CK2 Dev Diary DD#37: Three times greater

[Darkrenown]

Hello all, it’s time for another Society reveal: This week we’ll talk about the Hermetic society. Hermeticism is based primarily upon writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus ("Thrice Great"), who was said to know the three parts of the wisdom of the universe.The three parts are alchemy, astrology, and theurgy.


In game terms, the Hermetics are an open society joinable by members of the abrahamic religions, as well as Zoroastrians and Zun pagans (OK, and Hellenic, should you manage to play as one). Their primary attribute is Learning. Their Powers and Missions tend to involve earlier scientific experimentation combined with mysticism and a dash of Theurgy. They will often reward you with technology points or artifacts.

There is some overlap between the Hermetic society and Way of Life’s Scholarship focus. As a member you will be able to build an observatory, just as characters with the focus can, and once it is built you will be able to interact with it further to observe the skies. Not only that, Hermetic members are encouraged to build a laboratory for additional experimentation.


Other powers and abilities include attempting to divine the future using Scrying, making Horoscopes for your children, experimenting with drugs and medical techniques, and eventually writing your magnum opus - a book of lore and knowledge that you enshrine for the ages.


That’s all for now, but remember to watch the Medieval Monday stream at 1600 CET today, followed by Three Kings at 1700.

 

[Darkrenown]

They're more esoteric. If you divine you are going to rule well is it magic or just a confidence boosting placebo that coincidentally makes you a better ruler? So the rule won't disable them.

 

[Darkrenown]

Also did you miss my edit in of whether there'll be astronomy too? I.e. will it all be astrology or will there also be some possibility of going into the (very very early) astronomy? (Though not sure how much difference there was between astrology and astronomy back then and we're also firmly in the geocentric age and the Ptolemaic system, though could be nice if you in the late game can start to question those paradigms based on your observations.)

There's a bit of both, although as you say, there was a lot of overlap at the time.

 

[Darkrenown]

What is it about Irish monks that makes them so hermetical?

When you start a game the societies get some characters initially added to them, and it seems at 1066 Ireland has a number of high learning characters. There's no inherent Irish bonus though

 

[Darkrenown]

Will it be possible to use the new counsellor mission to hunt hermetics down as "devil worshippers" or whatever one chooses to slander them as? Quite sure that in catholic world at least formal white magic was more or less as heretical as formal black magic (e.g. demonology).

No, that job hunts for members of Secret Societies. As an Open Society the Hermetics are unaffected. It's possible for Zealous characters to be upset by them, but by and large they exist happily with others.

 

[Darkrenown]

What is that notification with 'B' sign?

Idle councilors. It's placeholder art.

 

[Servancour]

This for me as well.

I could live with it there I think. But really it is an awful spot and there are many others. I think it could be a WIP location.

That would indeed be a WIP. We'll put the button somewhere else in the character view once we get some fancy new art for it.

 

[Darkrenown]

On a related note, does the notification for having an empty councilor slot still open the wrong tab on the councilor window? It should open up the first tab, so we can assign a job easily right after we select the new councilor, but it instead opens up a different tab, adding to the number of clicks needed to assign a new councilor for no reason.

It's not the wrong tab, it's so you can appoint advisors too which are not shown on the Positions tab.