The Imbrian School of House Lem was founded by Imber Rana, a dissatisfied Linguan Lemmite who, after a brief flirtation with Circulanism, came to the conclusion that at some point early in its history, House Lem had gone seriously astray, and that in order to rectify this situation, drastic measures would have to be taken. She called for a deep reevaluation of even the most universally-recognized tenets of Lemmitism and wrote a number of treatises challenging each of the currently-existing Lemmite doctrines in turn. This did not endear her to the rest of House Lem, and her colleagues at Lingua Sophiae were particularly unhappy once she began publishing her conclusions, which they denounced as "thinly-veiled Circulanism."
In 370, Imber Ranae left Lingua Sophiae along with her two disciples to found a new Lemmite Covenant on the ruins of the first of the Circulan Covenants, Circulus Ruber: Imber Ranae believed that the Circulans had selected the proper site for the first of their covenants, and that they had been in error to abandon it back in 316.
Imbrian Lemmitism remained only a tiny Lemmite sect until the disastrous Lemmite seance of 385. The Imbrians had been alone in speaking out against the seance while it was being planned, and when the event did indeed turn out to be an unmitigated disaster, many within the House, remembering their warnings, came to the conclusion that the Imbrians must be on to something. The Imbrians gained further prestige when they welcomed the refugees of the seance into their covenant, while the Circulans of Pilleus Gilvus had refused to allow the doomed magi access. To the Order as a whole, it seemed that the Imbrians had acted responsibly, in a manner befitting the chief mainstream Lemmite Covenant, while the Circulans, in refusing to aid the fugitive Linguans, had faltered just when their leadership was most needed. Ever since then, Imbrian Lemmitism has come to be seen more and more as having superceded Circulan Lemmitism as the "mainstream" of the House.
Imbrian Lemmitism is a syncretistic Lemmite School, combining the mysticism and self-reliance of the Gravite sects with the structure and authorial emphasis of the Circulan School. Imbrians are willing to tolerate a far greater variety of practice as regards the sex of apprentices, the date of graduation, clothing style, and all the other Lemmite bugbears than are either the Circulans or any of the Gravite sects. It is the Imbrian belief that many of these issues simply Do Not Matter, and only serve to weaken and divide the House. In general, the Imbrian sect of House Lem is a fairly tolerant one, and Imbrian magi tend to view the more fanatical factions of House Lem with some distaste. This has not endeared them to many Lemmites, but it has made them rather popular with the rest of the Order, who are sick unto death of the unending Lemmite disputes. Imbrianism was highly syncretistic to start out with; after the 380s, it became far more so. Because the Imbrian converts of 385-386 adopted Imbrianism to different extents and in different ways, there is currently a great deal of variety in Imbrian Lemmite practice.
The Imbrian School is currently the second largest sect of House Lem. Only the Circulan School has more adherents.
