I invited Arthur/Petronius over to Bibracte for a bit of a cameo role. Praxiteles is there, as well. I've found it to be really useful personally for finding my voice, clarifying my vision of Praxiteles, and giving me some motivation to get myself moving. I recognize I've been the primary cause of this saga moving slowly...
However, if you ever have an interest in doing something with your character, much older and in another place, feel free to consider stopping by Mons Electi. I'll coach you on whatever you need, and it's certainly a no-strings-attached offer. I've just been jazzed about Praxiteles, unlike I have been heretofore.
I had this vision of Praxiteles becoming fat... and he will during what we do here, and then when his first LR ritual fails and he has an aging crisis, or whatever, his vice is going to change from gluttony to lechery. And I think I'm going to engineer it so that by the time he arrives at Bibracte he looks something like the most interesting man in the world.
I have a plan for him now...and so now I can attack the allocation of build point spending with some goal. I'm almost done... Mean it.
I have been searching for that feeling with Praxiteles, and can't find it. I have it with Talia over in Canaries are Dying, and I had it with Ra'am who was a PC in Phoenix, and a prominent NPC in Bibracte. Praxiteles...is dead to me.
Would you rather introduce another magus? We don't necessarily need to scrub Praxiteles out, but he could have a much more background (NPC-ish) feeling to him. He's already cast as holding himself seperate from the other, since he'll spend most of his time at his house in Koblenz.
And we've already established that the covenant has space for a few more magi. Your active magus could have joined later in the building of Laurus Argenti, or could join as a peregrinator right at saga start (or a bit later).
I don't see a problem with you having control of more than one magus character. You'll really play only one, anyway. And we'll each have additional support magi, to be involved in our own stories. (For my part, I'll have Octavius, Caprasia and Albertus from the covenant of Irminsul, as well as others).
I think I have enough to keep him busy. He may end up being more crunch than juicy as it relates to stories, and that's OK. I have some ideas for some other stuff, but there's nothing definitive. And even then, I can fight a concept for a long time. Talia it seemed took many months to come into focus...and in the end she wasn't at all close to what I had originally planned for her. But for now, Praxiteles allows me to do a lot of things: investigate Original Research as related to Rego crafting, so he's thematic to what is going on to the saga, at least at the start. And I have some plans for the juicy bits, too... But they are predictable.
Characters, unlike covenants, can't be reborn out of Winter. Well maybe they can, but eventually they just won't come out of winter, if they keep going into winter. If you follow me... I have a pretty clear vision of Praxiteles, I have his voice.
He's not the most favorite of the characters I've made. He comes from a very mechanical inspiration. His soul is less defined, he is what he needs to be. Alips, is the more interesting character to me, she has the more compelling story potential. This can happen in any saga, though. The companion is more interesting than the player's magus. The magus still does stuff, but the companion receives much more play... It's not bad. It is what it is.
Alips is damaged, and beholden to Edward de Tours. She loves Praxiteles. She loves her cousin. She's torn in two. How does she manipulate her two worlds to keep them from crashing into each other?
I've updated the Mythic Cooperage yet again on the wiki. I've tweaked the numbers a little, specified that in general items would use the rules for enchantment, added examples of this.
One more change was adding the possibility of using raw vis in the process for a +1 per pawn (up to the Craft score). This is unlikely to be done without the magi's knowledge and approval.
Give it a look, and let me know if you feel those changes broke something. For reference, right now Gregor can reach a workshop total of 10 alone, or 14 with his helpers.
Earlier today, I finally decided, regretfully, that my Holy Waldensian concept was dead in the water as a Magus (it might resurface some day as a companion) and almost immediately a new idea took root and I've been writing background right away - it flows like water. Awesome feeling. There's also a very strong hook with the Covenant. There's a caveat, though....
Does Praxiteles want a female Muse around? The hook is that my character is a Jerbiton scholar of early Byzantine relics, especially books and anything relating to libraries. Being of a somewhat barbaric descend (Kalasz Hungarian), she is looking for a teacher in Greek. Him being an architect makes it a natural interest-fit. But from a roleplaying point of view, I would never introduce a Muse upon someone else without their say-so, especially when s/he is a Jerbiton!
Besides all that, it would introduce a new inhabitant to the Aviary. Always wanted to play a falconer.
PS. I am neither suggesting nor excluding romatic interests. Stuff like that is to be determined during actual stories.
Praxiteles already has a muse -- his wife Alips. Also note that he is not an architect, but rather a sculptor.
There is no aviary; what is there is an aerie at the secondary site -- a landing site for Bjornaer magi with a bird heartbeast so that they have a place to rest safely when traveling abroad.
Not incompatible with having a falconer at the covenant, but I wouldn't locate a falcon aviary at the secondary site, since some bird heartbeasts might be considered preys by a falcon.
