Orion ex Merinita

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: The Prestige of Thebes
1

[size=150]Orion ex Merinita[/size]

Orion was born to a poor family in Greece who, while Christian, still paid heed to some of the old ways as well. When he was born, their new son had one brown eye and one that was milky white, a sure sign of blindness. This was taken by his parents as a sign from God – or the gods - that he was imperfect. And so they took him to an abandoned shrine to the old gods, where they abandoned him.

Fortunately, for the helpless baby, a nereid lived near the shrine and visited it regularly. She found the babe and, seeing his single working eye, took it as her own sign to bring the boy to her relatives, the Cyclopes. Seeing a kindred nature in the babe, the Cyclopes adopted him and raised him as one of their own, naming him Orion after one of the Titans.

Orion grew up learning a craft, as all of the Cyclopes were craftsmen. Blacksmithy was deemed too hard for a young boy. But he did have a knack for more intricate metalwork. Years passed as the boy grew up until he was nearly ten when a magus named Lucian of House Merinita visited the Cyclopes, looking to engage them to do a bit of smithing for him. He recognized the Gift in the boy, as well as his blood tie with the Cyclopes, and through them to their father Poseidon. Lucius asked if he could be granted leave to train Orion. The Cyclopes were sorry to see their adopted boy go, but knew that he would be better off with his own kind. They agreed to the magus’s offer and Orion entered into his apprenticeship at the covenant of Aegaea two years later at the next Tribunal.

His years with the Cyclopes had an effect on Orion however. His interest with metal and stone was reflected in his magical gifts. But so too was his blood connection with Poseidon, god of the sea. He learned to manipulate the elements of earth and water to bend them to his will. But his past also affected his personal life. Having been raised with the Greek gods, not the Christian one God, Orion became a strong follower of the old ways, not willing to bow his head to this new God that was working to displace the old gods.

Orien spent many a fine year in Aegaea following his gauntlet. But when the Tribunal granted him an apprentice of his own to train, he realized that the boy was not suited to a life among the waves. Reluctantly, Orien left Aegaea and joined a newly-formed covenant, where he was sure his new apprentice would be more comfortable.

This is Orion just out of gauntlet:

Characteristics: Int +3, Per -2, Pre 0, Com 0, Str +1, Sta +3, Dex 0, Qik 0
Size: 0
Age: 27 (27)
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 182 lbs
Gender: Male
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 1 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)

[size=150]Virtues[/size]
The Gift (free)
Affinity with Creo (minor)
Affinity with Rego (minor)
Book Learner (minor)
Faerie Blood [Cyclops blood] (minor) (the closest I could find was Ettin blood)
Faerie Magic (free)
Harnessed Magic (minor)
Hermetic Magus (free)
Mythic Blood [Poseidon] (major)
Personal Vis Source [Creo] (minor)
Skilled Parens (minor)

[size=150]Flaws[/size]
Deficient Technique [Intelligo] (major)
Faerie Upbringing (minor)
Flawed Parma Magica [Aurum] (minor)
Magical Animal Companion [phoenix? I’ve been trying to find some good Greek mythological birds/small animals] (minor)
Missing Eye [blind in one eye since birth] (minor)
Pagan (major)

[size=150]Abilities[/size]
Area Lore: Islands of Thebes (locations) 2
Artes Liberales [Latin and Greek alphabets] (ritual magic) 2
Athletics (grace) 2
Awareness (alertness) 2
Bargain (books) 1
Brawl (dodge) 2
Charm (first impressions) 1
Code of Hermes (Tribunal procedures) 1
Concentration (maintaining spells) 1
Craft: Jewelry (rings) 2
Romaic Greek 5
Faerie Lore (water faeries) 2
Finesse (precision) 1
Guile (remembering deceptions) 1
Intrigue (gossip) 2
Latin (hermetic usage) 4
Magic Lore (creatures) 1
Magic Theory (inventing spells) 4
Order of Hermes Lore (tribunals) 1
Parma Magica (Aquam) 1
Philosophiae (ritual magic) 1
Swim (underwater maneuvering) 3

[size=150]Arts[/size]
Cr 10 (1)
In 0
Mu 5
Pe 5
Re 10 (1)
An 0
Aq 6
Au 0
Co 2
He 0
Ig 1
Im 0
Me 0
Te 6
Vi 0

[size=150]Innate Invocation[/size]
Lungs of the Fish (MuAq 20) (Gestures)

