I've been struggling for a concept for a Turb leader. Just had a major breakthrough: Azrael ben Chaim, a Jewish former soldier from the collapsed empire. An unusual soldier who trains/teaches his underlings not only in weapon skills, but also in leadership and teaching too. He's ambitious to lead a group of highly tactically skilled, educated soldiers. He has a small group of troops with which he'll begin. Leadership is, to Azrael ben Chaim's mind, as important as skill with weapons. The cohesion and unity of purpose of a group will defeat less well trained adversaries. With all soldiers in a group trained as leaders, should the leader of the group succumb to injury, they can swiftly reconstitute and continue fighting.
I've given up trying to advance Gaileswinþa. All I need for her is a few minions to arrive with her, and assist her in her searches for ancestor sites. Visions, Second Sight, and other virtues that might be useful in this regard (Open to suggestions here...). Been giving this a lot of thought and expect results in the not too distant.
Basically, the way it works is that you just pretend that the character was played, and apply all the necessary effects (XP mainly) for each season. When I did it with Viola, I followed some implicit rules--I was thinking they were in our house rules, but they don't appear to be.
Here's Viola's seasonal advancement: https://mtknife.net/Advancement.htm
Everything from Autumn 1207 through Spring 1225 is background advancement. The main limitation I'd like you to follow is 1) nothing that gives the character an inordinate advantage (we can discuss what's realistic and what isn't) and 2) one adventure/story per year at most. I made Viola's stories an average of 10 XP, which was in line with the last saga I advanced her for, but on the high side by current standards. However, I also didn't allow her any other sources of XP during story seasons.
Thanks Scott. What's the start date for arrival at the covenant? Up until at least 1220 Gaileswinþa will be at Thousand Caves. She may stay there for a while studying from some books.
What's the price of a longevity ritual? May I use Animal instead of Corpus, if I decide to design my own longevity ritual or have another or have it done by an animal specialist? Can the LR be done in winter, or must it be in place by the end of autumn?
I'll post Azrael ben Chaim's char sheet here shortly. I propose to have a small squad of former Byzantine Jewish soldiers. There must have been some of them.
The most recent adventure was in Winter 1231, but I'm expecting us to move on a few seasons before the next adventure. I don't think there's any reason for you to need to anchor your characters to 1220 (unless they need to be for backstory reasons) - feel free to have your guantlet om whatever year works best for you.
My read of the Longevity ritual rules is that you can sometimes changes the type of Vis you use (and Animal would be reasonable for a Bjornaer), but not the Arts used in the lab total.
I assume you're taking the second option? I generally assume a Longevity ritual with a lab total of 50 is reasonably easily available. Houses of Hermes: True Lineages suggests that House Mercere generally pays 1 pawn per 10 levels of lab total plus costs for longevity rituals - that's implied to be relatively generous but is probably a sensible starting point?
Realms of Power: The Divine has this to say on Jews in Constantinople:
Though tolerated, Jews in the Byzantine Empire suffer a number of restrictions. They may not build new synagogues, nor may they read the scriptures in Hebrew. They are also prohibited from serving in any position of government. But beyond these restrictions, the authority of their courts is respected, such synagogues as exist enjoy legal protection, and they are free to follow any craft, trade, or profession.
The large Jewish community of Constantinople suffered greatly after the city’s fall in 1204. Many were either killed or driven from the city, their properties burned or stolen. The population is much smaller in 1220 and, given the restrictions on rebuilding their synagogues, most must worship within their homes.
So it looks like Jewish soldiers could have been a thing in Constantinople in 1204, and would probably have had good reason to leave after it. That was 27 years ago now, though, so they'd be getting a bit long in the tooth.
They could be from Trebizond, which continues until about 1240, or is that a stretch too far. I could change them from Jewish to any of the minorities/remnants in the area. There are some very old remnants in and around the Pontic Mountains. I'd have to refresh my memory for these groups. I'm currently hors de combat, which makes moving around to gather books or sitting doing reseach at my desk.
Pissibolities are:
Jews,
Kurds (a little distant),
Ossetians,
Sarmatians,
others which I currently cannot recall.
I think I prefer to keep them as Jewish, from the garrison at Trebizond. Maybe some of the older members might have been at Constantinople during the fall. I've begun making 7 soldiers, based on the archetypes in the Core rule book. I'm inclined to give them Hebrew as their native language, with various amounts of Romaic Greek.
I've made 7 grogs, based on the examples in the core rule book. Had to put a couple of years on them to allow them to speak Romaic Greek. I've named them, with good Hebrew names. I want one pair to be father and son, and maybe one of the females to be the twin of that son. Juggling the stats is still proving beyond me, as is getting all the weapons, and other kit, right.
Things are on the up though. I'll try to finish some, if not all, this weekend. Will you take them piecemeal?