Character: Sophie (callen)

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: A Bonfire of Tradition
1

Current Character Sheet, updated to game start

Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1, Str -3, Sta 0, Pre +3, Com +3, Dex 0, Qik 0
Size: 0
Age: 25 (18)
Decrepitude: 0
Faerie Rank: 4
Warping Score: 1 (9)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: Affinity with Music, Alluring to Faeries, Cautious with Music, Curse-Throwing, Dowsing, Dutybound (Obey the Oaths of a Faerie Doctor), Enchantment, Faerie Antipathy (Home), Faerie Background (Women, Men), Faerie Doctor, Faerie Friend (Songbird), Faerie Speech, Faerie Sympathy (People - broadened Woman/Men), Faerie Sympathy (Singing)SFB, Grant, Greater Charm (Curse-Throwing: Rabit's Foot), Missing Eye (blind rather than not present), Portage, Puissant Music, Rebellious (Major), Second SightSFB, Strong Faerie Blood (Faerie God: Aoide), Traditional Ward (Herbs), Ware, Weal, Wise One
Personality Traits: Protective +2, Rebellious +5, Truthful +3
Reputations: Healer +1 (Local - Arbois), Mediator with the Good Folk +1 (Local - Arbois)
Combat:

Weapon Init Atk Def Dam
Dagger 0 +4 +2 0
Dodge n/a n/a +1 n/a
Fist 0 +1 +1 -3
Kick -2 +1 0 0

Soak: 0
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1–5), -3 (6–10), -5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20)
Abilities: Area Lore: Lower Lotharingia 1 (Faerie Sites), Artes Liberales 1 (Music; Alphabets: Latin), Athletics 1 (Swim), Awareness 1 (Alertness), Brawl 1 (Daggers), Charm 1 (Seduction), Concentration 1 (Faerie Calling), Curse-Throwing 1 (To Vermin), Dowsing 1 (Vis), Enchantment 1 (Singing), Folk Ken 1 (Men), Grant 1 (Virtues), Intrigue 1 (Bargain), Language: French 5 (Walloon), Language: Latin 3 (Reading), Legend Lore 2 (Faeries), Medicine 1 (Diagnosis), Music 5+2 (Singing), Philosophiae 1 (Natural Philosophy), Portage 1 (Instant Travel), Profession: Storyteller 1 (Faeries), Second Sight 1 (Glamour), Survival 1 (Stealth), Ware 1 (Suppression), Weal 1 (Accelerated Healing)
Sympathy Traits: Home +1, Men +2, People +1, Singing +4, Women +2
Pretenses: Faerie Speech 5 (Singing)

2

Creation of Mythic Companion: Faerie Wizard

Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1, Str -3, Sta 0, Pre +3, Com +3, Dex 0, Qik 0
Size: 0
Age: 25 (18)
Decrepitude: 0
Faerie Rank: 4
Warping Score: 1 (9)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: Affinity with Music, Alluring to Faeries, Cautious with Music, Curse-Throwing, Dark Magic, Dowsing, Dutybound (Obey the Oaths of a Faerie Doctor), Enchantment, Faerie Antipathy (Home), Faerie Background (Women, Men), Faerie Doctor, Faerie Friend (Songbird), Faerie Speech, Faerie Sympathy (Singing), Grant, Greater Charm (Curse-Throwing: Rabit's Foot), Missing Eye (blind rather than not present), Portage, Puissant Music, Rebellious (Major), Second Sight, Strong Faerie Blood (Faerie God: Aoide), Traditional Ward (Herbs), Ware, Weal, Wise One
Personality Traits: Protective +2, Rebellious +5, Truthful +3
Reputations: Healer +1 (Local - Arbois), Mediator with the Good Folk +1 (Local - Arbois)
Combat:

Weapon Init Atk Def Dam
Dagger 0 +4 +2 0
Dodge n/a n/a +1 n/a
Fist 0 +1 +1 -3
Kick -2 +1 0 0

Soak: 0
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1–5), -3 (6–10), -5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20)
Abilities: Area Lore: Lower Lotharingia 1 (Faerie Sites), Artes Liberales 1 (Music; Alphabets: Latin), Athletics 1 (Swim), Awareness 1 (Alertness), Brawl 1 (Daggers), Charm 1 (Seduction), Concentration 1 (Faerie Calling), Curse-Throwing 1 (To Vermin), Dowsing 1 (Vis), Enchantment 1 (Singing), Folk Ken 1 (Men), Grant 1 (Virtues), Intrigue 1 (Bargain), Language: French 5 (Walloon), Language: Latin 3 (Reading), Legend Lore 2 (Faeries), Medicine 1 (Diagnosis), Music 5+2 (Singing), Philosophiae 1 (Natural Philosophy), Portage 1 (Instant Travel), Profession: Storyteller 1 (Faeries), Second Sight 1 (Glamour), Survival 1 (Stealth), Ware 1 (Suppression), Weal 1 (Accelerated Healing)
Sympathy Traits: Home +1, Men +2, Singing +4, Women +2
Pretenses: Faerie Speech 5 (Singing)

