Mythic Europe is the canonical setting where Ars Magica sagas take place. While closely based on early 13th century Europe, Mythic Europe deviates from history by incorporating myth, legend, and wild unabashed fantasy into the historic background.

In some respects, Mythic Europe is very similar to historical Europe. It occupies the same geographical region, its inhabitants cling to the same medieval beliefs and values, it has the same social institutions such as the Catholic Church and even specific persons such as the Holy Roman Emperor Frederic II and Pope Gregory IX.

However, Mythic Europe is awash with magic and the supernatural. The power of God is manifest, faeries bargain with mortals, demons hunger for souls, and wizards live in great towers. Ars Magica focuses on the tales of wizards, which by the nature of things tends to accentuate the Mythic elements of the setting.

Above all, Mythic Europe is not fixed. While canon presents a certain vision of Mythic Europe, with a certain level of historical veracity and a certain level of myth, storyguides and troupes are encouraged to vary from canon and historical precedents when running their own sagas.

The Order of Hermes and the Realms of Power

The Order of Hermes is an organization encompassing nearly every wizard of power in Mythic Europe. Its members, the magi, take an Oath that binds them to the Order and its laws. The Order is divided into thirteen regional Tribunals, roughly along geopolitical lines. Within each Tribunal the magi live in covenants, and participate in a diverse Hermetic Society.

There are four Realms of Power influencing Mythic Europe: the Divine Realm, the Magic Realm, the Infernal Realm, and the Faerie Realm. Affiliated with the Magic Realm, magi usually live in magical places and spend much of their time improving their magical Arts and power. They treasure and collect Raw Vis, items of power such as dew collected from the mountaintop of a magical mountain or the tooth of a magical wolf.

Faerie: There are many faeries in Mythic Europe, and their machinations often entail wizards as well as mundanes. Some magi seek out these enigmatic beings, while others abhor their or try to render them into raw vis. Regardless, it is a rare magus who does not find himself at a faerie forest sooner or later.

Infernal: Most magi do their best to avoid the Infernal. Demons in Ars Magica are dangerous, deceptive, and corrupting. The Order was shaken by the Corruption of an entire House, and the Code of Hermes forbids any dealings with demons. Yet the Order is not at war with the Infernal and does not wish to be; magi are often advised to take a wide breadth away from Infernal machinations, rather than bring the attention of the demons on them and their peers.

Divine: Perhaps the most powerful of the Realms is the Divine. Much of Mythic Europe is under the Dominion, under the influence of this supernatural power. In Mythic Europe God does not limit his grace to a single faith, and Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all enjoy the blessings of the Dominion - as do many heresies and other religions. Angels constantly battle demons for the souls of humanity, and holy men wield great powers in the name of God. The Dominion makes the practice of Hermetic Magic difficult and dangerous, and magi often avoid the Dominion and the Catholic Church, or at least strive to keep it at bay. Although most magi worship God, they separate Divine worship from the places of Magic that God has chosen to place on this Earth. Some even oppose the rise of the Dominion, or cling to pagan deities.

Magi are not allowed to bow in fealty to the nobles of Mythic Europe, which makes integration with the feudal medieval society difficult. Shunning both fealty and the Church, many covenants periodically find themselves pressed by mundane encroachment, making shady deals with mundanes, or dodging the Church's efforts at prostheletyzing.

Yet magi are not removed from mundane society. They rely on mundane artisanship and toil to provide them with food and products, they often take an interest in mundane scholarship and art, and many are religious or hold other ties to the mundanes. Ars Magica allows to put great emphasis on Mundane Society, with supplements such as City and Guild and Art and Academe intertwining the two worlds.

European Powers

Some recent history in western Europe.

Kingdom of England

Ruled by child-king, Henry III. England holds Gascony and Poitou but has recently lost Brittany and less recently Normandy. The major city is London, with a population of around 17,000 souls. The people of London are building a new cathedral, St. Paul's.

Kingdom of France

The King of France claims the overlordship of the ancient kingdom of the West Franks. The Royal family, the Capetians, in 1224 holds amongst others the counties of Tournai, Amiens, Orleans, Isle de France, Artois, Valois, Vermandois, Alencon, Evreux, Issoudon, Vexin, Touraine, Poitou, Saintonge and the Duchy of Normandy.

Until recently however France actually controlled just the area around Paris. Under Philip II, the area controlled by the King has expanded:

• In 1203, Philip took control of Anjou from its count, King John of England, and along with it Maine
• In 1204, Philip II took control of Normandy and made it into a royal duchy
• In 1205, Philip II regained Touraine and made it into a royal duchy
• Following the Treaty of Guînes in 1212, the King took control of Aire-sur-la-Lys, Saint-Omer and Guînes.
• In 1213, Philip engineered the marriage of a cousin to the sole (female) heir of Brittany and completed the realignment of Brittany from the Plantagenets to France
• 1214, after the Battle of Bouvines, France gained the remaining lands of the County of Artois that it had not taken control of in 1212.

