Urbanus of Mercere is intended for use in the Rhine tribunal but could be relocated anywhere there is a settlement with a former temple to Mercury nearby. Just tweak his area lores and languages appropriately. He is the scion of an unusual Mercere lineage which possesses the Gentle Gift. The Gift is rare in house Mercere, and the Gentle Gift rare among the gifted, making this improbable to say the least. They achieve the feat through special training during apprenticeship which imparts the Gentle Gift at the expense of Mercurian magic, which must be initiated through ordeal after they are gauntleted.
Urbanus lives in the small town of Heidelberg near to the Monastery of St. Michael, which incorporates the remains of a temple to “Mercury of the Cimbri”. He lives a double life, posing to the townsfolk and monks as a pious Christian with scholarly interests. This allows him access to the monastery grounds and the hidden magical regio within, which contains the remains of the ancient temple (see below for details). Using his trusted position with the townsfolk he helps fellow Mercurians pose as pilgrims and access the regio site.
Urbanus truly believes Mercere was Mercury reborn and proselytises this view to fellow initiates at every chance. He is a true believer. In part this is why Urbanus gets along so well with the monks of St. Michaels – they are truly kindred spirits, despite their fervor being directed at different objects of worship! Characters looking to Urbanus as a mystagogue may be called on to help house Mercere, as Urbanus sees little distinction between the cult and his own house. Other priests, and the initiate, may disagree with this view.
He is careful never to cast magic except behind closed doors and maintains a laboratory in a Mercer house to which he can travel via an item enchanted with the spell “Leap of Homecoming”. Absences from the town are explained as scholarly trips or visits to family. This is not untrue – he has 3 living children who are active redcaps and two more retired, along with a veritable host of grand and great-grandchildren. In addition his skills in Creo make him much in demand as a crafter of longevity rituals. Gifted characters who have no longevity ritual and adult apprentices will have to deal with Urbanus attempting to match-make them with his unmarried descendants, as he believes the gifted have a better chance of gifted offspring.
He has been plagued lately by worrying dreams and visions. Urbanus does not realise it yet but these are sent by St. Michael, to whom the monastery is dedicated. The nature and purpose of the visions and St. Michael’s attention is left up to the storyguide. They may be benevolent and intended to “save” Urbanus. Or perhaps they are a warning that Urbanus’ many deceits will soon be revealed.
Characteristics: Int +3, Per +3*, Pre +3*, Com +3*, Str +0, Sta +3*, Dex +0, Qik +3*
*Improved via ritual magic after character creation
Size: +0
Age: 93 (75**)
**Urbanus can choose his physical age and prefers to look close to his real age. An unusually long-lived old man is less alarming to mundanes than a man who remains young forever.
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 3 (1)
Virtues and Flaws: Gentle Gift, Puissant (Creo), Unaging, Disorientating Magic, Plagued by Supernatural Entity (St. Michael)
Mysteries Known: Mercurian Magic, Performance Magic (Neo-Mercurian Magic), Hermetic Theurgy, Withstand Magic, Hermetic Sacrifice, Puissant Neo-Mercurian Lore
Mystery Ordeal Flaws: None
Personality Traits: Friendly +3, Circumspect +3, Deceitful +1
Reputations: Mercurian Priest +3 (Hermetic), Scion of Mercere +4 (neo-Mercurians)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20)
Abilities: Animal Handling 1, Area Lore (The Palatinate) 2, Area Lore (The Rhine) 2, Artes Liberales 4, Athletics 2, Bargain 2, Charm 3, Code of Hermes 3, Concentration 3, Dominion Lore 2, Etiquette 4, Folk Ken 2, Guile 7, High German 5, Hunt 1, Intrigue 3, Latin 5, Leadership 2, Magic Lore 2, Magic Theory 3,Neo-Mercurian Lore (Initiations) 9(11), Order of Hermes Lore 1, Pagan Theology 4, Parma Magica 5, Penetration (Creo) 5, Philosophiae 5, Ride 1, Survival 1, Swim 2, Teaching 2, Theology 2
Arts: Animal 5, Aquam 5, Auram 14, Corpus 15, Creo 25 [27], Herbam 5, Ignem 6, Imaginem 5, Intellego 7, Mentem 13, Muto 10, Perdo 5, Rego 6, Terram 5, Vim 14
Twilight Scars: Urbanus’ skin and clothing resist stains. He looks pristine even after long travel.
Spells and Trappings: Urbanus favours Creo above all other arts. Raised as a mercurian from birth, his magic is designed with preparation time and distance in mind. In a wizard’s war he relies heavily on arcane connections, and on his redcap relatives to help him acquire them. He keeps a small, and very secret, collection of fixed arcane connections to his enemies.
Compared to most magi he has a very limited spell list, focusing on the mastery of a few high level spells.
He has invented or learnt ritual spells to increase most characteristics to +3. He is capable of casting rituals that would give increases up to +5 but lacks the skill to invent such a spell or the influence to acquire a lab text (rituals like that are mainly the domain of the Cult of Heroes, of which he is not a member).
