@Emelric I've quoted the instructions for your character thread (for containing your finished character sheet/data) below. You can look through the other character threads if you like to see examples of finished versions.
Current Character Sheet
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Pre +2, Com +2, Str 0, Sta 0, Dex 0, Qik 0
Size: 0
Age: 25 (25)
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues: The Gift; Hermetic Magus; Improved Characteristics; Puissant Folk Ken; Puissant Bargain; Skilled Parens; Inoffensive to Magical Beings; Alluring to Magical Beings; Second Sight; Elemental Magic; Gairm*; Minor Magical Focus* (elemental spirit magic)
Virtue Notes
- Gairm is the Corrguineach equivalent of the Sihr supernatural ability
- Elemental spirit magic covers spells that target all airy spirits, genii loci, and Daimons whose Might is associated with Auram, Aquam, Ignem, or Terram
Flaws: Deficient Technique (Perdo)*, Driven (major), Plagued by Supernatural Entity, Vulnerable Magic, Seeker
Flaw Notes
- Driven: eradicate remaining Diedne from Hibernia
- Supernatural Entity: aspect of a bog spirit with whom his pater made a bargain, the terms of which are not yet known to Conall
- Vulnerable Magic: spells fail when the target crosses running water
*House Virtue/Flaw
Personality Traits: Inquisitive +3 (Seeker), Respectful +2, Determined +3 (Driven)
Reputations: Finder of hidden things +2 (among Tremere / Burning Acorn vexillation, hoplites, Quaesitors)
Twilight Scars: None
Equipment: Quality robes, study shoes, and a walking staff
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Appearance: A lean young man of medium height, weathered skin with thick brown hair cut short, a tidy beard, and gray-green eyes. His hands are broad and callused, his boots perpetually muddy, and there is little about his clothing to suggest he is a magus.
Combat
Dodge: Init: +0, Atk: na, Def: +2, Dam: na
Fist: Init: +0, Atk: +1, Def: +1, Dam: +0
Kick: Init: -1, Atk: +1, Def: +0, Dam: +3
Soak: +0
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1-5), -3 (6-10), -5 (11-15), Inc (16-20)
Abilities
| Ability | Specialization | Score | Experience |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaelic | Story Telling | 5 | 0 |
| Latin | Hermetic Usage | 4 | 0 |
| English | Slang | 3 | 0 |
| Area Lore: Hibernia | Geography | 2 | 0 |
| Artes Liberales | Geometry | 1 | 0 |
| Athletics | Running | 2 | 0 |
| Awareness | Searching | 2 | 0 |
| Bargain | Spirits | 3+2 | 0 |
| Brawl | Dodging | 1 | 0 |
| Code of Hermes | Hibernia | 1 | 0 |
| Concentration | Spells | 1 | 0 |
| Finesse | Terram | 1 | 0 |
| Folk Ken | Magi | 2+2 | 0 |
| Gairm | Terram Genii Loci | 9 | 0 |
| Magic Lore | Spirits | 1 | 0 |
| Magic Theory | Terram | 3 | 0 |
| Parma Magica | Terram | 1 | 0 |
| Penetration | Rego | 1 | 0 |
| Second Sight | Spirits | 4 | 0 |
| Stealth | Natural Areas | 1 | 0 |
| Survival | Boglands | 1 | 0 |
| Swim | Lakes | 1 | 0 |
Arts
| Art | Score | XP | Art | Score | XP | Art | Score | XP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cr | 5 | 0 | An | 0 | 0 | Ig | 9 | 0 | ||
| In | 5 | 0 | Aq | 9 | 0 | Im | 1 | 0 | ||
| Mu | 5 | 0 | Au | 9 | 0 | Me | 0 | 0 | ||
| Pe | 0 | 0 | Co | 0 | 0 | Te | 9 | 0 | ||
| Re | 5 | 0 | He | 0 | 0 | Vi | 0 | 0 |
Spells
Wizard’s Sidestep (ReIm 10) +6
R: Per, D: Sun, T: Ind Your image appears up to 1 pace from where you actually are, so attacks aimed there are likely to miss you. Whenever the image is successfully struck, it disappears and reappears in another spot. In combat, early attacks are aimed at the image, and so automatically miss you. Once the image has been hit once, you have a +9 bonus to Defense, as attackers must try to find you in a fairly large area. (Base 2, +2 Sun, +1 changing image, +1 moved image matches changes) Source: Ars Magica Fifth Edition, 147
The Crystal Dart (Mu(Re)Te 10) +14
R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Ind Req: Rego A 10-inch crystal dart rises from the ground at your feet, floats into the air, and speeds off like an arrow at a target that is within Voice range. It does +10 damage, and always hits its target, although it must penetrate Magic Resistance to have any real effect. (Base 3, +2 Voice, +1 Rego requisite) Source: Ars Magica Fifth Edition, 154
Supple Iron and Rigid Rope (MuTe 10) +14
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind Makes a flexible object stiff or a stiff object flexible. Casting requisites of Forms appropriate to the materials affected are required. (Base 3, +1 Touch, +2 Sun) Source: Ars Magica Fifth Edition, 154
The Weightless Menhir (MuTe 20) +14