France currently also has a strong position in Flanders, as since the Battle of Bouvines, France has held the husband of Jeanne Countess of Flanders incarcerated in France. The treaty after the battle also confirmed France in its recent conquests.

Philip II Augustus dies in July 1223. He has been succeeded by Louis VIII, who in 1216 had invaded England and had been proclaimed King by some barons, though he was never crowned. Louis VIII was defeated at land and sea and forced into a treaty on English terms which included a promise to never attack England again or claim to have ever been the English king.

(Holy) Roman Empire

Part of the legacy of Charlemagne, the Roman Empire consists of the eastern and southern parts of the Carolingian possessions, and now consists of the Kingdom of the Germans, the Duchy of Burgundy and the Kingdom of Sicily. The Empire is not a highly centralised state like England, for example. Instead, it is divided into dozens of individual entities governed by kings, dukes, counts, bishops, abbots and other rulers, collectively known as princes. There are also some areas ruled directly by the Emperor. According to the laws of Germany, the Emperor has no claims on the vassals of the other princes, only on those living within his family's territory. Rarely can the Emperor simply issue decrees and govern autonomously over the Empire. His power is severely restricted by the various local leaders.

There are no universities in the German-speaking world at this time.

County of Flanders

The county is semi-independent from the Holy Roman Empire, although it has lost territory to France in recent years.

In 1205, Flanders (and Hainaut) came under the rule of the infant Jeanne of Flanders, initially under the wardship of Philip of Namur and subsequently, went Philip of Namur became betrothed to one of his daughters, of King Philip II of France. She married Ferdinand, prince of Portugal in Paris in January 1212. Howver, the heir to the French throne captured the newly weds and extracted some Flemish territrory, including Artois, as the price of their release. In 1214, Flanders allied with England and Germany (Otto IV) and were defeated at the battle of Bouvines, after which Ferdinand became a prisoner of France and Jeanne rules alone.

Duchy of Toulouse

Semi-independent, theoretically the Duke owes fealty to the Kind of France. Recent events have seen France exert its power under the banner of putting down the Cathar heresy. Traditionally, Toulouse has been allied with Navarre. Kingdom of Navarre

Ruled by King Sancho VII.

Kingdom of Denmark

The Kingdom of Denmark is ruled by King Valdemar II, who ascended to the throne in 1202 on the unexpected death of his elder and unmarried brother Knud.

The Church

The Catholic Church is headed by the Pope as the heir to St. Peter.

Organization of the Roman Church

The Church divides Christendom into Provinces.

A Province consists of a Metropolitan Archdiocese and one or more other Dioceses. The archbishop of the metropolitan see is the Metropolitan of the province, that is its leader. However, there are individual dioceses that do not belong to any province, but are directly subject to the Holy See. There are also some archdioceses that are not metropolitan sees and some that are suffragan (subordinate) to another archdiocese.

Canon Law

Canon Law applies to members of the Church, which include students at university. It also applies to areas such as matrimony, inheirtances, and other obscure areas. Some key rulings are:

• The 1215 Lateran Council directed that rectors should live in their parishes or appoint a vicar with a stipend and freehold.
• Simony is the ecclesiastical crime of paying for holy offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church, as well as the sale of spiritual authority: the sale of tithes, the taking of a fee for confession, absolution, marriage or burial, and the concealment of one in mortal sin or the reconcilement of an impenitent for the sake of gain.

Holy Orders

In 1223 the Pope recognised the Franciscan order.

Crusades

The 13th Century is the era of Crusades, when European powers were most active in their attempts to reclaim the Levant, stamp out heresy in Provence, and converting Slavic pagans in the north. Most of the Crusades have, are, or will happen in a magus' lifetime.

Holy Land Crusades

• Third Crusade (1187-1192)
• Fourth Crusade (1202-1204)
• Children's Crusade (1212)
• Fifth Crusade (1217-1221)
• Sixth Crusade (1228-1229)
• Seventh Crusade (1248-1254)
• Eighth Crusade (1270)
• Ninth Crusade (1271-1272)

Northern Crusades

• Livonian Crusades, a series of campaigns and wars from 1198-1290
• Stedinger Crusade (1232-1234)

Southern Crusades

• Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229)
• Aragonese Crusade (1284-1285)

Eastern Crusades

• (Failed) Crusade against the Tartars (Mongols), 1259