Very nice work: addressing lots of issues a magus always wanted to know about, but never dared to ask ;-).

Like every good book, it also raises many further questions - to explore in-game:
Why is Apprentice's Day just one day after All Fools?
Do Magi still celebrate Lemuralia/Lemuria, complete with throwing beans behind them and all? What do priests at the covenant think about this? What the ghosts?
How do Ex Miscellanea magi celebrate Miscellany Day? And where do their sodales hide at that time?
Who is St. Bénézet, if not St. Benedict? What does the Church ignore here, and what does the Order know?
Will there be many magus Characters born the 22nd of July from now on?
Who designed hat, vest and handbag of Belin? And how come they finished in the wardrobe of the contemporary Queen?

Kind regards,

Berengar

> Very nice work: addressing lots of issues a magus always wanted to
> know about, but never dared to ask ;-).

thank you !

> Why is Apprentice's Day just one day after All Fools?

ah well, can you imagine the Apprentice's faces the day after... <grin>

> Do Magi still celebrate Lemuralia/Lemuria, complete with throwing
> beans behind them and all? What do priests at the covenant think
> about this? What the ghosts?

we always think of magi as mixing Mediaeval life with cod-Roman beliefs (in a few places, they have real traditions, but by 800AD most of those had been lost anway, so the order's looking-back-to-ROme is mostly invention)

> How do Ex Miscellanea magi celebrate Miscellany Day? And where do
> their sodales hide at that time?

fascinating question...
And: what, and how much, do the Ex Misc consume that day?

> Who is St. Bénézet, if not St. Benedict? What does the Church ignore
> here, and what does the Order know?

... that you and I have an English language background?
Benezet was a request by Eric Kouris, from the French Speaking line of fans (as also seen in the Madeleine/Magdalene feast, and St. Valentin (not a typo - the French variant)) - we had suggestions for real world Saints from several contributors. [There are hidden out-of-context reasons behind the chosen saints and days...]

The only invented Saint is St. Nerius Of Criamon (the "of Criamon" being a bit of a dead giveaway...)
The rest are all real saints, and, to the best of our researches, Saints who were being observed in 1220, rather than the much larger number of modern saints. (I can't recall excatly, but we may have one or two now-lapsed saints).
Even as it is, we have far fewer saints listed than we could - there is at least one saint for every day, especially when you take a pan-European perspective...

> Will there be many magus Characters born the 22nd of July from now
>on?
> Who designed hat, vest and handbag of Belin?

Radja Supariamane

> And how come they finished in the wardrobe of the contemporary
> Queen?

They don't have a Queen in France... that's mistaken identity!
(I thought she looked like an Air Hostess! (Appropriate joke for Belin!))

Berengar (>) wrote:

> Very nice work: addressing lots of issues a magus always wanted to
> know about, but never dared to ask ;-).

Cool, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

> Like every good book, it also raises many further questions - to
> explore in-game: Why is Apprentice's Day just one day after All
> Fools?

And why is All Fools Day just two weeks after the Celebration of Flambeau? :)

> Do Magi still celebrate Lemuralia/Lemuria, complete with throwing
> beans behind them and all?

Of course they do, complete with the traditional "Beans" song.

> What do priests at the covenant think about this?

They wisely don't stick around. Nothing like a beans festival for clearing out the church aisles.

> What about the ghosts?

They can't eat the beans, but they can still smell them. How do they smell, you ask? Awful! (rim shot)

> How do Ex Miscellanea magi celebrate Miscellany Day?

They take all sorts. And there's lots of "the rest."

> And where do their sodales hide at that time?

On the other side of the channel?

> Will there be many magus Characters born the 22nd of July from now
> on?

That depends on what their parents were doing on the 22nd of October.

> Who designed hat, vest and handbag of Belin?

Belin wears a stunning ensemble provided by Mercer House Paris, with a tasteful off-the-shoulder magical satchel that's full of surprises. Her intricately tailored vest and plunging decollatage are custom-designed to match her lithe frame and the busy and active lifestyle of a working Redcap. Note the eponymous headgear she wears: simple, yet sets off her face and keeps her hair out of her eyes. All in all, it is clear to see why Belin was the it-girl of 800s French fashion.

> And how come they finished in the wardrobe of the contemporary
> Queen?

The Queen ripped her off. Either that, or Belin's style is making a late comeback.

//> Why is Apprentice's Day just one day after All Fools?

ah well, can you imagine the Apprentice's faces the day after... <grin>//
I see ... they will really need the Apprentice's Day as an excuse to mitigate the ire of their parentes ...

//we always think of magi as mixing Mediaeval life with cod-Roman beliefs (in a few places, they have real traditions, but by 800AD most of those had been lost anway, so the order's looking-back-to-ROme is mostly invention)//
So they're eating the beans and conjure up the spirit of the covenant founder to have his share, too?

//Benezet was a request by Eric Kouris, from the French Speaking line of fans//
Oh, its St. Bénézet d'Avignon (St Benedict of Avignon), the bridge builder! Come to think of it, he really could by no means be left out of this calendar: after all, he might not only have been a runaway apprentice, but also became the patron saint of bachelors - hence surely also of swimsuit calendars. (http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintb22.htm)

Kind regards,

Berengar

//And why is All Fools Day just two weeks after the Celebration of Flambeau? :)//
Perhaps because it usually takes witnesses of the Flambeau revelry two weeks to recover their countenance sufficiently to pretend that all was awfully funny and basically harmless?

//Belin wears a stunning ensemble provided by Mercer House Paris, with a tasteful off-the-shoulder magical satchel that's full of surprises. Her intricately tailored vest and plunging decollatage are custom-designed to match her lithe frame and the busy and active lifestyle of a working Redcap. Note the eponymous headgear she wears: simple, yet sets off her face and keeps her hair out of her eyes. All in all, it is clear to see why Belin was the it-girl of 800s French fashion.//
//The Queen ripped her off. Either that, or Belin's style is making a late comeback.//
Couldn't it be that some of Belin's items survived in a royal treasury? A magical satchel of handbagging could be handy, should some admirer visit a certain bedroom again without invitation. ;-)

Kind regards,

Berengar