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind This spell makes a stone as light as a feather. Muirgen created this spell to easily move the portal stones. (Base 4, +1 Touch, +1 stone, +2 day — the base size is big enough without adding magnitudes for size) Source: Tales of Mythic Europe, 12
The Earth's Carbuncle (Re(Mu)Te 15) +14
R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Part Req: Muto Causes a 1-pace circle of ground to become jagged stone, just under the surface, and those fragments burst into the air. Anyone standing on the circle is thrown into the air and hit with flying debris. Damage is +10. (Base 3, +2 Voice, +1 Part, +1 Muto requisite) Source: Ars Magica Fifth Edition, 156
Pilum of Fire (CrIg 20) +14
R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Ind A 2-foot, thick, spear-shaped jet of fire flies from your palms, doing +15 damage to the individual it hits. (Base 10, +2 Voice) Source: Ars Magica Fifth Edition, 140
Circling Winds of Protection (Cr(Re)Au 20) +14
R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind Req: Rego Surrounds you with winds that circle at great speed. Since the wind picks up dust and other small, loose objects, you may be obscured. Anyone standing near enough to attack you with a hand weapon must make a Size stress roll of 9+ at the beginning of each against you are at –3, and missile or thrown attacks are at –9. (Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 Concentration, +2 unnatural, +1 Rego effect) Source: Ars Magica Fifth Edition, 125
Eyes of the Bat (InAu 25) +14
R: Per, D: Sun, T: Hearing You can move about confidently in complete darkness by sensing air and its boundaries (for example, where solid objects are). You “hear” the boundaries of the air, so it does not permit fine discriminations. On the other hand, you can “hear” boundaries behind you. (Base 4, +2 Sun, +3 Hearing) Source: Ars Magica Fifth Edition, 127
Lungs of the Fish (MuAq(Au) 20) +14
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Part Req: Auram Turns water into air as it enters your lungs, allowing you to breathe water as you do air. (Base 4, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Part) Source: Ars Magica Fifth Edition, 122
Captured by Höðr's Shackles (ReAq 20) +14
R: Voice, D: Sun, T: Part Instantaneously, a submerged target is imprisoned in a thick casing of ice. Due to ice’s natural buoyancy, Maris often uses this spell to float something of value to the surface. If used against an opponent, the ice suffocates an individual, as well as causing +3 damage per round from cold. Note that the spell does not create ice; it only works on targets already immersed in water. (Base 3, +2 Voice, +1 Part, +1 Size) Source: Magi of Hermes, 75
Casting Sigil: Nearby and easily-moved elementals are briefly drawn toward him when he casts - loose soil or dust, flames, smoke and mist, rain drops as they fall
Voting Sigil: An ancient piece of flint with sharpened edge and a magically inscribed "C"
Background
Childhood and Early Life
Conall was born in a scattered farming community within the parish of Dún Fhíní (Doonfeeny) on the wild Atlantic coast of north Mayo, where the blanket bog of the Céide stretched inland like a great sea of moss and mist. His people belonged to the kingdom of Tír Amhalgaidh, under the protection of the Ó Dubhda kings. They were free Gaelic farmers, raising hardy cattle and sheep on thin soils, cutting peat for fuel, fishing the nearby coast, and tending narrow strips of cultivated land reclaimed from the edge of the bog. Life followed the rhythm of saints' feast days, cattle births, storm seasons, and harvests, but older customs lingered quietly beside Christian devotion. Every household observed traditions whose origins no one could place. The first butter of spring was left upon a flat stone near the bog. Certain wells were greeted a specific way before water was drawn. Particular hummocks were never crossed after sunset, and no one cut peat from a handful of places said to be "claimed already." The elders spoke of these practices only enough to ensure they were followed.
When Conall was four years old, he wandered into the bog and vanished. The search lasted until dusk. Men crossed paths that no one willingly walked. Some women prayed at the church of Doonfeeny, while others left offerings at the old stone where butter had always been placed. At sunrise he was found sleeping on a flat offering stone perched atop a dry rise deep within the peat, untouched by cold or hunger. No footprints led to him. The priest thanked God. His grandmother quietly returned the offering stone to its proper place. No one spoke of it again.
