Argentius ex Verditius

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: A Sudden Spring
1

Argentius de Verditius
updated through winter 1289-1290
Argentius v1

Characteristics

Int 3 Per 0
Pre 3 Com 1
Str -1 Sta 1
Dex 1 Quick -1

Flaws: vendetta, visions, proud, deficient form (animal), bound casting tools, hubris

Virtues: verditius magic, minor magical focus (jewelry), strong faerie blood (Shide), puissant craft, puissant magic theory, inventive genius, Verditius Elder Runes, educated, skilled parens, second sight

Abilities

Ability Specialization score points invested
Greek 5 0
Athletics 1 5
Awareness Alertness 1 5
Bargain 1 5
Charm First Impression 1 5
Concentration Spells 1 5
Craft: Jeweler 6 50
Etiquette 1 5
Folk Ken 1 5
Guile 1 5
Intrigue 1 5
Leadership 1 5
Stealth 1 5
Swim 1 5
Artes Liberales 3 30
Latin 4 50
Classical Greek 2 15
Philosophiae 2 15
Code of Hermes 1 5
Faerie Lore Realms 2 15
Finesse Rego 1 5
Magic Lore 1 5
Magic Theory Enchanting 5 46
Parma Magica Mentem 2 25
Penetration 1 5
Verditius Cult Lore History 3 30
Second Sight 1 5

Arts

Creo 10 0 Animal 0 0 Ignem 0 0
Muto 6 0 Aquum 0 0 Imaginem 2 0
Intelligo 5 0 Aurum 0 0 mentem 0 0
Rego 5 0 Corpus 0 0 Terram 5 0
Perdo 5 0 Herbem 3 0 Vim 6 1

Spells

Spell Name Arts Level
Touch of the Pearls InAq 5
Comfort of the Drenched Traveler PeAq 5
Cloak of the Duck's Feathers ReAq 5
Chamber of Spring Breezes CrAu 5
Hunt for the Wild Herb InHe 5
Pass the Unyielding Portal MuHe 5
Cure of the Rotted Wood PeHe 5
Palm of Flame CrIg 5
Taste of the Spices and Herbs MuIm 5
Lamp Without Flame CrIg 10
Ward Against Rain PeAu 10
Bind Wound CrCo 10
Rise of the Feather Body ReCo 10
Aura of Ennobled Presence MuIm 10
Supple Iron and Rigid Rope MuTe 10
Unseen Porter MuTe 10
Rope of Bronze MuHe 15
Touch of Midas CrTe 20
2

an ambitious and arrogant magus and goldsmith, determined to re-discover the inner mysteries that led to the creation of the fabled Rings of Verditius under the tutelage of Wayland Smith.

Let us begin creating the character and his background.

3

Do you want to see more prose and narrative about the character? Fleshing out the background? Or do you want to see characteristics, personality traits and virtues/flaws at the same time?

I'm taking notes on those initial chargen basics as I continue thinking about the background.

I want to stay in step with how you're thinking. I learned my lessons about taking it slow and steady. :slight_smile:

4

Obviously, we need to generate a character shet at some point, but if you want to get there by discussing background first that is fine.

5

Initial Background Notes:

Argentius ex Verditius, an ambitious and arrogant magus and goldsmith, is determined to re-discover the inner mysteries that led to the creation of the fabled Rings of Verditius under the tutelage of Wayland Smith.

Born: 1154

Parentage: The offspring of a Sidhe dalliance between a Sidhe father (not a high noble) with a daughter of the notable (possibly noble) Colagera family of Crete. The Sidhe father takes the boy child to Faerie.

Childhood:

Raised in his father's household, fostered to a dwarf goldsmith working in the household, sparking his initial interest and early talent with the craft. (1154 to 1160, Early Childhood + 1 year) Dwarf becomes a faerie friend because of the boy's fascination with the jeweler/smith craft.

Bartered to Faustinus ex Verditius (parens) at age 6 when Gift manifests. (1161)

Troubled by the boy's lack of understanding of the normal world, Faustinus arranges a tutor to educate the boy (like a grammar school experience)l for five years before starting his apprenticeship until age 11. (1161 - 1166) During this period, Faustinus also requires the boy to begin learning his craft as a jeweler/smith.

(Question: is this too much happening at one time? Or is it assumed for Verditius that they learn a particular craft during apprenticeship?)

A relatively well-respected and modestly high hubris member of House Verditius, Faustinus begins Argentius's apprenticeship when the boy turns 11. The delay is in part related to Faustinus's prideful desire to make sure he has an apprentice who will increase his glory and reputation.

Apprenticeship: Age 11 to 26. (1166 to 1181)

Because of his strong faerie (Sidhe) blood, Argentius is uncommonly handsome and attractive, so much so that this has become something of a curse, garnering him unwanted attention.

