Thanks for the compliments 
I would interact gladly. I can have Arnau and another fire caster disembark in your village with around 80 almogavers (a galley's worth of warriors), if you want. After all, we have to investigate that magician we have been told lives around.
Asking for help here: After allowing the Arnau character to cool down and returning to it, I am liking the general idea, but I am finding him a little bit one dimensional. His religious extremism does not sit well enough with me. I like him being hotheaded and disliking muslims, but him entering a destructive rage when Christianity is insulted seems too much to me. In a sense, I would like to regain some control over the pseudo-charicature of a crusader I have created to get a slightly more adaptable character.
So, I am searching for suggestions on Major flaws to substitute for Fury.
Driven (mystical reconquista; basically he wants sahirs dead) can be changed for Enemies but seems fitting.
These are his current flaws for reference:
AGE QUICKLY
FURY (Displays of disrespect towards Christianity )
Driven (“Mystical Reconquista”).
Infamous (Butcher 4 among Muslims)
Weakness (pretty girls)
Lame (Ordeal for Flight) Earned through Initiation
Any suggestions welcome Thx
Xavi
Looking the v/f index...
Driven could be changed to Ambitious (create and control the best hedge army), or Envious (of the Hermetic's power), but is okay as it is, too.
Fury... How about some Difficult Underlings? 
Hey, here's an idea! Suppose he was Raised from the Dead (RoP: tD p 36). IIRC, this gives him some warping, but he can take it. This could be the reason why he is driven: After being killed by a muslim, or a counter-crusader, or whatever, a miracle resurected him, and he thinks that this is so that he could liberate Iberia. Of course, he may very well be wrong
Hmm... Will have to look at that one. A Delusion might be worth it then. He might believe he is a reincarnation of ... Reculed himself? :mrgreen:
Being a mercenary captain having difficult underlings might be too much. We all know that Richard II had it, and look what happened to his Angevin empire.
both 
What if the Fury was triggered by he himself feeling disrespected?
It is difficult to be a good leader of men if you are furious. This is why I am making me move away from that. Furious people can be great fighters but rarely good troop leaders, and Arnau is supposed to be the second, not necessarily the first (he is average-ish there). Tomorrow I expect to be able to look into the suggested stuff more (quite a long week for me) and make adjustments, but I am moving away from the total crusader jerk attitude a little bit. He does not like Muslims, but he does not want to torch them all on sight. Only the lineages of Sahirs that killed him ... err... Flambeau the Founder, will get that flaming honor.
Mind you the Hermetic Sahirs are our sodales 
I do have ideas for stories about that specific lineage you speak of. Sub Rosa (#3 I think). The Knights of Seneca bit I did has the whole history and names the guy. I was supposed to send one to Peregrine before I had the internet outage. I should make it available to everyone. I will contact the Sub Rosa guys and ask if I can put just that piece up on our wiki. They never paid me for it anyway 
Major Story Flaw replacment ideas: Oath of Fealty (to the Flameau), Dark Secret (you are part of a cult of hedgies that are well organized), Dependant (you drag your wife and kids along with you, and so do some of your men; camp followers, like the historic mercenary bands often did), or Greater Malediction of some sort.
Your grudge, it is more of a PTSD thing than religion or race. My grandfather for example, always made racist jokes about the Japanese and whenever there was an Asian in the room he would start to get nervous and anxious. He claimed he could detect them by sense of smell. He was often point patrol in the Pacific Island theater during WWII because of this supernatural ability (Premonitions?). One time he stumbled on a camp of seven soldiers eating chow. Browning Automatic Rifle. End of story. On his death bead, he claimed to have visions of those seven men, waiting for him in heaven, telling him it was okay. He was doing his duty, as they were doing theirs. All was forgiven, come join them in rest. So as racist and hateful as he could be sometimes, it was because he was afraid and because he was remorseful.
So? I do not understand what do you mean by that. :mrgreen:
In any case I am going for a Drive to hunt down the lineages that took down Reculed's master, and then Reculed and his champions. 350 years after the fact the lineages can be quite spread and difficult to track down. But if they are hermetic, there might be a diplomatic incident.
I have that SR. I have them all, I think. Will reread it.
Oath of fealty might be somewhat repetitive now that I am linked to Andorra? Maybe having the Oath apply to the Flame Brothers (even if nominally we are not part of them, we are) may be more adequate? I like this one. Can also link to Arnau hunting sahirs by himself instead of following the orders of Andorra and the preferences of the OoH. I like this one.
Dark Secret could work, but that is not a secret, really. Can make it one bending some stuff though.
Dependant: I do have a wife and children, but this would imply that I want thos to be a centre of stories, and I do not think it fits well, here.
So far I think that the best suggestions are:
All these can work.
Nice example. Will consider it. Now I know what PSTD stands for after googling it :mrgreen:
OK, so we are ending with him being more amenable to social graces, even if he still dislikes Muslims and wants to see Sahirs burned at the stake. The rest of the Muslims he just feels contempt for and thinks they are missguided, but does not necessarily show such a hateful attitude. I like it.
You dream that you are descended from Delendar the Destroyer? Visigoth rebel, Mercurian wizard, master of destructive magic, Reculeds mentor and peer and true teacher.......
Yeah, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) is the modern scientific term for what used to be called "shell shock". There was this other bit I once read, I think in sociology class, that discussed the causes of combat stress. The fear of your own death is a factor, as is witnessing the deaths of people you have come to know. But these are trivial compared to the main cause. What drives people nuts is having to kill. It goes against every core social human instinct.
