Editing Lineage:Rebellion Lineages (section)

=Order of Solon=

[[Image:Greek Tablet.jpg]]

Positive Stereotype:  Democratic crusader.

Negative Stereotype:  Corrupt politician.

Symbol:  Stone tablet.

Signature Spell:  Emotion Control.  “Speaking to the Spirit of Man”.

Magical Style:  Ancient Greek.

Solon was an ancient Athenian mage who became convinced that the ills of the world are due to the corrupting nature of power.  Even the gods started off as creatures of goodness, but the very power they possessed transformed them into things of evil.  The only solution is to make sure that power is so evenly divided that nobody’s interests can be ignored.  Solon worked to make Athens more democratic, making compromises as required by the political realities of his day.  Members of the order continue that fight to this day, striving to bring democracy and equality to the world.  They champion human rights and fight government corruption wherever they can.  Apprentices are trained in politics and in the ways in which humans can be lead and persuaded.  Magical training is similarly aimed at helping the mage to influence others.

In ancient times, students of this order were responsible for the overthrow of kings in favor of republics in Greece, Asia Minor and Italy.  Wherever republics or democracies have sprung up since, the hand of the order has usually been at work.  It was they who advised the Roman Houses of Claudii, Flavii and Julii to rise up against the House of Romulus and become masters of a Roman Republic and they have never forgiven the Flavii and Julii for replacing the republic with an empire.

The Order of Solon sided with the roundheads in the English Civil War, earning them the hatred of the House of Stuart, with the revolutionaries in France, earning them the hatred of the House of Capet, and with the revolutionaries in the American Revolution, earning them the hatred of the House of Stuart.  In the American Civil War, they sided with the north out of a desire for abolition.  Neutral in World War I, which they saw as a matter of the proletariat dying to further the ambitions of the upper class, they sided with the Allies in World War II, scared that democracy may disappear from the Earth.

Mortal Politics:  Democracy must be spread over the entire face of the Earth.  Money gathered by the state must be used for the common good, not for the enrichment of the few.

Cost:  26

Skills:  Diplomacy, History (Modern US), Law, Occultism, Politics, Psychology, Public Speaking, Sociology, Symbol Drawing (Western Hermetic), Thaumatology.

Communication and Empathy:  Persuasion, Presence, Sense Emotion, Sense Foes.
Illusion and Creation:  Independence, Initiative, Simple Illusion.
Mind Control:  Bravery, Command, Emotion Control, Fear, Foolishness, Forgetfulness, Loyalty, Lure, Wisdom.


Relations

The Houses

House of Anjou:  When they rule, they rule oppressively, squeezing their pawns for wealth and making wars of conquest.

House of Cain:  They know nothing of justice, unable to tell a righteous execution from brute murder.

House of Capet:  Egomaniacal authoritarians that the world would be better off without.  They think the universe owes them the wealth that they stole from other people.

House of Carolus:  Their fabled age of glory was an age of oppression for everyone else.  Now they offer us more glory and fewer rights.  No thank you.

House of Flavii:  They killed the Roman Republic and have been stomping on Democracy every since.

House of Hapsburg:  The tyrants of Europe never die, they just go into business.  Is it any wonder that EEC officials are appointed, not elected?

House of Julii:  They love to act in the name of the common citizen, but all they bring is war and slavery.

House of Lancaster:  They want to be the new feudal lords, only with factories instead of manors.

Order of Lilith:  Humans function as parts of societies by their very nature.  To turn your back on humanity is to become something less than human.

House of Medici:  So generous when it comes to doing you favors.  So eager to put you into debt.

House of Romanov:  So perish all tyrants.  They lost their Russian crown and soon, with luck, they will lose their heads.

House of Stuart:  Whatever happened to the find old English tradition of cutting off a Stuart tyrant’s head and sticking it on a pike?

House of Trastámara:  They desire to rule through fear alone and so, of course, nobody consents to be ruled by them.

House of Ummayad:  They want to build their own private society but they can’t do it.  Like it or not, they are a part of the wider world.

House of Warwick:  If it weren’t for the damn kingmakers, we wouldn’t have to put up with the damned kings.

House of York:  They do the commanding and ordinary people do the dying.  It is their job to make sure that all armies are amies of The Houses, not of the people.

The Rebellion

Order of Boudicca:  A revolution without a plan for afterwards is useless.  At least they don’t lack for courage.

Order of Copernicus:  Good.  Education frees the mind.  Let us not forget, though, that a human trained only in the sciences is only half-educated.

Order of Darwin:  Their insight into biology is amazing, but they have forgotten that evolution can be social as well as physical.

Order of Eve:  Ultimately, they are the font of all human liberation.  Alas, they understand nothing of politics and refuse to learn on principle.

Order of Jesus:  The king of kings is just another damned king.  These mages are useful to have around and are often kind, but they are also entirely mad.

Order of Judas:  Every society needs executioners.  In a perfect world, we could be rid of them, but in the real world we must tolerate them.

Order of Siddhartha:  Their own mysticism paralyses them.  It keeps them locked in private worlds but humans are public animals.

Order of Spartacus:  There’s no revolution without a people’s army.  No other Order is as essential, not even us.

Order of Thales:  They have great intelligence, but they apply it to issues at random rather than working towards the common good.

Order of Utnapishtim:  They think they can keep apart from politics, but that only means that they are ruled by others.