We need an idea of why the Order of Hermes has developed so oddly in Venice. It’s all very well to say it’s because a powerful Faerie being is there, creating a regio, but why go into his realm in the first place? Why did several separate sets of magi set up little chapter houses here, so that they were forced to compromise and develop the strange culture of tolerance they now practice? I think we may have now found the point where that occurs, and it’s due to the Dogaressa two on from Teodora Selvo.
Fashion swings away from the opulence of Teodora’s reign. Under the second dogaressa after her this peaks, when the Crusading movement flourishes. Dogaressa Felicia Michielo was a local, tied to a Doge of a house of the second rank, and she called off the games of status which were so popular both before and after her period. A chronicler of the time notes ” Having made it their aim to be peaceful and religious, they kept on an equality with one another, that equality might induce stability and concord. They made their dress a matter of conscience, conformable to their seriousness of demeanour—concealing the figure.”
Felicia was deeply religious, and the Crusading movement lurched forward in Venice under her patronage. The Venetians had rebalanced their loyalty to favour the German emperors and were in the main, content to ignore the Crusades as a Greek problem. The Dogaressa is the person who spearheaded efforts on behalf of Christian refugees in Venice. She also persuaded her husband to call a meeting of the heads of the great families to discuss supporting the Crusade. To raise funds for the Crusade she sold her jewellery and dresses, a fashion she commended in other great ladies of the city, and cut back on her hospitality.
This is, I’d argue, when the Order comes to the City. Generally when the royalty sells off its jewels, it sells them to the next level of nobility, but she has made it a fashion, so who is she selling them to? They are clearly being sold out to the agents of powers outside the city. In the real world, it probably craters the value of jewels, because the kings of the west are trying to do something similar. In Ars Magica, it explains why suddenly you get a group of merchants setting up in the Merceria, off Saint Mark’s Square.
They buy a heap of gemstones and fine fabrics during what’s clearly a fire sale. The rules preventing the magical creation of wealth have not yet become widespread. Agents from the rival covenants in Italy all send someone to snap up bargains. So do the Tremere, who may have been here for a while, since the Venetians control Dalmatia, which is the edge of their Tribunal. The Jerbitons may not have already had agents here, as they could get many “Venetian” luxuries cheaper in Constantinople. Regardless they know a bargain when they see one, and aside from the gemstones, they want the Venetian art and Egyptian artefacts available here.
In 1099 a fleet of two hundred ships left the Lido, to carry the Second Crusade east. The Venetian section was commanded by a bishop, who took the teenaged son of the doge and dogaressa in his retinue. The Dogaressa concentrated on establishing hospitals and pilgrimage waystops. The Crusaders returned victorious with, among other treasures, the body of Saint Nicholas of Morea.
Games From Folktales 