As for Sahirs, you do understand what I mean, gauging by your response. Ans as for your new ideas for a goal, I love it, and have all kinds of twisty convoluted ideas for that which run through the history of this covenant.
Oath of Fealty can be taken to mean a variety of different things, indicating someone to whom you submit authority to outside of the covenant. For some magi this is an unspoken aspect of their House (such as Tremere or Mercere).I am starting to imagine a cult of hedge wizard sleeper agents, founded by radical members of House Flambeau around the time the Sahirs of Iberia joined the Order. They have evolved and changed over the years, but here you are.
Imagine the mindkcuf when you discover that [spoiler]( :mrgreen: I am not going to tell you no matter how bat I want to 
)[/spoiler].
Driven/Obsessed works too, it is a personal vendetta for some reason. Maybe ([spoiler]idea related to the spoiler above[/spoiler]).
Dependents, as I was imagining it, would apply to your whole band. Not multiplied by that many men. The hook would be no more frequent or involving as it would be for an individual. It could just come from innumerable vectors and you have the backing of your men if it ever comes to be relevant. Many historic mercenary companies included wives and children and other camp followers. Someone has to do the cooking and cleaning and sewing and the basic grunt duties of the migratory camp lifestyle.
Close Family Ties, to represent the bond of brotherhood you and your men share is also a good idea.
You know what to do. Your ideas are fantastic as well.
I am thinking of stating the Fire Brothers as a mystery cult. One of the first initiations will cause the delusion that they are not one a powerful fire spirit, but they can certainly hear one of them and be in temporal communion with them from time to time (delusion). A later initiation, one that allows the Shapeshifter virtue might cause an actual Magical Fire Spirit to watch over them, and/or control them from time to time. They get more warped and closer to the Fire aspect of the magic realm. The fire spirit might be thought by the cult to be an Aspect of Delendar.
More on this sketchy idea later.
...I know what you speak of. This is the Mystery of the Flaming Shadow, the fire than cannot be seen except by those who have understanding. This is the great secret of Flambeau our Founder, having ascended and transformed into this daimon. I know, for I am blood descendant of this daimon. I have learned these secrets and I myself have transubstantiated. THERE IS NOTHING LIKE WHAT I HAVE BECOME!
Look into my eyes, you'll see who I am.
My name is Metron, please take my hand.
Oh, you naughty sg!
Will Arnau be able to craft hex toys, then?
I only see charcoaled demons there, though.
Regarding Marko's comment above, while interesting, I would prefer the fire brothers not to be tools of the shadow flambeau. They might have worked for them unknowingly since (as well pointed out) they share some objectives, but they are not bent on the destruction of all Muslims, just a particular bunch of them. Arnau's limited knowledge of the Shadow Wars might come from their partial involvement on it and the knowledge the mercenary company gathered from it.
I just posted that to taunt you, since they esoteric concepts sounded so similar to what I did with Metron. :mrgreen:
But yes, the Flaming Shadows are your enemy. Many Flambeau magi feel it is offensive to refer to them as the Shadow Flambeu since they have all been cast out, though Tytalus magi delight in continuing to use the appellation.
I will incorporate them into the lineage of the Flame Brothers as an excission (spelling?). I find the idea interesting. I am woeking with the idea of them having Summoning as part of their hedge tradition. Adding Commanding and even Binding to that pack could be an easy lure by Metron, Rassus and their peers. It would also aproximate the glame brotherd to the magic of their chosen enemies, something ironic that I like. In fact using invocation+adjuration would be a good fit, but those are divine abilities and so out of their league.
Rassus is long dead and Metron is not what you think he is. Or maybe he is. I don't know what you think
But you mistake the motives of Rassus. It wasn't to destroy, it was to corrupt.
That is besides the point. Neat ideas, but put them on the back burner. Wait until Faith & Flame comes out. F&F? I heard a rumor that there are some neat hedge wizard cult ideas in there.
Hmm... my fuzzy memory of Iberia placed Metron as a "she", but I might get it wrong.
I did not say anything about destroying, so I do not get where you got that idea. I was suggesting the infernalists might have contracted a faction of the Flame Brothers to work for them (we are mercenaries after all) and then offered the diverse Ars Goethia to them for initiation. That might have caused internal tension, and I think that is cool
OK, in any case since you are putting a brake into my idea, I will simply stat the Flame Brothers as a folk witch cult, with minor changes instead of reworking their whole powers. Changes are:
This is what I had already done when designing Arnau. They also appreciate Reserves of Strength, Life Boost, Large and Intuition and are common among their grogs.
I was planning on them having Summoning (long time prosecuting Sahirs makes them more similar to Sahirs than they would like to admit) so they could be lured by the other Ars Goethia but this idea is frozen for the time being. I will have them working in the Shadow Wars anyway on both sides to justify their knowledge of the event. I find that to be cool.
Xavi
That is the part where you mentioned destruction and is where I got that idea
Your idea is cool. I am just asking you to wait for this one thing soon to be published so that I can share my idea that relates to your idea.
And...
My point about the Shadows is that, if they secretly contracted you for a goal, whatever you thought you were doing, their actual goal was to corrupt you. Case in point, they joyfully offer to teach you their dark arts and it caused internal tension.
Keep in mind, however, that in this saga, Goetic Magic is banned. Too many problems in the past. Even Summoning is banned. Shir is acceptable though.
And...
So Metron is indeed a "he", and he is pretty scary to boot. The description of him on that page is from 1197, thirty-seven years ago and a decade before the outbreak of the Shadow Wars.