tada!
(taken from the other thread and placed here)
A spirit of worms solves that problem in a lot of ways; she becomes a physical anchor to the real world, allowing them to share a diverse and disturbing swarm. I'm thinking they sort of found each other, or maybe even the spirit found her during her apprenticeship, as her magic deepened: Blatant Gift, Monstrous Appearance, Greater Malediction.... She also won't be able to bind a Might 100 spirit. 
Let's see. I'm beginning to think that she started off as a Criamon, but their initiation never took and she eventually became an Ex Misc. I like to think she killed the Primus instead of the usual Criamon 'gauntlet.' She spends most of her time pursuing her magics, because the Order has few resources for a maga with her interests. She likes her swarm, though sees individuals as chaff. She is even more protective of her covenant and likes to stay on her home ground. She is most protective of her disturbingly many children, which she bore and fostered out over many years of extravagant fertility before her longevity ritual kicked in, and her descendants (Major Story Flaw to get her out of the house, and... do you really want to know what her first time was like?) She is probably feared and grudgingly respected among magi, with a reputation as a fixer of last resort, someone the Quaesitori might call upon when methods no longer matter.
"You are a nexus of Harmony in a world of Strife."
"Everyone hates me, except the lunatics."
Her parens was first interested in her because of the spontaneous creation of animals that occurred around her. This excited him, because clearly she was the center of a nexus of increasing Harmony and creation! An excellent start for a Criamon maga! But the usual Enigma initiation didn't take. After all, she reasoned, maybe Criamon also makes the same mistake every time around and only thinks he has the solution. Besides, if everything was so harmonious before Empedocles goofed up, where did he get the idea to make claws? Why would he even be tempted to eat anything? Her own, more intimate experience with spontaneous creation and the pulse of the animal world led her to different conclusions. Her meditations became more solitary, to the extent that a girl surrounded by increasing numbers of vermin with whom she shares rapport could be said to be solitary. Her magical talent was less inclined toward worms than it would eventually become.
"I'm looking forward to completing your training."
Eventually, she found something. Perhaps something found her. Perhaps they had been together all along, slowly growing closer, each a reflection of the other. It wanted very much to share her life and experience in the real world, with a real swarm, and offered gifts of knowledge, of power, of fecundity, of perspective. She began to leave the anger and frustrations of her childhood behind and embrace whatever it is she is. She became more practical, more ruthless, more joyful. She had sex (do you really want to know the details?) and her first set of quadruplets and arguments with her parens about this. And in the end, she got the Enigma, but it took killing the Primus with the sword she named Sufficiency.
"Now you're on the Path of Strife!"
"Fuck that! I told you I'm Ex Misc. It starts with an Ex. But feel free to let me know if someone needs wasting, it's the least I can do."
She spends the next few years settling into her home. She does stuff. She accumulates vermin. She studies Arts. She binds the spirit as familiar--or it binds her. It grants her what gifts it can without damaging itself, and continues to do this over the years. It becomes increasingly difficult to tell where human ends and spirit begins, as accord grows. She has more children. She fosters them out. She does some dirty work for the Quaesitors and gets a really good Longevity Ritual.
"You have a great reputation and we'd be honored if you would join us."
"I have a reputation as an inhuman psychopath without a shred of compassion or subtlety, and the barest vestige of social skills."
"Exactly."
"Don't you have hoplites for that sort of thing? Call the cavalry?"
"That's not always the best response."
"Don't you have allies in House Tytalus for that sort of thing?"
"We like to think so." "Sometimes we don't want side effects."
"I don't want it. I have things to do."
"Please think about it."
"I already did."
"Not enough. You need this."
"That's not why you're offering. Give it to a drooler."
"We want you because you don't want it."
"I'm not an investigator."
"We have enough of those."
"I'd cut the baby in half and fine them for wasting my time."
"Then they'd best be reasonable."
At some point, Maurice may start referrring to you as a Tytalus maga, whether you appreciate it or not 
So long as he remembers that she's better at bugging people....
I'm stopping here for comments.
