Hi all! This is my first magus for my first ArM game. I'm not, you know, super confident I know what I'm doing, but I think I've got some direction on it at least. Let me know what you think.
BERENGER OF ANTIOCH
Berenger was born in Antioch in 1193, to Roul of Rouen and Matilda of Inverness. Roul joined the Knights of St John in order to fight in the Third Crusade; afterwards, he was made captain of a hostel for pilgrims in Antioch. Berenger was the couple's first son, and he took a keen interest in the hostel's work of protecting and caring for travelers on their way to and from Jerusalem. Although Roul recognized that his son was unsettling and different, he hoped (perhaps against reason) that Berenger would follow in his footsteps as a military man.
But the young Berenger was also Gifted, and he attracted the attention of one Yunus of Mosul. Yunus was part of a secretive group of Arab healers and alchemists called Jumhuru-l-Hukama'i, the Gathering of the Wise, a mystery cult notionally affiliated with House Ex Miscellanea. They labor to discover a Panacaea and the Elixir of Life. In 1202, Yunus abducted the nine year old Berenger, and began training him in the ways of the tradition.
In 1209, another member of Jumhuru-l-Hukama'i, Maryam the Black, accused Yunus of stealing her research. She also gave voice to her suspicion that Yunus had used scrying or other magical means to do so, and insinuated that he had truck with shayatin, genies aligned with the Infernal power. Although she was unable to substantiate the High Crimes, she waged a successful Wizard War against Yunus, and slew him. Maryam then adopted Berenger as her own apprentice.
Though Maryam did not implicate Berenger in her accusations against Yunus, and Berenger shed no tears for his passing, their relationship was never warm. Maryam imposed the condition that, upon completion of his training, Berenger would leave the Tribunal of the Levant. Berenger passed his Gauntlet in 1218. (Maryam's condition might attach to some post-Gauntlet training, depending on how I want to use the years between 1218 and 1223. Any thoughts on this?)
After that, he travels. Eventually he will wind up in Scotland! I'm not sure yet quite how that happens, but I am open to suggestions. I assume he arrived in Scotland via Inverness, his mother's home city, and thence travelled to Insula Canaria. Is it easier for him to arrive during a certain season?
He is still pursuing the secrets of Jumhuru-l-Hukama'i, but now he is preparing to do so without reliable access to the rest of the cult. With Peregrine_Bjornaer's permission, I've created Berenger with the Cabal Legacy Flaw from The Mysteries Revised Edition, to reflect his peculiar background.