Caput ex Flambeau

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: A New Home
1

I think the math is entirely correct now. The final age 42 version is the final post.

Caput - as the Dread Turk, at the end of his career, to get a sense of what he was before he was apprenticed. At this time his magic expresses almost entirely as the fear/distrust aspects of the Blatant Gift, although his excellent physical attributes and weapon talents probably owe themselves to his later Rego and Corpus talents.

Characteristics at age 20
Int: 1 Per: -3 Prs: 0 Com: 0 The weak per is mostly a personality thing, he gives his full attention only to whatever
Str: 3 Sta: 4 Dex: 3 Qik: 3 has his current attention. The puissant conc and overconfident virtues/flaws also reflect this.

Virtues: 4 extra attributes, 1 great attribute, puissant concentration, puissant single weapon, affinity single weapon, cautious single weapon, warrior, privileged upbringing
Flaws: 3 Outsider/Oath Fealty (depending on Greek/Turk), 3 Overconfident, 3 Blatant Gift, 1 Infamous (The Dread Turk)

Characteristics at age 35 (gauntlet) (official character creation begins here)

Intelligence 1 (Thinks Ahead)
Perception -3 (Self-Absorbed)
Presence -3 (Shifty-Looking)
Communication -3 (Frightening)
Strength 3 (Hard and Lean)
Stamina 4 (Unflappable)
Dexterity 3 (Graceful)
Quickness 3 (Deceptive speed)

Virtues 10x1+house virtue+2 free. 3 pts in hermetic virtues
1 Great Attribute (Stamina) (general)
1 Affinity to Ability (Single Weapon) (general)
1 Cautious with Ability (Single Weapon) (general)
1 Pussiant Ability (Concentration) (general)
1 Pussiant Ability (Single Weapon) (general)
1 Pussiant Ability (Parma Magica) (general) - he incorporates islamic prayer into his parma ritual
1 Pussiant Art (Me) (hermetic)
1 Minor Magic Focus (Fear) (hermetic) - used on the two large ReMe spells, to learn and cast them.
1 Privileged Upbringing (50 points skills) (general)
1 Skilled Parens (extra 60xp hermetic training+150 spell levels) (Hermetic)
1 Warrior (50 points weapon skills) (Flambeu House Virtue)
0 The Gift (Hermetic)
0 Hermetic Magus (Social)

Flaws: 4 minor, 1 Story, 1 Personality, 3 hermetic
3 Black Sheep (Story) (Bad Reputation 2 Renegade Captain among Turkish or Muslim ship captains and nobles)
1 Infamous (General) (Bad Reputation 4 The Dread Turk - pirate among greek commoners, renegade among turk/muslim commoners)
1 Hedge Wizard(Hermetic) (Bad Reputation 3 "That Muslim Sorcerer" among the Order of Hermes)
3 Overconfident (Personality) - frankly he has good reason. He actually is incredibly good at what he does for his age. He thinks he'll eventually get awesome at everything.
1 Disjoint magic (Hermetic) - late training makes his magic a little more rigid than that of a typical magus
1 Susceptible to Divine (Hermetic) - Muslim mages are anathama in the Christian Dominion. His parma reinforces M\uslim dominion, even vs his own magic

Childhood, age 1-5. I'll spend the privileged upbringing points here
He grew up in a house with a lot of visitors and servants, and was taken
to sea almost as soon as he could walk to get some basic skills.
75 Speak Turkish5 (Sailors) (free)
50 Speak Greek4 (Sailors) (privileged upbringing)
15 Area Kn Aegean2 (Sea)
5 Speak Arabic1 (Sailors)
5 Speak Italian1 (Venetian)
in all the "speak 0" cases the handful of words he knows are simple orders you'd give slaves.
1 Speak French 0
1 Speak German 0
1 Speak English 0
1 Speak French 0
1 Speak Gaelic 0
5 Athletics 1 (Climb)
5 Swim 1 (Oceans)
5 Brawl 1 (Kick)
= 45 points of childhood experience

The Dread Turk: Age 6-20 The warrior points are spent here. The British wooden ships navy had kids on military ships at about this age, training to be officers. I'm assuming something vaguely similar, influenced by family pull. He was not popular but he was feared, even very young, for his martial ability and grudgingly respected for his natural agility. He didn't make captain till after 15, and commanded only long service crew that had spent years getting used to him in his youth. This means all of his old cronies are in their late 40s in their 50s by now, if they're still alive.

93 Single Weapon 7(9) (Longsword) (pussiant ability cautious ability with affinity, 139.5, rounded up to 140 = 7 skill)
The "longsword" was probably one of those nice Damascus blades that unfortunately was shattered by Imbria. He doesn't at the moment own any expensive arms or armor, although if the covenant has a decent weapon and maybe a chain hauberk he might requisition them. As a rule, he favors lighter armor, and currently owns leather scale, a heater shield, an iron shortsword, an axe made out of animal bone (femur plus jawbone), a mace-sized sap (wood stick, leather wrapping, lead filling) and a purely wood spear with fire hardened point. The strange weapons are for use on people with good magic resistance and rego-oriented defenses. The sap lets him do nonlethal damage. Most of these normally stay on the ship/carried by grogs, as they are heavy and he doesn't like to be encumbered.
1 Bow 0 (he proved inept at archery)
1 Thrown weapon 0 (likewise, his amazing skill with melee weapons didn't translate)

75 Leadership 5(Sailors)
75 Concentration5(7)(while dodging) (pussiant ability, he can make a difficulty 12 concentration check with full melee defense skill unless he botches)
Aside from the obvious uses while directing a ship in combat, he uses this skill to show off when young spuds try to make a name by testing him. There is nothing like effortlessly holding off an attack while sipping your drink or reading a book to demoralize your competition.

30 Profession Sailor3(Pirate) (this was probably higher when he was 20, but he's been out of the game for over half his life aside from occasional jaunts)
He lacks the usual seaboard crafting skills because nobody wanted to each him (all of the above activities except sailor were self-taught).He lacks the usual pirate social skills because he always used an agent to bargain/make deals, unless intimidation was the strategy.

275 vs 225 (15 yearsx15xp) +50 (warrior)

Hermetic training. The Strong Master points are spent here. His arts are highly specialized due to late training, most of his unformed magic had "set". He was properly opened though, and nothing is stopping him from developing all the other arts except time.

150 Arts: Re9 (45xp), Co10(55xp), Me9(12)(45xp), Cr1, Mu1, Aq1, Au1, Im1 (1xp eachx5=5), all other arts at 0
20 Mastered Spells1x4 (4 spells Fast Cast, specialized in botch dice)
20 Mastered Spell 1x4 (4 spell multicast, specialized in multicasting - 2 copies)
30 Speak Latin 3(Read)
5 Arts Liberal 1(Literacy - Greek and Latin)
5 Civil Law 1 (Seafaring)
5 Code of Hermes 1 (Mundane Relations)
5 Hermes Lore 1 (Flambeau)
50 Magic Theory 4(Items)
5 Finesse 1 (Speed)
5 Parma Magica 1(3) (Protecting Others)
300 points (149 arts+40 mastered+30 latin+50 magic theory+6x5=30 others=300)

Spells in bold are mastered for fastcasting. Spells in italics are mastered for multicasting.