Deborah, Maga Ex Misc
(at 'Gauntlet', seconds before she kills the Criamon Primus)
“This is holy fire. It's good for you.”
Deborah didn't start off quite as horrific as she would become, but her parents dumped her in a basket at a nunnery nun-theless 
. They tried to endure her as she became increasingly unpleasant, really they did, but eventually decided that getting rid of her would be best for everyone. She was denied her shot at immediate and ever-lasting glory and salvation by an evil Criamon wizard, William Josephus Robertus the Wise and Compassionate (secretly known to his enlightened Criamon buddies as Billy Joe Bob the Downright Righteous and Totally Cool).
"You are a nexus of Harmony in a world of Strife."
"Is that way everyone hates me?”
“No one hates you here.”
“Except the people.”
Her parens was first interested in her because of the spontaneous creation of animals that occurred around her. This excited him, because clearly she was the center of a nexus of increasing Harmony and creation! An excellent start for a Criamon maga! But the usual Enigma initiation didn't take. After all, she reasoned, maybe Criamon also makes the same mistake every time around and only thinks he has the solution. Besides, if everything was so harmonious before Empedocles goofed up, where did he get the idea to make claws? Why would he even be tempted to eat anything? Her own, more intimate experience with spontaneous creation and the pulse of the animal world led her to different conclusions. Her meditations became more solitary, to the extent that a girl surrounded by increasing numbers of vermin with whom she shares rapport could be said to be solitary. Her magical talent was less inclined toward worms than it would eventually become.
"I'm looking forward to completing your training."
Eventually, she found something. Perhaps something found her. Perhaps they had been together all along, slowly growing closer, each a reflection of the other. It wanted very much to share her life and experience in the real world, with a real swarm, and offered gifts of knowledge, of power, of fecundity, of perspective. She began to leave the anger and frustrations of her childhood behind and embrace whatever it is she is. She became more practical, more ruthless, more joyful. She had sex (do you really want to know the details?) and her first set of quadruplets and arguments with her parens about this.
“I wish I had taught you better. I am sorry for failing you like this.”
“It's not your fault I haven't paid attention to you in years.”
“Yes. You have turned to a dangerous spirit of vermin. I worry for you.”
“If you really cared you would have destroyed it.”
“Destruction isn't the Way.”
“You could have banished it.”
“Who am I to deny you your Path?”
“My parens?”
“If I have taught you anything, it is to walk your own Path.”
“Great, I'm walking my own Path. Am I a maga now?”
“You do not understand the Enigma. You are not ready to become a maga of House Criamon.”
“Then I'll be an Ex Misc. What do I have to do?”
And in the end, she got the Enigma, but it took killing the Primus with the sword she named Sufficiency.
“Now you are walking the Path of Strife!”
“Now I'm walking the Path of Not Looking Backward.”
“You will be welcome when you return.”
“Fuck that! I told you I'm Ex Misc. It starts with an Ex. But feel free to let me know if someone needs wasting, it's the least I can do. I owe you."
Str +0
Sta +2
Int +3
Per +2
Pre -5
Com +1
Dex +0
Qik +0
Personality Traits: *Monstrous Appearance +6, *Good with Animals +3, Ruthless +3, Protective +3, Spiritual -2
Flaws (-16):
-3 Essential Trait: Monstrous Appearance(Presence)6
-3 Blatant Gift
-2 Poor Presence*2
-1 Ability Block (Charm, Carouse, Etiquette, Guile, Intrigue)
-1 Lesser Malediction: Is Affected by Animal magics as well as Mentem and Corpus
-3 Story Flaw: Dependents
-3 Greater Malediction: Continual Generation of Worms
Virtues(+17):
3 Greater Immunity to Animals
3 Major Magical Focus: Everything 'Worm'
1 Puissant Animal
1 Puissant Creo
1 Affinity with Animal
1 Affinity with Creo
1 Essential Trait: Good with Animals(Presence)+3
3 Flexible Formulaic Magic
1 Spirit Familiar
1 Animal Ken
1 Inoffensive to Animals
There are more three more virtues and flaws than the usual Ex Misc +14/-13, but I like how this set of Flaws represents her as she ends her apprenticeship. The virtues, also.
