Criamon. I used to love the house, now...
Best I've been able to come up with, was Anulus Connectens: Bausas
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Can you give us your reasons and summarize that?
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While this is a borrow from another thread, it is a borrow from myself.
House : Criamon.
Reason : We're so quirky, we're so different. No. Anyone so focused on showing how weird they are, but the same weird as all their mates, is a conformist too.
Concept : A blatant gifted Criamon who was not found until 10, he suffered intensely due to the blatant gift. He is always terrified the pogrom is coming. He is as bland as possible, even using items to make him be forgotten by mundanes. He collects powerful spells and powerful friends.
Why I like this concept : An incredible social Criamon, making heaps of friends in the order, but not mundanes, makes him quite unusual. The very social magi tend to be Jerbitons, however, they also tend to interact with mundanes.
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I love Criamon but I get that they aren't for everyone and I generally play what I feel are somewhat down-to-earth Criamon. I've made a political one before who pushed for difficult rulings that were more in line with Criamon Philosophy. I've made a number of attempts at a Criamon midwife character, even played a few, they were all very salt-of-the-earth, and had a make life better for the commoners sort of view of the Criamon philosophy. Currently having a blast really delving into their odd philosophy with an Herbam specialist in a PbP game which I find allows a lot more "internal monologue" as an aspect of play.
To be fair, I think my love of Criamon (and Malkavians and other "mad" character types in other games) stems from exactly that sort of adolescent "choosing to be odd for oddness' sake" reasoning but I like to believe that having experienced mental illness and spiritual events (which may merely be particular neurons firing, I can't say using the hardware I have available to me) that my interest in those character-types has evolved into something more than just oddness-for-oddness-sake.
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House: Tremere
Reason: strict heirarchy makes it very difficult to have them integrated into a saga without a bucket of work by the SG. Also, I rarely see Certamen done well, making their House virtue the least interesting and least variety.
Concept: Crafter and Forger. Focused on finding new ways to expand crafting while explicitly avoiding Verditius mysteries.
Why?: I have how Verditius are the only thing specialized in crafting [well, Rusticani, but they're a small rare tradition]. Also, let the Verditius do their own thing, as a loyal magus of the Order, I would never step in their secrets...
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House: Guernicus
Reason: When you like to get cheeky with Hermetic Law, of course you're not gonna be a fan of the resident self-righteous fun police. And it can get downright inquisitorial, if Transitionalists faction gets their way. Nobody likes lawyers...until you need one yourself. Also, the way they betrayed Diedne.
Concept: Amoral Attorney Arms Dealer. Having failed his secret test of character 3 times in a row, he was barred from ever holding a Quasitorial position. A hypocritical stance, in his mind, considering the goals of the Transitionalists. Thus, out of spite and wounded pride, he decides to make quasitors' lives a bit more difficult.
Utilizing his education in hermetic law and perspective peripheral codes, he becomes something of a criminal advisor and an unofficial defense attorney, using every bit of rules-lawyering, every loophole and precedent to ensure his clients can get away with whatever it is they did, or are about to do, barring Diabolism.
Additionally, whenever viable, he is more then willing to nudge his clientele into Wizard Warring whoever the source of their problems might be...after selling them veritable armies of Earth Elementals, which, as a member of the Cult of the Earth, he can create swiftly and effortlessly.
Reason I like this concept: The inversion of the typical Guernicus expectations, and a rules-lawyer a covenant would (presumably) be happy to have on their side. I'm also quite fond of Ex Miscellanea and Hedge Magics, so the prospect of Guernicus' Earth Cult (his native magics) has a certain appeal. Their Summoning variant especially seems awesome, with its capacity to create Elementals with no vis cost whatsoever.
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I think this could be even more fun if they actually be a quaesitoris.
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Our ST threw someone like that at us in our Baltic saga. The two main Hermetic enemies we had was a Norman "Hermetic Raider/Mercenary" Tytallus and a crooked Guernicus.
The Tytallus mysteriously died in the fire that blazed through Riga and the Guernicus was sacrificed (hung by his neck and speared through his heart) to Odin... It was agreed to just burn all the blackmail that the Guernicus had aaccumulated one our and our neighbouring Covenants.
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I don't mind Criamon (my most disliked house is Tytalus), so I had to exaggerrate my misgivings of Criamon to go with the theme.
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House: Tremere
Reason: Self-righteous know-it-all big-bad-overlord-wannabe bastards. Worse yet, depending on your storyguide, they are villains with good publicity. The only thing Sundering changed were their methods towards domination. Difficult to (legally) oppose too, courtesy of their strength for Certamen and the fact whole house is made of "Well done, son!" kind of people, out to please their parens, and thus the chain of command. And thats if you're on the outside. On the inside, you can more or less expect the House to breathe down your neck; blockvoting, assignments, etc. And to add to my woe, my main Ars Group is filled with Tremere fanboys and fangirls... 
Concept: Dhampir Researcher. Through circumstance and bad luck, a Tremere unknowingly takes on a Dhampir as an apprentice. Unfortunate laboratory accidents late in the apprenticeship caused the lad's magic to become unpredictable and painful, and is thus seen as an inadequate soldier and a source of some embarrassment for the House.
His dark lineage is a source of both excitement and anguish for this Tremere; he is utterly terrified of what the House will do to him should his secret be discovered, but he is also quite fascinated by Vampires and those who hunt them, the Fectores.