Lab totals are added for reference

rean5 Disguise of the Putrid Aroma (sight,dia,ind) Identical to base spell except for duration. Used suppress reactions animals that might be bothered by his Gift by making them not notice him before he gets close.
lab: 17=9re+0An+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 14=9re+0an+4sta+1mastered

muaq(au)10 Lungs of the Fish As per the normal spell, but target is personal and duration is diameter.
lab: 10=1mu+1aq/1au+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 6=1mu+1aq/au+4sta

reaq10 In the hand of Neptune 4 (forceful but calm), +1 (touch), +1 (concentrate) - create a wave in water touching the caster that pushes the caster swiftly for the duration of the spell. Underwater, this manifests as a current or upswelling/undertow instead of a wave. Concentration on this spell replaces a swim check for movement, but does not otherwise protect the caster from the hazards of being underwater. If going against a tide, upstream or similar prevailing conditions, maximum speed is reduced by the strength of the conditions. The motion must be mostly horizontal (no more than 30 degrees or so "up" or "down", as whirlpools to suck you down or water spouts to push you up would fall under more unnatural movement than this spell is designed to generate, and motion must be in a straight line, defined at the time the spell is cast. (to change direction, drop concentration and recast the spell)
lab: 18=9re+1aq+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 15=9re+1aq+4sta+1mastered

Note - none of the Auram spells help at all with controlling a boat. They only change the direction and/or amount of wind available. If used without skilled sailors, you could heel a boat over or run it into something. Furthermore the winds are tied to where the caster is, which can have an impact on

crau10 Fill the Sails (base 2 effect touch,day,+1 to "stick" the wind to something other than me) This is a "wind at the back" spell designed for use on a boat. It must be cast with caster touching the boat, but has the advantage that the spell follows the boat, instead of the caster. The wind does not change cardinal direction even if the boat does change direction and persists until sunup or sundown.
lab: 10=1cr+1au+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 6=1cr+1au+4sta

peau5 Ease the Wind (mitigate wind effect one step=4, +1touch, momentary). This brings down the magnitude of one wind touching the caster by one step. If multiple winds are blowing on the caster, he must choose the direction affected. Using Quiet the Raging Winds as precedent, the wind will stay reduced for an hour if weather conditions don't otherwise change, however a boat will fairly quickly exit the "individual" area affected if winds still fill its sails and multiple castings would be needed to ride out unfavorable winds, as the ship entered areas not affected by the first casting. The more normal use of this spell is to make a calm space (cut normal wind to breeze, and reef the sails, or cast twice to still the air).
lab: 9=0pe+1au+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 7=0pe+1au+4sta+1mastered

reau15 Control the Weather Gauge(control normal weather=3, +1touch, +2 day +1 attach wind to something other than caster). Change the direction of a wind touching the caster and the ship. Whether natural or magically created, the wind direction around the ship will stay changed until sundown or sunup, although the wind might increase or decrease naturally based on local weather conditions.
lab: 15=9re+1au+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 14=9re+1au+4sta

reim5 Wizard's Sidestep as the spell but diameter duration. Caput doesn't like to advertise that he's a mage in some fights, so he'd fastcast this will moving/running/dodging and he doesn't want the displacement to remain after the conflict is over. Plus, frankly, he usually doesn't respect most opponents enough to bother with this spell. He'll typically only use it if outnumbered or facing an impressive physical opponent.
lab: 18=9re+1im+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 16=9re+1im+4sta+1mastered

reco20 Mercury's Gift (fast movement in any direction supported by the surface=15, personal, concentrate).
lab: 27=9re+10co+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 24=9re+10co+4sta+1mastered

Judging from the distance of "gift of the frog's legs" (this spell in 1 direction, unsupported allowed with momentary duration, essentially) I think "move fast" is about 5x the basic movement rate. For a human, that probably tops out at 150 paces on level ground where he uses the whole action to sprint (not, say, move and attack). If he slows down, rougher terrain can be handled without rolling dice, and routine climbing or swimming actions are also much faster than normal, although he's still not going to beat a dolphin for swim speed. Any jumping he does is probably pretty "gift of frog legs" unsafe, risking a medium wound on a botch of dex+encumbrance zero roll because the rego only controls his motion while supported. Also unlike gift of frogs legs, running jumps work better for distance than standing jumps and vertical jumps are probably only about 3-4 paces high. The spell doesn't help at all in mitigating a fall, but swinging from a rope is probably faster. Slamming into something invisible at top speed would likely cause about +15 impact damage if it was a hard wall, maybe +10 if it was something like a person or wood door and +5 for thick shrubbery. Visible walls you can turn to avoid, just as easily as you could in a normal running/walking situation.

[b]CrMe10 Panic of the Trembling Heart /b Aside from the duration, identical to the book spell. Caput has this spell for operations deep in the Dominion. He doesn't normally use it as a combat spell, it is more intended to be cast or fastcast as a precursor to Aura of Frightful Authority against naturally brave targets. It is also handy for instilling a fear of someone or something other than himself. He is not above using it on a magic resistant enemy who shook off his Gaze and was foolish enough to make eye contact with him in combat.
lab: 20=0cr+12me+0minor focus+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 17=0cr+12me+0mn fcs+4sta+1 mastery

reme25 Aura of Frightful Authority (5 base, sight+3, dia+1) Aside from range and duration is same spell effect as Aura of Rightful Authority, except that anyone who fears him will obey, rather than anyone inclined to obey an authority figure will obey. This spell is mastered both for fast casting and multicasting. While the spell has sight range, they obviously can't obey my orders if they can't hear or otherwise receive communications from me.

lab: 38=9re+12me+9minor focus+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 35=9re+12me+9mn fcs+4sta+1 mastery

reme35 Gaze of Infernal Terrors (based on Vision of Infernal Terrors, but duration is dia instead of sun, target is group, using the "arc of fiery ribbons" 60 degree cone out to range end for the group shape). This spell is the same except that it wears off a lot faster, and the long term effects are less. Scared to Death can probably still happen, as it only happens to fearful, low constitution types who probably have heart attacks but maybe should only happen on people with negative stamina (fearful positive stamina people (or those that botch) might just faint and keep fainting if someone revives them for about a day) The -1 stamina effect wears off after a moon, instead of being permanent as the nightmares stop and your sleep gets back to normal. This spell is why Caput really isn't in any danger from any number of mundane warriors. His penetration is low enough though that minimal magic resistance will stop it. It is designed to clear away people unworthy of his blade. It's also the spell he uses in flambeau speed-casting contests, as it is the only ranged spell he has that directly affects enemies. Note that the size of the effect is limited by how loudly I cast, down to needing to be touching the target for silent casting. This spell will warp targets.
lab: 38=9re+12me+9minor focus+1int+4magic theory+3aura casting level: 35=9re+12me+9mn fcs+4sta+1mastered

2

My vis will average out to 5/year, but will arrive unevenly as adventures provide them. The covenant he is currently at gives him the boring scutwork like getting supplies, frightening off bandits and other easy things in his extra days/season, doesn't give him any vis, but promises him copies of their "gift of reason" lab texts for 7 years of service and acess to a basic lab, the beginner-level books and the better cr/co books for his longevity ritual research in exchange for 7 years of service. Caput will want to leave this place as soon as he's gotten what he wanted out of them. Besides, his Italian is terrible. The covenfolk don't even speak good Venetian Italian.

Year 1, age 35, Gauntlet (a Black Sheep adventure)

Caput and his parens Imbria met when she went out hunting a rumored Turkish mage. Imbria is an Aquam-oriented Flambeau, a natural to go out on the waves ahead of her more fire-oriented housemates. As luck would have it, she caught him coming into port to fence goods. Intellego Vim not being her strong point, she could not determine if he was an active mage or if everyone was just scared of him because of his reputation. So she took a more direct approach, waiting until he only had a few men about him and sent in her grogs to beat him up, to see how he'd defend himself. A little imagonem magic made them hard to spot until they attacked, so they had the benefit of surprise.