Personality Traits with an asterisk are Essential, as described in RoP:M. Aside from the obvious problems and benefits, the Essential nature of these traits means that magic cannot change them. For example, MuIm spells can change her appearance, but not that it's monstrous.
She takes -12 to most social interactions with ordinary people even before they squick because of the vermin surrounding her, which pretty much limits these interactions to hatred and terror. Even magi find her disturbing. She communicates well, however.
Her focus deals with “worms” and the wormy: Insects, spiders, testaceans, frogs, mice, honey, spiderwebs, silk, spirits of worms and so on.
Deborah is affected by Animal. This offers some benefits, in that Deborah can use her favored Form for any Hermetic effect that normally needs Corpus or Mentem, but leaves her vulnerable to spells and powers that work on animals, as well as Corpus and Mentem. Deborah keeps this secret.
If she ever manages to find a suitable apprentice and start a lineage, her standard Ex Misc virtues and flaws should be Blatant Gift, balanced by Greater Immunity to Animals and Spirit Familiar. (Or Blatant Gift, Affected by Animal, Ability Block and Poor Presence balanced by Greater Immunity to Animals, Spirit Familiar, Animal Ken, Inoffensive to Animals and Good with Animals).
No comments?
Looks a bit broken to me
I'm not sure why she needs the two Major Hermetic Virtues, and the Lesser Malediction seems to me to give more advantages than not, in the long run. She can heal and augment her physical traits with two kinds of vis, for example; and she might even be able to create longevity rituals with her CrAn Lab Total instead of CrCo.
I'm not bothered much by the Lesser Malediction and its implications though, as I can see they add to the character in nice ways. But Flexible Formulaic Magic... why exactly?
Also I'm not sure how she got Spirit Familiar out of Gauntlet, but that may be a matter of reading it in the background when it looks less like a series of thoughts and weird dialogs
Oh and very curious in reading how did she kill the Criamon Primus and got away with it (if its some Criamon mystery weirdness, my apologies. I skipped that chapter almost entirely due to... not liking it really).
Anyway, you asked for comments and here are mine - take them as you wish.
Caelarch might have different opinions, and I'm usually pretty much ok with whatever, in the end.
Hi,
I'd happily change that so that she's affected by Animal instead of Co and Me, LR and all. It's advantageous until she needs someone to heal her....
Is that why from a background perspective or mechanical?
.....
She's had two influences, her parens and the spirit. It's in the background. The spirit writeup is partially complete, but it can teach/grant this to her.
grin The Criamon always need someone to kill their Primus, and they're too peaceful to do it themselves. It's in the Criamon chapter. I've kept wanting to have a magus who did the deed and Deborah's the sort who'd be happy to.
The Criamon chapter isn't everyone's cuppa tea. I find it brilliantly written, but it's not the sort of thing I could easily play.
Thank you. I indeed asked for comments, not sycophantic approval. (Though that's always nice too! 
)
Anyway,
Ken
I can't agree with two Major Hermetic Virtues. It looks like your flaw package really fits your character, and you were looking for something to balance out the last three flaw points. Flexible formulaic magic doesn't seem to fit as well within the character concept.
Also, I'm wondering who the "dependents" are? I'm thinking you can bring the character back in line by dropping Dependents and FFM. If you are interested in developing FFM, let's work on a mystery that could get you that virtue.
The last question, is whether the lesser malediction is really a flaw? Obviously, you will have a high animal score, and this malediction ends up working far more like a virtue than a flaw. I like the idea of you being more vulnerable to Animal magic, because of your closeness to it. How about Flawed Parma Magica (Animal)? Alternatively, how about you are affected by animal spells cast by others. You still get some benefit from investing animal spells into devices to cast on yourself, your sodales using it(if you share your secret) etc., without it seeming as broken. How do those sound?
