Campaign Open

By request of the game's moderator, this game has been taken out of retirement. Enjoy!

game on!

Let us use this thread to continue our prliminary discussions. Over the next few days I will remodle and shape things for renewed use. All the old history will remain for reference; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
As for me, I gotta get some sleep. Nightclub job. Won't get home until noon.

Concept: Scrying Criamon Oracle type, named Pythos. Seventh son of the seventh son of Apollo.

History

Birth and Apprenticeship
Born to some kind of Greek aristrocrat. I know nothing about the Theban Tribunal or medieval Greek culture, so will need some help there. His birth was prophesized by Aristaeus of Criamon....incorrectly. Due to the horribly inaccurate nature of prophecy, Aristaeus actually showed up several years early. He did manage to find a Gifted child, just not the one he was looking for[1]. Aristaeus, a loner (peregrinator?), traded the girl to a non-Criamon friend, in exchange for promised access to his friend's covenant resources, should he ever manage to find his prophecized apprentice.

Pythos (birth name: Periander) was born a year or two later. Aristaeus swept him up as soon as he was able, and he was raised in a covenant as an honored guest, destined to become a powerful magi. As a result Periander grew up to be a spoiled brat -- he had but one peer growing up, the other apprentice. Frustrated with this behavior, Aristaeus took him from the covenant after the first 1/3rd of his training.

Aristaeus is a very old and powerful magus who spent most of his life trying to turn a particular forest into a second Cave of Twisting Shadows, and he understood very little about children. His home, the Forest of Winding Paths, is pretty Enigmatic, but not popular among the other Criamon. Here the boy Periander took to his lessons well (as long as they were focused on Intellego), but in this isolation his sense of self-importance grew. Thus, Aristaeus decided to spend the boys last 5 years training him at the Cave of Twisting Shadows.

There, the boy learned of his House Culture, and learned to walk the walk (if not think the thoughts) that his master hoped. He was deemed most suitable for the Path of Seeming, those who stand between House Criamon and the rest of the Order, helping his brethren with their works.

1st Cycle: Age 20 - 27, Gauntlet+7
During this period, Pythos focuses almost entirely on Intellego. As this cycle ends, he has an experience which teaches him two hard lessons: First, that the world does not actually revolve around him. And second, that while he may be good at learning information, he has not developed any skill at doing anything about it, that he is in fact, quite defenseless. Humbled, he is fit to walk the Avenue of Gruel, Water and
Starlight and arrive at the First Station.

2nd Cycle: Age 28-34, Gauntlet+14
Having learned humility and the wisdom of duty, he turns to Rego and Imaginem and focuses on his duties as a member of Path of Seeming to help his fellow Criamons interact with the rest of the Order. In his diligence, he unwittingly begins to walk the Avenue That Assaults The Modesty of The Universe, and arrives at The Station of True Sight. He loses the ability to distinguish real from imaginary, and wanders the world in the madness of the initiation. However, he has made many friends in his diligence, and he is guided back across the precipice into sanity.

3rd Cycle: Age 35-42, Gauntlet+21
Ironically, though his initiation reaffirms his dedication to the Criamon religion[2], it also rekindles his self-centeredness. He longs to do something worthwhile, and so he focuses on Vim while working with the Quaesitors to ferret out infernalism inside the Order. Though his elders protest that he is not ready, he applies political pressure to permit him to walk the Avenue of the Unexpected Pages -- for his Quaesitor contact knows of the utility of such Criamon in his investigations. Pythos proves unready, and he spends a very long time in the induced coma state before finally arriving at the Station of Vivid Memories from Objects.

During this initiation, the supplicant undergoes a pyschodrama where he plays a stranger and must successfully deliver a particular item to "himself." When he fails, he takes on a different role and must deliver a different item. During the course of this initiation, he experiences some kind of connection with Andorra.

4th Cycle: Age 42-49, Gauntlet+28
Returning to his duties as a Demon Hunting Oracle, he is by now a master of Intellego, Rego, Imaginem and Vim. His work is satisfying and he has found a balance between his duties to Criamon and the Order. Yet he cannot stop thinking of Andorra. His interest encounters unexpected resistence and he ends up in a Wizard's War. He shocks the Order by blasting his opponent into Twilight with Creo Vim spells. In his quest for more information about Andorra, he ends up picking up some Virtue(s) that have nothing to do with his Path of Seeming.

When the campaign starts, his Wizard's War adversary still has not returned from Twilight.

[1] If anyone wants to play this apprentice/sibling of mine, I'm happy to adjust details and work on specifics together, up to and including scrapping giant chunks of the history I have written.

[2] For those who don't know, I think of Criamon's like the Hermetic equivalent of the Mormons. Not the stereotype that most people have of them, but based on actual Mormons.

Edit: In many of the recent games, we've been allocating BPs to magi to represent the wealth they've accumulated personally. Are we going to be doing that in this game?

You get the Cycle concept! Awesome.
I like the investigative aspect. Erik mention a Quaesitor as an idea for himself. That or Mercere. I like how you work the Q's in your backstory and having it take your character in certain directions. Maybe a Criamon Quaesitor? Sent to investigate what happened at Andorra?

Perhaps all roads that lay before him lead to Andorra?

His own initiation suggested he learn more about the place, and then the Quaesitors mentioned they were thinking about mounting an expedition, and those other guys over there, they just happened to find this diary that talks about Andorra and want him to translate it for them...

