Character Creation for Houlio (OOC)

An hour sounded like a long time, so I checked. Apparently, river otters can stay submerged for up to 8 minutes (with 5 minutes being the typical duration).

Using the existing Deprivation mechanic appeals to me. Changing the time for air deprivation from 30 seconds to 5 minutes would do the job nicely, I think. The Ease Factor would depend on how active you are underwater (from 3 for staying immobile or moving slowly to 15 for exerting yourself to lift something heavy or wrestle with an opponent).

Sounds good. I didn't look it up this morning, but changing the time interval on deprivation seems like a good way to handle it

I think the different times are due to activity levels. Otters typically stay under for 5 minutes with reasonably vigorous activity. Many humans can hold their breath for 5 minutes, but not vaguely close to that with anywhere near that activity level. Arthur's second paragraph reflects that well.

Alright, I have more or less finished up Perion to the point of the Saga start. My next plans are to make Vincent as a shield grog and to create my companion.

Vincent

Background

Vincent was a younger son of a struggling merchant family in Brittany. He often found himself the target of trouble, having to learn to trust his own guts rather than the whims of fortune. Vincent grew up knowing much more about lying, scheming and swordplay than he did of markets or commodities, and so he decided to strike out and help the first person he came across in need of a good blade.

To Vincent's misfortune, he first ran into the Magus Phorcys Tytali, and even though Vincent was dreadfully afraid of the mysterious individual, he accepted the opportunity to see something new. The Magus brought Vincent to Exspectatio, where Vincent served as a shield grog. Phorcys recognized Vincent's unlucky nature, and more or less released him from service, as he was a bit of a liability. Vincent next found himself working for Magus after Magus, usually until he made some sort of embarrassing mistake. It wasn't until he ended up working for the most loathsome Magus Vincent had ever met that he found some sort of stability. Although Perion seems far less interested in destroying his rivals than the other Tytali Vincent has known, he can't help but feel that something about Perion is far more menacing than the typical destructive spats of the other Magi. He has accompanied Perion to Tugurium.

Statistics

Age: 31 (31)

Charateristics
Int -1
Com 0
Per +2
Pre -2
Str +1
Sta +2
Dex +1
Qui +2

Abilities

  • Breton (skullduggery) 5
  • Brawl (dodge) 2
  • Guile (tall tales) 3
  • Stealth (sneak) 2
  • Single Weapon (shortsword) 5
  • Awareness (searching) 3
  • Normandy Lore (geography) 2
  • Brittany Lore (geography) 2
  • Charm (being witty) 3
  • Folk Ken (magi) 3
  • Chirurgy (binding wounds) 3
  • Swim (oceans) 2
  • Legerdemain (filching) 2
  • French (conversational banter) 4
  • Latin (orders) 2
  • Hunt (tracking) 3
  • Animal Handling (donkey) 2
  • Ride (donkey) 1
  • Bargain (hospitality) 2

Personality Traits
Loyal +2
Reckless -1
Greedy +3

Virtues
Keen Vision
Puissant Single Weapon
Covenfolk (free)

Flaws
Avaricious (minor)
Lesser Malediction - unlucky*

*Vincent has always been exceptionally unfortunate. The GM can apply a -1 to -3 modifier on simple and stress rolls depending upon how great a factor luck is in the situation. Essentially the opposite of the Luck Virtue.

Appearance

Vincent has a thin head of light brown hair, a wide nose, and a grin that is missing a couple teeth. He is above average in height, but not exceptionally so. As he has grown older, he has started to get a bit of a beer belly.

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Works for me. You can transfer him to the Grogs and Covenfolk topic. I suggest making the post a wiki so anyone can update him. See the grogs already posted for a suggested format.

Hmm, I didn't see any option to make my post there a wiki.

Once the post is saved, go to the menu below (...), and select the wrench (last selection to the right). This opens a menu with the option "Make wiki".

EDIT: If the option doesn't appear for you, I can do it. It may be an option only available to storyguides.

I don't have the option to make the post a wiki. I might have to look in at remedying that at some point.

I made the change. Don't worry about it. :slight_smile:

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I'm thinking about this as the place for Perion's lab:

One of the early and bizarre additions was a large Eastern facing plaza and gardens, complete with a free standing two story villa. The villa and gardens have a very open and airy construction, as Leonardus had apparently planned for the expansion to provide a place to watch the morning sun rise. The addition largely sat empty and untended during that time, but Leonardus' plan for the room seemed to work out great.

It wasn't until Leonardus began adding further additions beyond the plaza and small villa that his plan failed. As Leonardus continued to add addition after addition, he surrounded his earlier, forgotten work. The plaza and villa that had once enjoyed a great deal of natural light was slowly shrouded in shadows year after year. Now the plaza is surrounded by windowless three-story walls on all sides, and natural light from the sun only reaches down when it is high in the sky. The previously wild but lush gardens are now barren for the most part, with the odd weird or mushroom poking up through cracks in the tiled plaza ground.