[size=150]Spells Known[/size]
Extended Sight of the Naiad (InAq 15) +4
Comfort of the Drenched Traveler (PeAq 5) +14
Poseidon’s Gift of Movement (ReAq 25) +19
Bind Wound (CrCo 10) +15
Eyes of the Cat (MuCo(An) 5) +8
Lifting the Dangling Puppet (ReCo15) +15
Wizard's Leap (ReCo(An,He,Te)15) +10
Extended Lamp Without Flame (CrIg 15) +14
Touch of Warmth (CrIg 5) +14
Taste of Spices and Herbs (MuIm5) +8
Wizard’s Sidestep (MuIm10) +8
The Crystal Dart (Mu(Re)Te 10) +14
Hands of the Grasping Earth (ReTe 15) +19

[hr][/hr]
Poseidon’s Gift of Movement
ReCo 25
R: Per, D: Sun, T: Ind
The caster can move freely underwater at the speed of a fast fish – a maximum of about twenty-five miles an hour.
(Base 15, +2 Sun)

Touch of Warmth
CrIg 5
R: Touch D: Sun T: Ind.
Maintains the target at a warm temperature.
(Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun)

Extended Sight of the Naiad
InAq 15
R: Per D: Sun T: Vision.
The caster can see as clearly through water as you can see through air.
(Base 1, +2 Sun, +4 Vision)

[Advancement to come later]

2

Isn't Pagan a story flaw? With the animal companion that would make 2 story flaws... Lazy Parma in effect, as I am posting from my phone.

3

I noted that Alexander the Woodcrafter (made up by silveroak) had both faerie friend and pagan, so I thought there might be some leniency in the matter.

4

If you are looking for mythic animals that are smaller birds with mythic significance my i offer Alcyone and the story of the Halcyon Days/birds en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcyone

5

I finally had a chance to look through the Thebes Tribunal book. That gave me a lot of ideas, and changed the concept slightly. I'm looking at focusing not only on cyclops blood, but from that the blood of Poseidon (the father of at least some of the cyclopes). That fits in very well with apprenticing and later joining the Aegaea covenant, which is the main Merinita covenant that I saw.

6

I am coming up with 10 points in characteristics and no improved characteristics virtues.

7

Ettin (cyclops) blood gives +1 Sta (to a maximum of +3).

8

okay, I'm also coming up with 310 points in abilities and 153 points in arts at gauntlet, which puts him 2 points short of 28 as being the age at which he completed the gauntlet, but your story indicates he was apprenticed at 10 which means he should have completed the gauntlet at age 25. Also did your parens violate the tribunals rules on apprentices in order to keep you for himself?

9

I forgot to update the story to account for different starting age. Having read The Sundered Eagle, I found that all apprentices go according to tribunal dates. So I bumped his starting age to 12 to say that there were two years waiting for the next tribunal after he was found. I was assuming that his parens went through the regular rules and had him properly assigned.

I'll go back and check the arts and abilities totals. It's possible that I goofed up in addition.

10

Here are my numbers for his Arts:

[size=150]Apprenticeship – Arts (150 points)[/size]
Cr 10 (371.5=56)
In 0 (0)
Mu 5 (15)
Pe 5 (15)
Re 10 (371.5=56)
An 0 (0)
Aq 6 (21)
Au 0 (0)
Co 2 (3)
He 0 (0)
Ig 1 (1)
Im 0 (0)
Me 0 (0)
Te 6 (21)
Vi 0 (0)

37 + 15 + 15 + 37 + 21 + 3 + 1 + 21 = 150

11

Okay, I did goof on the starting abilities. Here is a rundown of how they should look.

[size=150]Early Childhood (45 points)[/size]
Romaic Greek 5 (free)
Athletics 2 (15)
Awareness 2 (15)
Swim 2 (15)

[size=150]Later Life (7 years - 105 points)[/size]
Area Knowledge: The Islands of Thebes 2 (15)
Bargain 1 (5)
Brawl 2 (15)
Charm 1 (5)
Craft 2 (15)
Faerie Lore 2 (15)
Guile 1 (5)
Intrigue 2 (15)
Swim 3 (15)

[size=150]Apprenticeship – Abilities (150 points)[/size]

Artes Liberales 2 (15)
Code of Hermes 1 (5)
Concentration 1 (5)
Finesse 1 (5)
Latin 4 (50)
Magic Lore 1 (5)
Magic Theory 4 (50)
Order of Hermes Lore 1 (5)
Parma Magica 1 (5)
Philosophiae 1 (5)

12

I hate to be picky, but isn't it against the rules to take any skill at 6 if your age is less than 30 and you do not have affinity or puissance?

