Renovating Cygna

The Cygna Starter Kit. Ima be advancing here over the next couple of days, using only the books and lab texts listed in the Phoenix Wiki (and not using the Lockhart books.)

Saga: Phoenix – Rise from the Ashes
Setting: Iberia
Current Year: 1213

House: Bjornaer
Clan: Arelie (HoH: MC, p. 12)
Sept: tbd

Age: 24
Size: 0
Confidence: 1 (3)

Decrepitude: 0
Effects of Aging: None

Warping: 0
Effects of Warping: None

Characteristics:
Intelligence: +4 i[/i]
Perception: 0
Strength: -1 i[/i]
Stamina: 0
Presence: 0
Communication: +1 (Dulcet Tones)
Dexterity: 0
Quickness: +1 (good reflexes)

[table][tr][td][u]Virtues[/u][/td]
[td][u]Flaws[/u][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Status: Hermetic Magus[/td]
[td]Deficient Ignem[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]The Gift[/td]
[td]Delusion: is haunted by the shade of Adorjan Megidézó[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Affinity with Mentem[/td]
[td]Diabolic Past[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Animal Ken[/td]
[td]Necessary Condition: Singing[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Enchanting Music[/td]
[td]Susceptible to Infernal Power[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Gentle Gift[/td]
[td]Wrathful i[/i][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Great INT[/td]
[td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Heartbeast[/td]
[td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Puissant Mentem[/td]
[td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Unbound Tongue (HoH: MC 38)[/td]
[td][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Wilderness Sense[/td]
[td][/td][/tr][/table]

Birth Name: Katerina Alexandrova
Year Born: 1189
Gender: Female
Race/Nationality: English/Russian
Place of Origin: England
Religion: Orthodox
Title/Profession: Magus
Height: 178 cm (5'10")
Weight: 64 kg (140 lbs)
Hair: White
Eyes: Black
Handedness: Right

[table][tr][td][u]Abilities[/u][/td]
[td][u]Abilities[/u][/td]
[td][u]Abilities[/u][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Animal Ken 1 (domestic animals)[/td]
[td]Enchanting Music 1 i[/i][/td]
[td]Music 1 i[/i][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Area Lore: England 1 (Riversedge area)[/td]
[td]English 5i(covenant dialect)[/i][/td]
[td]Orthodox Church Lore 1 (The Great Schism)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Artes Liberales1 i[/i][/td]
[td]Finesse 1 i[/i][/td]
[td]Parma Magica 1 i[/i][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Art of Memory 1 i[/i][/td]
[td]Folk Ken 2 i[/i][/td]
[td]Penetration 1 i[/i][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Awareness 2 i[/i][/td]
[td]Heartbeast 1 (changing to human form)[/td]
[td]Russian 5 i(Novgorodian dialect)[/i][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Baking 1 i[/i][/td]
[td]House Bjornaer Lore 1 (clan mysteries)[/td]
[td]Survival 1 i[/i][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Brawl 1 i[/i][/td]
[td]Infernal Lore 1 (tarnished auras)[/td]
[td]Swim 1 (long distance)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Code of Hermes 1 (Wizard's March)[/td]
[td]Latin 4 i[/i][/td]
[td]Wilderness Sense 1 i[/i][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Concentration 1 i[/i][/td]
[td]Magic Theory 3 (inventing spells)[/td]
[td][/td][/tr][/table]

Personality Traits
Hot-tempered: 3
Devout: 1
Swan: 1
Brave: 0

Reputations: None as yet

[u]Combat[/u]
Armor Worn: None
Combat Modifiers: 0
Soak: 0
Armor Load: none

[table][tr][th][u]Weapon[/u][/th]
[th][u]Init[/u][/th]
[th][u]Attack[/u][/th]
[th][u]Defence[/u][/th]
[th][u]Damage[/u][/th]
[th][u]Load[/u][/th]
[th][u]Range[/u][/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Dodge[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]n/a[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]n/a[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]n/a[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Fist[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]-1[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]n/a[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Kick[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]n/a[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Knife[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]n/a[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Staff[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]n/a[/td][/tr][/table]

[u]Equipment[/u]
Knife
Staff
Wizardly robes

Burden: 2

House: Bjornaer
Covenant: Phoenix
Wizard’s Sigil: The sound of flapping wings, which grow louder as the magnitude increases
Domus Magna: Crintera (Rhine Tribunal)
Primus: Falke
Parens: Grus
Covenant of Apprenticeship: Riversedge (Stonehenge Tribunal)

[table][tr][td][u]Technique[/u][/td]
[td][u]Form[/u][/td]
[td][u]Form[/u][/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Creo: 6[/td]
[td]Animal: 3[/td]
[td]Ignem: 0[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Intellego: 6[/td]
[td]Aquam: 0[/td]
[td]Imaginem: 0[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Muto:6[/td]
[td]Aurum: 3[/td]
[td]Mentem: 10+3 (affinity, puissant)(1 xp left over)[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Perdo: 3[/td]
[td]Corpus: 3[/td]
[td]Terram: 0[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Rego: 5[/td]
[td]Herbam: 0[/td]
[td]Vim: 3[/td][/tr][/table]

[u]Spell List[/u]
Form of the Phlegmatic Heartbeast (MuAn 20); HoH: MC p. 36
Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit (PeMe 20)
Posing the Silent Question (InMe 20)
Thoughts Within Babble (InMe 25)
Ring of Warding Against Spirits (ReMe 20)
Whispers Through the Black Gate (InCo[Me] 15)
[/quote]

Click the PM link, it quotes it with all the nice formatting.

Yep, that works. Thanks.

Not the Lockhart books? ~pout~

Of course, I should ask JL if he's porting my subplots into his campaign before pouting about that...

