Simon de Laurent was a Gabrielite and one of the founders of the Natural Philsopher's Guild, the spiritual forerunners of the Sons of Ether.
Overview[]
De Laurent was a member of the Knights Templar as well as a mage. During the First Crusade, he uncovered a Greek version of the Kitab al-Alacir, and became much intrigued by it, assembling his own cabal (the Knights of Laurent) around its teachings. When he encountered Lorenzo Golo of the Order of Hermes, who possessed a copy of the Arabic version, they realized they had been studying the same text. Golo was already on tense terms with his Order, and the two mages pledged to unite House Golo with the Knights of Laurent to form a single organization around the teachings of Aretus. They formed the Natural Philosopher's Guild in 1188.[1][2]
The Guild was a short-lived institution. De Laurent was excommunicated by the Church in 1190 over some of his experiments, and by 1193 the Guild had begun to fragment, with splinter groups being absorbed into other parts of the Order of Reason.[3] De Laurent's ultimate fate is unknown, though he retains an interesting legacy; the Etherites sometimes cite his expertise in the Sphere of Matter to explain why they took the Seat of Matter in the Council of Nine Mystic Traditions.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 MTAs: Sons of Ether Tradition Book, p. 14-15
- ↑ MTAs: Tradition Book: Sons of Ether, p. 22
- ↑ MTSC: Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade Rulebook, p. 53
