At game start - Spring 1207
Ludovicus Bonisagus
Pater: Machmalius Bonisagus
Background:
Þorviðr Auðunson was born the third son of a moderately wealthy farmer on the Isle of Lewis. His ancestors were Vikings who settled on the Isle generations ago. Over time and through inter-marriage with the local Gaels, they assumed a hybrid, bi-lingual mixture of the two cultures. Þorviðr's name was a relic of a past that was more adventurous than the sedate, pastoral life the family led. But as a child, he did what he could to live up to his Norse heritage, causing trouble for his family and neighbors alike.
That trouble intensified when his Gift manifested. Unable to reign him in, his parents shipped him off to be someone else’s problem. That someone else was his great-aunt Bergdis ex Miscellanea, who they figured would know what to do with him. She did; she opened his Gift and began to teach him the Arts, Vim in particular, since he had the most talent in it. Bergdis was nominally a member of a covenant, but preferred to live apart from her sodales and close to the standing stones that had become her life’s study. She would bring Þorviðr to these stones, before magical animals, and into magic regios, for he needed the presence of these magical influences, among others, to learn. He grew to love the wilderness, associating it with his expanding Arts, and developed a knack for studying there and for magically detecting elusive supernatural creatures and the regios in which they lived. Þorviðr was free to follow his whims, and life was idyllic.
Then things changed for the worse. A message came, delivered by a foreboding, heavily-armed troupe of grogs. It was written by Machmalius ex Bonisagus, who resided in a covenant of the Rome Tribunal, near Venice. He demanded that Þorviðr’s apprenticeship be transferred under his more able tutelage, as was his right as a magus of House Bonisagus. Machmalius had never had an apprentice before. He never considered it to be worth his time. But now, with his ambitions to become an Archmagus in full swing, he was facing pressure from his peers to find one. He didn’t want to make the effort required to find an undiscovered apprentice himself, so he picked a politically benign region from which to commandeer one, and then picked unlucky Þorviðr at random.
So at age 15, Þorviðr packed up, left his homeland, and made his way to Italy. His apprenticeship with Machmalius did not go well. When Þorviðr used his flexible formulaic magic, his master interpreted it as a willful refusal to cast the spell he was told to cast, and punished him. When Þorviðr asked to study his favored Form of Vim, Machmalius scoffed and would only teach the five Techniques and Corpus, for those were the Arts that he knew best and were therefore easier to teach. Worst of all, Machmalius refused to account for Þorviðr’s study requirements, so the only way that Þorviðr was able to learn was to devise ways to orchestrate the right environment or to sneak out after dark and find it on his own. Student and master developed a mutual hatred. Þorviðr worked hard to finish his apprenticeship, despite the adversity he faced. The one thing he gained through Machmalius’ rigor was the ability to cast Corpus spells covertly. Finally it was time for his gauntlet, which he passed according to the impartial masters who judged him. But Machmalius would not accept the verdict and continues, from a distance now, to harass his former apprentice. By all rights a magus, Þorviðr now goes by the name Ludovicus.
Appearance:
Tall and lanky, Ludovicus moves with noticeable grace. His brow furrows and thin mouth grimaces when lost in his own thoughts, but when interacting with others, he often breaks into a wide, creepy smile. His cropped hair is sandy blonde, and his eyes are cool grey. His clothing is unassuming and forgettable; lots of browns and grays.
Age: 25 (born 1182 A.D.)
Size: 0
Gender: Male
Confidence: 1 (3)
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +2, Str 0, Sta +2, Pre +1, Com 0, Dex 0, Qik 0
Virtues: The Gift, Hermetic Magus, Puissant Magic Theory, Flexible Formulaic Magic, Affinity with Vim, Puissant Vim, Cautious Sorcerer, Deft Corpus, Study Bonus, Minor Magical Focus (sensing supernatural beings and regios), Improved Characteristics
Flaws: Study Requirement, Tormenting Master (Machmalius ex Bonisagus of the covenant Castelfranco Veneto, near Venice), Driven (major) (reverse decay of vis sources), Compassionate (minor)
Personality Traits: Driven +3, Compassionate +1, Goofy +1
Abilities:
Area Lore: Isle of Lewis (geography) 3
Artes Liberales (astronomy) 1
Athletics (climbing) 2
Awareness (noises) 2
Brawl (punches) 1
Charm (being witty) 1
Concentration (spell casting) 1
Code of Hermes (Tribunal procedures) 1
Etiquette (magi) 1
Faerie Lore (water fae) 1
Finesse (Corpus) 1
Folk Ken (farmers) 1
Guile (lying to authority) 1
Intrigue (alliances) 1
Language: Norse-gaelic (poetry) 5
Language: Latin (hermetic terms) 4
Language: Italian (slang) 1
Magic Lore (magical beasts) 1
Magic Theory (Vim) 3+2
Organization Lore: Order of Hermes (history) 1
Parma Magica (Corpus) 1
Penetration (Vim) 1
Stealth (in towns) 1
Survival (forests) 3
Swim (ocean) 1
Magical Arts: Cr 3, In 5, Mu 5, Pe 2, Re 5, An 2, Aq 0, Au 0, Co 7(1), He 0, Ig 0, Im 0, Me 0, Te 0, Vi 6+3 (3)*
Wizard's Sigil:
The targets of Ludovicus' spells briefly fade and shimmer iridescently, as if they spend an instant passing into a regio and then snap back to the mundane world again.
Spells:
Piercing the Magical Veil (InVi 20) +21 -- Focus applies
Piercing the Faerie Veil (InVi 20) +21 -- Focus applies
Bind Wound (CrCo 10) +12
Eyes of the Cat (MuCo 5) +14
Disguise of the New Visage (MuCo 15) +14
Preternatural Growth and Shrinking (MuCo 15) +14
Spasms of the Uncontrollable Hand (ReCo 5) +14
Rise of the Feathery Body (ReCo 10) +14
Wizard's Misstep (ReCo 15) +14 -- A 5-pace (base 10), R:Touch variant of Wizard's Leap (HoH:S p.36)
Disguise of the Putrid Aroma (ReAn 5) +9
Personal possessions: Wool clothes of good quality and unassuming color, leather boots, a satchel for odds and ends, knick-knacks. He likes to collect rocks.