Tbh, I would rather she had read the Lockhart books. One, because I had intended her to read them within a year, anyway, to see what the library staff saw in them and because she was going to meet him at the next Iberian Tribunal. And two, I wanted to see if my theory about the books warping the readers was correct, and if so, what fun and wacky things they would do to Cygna.

But then, if he's not, what's the point?

I have enough keeping me busy without trying to (mis)manage someone else's subplots. So, if you're interested in seeing those events unfold, go for it, you run it. Ra'am knows Lockhart is a fraud, and doesn't need to read the books in full. His reasons were well explained to Ulrich. Ulrich can choose to disregard the warning and get sucked in, Cygna could have, too.

I am willing to do this.

Hearing upon lockhart all day? Even assuming this is true, after a while, it gets pretty boring, and Hiems is :unamused:
And once he's heard Ra'am explanations, he's all the more eager to avoid the fan(atics)

So...on studying the Warders and the Vintners. That would be, what, a season activity, done as Practice, or a variant of Study, or....? And how many xp/what source quality would it have?

Also...I think I will have her studying one of the Lockhart tomes (starting with Travel With Trolls, since that's the only Summa). I'm assuming that there are...consequences to this choice. If y'all wanna pm me and let me know what that does to her, I'm game. I'm thinking it would be fun.

What do you mean by studying them? They're living beings, not enchantments, so you can't "investigate enchantment" on them. You're not developing a Warder/Vintner Lore skill....I assume you mean to unearth some secret aspect of them?

Yes. Basically, by "studying" them, I mean she'd be spending most of her time over the course of a season talking to them, interacting, questioning/interviewing them, find out what she can about them. She knows (roughly) how the Vintners were made, that it was basically (iirc) a lab accident by Sersei that resulted in them becoming sentient and what not. And she knows that, somehow, inhabitants of Phoenix are bound to the covenant, and that when they die their spirits return to defend the covenant against the....whatever they're called, can't recall the name off hand.

So, basically, about a season a year, maybe, would be dedicated to spending time with them, unearthing all she can.

Hrm....my immediate response is the one that I'd give if we were advancing her in game time. But since we're powering through this for an overview, here's some broader scale answers:

  • Interviewing he Vintners is self-defeating. They're incapable of distinguishing truth from fiction
  • You don't have access to Cersei's lab notes unless you can corner the Bookstand of Hespera and counteract its "only usable by a Lannister" effect limitation
  • We could use the investigating enchantment rules, but that doesn't affect the character sheet in an interesting way.
  • The system for making hermetic breakthroughs is probably a more interesting way to approach it, in that it would require you to make spells that interact with awakened plants, ghosts and regios, and experiment with them.

I'm up for any other suggestions. I suppose we could also model this on a straight MT Practice system, but I don't think that's the most effective way to learn anything, or to have your character sheet significantly affected by that course of action.

I've got the Phoenix/Bibracte version of Cygna up over at Obsidian Portal, updated through Winter of 1222. Not sure how much further I need to work on her. If there's any changes need made, or anything she should have that I don't yet, let me know.

Also: Would Ra'am be amenable to helping Cygna with her Longevity Ritual sometime in 1223 or 1224? (She will talk to Hiems first, let him know that she's considering it. She was kinda hoping to have at least one child before she does sidelong glance at Hiems but it doesn't look like that's going to happen).

And another Also: Would Hiems be amenable to Cygna creating another Friendly Voices designed for Hiems, so that they can use it and he won't be subjected to Warping for it?

Is she willing to accept an experimental one for research purposes?

Yes (with any luck, it might still let her have kids), but if it doesn't work, will Ra'am foot the bill for one that does? And what does he want in exchange?

It's impossible that she'll gain such an LR straight off. Ra'am has a number of breakthrough points to accumulate, and if he rolls a discovery, that just means he's discovered a technique that might lead down the correct research path. If that path is ultimately successful then it would be possible, IMO, that he could create a more refined LR (later on) that would allow Cygna to have children. IF that research path goes bust, then I'm thinking Cygna would have to go without a LR for as long as she was under the effects of one to regain her fertility, and figure out some way to make her first LR fail. Maybe the first one is something she does everyday and just stops doing it? I'd be fine with something like that. Keep in mind Phoenix has a healthy feature and gives magi a -4 to aging rolls. So she may not need to take an LR right away and might want to wait for Ra'am to accumulate more research, improve the MT of his assistants. As of 1223, Ra'am can have 3 assistants in the lab. I'm curious of Claudia is returning with Cygna. With Ulrich and Elizabeth, Ra'am can do LR 16. He can do the LR sometime in 1223. And he can juice an LR with a lot of vis...

She can probably put it off until she's 40, as long as she doesn't have a Crisis. She would very much like to give someone children, when the time is right, but if it's not to be, it's not to be.

If Phoenix had been healthy and thriving after all, I don't think she would have left in the first place. So, yeah, she's still there.

Hmmm, I wonder what kind of Perdo Corpus spell could make a Longevity Ritual fail. Would probably have to be a ritual (for game balance if nothing else). Our friend Eskil would be the one to ask about PeCo :exclamation:

We established that Heims and Cygna went to Gallus Florensis, though, right? It's fine if Claudia didn't go, I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page with who is where and when.

Right. Cygna and Hiems went to Gallus Florensis (in fact, I even put a bit about that in Cygna's OP page). Claudia can stay, Daniella would go because she only speaks English and has an Ability Block: Languages (which explains why she doesn't speak anything else, even after being at Phoenix for a while), Celestria stayed because she enjoys having the power that being Head Maid give her ("Oh, look...an absolute stud of a magus is visiting for a few days. I'll be handling his room myself. See you in the morning, girls.") Terrence isn't dead after all, he went and came back with her.