13

Oops. My bad.

I guess I'll have to do that with advancements.

14

How far do you want to go? Since tribunals to start apprenticeships are 7 years apart, lets do this in 7 year segments.

15

I've joined a few games where the new magi are just out of gauntlet or almost just out of gauntlet, so I'd love the opportunity to explore what things are like with a more advanced magus. And it makes every sense that, as you say, the new covenant wouldn't be a bunch of magi just out of gauntlet. Would three or four tribunals be pushing it too far? (I agree, doing them in one-tribunal segments is the way to go.) I've certainly seen magi in other games at that level.

I do have a few questions about advancements, though.

  1. What Quality can we expect from teachers, and what would their availability be?
  2. What access will we have to spells that can be learned from texts?
  3. What is the average xp for a seasonal adventure?
  4. How do you want to handle longevity rituals and the procurement thereof?
  5. Would we get a vis salary during our advancement?
  6. How do you want to handle familiars?
16

Depends on what you want to learn, and at what level. Mundane scholars are available as teachers as outlined in Artes and Acadamie- you would need to hire them as tutors and extend your parma, source quality will range from 11 to 20- add 10 to a simple die. For Magi teachers you would be best served by first earning a token then exchanging it for a season of tutoring on a subject they are strong in- quality varies but in general a source quality of 13 for arts up to level 10 should not be difficult to find. For higher levels or higher teaching quality may take more searching or more tokens.

Any spell in the books will be in a library somewhere, though some of the less common may take a season to locate, and ones requiring certain virtues or cult memberships will have those requirements.

Pre-game adventures should be treated as a free season spent studying either the local language (if under 5) or area lore for the location the adventure was had in.

If you are buying a longevity potion indicate what you are willing to spend in vis and tokens. If you are doing it yourself assume an aura of 3.

No vis salary, but vis is plentiful within the tribunal, and friends often present gifts of vis, in addition to vis essentially being used as a common form of tipping through the order (though still considered a gift) so obtaining a few pawns when you need them shouldn't be difficult- large stores might require seasons to obtain, depending on how you approach it.

A magical animal companion can become a familiar... if the natures match. A Phoenix (fire) and a water mage are not a good fit, so you would need to spend a season looking for your familiar, presumably doing research and following rumors- see adventures before but it may be treated as a season of independent study in magic lore, hunt, or other appropriate ability. After that I will let you know what you find (in part also based on which ability you decide to enhance from the search), and the enchantment process begins normally.

If during part of your time you join a published covenant then you will be under the rules of that covenant, which may include a vis salary. If you want to spend part of the time in a non-published covenant we can sketch out the relevant details when you seek to join.

17

Got it. I was mostly interested in tutors for non-magical abilities.

How do I determine if a spell is common or less common?

Got it.

Roger that.

Got it. Aside from a talisman, a familiar, and a longevity ritual, I'm not looking at a lot in the way of vis expenditures.

The phoenix was actually from when I was thinking of focusing more on fire and earth rather than earth and water. I certainly want to change the magical animal companion, since phoenix doesn't fit. I just need to figure out something that works. Any thoughts? I don't think this is headed toward being a big water-based game (though I could be wrong). So a fish or dolphin seems extremely limiting from a story standpoint. I figure it might be wiser to focus on the earth aspect rather than the water. Possibilities I can see: Water - osprey or otter; Earth - fox, weasel, or marten. Maybe otter is the best bet, since it can serve in both sea and land ...

I was looking at being at the covenant of Aegaea for most (all) of his career). It seems to fit him best of all the published covenants.

18

You have been in enough games I think you will recognize when a spell is used frequently or by only one other character (or less) that you have ever seen. Otherwise we can consider this on a spell by spell basis.

Otter, seal, turtle, water snake- any of these could be an animal of virtue.

Which makes sense. This is an autumn covenant in a strong faerie aura, but given the mercurial description of the socio-political scene I'm going to say that each year there you will be gifted a simple die worth of aquum vis. This can be traded for other forms at .8 to 1 or for techniques at .4 to 1 (so 5 aqqum would get you 4 of any other form or 2 of any technique)

19

Many water birds also: duck, swan, cormorant, pelican, heron, stork, flamingo

20

probably not if he's wanting to maintain an earth secondary nature.