3

space for advancement

4

Appearance

Char-Sophie
Char-Sophie500×640 169 KB

Sophie appears to be a pretty, slender woman woman, perhaps still in her teens. While not particularly short, her thin arms and legs don't reveal much muscle. Despite her questionable child-bearing body, Sophie is quite attractive due to her mesmerizing voice and a sort of unearthly beauty that both marks her as different and yet quite desirable, like a flame to moths. Her eyes are a little peculiar, as her right pupil never seems to adjust and both eyes reflect the dawn sky regardless of the background to normally be reflected. (tbc)

Sophie is never found without her two necklaces, one with a white rabbit's foot and the other with a wooden cross. (tbc)

History

Growing up as a small, weak child of a farmer, childhood was not easy for Sophie. Neither did she have any siblings to lean on. Her only saving grace was that from a young age she could sing beautifully so her contributions in church and her ditties in the fields were greatly appreciated. As she grew some of the boys started taking notice of her, though their parents worried she would not survive to adulthood.

However, the local faeries had taken a much greater interest in her. Not only was she an artist, but she had some quality that just drew them to her. That she spent her free time strolling and singing in the wilder spots around announced her presence to them as well. Before reaching her teens she attracted a Faerie songbird, a male common chaffinch, to her. She sang to it with regularity, and it sang back to her. Realizing it was staying with her to be her lifelong companion, she tried names until it was satisfied with Siffleur. Later, on one of these strolls as a young adolescent she found herself among the Fae who led her to the local court. There she entertained for what seemed like days. In reward the queen made her an offer, that Sophie would learn to sing extraordinarily enchanting tunes if she would but some of her time and her focus. Still young and unaccustomed to Faerie bargains, Sophie made the deal. She learned all sorts of Faerie magic she could bring forth most easily by singing over the next few days. When she departed six days after arriving she knew she would be in trouble at home, but she had not traded what she expected. She emerged from the forest she discovered just what she had actually traded away. The little time was sixty years, and the focus was the eyesight from her right eye. Initially she was furious and profoundly upset to find her mother dead and her father with only a few years left in the dilapidated remains of their home he could barely manage near the fields he had sold away.

To explain her return to the locals she claimed to be her own granddaughter, returned to her great-grandfather these many years after her grandmother disappeared. Over the last few years of his life Sophie was able to keep her father comfortable through her gifts. She came to greatly appreciate the deal she had made despite its consequences. To the locals she became a Faerie-Doctor, their mediator with the Faeries and their local wise one they could turn to for healing. She also continued her singing at church and festivals, to everyone's delight.

(tbc)

5

I am somewhat worried about her role as a Faerie Doctor, sworn to mediate and remain neutral between Faeries and humans.

This is, because she has a Cognizance-related Faerie Flaw, Traditional Ward (Folk Charms) (RoP:F p.52), which makes her body vulnerable to Folk Charms and thus marks her as a Faerie also to humans - especially to humans protecting themselves from Faeries by Folk Charms.

Can she thus mediate between humans and Faeries only, as long as the humans are trusting in all Faeries? Are there many such humans in the Ardennes, where the Wild Hunt should appear in winter?

6

Oof. That Flaw is a nasty one.

7

OK, I opened ROP:F and decided I have no time to read it all again. I read page 117 regarding fae doctors (all well and good)

Highlights of the character regarding capabilities and V/F?

we need to integrate Sophie with Arduinna/Yannis, since she actually hates faeries encoraching in her domain. Any ideas about origin or stuff like that. To find a way to prevent the PCs killing each other, basically :stuck_out_tongue:

Folk Charms are really bad for Sophie, yup. Does she appear to be human or faerie to observers? I guess human, but just to be sure. Fortunately she can enter an Aegis, even if he fae companion cannot.

One potential idea is to remove Marie, the local wise woman, and replace her with Sophie, so she would be connected to the community of Bois de Haillot already. Otherwise Marie will be a folk witch (with mythic herbalism) of @darkwing's and Remi's coven.

