Oh, no confusion at all. I was also thinking of making him the librarian. ^^
After all, he needs to make a living, right?
1 Like
Precisely!
So on the topic of companions, I was playing with the Redcap concept. Ended up going down a rabbit hole, and I had an interesting idea that I wanted to run past you. Given that being a vis broker would necessitate the writing of contacts when issuing loans and the like, I was going to make him extremely well versed in the Code. To the point where he is doing some work on the side as a Hermetic lawyer as it were. Was even thinking that he might want to try and become a Q some day.
As an aside, what do folks think about allowing me to use the Heroic character slot for my Redcap? As per @Vortigern he's aiming for a higher powered tier of companions (allowing up to might 15), and given @callen 's close ties to the Cult of Heroes, I thought it would be a good way to have strong ties to two mages.
Don't see a problem about Heroic (partially because I've never seen a character as such at play and I'm curious).
An expert in the code seems like a great asset for Atheus, for counseling him and ensuring his activities remain (at least barely) legal. And I'm sure he is going to need an advocate sooner or later.
Plus, plenty of chances for him to go to the Tribunal, which is always nice.
I say go for it. =]
I'd say tentatively yes to the Heroic Redcap. It fits the setting we are in with Cult of Heroes being a major theme for the Redcaps here and ultimately most Heroic Character builds still are not powerful enough to warrant a Mage slot assignment. And we are aiming high powered as it were, and allowing Might 15 Creatures ... it doesn't seem outlandish in comparison.
Ultimately at the end of the day in Ars ... it doesn't truly matter as much what your "Single Weapon" ability is if someone can Pilum you in the face. Mundane competencies have to rather specialized and tailored to be genuinely useful and even then often magic can obsolete them eventually. Another way of saying I am not super concerned as regards any "game breaking" potential.
My thoughts exactly! As I said, part legal expert, part vis trader. Feels like the two would mesh really well with each other, as you'd need to know contract law in order to lend vis etc.
And trust me, I'm all for some tribunal stories! Really excited at the possibility of using the debate rules for literally the first time ever too!
1 Like
Everyone, I could use some help with the Librarian. Regarding his story flaw, I'm thinking of the following:
He has memorized something, but does not recognize the true value of the information, or he once knew something very valuable, but either blocked the memory of let it fade (it could still be recovered by the right people, with the right spells). Either way, people are interested on the information.
Here is where I got stuck with the direction to follow. What knowledge, about who? Who is interested? I don't want to spin this around the character itself, I'd rather we explore the magi and the conflict between Irish and continental magi, but I'm finding it hard to develop the knowledge/secret along those lines.
(Once this is defined it will be easier to frame it as a named story flaw.)
One thing that interests me on the overall idea is the eventual necessity of going memory diving into his mind to obtain the knowledge.
I could also scrap this and try a different direction altogether. I have other possible flaws in mind, but since they don't help to tie the character stories to the magi I am not that interested in them (except for one where some of the books he copied became corrupted (as in RoP:I) due to demonic intervention, and the librarian now wants to find and destroy the copies, which means we can tie this to any magus simply by making a corrupted copy about a subject in which the magus is interested).
I'm just spitballing here, but what if it's something to do with Praesis? Maybe the bulk of the covenant's riches were never found, and are assumed to have been spirited away for safe keeping?
Something something the trauma caused him to repress his memories, and or he intentionally emptied those memory palaces (I think you said he had Art of Memory?) to prevent the conquerors from getting that info, etc.
1 Like
1: If he has Art of Memory, it could exist as a memory locus. Also in theory such memory locus creation could be assisted/augmented in a variety of different ways with magical items, abilities, or items of quality etc. That could be an interesting line of thought to pursue with the character, having an in depth memory palace for the librarian seems rather apt to me.
2: Praesis in particular was the peace and deal/contract brokering Covenant for the Tribunal. Of particular uniqueness and relevance to their library then might be the records maintained regarding their interactions with the Coill/Druids and any other contracts/deals/peace agreements brokered there. This could, rather than being one particular and spicy fact, be the entire ledger (or set of ledgers for that matter) containing all such records formerly maintained by Praesis.
This would allow this backdrop of deep knowledge to be knowledge that is mystically, politically, and legally relevant throughout the Tribunal ... and yet at the same time be things that might not seem immediately and compellingly important right now. Things can come up in stories and then this knowledge that only would have been available from Praesis in any detail can be found most uniquely and importantly in the mind of our librarian.
Thoughts?
1 Like
Sorry for the delay.
Yep, this was my thought. Either he still has the memory on a memory locus or he once had it but later replaced the memory with something else, but instead of simply "disappearing" it went into his "normal" memory (the memory basement of his memory palace, if you will).
of
Ohh, this seems very interesting. I had in mind to make him the default secretary on Praesis side (he could "record" hours, or even an entire day of meetings on his memory palace and then make very detailed reports later).
But if besides that he then keeps the key points of previous agreements in his mind, this means that even if the entire library of Praesis was lost this guy is still a solid asset to the magi. I like this a lot.
I was so focused on making it something spicy that the appeal of something "mundane" completely eluded me.
I do assume that something was never found and is yet to be recovered. He would surely remember a lot, but I think most of this would be covered by Praesis Lore. Still, I think one or two secret things (such as the activation words of a few magical items, or how to access a certain magus' lab) could be in a memory locus.
This was my first line of thought. While I'm finding Vortigern's suggestion better for now, I want to leave this open. We can always have something surface later on ("hey guys, I've been having these weird flashbacks of the siege, I think I forgot something important").
I'll draft something more solid and try to post it today. Should I post it here, or do I move it to a different thread?
Seconded on the records front. I say go for it!