Very quickly, the battle went sour for Imbria's grogs, even after she shattered their weapons and rotted the armor of the Dread Turk's men. The opposing side fought with unity and purpose, working together to disarm her grogs and use their weapons. Tiring of the game and not wanting to destroy her own turb's expensive equipment, Imbria killed or crippled his men with a curse of the desert variant then paralyzed him with a corpus spell. Once subdued, she was able to do a more extensive examination and determine that he did in fact have the gift, but that he was completely untrained.

15 years later...

As Caput is a bit older than the usual new-minted mage, Imbria felt it was reasonable that he should face a somewhat tougher than usual challenge. In the spirit of how they met, she sent him into the Dominion, in search of a new apprentice for her. (Capet has many talents, but he is a rather poor lab assistant except for things like studying raw vis. Imbria was getting close to her long-sought goal of binding a Kraken as a familiar and needed somebody brighter than him to assist her). Capet was not allowed to use magic to alter his appearance, but was otherwise allowed to use any means he could think of to investigate and secure an apprentice.

As Capet can not ride a horse, and was rather worried about having to beat off peasants with pitchforks after he left an area, he stuck to coastal areas, using a small sailboat for mobility. Capet chose to raid the Anatolian coastline south and east of Constantinople, in the Muslim-held lands. He would swoop into a town at night, terrorize the locals into telling him about strange, bright children, then sail away. Eventually the tactics paid off, and he only had to use his Gaze once, when a local satrap had anticipated his movements and organized a trap for him. In the end, Caput returned with a kidnapped Turkish child, leaving chaos in his wake. This approach was reasonably satisfactory for his Flambeau observers, always up for a crusade-like disruption of the eastern lands, although just about every school of observer had some criticisms of his technique (Too brute force, not enough destruction, how come you never used your supposedly good physical skills? etc). Mostly just people looking for something to grumble about. Not enough for anyone to blackball him, in spite of his ancestry and history.

Pleased, his Parens gave him enough vis for his upcoming longevity potion as a bonus, and for not making her look bad for taking the risk of having him as an apprentice. She proceeds to start training her new child in Aquam and Magic Theory.

5 xp into Creo (raise from 0 to 2+2, from all the winds he put into the sails of his little ship)
1 point of Flambeau Acclaim Reputation (value 0, positive - typical for a successful gauntlet)
A chain hauberk, purchased from the proceeds of loot taken from the officers of the force engaged to stop him.

Caput studies the creo book (cr=5+1), and that gives him enough skill for just enough of a longevity ritual+lifestyle to avoid afflictions right now (lab total = 5cr+10co+4mt+3+1int=23). He can't quite get to skill 25 before risking an aging roll, but if he could get his skill there, he could just spend only one boring season in the lab, so he decides to just keep studying and risk the aging roll at level 35. (I was going to play it safe, but thought about his Overconfidence flaw)

Creo=8 (starts at 1, 5 adventure, 10x3 study)

Rolled a net 6 on the 1d10+4 aging roll. (forgot to subtract 1 for covenant lifestyle, but it worked out ok)
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2907135/

vis total=5co officially (he really has 8 from his parens)

3

Age 36 Year 2 - Come quietly if you want to live (A Black Sheep adventure)

Capet's activities off the coast of Anatolia did not go without consequence. The Satrap whose men he humiliated hired agents to locate the kidnapper and enslave him if they could, kill him if they could not.

Capet knew nothing of this, as he was continuing to work on his longevity ritual. After the summer, his creo skills equaled his corpus skills and he was thinking about whether to risk another affliction to get his lab total up to 30, or maybe experiment.

creo10.1 (base 36xp+10+10=56xp)

Capet wasn't doing anything special to keep his identity a secret, and he is rather distinctive. In the fall, just before the winter storms, they identified him as he was on a routine job to bring supplies into the covenant (he was junior mage, he got the scutwork). Capet was only accompanied by a shield grog and some unarmed covenfolk managing the mules. As his hunters had a dozen or so skilled warriors, they saw no reason not to attack.

Defeating them was not especially challenging, but their first hail of arrows injured several covenfolk. Capet used spontaneous versions of first the bind wounds spell (he's not exactly a doctor) and eventually the "bonus to recovery" spells to ensure that his covenfolk survived. He was not kind to the attackers. After figuring out who and what they were, Capet stripped them of their weapons, armor and valuables in reprisal for the injuries they caused, but let them go home in their boat, with a message to their masters. "The Dread Turk takes what he wills, as he wills. If you try to come after me or my associates again, your wives will soon give the mourning wail and you children will be left to beg on the streets". He gave the wealth to the injured covenfolk, in recognition of their service and to help support them while they recovered.

5xp to medicine (skill raised from none to 1, specialized in recovering from wounds)
a Damascus Steel Longsword, taken from the leader (fine workmanship, +1 attack)

All this messed up his research plans, so he decides to experiment with his longevity potion.
Base lab total = 10+10+3+1+4=28. He'll go with risk factor=1, hoping for a minimum total =30

Caput gets a 4 on the simple die+risk factor invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2907148/
He then gets a 6 on the stress die+risk factor for experimentation invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2907149/

That translates into a level 30 lp with no extraordinary effects. Exposure xp split betweeen Co and Vi. That should keep him from afflictions until 50 or so. Good enough.

Summary of year:
Medicine 1(Recovery from wounds) (0xp base, 5xp story)
Creo 10+1 (base 8, 20xp study)
Co 10+1 (base 10, 1xp exposure)
Vi 1 (base 0, 1xp exposure)

lose 1 Flambeau acclaim point for not doing anything they care about this year.
8co vis spent, net 2 vis available.

4

Age 37 Year 3 Getting the Crew Back Together (a Black Sheep adventure)

After a winter to think about what happened, Caput realized that word of his re-emergence would now be all over the Aegean sea. It was time to look up old comrades, re-establish connections and give his old allies and enemies a taste of what they'd be dealing with to cross him in the future.

Telling his covenant-mates that he was going to see about preventing future Muslim attacks on the covenfolk, he set out in his little sailboat to blow the rust off his old professional skills.

Caput spent a season finding out who was working where, showing the new kids that the Dread Turk was even more skilled than the old stories said and showing the old hands that he had not lost a step, even if they had. Caput wasn't interested in muscling in on their operations, he just wanted to be kept informed what was going on, and especially if there were rumors of witchcraft, sea monsters or similar threats that could actually challenge him. His story was that he'd gotten bored with the job back in the day and had been off looking for new tests of strength ever since.

Aside from the practice in sailing, the best challenge anybody came up with was a Sicilian sailor who was supposed to be an especially skilled ship handler. Caput won a race with the man giving himself a fair wind and steering foul winds at his opponent, which helped re-establish his own reputation with the newbies but didn't exactly give him anything to brag to his Flambeau brothers about.

5 xp to Auram for practice with winds, now at 3. Flambeau acclaim drops 1 (now a slightly negative rep, but still at 0 score)
A small but fast ship (won from the Sicilian), ideal for smuggling or similar activities. Needs a small crew, so he sets up one of his former companions as captain, and takes only a token cut of their proceeds until he's ready to assume command himself. (they get to make money, he gets ready-trained grogs when he's ready to leave the covenant)

Caput is now short on time to prepare for his Flambeau tribunal next year. He tries to guess which arts are most likely to come up in Certamin. He has 7 arts with no experience at all, and only 6 seasons. He decides to devote a season to each, starting with the techniques and Ig.