Also cool :slight_smile:
Andorra is a covenant full of history. Not only player history, but ancient backhistory that has never been fully developed. In the old-old original saga, I had this nameless Criamon NPC. His face was branded, blinding him, and this band-symbol substituted for a name.I introduced him as questing for ancient secrets at the covenant, but the players thought he was too weird and kept turning him away, so I never did anything with that.
A covenant of ancient history provides countless opportunities :slight_smile:

Pythos, Criamon AT GAUNTLET
7th Son of the 7th Son of Apollo
Casting Sigil -- color bleeds like watercolor
Voting Sigil -- coin with the bay laurel crown

Virtues
The Gift, Magus, Enigmatic Wisdom(free)
MMF - Scrying (Major, Hermetic)
Premonitions (Minor, Supernatural)
Privileged Upbringing (Minor, General)
Affinity with Intellego (minor hermetic)
Pussiant Intellego (Minor Hermetic)
Pussiant Penetration (minor Gen)
Inventive Genius (minor Hermetic)
Book Learner (minor General)

Flaws
Obese - minor Gen
Greater Maledict - (MGen) Virgin Father - will have 7 sons, whether he beds a woman or not
Covenant Upbringing (minor Per)
Obsessed with Scrying (minor Personality)
Visions (minor, Story, Supernatural)
Blatant Gift - Major Hermetic

Characteristics: Self-Centered +3, Serious -2, Brave +3
Int +2
Per +2 Age: 20 Real: (born: )
Pre -3
Com +3 Size: 0
Str -1
Sta +1 Confidence: 1 /3
Dex +1
Qik 0 Warping:

Characteristics: Self-Centered +3, Serious -2 , Hungry +1
Int +2
Per +2 Age: 20 Real: (born: )
Pre -3
Com +3 Size: 0
Str -1
Sta +1 Confidence: 1 /3
Dex +1
Qik 0 Warping:

Abilities
N:Greek (songs) 5
Latin (Hermetic) 4

Awareness (sight) 1
Athletics (running) 2
Artes Liberales (ritual) 2
Craft: With Ink (PeneAids) 1
Guile (poker face) 2
Prof:Scribe (lab texts) 2
Stealth (nocturnal) 2

Code of Hermes (scrying) 1
Enig Wisdom (Twilight) 2
Magic Theory (spells) 3
Parma Magica (Mentem) 1
Penetration (Intellego) 2+2
Premonitions (Apollo’s scions) 2

Arts
Creo 4
Intellego* 11+3
Muto
Perdo
Rego 5

Animal 5
Aquam 5
Auram
Corpus
Herbam
Ignem
Imaginem 4
Mentem
Terram 5
Vim 1

Spells * = Counts as Scrying
*Hunter’s Sense InAn 30, CT25 Per, Sun, Hearing
*Enchantment of the Scrying Pool InAq(Im) 30, CT 25 Touch, Year, Ind, Ritual
Air’s Ghostly Form CrAu 5, CT 5 Touch, Diam, Ind
*Summoning the Distant Image InIm 25, CT 23 Arc, Conc, Room
*Sense the Feet that Tread the Earth InTe 30, CT 25 Touch, Conc, Part

Check the newly posted HR's for CharGen. These are now set in solid form (though I am always willing to have discussion).
Other stuff is forthcoming latter this week. I screwed something up and deleted a document by accident, but I have backup at home.

just another check to see where everyone is at. I am just about good to go.
I was hoping to maybe start a prelude story with a few characters this week.

I just need to figure out a couple items from mustering out and put up some of the wolf stats from the Book of Mundane Beasts. But I'm essentially done.

Well, I also just discovered that you changed a few things with regard to Mystery initiations. Should I go back and redo these? Also, on a related note, I think expecting to hit a score of 13 in a Mystery Cult Lore is probably a bit much. I would suggest revising the requirement to 1 + 1/(minor virtue initiation) + 2/(major virtue initiation).

i do not expect you to have a cult lore of 13, but i also do not expect you to start out with seven initiations. maybe three. Though if you look closely, you can sqeeze 3 minor virtues into a single formula. These may or may not have been spaced throughout the cycle. It is an abstract, not worried about minutae.
I also cannot see how you sqeezed seven cycles out of development unless you took all short cycles of 4 or 5 years. I did 4/8/5/5, so I don't mind short cycles. Just try to vary up the legnth.
But it is a bit late at this point for extensive remodeling. I am sure it mostly fits. We are not competing with each other. We are competing with ourselves to make good stories and play out interesting characters.

Oh, Guillaume is not close to his 7th. I was just noticing that it was much easier to advance in a cult with four Major Mystery Virtues than one with eight Minor Mystery Virtues, for example, at least if they are spread out. But Gullaume only just did his third in five cycles. If close enough is OK, then I just need to do a little editing and tinkering and I'll be done.

I think both of mine are good to go.

Excellent :smiley:

If your character is ready and complete, post the final up to date version in a new clean thread. Incluude history, but not all the micro details. Save those for your individual development threads. This new Character thread will be a sticky, so as to float towards the top of this forum. The development thread will remain as a discussion area and seasonal worksheet for that character.
Once you are ready, I'll start you up with a prelude story for as to what you were doing the previous season (Fall 1229), and how you came to Andorra.

Perigrine has posted the finalized Vibria and I made it a sticky.
Yay!
I shoulda done that with Carmen at the library earlier, but I got wrapped up in other bs.
But awesomness!
Later tonight I will gen up a prelude story so we can get going :smiley: