Imric - Development

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Stealing the Future
1

General concept: a boy with strong faerie blood from a powerful faerie god of nature that gives him a focus in Herbam and Terram, and that makes his magic a bit more flexible.

History: Imric was born in Dundalk, Ireland, the bastard child to the daughter of a local Norman lord, bringing a certain amount of shame to the family. Nevertheless, despite this fact, Imric's mother never seemed to feel anything but kindness toward the man who had ruined her. What's more, she never identified him, even though it would have been in her best interests to do so. Of course the reason for this is that she knew him as a faerie lord who took her into the land of faerie for a glorious month that took place in a single evening. There was no way to explain that to her father or anyone else, at least if she wanted to be believed. And so she said nothing.

Of course, those close to her knew that there was something strange about the boy, and what many suspected was at least close to the truth. For one thing, Imric had vivid green eyes, the color of spring leaves. For another, his blood was not red, but was clear, much like the sap of a tree. Many felt that the faerie folk were involved with his birth. And they were right. None, however, not even his mother, suspected the truth - that he was actually the son of Cernunnos, a Faerie god of nature.

Imric was fortunate in that, despite being a bastard, he was treated relatively well by his family. If nothing else, the strictures of society were looser in Ireland than in England making him less of an embarrassment. He was raised, if not as a true-blooded member of the family, at least as something close. It didn't hurt that he was a likeable child with a kind heart.

But things changed just past his ninth birthday. It was then that strange things started to happen and people began to feel uneasy in his presence. People began to wonder if it was an altogether good thing having him around. It's impossible to say what Imric's fate would have been in the coming years, since only a few months later, his mother and grandfather were approached by a Redcap who offered to foster him.

Year: sometime after 1267
Age: 10(10) at saga start
Size: -2
Confidence: 1(3)
Decrepitude: 0(0)
Warping: 0(0)

Birth Name: Imric
Gender: Male
Race/Nationality: English/Irish (Norman)
Birth Place: Dundalk, Ireland
Religion: Christian
Title: Apprentice
Hair: Sandy blonde
Eyes: Vivid green
Handedness: Left

Characteristics
Intelligence: +1 (+3)
Perception: -1 (+1)
Presence: -2 (0)
Communication: -2 (0)
Strength: -4 (-2)
Stamina: +1 (+3)
Dexterity: -2 (0)
Quickness: -2 (0)

Virtues
The Gift (Free)
Hermetic Apprentice (Social Status, free)
Faerie Magic (would be his future free House virtue, so no charge at this time, possibly not yet attained)
Strong Faerie Blood (Faerie god of nature/healing - +1 Sta)
Second Sight (free from Strong Faerie Blood)
Independent Study (does this virtue even fit in with how xp will work in this game?)
Puissant Herbam Magic
Puissant Terram Magic
Flexible Magic
Spell Improvisation

Flaws
Compassionate (major)
Deficient Technique (Perdo)
Bastard
Infatuation (possibly with a teacher) [Later swapped out for Susceptibility to Divine Power]
Magical Animal Companion (sent by father to look after him, details TBD)
Optimistic (minor)

Note: These are the flaws and virtues that I'd ultimately like to have. Aside from the Gift, Hermetic Apprentice, Strong Faerie Blood, Bastard, and Infatuation, I'm good with only having some be starting virtues/flaws and others being acquired over time. I'm also not entirely certain how inherited virtues work. What would you suggest be inherited?

Abilities
Area Lore: Dundalk 1
Athletics (grace) 2
Awareness (alertness) 1
Brawl (dodging) 1
Charm (making friends) 2
Chirurgery (binding wounds) 1
English (native) 5
Faerie Lore (woodland faeries) 1
Folk Ken (townsfolk) 1
Gaelic (storytelling) 3
Music (singing) 1
Second Sight (seeing through illusions) 1
Stealth (sneaking) 2
Swim (staying afloat) 1

[hr][/hr]
Okay, I'm not 100% sure that I even have this done right, or that I have a concept that works. Please feel free to provide whatever constructive criticism is necessary (up to and including that the whole concept doesn't work).

2

This kind of got buried in the first post in apprentices, but the idea is to explore the teaching of virtues to students through the school, too. Eventually, I plan to have a teacher at the school with every major (common) Hermetic virtue, with the exception of magical foci. So, if you want to have FFM, you can, we'll get a teacher into place where you can learn the virtue. You can also choose to have it as an Inherited Virtue.

Learning virtues is discussed in Apprentices, if you don't have that book, I can guide you through it, and it's HR'ed for this saga, in any event. Additionally, Apprentices discusses Inherited Virtues and Flaws, which aren't manifest, immediately. These Inherited Virtues and Flaws manifest at later times that are thematic or appropriate to them manifesting. These can be discussed and a meta-framework for them manifesting can be agreed upon, or we can wing it and implement them as the story evolves.

With regards to Strong Faerie Blood, it's a major supernatural virtue, and in order to open the Arts of a person like this, you need to have Elizabeth open his Arts. I discussed this in detail with qcipher regarding Babette, see that thread for more detail. Babbette, being the first character created with the need for individualized opening got first choice.
Laterala can open with one major supernatural virtue, but with a major and a minor (second sight really does count for this as a minor) it's a bit beyond her reach.

So, if you can identify the virtues and flaws that you want to have, the ones you want to learn and the ones you want to be Inherited, that will be helpful. I'm essentially telling you that you can have a FFM taught to you and you don't have to have to Inherit it.

Virtues are still going to be fixed at 10 points + Free House virtue. However, virtues and flaws do not have the balance, so if you're willing to learn more of your virtues than Inherit them, it can be done.

3

Yea, I'd drop Second Sight, at least for the moment, but that's part and parcel of Strong Faerie Blood. I wasn't sure if it counted on its own or not. Now I do. :slight_smile:

Also, do you have any preference as to Faerie Friend or Magical Animal Companion?

4

No, you misunderstand me, a bit.

You can't drop Second Sight for a moment. It's part of her nature, part of Strong Faerie Blood. Virtues that are part of one's nature that cannot be changed or transformed into a Hermetic Virtue. See page 107, second paragraph of the first column. So, in this instance, Strong Faerie Blood requires a lab total of 60 to open the Arts, period. And Second Sight, because it is a minor virtue adds another 20 points. It is conceivable that Second Sight might be stripped away in the process, but it won't be able to be added back in exactly the same way, nor will it be Faerie aligned Second Sight.

You are right that it is part and parcel of Strong Faerie Blood, it just requires someone with a high Intellego Vim to open her Arts properly and has been done for apprentices since there has been an Order. Call it a flaw in Hermetic Instruction, if you will.

5

So, if I understand this correctly, we can have a maximum of 10 points of total virtues (+ free virtues), some or all of which will be balanced out by flaws. An inherited virtue ultimately comes without cost at the appropriate time, but is balanced out by an equal point value in flaws. A non-inherited (i.e., learned) virtue is not balanced out with flaws, but costs development points (whatever they're called, exactly) to purchase.

Is that right?

6

Yes.

You've got the gist of it.

7

Okay, I think I have this down. How does this look as a starting character? This leaves 2 virtue points open for later purchases.

[hr][/hr]
Year: sometime after 1267
Age: 10(10) at saga start
Size: -2
Confidence: 1(3)
Decrepitude: 0(0)
Warping: 0(0)

Birth Name: Imric
Gender: Male
Race/Nationality: English/Irish (Norman)
Birth Place: Dundalk, Ireland
Religion: Christian
Title: Apprentice
Hair: Sandy blonde
Eyes: Vivid green
Handedness: Left

Characteristics
Intelligence: +1 (+3)
Perception: -1 (+1)
Presence: -2 (0)
Communication: -2 (0)
Strength: -4 (-2)
Stamina: +1 (+3)
Dexterity: -2 (0)
Quickness: -2 (0)

Virtues
The Gift (Free)
Hermetic Apprentice (Social Status, free)
Faerie Magic (would be his future free House virtue, so no charge at this time, possibly not yet attained)
Strong Faerie Blood (Faerie god of nature/healing - +1 Sta)
Second Sight (free from Strong Faerie Blood)
Apt Student
Flexible Magic (inherited)
Spell Improvisation (inherited)

Flaws
Deficient Technique (Perdo) [to offset Flexible Magic]
Bastard
Infatuation (possibly with a teacher) [Later swapped out for Susceptibility to Divine Power]
Magical Animal Companion (sent by father to look after him, details TBD)
Compassionate (minor)
Carefree (minor)

Note: These are the flaws and virtues that I'd ultimately like to have. Aside from the Gift, Hermetic Apprentice, Strong Faerie Blood, Bastard, and Infatuation, I'm good with only having some be starting virtues/flaws and others being acquired over time. I'm also not entirely certain how inherited virtues work. What would you suggest be inherited?

Abilities
Area Lore: Dundalk 1
Athletics (grace) 2
Awareness (alertness) 1
Brawl (dodging) 1
Charm (making friends) 2
Chirurgery (binding wounds) 1
English (native) 5
Faerie Lore (woodland faeries) 1
Folk Ken (townsfolk) 1
Gaelic (storytelling) 3
Music (singing) 1
Second Sight (seeing through illusions) 1
Stealth (sneaking) 2
Swim (staying afloat) 1

8

It was never my intention to go so long without commenting.

Inherited virtues are virtues that you want your character to ultimately have, but don't want to start play with them. Given the difficulties of teaching Hermetic Virtues, Hermetic Virtues are a prime candidate to be chosen as Inherited virtues. In this saga, you might choose Inherited virtues for virtues you'd like but the teachers at the school do not have (say Affinity with Art or a Magical Focus). The important thing to remember that Virtues + Inherited Virtues =10=Flaws +Inherited Flaws. If you start with less than 10 points in Virtues and flaws you can learn Hermetic Virtues from the teachers, and if you can eek out enough SQ to do it, earn the virtues without a flaw. This comes at the expense of experience points for Arts and Abilities.

9

Is Puissant with Art likely to be a virtue that's hard to learn from a teacher?

10

From memory, no teacher has Puissant for any Art, so yes. If a teacher did have Puissant with Art, it would allow them to teach Puissant for that specific Art, not generally.

11

Hmm, then maybe I do want to rethink what's inherited. I'll look at it more closely this weekend.

12

Autumn 1270: 3 xp in Latin, (+2 xp Latin +3 xp in Etiquette)
Winter 1270: Opening the Arts (2 xp Vi)
Spring 1271: 3 xp in Latin (+2 xp in Etiquette, +3 xp in Latin)