Regarding Remi, I plan to make him the connection to the more "rural" and peasant-like traditions. He will have some Forest Lore and a wolf familiar (the leader of a pack that roams the Ardennes), so he will be related (marginally) to Arduinna and Yannis will know who he is. Daria will be more linked to the educated classes and characters. Sophie might have known Cardrew as well, a spirit master that she might have met before.

8

Does our Triamore have an Aegis? Who cast it?

9

There are casting tablets for Aegis. After all the debates I really need to redo the descriptions of the OoH and magical systems.

10

I was actually going to post on just that topic before something came up on another PbP.

My suggestion

Just like Parma Magica was preserved via Initiation we can have Aegis of the Hearth preserved as a Mercurian Ritual in the vein of Fenicil's Rituals.

11

Casting Tablets - as are from Covenants p.89f - would't work, as the Hermetic Arts needed to use them are gone.

Somebody might have found the Mercurian ritual Notatus based his Aegis on, and it might look like a Lesser Ritual from among Fenicil's Rituals. But Notatus needed to integrate that with the Parma Magica to come up with the Aegis - so our substitute Aegis is an achievement at least as huge as Notatus' Aegis was.

Was there some magus among Fenicil's followers secretly preparing for war and trying to turn that Mercurian ritual into a super-Aegis? As he was thinking in the terms of Fenicil's Rituals and thus eschewing Hermetic Arts, he failed. But the results of his research were found later in a secret cache among the debris of Magvillus by somebody - perhaps a scavenging Redcap - with enough Magic Theory still to understand its newly gained importance?

@Xavi: Should we move the last posts to another thread, not to clutter this one describing Sophie?

12

I am talking to Amelia, but so far I do not have mod/edit powers in the subforum :cry:

13

It's actually not a Cognizance-related Flaw but a Taboo Flaw. Looking back over it, the herbs option may work better than the folk charms one, though, since that would make more sense around people who might make folk charms.

It's a rough one, but it's a flaw as a Flaw should be. I don't think it's overly nasty.

That was back in this post:

Well, we're partly OK there in that Sophie is more concerned with mediating between Faeries and humans than with worries about primal spirits. However, yes, the Faeries could try to bring her into any such conflict.

Yes, mostly human. Strong Faerie Blood has an impact. At the same time, this is somewhat expected with Faerie Doctor's comments about "the distance the faerie doctor must keep from the rest of humanity to maintain his close connection with the fae" along with Wise One's statement "your presence may cause fear as well as awe or respect." As for entering an Aegis, her Faerie Friend will have essentially the same difficulty most Familiars in traditional ArM5 have.

That would make sense. Sophie is local a Wise One who can and likes to do some healing.

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14

Yes, I thought originally that Sophie might take the side of the Faeries, but callen did point out that she could help ward me. So what I foresee happening is that Sophie will be acting as the mediator for Faeries and Yannis will be acting as the mediator for Arduinna.

15

I could see a little enmity from Arduinna being a reason Sophie is moving into the covenant, where she can enjoy its Aegis of the Hearth since she has no Magic Resistance of her own. But, yes, she can ward people quite well.

Yes, I could see Yannis and Sophie as something like two friendly diplomats from opposing sides. Of course, with Yannis's Gift, Sophie isn't going to trust him that much to begin with without Parma Magica protecting her from its social effects.

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16

We end up having mediators all around xD

OK, Sophie comes from the community. I will keep Marie around as an unGifted witch, since it does not make much sense to integrate into the covenant someone that was already in the covenant's immediate area.

So if you are OK with it Sophie will come from Arbois, the nearby village (2 hours walking) that has a strong relationship with Bois de Haillot so any area lores you have will apply equally. We will put some more fae presence there to justify your presence there. It will be one of the "encroaching faeries" enclaves that Arduinna is wary about. Sounds good?

17

Sounds good. As for her Area Lore, I kept it a bit broad from her training. She hasn't been established in the area that long, after all. I had planned to make her a decade or more older and adjust, but with the age limit she's at the beginning of her career.

I do find one part of Wise One odd. It says "You are well regarded in the community" while giving no Reputation.

18

Make it a reputation 2 as "mediator with the Good Folk" or something like this.

19

Maybe you could consider taking immune to the Gift instead of Dark Magic. Basically because you have no Parma that negates its negative effects and Callen and Daria are not Gentle Gifted.

20

I kind of like that she may not like some of the others as much due to their Gifts. We do have a few Gently Gifted magi, and it plays up that difference a bit.

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