Asteris ex Tremere
Birth name: Geoffry son of Sir John
Religion: Catholic
Nationality/Race: English – Norman
Apparent Age: 15
Born January 7, 1192
Int +2 Per +2 Pre +1 Com +2
Str +1 Sta +1 Dex -1 Qui -1
Personality:
Proud +3
Reckless +3
Reputations:
Demon touched changeling +2 (Friends of his family)
Age: 29 (15)
Warping: 0
Virtues 13p
The Gift
Hermetic Magus
Minor Magical Focus (Certamen)
Privileged Upbringing
Flexible Formulaic Magic
Improved Characteristics
Affinity with Artes Liberales
Celestial Magic
Good Teacher
Cyclic magic (night)
Unaging
Method Caster
Flaws: 13 pts
Blatant Gift
Careless Sorcerer
Chaotic Magic
Proud, minor
Reckless
Nocturnal
Black Sheep
Norman French 5 (Courtesy)
English 3 (Giving orders)
Athletics 1 (Good endurance)
Awareness 1 (alertness)
Brawl 1 (Dagger)
Etiquette 3 (Nobility)
England Lore 3 (Nobility)
County Sussex Lore 2 (geography)
Church Lore 2 (bishops)
Intrigue 2 (plotting)
Survival 2 (England)
Swim 2 (holding his breath)
Artes Liberales 2(10xp with affinity) (astronomy) – from Privileged Upbringing
Single Weapon 2 (arming sword) – from Privileged Upbringing
Latin 4 (Hermetic uses) – 3 from Privileged Upbringing, 1 from apprenticeship
Code of Hermes 2 (Mundane relations)
Concentration 1 (maintaining spells)
Order of Hermes Lore 1 (House Tremere)
Magic theory 4 (vis capacity)
Stonehenge Tribunal Lore 1 (Covenant relations)
Parma Magica 1 (Mentem)
Penetration 2 (Mentem)
Cr 6 In 6 Mu 6 Pe 6 Re 6
An 0 Au 0 Aq 0 Co 0 He 0
Ig 0 Im 0 Me 5 Te 0 Vi 0
Spells
Doublet of Impenetrable Silk
MuAn 15
R: Touch D: Sun T: Individual
ArM5 p 118
Charge of the Angry Winds
CrAu 15
R: Voice D: Concentration T: Individual
ArM 5 p 125
Whispers Through the Black Gate
InCo(Me) 15
T: Touch D: Concentration T: Individual
ArM 5 p 130
Aura of Rightful Authority
ReMe 20
R: Eye D: Sun T: Individual
ArM5 p 151
Lamp Without Flame
CrIg 10
R: Touch D: Concentration T: Individual
ArM5 p 140
Blade of the Virulent Flame
CrIg 15
R: Touch D: Diameter T: Individual
ArM5 p 140
Personal Veil of Invisibility
PeIm 15
R: Personal D: Sun T: Individual
ArM5 p 146, lower range
Shroud Magic
MuVi 15
R: Touch D: Momentary T: Individual
Equipment:
Slightly out-of-fashion gentry dress
Arming sword and dagger
Leather armor and heater shield (stored in his lab)
Appearance:
Astris is a thin, pale youth, with no facial hair. Rather than a full magus, he looks like a new apprentice. However, he carries himself with a sure step and a raised chin, looking even senior magi in the eye when he talks to them. There is something of a noble manner in his bearing. He wears usually wears fancy or stylish dress that was fashionable at court sometime in the last few years. His long black hair is held back from his pale skin in a braid. He has a pronounced widow's peak, which looks odd on a person his age. Although he is thin and pale, he does not appear sickly or weak. Around his waist hangs an arming sword. The handle is worn from long hours of practice. Astris's eyes are a shocking shade of vibrant green. On formal Hermetic occasions, he wears the blue-black robe of a newly gauntleted Tremere. When worried or expecting trouble, he wears a hauberk of leather scales and carries a shield with his father's coat of arms upon it.
Casting Sigil:
Astris's spells always involve a star or stars, or phenomena associated with stars, like twinkling.
Voting Sigil:
Astris's voting sigil is a small star ruby incised with the astrological symbols of Jupiter and Venus. Currently the sigil is held by his parens.
Geoffry was born the third son and fourth child of Sir John Testor, a minor landed knight with a manor in southern England. His mother was known to say to her maidservant that there was something “odd” about the pregnancy. But the parish priest and midwife reassured her that all was well. Geoffry arrived on an auspicious day: Venus occulted Jupiter the night Geoffry was born. After his birth, Geoffry was raised at home, largely by his older brothers, including the heir presumptive of the estate, James.
