He's the filius of Octavius, a well-known healing specialist who dabbles a lot in politics.
Octavius and Petronius are from a small lineage of Mercurian magi in House Bonisagus.
Petronius is certainly older than he looks -- he was Gauntleted about 5 decades ago.
Petronius is a Master of Rego Terram, having demonstrated that mastery by the casting of Hermes Portal -- unassisted -- almost two decades ago.
He is one of the founding magi of Laurus Argenti, the Summer covenant where both he and Praxiteles reside.
There's a rumour that there is currently a strain in the relations between Octavius and Petronius -- on the subject of politics.
Petronius is happy to chat with Tranquillina over a wide variety of subjects, although he does not linger on anything regarding his pater (not master!). He describes the location and some of the history of Laurus Argenti, in a forest near Koblenz, where Roman lived before being driven out by the Franks. He seems to have travelled quite a bit, mostyle in the Rhine Tribunal but also abroad, for his research on portals.
His knowledge of Magic Theory is quite extensive and some of his ideas are quite challenging to Tranquillina. Sensing her reluctance to discuss the specifics of the Mons Electi regio, he mentions that he knows Tria, and has received permission from FIona to investigate the cave regiones for his research.
He is initially reluctant to discuss Rhine Tribunal politics, and she gets a feeling that this touches on his relation with his pater. He doesn't seem to be a fan of the current Prima of House Bonisagus.
If you happen to share a meal with him, you notice that he is frugal, prefering plain food in small quantities. Overall, she gets the sense of an honest and decent man, who treats mundanes servants with respect, although a bit too absorbed by his research.
Fiona also remains professional on the outside, but on the inside feels rebuffed. Perhaps he was merely toying with her, and had no intention of following up on his apparent interest? Or perhaps, as he asked, he does not mix business and pleasure. His wife, on the other hand, seemed more than interested in her, which makes her feel warm and confused. Maybe she'd been wrong about herself all these years, and she prefers women? Or is it just Alips that she prefers? She certainly felt desire for Praxiteles just a few minutes earlier.
She heads home and sits in the chair in her room, and would like to basically use Paul for a sounding board, just to talk things through with a friendly ear who might have a different perspective that could help her sort herself out.
That afternoon, she sends a note to Alips reading: [color=blue]I greatly enjoyed my time with you last night. If you and/or your husband are available this evening, I would greatly like to meet with you for dinner so that we can pick up where we left off. Please send your reply with this messenger. Fiona. After thinking for a minute or two, she gives the message to Moire and has her deliver it to Alips, in the Manor House on the mundane side, and come back with her reply.
Early afternoon, there's a knock on Alips's door.
Fiona is more than willing to talk shop, especially since he's involved (somewhat) in "her" project, and she seems fairly knowledgeable for an Ex Misc (Magic Theory of 6, Rego and Herbam of 10 (neither of which are her "preferred" Arts). She won't volunteer much in the way of what happened at Mons Electi, however
Fiona would be delighted to observe, if not assist, Petronius and Praxiteles in their endeavors.
I must admit I was initially confused by the first sentence, but I eventually sorted it out. For a moment I thought you thought that Petronius was an Ex Misc.
This leads me to ask some questions in order to be sure I understand correctly the layout of things and where Petronius is working:
Have all the interaction so far been on the mundane part of the covenant (meaning outside of the regio)?
Where are the caves that Tria used to travel to the covenant? I had assumed that these were inside of the regio, close to Iosephus' (which is now Viscaria's) sanctum. Since Petronius is to investigate these caves, I just want to be sure I understand where he'll be working.
And are there any other areas, effects or manifestations that could be of interest to Petronius' research? I must admit to not being familiar with all of the covenant. Even if Petronius is not informed of one such place, it would be nice if OOC I knew that it exists.
I will wait a bit more before continuing the description, just so I know who else is actually there to observe.
Sorry about the dangling participle. Upon re-reading it, I can see the confusion. I'll edit to clarify momentarily.
I believe so, for the most part. The manor is on the mundane side, as is the guard shack. I think he was taken to the Regio side at some point. Rereading the last couple of pages, the slab is being delivered to the Mundane side. I had thought that the workspace was in the manor house area, in part of the courtyard, but I'm not finding where that was actually stated.
I believe that's correct.
Apparently, Viscaria and Tranquillina found a pocket regio that has a vis source. Aside from that and the cave Tria uses, there are no other that I 'm aware of.
The delivery is to the mundane side, aura 3, doubled because of rego alignment. Praxiteles hasn't had a full tour, and really doesn't know about their being a regio. By this time word of the rego aligned regio has spread. Redcaps can gossip, you know?
And, as far as I understand, when Tria visited she used the caves from Iosephus' caves to enter the regio. That is the source of Petronius' interest -- the fact that Tria could use that entrance to transport herself. He may not know that this leads inside of a regio here (as Tria's descriptions may have been somewhat vague), so he might still be unaware of its existence. But that's unlikely.
And he would also be aware of at least some of the redcap gossips (he has the Social Contacts virtue with House Mercere). So let's say he's aware of the regio and that it is large; he's just waiting to see how long it will be before he is given the full tour. He's here to study the regio, but waiting to see how forthcoming Mons Electi will be about it.
