Very eager to see what this turns out like.
Took me some time to polish the details.
I had suggested making him a mercenary captain, but I ended up developing him a bit more, aging him a few years, and realizing it doesn't make sense for his story anymore.
Overview
- Animal Ken, worked as a Master of Kennels for a noble
- Fought a war (mainly scout), became a raider after it ended
- Tried to raid Lámbaird, failed, asked to join
- Discovered Lámbaird breeds magical dogs, begged to work with them
- Was present during the entirety of Vorsutus apprenticeship, sees himself as an older brother
- Asked to follow Vorsutus to new covenant, current goal is to start a new magical kennel and breed a new kind of magical dog
Childhood to Early Adulthood
As a child what Finn liked most was to hear the stories his mother told him – stories about the might warriors of Ireland, the powerful gods, and the magical beasts. An active boy he went around, pretending to be a fennid . A stick was his sword, Old Gray, his dog, was a magical hound, and together they went on many adventures.
From an early age he realized he could understand the voice of Old Gray and other animals.
Time passed, Old Gray died, and Finn grew up to be a hardened and practical man, just like his father.
Adult Life – Before Lambaird
His Animal Ken helped him work his way to the position of kennel master for a wealthy noble, tending to his hunting dogs. He worked hard, ignoring the constant advances of his lord’s wife towards him… until a war broke out and he was forced by his lord to become a soldier. Only then he learned how much of a jealous man his lord was.
His Animal Ken once more proved to be invaluable, and Finn became a competent scout, recognized by his ability to find safe paths, trails, and discern ambushes (all with assistance of his Animal Ken). Very cautious, he was often seen as a coward by others, for always prioritizing his and his teamates lives, a reputation that would be worse if his carefulness didn’t always pay off.
As careful as he was, however, that wasn’t enough to protect him from all harm, and an enemy’s sword eventually found it’s way to his right eye.
His lord lost the war. Finn, discharged from service and unable to go back to his life as a kennel master put the martial abilities he learned to use, becoming a mercenary. He and a few friends from his war days banded together and raided the land for a couple of years, until one day they had the bad luck of trying to raid cattle from Lambaird. The group was met with balls of flame flying across the air.
Always the practical man, Finn surrendered, ensuring his survival and that of most of his colleagues. However, his heart pounded fast for he realized, if this man harnessed real magic, just like the old legends, then maybe – just maybe – he would know where to find a magical dog.
Adult Life – During Lambaird
Finn asked to join Lambaird, initially selling his services as a mercenary, but as soon as he discovered that the covenant bred hunting dogs – magical hunting dogs – he revealed his talent as a kennel master and begged to be allowed to work with them.
He first learned under Lambaird’s Kennel Master about the specifics of raising magical dogs - and quickly did he learn. He became the Kennel Master of Lambaird just a couple of weeks before Vorsutus became his “apprentice” during the years his Gift was damaged.
Being the Kennel Master meant that even after Vorsutus’ Gift was restored they still had constant interaction, as Finn cared for Lóegaire Liath (Dalton’s familiar) and his descendents. Through Vorsutus apprenticeship they developed a healthy friendship, with Finn seeing the magus as a younger brother of sorts.
Adult Life – A Man of Inchmore
As the years advanced, Finn’s priorities changed. He has worked with plenty of magical dogs (and other animals) in the last years, and the desire to leave behind a legacy has been growing in his heart. Upon learning that Vorsutus was leaving for a new covenant he asked to follow him, becoming the Kennel Master of Inchmore.
His goal is to breed a new kind of magical dog in Inchmore, competing in quality with the dogs from Lambaird.
Virtues and Flaws
These aren't balanced yet, and will be adjusted.
Virtues:
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Master of Kennels (+1): mandatory for the concept, I believe
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Master of (Form) Creatures (+1): Can tame magical creatures of (Form), can buy Magical Lore knowledge. Also required for the concept to work better. I think the ideal (Form) here would be Animal (kinda obvious), but I wanted to confirm this with the troupe.
Animal Ken (+1): not required, but I believe very important. -
Warrior (+1) (I might give up on this in favor of something else)
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Well-Travelled (+1): due to his years in the army+ raiding.
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Intuition (+1) + Clear Thinker (+1): I want to think of him as a guy who makes the right decision, either by logic or by luck. Who has a gut feeling that things are not right, even if he is not fully aware of the reasons. Clear Thinker isn't helping much with that (except perhaps helping him navigate under mystical confoundig influences). I accept suggestions.
Flaws:
- Missing Eye (-1): This could be healed in due time, but wasn't so far. I figure he still doesn't has enough merit. I could change this for something else if needed.
- Stuck in His Ways (-1) (Gr 84): Lámbaird is unorthodox in several ways, and Finn spent like, 15 years there. He doesn't understand the way Inchmore is being organized. To him Lámbaird is the "correct" one, and Inchmore is the one unnecessarily changing things.