Hi,
Fair enough about the FFM. I would like her to be able to initiate it or learn it in the Magic Realm (preferably the latter, since I don't see her as a cultist.) One of my large concerns about Deborah is that her focus is so far from the mainstream that she will have to invent a lot of her own spells in order for her to get any use out of her focus, and good Animal spells tend to have higher levels (which is why I've seen vanishingly few Animal specialist character sheets).
The dependents are her children. In keeping with the swarm, hive and spontaneous generation theme, I want her to have an absurdly large number of children regularly, starting late in her apprenticeship until her Longevity Ritual puts an end to her fertility. She fosters them out, for obvious reasons, but children (and later grandchildren and great-grandchildren) give her a connection to humanity. From a character creation perspective, I think this is important. If all virtues and flaws are directed toward a character's function in a game, that's all there is. I think it's doubly important for a character as extreme as Deborah, who is easily reduced to a single dimension. On the one hand, she's so bad with people that it would be convenient to write them off. On the other hand, think of the children... Oooh, I'm going to add Think of the Children as a personality trait. 
considers I think it's fair to see the lesser malediction not as a flaw, and I acknowledge that I also wanted the advantages: One of the things that it took me a while to realize about Deborah is that she will have to invent a lot of her spells because there just aren't many spells out there within her focus. If I keep the Dependents, which I'd like to, then I can list my malediction as a minor virtue--she is affected by Animal instead of Corpus or Mentem. That does give me two more virtue points.
Is this ok?
Anyway,
Ken
I'm going to say go with this for now. I like the bit about your (mortal) children. Although it goes over the normal v/f limit, I'm included to allow it. If others strongly object, or it looks abusive in play I'll deal with it then.
I don't have big problems with it, and I quite like the idea of Deborah's extended family dragging her out her ant hill.
Let me get this right though, the malediction is now a Virtue that actually means she gets affected by Animal INSTEAD of Corpus and Mentem? Yep, she's definitely ugly as sin!
Hi,
grin It's a major flaw. I see it as "Deborah has had an average of four children per year between the ages of 16 to 35, so she has 80 children, whom she has cleverly arranged to foster as heirs to the major nobility of France, and now they all revere her and their children too," but "she has all these children and eventually grandchildren in all walks of life who for the most part have no idea of her existence, yet she knows of theirs and every now and then feels a need to do something, and sometimes must decide between a child's interest and some other consideration, and if a descendant does know about her, he is more likely to cause trouble than be useful." If one of her children has an army, he will more likely march on some covenant (bad news even if it's not hers) or march against one of her other children than come to her aid in the nick of time. And if a child does come to her aid in the nick of time, with a band of knights, a minor saint and lots of filial loyalty, you can be sure the real story is about the Quaesitores who come next or the saint who has some good ideas for the covenant--or even no bad aftereffects, just something to keep players waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then there's the magus who takes one of Deborah's children as an apprentice without the courtesy to let her know, or worse, then mistreats the child.
Subtle stories also work: Deborah is invited to a grandchild's wedding and for some reason cannot decline yet for obvious reasons does not dare show up. Ooops.
And don't forget the two faeries who think it would be the height of cool to create a story in which they send one of her youngest to kill the evil enchantress and her foul minions. The faeries are happy whoever wins, especially if they can get the child to say "I know what happened to my mother; you killed her," with Deborah responding, "No, I am your mother." Naturally, to participate in the story as companions, one faerie adopts the role of a versatile craftsman and names himself Artois, and the other is a storyteller and interpreter.....
Lots of children doesn't mean that there will be lots of stories that dominate everything, just that they can be surprising and diverse.
Anyway,
Ken
Hi,
easy grin Sin is attractive! That's why so many people sin. It's virtue that's ugly.....
But yes. Just in case Pre -5, Essential Trait: Monstrous Appearance(Stamina) -6, and a greater malediction that continually generates vermin all around her were not enough to convey the horror, we have this too.
Any story in which Deborah appears is immediately rated R. /2
Anyway,
Ken
Argh!
