That ended very badly - with leprosy in an Imperial prison and suicide - for poor Henry.
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Yannis is mechanically finished. Just need to fill in the physical description and stuff.
And waiting on @Xavi to decide if I can get Shroud and/ or Crafter of Vim
Starting the saga 1210 would force me to rebuild Frère Sulpice from scratch - perhaps as an Augustinian canon from Armagh: there were no Franciscans in France then.
EDIT: Sorry, I misread "end of the decade of 1210-1220" completely! Playing in 1220 I quite expected. The then-Emperor should still take several years before he finds time to think about Triamore, while his son Henry (VII) tries hard to keep the German princes friendly and peaceful.
OK. We will settle for 1218 as the starting year. The charter of Triamore will be disputed as of having been signed by the Emperor, and right now there is no Emperor (yet) and it is a direct imperial fief, so the Dukes defend that the death of an emperor invalidates the charter. That the argument holds or does not hold water in a legal court is irrelevant to the realities of people living in Triamore.
After years of political jockeying, the political situation in Bravant is deteriorating for Triamore, The Augustan magi of the covenant think that the current situation is way over their heads and want mystical and legal reinforcements in case the situation comes to a head with the duke or his cronies, so they invite several mystical users to the covenant (cue entry music for the PC).
Okay... changing birth year to 1197.
Arduinna, genius loci of the Ardennes
Magic Might: 40 (Herbam)
Locus: Magic Aura 6 (forest +2, preternatural tether +4)
Virtues & Flaws: Magic Spirit, Daimon, Ways of the Forest
Magical Qualities & Inferiorities: Focus power (x 6), Greater Power (x 2), Ritual power (x 2)
Powers:
Crafter of Herbam , variable points, Init: (Qik-Might cost), Herbam: duplicates any non-Ritual Creo Herbam or Rego Herbam spell no greater than 40th level at a cost of 1 Might point per magnitude of the effect. (Focus Power x 2)
Guide, 3 points, Init +1, Mentem (Greater Power)
Manifestation, 4 or more points, Init (Qik–Might cost), Animal or Herbam (Focus Power x 2)
Master of Herbam , variable points, Init: (Qik - Might cost), Herbam: duplicates any non-Ritual Muto Herbam or Perdo Herbam spell no greater than 40th level at a cost of 1 Might point per magnitude of the effect. (Focus Power x 2)
Presence, 0 points, constant, Mentem (Greater Power)
Shroud, 2 points, Init: (Qik - 12), Mentem. Provides an effect similar to The Shrouded Glen. (Ritual Power x 2)
Vis: 8 pawns of Herbam Vis, 4 pawns a year can also be harvested deep inside the forest.
The Arduenna Silva
When Julius Caesar set about expanding the boundaries of Rome, the Hercynian Forest was not the only magical forest the Cult of Mercury encountered. In 57 B.C. Julius Caesar set out to conquer northern Gaul and in the region of what would be called Gallia Belgica was another vast, ancient forest the Romans named Arduenna Silva. Once again the Cult of Mercury set out to empower the limes and yet again their efforts lead to the fragmentation of the main spirit Arduenna into many, smaller genii locorum.
Sounds about right.
If nobody has anything to add or comment about this design, this is what we will be using for Arduinna, the spirit of the Ardennes forest. The aura at the higher locus of Arduinna will be higher. Aura 6 qand her might will be 40.
I'll flesh out the powers and bookmark this.
Okay... so she now has Magic Might 40? For the Magic Aura 6, that would mean (forest 2, preternatural tether 4)
Power 35-40 sounds about right. These are likely her aprocimate powers. There can always be variation, but it is what a connected person like Yannis can infer from his direct experience dealing with the forest. Maybe it has some othe rpowers like granting flaws that you do not know about.
No objection to the character build.
You should read RoP:M p.88f New Virtue: Spiritual Pact, especially the transfer of Might points to build Yannis' Might Pool, how that Might Pool works, and then Arduinna'a Powers and their limits.
So far I found only, that by RoP:M p.38f boxes Common Magic Powers the effect levels of Crafter of Herbam and Master of Herbam are each limited to 25. Nothing big - such things are quite unvoidable when designing a complex character. But they should not come up during play and mess up plans and projects.
Based on the sample genius loci in RoP:M and because @Xavi increased Arduinna's Magic Might to 40, Yannis can channel non-ritual spells up to 40.
I was happy with a might of 30 to be honest
Thanks. I'm hoping to find a mainland one. I could always just go with a Greek one or one of several Irish ones I've found. But I felt mainland Celtic would be more fitting for the location. I was trying to veer away from Melpomene for that reason.
We have on HoH:M p.38:
"Crafter of (Form)
Variable points, Init equal to (Qik – 5),
appropriate Form
R: varies, D: varies, T: varies
Duplicates any of a range of non-Ritual
Creo or Rego spells pertaining to the specified Hermetic Form, at a cost of 1 Might point per magnitude of the effect. The level of the effect cannot be greater than the creature’s Might, or 25, whichever is lowest. This power affects only one Form, but some creatures have this power more than once, for different Forms.
Cr(Form) or Re(Form) 25: Focus Power"
The same limit is spelled out on p.39 for Master of (Form).
Focus Power RoP:M, p.37
Greater Power RoP:M, p.38
Ritual Power RoP:M, p.40
Also, check the example genii locorum RoP:M, p.111-115
You are right! I overlooked the "(Focus Power x 2)" entry for Arduinna.
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About the Might of Arduinna, 40 seems ok given the power level of the forests in GotF and the sample genii locii in RoP:M. 30 is too low.
What we can do is that you have a pact, but a limited one for the time being. You need to prove yourself more. So you are limited to level 25 effects. It is like granting you Focus Power x1 instead of x2. As you evolve in Arduinna's path and stern you will unlock more power.
How about that?
A question about legal proceedings - no local courts really have jurisdiction over the surrounding nobles, right? I was planning on the Mechanician being a legal expert specifically brought in by the two elder residents, but when I think about it further it seems like the real use of a legal expert would be at Court. Thoughts?
There are several areas where it might be useful
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The taxes that the covenant must pay to the count of Namur.
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The right of the covenant to exploit the Ardennes forest. I think here we can have more problems with Yannis than t'he mundanes, but better safe than sorry.
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Vis rights. Not all disputes are in mundane courts.
In any case a mechanician looks interesting to the covenant. Being a legal expert is a bonus. Triamore has a special legal status as a direct subject of the Emperor, and this needs to be defended since it is a relatively new invention (less than a century old) as well. Other nobles in the area do not have this status, and so are subject to normal secular or clerical courts.