Argentius is bright and talented, learning quickly and, in fact, proving to be an exemplary apprentice as his parens had hoped.

During his apprenticeship, Argentius learns of the legend of the rings of Verditius and becomes obsessed with the idea of pursuing the arcane knowledge to learn how to make rings of comparable power and prestige.

Virtues Level Type Points Notes
The Gift Free Hermetic 0
Hermetic Magus Free hermetic 0
Verditius Magic Minor Hermetic 0
Minor Magical Focus: Jewelry Minor Hermetic 1
Strong Faerie Blood (Sidhe) Major Supernatural 3
Puissant Craft (smith) Minor General 1
Puissant Magic Theory Mnior Hermetic 1
Inventive Genius Minor Hermetic 1
Affinity with Rego Minor Hermetic 1
Educated Minor General 1
Skilled Parens Minor Hermetic 1
Second Sight Free Supernatural 0
Total 10
Flaws
Restriction Major Hermetic 3 No spontaneous magic while music is heard.
Faerie Friend Minor Story 1
Proud Major Personality 3
Curse of Venus Major Story 3
Total 10
6

It would be extremely rare for a magus to wait 5 years to open an apprentice- it would make more sense for his Gift to develop late and either continue to be raised in faerie for more years or be given to a mundane family who rejected him and sold hi to his parens when his Gift developed. Generally, Verditius mages teach the craft they favor to their apprentices, or seek out apprentices already skilled in that craft, but do not take time to train them in the craft before opening. the simple reason for this is that an apprentice who has not been opened can be claimed by another magus, and the training you spent resources on then benefits someone else.

Restriction specifically applies to all use of magic, so you would not be able to cast any spells while hearing music.

7

Good feedback. I'll re-work the childhood to apprentice section. Few more years in Faerie before the Gift develops and he's bargained away to start the apprenticeship.

Do you think the restriction is "uncommon" enough or is it too common? Am I understanding it right (ArM 5e p 58) that it would also cause any items he enchants to also cease working in the presence of music? If that's the case, then I may re-think it. Extending it to enchanted items feels like a too strong for what I'm going for. I understand it's a major hermetic flaw but am also trying to understand the range of what uncommon means in this context.

I'm thinking here about something that bites a bit into his Pride, a weakness that frustrates him and that he likely tries to hide or minimize. , ie. "I just can't work when someone is whistling! I can't focus!"

One more question about the Craft ability. As I've poked around at the history of ring making outside of the ArM books, I run across references to goldsmiths, silversmiths, and jewelers. I'm trying to focus his crafting and enchanting largely to rings but also to broaches, necklaces, bracelets, etc. as an area of focus. How do recommend I handle the Craft piece? Is it Craft: Smith or Craft: Goldsmith? I'm trying not to limit his ability to work with silver or gold or other materials, but am trying to stay consistent with the period and with Mythic Europe convention. Thoughts?

8

I'd say it is about right for rarity- as an example "touching the earth directly" could mean being outside without shoes (easily avoided) as well as having been pushed over into the dirt (easily rectified, but not easily avoided). However the fact it impacts enchantments as well does make restriction a particularly hard flaw for verditious magi.

9

A little feedback, if I may. This may or may not be common place in most of the Order, but is actually a fairly good practice for a magi to do this, especially for something like grammar school, because if you start with a 5 year old kid, then you have to start teaching them latin for several years before teaching them actually useful stuff like the arts and magic theory. On the contrary, if they learn Latin prior to the opening of the arts, then you're able to teach them magic theory right after opening their arts, and you have a valuable apprentice for 15 years, instead of somebody who's barely able to assist for the first two or three years until he picks up Latin by exposure.

Also his background is located in Crete, which is in the Theban tribunal. Unless you make substantial change to the background of the game, in the Theban tribunal, waiting 5 years being schooled is actually a normal, standard operating practice, because it's illegal to open an apprentice's art after discovery - you have to turn him over to the tribunal, and he gets sent to be taught full time at Polyaigos until the next Tribunal period where several magi will try and convince him to be their apprentice. This means that a theban tribunal's pre-apprentice period's average length is four years, and can range from 0 to 8 years, depending on whether there's a grand tribunal that forces a shift in the date of the regular tribunal meetings. Depending on the length of time spent at that covenant, it wouldn't be that unusual to pick up an apprentice with a full knowledge of classical greek, artes liberales, some latin, and optionally some philosophae.

1 Like
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Ah, if he is in Thebes he would not have been sold to his parens, but would have been sold and sent to the school to train before being selected for apprenticeship- this could well be 5 years but could not exceed 6 (since selection is done every 7 years). it will also constrain the possible dates for his apprenticeship to have been begun or ended accordingly.
However it is only clear he was born in Crete- where he was sold is not specified.

