Master Abakuk DeVermis

*The following is a report on Master Ababkuk of the Order of Hermes (full title: Magister Insignitor Abakuk DeVermis bani Flambeau, Legatus de Ordo Hermetica et Primus Cantari Durenmarensis):*

On Gotland, in the early days of the 14th century, the man who would take the name Abakuk enters the Sources. He was likely the son of a Kven sorcerer and a Goetish merchant’s daughter. In 1311 CE, he was contacted by agents acting on behalf of Master Orm af Bjorgvin. This Orm is of course Vermis Ludenius bani Jerbiton, now Flambeau. Orm was looking for a Zelator at that time and Abakuk passed the First Seven Riddles. We next hear of him when he becomes an Apprentice after the Battle of Visby in 1361.

He again shows up in 1440, when Master Orm held a guest chair at the Chantry of Durenmar. The whole region of Schwartzwald was under sustained heavy attacks from the Order of Reason, with battles at every node and caern. The Masters at Durenmar decided to try to save the chantry Bonisagus himself founded in 676 CE. To that end, they drew upon all the Magick they possessed and sunk the entire chantry into the Umbra. The spell they wrought was used again, with addendums, only eight years later when House Flambeau moved Doissetep to the Vadum of Forces. At this time, Master Orm has passed and Adeptus Abakuk has been adopted into House Flambeau.

In the following centuries, Abakuk enters the Sources only as a visiting the chair of Magistra Scholae Wulftrude of Bremen. One can read that he sat with a number of Masters, but very little else. His record is both bare and ironclad.

I have however, in a private collection, managed to find a letter From Magister Lucius Archnidus ex Miscellanea to the Decanus of Flambeau, dated 1599 CE. It claims that Abakuk maintained a Cottage in Finland and that he is often seen in “all the dark corners of the world.” The letter expresses considerable concern about so many prolonged and unaccounted for absences. It even goes so far as to allege violation of the Second Axiom of the Code of Hermes. This letter appears to have been shuffled down and was never sent to the Scriptorium.

In 1701, Abakuk reaches the 8th Degree and is named Magister Mentem Scholae. Three years later he is given the Primacy of the Chantry of Durenmar. Throughout the 18th century Durenmar becomes one of the wealthiest chantries in Europe. Abakuk would personally recruit every Master and Adept who were given a chair there, and in 1796, citing an abundance of caution, he abolished all guest chairs.

In 1737, pamphlets printed by the Durenmar Press began circulating in the corridors of Doissetep. These pamphlets contained fables about a hypothetical race called the Goetheans. Before long, they were found in every Hermetic chantry and Adeptuses and Apprentices of every house were forming Goethean Societies. These societies would often cause mischief in their chantries and even disrupt Tribunals, and by the end of the century began being referred to as the Goethean Party.

When confronted with the question of whether the Goetheans are real, Abakuk would say he invented them with the purpose of letting them expose the Order of Hermes’ greatest flaw, stagnation.  As the Goetheans, the Order too is “ruled by men too timid to lead.” He would further claim that the decline of the Order is being caused by Masters jealously keeping Knowledge and Truth locked down.

Durenmar began taking in many more students and by 1764, Abakuks treatise, Rituals for Concentration of Power, was being taught to Zelators across Europe. As the 18th century drew to a close, Abakuk had amassed enough political power that at the 1796, the Grand Tribunal named him Legatus of the Order of Hermes.

As the Second Chair of the order, Abakuk quickly began directing the order’s presence in Europe. Under his direct leadership, old societies were pushed back into Consensus. These secret occult cabals attracted nobles all across the German Confederacy, a great many of whom pursued military careers. This served not only to bring an upswing in recruitment to the order, but also to disseminate Abakuk's philosophies on power across Europe.

By the mid-1800’s, Abakuk had become perhaps the single most influential Master in the order. He had also achieved Mastery of Ars Spiritus, earning him the title of Magister Insignitor. In 1865, he sponsored a motion to accept the newly formed House Lictori into the order, under the umbrella of House Ex Miscellanea. By now, it had become clear that the Goethean Party was capable of controlling Tribunals at almost all levels. As a reaction to this, the Masters who opposed Abakuk growing power formed the Party of the High Tower in 1871.

Over the course of the following decades, these two parties have come to define the politics of the order. The Goetheans control most of the European Tribunals, including the Tribunals of Houses Flambeau and Bonisagus. The High Tower controls the Tribunal of the Western Islands, most of the ones in the New World, and those of Houses Tytalus, Fortunae, and Quaesitori. Since 1901, the Grand Tribunal has been split between the parties and unable to reach any resolution. This inability of the "old Masters" to lead the order further plays into Abakuk’s hand.

It is believed that Ababkuk has been working towards achieving his vision for the order since perhaps as early as the 15th century, and that every move he has made has been towards that end. This goal is of course to abolish the Tribunals and establish himself as a Magister Tyrannus with full executive power over all the Great Houses. There are suspicions about his involvement with dark powers, although no concrete proof of this has been unearthed.