Editing Lineage:House Lineages (section)

=House of Umayyad=

[[Image:Blueflame.jpg]]

Positive Stereotype:  Knowledgeable sage.

Negative Stereotype:  Skulking coward.

Symbol:  Blue flame.

Signature Spell:  Mage Sight.  “Awakening the Spirit”.

Magical Style:  Medieval Arabic, with pagan Arabic influences.

Alchemists, scholars and sages, known for their reclusive ways, the House of Umayyad is the only great House from the middle east to establish a major presence in the west.  They participate little in politics as a House and generally try not to be drawn into the squabbles for power or over principle that so consume most of their fellow magi.  Usually, when they do gain attention, it is because they hold some secret that others desire, or have performed some magical experiment that has gotten out of hand.  However, the House does not insist that members recluse themselves from the world and if an Umayyad wishes to involve themselves in politics and adventure on an individual basis, that is up to them.

The House of Umayyad first appeared in Arabia, some time before the birth of the prophet Mohammed in the late 6th century.  At the time, the Umayyad were locked in a bitter struggle with their rival, the House of Hashim.  The Umayyad at first persecuted the new religion of Islam, fearing  that it was Heaven’s work, but soon came to see it as a tool to centralize religious authority in their own hands.  They successfully took control of the new Caliphate and moved their capital to Damascus in Syria. Under the Caliphate, they had frequent dealings with the Flavii, who had spread throughout the middle east.  While there was much cooperation between the two, there was also conflict, particularly over the Flavii-dominated Byzantine empire.  The Umayyad spread their power wide and even Europe seemed in their grasp until they were checked there by the House of Carolus.  Umayyad domination in the east was not to last either and the Caliphate was overthrown in the 8th century by the alliance of the House of Hashim and their off-spring House, the House of Abyssid.

The House of Umayyad did not lose power everywhere, however, and one of the places it held onto was Spain, ruling from the city of Cordoba as late as the 13th century and holding to Granada as late as the 15th century, before finally being defeated by the ascendant House of Trastámara.  The Spanish Umayyad retired from organized politics, foreswearing temporal power in favor of magical research.  They remained in Spain, enduring Capet rulers, Hapsburg rulers, and others, intermarriage making them visually indistinguishable from the Spanish.  When the New World was opened up, many of them emigrated, especially to South America and southern North America.  Today, they are found throughout the US, quietly conducting their research as they have done for so many centuries.

Mortal Politics:  The House of Umayyad scoffs at the idea of mages taking political stands.  Don’t mages have more important things to think about?

Cost:  10.

Disadvantages:  Agoraphobia (10 points).  Mages of the House call this “The Warning” and it is associated with feelings of being in danger.  What it is “a warning” against is known to few in the House, if anybody.  Rumors say that the Umayyad have offended Hell.

Skills:  Alchemy, Biology, Chemistry, History (Medieval European), History (Medieval Middle East), Mathematics, Physician, Symbol Drawing (Arabic), Thaumatology, Theology (Islam).

Spells:
Earth:  Create Earth, Earth to Stone, Seek Earth, Shape Earth.
Fire:  Create Fire, Ignite Fire.
Knowledge:  Detect Magic, Mage Sight.
Water:  Seek Water, Purify Water.

Relations

The Houses

House of Anjou:  The Anjou have a talent for making bloody comebacks.  You just never know when it is going to happen.

House of Cain:  Like us, they put aside worldly concerns to focus on higher matters, but their pride in their skills always distracts them.

House of Capet:  They lost their land in the French Revolution, but they landed on their feet.  You don’t need a country if you have money and they have money.

House of Carolus:  They have a pagan frenzy in their heart and paganism serves only Heaven and Hell.

House of Julii:  Every time a Julii looks at you, they are thinking about how to defeat you.

House of Flavii:  They are good to do business with.  They may not be honest, but at least they know what they are doing.

House of Hapsburg:  They want to rule the world but they haven’t got the guts.  The Stuart have them too scared.

House of Lancaster:  Lancaster may not always be kind, but it is they who keep the factories of the western world running.  They could rule the western world if they allied with York, but neither side will give up the medieval feud.

Order of Lilith:  Homeless outcasts.  They are an ancient and cruel joke inflicted by she who named them.

House of Medici:  They are capable of discretion and have few scruples.  Just keep in mind that they will always put their best interests first.

House of Romanov:  They were always backwards.  The age of horse-magic is over and they need some new tricks..

House of Stuart:  They are a bloated leach on world civilization, existing only to grow richer and more powerful.

House of Trastámara:  They defeated us and took our Caliphate by being more brutal than we were capable of imagining.  We will not lack in imagination in future.

House of Warwick:  They tell the world what to think, through media of every kind.  Yet they wouldn’t know an honest thought if they had one

House of York:  They keep order in the world.  They are the closest thing mage society has to a police force.

The Rebellion

Order of Boudicca:  How they love to stick their noses into other people’s governments, whether they understand them or not.

Order of Copernicus:  They understand a great deal about the universe.

Order of Darwin:  Their experiments are fantastic but they are not safe to have around.  They love to play god.

Order of Eve:  The world needs people minding their own business more than it needs these mages telling everyone how to live.

Order of Jesus:  You have no idea what kind of forces you are playing with.  Turn back before it is too late.

Order of Judas:  Someone has to be the scapegoat.  Fortunately, they are completely expendable.

Order of Siddhartha:  Don’t let the fact that they are mad make you think that they aren’t formidable.  They have stolen many secrets of value from the east.

Order of Solon:  Every fool has a plan to rule the world.  Have they noticed that nobody is listening to them?

Order of Spartacus:  Two thousand years of unsuccessful rioting and they still haven’t learned a damned thing.

Order of Thales:  Obsolete, hidebound and pig-headed, but they have been around for long enough to pick up all kinds of interesting secrets.

Order of Utnapishtim:  They have a deep understanding of nature, but they have made the mistake of becoming a part of it.  A human is something more than an animal or plant.