- Greedy (-3)
- Driven (breed new race of magical dog) (-1)
- Curse of Venus (-3): still pondering if I need this or not. I find it interesting, but I'm yet not sure how it would manifest in play since I don't see him having a lot of contact with the opposite sex.
Abilities-wise he is an animal trainer and a scout/hunter, with a decent Magic Lore knowledge. I might reduce a few scores a bit, but this is good enough for a first take and general direction.
His current spread considers him to be 35 years old and to have 3 Virtues giving him 50xp each: Master of Kennels, Well-Traveled and Warrior.
Abilities:
- Animal Handling 6 (dogs)
- Animal Ken 4 (dogs)
- Area Lore: Ireland 4 (Leinster)
- Covenant Lore 2 (Lambaird)
- Athletics 3 (running)
- Awareness 5 (ambushes)
- Bows 4 (when hunting)
- Brawl 2 (grappling)
- Carouse 2 (enjoying)
- Folk Ken 2 (magi)
- Hunt 5 (with hounds)
- Leadership 2 (kennel staff)
- Gaelic 5 (Leinster)
- Magic Lore 4 (magical dogs)
- Profession: Master of Kennels 2 (treating diseases)
- Ride 3 (woodlands)
- Single Weapon 2 (shield)
- Stealth 2 (woodlands)
- Survival 2 (woodlands)
I think this is really interesting and evocative with a lot of story potential.
What would you say to the possibility of amplifying his magical training and abilities and making him an ungifted follower of a beast master tradition? Maybe, say, the Magi of Lombaird once he is there pay to have his talent cultivated by some Connachta beast master Druids to further refine and expand his abilities, then keep him on in the Covenant?
There are a variety of things we could use to expand said abilities, but all in all it just gives the potential for expanding him a little bit into being an ungifted hedgie still focused on the same areas/magic.
Just off the top of my head a few things that might be worked in to add to his abilities are Summon Animals, Command Animals, and/or a reskin of the Faerie Bargaining material to make for a (Magical Beast) Summoning, (Magical Beast) Commanding, Bonding (for making deals to borrow powers etc.). One could also take a look at Potent Sorcery and Lesser Craft Magic. It would give the character a little more magical oomph if you will while still not putting them anywhere near Magus territory.
I'm not particularly keen on making him more magical, and I can't really find a supernatural virtue that complements the concept in a way I find compelling.
But I wonder, would Piercing Gaze also apply to animals (consider that he has Animal Ken)? That might be interesting.
Otherwise, I wonder about things to increase his capabilities as a scout/hunter. Perhaps Ways of the (Land)?
Ok, thinking a bit more. The idea of leaning a bit more on magic is growing on me.
Nothing right now requires him to have Animal Ken from infancy, so it could be the result of an initiation with the druids. Other fitting virtues IMO could be Dowsing and Wilderness Sense.
Another interesting one would be Curse-Throwing, which would mainly be used by him to move diseases from stronger/desirable animals to weaker/less desirable animals (saving on Creo and Animal vis). It could also be used to treat people.
Summon Animals is interesting, but I'm not sure of how it would be used by him on play. Between the magi, the grogs, himself and two to three dogs (in appropriate situations) I don't think he needs the combat power that the virtue provides.
I'd be open to other virtues, as long as they don't require extended time out of the kennels, but I'd rather gear his .
As for a story flaw, I think it would be better to replace Curse of Venus (-3) for Favors (-3) (to the druids). Since he was allowed to leave Lámbaird, I'd say that whatever price he had to pay them for their investment was already paid. But he still owns favors to the druidic circle that taught him.
The druids could be modeled as a group of hedge-witches. Animal Ken and Dowsing are already between the Abilities they have, and it should be easy to say they also have access to scripts to Curse-Throwing and/or Wilderness Sense.
Thoughts?
Ok, another thing. Just remembered Inchmore is on an island, so maybe a kennel master isn't the best option (I don't think it's bad, it just isn't the best)?
If I switch his focus to taming falcons that opens up a few new things that make sense for the character, such as Flight (again from folk witches) and Whistle Up the Wind, possibly other things I haven't thought yet.
Would this make more sense, given the covenant's nature?
I had legitimately considered making a member of Ex-Misc as a weather focused hedgie (who used zero Hermetic arts), so I love the idea!
I readily concur with being fond of either mode of the concept. A more substantive reply will have to wait until I have time and books available.
The short version however is I would fully support either and integrating it into a folk which sort of tradition would tie it all together.
Take a look at RoP: F, the section on faerie bargaining, and in particular either there or in RoP:M (this is why I need books yes?) there is a discussion of different versions of the summoning/bargaining magics. I have long thought that made fertile ground for a hedge tradition based around summoning and dealing with magical beasts.
Taking some of that and some of the folk witch and blending it together I think makes for an interesting hedge tradition concept.
Alright, I'll wait for your ideas regarding what sort of hedgie you are interested in building. If you'd like I can help here in trying to craft a hedge tradition to suit (I think that is very Hibernian given the Coill/Druids actually), but if you have your own ideas I'd love to hear them first.