((Sorry,I missed that he hadn't been given a tour yet. I know that Praxiteles had (although it stopped when he found where he wanted to work), and assumed that Petronius had.))
During their conversation (Fiona and Petronius), she will ask how he's finding the place. When she finds that he's especially interested in the regiones, she offers to give him a tour of the covenant and show him the regiones that she knows of. She will probably engage in some light flirtation, but nothing serious (unless he starts seriously flirting back).
And here's what Petronius knows or has heard rumored about Tranquillina:
She's the filia of Maximianus, a onetime Longevity Ritual researcher and now resident and rabble-rouser of the Stonehenge Tribunal.
Tranquillina was Gauntleted roughly three decades ago. She shares her pater's interest in Corpus above all other Arts.
Maximianus was not her first mentor: she was first apprenticed to somebody outside House Bonisagus, then claimed by Tria, then sold to Maximianus.
Tranquillina was one of the magi who spurred Stonehenge to once again hold regular Tribunal meetings. Until very recently she was a member of the Nigrasaxa covenant.
There are conflicting rumors about her innate connection with magic. Some say she eschews gestures and even words when spellcasting, or that she can see auras without the need for Intellego Vim; while others claim she shies away from even simple laboratory tasks.
Tranquillina is said to be social and easy to talk to, except that she is quick to take affront at little things. She is also known as a habitual letter-writer to magi across the Order.
Among the topics that arise in Petronius's conversation with Tranquillina: "Since you are a lifelong student of portals, perhaps this related question would be worth raising with you. I know that some of our Order's major powers - such as the Hermes Portals, or the ability to amplify one another's magic via communion - descend from the ancient practices of the Mercurians. But there are those who say that the same tradition has lent some of us other advantages as well, that those who are suitable masters of their spells can gain added flexibility. Do you have any knowledge of such benefits?"
((And those would be? Remember, I have not read all of the saga's many thread, so I may have missed things. Particularly when it comes from what a specific character is aware of. And how she present each of those regiones has an impact on his initial understanding of them.))
((You know that. I know that. Petronius doesn't. And we needed a pretext for him to agree to transport the stone. So there you have it. I'm just trying to squeeze some usefulness from something that will most likely be a flase research lead for him. Who knows? I may discover an inventive way of linking something to his research. ))
((I know she knows about the main regio and the cave that Tria comes and goes in. I'm assuming she also knows about the new pocket regio, but I'm not 100% sure.))
She shows him how to get in and out of the Main Regio - go the the one spot and turn clockwise three times to get in. To go out, go to the correspond spot in the Regio side and reverse the process: turn counterclockwise three times.
She shows him the cave near Viscaria's and explains that this is where Tria comes and goes from. [color=blue]"I won't pretend to understand how she does it, but I suspect that it's not Hermetic."
"I believe the mastery you speak of is more common in the Mercere lineage of Mercurians. From what I know, it has more to do with the specific aptitudes of their Founder, rather than something that was present throughout the tradition. I'm not cognizant of that mastery myself, although some of the elements of my research doth call upon something quite similar..." the discussion devolves into specific points of Magic Theory, some of which leave even Tranquillina's expertise of the subject far behind. It looks like Petronius is far more advanced than initial discussions led her to believe. He was perhaps trying to spare her ego? ((OOC: His effective score in Magic Theory is at least 10, as far as Tranquillina can tell.))
Tranquillina follows up a little bit on the Mercere discussion, at least to get to the point where the difference between the Mercurians and the Mutantes has been clarified to her. ((as in, I just went and read that part of HoH:TL ))
As for the Magic Theory discussion: it sounds like Petronius isn't trying to act superior or rub anyone's nose in their lack of knowledge. Under these circumstances, Tranquillina will pretty much be fascinated by Magic Theory remarks on the edge of her understanding.
When a suitably harmonious moment arises, Tranquillina will venture a delicate question into politics: "Perhaps my view on" ((whatever they were just talking about)) "is colored by my experiences in Stonehenge in the decade following my Gauntlet. Blackthorn had a monopoly on all decisions, and magi from the other covenants simply disengaged from the Tribunal; these twin obstacles proved costly for Stonehenge, and we - I should say, they - are still seeking a stable equilibrium. It sounds like there is nothing like this level of dysfunction in the Rhine Tribunal; still, from your perspective - or that of those you know well, such as Praxiteles and Octavius - would you identify any particular obstacles towards smooth relations?" She's trying to choose her words so that Petronius feels comfortable opening up to her about these matters. ((Com 3 + Charm 2 + stress die 6 = 11.))
Petronius mulls this apparent change of subject for a few moments before answering. "I have seldom travelled to Stonehenge, so my knowledge of its policies is limited to what one of my sodale, who was apprenticed there, shared with me." His tone is cool and his demeanor has stiffened, so to it looks like Tranquillina's attempt was not only unsuccessful, but touched upon a delicate subject.
Petronius changes the subject, bringing things back to a technical point of Magic Theory. Tranquillina gets the feeling that invoking Octavius' name was ill-advised and that pushing the subject would be a bad idea for now.
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