His favoured offensive spells are listed below. They are especially potent if he can enlist the aid of a few assistants who know a high enough level Wizard’s Communion. At the storyguide’s discretion, he will trade lab texts for these spells to fellow members of the Neo-Mercurians. Similarly, if the PCs have made enemies of the neo-Mercurians these may be known to their enemies!
Invoke the Wrath of Mercury CrVi 45 Ritual (Mastery: Penetration x2)
R: Arcane, D: Momentary, T: Individual
This spell inflicts 5 points of magical warping on the target. This forces magi to roll for twilight and is enough to raise a non-warped mundane to a score of 1, and thus inflicts a minor flaw.
(Base 25, Arcane +4)
Invoke the Wrath of Jupiter CrAu 45 Ritual (Mastery: Penetration x5)
R: Arcane, D: Momentary, T: Individual
The target is struck by a bolt of lightning. This is a highly unnatural effect and is not impeded by the location of the target – even if they are entirely underground the bolt will emerge from the roof or floor of their location. This causes +30 damage. Those near the target must make Size stress rolls of 6+ to remain standing.
(Base 5, +4 Arcane, +4 Unnatural)
Invoke the Curse of Furor CrMe 50 Ritual (Mastery: Penetration x3)
R: Arcane, D: Sun, T: Boundary
This ritual requires an arcane connection to the place being targeted. The target location must have a well defined boundary (a hermetic covenant usually does, for the purpose of casting an aegis ritual). Everyone within the boundary is struck with a sudden rage against a particular target of the caster’s choice. A stress roll on an appropriate personality trait (like Calm) vs ease factor 9 can restrain the anger, but it is felt strongly regardless.
(Base 4, +4 Arcane, +2 Sun, +4 Boundary)
His talisman is his hat, which he is never seen without. It is enchanted with several eye contact based CrMe and MuMe effects aimed at helping him deal with mundanes. One in particular instils a sense of trust in the target, triggered by Urbanus saying “Look in my eyes and see I speak the truth.”. This is, ironically, used mostly when he is being deceptive.
His familiar is a magical white cat called Albus. Not the most imaginative name. This creature has the power to turn invisible and to transform into a humanoid shape. Like magus like familiar, Albus has a penchant for deception and disguise and generally poses as one of Urbanus’ many relatives when the fancy to spend some time in human form takes him.
Urbanus has the look of a kindly old grandfather, but underneath his benign countenance lurks an expert in deceit and manipulation. His apparently frailty is also a ruse - he's more physically capable than most apprentices!
The Holy Hill and The Temple of Mercurius Cimbrianus
The hill near Heidelberg, on which the monastery of St. Michael now sits, was once a sacred site dedicated to “Mercury of the Cimbri”, the name given by the Romans to a deity of the Cimbri people living in the region. In the imperial period the Cult of Mercury maintained a temple complex on the hill, taking advantage of the natural magic aura.
Since that time the physical temple structures have fallen into ruin or been incorporated into newer constructions. The temple to Mercury forms the foundation of the church of the monastery of St. Michael.
There is a secret magic regio which contains a preserved version of the Roman site. Some believe this to be a naturally occurring regio but the priest Urbanus of Mercere believes that the Cult of Mercury somehow moved the temple into an artificial regio to protect it during the migration age, leaving a sort of “echo” on the mundane layer in the form of ruins. Despite this hypothesis, no ritual of this type has ever been found.
The regio can only be entered via a “heathen hole”, a well in the south side of the hill. The regio boundary covers the mouth of the well so it can be passed through by climbing in or out of the hole. Inside the hole there is a magic aura of 1, elsewhere on the mountain the dominion is dominant. There are a three stones with inscriptions dedicated to Mercury incorporated into the monastery walls, each of which projects a small bubble of magic aura a few feet across – useful for covert spellcasting without the penalty of a divine aura.
The regio contains an exact replica of the roman temple complex. The mundane monastery and its inhabitants can also be seen overlapping the temple but formed of mist. This shadow monastery has no physical substance and can be passed through easily. The Cult of Mercury tends to restrict ceremonies to night when there is less movement in the monastery, to avoid distractions. People on the mundane layer have no awareness of people in the regio, generally.
The temple, sitting near the top of the hill, is fairly small – rectangular and just 9.5 metres on the long edge. It has a semi-circular apse with an altar dedicated to Mercurius Cimbrianus. It is constructed from stone. Nearby is a large carved column dedicated to Jupiter, with smaller carvings dedicated to Juno, Minerva, Mercury, and Hercules as well as a small altar. Further down the hill is a shrine dedicated to Mithras. It’s possible there is also a subterranean mithraeum, but the Cult of Mercury has little interest in trying to find it (and has not shared details of the regio with the Legion of Mithras).
While the hill is bare, past the base of the hill is an endless expanse of untamed ancient forest. Attempting to enter the forest is impossible – any attempt eventually twists on itself and deposits the explorer back on the temple hill. It is possible there is a secret boundary into a deeper regio level here, but the Cult of Mercury have not yet found it, if it even exists.