'Captain' Caspianus fillius Cattiline ex Verditus– Year 1
Characteristics: Int +3, Per 0, Pre +2, Com 0, Str 0, Sta +1, Dex 0, Qik -2.
Age: 24
Afflictions: None
Size: 0
Confidence: 2(5)
Virtues and Flaws: *The Gift, *Magus, *Verditius Magic, Gentle Gift +3, Ways of the Sea +3, Self Confident +1, Inspiring +1, Well Travelled +1, Puissant Philosophae +1.
*Casting Tools, Weak Enchanter -1, Feud -3, Weak Spontaneous Magic-3, Missing Eye -1, Carefree -1.
Personality Traits: Carefree +2, Audacious +3, Cosmopolitan +2.
Reputations: none
Voting Sigil: A ship in a green bottle.
Casting Sigil: knots
Soak: 1
Fatigue Levels: Fresh, Winded, Weary, Tired, Dazed, Unconscious.
Body Levels: OK, 1-5 Light, 6-10 Medium, 11-15 Heavy, 16-20 Incapacitated, 21+ Dead.
Abilities: [75 (native language) +50 (childhood) +60 (pre-apprentice) +50 (well traveled)]
[90]
Maltese 5, Greek 2
[75]
Brawl (dodge) 1, Folk Ken (sailors) 2, Athletics (climb) 1, Guile (cargo) 1, Charm (first impressions) 1, Awareness (danger) 1, Stealth (water) 1, Survival (ocean) 2, Swim (diving) 2,
[70]
Levant Lore (ports) 1, Roman Lore (ports) 1, Theban Lore (ports) 1, Shipbuilding (caravel) 1, Woodworking (opening items) 1, Sailor (navigate) 3, Intrigue (naval) 1, Bargain (boats) 1, Etiquette (naval) 1.
[98]
Latin (hermetic writing) 4, Artes Liberale (ceremony) 1, *Philosophae (quality) 3+2, Magic Lore 0, OoH Lore 0, CoH 0, Concentration (spells) 1, Verditus Cult Lore 1.
[37]
Magic Theory (lab) 3, Parma Magica (Me) 1, Finesse 0, Penetration 0.
Arts: [ 105 ]
Cr 3 In 0 Mu 5 Pe 0 Re 8
An 0 Aq 8 Au 3 Co 0 He 3
Ig 0 Im 0 Me 0 Te 0 Vi 0
Spells: 120
Waves of Drowning and Smashing (ReAq30)
Push of the Gentle Wave (ReAq15)
Break the Oncoming Wave (ReAq10)
Ward Against the Faeries of the Water (ReAq20)
Ward Against Rain (ReAu10)
Ward Against Faeries of the Air (ReAu15)
Conjure the Sturdy Vine (CrHe5)
Repel the Wooden Shafts (ReHe10)
Dance of the Staves (ReHe5)
Twilight Points: 0
Twilight Level: 0
Twilight Effects:
Decrepitude: 0
Equipment: Casting tools: knotted spans of rope for each spell, hanging from belt.
Texts:
Caspianus (nee Leone Vetrano) was born in the coastal town of Galgard on the Island of Malta in 1189. His uncle, Margaritus of Brindisi, was a Greek privateer who rose through the ranks of the admiralty to become the first Count of Malta in 1192. As a young pirate Margaritus had won favor from the fairy Sirenes of Scylla and his naval career flourished. Proclaimed “The New Neptune,” Margaritus was to be the last [i]Ammiratus Ammiratorum[/i], commanding the great fleets of Sicily during civil war and succession crisis, and besieging ports on the Levantine coast during the Third Crusade. Following the Norman conquest of Sicily and Malta, Margaritus was put to death in 1197. His nephew witnessed the execution; and when saltwater rather than blood spurted from the prisoner's wounds, the trauma precipitated an early manifestations of young Leone's gift.