Thus he joins the Oppidum of Laniena, intent on reconstructing and developing the Hunter's Arts and Fectores until they become a veritable force to be reckoned with, ostensibly as an investment into a House asset. These projects would include:
- Developing their own Hedge Magic Theory
- Use the same to turn their Difficult Arts into normal Arts
- Devise Initiations for Practice Arts and new Foe Arts
- Devise Initiations to augment Fectors in other ways (Puissant Arts, Improved Characteristics, etc.)
- Enchantments to aid their logistics and improve their life expectancy (Communication & Teleportation devices, magical maps showing fector locations ala TtA, etc.)
- Expand Fectors into other tribunals (and out of complete Tremere control)
Why he might have access / knack for Hunter's Arts and Lore? Perhaps he is the mentioned Gifted child of Murat of Terezin (and thus half-brother to Murat the Younger)? Or to make things even more convoluted / funnier, maybe his parens is Lexander of Laniena!
Reason I like this concept: I adore Fectores and what they have going for them (the theme, the magic, etc), they're basically Mythic Europe equivalent to Witchers. Also, native Balkan bias. The idea of building / improving Hedge tradition, more or less from the ground up is quite the undertaking, and Transylvanian Tribunal offers a unique opportunity to do so.
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Let s try this if I qn
**House.**Criaom
Reason: either really hard to play zen masters, or, if you donât Want the awzsome kung§fu warriors, a reason for some players to just be annoying. Also, what is your solution to the enigma?
Concept: Heretic ( to the house and the church)
Sooner or later, criamon willl fail. Wants to replace or relieve him also believes that Criamonâs position gives him untold power and that the founder may not be such a noble figure.. also, since the whole thing is love vs hate, is polyamorous, and a proponent of that.
**House:Merinita
**REAson: ** better said above. Suffers from80-90 legacy about druids and nanature, which are coool. Rare exception exist, such as the wonderful Josephine of Merinita on these boards ( I keep hoping to see more of her=)
Concept Cultist
The faeries are gods, which saved us from the tyranny of all things magical. All they need is a little worship. And god is anOld God (akin to the titans) who is trying to siphon power and life from the faeries. If they are to kep protecting us from these monsters, they need a litle worship and, oh, a little blood. Sacrifices must be made, for the greater good. Think cthulhu cultist. Worships the worst faeries
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Interesting. My Criamon in the PbP game I'm playing in has just become pregnant so... HERESY! Lot to see about where that goes.
I love tremere, but many people don't ( i blame WW), but here's a concept I wanted to try for a PbP:
**concept:**Mission Impossible Leader:there are not that many tremere mages, and they can't coveer every specialty. yet the house recognises the value of hedge wizards, compagnions, and mundane ingenuity. that maga would supervise a crew of such specialists, tasked with missions, such as " ensure the daughter of baron A maries the son of baron B"
reason i like rthis concept: low power, lots of possible imposible tasks, force the players to be cunning, which is great and makes fior great memories. gives some edge mages time to shine, add depth and wisdom to house Tremere.Makes companion-centric stories.
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I blame Mark RH, it was his character who was the jerk that Tremere is based on.
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For me, it's mostly knowing that a Tremere in my covenant can and will be asked to vote against the covenant if necessary, or to report on the covenant, and that he probably doesn't have a choice in the matter unless he's willing to go orbus. Which doesn't mean I wouldn't play a Tremere - there are actually a couple of cool concepts there, but yeah.
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I think that the most workable to have Tremere is an all Tremere Covenant. Maybe have a senior NPC one as the head of a Wintering Covenant who gets 3-4 new bloods to come and reinforce the Tremere presence in the region. This would lead to a much more GM led saga than my sandbox preference, and woth as kwy milestone one of thenplayers managing to beat the elder at Certamen and get rid of his oppressive leadership, only to realise that the player is now stick in middle management, getting more abstract orders from higher up.
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I disagree. That's the cartoon stereotype. House Tremere want to build trust. They aren't going to destroy the good will of a Tremere in a multi-house covenant for 1 vote. My youngish mage in my current saga keeps in touch with his parens and sends letters. I'd expect a Tremere to do the same.
Tremere's goal is to show the Order a well structured, well managed Order would be glorious.
Think about an Order with a well structured magic college; a well structured book exchange; a succession plan where the best longevity potion makers teach the next generation.
A well run Order of Hermes isn't all bad. I accept there is a fine line between order and dictatorship, and Tremere may struggle to stay on the correct side.
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No struggle there. They have chosen the wrong side.
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Mainly to stop the Tremere slander but here, second most hated House for me. (If there's more Tremere slander I'll go for third most hated before I cycle back to Bjornaer)
House: Jerbiton
Reason: Social Magi who like art seems incredibly hard to integrate into a story, they are either non-confrontational or unrelated to most conflicts a Magi will take part of.
Concept: Faerie Artist
Reason I like this Concept: While the House at large hates Faeries for having no imagination, I always liked the concept of a Jerbiton treating a Faerie as an Art Piece instead of an Artist.
This Magi will go around propagating feasible to believe stories, calling them truth and showing falsified evidence in hopes of creating a Faerie that people will interact with.
Essentially, a guy spreading conspiracy theories for the sake of bragging rights once people believe it but with a (Newly created and cool) dragon/ghost pirate to back his claims!
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Ha! Unlikely but... Of course I opened it up for dislike of any and all houses.