Year Summary
Au3 (base 1, 5xp from adventures=6xp)
Pe4 (base 0, 10xp from study)
In4 (base 0, 10xp from study)
ig4 (base 0, 10xp from study)

no vis spent, balance=+7

5

Age 38 Year 4, the Flambeau tournament (an Overconfidence story)

Caput grimly continued working his way through the library, hoping to minimize his weaknesses. With only one weak Technique, and not a popular one for Flambeau, he decided to close up some holes in his arts. Upon reflection, his weak Aq, Im and Vi scores were better than nothing at all, so his study went into An, Te and He

he=4, te=4, an=4

Caput did adequately at the certamin. Somebody did find his weakness in aquam, but he survived that because the other guy was equally inept at Intelligo. He got into fatigue trouble and only got two victories, both against people about his own hermetic age before being eliminated. He barely qualified for the Dimicatio competition, and was eliminated in the first round by a magus who cast his normal spell faster than he could fastcast a defense. In the Melee though, he did well, crushing three teams that were not especially organized for this kind of work mostly through is own personal ability and the five grogs he had trained with since his gauntlet just for this challenge. It got harder, as the opposition got skilled Eventually though, he encountered a team run by an older version of himself - another magus of his school. His fear spells bounced off the parma protecting the entire other team, his magus met him toe-to-toe and with similar skill, and his fast-casting skills were not up to the challenge of getting in the first touch spell.

His parens Imbria was in attendence, showing off her new Kraken familiar. Her flying, invisible, air-breathing Kraken familiar. Caput expressed proper admiration. Her new apprentice seemed to be working out well. Caput mentioned to Imbria that he was getting stale with all the studying and asked for help on hearing about anything challenging that comes up in the next few years. She promised to send a redcap if she heard anything in time for him to get the word.

Certamin was slightly positive flambeau acclaim, +1 (+1 entering, no wins vs older, no losses vs younger)
Dimicato was terrible for flambeau acclaim -2 (+1 entering, -3 for poor showing, eliminated first round)
Melee was good for flambeau acclaim, +1 entering +4 for other older opponents, +2 for getting to the finals

6 net points Flambeau Acclaim Reputation bringing his acclaim score to 5 and reputation to 1
Penetration1(Certamin)
Animal4 (0 base+10 study)
Herbam4 (0 base+10 study)
Terram4 (0 base+10 study)
Capet was too overconfident to spend vis on the tournaments. He probably should have, although in character he really doesn't have any yet anyway.
vis balance to 12

6

Age 39 year 5 "Harvesting the dead" (an Overconfidence adventure)

Caput decided to spend a couple seasons improving his Creo and Corpus skills, wanting to get the use of the good Summa before he left the covenant. Then a redcap came with word of a wizard's march - if he could get there in time.

Caput did probably the longest run of his life, to meet up with the group in time to help. He greatly regretted neglecting Imagonem, as humans running faster than horses tends to attract notice. He could not quite manage invisibility, but with some effort he could make his footsteps silent, and stop himself from kicking up tracks with Terram and could make some fog to blur what was happening. He mostly ran at night.

As a young magus, his parma was thought to be not likely to be up to the job of directly confronting an elder magus who had sent the original hoplite fleeing, so he was assigned with the grogs, to lead them and protect them as best he could from lesser threats. This proved important, as the necromancer had not been idle, and had a small army of undead grogs/villagers/covenfolk waiting. Caput held the line, routing the weakest spirits with his fear gaze and keeping his allies together and active against the corporeal threats with his old Dread Turk combat skills. This allowed the more normal magi at the center of his square to blast away at the major supernatural threats, and hold the attention of the necromancer until the invisible perdo team undermined the covenant and caused it to collapse inward, onto the necromancer.

Caput earned a share of the vis from the undead, and then ran home, again giving his feeble Imagonem skills a workout.

5xp to Imagonem, raising the skill to 3
5 points Flambeau acclaim (+1participate in wizard march, +4 various supernatural creatures he was responsible for stopping, including a 15-20 might undead turb captain), total+5 for 10reputation points total

He spent the final season working on his parma magica (skill2, specialized in protecting others)

Year summary:

creo11 (10+1 base, 10 study points)
corpus 11 (10+1 base, 10 study points)
Imagonem 3 (1 base, 5 story points)
Parma Magica2(4) (Protecting others) (5xp base+10 study=15xp)

Vis balance to 17. Caput took his share in mentem vis, harvested from the ghosts present. Assume all unspecified vis from future years actually comes from the hoard piled up during this adventure.

7

Age 40, year 6 "Touch of Midas" (an Overconfidence adventure)

Caput was asked by a Jerbiton mage in his covenant if he wanted to go to Rome and see a cardinal get his mitre at Easter. Naturally a Turk can't be walking around the streets of Rome at such at time, so he spent most of the season disguised using MuCo. It was good practice for his nelected Muto skill, and he'd never seen a big Christian ceremony. He never understood how they thought Jesus came back from the dead, so his curiosity got the better of him.

Thus it was that he found himself in a dominion aura of 8, unarmed and in no armor aside from festival finery when an assassination conspiracy involving several noble families of Italy and some church rivals went awry. Heedless of safety, Caput could not help but get involved, using a candlestick for a weapon until he could disable and disarm one of the conspirators. This rather visible role proved rather awkward at the end, as Caput was disguised and under an assumed name. His Jerbiton partner smoothed things over and got him out of there. Discussing the situation after the fact, the two of them decided to investigate to see if the conspiracy had any supernatural prodding, as it was pretty clearly too insane a plan to just happen without help.

(the above is based on a real conspiracy that really did happen, although not at this time - truth can be stranger than fiction, and people really can be that dumb. I'm hazy on the details but when I read about it, it sounded like the kind of crazy plan RPG players come up with, not real people)

They managed to get access to the conspirators before they were tortured, tried and executed, and using their combined magical talents started following the trail, which eventually lead to a grumpy gnome in the mountains near Milan, whose gold had been stolen to make the cardinal's Mitre. I'd like to say their solution was diplomatic, but there was no Merinita present and the opportunity to both prevent a future disruption of the Mundane world and lay hands on some Terram vis was a bit too much to resist. Lets just say that what happens in the Gnome's tunnels stays in the Gnome's tunnels.

6 xp to Muto (now=3)
Flambeau Acclaim reputation +5 (supernatural creature about 25might, killed with his nonmagical sword) rep total = 15, rep score =2
Hedge Mage Negative reputation +5 (his companion is a talkative sort with many friends and so this story got out among the order. Most can find something to be critical about here, which they attribute to his foreign and outlandish ways. (helping a mundane priest, interfering with the mundanes, molesting faeries, drawing attention to himself, etc etc etc)
A fine gnome-work buckler (fine quality, defensive bonus+1 over a normal buckler)

He bonded a bit with the Jerbiton, an Italian magus known as Adfectus, and when asked why he had not turned his fine sword into a talisman yet. He confessed that he lacked the magical theory required to control over a dozen pawns of vis in the laboratory. Adfectus had admired the Aura of Frightful Authority spell and offered a trade - a season of instruction on that spell and any of his other small utility spells that he could squeeze into the season, in exchange for Adfectus opening the sword, providing Capet supplied the vis. Adfectus, a master of emotion magic, figured the spell would be useful in cases where somebody obstreperous was not inclined to accept the more usual Aura of Rightful Authority spell, at least after a little touch of creo-mentem to incite the fear.