When Geoffry was seven years old, he was beginning to develop a certain oddness. He was fostered with another knight, Sir Roland, where he began to serve as a page. However, Roland's horse would not abide the boy's presence. Roland was angered and alarmed by the behavior of the charger, and soon banished Geoffry to the most difficult tasks that were (barely) befitting his station. As he aged, Geoffry began to disturb and alarm the servants, the hounds, even the cattle of the manor would refuse to be in his presence. Finally, Sir Roland and Sir John agreed that there was no point in continuing to train the boy, and he was sent to a monastery for training for the priesthood.
With the coming of puberty, the full effect of Geoffry's Gift became apparent. The monks could barely tolerate to strange boy. The monks struggled to teach Geoffry, but they simply had little effect on the boy. Geoffry, for his part was very aware of the discomfort and unease every monk felt in dealing with him. His effect on animals grew more pronounced, until Geoffry was attacked by a sheep of all things. By this point, Geoffry was an angry, and desperately lonely child. After that he fled the monastery heading across the landscape to reach his parent's manor. But he barely made it to the nearest village where he was set upon and nearly killed by peasants alarmed by his Gift. The village elder, a very pious man, stopped the mob and returned with Geoffry to the monastery. After this the Abbot knew they could not help the boy. He sent a letter to a magus he once knew and within a few days a large white wolf appeared to the monastery. The wolf approached Geoffry, and fearing for his life Geoffry drew his knife to protect himself. The astonished monks looked on as the wolf sat calmly on his haunches and looked for all the world to be laughing at the boy, tongue wagging in the sun. The boy, sat his knife down and began to approach the wolf. As he reached out to the large beast to pet it, the wolf seemed to melt into the shape of a tall severe looking man. The magus slapped the boy's hand away and told him to never lower his guard in such a manner. Viraxis had arrived.
Geoffry was taken as an apprentice that day and was taken to the covenant of his master for training.
Opening the Hermetic Arts was a traumatic process for Geoffry. Viraxis claimed he had a deep Gift, a vast well of potential. When that well was tapped it sprung forth like a shaken bottle of Champagne. Geoffry's Gift had developed slowly; antagonizing his family and friends as he grew up. But once the Arts were opened, the effect of his Gift magnified greatly, to the point where he is barely tolerated by even the most even-tempered mundane. An additional side effect is that raw power tends to leak around Geoffry's spells, making them go horribly wrong if not carefully controlled. An additional side effect of the opening was a strong linking of Geoffry's magical potential to the stars above. Finally, the powerful tapping of his gift has left Geoffry unaging. He has not aged a day since his Opening.
Over his apprenticeship, Geoffry was taught the planetary magic and eventually was able to master the details of celestial magic, as though he was born to it. Long nights of studying the stars have left Geoffry a nocturnal, pale man.
Viraxis was a hard master, hard but fair. Astris remains close to Viraxis, and considers the elder magus to be a surrogate father. Astris's real family has turned against the “deviltouched changeling” known as Geoffry. Regardless of this attitude, Astris loves his family and goes out of his way to benefit them and make their life easier, skirting the line of interfering with Mundanes because of his father's social station.
Motivations and Goals
Long term, Astris wants the life he always thought he should have. He wants to be looked up to as a noble knight, protector and lord. He wants people to respect him, admire him, and to be honest, defer to and obey him. He would consider a hermetic career as a hoplite which to his mind is the magical equivalent of the knight he should be. Likewise, he will struggle to raise himself in the Tremere hierarchy for much the same reason.
Astris desperately desires love and acceptance. He will likely seek a familiar soon after the gauntlet.
Astris loves his family and wants the best for them. They are the only people who can treat him they way they do without being crushed. But Astris will let his father kick him like a filthy cur until the day he dies. Maybe if he just does more for the family they will accept him. Astris knows that this is unlikely, but he can't bring himself to abandon his family.
Astris gets along well with his parens. Viraxis saved Astris from a life of pain, so even the hardness of his training is not enough to discourage Astris's affection. Astris wants very much to “live up to” Viraxis's ideal.
Astris is aware that he has only a very general understanding of magic, based on knowledge of techniques alone. He wants to find and study primers for the Forms and decide on an area to specialize in. In the first development cycle, Astris plans to study the Forms and set up his lab. He will check on his family regularly- and will likely create a magic item or use some spell effects to bring them some direct but hidden benefit. He will try once again to get close to his father, only to be rebuffed or used for his power.
Edited to add reputation due to Black Sheep flaw.
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