As Conall grew, so too did the discomfort that typically results from the Gift. Dogs barked when he approached. Neighbors and eventually family stopped meeting his eyes. Nothing dramatic enough to cause accusation, only enough to leave a child wondering why every place initially full of chatter seemed to become quieter after he arrived. He learned to watch people, trying to read what they were thinking or what was veiled behind their words. Thus he developed Puissant Folk Ken, practicing it simply to understand why the world treated him differently. He also developed the ability to see the insubstantial spirits in the environment surrounding him (Second Sight), which contributed to his strangeness as he claimed to observe things that others could not.
Discovery and Gifts
Several years later, a wandering magus of House Ex Miscellanea came to Doonfeeny. He was known locally not as a wizard but as a learned wanderer who settled disputes between neighboring clans, blessed wells, and spoke respectfully with the invisible powers that country folk preferred not to name. He belonged to the Corrguineach, a tradition that dealt for hundreds of years with the elemental spirits of Ireland. Unlike many magi, his Gentle Gift allowed him to move among ordinary people without inspiring instinctive revulsion. Even so, Conall's parents distrusted him. Stories of magicians carrying children away were old in Ireland, and no family willingly surrendered a son to a stranger. What changed their minds was not persuasion but recognition. The magus described, in remarkable detail, the place where Conall had been found years earlier. He knew of the untouched hummock, the ancient offering stone, and customs the family had never spoken of outside their own kin. Finally he told them, solemnly, that if Conall remained, the Gift would only isolate him further. His neighbors would fear him, and he would never understand why. After many nights of discussion, and after consulting both priest and brehon, the family agreed. Outwardly, it was fosterage. In truth, it was an apprenticeship, with no promise that their son would return. Conall never forgot the look on his mother's face as he left - mostly sadness, but also some relief.
Not long afterward, his pater brought him alone into the heart of the Céide bog. There they met the ancient spirits that dwelt beneath the peat. There was no single genius loci of water or earth. Millennia of offerings of weapons and foes, forgotten burials, drowned forests, and buried fields had made this location something older and stronger - an inseparable assembly of spirits of dense earth, acidic water, mist-filled air, and lightning-sparked bog flame. His pater spoke with them for hours. But Conall was never allowed close enough to hear the words. When they departed, his pater merely said: "Some bargains are inherited before they are understood. You'll learn more, in time."
From that bargain, Conall found that spirits paid more attention to him. Some regarded him with curiosity. Others with recognition. A few greeted him as though they had expected him for years. He focused on learning how to interact with them in a way that took advantage of the affinity that they seemed to have for him (Inoffensive + Alluring to Magical Beings). As he began his Hermetic studies, he discovered a noteworthy intuition for connections between the Elemental Forms (Elemental Magic), and his knowledge of those Arts progressed rapidly. So too did he find that he had gained the ability to summon and bargain with elemental genii loci, and to affect elemental spirits with his spells (Gairm (Sihr Supernatural Virtue equivalent) & Minor Magical Focus in elemental spirits - House virtues).
Apprenticeship and Macgnímartha
Conall did not spend his apprenticeship solely within the walls of a covenant. His pater taught that books may preserve knowledge, but the land preserves truth, and that he must walk the land to understand that truth. His education unfolded across Hibernia: sleeping in monasteries one season and shepherds' huts the next, walking old drove roads, crossing mountain passes, following rivers to their sources, and listening wherever spirits still remembered forgotten agreements between people and place. His pater insisted that every negotiation begin with listening. A spirit was asked what it wanted before it was asked for anything in return. A farmer's concerns mattered as much as a magus's, and must be heard. It was during these years that Conall began to practice diplomatic bargaining with spirits and, to a lesser extent due to his Gift, with mundanes, (Puissant Bargain). He also grew his knowledge of Ireland's many history-rich places and their inhabitants for instead of confining instruction to the covenant, his master taught by leading Conall across the country. Every journey became a lesson in understanding the land before calling upon its spirits. Possessing a rare gift for instruction, he fostered curiosity over rote learning, teaching Conall to ask the right questions of both the landscape and its unseen inhabitants. This disciplined approach allowed Conall to absorb the wisdom of his tradition with uncommon speed and laid the foundation for his later renown as a seeker of hidden truths (Skilled Parens). His training was grueling, as he was forced to cram in his book lessons between journeys, but altogether it forged in him stronger innate capabilities (Improved Characteristics).
During the first period of his apprenticeship, Conall gradually discovered that the bargain struck in the bog had left him with some adverse effects. His ability with four of the five Techniques grew readily, but whenever he sought to practice Perdo, the spells seemed to resist him (Deficient Perdo). His pater seemed unsurprised. "Yes, this was the first cost, the first of three," he stated, providing no further explanation despite Conall’s persistent questioning.
