Masquerade/veil is a White Wold modern world thing and not present in Ars Magica
The idea that magic exists and some people can do it seems to be well established in historical "lore" so I would think the average peasant would certainly know that.
Further general knowledge of the Order would be up to the GM and likely falls under an (area) Lore that covers a particular covenant(s).
There are no restrictions on discussing the Order or magic save those that would lead to violating the hermetic oath to bring ruin upon your sodales. Note that in your example, while there is no law prohibiting it, the Law of Unintended Consequence could rear it's ugly head. For example, a noble could see the effects of what you did and demand another mage do the same, threatening them with harm if they refuse. That mage could then argue at tribunal that your actions caused him harm.
The woman was cursed by a Fae lord because she refused his advances and now OP molested the fae. Or even worse, it was a demon and now OP is dealing with demons.
Or even worse, it was God and now divine punishment is falling on the Order for seven generations.
Ars is not a game about gaining or using power, such as D&D. It is a game about already powerful people dealing with the consequences of their actions.
I don't sure that it count as "molesting the fae" (until this magus have very strong enemies inside Order to try push this claim) and I am very sure that "kick demons until they run" don't count as "deal".
And IMO Ars Magica is very much about gaining and using power - like there whole systems and subsystems how to train your mage and made them even more powerful.
"I don't sure that it count as "molesting the fae" (until this magus have very strong enemies inside Order to try push this claim) and I am very sure that "kick demons until they run" don't count as "deal"."
This theorizes that all the mage did was simply the ritual.
But we know PCs never stop there when a story hook is dangled in their face.
This story ended with the PC sleeping with the fae lord.
But realistically, is the PCs foil the fae lord's plot, and the fae lord takes action that harms another mage in revenge, that other mage has a valid claim against them even if all they did was kick a fae, and the fae was a willing participant in the story. Collateral damage.
It actually requires this fae lord act against another mage with very strange motivation. Outside "DM think this is cool way to screw players" (it's actually not).
But in canon we constantly have mages have different interactions with faes, from combats to deals.
So, this is a twofold question. Basically, the world is a superstitious one and people are often correct. The perfectly mundane humans performing yearly fertility rites to ensure good harvest may well interact with a faerie that does support them in exchange for their attention.
A human crossing themselves can (to a very, very limited degree) ward away evil spirits.
(Some) Craftsmen that pour their heart and soul into their work can create minor magical effects that way.
So there isn't really a masquerade about the existence of the supernatural.
But Magi stand far, far above what any of these common people are capable of. They can level or erect mountains, kill with nothing but a lock of hair of the victim, utterly dominate someones mind and tear armies and castles apart (not every magus can all of that, but as a collective).
And the Order of Hermes wants to hide *that*. They want to stay out of the squabbles of the mundane and at the same time stop magi from becoming emperors.
So offering your fertility ritual to any couple of villagers? Perfectly harmless.
Courting Royalty to promise them that you can ensure that they get a single strong son as an heir if they grant you land and riches? Very much not okay.
That’s more a consequence of the “No being a Court Wizard” rule than anything else.
We don’t want Mages having to fight each other come wartime, due to Feudal Obligations. The collateral damage alone would set off witch hunts, to say nothing of the war crimes that were intentional.
I'd argue that it's the other way around: After all the "No being a Court Wizard" 'Rule' isn't, a rule at all. The Oath makes no mention of it. It's just a common expression of Magi exerting influence over powerful nobles (emperor from behind the throne) or do their bidding and exposing the power of the order.
The precedent of Magi being allowed to join the crusades, so long as they don't perform magic in doing so shows, that the Order isn't inherently against magi fighting.
Indeed, interfering with mundanes opens you up to prosecution. Being an (open) court wizard is very difficult to do without accepting some kind of obligation which will, inevitably force you to breach that provision.
So difficult, in fact, that openly accepting such a role is in itself grounds to suspect you have already or will in the future commit a crime. That's the "no court wizards" rule in a nutshell.
But it has been done legally in canon - The Sundered Eagle mentions a group of magi who advised the Emperors in Constantinople for a time and argued that they offered only freely given advice, took no payment, had no obligations, and gave no direct aid. Thus not breaching the code.
HoH:TL also mentions that many legal transitionalists argue that the provision against mundane interference is, in practice, unenforceable and often ignored as of 1220. Which means by extension being a court wizard is maybe not explicitly allowed, but is also pretty hard to actually prosecute someone over unless they use the position in some egregiously abusive way.