Caput thought this a fine deal, and did his best, although teaching was new to him. He taught Adfectus his spell to make animals ignore him and to ease the wind, in addition to his signature spell. (2 exposure xp to teaching)

While waiting for his sword to be opened, Caput gave some thought to his shield. He would like to be able to take it into the next Cathedral Assassination plot he encountered, but even an extremely fine buckler is not exactly social outerwear in most cultures. He resolved to enchant the item, so it could become jewelry. A magic item would work even in the strongest dominion aura. It would have to be fairly large jewelry, but an ornate bracelet that covered most of his forearm seemed about the same size, and it was already decorated and made of fine materials, so it should be convincing.

change earth to earth =2, from unnatural shape to another unnatural shape+1, +2 change metal or gemstone, range personal, target individual = base 5 for a momentary effect. A concentration duration would be best - he can focus for a long period but if something bad happens, all he has to do is break concentration and the shield pops up. So his target then is 10. The shield is mostly bronze, so it has a shape bonuse of te+3 (houses of hermes mystery cults p137) That only gets him to a lab total of 19 (3 form+3 aura+1 int+3 muto+4 te+5 magic theory). Undaunted, he resolves to experiment with risk factor 3, to get the most uses he can out of it.

Caput gets a 12 on his experimental dice, a fantastic result
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2908477/
but then rolls a zero on the experimental effect
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he was using 2 pawns of te vis, so he's up to 3 botch dice:
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he rolls a 7, 3, 8 and does not botch,
but the result is still "no benefit" and 19 lab isn't enough so he has to abandon the project
2 exposure xp to magic theory

in the winter, he attunes his sword as a talisman
2 exposure xp to magic theory

Year summary:

Mu3 (1xp+5 story experience)
Teaching 1+1 (2 exposure experience)
Magic Theory 4+4 (+2 exposure failed experiment, 2 exposure attuning talisman.)
Used 17 vis (15 vim, 2 te)
Flambeau Acclaim to 2
Bad Jerbiton Rep Foolhardy 1

Vis balance for this year is 4te and 1 unspecified

8

Year 41 "Graduation" (stories not required by flaws, but came out of too much experimentation. Indirectly an overconfidence story)

Caput returns to the lab, and with the same lab total (19) tries again to experiment with +3 risk. (somebody else might work on his arts a little more. Not Caput....)

This time he gets a result of 6 on the bonus die
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fails again with a zero
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botch dice and failure dice to see if I break the shield
7 6 9 1. Nope. Shield is stil there, but the project fails again

2 exposure xp to magic theory

Third time is the charm! He tries again in the summer, using the vis he was going to use for his sword.
gets a 2+3=5 on the bonus die for a final lab total of 24
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rolls a 7+3=10, discovery!
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discovery roll = 9+3=12, which means i get to roll twice more
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that gets an 8 and a 6, 15 xp to magic theory and 3xp to Terram
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2908501/
assign 2 more xp to magic theory (I'm now at magic theory 4 +23)

The shield will have 3 uses/day, duration concentration, to turn it into jewelry. Caput can probably manage to smuggle the thing into various situations they way he wants to but he'll want to time the uses carefully, perhaps conserving the charges for high dominion areas and using spontaneous magic to accomplish something similar in more forgiving locations. The buckler being the same size and materials as the bracelet, some MUIM at level 5 magic might fuzz things enough in normal circumstances.

This was not exactly how I planned to spend those two seasons, but at least I got something for all those failed experiments. For the next season, we assume Caput spent some more vis from his Undead hoard to get enough Terram vis for the enchantment.

Next up is to figure out what to do with the talisman sword. He would like a spell to teleport it to his hand if he said (or shouted) a command . To do that the sword needs to be able to teleport 50 paces (level 5 effect, MOH page 92). As the talisman is the same as himself, the range is personal (moving it is same magnitude as moving himself), but it is a metal object, so that kicks it up to a level 15 effect. The sword has to hear the command word, whispered if it's carried on his person, shouted if it is the full range away. None of the shape bonuses for sword or iron will help for this.

This would allow him to let the weapon into custody of someone else, or conceal it in baggage or a variety of options and still have access to it quickly, as long as it didn't get too far away.

Lab total is 9re+4te+5magic theory+3aura+1int+5talisman=27. He doesn't figure he'll need this feature very often, so he's once again going to try to experiment with risk 3, to get his total up to 30+
Rolling both dice, first as result and second as effect, he gets 8 and 8. Lab total 38
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2908760/
The sword can teleport to his hand 12 times/day, and thinking about future Flambeau competitions and fastcast magic defenses, he chooses to open up the "+3 block a single attack" shape bonus for his talisman.

That result also gives a special/story event, usually one that involves the entire covenant.

At the peak of his enchantment, as he did the final syllables, every weapon, tool, knife or other similar hand held object that he had ever touched within the covenant's boundaries got teleported to him. As he did this at midnight, only the grogs on duty noticed immediately, but they were quite upset (he had practiced with some of their weapons). Using his Aura of Frightful Authority and leadership skills, he enlisted the on-duty grogs to try to return as many of the items as possible. Unfortunately a few of the items were specialized lab tools borrowed from other magi, and returning those was too tricky, so he didn't quite manage to cover the whole thing up. An investigation of his earlier lab notes exposed how close he came in earlier experiments to blowing up his lab (and possibly the covenant), and after losing a certamin match, he had to agree to spend the remainder of his time at the covenant in service to the covenant, not in the lab or the library

+2 magic theory (=5, specialized in spells), +2 terram (=5), 1 point in guile. (he sucked at it, but he learned a little)
losing certamin -1 Flambeau acclaim

In his final season, Caput mostly stood around while other people in his group bought supplies, traded vis,
yakked with faeries and went to church. He endured the well meaning attempts of people to include him in social activities, and much to his surprise, he actually got a little better at that. Caput was able to provide both parma and physical protection, but none of those activities were anywhere near as challenging as "joining the grogs for a drink and some fun" in a tavern. The one saving grace is that near the end of the winter a wizard march was called nearby and he got to join for a few days, but he wasn't in the right place to get in on the kill. Also as a parting gift, his commoner grogs and his noble companions gave him advice on purchasing a wardrobe, so he has a mix of both practical and "dress" clothes, in addition to his armor and stained robes that he uses in the lab. Caput actually had trouble controlling tears when they did this for him. He left the covenant with much warmer feelings toward his last season's companions than his fellow magi.

experience - 1 folk ken, 1 charm, 1 etiquette, 1 bargain, 1 carouse
story benefit - a varied and useful wardrobe, including formal outfits in both Greek and Italian style.
Flambeau acclaim +1 for participating in a wizard march. Net +0 for this year.

Year summary:

Enchanted the Gnome Buckler to turn into an ornate, large bracer-style bracelet 3 times/day, duration concentration
Enchanted the Talisman Sword to teleport to my hand 12 times a day if it can hear me give the command word.
Magic Theory 5(Spells) (base 4+4, +4xp exposure+15discovery+2story=4+25=5)
Terram5 (3 discovery, 2 story)
6 social skills at 0 (1 story tied to experiment, 5 story tied to his last season)
used 6 te vis, end with 4 undesignated vis that will be assigned as Mentem vis.