11

I love you guys! So much knowledge and awesome thinking here!

My initial thought, not terribly informed I admit, was that Argentius was bargained to a magus by his faerie father in either payment for a favor or to create a favor.

I really like where you are going with this, though. Thanks @temprobe for sparking a relook at it.

@silveroak Are they any concerns with adapting the background to fit the Crete and Thebes tribunal portion?

I'll align the dates accordingly and repost.

1 Like
12

That would be fine.

13

Quick Verditius question/confirmation as I revise the background:

As a newly gauntleted magus, Argentius has had no initiation into the Inner Mysteries, correct?

I believe this is something that would be sought out during the Journeyman phase of the Verditius journey but want to confirm.

14

Generally no, he would need Verditius lore to be further initiated, and possibly membership in a confraternity. Though parens have been known to further initiate their apprentices by as much as a single mystery- rarely. You need a Veditius lore of 3 to gain minor virtues and 5 for major, in addition to needing to follow the initiation scripts and find a mystagogue (obviously if your parens is a mystagogue this is easier)

15

I was mulling the idea that during the latter year or two of his apprenticeship The 18 year cycle of The Contest occurs and the parens takes the promising young apprentice to enter into the apprentice category. (HoH: MC p 116 references The Contest of 1018. Extrapolating from there, there would be contest in 1180. I could adjust his timeline to match.)

Argentius brings a particularly innovative ring and wins in the apprentice category (further fueling his hubris and pride). In lieu of choosing a single item from Contest entries, the bold prodigy begs a boon instead to be initiated into the minor house mystery: Verditius Elder Runes (chosen because of the lore that this inner mystery is associated closely with Wayland Smith and Argentius believes it might give him a step on his journey toward making legendary rings.)

I'm only off a year in the current timeline (I have Gauntlet at 1179) so I would shift Gauntlet to 1181 or 1182. I would need to make sure, as you point out, that his Verditius Cult Lore is at 3 by 1180.

If it's too much of a stretch, I'm good dropping the idea, but it felt reasonably consistent with the concept and the timing of The Contest was auspicious. :slight_smile:

Thoughts?

16

I like it. Make sure you take the minor flaw Hubris.

17

Thanks. I'll update and repost shortly. Couple questions:

  1. Is Minor Flaw Hubris a free minor flaw? I've read about the Hubris flaw and score, but I'm not sure how it is accounted for. Feels like a free flaw but want to double-check.

  2. Craft: I'm working through the abilities selection, and I'm not entirely sure how to approach the Craft. With a focus on crafting rings, broaches, necklaces, etc, it feels like Craft: Jewelry would be the thing, but reading a bit about the period, I also see references to goldsmiths and silversmiths. Are you ok with Craft: Jewelry as the craft with the assumption that this includes the goldsmith/silversmith knowledge to craft with gold, silver, and other precious metals in the creation of jewelry?

  3. Virtue: Minor Magical Focus: Jewelry. As I was working through virtues, it felt like his focus on rings and jewelry might warrant a magical focus so I initially selected Minor Magical Focus: Jewelry, but in reviewing the description in ArM 5e p. 46, it states "You cannot be focused on a laboratory activity, such as creating charged items..." Enchanting is in that same category. So from my understanding, it doesn't make sense to have a minor magical focus: jewelry. Am I understanding that right? Is there an alternative virtue that you know of that would fill the goal of a virtue that applies to the making of magical rings and jewelry?

If I'm barking up the wrong tree, let me know. I've also thought about adding swapping it out for Cyclic Magic that is seasonal where the benefit occurs in Spring and Summer because of his Strong Faerie Blood connection to the Sidhe. Or possibly going down the Personal Vis Source path.

Thanks!

ps. I've taken a first stab at Characteristics, Abilities, and Arts but will wait to post those until your response to the above questions and my revision of the background and timeline.

18

Regarding Minor Magical Focus: Jewelry, as far as I know it should be fine. Such a focus will come into play when you cast or research spells that affect Jewelry, an equivalent to The Mystical Carpenter from Covenants. And it would also help when you try to enchant jewelry.

As another example, my proposed character has Minor Magical Focus: Legendary Creatures. She will get the benefit when researching or casting spells on such creatures, but also when binding such a creature as a Familiar, or when investing powers into the bond with such a creature.

1 Like
19

Hubris is not a free flaw
craft:Jewelry is fine. it would mean you don't do some things a goldsmith would do like hammer out gold leaf, but I don't think that will be an issue for this character.
Jewelry is fine as a minor magical focus, it is not exclusively enchanting jewelry- you could create real (cr Te) or illusory (CrIm) jewelry with it, make changes to jewelry, craft jewelry with re craft magic, etc.

21

only one story flaw allowed
also Hubris is a personality flaw, not a Hermetic flaw, which puts you at 3 personality flaws.