And you've got a thread, so knock yourself out friend!
1 Like
I've been thinking more about companion character concepts and I have a proposal for one who is Domnall-linked (@Nithyn ):
The youngest son of a pretty well-to-do noble, he went to university to study medicine. But after a good number of years into it, he throws away a promising future career as a doctor and joins the Hospitallers to apply what he's learned in a context that matters more to him and to his soul. One main connection to Domnall would be through a shared interest in corpse reanimation, which he is trying to puzzle out through applying his own education and experience, and which is driven by the fact that he himself is Raised from the Dead after being struck down in the holy land. Which could potentially make him a curiosity for Domnall, though not one that would lead anywhere mechanically speaking, necessarily, given the Limit of the Soul. He'd be originally from Ireland or maybe Scotland, and Domnall could have encountered him during his traveling apprenticeship / macgnimartha, after the former Hospitaller returns there post-resurrection. The purpose/circumstances around his raising could be used to connect to Divine aspects, if there are any future story arcs of that nature. Alternatively, while the resurrection was Divine, maybe he's of Norse descent and is under the delusion that he was brought to Valhalla as an Einherjar, but sent back to the mortal realm for some purpose TBD. Overall, does this concept sound like something that could be interesting and that could fit both with Domnall and with the saga?
A quick note regarding the "delusion" comments here.
You should feel free given our stance on Realms and Realm Parity to make whatever religious affiliation/interpretation and events associated with the concept that you prefer, and that none of these need to be delusions. If there are problems/concerns we can discuss/address them individually. We as an SG-team do not endorse a "Supremacy of the Divine" view of Mythic Europe, though we acknowledge this is the canon stance in the books/setting.
Ok, thank you. I don't have a preference for which realm Raise the Dead is associated with, and given the flexibility to deviate from the flaw as written that you describe, I'm happy to implement whatever the entire troupe is most comfortable with. Apologies for any offense that I caused.
I like this one! Domnall is not a particularly nice man (Surprise, the necromancer isn't nice, more news at eleven), and someone who is a bit more... Christian, will likely struggle with some of his proclivities. I mean the man literally has a spell to rob graves after all! But yeah, very keen to see where ya go with the whole Einherjar bit. Could be a lot of fun given the whole Draugr bit too. Who needs living shield grogs for him to lead when you've got dead ones?!
Entirely your call mate! Though Faerie kinda feels apt? Given that the Greek Gods were/are associated with Faerie, it's not too much of a stretch to make the same assumption about the Norse. But again, your call!
Literally nothing to apologize for mate. The whole Divine/Infernal thing is something of a minefield of sorts, and one that we often tend to try and avoid. Hence our house rule on it. While it changes the tone of the game in some ways, it just makes our collective lives a lot easier, ya know?
None caused, to be sure. And it wasn't my intent to make it seem otherwise if that was the case. Best regards.
Alrighty, so I've got the basics for the companions I'm thinking about. Got a number of other things I'm trying to come to grips with first (charter and vis sources), but I'll try to at least get the virtues and flaws posted for the respective magi to review here in the next day or so.
It's all good, thanks. I'll aim to post more details on the resurrected Einherjar concept, along with proposed virtues and flaws, by the end of the weekend.
Alright, so here is what I've been thinking about so far - a young nobleman who has no hope of inheritance, and ends up going to a university to study. He attends Bologna or Salerno (his mom may have been from the area), and studies specifically Medicine, Profession Apothecary, and Chirurgy. He also falls in with a Learned Magician and is initiated in Mythic Herbalism. After 9 years at university, he abandons his studies and joins the Hospitallers as a Confrere, to practice his medical skills in a place where they can make more of a difference. Two years or so into his time with the Order, he's killed in a skirmish. He's brought to Valhalla by the Valkyrie Eir who patches him up and also expands his knowledge of the healing arts further. For a reason not yet clear to him, he's sent back to Midgard to puzzle out what to do with the rest of his existence. And it just so happens that his resurrection coincided in both time and place with one of Domnall's excursions to find bodies to raise, which is how the two first meet.
Here is a first draft of virtues and flaws:
Educated; Privileged Upbringing; Warrior; Puissant Single Weapon; Puissant Mythic Herbalism; Mythic Herbalism; Immunity to Cold (MoH 128); Arcane Lore [kind of a placeholder for now; would be nice to find something else that is more useful to him]; Hospitaller Confrere if it's ok to still have some ties to them / Wanderer if not
Raised from the Dead; Major personality flaw still tbd; Optimistic; Environmental Sensitivity (RoPM 48) [-3 to Stamina when in hot environment]; Offensive to Divine characters (RoP:M 50); Necessary Magic Aura for Mythic Herbalism (Gr 82)
It'd be great to get feedback when anyone has time.
I also want to mention that I've been reading the Vitkir chapter in HMRE, and I'm also open to scrapping the above concept and developing something even more Norse-themed using those rules, if that's an option.
Well which one do you prefer? Before I get too much further in giving feedback that is.
That said, oh no, twist my arm! Personally, I've never thought that they should require the Gift, and that the various runes should be minor supernatural virtues. Think how the Gruagach have folks without the Gift who often know a few of the arts. So I'm amenable, but we'd need @Vortigern to jump in here.
I don't know 
The Mythic Herbalist-Hospitaller seems like a better fit for a companion-level character, and personally, I really like the former connection to a military order. And a university.
But a Vitkir would also be a lot of fun to play, with it's Futhark-inspired magic system. I also really like the stronger Norse connection. But a second magusish character doesn't fit as well with the troupe approach.
I guess I would lean toward the Vitkir, because it would be something totally new for me. Though I'm completely happy sticking with the Mythic Herbalist-Hospitaller.