Anyone else that would benefit or take hindrance from a Muse around? If there's no roleplay benefits, I might just drop that small aspect of the character otherwise, or replace it with something in a similar vein.
Also, it seems that she is morphing into a somewhat atypical Tremere as I work on her background. Silly MMF with Certamen isn't too useful, but thank goodness I don't care too much as long as the story fits
At the moment, we don't have any other character with artistic endeavors.
"Build it and they will come."
If you have a virtue, the stories can be made so that it will be useful. Particularly if you plan for your stories yourself.
For example, we are currently running a story for my magus, Petronius. In the planning stage, I explained what the story should be about and what my expectations were. I asked for input, and a little help running the story since it had some mystery elements in it. That's why we have the "Stories Discussion" thread.
In the same way, if you end up playing a Tremere, you will get to decide if you want to play a story that involves Certamen. Plus, it is always a weapon in your arsenal for inter-covenant and inter-magi interactions/conflicts/negociations. How you use it is really up to you, and how often as well.
Does anyone have any input on my Tremere sketch? I can certainly post more snippets of background story.
On another note, do people have a preference for a certain amount of time past Gauntlet? I'd probably prefer it to be not too long, myself, but if we really need me to be a bit more senior for some reason, I can work with that.
Certamen isn't currently a skill as I recall - you use Penetration and Parma Magica.
She seems rather focussed on Constantinople (calling it Byzantium is anachronistical, IIRC), why did she choose to move to the Rhine Tribunal?
I would personally suggest re-shaping one of her free magical foci into a minor Potent Magic. I would suggest the self-transformation one for this, as by strict RAW Potent Magic in certamen does nothing, while potent magic actually has applications even if your relevant Arts are low.
It's no biggie though.
I myself have a preference for magi straight out of Gauntlet, but was encouraged to be a few years older. I won't force anything on you though.
Yup, will correct the Certamen ability. Old habits die hard - and 5th edition is still relatively new to me, so I wrote it in unthinkingly.
I don't mind replacing one of the MMF with a Potent magic, but note that I don't want them to stack, since I feel that is against the intent of the rules. Even so, if you feel that works out better I don't mind. I don't see it destabilize things anytime soon.
As far as Byzantium goes - I don't believe it's yet anachronistic. Constantinople only is coming into vogue in the time period we play in (It's origins are with the Latin successor states to the Empire). And the Rhine tribunal made a bit more sense when she was a Jerbiton that was looking for someone that's a native Greek speaker. As it stands, I may use the "here for a season or two as a peregrinator and we'll see how it develops" excuse, until I get a sudden smart idea.
By the way, I don't have the Transylvania tribunal book yet, alas. The True Lineages book has a bunch of good Tremere information, but not many names. As a result, I'll have to make up a parens out of thin air, i think . Of course, I may be better off picking a Rhine tribunal parens that happened to notice her while he was visiting Coeris for family business. That way, the bread is buttered and cut with one knife.
Edit:
In Guardians of the Forest (the Rhine Tribunal book) I found a reference to Clemens ex Tremere, a Master mage and member of the Fengheld. Supposedly, he is living in a chapter house, but I've been unable to find out which. Does anyone know? I think he'd be my best bet for a parens so far .
Heh, I meant the word itself.
Byzantium was a sleepy little place until it was established as a new capital by Emperor Constantine in 330 AD, renaming it Nove Roma Constantinopolis - or simply Constantinople after his death (Sundered Eagle, p.12).
It is also mentioned in HoH: Societates, box on p. 42.
It was refered to (the inhabitants) as the Roman Empire - especially after the fall of Rome, as there were no other claimants of relevans.
According to wikipedia* it was not refered to as the byzantine Empire until 1557 - about a century after it's fall to the turks.
But it's not important, just a note on words
Works for me, mostly just curious. If' you've given it thought (and clearly you have), I'm happy.
not the best source, I know, but the best source I can be bothered to look up this early in the morning
EDIT: for clarity and weeding out the worst spellies
You're right regarding the Imperial name, of course. In either case, my maga has a fondness for the idea of a Greek-speaking, centrally-controlled Imperial authority, and preferably with the Order pulling strings behind the scenes. That is, as long as the Tremere get to pull some strings behind those scenes!
Now, in part this fondness would translate just as well to a Roman Empire, but the Romans collapsed into insignificance, whereas the Greeks (new Romans?) are doing just fine. Sure, there's some upstart desert barbarians creeping up in Anatolia, and the Pechenegs are kind of problematic at times, but nothing that can't be solved. Did I mention yet she was an optimist?
Now I think of it - has anyone in the Order ever tried to rekindle the cults of Mithras and/or Isis for political purposes? I know they survive as mystery cults (at least the Mythreans), but that's not quite the same.