Covenant build points:
7 Lab Text CrMe35 Gift of Reason (Perception)
7 Lab Text CrMe35 Gift of Reason (Presence)
7 Lab Text CrME35 Gift of Reason (Communication)
4 20 Me vis store, for a total of 24 Me vis saved up.

Request that my income be 5 pawns of Me vis until further notice.

I do not have access to any books that give me a sense of what I can buy with 15 pounds of silver, or how much minions cost. The Ars 5 book is strangely silent on a variety of topics, including economics and how fast things move.

Story rewards have achieved most of the expensive stuff I want, so it's just the lab, a turb of 6 young sailor/grogs, one old trainer (in combat skills and seafaring) from the old Dread Turk days and a couple covenfolk servants. That seems likely to fit the budget.

Longevity rolls just to see what age I appear to be:
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2908534/
2 6 5 7 0 0 - Caput appears to be 39, rather than 42.
(edit, the last three rolls should be 1 higher, 8, 1, 1 because he's hit 40. But it didn't change the outcome)

9

Caput
42 years old (appearance 39, Hermetic age 7) Height 5'10" Weight 185lb, lean muscular build.
Weatherbeaten, dark skin, black hair with a few grey strands in his neatly trimmed beard. Grey eyes.

House: Flambeau School: Raimus
Sigil: Spell effects always seem a little extra sinister
(eg, wind howls in a spooky way, his mercury's gift spell make his motions look alien, water walking looks like the sea is trying to spit him out each time he takes a step,shield looks alive when mutating into a bracelet)
Twilight: 0
Warp Score 1 (6 warp point - longevity potion 6 years)

Reputations:
Reputation (Bad 50) 4 The Dread Turk Pirate/Renegade (among commoners around Aegean sea)
Reputation (Bad 35) 3 That Muslim Sorcerer (among Hermetic mages, usual Outsider flaw-type reactions)
Reputation (Bad 15) 2 Renegade Captain (among Turkish or Muslim ship captains and nobles)
Reputation (Good 15) 2 Flambeau House Acclaim (House Flambeau)

Personality Traits:
Overconfident +5 (He really doesn't feel fear. This may be a side effect of all the fear the folks around him feel, it has been theorized that all of his fear leaks out into his gift aura and his magic. This also translates into assuming that whenever bad things happen, he assumes eventually he'll come out on top)

Noblesse Oblige +1 (he has this idea about how a leader should behave toward those dependent on him. Sometimes he extends this concept of "dependence" to anyone who looks like they need protecting. )

Generous+1 (mostly a bit of leftover Muslim training, he occasionally remembers to give charitable aid or goods, as he did when his covenfolk got injured. He tends to supply the wealth for such charity from people he doesn't like. He is also not inclined to drive hard bargains, preferring to get a deal over with, with obligations as simple as possible on all sides.)

Vengeful +2 (Personal honor is important, and significant insults or injuries must be promptly dealt with lest they become long term problems.)

Pious -2 (he tries, he really does. But he's a long time and a long way from his religious training, and it didn't stick all that well before he joined the infidel's magical society)

Attributes:
[table][tr][td]Intelligence 1 (Thinks Ahead)[/td] [td]Perception -3 (Self-Absorbed)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Presence -3 (Shifty-Looking)[/td] [td]Communication -3 (Frightening)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Strength 3 (Hard and Lean)[/td] [td]Stamina 4 (Unflappable)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Dexterity 3 (Graceful)[/td][td]Quickness 3 (Deceptive speed)[/td][/tr][/table]

Confidence: 3/1

Typical combat scores
Brawl - Kick : spd 2 atk 5 def 4 dmg 6 nonlethal
Talisman+Gnomework Buckler : spd 5 atk 18 def 16 dmg 9
Gnm Buckler+his oversized sap: spd 3 atk 14 def 15 dmg 6 nonlethal (uses club attributes instead of bludgeon for the sap)
(+9 defense with wizard sidestep)
(-2 defense without buckler)
(-1 attack if using an ordinary quality longsword instead of his talisman)
(carrying all of armor, sap, buckler and sword encumbers him by 1, lowering his speed in the above by 1)

Virtues
1 Great Attribute (Stamina), 1 Affinity to Ability (Single Weapon),1 Cautious with Ability (Single Weapon), 1 Pussiant Ability (Concentration),1 Pussiant Ability (Single Weapon),1 Pussiant Ability (Parma Magica),1 Pussiant Art (Me), 1 Minor Magic Focus (Fear),1 Privileged Upbringing,1 Skilled Parens ,1 Warrior ,0 The Gift , 0 Hermetic Magus

Flaws
3 Black Sheep,1 Infamous ,1 Hedge Wizard, 3 Overconfident, 1 Disjoint magic , 1 Susceptible to Divine

Abilities
75 Speak Turkish5 (Sailors)
50 Speak Greek4 (Sailors)
15 Area Kn Aegean2 (Sea)
5 Speak Arabic1 (Sailors)
5 Speak Italian1 (Venetian)
in all the "speak 0" cases the handful of words he knows are simple orders you'd give slaves.
1 Speak French 0
1 Speak German 0
1 Speak English 0
1 Speak French 0
1 Speak Gaelic 0
5 Charm(Magi) 1
1 Folk Ken 0
1 Guile 0
1 Etiquette 0
2 Carouse 0
1 Bargain 0

93 Single Weapon 7(9) (Longsword)
1 Bow 0
1 Thrown weapon 0
5 Athletics 1 (Climb)
5 Swim 1 (Oceans)
5 Brawl 1 (Kick)

30 Profession Sailor3(Pirate)
75 Leadership 5(Sailors)
75 Magic Theory 5(Spells)
20 Mastered spells1x4 (4spell multicast, specialized in multicast)
20 Mastered Spells1x4 (4 spells Fast Cast, specialized in botch dice)
30 Speak Latin 3(Read)
5 Arts Liberal 1(Literacy - Greek and Latin)
5 Civil Law 1 (Seafaring)
5 Code of Hermes 1 (Mundane Relations)
5 Hermes Lore 1 (Flambeau)
5 Medicine 1(Recovering from Wounds)
2 Teaching 0
75 Concentration 5(7)(while dodging)
15 Parma Magica 2(4) (Specialized in protecting others)
5 Finesse 1 (Speed)
5 Penetration 1 (Certamin)

Arts:
[table][tr][td]Cr 11 (66)[/td][td]An 4 (10)[/td] [td]Ig 4 (10)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]In 4 (10)[/td] [td]Aq 1 (1)[/td] [td]Im 3 (6)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Mu 3 (6)[/td] [td]Au 3 (6)[/td] [td]Me 9/12 (45) (Puissant)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Pe 4 (10)[/td] [td]Co 11 (66)[/td] [td]Te 5 (15)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Re 9 (45)[/td] [td]He 4(10)[/td] [td]Vi 1 (1)[/td][/tr][/table]

Spells
Spells in bold are mastered for fastcasting. Spells in italics are mastered for multicasting
Casting totals/penetration (if applicable) in zero aura shown on the left of the spell, math for it on the right.