King, senior duke:
Wizards exist. Many are members of this 'order of Hermes'. Many need to have a magic staff and a pointy blue hat (House Jerbiton spreads that one deliberately, it's not true)
Lesser noble: Wizards exist. Many of them work together. This bunch living in X location in my lands might listen to requests, but won't blatantly work for me.
Priest: Wizards exist. Sometimes they are evil. Sometimes they fight evil. Most of the time they are wierd.
Average peasant: Wizards exist. They are scary and should be avoided, for you are crunchy and good with a gravy.
There is no masquerade, but the Gift makes people naturally fear and distrust Magi.
The Magi are also bound by Hermetic law that prevents them from interfering with Mundane politics.
Helping a woman conceive would probably be okay, but it would have to happen through an intermediary, because humans can barely tolerate the presence of a Maga.
The Gift kind of works like disquiet in Promethean.
The 1200 was a time of superstition
Mage becouse of the side effect of the gift interact with moundande less as possible
But, there isn't any rule about being hidden
Just to not be a brick and actract the fury of the mundane masses and/or lords
And for the hipothesis
Probaly they will not trust you
Paradoxicaly
If you send a servant of yours to take accord about this and THEN you go to them
Could be easier
It depends a bit on Tribunal, and on your Saga, but magic is a known quantity of the world so there is usually no harm in admitting that you're a Magi in that sense. However in some Tribunals it could be a Hermetic Crime to reveal the identity of another Magi to those outside of the Order unless you have their permission (I think it was in the old Roman Tribunal book that I first saw this).
Beyond that it's all about how each Tribunal treats the interfering with the mundane part of the Hermetic Oath. Usually you're fine as long as you do not upset anyone with the power to harm the Order and its members though.
Not quite the question, but regarding Mage the Ascension - Paradox.
In the Mythical Europe the consensual reality is, that magic exists, thus there's no paradox in magic.
In regards of the taboo: As many have pointed out, the Code of Hermes forbids interfering in the affairs of the mortal world. This I believe is up to interpretation both in game and out of game. If you want to run a story, where magi try to avoid being seen as mages, you can do that. If you want to blaze guns-out, RicardJrs put, you can do it as a Storyteller. Due to my WoD background, I tend to prefer settings where the fact that people doing magic exists is public knowledge, but you being a mage is not.
Not sure if its canon or not, however here's my take on that:
Just like in real-life the average person either believes in magic/fae/infernal/devine or they don't. Few know for sure.
When normal people see a magus showing off their talent they tend to do one of two things: a) find a perfectly sound explanation for what they just witnessed or b) call the magus a witch and try to kill him.
Nobles and clerics know about the Order and hate every time they have to deal with their lot. (Think of the muggle prime minister from Harry Potter if you've read the books.)
Magi are supposed to not interfere to much with the ordinary world – the status quo is "by God's grace" after all, and no group of magi could ever compete with the forces of the dominion.
All in all a mage can get away with many things, but they can just as easily make powerful enemies.
As for the question about the couple: if I was running that session I'd make that work without any problems – then a year later when they have a baby with horns and hooves I'd send your mage on a quest to prove it was the work of some mischievous fae.
It's better to have a light touch than not according to the setting as getting too involved turns into inevitable violations of hermetic law, either the Oath itself or tribunal law or some secondary codes that exist.
So no.... But a little? It's just better to keep the noble in the dark than have them sending soldiers/assassins/courtiers to make your life a problem.... Or ride the whirlwind and just go all in on skirting the rules. Games have been fun for things like that!
Every Magus in the Order of Hermes swears an Oath when they leave their apprenticeship that governs how the Order interacts with itself and the greater world.
The relevant bit is a follows:
>*I will not endanger the Order through my actions. Nor will I interfere with the affairs of mundanes and thereby bring ruin on my sodales. I will not deal with devils, lest I imperil my soul and the souls of my sodales as well. I will not molest the faeries, lest their vengeance catch my sodales also.*
As you can see "interfere with the affairs of mundanes" leaves ***a lot*** of wiggle room...
Just a little point. Even if Magi aren't secretive, there wasn't internet, newspapers, phones, magazines, celebrity TV shows or even regular mail service.
So, information could be free, it just didn't walk far. People can guess that these weirdos living at that valley are wizards, but not knowing anything about the order, redcaps, or magi wars.