Edit priveleges, where are you?
In the post two before this one, it should read that I don't see it as ..... but....
That's probably obvious, but just in case!
Anyway,
Ken
Hi,
While getting rid of FFM and making the other v/f adjustments, I noticed the Nature Lore virtue, which, taken as Nature Lore: Animals suits Deborah even better than Inoffensive to Animals, Animal Ken and Essential Trait: Good with Animals. She will have to dump a bunch of xp into the virtue for it to be useful, but would then hold sway over animals through her power rather than being nice, and would have a far wider perceptive network than her spirit's.
So, while getting rid of FFM, I made this change too.
Deborah, Maga Ex Misc
(at 'Gauntlet', before going off to kill the Criamon Primus)
“This is holy fire. It's good for you.”
Deborah didn't start off quite as horrific as she would become, but her parents dumped her in a basket at a nunney nun-theless . They tried to endure her as she became increasingly unpleasant, really they did, but then they stopped trying. She started spending most of her time outdoors with all manner of beasts yet somehow they failed to see her as another Francis. Eventually they decided that getting rid of her would be best for everyone. She was denied her shot at immediate and ever-lasting glory and salvation through immersion in cleansing flames, by an vicious Criamon wizard, William Josephus Robertus the Wise and Compassionate (secretly known to his enlightened Criamon buddies as Billy Joe Bob the Downright Righteous and Totally Cool) too selfish to care about the greater good, and too steeped in evil to appreciate the difference between hellfire and holy fire.
"You are a nexus of Harmony in a world of Strife."
"Is that why everyone hates me?”
“No one hates you here.”
“Only the people.”
Her parens was first interested in her because of the spontaneous creation of animals that occurred around her. This excited him, because clearly she was the center of a nexus of increasing Harmony and creation! An excellent start for a Criamon maga! But the usual Enigma initiation didn't take. After all, she reasoned, maybe Criamon also makes the same mistake every time around and only thinks he has the solution. Besides, if everything was so harmonious before Empedocles goofed up, where did he get the idea to make claws? Why would he even be tempted to eat anything? Her own, more intimate experience with spontaneous creation and with the pulse of the animal world led her to different conclusions. Her meditations became more solitary, to the extent that a girl surrounded by increasing numbers of vermin with whom she shares rapport could be said to be solitary. Her magical talent was less inclined toward worms than it would eventually become.
"I'm looking forward to completing your training."
Eventually, she found something. Perhaps something found her. Perhaps they had been together all along, slowly growing closer, each a reflection of the other. It wanted very much to share her life and experience in the real world, with a real swarm, and offered gifts of knowledge, of power, of fecundity, of perspective. She began to leave the anger and frustrations of her childhood behind and embrace whatever it is she is. She became more practical, more ruthless, more joyful. She had sex (do you really want to know the details?) and her first set of quadruplets and arguments with her parens about this.
“I wish I had taught you better. I am sorry for failing you like this.”
“It's not your fault I haven't paid attention to you in years.”
“Yes. You have turned to a dangerous spirit of vermin. I worry for you.”
“If you really cared you would have destroyed it.”
“Destruction isn't the Way.”
“You could have banished it.”
“Who am I to deny you your Path?”
“My parens?”
“If I have taught you anything, it is to walk your own Path.”
“Yes, Master, thank you Master. You bent to teach me rather than bending me to your teachings. I am grateful. Really. Now I'm walking my own Path. Now I am a maga.”
“You do not understand the Enigma. You are not ready to be a maga of House Criamon.”
“I'll be an Ex Misc. What do I have to do?”
And in the end, she got the Enigma, but it took a few Criamon trials and finally killing the Primus with the sword she named Sufficiency.
“Now you are walking the Path of Strife!”
“Now I'm walking the Path of Not Looking Backward.”
“You will be welcome when you return.”
“Fuck that! I told you I'm Ex Misc. It starts with an Ex. But feel free to let me know if someone needs wasting, it's the least I can do. I owe you."