The plaza is about 6 paces wide and 14 long, and it is dominated by a small bungalow like structure. There are two doorways leading into the rest of the covenant on the East and West walls, but the Eastern door tends to lead to a dead end. The bungalow is rectangular in shape, about 8 paces long and 4 paces wide. The lower level is divided into a cozy common room and hearth with 3 smaller chambers. The lower level gets dim at the brightest times of day, but it has a perpetual evening glow with the hearth lit. The upper level is a large open space featuring long windows looking out at the surrounding manor walls. There are even a number of skylights in the ceiling, so that the the few hours of sunlight brightly light up the upper level.

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Note that 8 x 4 paces is quite small for a lab (or a bungalow). That amounts to about 280 sq.feet, which would be a Size -2 lab (according to Covenants p.110).

I might be thinking of a different measurement for a "pace" then. I was thinking a pace was about 4.5 feet long, which would have given me about 650 sq ft. To be more specific, I was thinking of something like 36 feet long and 18 feet wide.

Ah, the famous Roman double pace! :wink:

I mostly use "pace" as roughly the equivalent of a yard or a meter, since this makes it easier for people to relate to a measure they are used to dealing with.

So that would make the lab about 1,000 sq.feet or Size +3. That is quite large, so expect it to have the Empty flaw initially (probably with the -1 Health option rather than the +1 Upkeep).

I did a lot of classical languages back in school, so I tend to default to the Roman way of things now I suppose :sweat_smile:

I was thinking about having Perion keep his lab to the upper floor of the bungalow (Size +1 if I'm reading the table in Covenants right). I was thinking of having the lower level be living quarters for Perion and maybe a grog or two. Is that doable given my description?

That's a fine size. To avoid any confusion, the final description should probably use feet instead of paces.

I was seeing the current grogs being quartered together in the southest wing if single, while those who have families live in independent houses. Perion is of course free to ask for his personal grogs to be lodged near him. But they may not like being isolated from the others.

Perion will probably let Vincent hang out wherever. In the near future, Perion is probably going to try and look around for a servant to help keep his lab and sanctum clean, and Perion will probably keep that person nearby. I'll switch my numbers over to feet too in the final version.

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Alright, here's my lab take. Let me know if there's anything that needs changing. I'm going with a Size +1 at an occupied size of 0. Let me know if I need to do anything to change the virtues/flaws too.

Perion's Lab Description

One of the early and bizarre additions was a large Eastern facing plaza and gardens, complete with a small, free-standing house in the Roman style (domus). The domus and gardens have a very open and airy construction, as Leonardus had apparently planned for the expansion to provide a place to watch the morning sun rise. The addition largely sat empty and untended during that time, but Leonardus' plan for the room seemed to work out great.

It wasn't until Leonardus began adding further additions beyond the plaza and domus that his plan failed. As Leonardus continued to add addition after addition, he surrounded his earlier, forgotten work with towering walls. The plaza and domus that had once enjoyed a great deal of natural light was slowly shrouded in shadows year after year. Now the plaza is surrounded by windowless three-story walls on all sides, and natural light from the sun only reaches down when it is high in the sky. The previously wild but lush gardens are now barren for the most part, with the odd mushroom or weed poking up through being the rule for the most part. A single hedera has remained persistent though, and crawled itself over the Domus. It's roots now crack through the walls all over the structure.

The plaza is about 25 feet wide and 54 long, and it is dominated by a small rectangular structure towards the Southwestern corner of the plaza. There are two doorways leading into the rest of the covenant on the East and West walls, but the Eastern door tends to lead to a dead end. The bungalow is rectangular in shape, about 36 feet long and 18 feet wide. The lower level is dominated by a large atrium in the Corinthian style, and only 4 small adjoining chambers, one of which contains a staircase leading to the upper level. The remaining rooms contain a hearth and small pantry, Perion's bedroom, and a spare bedroom (currently housing a large amount of Perion's lab packed lab equipment). The upper level makes up Perion's lab and sanctum. The lab is an entirely open space featuring long windows looking out at the surrounding manor walls on all but the Western side. There are even a number of skylights in the ceiling, so that the few hours of direct sunlight brightly illuminate the lab. The rest of the day is stuck in an overcast gray at best.

Perion's Lab Statistics
Virtues
Dedicated Building
Well Insulated
Flaws
Basic
Defective Lighting
Infested

Specializations
He +1
Re +1

Refinement: 0
Size: +1 (Occupied Size: 0)
Safety: -1
General Quality: -4
Aesthetics: 0
Health: -1
Upkeep: 0

I'm not convinced that the description supports the Vile Surroundings flaw. May I suggest Infested instead? Could be fungi (which began to grow when the place became darker) or some vines (which is grew upward seeking more light). It could also be some sort of animals (maybe bees, wasps or bats) that tend to nest there.

Yes! I hadn't seen Infested, and it makes a lot more sense than Vile Surroundings I think. I'll edit my lab stats to reflect that.

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