18/- [i]rean 5 Disguise of the Putrid Aroma /i casting level: 18=9re+4an+4sta+1 mastered
8/- muaq(au)10 Lungs of the Fish (per,dia) casting level: 8=3mu+1aq/au+4sta
15/- [b]reaq10 In the Hands of Neptune /b (push caster with strong wave/current) casting level: 14=9re+1aq+4sta+1mstr
18/- crau10 Fill the Sails (touch-object,day) casting level: 18=11cr+3au+4sta
11/- peau5 Ease the Wind (touch,ind,mom). casting level: 11=4pe+3au+4sta
16/- reau15 Control the Weather Gauge(touch-object,day). casting level: 16=9re+3au+4sta
17/- reim5 Wizard's Sidestep (per,dia) casting level: 17=9re+3im+4sta+1mastered
25/- reco20 Mercury's Gift (move fast supported any direction)(per,conc).cast lvl: 27=9re+11co+4sta+1mastered
39/30 crme10 Panic of the Trembling Heart (eye,dia,ind) casting level: 39=11cr+12me+11mnfcs+4sta+1mastered
35/11 reme25 Aura of Frightful Authority (sight,dia,ind) cast level: 35=9re+12me+9mnfcs+4sta+1 mastered
35/1 reme35 Gaze of Infernal Terrors (voice,dia,group) casting level: 35=9re+12me+9mn fcs+4sta+1mastered

Lab total for learning Gift of Reason at new covenant =35 cr11+me12+int1+aura5+magic theory6=35

Equipment and unusual stuff owned:
Small, fast sailing ship, designed for a crew of about 6+captain, cargo capacity as a smuggling/courier ship might have.
A varied wardrobe of both practical clothes and two formal outfits (Greek and Italian styled)
Chain Hauberk, of Italian design (normal hauberk, but crafted for him to fit him perfectly)
Talisman - Damascus Steel Longsword, +1 attack, +3 shape bonus to block single attack, teleports to his hand if it can hear the command word 12/day
Gnomework Fine Bronze Buckler +1 defense, enchanted to become a large forearm bracelet 3/day, concentration duration

Lab texts for Gift of Reason (Per), Gift of Reason (Pre), Gift of Reason (Com)
24 Mentem Vis

10

Family, Friends, Foes and other associates. Max can feel free to use any or none of this.

The Yılmaz clan is his family, there is at least one actual noble but the extended family covers a variety of merchant and shipping activities. Some of them are also soldiers and some are educated and associated with the Mullas. They are about as important in their way as a mid-sized Venetian trading family in the Anatolean coast and to some extent in the Black Sea and the Levant. Most of their activities in the Aegean are more along the criminal side - smuggling and piracy, but they've been known to send legit traders out, partly as spies. Caput was a younger son, not much liked but too talented to be wasted. When Caput was taken, none of this extended family was known to practice magic, but where Caput has the gift, others might have emerged since then and received some kind of training, presumably in the Islamic traditions.

Kristos: Caput spent most of his youth with a ship crew that slowly got used to him. They couldn't actually warm to him, but they could respect his skills and his effective leadership. Unfortunately some of the best of that crew died when he was taken by Imbria and most of the rest returned to Turkish lands, but there are a handful here and there who were Christian and still active in the Aegean. Two are retired, three are running their own ships. One, Kristos, has come out of retirement to work for Caput again, and has been captaining the new Dawnstar, won in a gambling match a couple years out of Caput's gauntlet. Kristos is in his 50s, is diversely skilled in seamanship, the mercantile aspects of the trade and in combat, but the years has not been kind to him. He is hoping to pass on his skills to a new generation, and to the strange, skillful boy that he is now seeing grow into a real person instead of just the monster of the tales. He still thinks of Caput as a child, as socially Caput is younger than most of his grogs. The grey hair in Caput's beard doesn't change that.

The new Dawnstar: Kids who grew up on tales of the Dread Turk, these young men have spent a few years working the trade under Kristos, with only an occasional visit from Caput. They were nervous at first, but find comfort in the strange morning and evening prayers he insists they join in (he's not picky about who they pray to, and isn't blatant about who he's praying to). (Caput usually extends his parma over the crew that will be working closely with him on those days. He rotates it around a bit so people have "good days" and "bad days" in how they feel about him). Caput wants a tight turb that is as good at sailing as it is at fighting. At least one of them is being groomed to take over the mercantile activities, although Caput is also trying to learn the more social side of the business as well, now that his Gift has softened a bit.

Satrap Muhammed Kaya: Caput's Flambeau gauntlet humiliated this noble, and terrorized his subjects although for the moment he is cowed by the threats returned by his failed assassins. He will need some kind of mystical or religious support before trying to even the score, but he keeps his grudges warm in his heart.

Imbria ex Flambeau: Parens. Imbria is in her 8th decade, about 60 hermetic years old. She is an Aquam oriented magus who behaves like a typical School of Flambeau mage, although with water rather than fire. She has spent most of spare her time as a magus gaining the power necessary to bond a Kraken as a familiar - one of her first adventures as a gauntleted mage involved finding some eggs. She belongs to a powerful Rhine Tribunal Autumn covenant, so in spite of spending a fair amount of time adventuring, her arts advanced fairly quickly. Her current apprentice is the boy Caput stole in his gauntlet, a very bright fisherman's son whose mundane name is Hamud. Imbria mostly took on Caput for the challenge of training someone like him, and after succeeding, she only has a passing interest in his actions....mostly as ineptitude would reflect on her as his trainer. For his part, he respects her power, but she's too alien to him to be a real role model. It also would not normally occur to him to ask her for help, beyond minor social things like asking to be included in any wizard march she hears about. It is extremely unlikely she'd avenge anything done to him, unless it somehow also reflected on her. Caput pretty much can't imagine anything happening to her that he could do much about (her grog in an invisible, flying, air breathing, intelligent KRAKEN for cripes sake), so the reverse situation also is unlikely to come up.

Hamud: Hamud is about halfway through his training. Caput has totally forgotten about him. 8 years from now, Hamud may look to Caput as a role model, or look to kick his butt for hauling him away from his family. Could go either way, probably depends on how happy Hamud is at the time of his Gauntlet. Caput will probably be invited to observe his apprentice Gauntlet, should Hamud desire to enter House Flambeau.

Adfectus ex Jerbiton: Amicus. Adfectus is the only mage that worked closely with Caput for any length of time, and they share similarities in magic (Adfectus is a master of emotion magic of all sorts) and in some mundane pursuits (curiosity about mundanes, a tendency to view Faeries as vis sources, an understanding of their religions that is spotty at best leading to fun discussions, etc). Adfectus is the only magus anywhere to know Aura of Frightful Authority, as Caput has no scribe skill and even his Parens doesn't have a copy of his lab text. Adfectus is strong on social skills and weak in combat skills. He's pretty good at Hermetic law. He might be a good ally at a Grand Tribunal or someone to call in if Caput is in danger of being wizard marched. On the flipside, if he has a physical problem, he might tap Caput for help someday. Sadly he's not in the same tribunal or house, so barring special efforts to contact each other, they won't likely see much of each other. While Adfectus has some admiration for Capus, his stories to other Magi about Caput have reinforced his hedge mage reputation rather than refuting it. Adfectus is the closest thing to a friend Caput has ever had. He would move heaven and earth to avenge him if anything happened to him. (Adfectus has lots of other friends, so the reverse isn't so much true)

His prior covenant: Adfectus is the only magus from his prior covenant that is likely to want anything to do with him. Caput was completely socially inept in his seven years at his old covenant, and the results of his final experiment soured the rest of the covenant on him, if they had any liking for him at all before that. Some of the grogs and covenfolk also think he's "ok for a magus", as he was a pretty good sport, was very good about protecting them and helping heal anyone injured, but nobody is close enough to want to follow him elsewhere. In general, this covenant is done with him, they consider the contract over and don't care for further dealings with him. They don't dislike him enough to cause trouble, but he's not going to use them for references either.