Str +0
Sta +2
Int +3
Per +2
Pre -5
Com +1
Dex +0
Qik +0
Personality Traits: *Monstrous Appearance +6, Think of the Children +1, Ruthless +3, Protective +3, Spiritual -2
Flaws (-15):
-3 Essential Trait: Monstrous Appearance(Presence)6
-3 Blatant Gift
-2 Poor Presence*2
-1 Ability Block (Charm, Carouse, Etiquette, Guile, Intrigue)
-3 Story Flaw: Dependents
-3 Greater Malediction: Continual Generation of Worms
Virtues(+16):
3 Greater Immunity to Animals
3 Major Magical Focus: Everything 'Worm'
1 Puissant Animal
1 Puissant Creo
1 Affinity with Animal
1 Affinity with Creo
1 Puissant Magic Theory
1 Affinity with Parma Magica
1 Nature Lore: Animals
1 Puissant Nature Lore
1 Minor Benediction: Affected by Animal instead of Corpus or Mentem
1 Spirit Familiar
There are more two more virtues and flaws than the usual Ex Misc +14/-13, but I like how this set of Flaws represents her as she ends her apprenticeship. The virtues, also.
Personality Traits with an asterisk are Essential, as described in RoP:M. Aside from the obvious problems and benefits, the Essential nature of these traits means that magic cannot change them. For example, MuIm spells can change her appearance, but not that it's monstrous.
She takes -12 to most social interactions with ordinary people even before they squick because of the vermin surrounding her, which pretty much limits these interactions to hatred and terror. Even magi find her disturbing. She communicates well, however.
Her focus deals with “worms” and the wormy: Insects, spiders, testaceans, frogs, mice, honey, spiderwebs, silk, spirits of worms and so on.
Deborah has always been more attuned to the world of animals than the world of people, and as that attunement has became mystical in step with her growing strangeness. She is increasingly at one with animals, sharing their awareness and holding sway over them through her Nature Lore.
Deborah is affected by Animal instead of Mentem or Corpus. This is largely beneficial. Deborah can use her favorite Form on herself for all purposes, but enemy Mentem or Corpus spells will fail. Deborah keeps this secret. There are some downsides; the Order has built up a splendid repertoire of Corpus spells—healing, teleportation, transformation—and these are pretty useless for her. Some Animal alternatives are out there, especially among House Bjornaer.
Deborah's magics are especially effective with Animal, as befits her nature, and Creo, because of her association with spontaneous generation and fecundity. (Rego spells cause vermin to spontaneously generate from a medium, but Creo is the ideal Art of all creation and save for the imperfection of Hermetic Magic would be able to do the same.) She sees Animal as a neglected Art and intends to change that.
If she ever manages to find a suitable apprentice and start a lineage, her standard Ex Misc virtues and flaws should be Blatant Gift, balanced by Greater Immunity to Animals and Nature Lore: Animals.
Abilities
050 04 French
015 02 Athletics
005 01 Swim
030 02 Awareness
005 01 Survival (scrounge)
015 02 Folk Ken (authority)
015 02 Brawl(dodge)
015 02 Stealth (hide)
005 01 Area Lore: Some Convent (avoid people)
080 05+2 Animal Lore [Nature Lore] (Brittany)
015 02 Concentration
005 01 Church Lore
005 01 Leadership (intimidation)
005 01 Ride
005 01 Animal Handling
050 04 Latin
005 01 Artes Liberales
030 03+2 Magic Theory (Animal)
008 01 *Parma Magica (Ignem)
015 02 Finesse (Animal)
005 01 House Criamon Lore
005 01 Code of Hermes
Arts
078 12+3 *Creo
021 06 Muto
078 12+3 *Animal
Spells (always within focus; #other spell)
35 CrAn Weaver's Trap of Webs
20 CrAn True Rest of the Injured Brute
15 MuAn Doublet of Impenetrable Silk*
15 CrMe Panic of the Trembling Heart
05 InVi Sense the Nature of Vis
05 InVi Sense of Realm Power#
25 MuAn Calling The Insignificant Worm to Greatness#*
Sense of Realm Power (InVi lvl 5, R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind)
This spell tells the caster what realm he is in.