The second revealed itself years later, during one of the long journeys that defined his apprenticeship. Before setting out across the bog, he had cast a simple spell to lighten the burden of his pack. Without warning, the enchantment vanished as he waded across a shallow stream. The weight of his pack returned all at once, nearly pitching him backward into the water. Confused, he recast the spell once he recovered on the far bank of the stream, only to have it unravel again at the next crossing. Gradually, the pattern proved unmistakable. Whenever crossing running water, his magic - any type of spell, whether cast upon himself or another - failed as though the stream washed it away (Vulnerable Magic). His pater merely nodded when Conall confronted him with the discovery. "You have learned the second of the bargain's costs," he said. Conall never learned whether these limitations had been demanded as payment by the ancient bog spirits, accepted as a necessary consequence, or simply reflected their nature. To him, they became a reminder that relationships with the Magic Realm carry consequences as well as gifts. And he dreaded what the third cost might be.
In the final years of his apprenticeship, Conall focused on elemental magic and on understanding the spirits bound to the natural world. He continued to walk the land with his pater, and Conall became adept at combining Hermetic magic with Gairm to communicate and bargain with its unseen inhabitants. While wandering without his pater, on his macgnímartha, Conall hears reports of livestock disappearing near an abandoned monastic settlement. An acquaintance in the Burning Acorn vexillation tells him that several of its magi are already investigating, but every line of inquiry hits a dead end. Conall approaches the problem differently, asking the spirits of the surrounding hills, streams, and ancient paths what they have seen. Most know almost nothing, only bits of information. Taken together, however, their scattered observations reveal a pattern: strangers using forgotten paths, fires burning where they should not, and people disappearing into places known only to the oldest spirits. Through careful bargaining and Gairm, Conall reconstructs the hidden route into and within a regio where a remnant of the Diedne has taken refuge. The Burning Acorn follows his guidance and destroys the coven. Conall earns a reputation as a finder of hidden things and is known particularly among Tremere, hoplites, and Quaesitors as someone with unique skills for finding what is hidden.
The Final Attached String and Inchmore
Following this adventure, Connall passed his Gauntlet without incident. The next day, he returned to the bog with his pater. There, the old bargain that opened Conall’s Gift was formally acknowledged, and he learned that the spirit has a claim upon him. An aspect of the bog spirit now accompanies him. Through Second Sight he catches glimpses of it standing among the reeds, reflected in dark water, or watching silently from the edge of a path. It never threatens or interferes with him. It simply waits. Conall knows only that he owes the spirit something, and that he does not know what it will eventually demand. He is deeply reluctant to discover the price. He fears that whatever the spirit wants will be something he cannot accept to part with, and so he tries to put the matter out of his mind. The spirit's quiet presence makes that impossible (Supernatural Nuisance).
Conall's response to the bog's claim is not to seek answers about it, but to seek power sufficient to escape it. He became a Seeker because he is fascinated by forgotten magic and ancient mysteries, but beneath that purpose lies a more personal ambition: to acquire enough knowledge and magical strength that the bog spirit can no longer hold anything over him. He tells himself that this power will ultimately serve the land and its people, as his pater taught him, but he also wants the freedom that comes from no longer being beholden. He is equally determined to protect Hibernia's magical heritage. The Diedne represent everything he believes must be opposed: the domination and absorption of older traditions that should instead be preserved. He therefore seeks to eradicate any surviving Diedne in Hibernia, a conviction that is both political and deeply personal. His work with the Burning Acorn is the beginning of that campaign (Driven: eradicate the Diedne from the Hibernian Tribunal).
Conall's growing reputation as a Finder brings him to the attention of the magi establishing Inchmore. A staunch Hibernian loyalist with an unusual talent for finding what is hidden is exactly the sort of young magus they want among the covenant's constituents. Someone involved in the covenant's backing recommends him, and the opportunity comes at just the right moment: Inchmore provides a place where Conall can pursue ancient magic, study the relationship between land and spirits, and perhaps uncover the means by which he might one day rid himself of the thing that follows him.
Advancement Log
Summary
| Year / Season -- | -- Activity -- | -- XP -- | -- Allocation / Result -- |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1220 / Spring | |||
| 1220 / Summer | |||
| 1220 / Autumn | |||
| 1220 / Winter | |||
| 1221 / Spring | |||
| 1221 / Summer | |||
| 1221 / Autumn | |||
| 1221 / Winter |
Spell / Item Designs
Nothing Yet
Really, nothing
Plot Hooks
Important NPCs
Lab & Sanctum