Breandan's Diary

16 November, 1208

Today, Domina chastised me for foiling her plans of being ostracized from the Tribunal of the Greater Alps. That taking me as an apprentice was her method of achieving her goal, and I’ve ruined her plans by my well executed plan of stealing from other magi. I don’t understand it though. She’s spent much time indoctrinating me into the House, but doesn’t actually believe what she professes. It’s very sad.

It is perhaps, unfortunate that she was designated by her pater, Telemachus, or the House as a whole to be the next Lunarian. She rebels against her House, while attempting to teach me the doctrines of the House. She professes that I need to learn fidelity from other Tremere of the House, while she connives and implements a plan designed to free her from her duty to the House. Her methods remind me more of pop-pop than any other magus I’ve dealt with, well maybe except for Akakios’s master. She may find that I understand fidelity better than she. I was true to the goals of the House, she was not.

Diana claims she wanted to love me like a son, but her words and actions were at odds. I was to be her pawn, her method for achieving her intended goals. I respect her methods, of course. Magi take apprentices for this very reason, and also to pass on their knowledge and lineage, it is as it should be. I might have even been a willing conspirator, if she had bothered to treat me as something more like a son, and less like property. I could have intervened on her behalf with pop-pop, maybe she could have become a Tytalus. I’m not sure which is worse for her. That she lies to herself, or that she believes her own lies.

Her desire to run away from the House’s demands upon her can be achieved in different ways, but she is unwilling or unable to pay the necessary price. Little does she know that had her plan been successful, I can easily see she would have likely ended up paying the same price. From what doctrine she has taught me, and based on what she said after I told her of my efforts, she desires to be free of the responsibilities the House places upon her. Her error is thinking that were she not the next Lunarian, she would have completely different responsibilities.

I would like to be an Assessor, but I was told that I am ill-suited to that role within the House’s mission, because I do not possess a gentle Gift. Someone else decided that long ago. It is perhaps a mistake, but I can believe that whichever Primus, or perhaps the Founder himself, had a specific reason for this. Until it is possible for me to demonstrate this is a mistake, I accept my role to be part of the Signaler corp.

One hopes a return to Coeris, will give Diana a chance to center herself among a House that loves her, and instead of rebelling realize that she was chosen for the role she has because she is the best the House has to offer for this role. No other in the House can easily replace her.

20 March, 1209

It was a challenge slogging through the Alps to Transylvania in the snow and ice. Luckily, the magi accompanying me had sufficient skill in survival and their knowledge of the Art to manage the journey. I learned quite a bit from them. They also helped me stay warm, because my own arts were insufficient to the task. There was that one time where I ended up conjuring an elemental being of fire by mistake; salamander that extinguished the campfire completely. After that, they provided me with a coat that kept me warm instead of relying upon my own Arts.

The training here is difficult, but not impossibly so. My grandfather once said that the methods of training were varied among the Houses, and all were designed to teach the lessons the House found to be most important. Some selfish magi would horde their knowledge of their House, and impart it only reluctantly. He did say that House Tytalus's method was superior to all others, because it taught young magi to stand on their own, but he didn't explain exactly how the training method worked, only the end result. I suspect, because of the look on his face, that he slipped and shouldn't have said that much.

The magi of Tremere do not yet seem to know that Diana is separate from her House. She acts independently and selfishly, indeed taking me as an apprentice was her most selfish act. I'm curious to know if she requested that I be taken to Transylvania or if she was ordered to give me up for a season.

21 December, 1210

Diana has finally proven she is a Tremere to me; she had me bound to a post and whipped. It wasn't entirely undeserved. I pushed her to that point. I had to know if she was Tremere. The beating was a suitable price for my quest for Truth.

My grandfather had sent me a pawn of corpus vis. I suppose he had considered my education lacking in this area, or perhaps he was stirring up trouble. I never realized that is what Grandfather always did, he stirred up trouble. He challenged me, all the time. It is a worthy form of instruction, but I'm not sure it would have been suitable for me. I could end up like poor Akakios.

So, this past season, I spent time assisting in the lab, but my nights involved sneaking away to the high aura of the mountain peak to study the corpus vis my grandfather sent. So, in a season I nominally assisted my domina, learned about Corpus, and learned that my domina has recommitted to the House. It was a good season, and everything went according to plan.