(Base 1, +1 Touch, +1 Extra effect: Divine, +1 Faerie, +1 Infernal)
Calling the Insignificant Worm to Greatness (MuAn lvl 25, R: Voice, D: Sun, T: Ind+1)
This rare spell grows a verminous invertebrate to size +4. The size increase affects its Strength and Quickness in the usual way, but Size also adds to the creature's Soak as its chitin hardens and the potency of its sting or bite due to the larger volume of venom. With the possible exception of giant butterflies, enlarged vermin terrify people. The creature is easily large enough to act as a (flying) mount, worker or warrior, but this spell neither lends the caster control over the creature nor emboldens him to venture anywhere near the horror he has unleashed.
(Base 4, +2 Voice, +2 Sun, +1 size, +1 great effect)
Deborah does not have the Good Parens virtue, but has been fortunate in William Josephus Robertus, who, in the Criamon way, made a meditative practice of teaching Deborah to be Deborah rather than William. This took more than emotional effort on his part, and his work shows up in the Arts and spells she knows. Almost all of these are from the main rulebook, representing the bread and butter spells of the Order. One of the two InVi spells is his own. He used both of them in the two seasons he spent teaching her spells, to get his best lab total for teaching. Calling the Insignificant Worm to Greatness is a rare spell he traded for. He is pleased to have found it, and his Criamon buddies are totally impressed. In typical Criamon fashion, he sees the time and effort put into bringing her this spell as her gift to him rather than his gift to her. Deborah, having failed to “get it,” sees it the other way around.
Deborah's abilities: She keeps away from people when she can. Her high Nature Lore score lets her get a good sense of where she is. Even outside of Brittany, she can get a good feel of the area, perceive Magic regiones, know about supernatural stuff in the area, get a neutral reaction from supernatural animals (who can in no way harm her due to her greater immunity), communicate with all animals in a limited way and sense disturbances. Within her home region, all animals treat her as a respected ally; she can also communicate with animals simply by thinking about them, and if she concentrates they will come to her call. She rarely feels a need to call, mostly using her ability for knowledge, resources and allegiance. Weaver's Trap of Webs is a versatile attack against diverse targets that can impede even if Penetration fails; William was pleased to learn and teach this non-lethal spell. Calling the Insignificant Worm to Greatness is also versatile, especially for Deborah who is completely unfazed by being near a humongous bug or worm, especially since it probably already heeds her. Panic of the Trembling Heart is a good nudge to clear someone who is not already fleeing in terror. Deborah can fatiguelessly spont a variety of lvl5 MuAn effects, granting her abilities like Eyes of the Night Insect as needed, and can often achieve fatigueless lvl10 CrAn effects within her focus. She is not yet able to bind the spirit, for which she needs a 65 CrAn verminous lab total; excluding Aura, lab and an assistant, she currently has 52. The spirit really wants to settle down with her and make a home together, literally.
What's up next for Deborah: She is about to travel to Criamon Central to bag herself a Primus. When she returns home, she knows that she has a lot of work to do, especially regarding Magic Theory.
Your maximum Hermetic age is 43. It can be as low as 40.
grin
Either everything is good or it hasn't been read.
--Ken
Year 1: The Year of Living Dangerously
(When you describe it like a Traveler table, I hesitate to adventure at all! I remember Traveler, and the characters who died during character creation or who emerged... scathed. But here goes. I'll assign xp later.)
EDIT: Adding in xps.
It is said that a Flambeau apprentice Gauntlets by traveling to a known place, wreaking havoc along the way. He is judged by the quality of the havoc he wreaks. The same is not said of Criamon magi, but it can happen.
Deborah, having completed 15 years of study, is now sent to the Cave of Twisting Shadows where she may kill the Primus, whose time has come, just like it did 90,000 years ago.
Spring
"Aren't you coming with me?"
"I can point you toward your Way, but choose not to walk it with you. Go in peace."