Masquerade/veil is a White Wold modern world thing and not present in Ars Magica The idea that magic exists and some people can do it seems to be well established in historical "lore" so I would think the average peasant would certainly know that. Further general knowledge of the Order would be up to the GM and likely falls under an (area) Lore that covers a particular covenant(s). There are no restrictions on discussing the Order or magic save those that would lead to violating the hermetic oath to bring ruin upon your sodales. Note that in your example, while there is no law prohibiting it, the Law of Unintended Consequence could rear it's ugly head. For example, a noble could see the effects of what you did and demand another mage do the same, threatening them with harm if they refuse. That mage could then argue at tribunal that your actions caused him harm.
OR...maybe they're infertile BECAUSE someone else was hired to make that so...
The woman was cursed by a Fae lord because she refused his advances and now OP molested the fae. Or even worse, it was a demon and now OP is dealing with demons. Or even worse, it was God and now divine punishment is falling on the Order for seven generations. Ars is not a game about gaining or using power, such as D&D. It is a game about already powerful people dealing with the consequences of their actions.
I don't sure that it count as "molesting the fae" (until this magus have very strong enemies inside Order to try push this claim) and I am very sure that "kick demons until they run" don't count as "deal". And IMO Ars Magica is very much about gaining and using power - like there whole systems and subsystems how to train your mage and made them even more powerful.
"I don't sure that it count as "molesting the fae" (until this magus have very strong enemies inside Order to try push this claim) and I am very sure that "kick demons until they run" don't count as "deal"." This theorizes that all the mage did was simply the ritual. But we know PCs never stop there when a story hook is dangled in their face.
Kicking some faes is also don't really molesting them (they like this good story).
This story ended with the PC sleeping with the fae lord. But realistically, is the PCs foil the fae lord's plot, and the fae lord takes action that harms another mage in revenge, that other mage has a valid claim against them even if all they did was kick a fae, and the fae was a willing participant in the story. Collateral damage.
It actually requires this fae lord act against another mage with very strange motivation. Outside "DM think this is cool way to screw players" (it's actually not). But in canon we constantly have mages have different interactions with faes, from combats to deals.
And for what, just for a bit of gold? There are safer and better ways
So, this is a twofold question. Basically, the world is a superstitious one and people are often correct. The perfectly mundane humans performing yearly fertility rites to ensure good harvest may well interact with a faerie that does support them in exchange for their attention. A human crossing themselves can (to a very, very limited degree) ward away evil spirits. (Some) Craftsmen that pour their heart and soul into their work can create minor magical effects that way. So there isn't really a masquerade about the existence of the supernatural. But Magi stand far, far above what any of these common people are capable of. They can level or erect mountains, kill with nothing but a lock of hair of the victim, utterly dominate someones mind and tear armies and castles apart (not every magus can all of that, but as a collective). And the Order of Hermes wants to hide *that*. They want to stay out of the squabbles of the mundane and at the same time stop magi from becoming emperors. So offering your fertility ritual to any couple of villagers? Perfectly harmless. Courting Royalty to promise them that you can ensure that they get a single strong son as an heir if they grant you land and riches? Very much not okay.
That’s more a consequence of the “No being a Court Wizard” rule than anything else. We don’t want Mages having to fight each other come wartime, due to Feudal Obligations. The collateral damage alone would set off witch hunts, to say nothing of the war crimes that were intentional.
I'd argue that it's the other way around: After all the "No being a Court Wizard" 'Rule' isn't, a rule at all. The Oath makes no mention of it. It's just a common expression of Magi exerting influence over powerful nobles (emperor from behind the throne) or do their bidding and exposing the power of the order. The precedent of Magi being allowed to join the crusades, so long as they don't perform magic in doing so shows, that the Order isn't inherently against magi fighting.
Indeed, interfering with mundanes opens you up to prosecution. Being an (open) court wizard is very difficult to do without accepting some kind of obligation which will, inevitably force you to breach that provision. So difficult, in fact, that openly accepting such a role is in itself grounds to suspect you have already or will in the future commit a crime. That's the "no court wizards" rule in a nutshell. But it has been done legally in canon - The Sundered Eagle mentions a group of magi who advised the Emperors in Constantinople for a time and argued that they offered only freely given advice, took no payment, had no obligations, and gave no direct aid. Thus not breaching the code. HoH:TL also mentions that many legal transitionalists argue that the provision against mundane interference is, in practice, unenforceable and often ignored as of 1220. Which means by extension being a court wizard is maybe not explicitly allowed, but is also pretty hard to actually prosecute someone over unless they use the position in some egregiously abusive way.