House Flambeau : Caput has worked his way from "That damn Muslim Sorcerer" to "That damn Muslim Sorcerer who fights with heart". He has a long way to go to get real respect, but he's chipping away at his bad reputation in this house. (once his Acclaim gets higher than his Hedge Wizard flaw, he might be able to get his brothers to help work to reduce that bad reputation with other Magi)

11

Kristos the Sea Master
55 years old (appearance 39, Hermetic age 7) Height 5'6" Weight 220lb, Fat with some muscle underneath.
Weatherbeaten, pale skin, balding, mostly grey hair and beard. Hazel eyes

Reputations:
Reputation (Bad 15) 2 "Free Trader"/Pirate

Personality Traits:
Fatherly +2
Disciplinarian +1
Brave +3

Decrepitude: 2(22)

Attributes:
(before age rolls. Afterwards dex/quick are -1 and strength=0).
Intelligence 0 (age2)
Perception 0 (age2)
Strength 1 (age2)
Stamina 0 (age 2)
Presence 2 (age 2)
Com 2 (age 2)
Dex 0 (age 5 = Dex-1)
Qck 0 (age 5 = Qck -1)

Confidence: 3/1

Typical combat scores

No armor (soak= -1). Armed with axe or short bow and sap.

The below scores include Way of the XX. If not at sea or
in an urban environment, subtract 3 from everything.

(I can't remember how obese affects this. Update later)
Brawl - sap : Init 2 atk 9 def 7 dmg 3 nonlethal
Axe : Init 3 atk 12 def 7 dmg 7
Self Bow : Init 1 atk 10 def 7 dmg 6 (range 15)

Virtues
3 Ways of the Sea
3 Ways of the Town
1 Mercenary Captain
1 Social Contacts (Aegean Sea)

Flaws
3 Enemies
3 Greedy
1 Obese
1 Busybody

Abilities
(120 childhood+50x15xp=870 total xp)

50 Area Kn Aegean(Coastal Areas) 4
30 Athletics 3 (Climb)
75 Bargain (stolen goods) 5
50 Bow (self bow) 3
50 Brawl 4 (cudgel/sap)
30 Carouse (overindulge) 3
30 Charm (sailors) 3
15 Chirurgury (bind wounds) 3
30 Etiquette (sailors) 3
30 Folk Ken (Sailors) 3
30 Guile (protest innocence) 3
50 Intrigue(rumors) 4
75 Leadership(Sailors) 5
75 Profession Sailor(pirate) 5
50 Single Weapon(axe) 4
15 Speak Arabic (Sailors) 2
75 Speak Greek(Sailors) 5
15 Speak Italian (Sailors) 2
15 Speak Turkish(Sailors) 2
30 Swim 3 (Oceans)
50 Teach (Sailors)

Age rolls
35-39
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2939754/
2 age points + 1 age crisis/attribute reduced 1. Decrepitude 1(7) (5 age point quick, 1 age point dex, 1 age point sta)
40-49
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2939767/
2 age points + 1 age crisis/attribute reduced 1. Decrepitude 2(17) (5 age quick, dex, 2 age str, 1 age all other stats)
50-55
4 age points Decrepitude 2(22) (5 age quick, dex, 2 age each other stat)

12

There are 3 "groups" of grogs. Each is designed to be able to sail the ship by themselves if they have to. At any given time one group is usually on shore. In combat, both shifts on the ship will be involved, one group sailing the ship, the other doing any fighting. Shore-based attacks would involve the whole group. Ship-leave will normally be done by group, but sometimes the "social" trained ones will all need to go out at once.

Kristos is using the ship as a kind of training vessel for high quality mercenaries. The grogs come in at about age 15, stay 3 tours of 5 years (advancing in "group") and then retire/go on to do whatever else they want at age 30. The younger ones are more likely to get "guard the warehouse and train" duty than "sail the ship and take a prize" duty. Most of the time I would just use the 15,20 and 25 level skills as a basis for figuring out what they can do, with the age 25 crew always on the ship for any extended mission, and either the 15 or 20 age crew being along as backup, more risky missions getting the older grogs, less risky used to train the younger ones.

A "group" consists of:
1 social grog
2 "single weapon" grogs
1 "brawler" grog
2 "archer" grogs

The social grogs can only lead groups of 5. Each group has an extra, which allows for injuries, illnesses, a critical sea-task that must be done or people separated to guard Kristos, Caput or other guests on the ship. In a pinch, any two grogs are trained to form a back-to-back mini-group. The vanguard for the group will be whomever is appropriate for the situation (nonlethal, use the brawler, melee, single weapon, ranged, the archer).

(120 childhood+10x15xp=270 total xp for the age 15 recruit. Add 75xp per 5 years)

All grogs have a 1 point Warrior virtue paid for with a -1 point Social Handicap (tendency to brag about illegal/quasi-legal activities, -3 in respectable society)

Int -1, Per 0
Str 2, Sta 1
Pre -1 com -1
dex 2, qck2
Warrior virtue used to enhance his primary weapon skill
Warriors often have further virtues that enhance primary combat skill (pussiant, good attributes, large, etc)

Age 15: As below
Age 20: +1 rank to main weapon, +1 alert, +1 carouse, +1 stealth, +1 swim
Age 25: +1 rank to main weapon +1 athletics, +1 sailor
Age 30: Area Kn to 3, further xp to main weapon

75 Speak (native) usually Greek(Sailor)
15 Speak (other) Greek if Greek isn't native. Varies otherwise
30 Athletics (Climb) 3
15 Area Kn Aegean(Coastal Areas) 2
5 Swim (ocean) 1
15 Alertness(Scan) 2

30 Profession Sailor(pirate) 3
5 Leadership(fight in group) 1
5 Carouse (varies) 1
5 Etiquette (sailors) 1
5 Stealth(sneaking) 1
5 Guile (protest innocence) 1
5 Charm (opposite sex) 1

One of the 3 weapons will be primary. The others will just be rank 2.
The example here is Single Weapon.
75 Single Weapon(in group)5
15 Bow (in group) 2
15 Brawl (in group) 2

The basic social recruit looks like this:
Int 0, Per 0
Str 1, Sta 0
Pre 2 com 2
dex 0, qck 0
Warrior virtue is used to buy all basic weapon skills
Extra points used on social skills/profession skills
Kristos used to be this kind of grog.

Age 15: As below
Age 20: +1 rank to carouse, prof sailor,guile, folk ken. Add chirurgury 2(bind wounds)
Age 25: +1 rank to charm, bargain, intrigue, area knowledge, etiquette
Age 30: raise area knowledge to 3, all other xp to Sailor until level 30

75 Speak (native) usually Greek(Sailor)
15 Speak (other) Greek if Greek isn't native. Varies otherwise
5 Athletics (Climb) 1
15 Area Kn Aegean(Coastal Areas) 1
5 Swim (ocean) 1
5 Alertness(Scan) 1

15 Profession Sailor(pirate) 2
30 Leadership(fight in group) 3
15 Carouse (varies) 2
15 Bargain (stolen goods) 2
15 Charm (sailors) 2
15 Etiquette (sailors) 2
15 Folk Ken (Sailors) 2
15 Guile (protest innocence) 2
15 Intrigue(rumors) 2
5 stealth(sneak) 1

15 Single Weapon(in group) 2
15 Bow (in group) 2
15 Brawl (in group) 2

13

1220 Spring 5 xp Prince by Blood adventure, 4xp to Charm, 1xp to Carouse. Charm now= 1, specialized in Magi (reflected on char sheet a few posts up). Carouse =0 still.