"We'll see."
Deborah takes the prescribed route, and the Criamon have a surprise for her along the way. A nasty adulteration has been terrorizing a mountain hamlet. It attacks Deborah. Deborah barely holds her own and is forced to withdraw and take stock of the situation. She realizes that this is a Criamon test of some kind and observes everything that is going on. The peasants are terrified of her. Most of them hide but a few run to the local lord for assistance. Deborah resolves the situation by allowing the adulteration to live and haunt the area, but kills off all the peasants in the hamlet, the lord, and everyone else in the vicinity.
Then she continued until she reached the Cave of Twisting Shadows.
"Your spirit is stained with the blood of innocents."
"You would have had me kill the adulteration."
"It is a monster."
"My world has room for monsters."
10xp plus stuff
5xp Parma --> 8xp
2xp Nature Lore
1xp Folk Ken
1xp Creo --> 2xp
1xp Stealth
Summer
"Aren't you coming with me?"
"I can point you toward your Way, but choose not to walk it with you. Go in peace."
"We'll see."
Deborah takes the prescribed route, and the Criamon have a surprise for her along the way. The route goes through a city, and Deborah knows enough about Criamon ways that going around the city will not take her to the same place as going through it. Through the city she goes, but takes the sewers, for the city was originally Roman and actually has them. The people of the sewers mostly flee from her in terror, though the rats get along with her just fine. A coven of diabolists mistake her for a demon and seek to worship and help her in exchange for her favor. This is their last mistake. This draws the wrath of real demons, who by turns contend with her and her vermin spirit for control of the rats, seek to destroy her, and seek to corrupt her for isn't she so very like them? It is touch and go for a while due to mutual incompetence: The demons were intended to corrupt the outcasts of the city, and their best powers largely don't work on Deborah, but Deborah's magics are not well-suited to fighting demons. As collateral violence rose in the city above, and the demons brought in more suitable reinforcements, it looked as though Deborah would lose. But she reached out beyond the sewers, and discovered the natural world within the city. She made contact with supernatural animals in the world above, and the animals found and played charades with a young man studying for the priesthood who finally realized what they wanted; he followed them to the sewers and the demons fled before his faith. Deborah hid in the shadows and watched. The night before she left the city, the young man was murdered under circumstances where the animals could not help her discover the murderer, and her other magics are poorly suited to that. Deborah left the city, her victory bittersweet.
Then she continued until she reached the Cave of Twisting Shadows
10xp + stuff
5xp Parma --> 8xp
1xp Nature Lore
1xp Creo-->2xp
1xp Infernal Lore
1xp Divine Lore
1xp Finesse
Autumn
"So you have been planning my journeys."
"Yes."
"Which one was real?"
"Both of them." "You could have let the diabolists be."
"No I couldn't."
"If you had let them be, your son would have lived."
The senior Criamon wizard could easily have defeated her had he been truly prepared for her. He had Warded himself against animals and thought himself prepared, but of the myriad vermin surrounding Deborah, a few had a smidgeon of Might and passed through the ward. Just being with her set him on edge. He failed to concentrate on a proper counter, and Deborah webbed him and killed him with her knife. Or perhaps the Criamon wizard knew exactly what Deborah would do. Who can tell?
"He created her tests, and was himself tested. He slew the innocent as surely as she. Let it rest."
"It will be a long time before we see him again. I am going to miss him."
"Both of them."
The Criamon deliberated and consulted and decided that Deborah was not yet officially a magus, and therefore did not violate the Code. There was only one thing left to do. Well, two things. First, officially confirm that she is a maga. As for the second....
"Thank you for coming. We really ought to stop meeting like this!"
10xp + stuff
5xp Parma
5xp Enigmatic Wisdom
Winter
Having slain the Primus, Deborah is at last able to learn Enigmatic Wisdom. She spends the season being taught by the dead primi of House Criamon.
How many xp would you like her to get for this?
As a side effect of all this, Deborah now has a Reputation.
Year 2: The Year of Settling In
EDIT--see below