This is a summary of Years of Transition, sixth chapter of A Brief History of the Order. The original is in 14 parts.
- The last two decades of the third century are characterized by the proliferation of new trans-House philosophies, novel approaches to magical theory, interest in foreign cultures and non-Cholaeic magical traditions, and a steady departure from the values and traditions of the diaspora. This rise in radicalism within the Order eventually culminates in the explosion of Order expansion known as the "Year of Spring." It also, however, gives birth to the tensions between traditionalists and radicals which will later come to define Order politics.
- Dissatisfaction with the traditional values of the diaspora helps to fuel a revolution within House Manere, leading to the recognition of "low certamen" within the House. The House's current policies regarding the acclamation and tenure of Primi, the sites of conjugations, and protocols for gaining rights of sigil are nearly all established at the Third Conjugation of 280.
- The non-traditional lineages of the Wendellian Savacions and the Julio-Claudian Aegidians are established. In part as a reaction against Wendell, House Savacion establishes the "10-Mage Rule" to govern the admission of new members to the House.
- The theories of Nephythus of House Aegidius, while they fail to impress those of his own House, gain many converts among the magi of other Houses at Covenant Antrum. Nephythusianism rises rapidly as a trans-House magical school and the Nephythusians are recognized as a "sub-House" on the Second Cristoferean Census of 298.
- Two Lapidis Aegidians, Spingelli and Cos, develop a new philosophy of magical study, education, and covenant structure. The movement, known as "Amicitianism," develops adherents throughout the Order.
- The Melians of Verbi Meliae develop an interest in folk tradition and peasant magics, which is to become the covenant's specialization.
- A number of young magi travel widely in this period, as interest in foreign lands and cultures spreads. The Lemmite Arbor Largiloqua travels to the fabled land of Attica, while Tullius of Aegidius and Nescius Balatu of Lem explore the Dawn. Interest in the cultures of the Dawn leads an entire group of young Manereans at Antrum to found a covenant dedicated to this study, Covenant Prima Lux, in 289.
- The Cristofereans of the newly-refounded Annalum are led by their dynamic younger members to develop a strong sense of social conscience and begin to emerge as the self-appointed mediators of the entire Order. The "New House Cristofer" is extremely supportive of the new schools and sub-Houses of the turn of the century and lends these movements legitimacy by their inclusion in the census of 298.
- The discovery of the "Red Book of Westmarch" at the covenant of that name acts as a catalyst on already-existing tensions within the Gravite School of Lemmitism. The Gravite Lemmites schism, dividing into the Westmarchite school, which adheres to classical Gravite customs but renounces spontaneous magic, and the Linguan school, which follows a revisionist Gravitism and continues to practice spontaneous magic. Original pre-schism Gravites continue to exist in isolated pockets, but by the fifth century, they will be extinct.
