Mercuria of Mercere
Age: 30 (30)
Warping: 0 (4)
Personality Traits: +3 Humble, +3 Shy, +2 Loyal
Reputations: Infamous Master 2 (Order of Hermes)
Characteristics: Int +3, Per +1, Pre +2, Com -1, Str -3, Sta +3, Dex -1, Qik -1
Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Hermetic Maga; Major Magical Focus (growth, improvement, and restoration), Mercurian Magic*; Book Learner, Educated, Hermetic Sacrifice, Hermetic Theurgy, Puissant Creo (free), Skilled Parens, Well-Traveled, Withstand Casting*; Compassionate (major), Deficient Technique (Perdo), Low Self-Esteem; Cabal Legacy, Covenant Upbringing, Infamous Master, Magical Spirit Companion, Pagan (as Minor Personality Flaw)*
Abilities: Artes Liberales 4 (ceremony), Awareness 2 (people), Concentration 2 (casting), Cult of Mercury Lore 3 (people), Folk Ken 2 (girls), Greater Alps Tribunal Lore 1 (people), Iberian Tribunal Lore 1 (people), Latin 5 (Hermetic), Magic Lore 2 (gods and spirits), Magic Theory 4 [5] (spells), Normandy Tribunal Lore 1 (people), Occitain 5 (Languedoc, Provençal), Order of Hermes Lore 2 (magi), Parma Magica 5 (Mentem), Philosophiae 4 (ceremony), Profession: Scribe 1 (Hermetic books), Provençal Tribunal Lore 2 (people), Roman Tribunal Lore 1 (people)
Arts: Cr 12+3 (6), In 5, Mu 5, Re 11 (1), An 5, Co 11, He 5, Me 10, Vi 11 (2)
Spells:
Soothe the Savage Bear (ReAn10 +19)
Bind Wound (CrCo10 +40)
Chirurgeon's Healing Touch (CrCo20R +50)
Restoration of the Defiled Body* (CrCo25R +50)
Severed Limb Made Whole* (CrCo25R +50)
Cheating the Reaper* (CrCo30R +50)
Incantation of the Body Made Whole* (CrCo40R +50)
Call to Slumber (ReMe10 +24)
Scent of Peaceful Slumber (ReMe20 +24)
Invoke the Spirit of Creo Herbam (CrVi30 +26)
Invoke the Spirit of Creo Imaginem* (CrVi30 +26)
Wizard's Communion* (MuVi40)
Circular Ward Against Demons (ReVi20 +25)
Circular Ward Against Faeries (ReVi20 +25)
Circular Ward Against Magical Beings (ReVi20 +25)
Invoke the Spirit of Rego Imaginem (ReVi20 +25)
Invoke the Spirit of Rego Corpus* (ReVi30 +25)
- gained after Gauntlet
Vis: 32p Creo, 11p Vim
Casting tablets:
Quickness of the Heroes (CrCo60), designed to be used with Mercurian Magic
Lab texts:
Soothe Pains of the Beast (CrAn20)
Quickness of the Followers (CrCo35)
Stamina of the Followers (CrCo35)
Stamina of the Heroes (CrCo60)
Shadow of Life Renewed (CrCo75)
Gift of Vigor (ReCo20)
Leap of Homecoming (ReCo35)
The Bountiful Feast (CrHe35)
Communication of the Followers (CrMe35)
Mercury's Blessing (CrVi25)
Invoke the Spirit of Creo Imaginem (CrVi50)
Invoke the Spirit of Creo Herbam (CrVi50)
Aegis of the Hearth (ReVi35)
Aegis of the Hearth (ReVi50)
Mercuria was born to Redcap parents, her father Radulphus having been the former Chief Redcap in the Provencal Tribunal in the late twelfth century and a member of the Cult of Mercury. Thanks to a special House ritual, he and his wife Meritxell were lucky enough to produce a Gifted babe, born on the spring equinox of 1200. The child was prophesied to be Mercury reborn, but surprisingly was female. They named her Mercuria, and they and the cult had great ambitions for her.
Radulphus desperately wanted to raise the girl himself, but unfortunately could not because of the rules of Hermetic apprenticeship-- she must be taught magic one season each year, something he could not do. He had a friend Adustus of Bonisagus who offered to apprentice her, but for some reason Radulphus was never quite comfortable with the idea (though Adustus could have simply claimed her). Together they came up with the idea of a Hermetic university, with the plan that they would hire magi to teach the students, each with an advisor who would act as their official parens, but all the students would benefit from multiple parentes. And in that way, Radulphus could still help teach his daughter, as well as other children.
They chose the city of Lyon as their covenant location, on the site of a former Diedne covenant called Lughdunum, located on the southwest hilltop just outside the city. Radulphus had been living there since he retired as Chief Redcap, though he and his wife still served his House and brought Mercuria with them wherever they traveled. The area had a strong magic aura from the many ancient Roman structures that still stood hidden beneath the trees atop the hill, though it was uncomfortably close to the city's newly constructed cathedral. They named the new covenant Aurora Nova, or "the new dawn."
Mercuria was apprenticed at the tender age of 6, and her father thought her clever and stalwart, if a bit too humble-- all the qualities of a good Mercere. She learned to read very early, and was always more comfortable with books than with direct instruction. She was not particularly close to the four other students (they were all significantly older than she was) or the teachers, but she did her best to listen and do what the adults told her to do. She showed a particular affinity for Creo magic, perhaps because of her tender heart, and so she often studied with Adustus, who was also a Creo specialist.
Eleven years into her instruction, a terrible event occurred. Few details are common knowledge. All four of Mercuria's fellow students died, as did Adustus the headmaster, two other teachers, and Mercuria's father Radulphus. The Quaesitorial investigation from Magvillus declared that while Adustus was responsible, both as headmaster and as having performed the effect that caused the disaster, it was essentially a magical accident, with none of the survivors suspected of wrongdoing or subject to threat of Hermetic punishment. Aurora Nova was shut down, and Mercuria and her mother moved to Doissetep, where a Gifted Mercere associated with the Priesthood of Mercury was willing to finish her instruction in exchange for her greater dedication to the cult. She was named a maga at the Tribunal of 1221.
In the nine years since, Mercuria has served the Cult of Mercury faithfully. She has been named a priestess of the temple, and taught the secrets of Mercurian magic. During this time, she also studied her Arts and performed the cult rituals given to her on casting tablets for deserving Redcaps and grogs at Doissetep. Through a theurgical rite, the cult brought forth the aspect of the spirit of Mercury that is bound to her from her conception, though she does not have much control over it as of yet. She has also learned several theurgical spells from the cult's laboratory texts, and knowledge of Mercurian Road Magic, in exchange for her dedication.
Recently, Mercuria's mother (who has been living at Doissetep and still serving as a Redcap two seasons each year) became terribly and inexplicably ill. Her body was wracked with pain and she became nearly paralyzed, barely able to speak or move. Mercuria has devoted all of her free time to trying to discover a cure, spending months and months in the lab learning healing spells from lab texts, but nothing has helped. Realizing that she is dying, Meritxell asked Mercuria to see that she is brought back to her home village of Arans in Andorra while she can still see it before she passes. Mercuria agreed, receiving dispensation from the elders at the covenant to go. The older magi knew of a former covenant site nearby, with a Mercer House, and there has been talk of rebuilding it. Sending her there to do so fits in so well with their plans that it is almost as if the gods have willed it.