While most of his uncles' old guard lost power, a few loyalists retained their ships and retired into the merchant marine. At that time, maritime trade was every bit as bloodthirsty as naval combat. Leone's father, Antonio, was slaughtered along with his crew after a disagreement over fishing rights escalated into a feud with another shipping family. One of Margaritus' former lieutenants suggested to Leone's mother that apprenticing the boy to a shipbuilder from the Isle of Sardinia would be a good way to keep him safe and far from the vendetta.
Unbeknownst to Leone or his family, his gift had been discerned via an enchanted copper compass. Leone found himself apprenticed to no common shipwright, but to the master craftsman and magus, Cattiline of Verditius. Young Leone reveled in the luxury of the Verditius lifestyle and accompanied his parens on jaunts across the Mediterranean. The boy showed particular aptitude for the recondite philosophy of his mystery house, and spent many pleasant summer evening discussing Aristotle and Boethius aboard his parens yacht.
These happy days came to an abrupt end a season before the annual house competition in 1212. The Redcap bookmakers favored Cattiline to win the master's category (offering 6vpIg odds for a 5vpVim bet.) His entry, the result of original research and experimentation, was an oak cast that changed seawater to the finest Bordeaux wine every full moon. A jealous rival, whose identity is still unknown despite quaesitorial investigation, sent a cursed letter-bomb to Cattiline's lab. A chain reaction of magical blasts destroyed the cask, and most of the lab, before a final eldrich blast arced toward Cattiline. Leone leapt in front of the bolt, saving his master, and then cajoled his forgemates to brave the fire and save the precious vis stores in the rear of the lab.
Although greatly admired for his heroism, the repercussions upon Leone's magic were dire. His gift was almost entirely destroyed, the very odor of it vanishing from his soul. He is unable to exert himself and use fatigue to power spontaneous magic, making him capable of only the simplest spontaneous charms. Demi-magic flames blinded him in one eye, and the wound stubbornly resists hermetic restoration. But most severe of all, perhaps worse than death for a Verditius, the cursed bomb shattered his ability to infuse objects with magical energies, halving his lab totals when enchanting.
Leone passed his gauntlet with a simple, almost rustic, [i]Tippler's Bell[/i] that detects poison. Cattiline was greatly disappointed, and more than a little embarrassed, by his pupil's inadequacies. Still, he felt grateful enough for Leone's sacrifice that he approved the boy as a hermetic magus, reaqsoning this discharged any debt owed. Leone took the hermetic name Caspianus, after the landlocked Caspian Sea. He thinks of his gift as an inland ocean, cut off from the great tides of magic by barren land, but still deep and unfathomable. His voting sigil, a model ship trapped in a glass bottle, expresses a similar sentiment.
Many long years of philosophic reading proved a boon to Caspian in accepting his handicap. Surviving, against all odds, emboldened Caspian's faith in his own magical and mundane talents. He cultivates a stoic resolution -that nothing can hurt him unless he allows it to do so- resulting in a devil-may-care acceptance of life's trials and tribulations. Compared to the damage already done to him, most cares and woes seem laughable, and hardly worth worrying about.
Caspian resents Cattilines' well-intended suggestion that he should settle for the life of a lab assistant or spare himself further shame by joining a lesser house such as Ex Misc. He still has the pride, virtuosity, and expensive tastes of a true scion of the mage-smith's lineage. He just needs to find a more creative means of pursuing the hermetic craft. He still possesses two talents unique to the Veriditius. (1) He may fashion any item, regardless of type, and beyond the ken of normal craftsmen, during a season in his lab. (2) He can open items for enchantment at a discount through use of runes and his professional skills.
Although not much to begin with, these two talents offer a chance to make fast silver and vis for future projects. The family business has always been piracy, and once he can get his hands on a boat and recruit a crew, 'Captain' Caspian is ready to try his hand at the trade. After all, he already has the patch. Caspian has his (one) eye on the Houses inner mystery [i]Items of Quality[/i] which bypasses the lab total and plays to his strength in natural philosophy. He wishes to study Verditus cult lore and initiate this ability is soon as possible.