Mnemosyne Bedo 2

From Ars Magica

From Mnemosyne ex Guernicus to Bedo ex Bonisagus

Greetings Sodale,

I am first of all astounded that my missive found you at all, whether well or otherwise. It is no doubt a testament to the skills and dilligence of House Mercere that my previous letter arrived, as I was under the impression that you were apprenticed in the Stonehenge Tribunal. Apart from showing my poor memory and lack of knowledge about the inhabitants of the Order, this is in fact a fortuitous thing.

I am pleased to answer your questions and commend your laudable caution. Let me address them as best I can and phrase my responses in the order to which you asked your question.

I am most assuredly not suggesting that we stand against the good practices of the Order. As a member of House Guernicus and a Quaesitor of good standing, with full authority vested in my by my Primus, I am in fact most definitely a supporter of the Order, it's Code and the very essence in which it stands for. In my position of trust, with my Primus, my House, my Tribunal and the weight of the very Order itself behind me, to do anything but to act in the best interests of the Order would be a crime of the highest magnitude.

Rather, when I wrote to you suggesting that in taking on the founding of a new covenant, we would be free from the restrictions and politics of older covenants, I was naturally referring to our ability to set our research unhindered by issues of seniority; the ability to pursue our own goals without taking on the baggage of older magi with different goals; and take a hand in breaking new boundaries in our own names rather than others.

Currently this new endevour shall be self sponsored. I have spent the better part of the last year preparing for this opportunity and have been in contact with a number of other young interested magi who are also in a similar position. It is my hope that by pooling our resources we can found our own covenant free from debt to another and thus truely free from undue influence and pressures. I would hope that if you were to join us, then you would bring what resources you could reasonably lay your hands upon as well as your own skills and knowledge.

A particular site has not as yet been decided upon. However, I have high hopes for the west of England or eastern Wales. Currently, we are looking into locations in and around Shropshire to find a suitable site. As such you should find this to be suitable in terms of cardinal direction and not too extreme in respect to weather conditions.

As to the other magi who have already agreed to participate in this undertaking, provisionally at least, I have been in personal contact with no less than four other magi of good standing, or so I am led to beleive. Two members of House Mercere, a magi of House Verditius and member of House Jerbiton. None of these members of the Order are from the Rhine Tribunal, so it is unlikely that you will know of them. However, I hope to rectify this in the near future.

This in order that you can have the opportunity to meet your future sodales and to speed the discussion of the essential issues involved in a creation of this magnitude, I suggest if my letter has answered enough of your questions to satisfy you for now, you make haste, gather up the texts, vis, servitors and other resources that you can legitimately claim and come and meet us in person. Those of us who can shall be gathering on the 18th day of April in the Year of Our Lord 1220, four weeks following the vernal equinox, in the village of Church Stretton. It can be found in the west of England in Shropshire, not so very far from the Welsh border. The nearest large town would be Shrewsbury, to aid you in finding it. However, you should be careful as there are a number of Strettons in the area and cause you confusion as a foreigner.

I look forward to meeting you in person, in the anticipation that you will accept my invitation and take this bold step together with myself.

Mnemosyne ex Guernicus.

Mnemosyne's Original Letter
Bedo's Original Reply
Bedo's Reply