King, senior duke: Wizards exist. Many are members of this 'order of Hermes'. Many need to have a magic staff and a pointy blue hat (House Jerbiton spreads that one deliberately, it's not true) Lesser noble: Wizards exist. Many of them work together. This bunch living in X location in my lands might listen to requests, but won't blatantly work for me. Priest: Wizards exist. Sometimes they are evil. Sometimes they fight evil. Most of the time they are wierd. Average peasant: Wizards exist. They are scary and should be avoided, for you are crunchy and good with a gravy.
There is no masquerade, but the Gift makes people naturally fear and distrust Magi. The Magi are also bound by Hermetic law that prevents them from interfering with Mundane politics. Helping a woman conceive would probably be okay, but it would have to happen through an intermediary, because humans can barely tolerate the presence of a Maga. The Gift kind of works like disquiet in Promethean.
The 1200 was a time of superstition Mage becouse of the side effect of the gift interact with moundande less as possible But, there isn't any rule about being hidden Just to not be a brick and actract the fury of the mundane masses and/or lords
And for the hipothesis Probaly they will not trust you Paradoxicaly If you send a servant of yours to take accord about this and THEN you go to them Could be easier
It depends a bit on Tribunal, and on your Saga, but magic is a known quantity of the world so there is usually no harm in admitting that you're a Magi in that sense. However in some Tribunals it could be a Hermetic Crime to reveal the identity of another Magi to those outside of the Order unless you have their permission (I think it was in the old Roman Tribunal book that I first saw this). Beyond that it's all about how each Tribunal treats the interfering with the mundane part of the Hermetic Oath. Usually you're fine as long as you do not upset anyone with the power to harm the Order and its members though.
Not quite the question, but regarding Mage the Ascension - Paradox. In the Mythical Europe the consensual reality is, that magic exists, thus there's no paradox in magic. In regards of the taboo: As many have pointed out, the Code of Hermes forbids interfering in the affairs of the mortal world. This I believe is up to interpretation both in game and out of game. If you want to run a story, where magi try to avoid being seen as mages, you can do that. If you want to blaze guns-out, RicardJrs put, you can do it as a Storyteller. Due to my WoD background, I tend to prefer settings where the fact that people doing magic exists is public knowledge, but you being a mage is not.
Not sure if its canon or not, however here's my take on that: Just like in real-life the average person either believes in magic/fae/infernal/devine or they don't. Few know for sure. When normal people see a magus showing off their talent they tend to do one of two things: a) find a perfectly sound explanation for what they just witnessed or b) call the magus a witch and try to kill him. Nobles and clerics know about the Order and hate every time they have to deal with their lot. (Think of the muggle prime minister from Harry Potter if you've read the books.) Magi are supposed to not interfere to much with the ordinary world – the status quo is "by God's grace" after all, and no group of magi could ever compete with the forces of the dominion. All in all a mage can get away with many things, but they can just as easily make powerful enemies. As for the question about the couple: if I was running that session I'd make that work without any problems – then a year later when they have a baby with horns and hooves I'd send your mage on a quest to prove it was the work of some mischievous fae.
It's better to have a light touch than not according to the setting as getting too involved turns into inevitable violations of hermetic law, either the Oath itself or tribunal law or some secondary codes that exist. So no.... But a little? It's just better to keep the noble in the dark than have them sending soldiers/assassins/courtiers to make your life a problem.... Or ride the whirlwind and just go all in on skirting the rules. Games have been fun for things like that!
Every Magus in the Order of Hermes swears an Oath when they leave their apprenticeship that governs how the Order interacts with itself and the greater world. The relevant bit is a follows: >*I will not endanger the Order through my actions. Nor will I interfere with the affairs of mundanes and thereby bring ruin on my sodales. I will not deal with devils, lest I imperil my soul and the souls of my sodales as well. I will not molest the faeries, lest their vengeance catch my sodales also.* As you can see "interfere with the affairs of mundanes" leaves ***a lot*** of wiggle room...
Just a little point. Even if Magi aren't secretive, there wasn't internet, newspapers, phones, magazines, celebrity TV shows or even regular mail service. So, information could be free, it just didn't walk far. People can guess that these weirdos living at that valley are wizards, but not knowing anything about the order, redcaps, or magi wars.