Ok, I'm game. I've not done Ars Magica before, although I've read the rules. Since I'm new, I'm using a very familiar concept: Verditius with skills in Metal (Major Magical Focus). I enjoyed Transforming Mythic Europe, and am looking at the whole idea of Magic-based power - eternally spinning wheels that drive industry. (p. 124-5)
It was originally planned that I would be part of House Tremere. However, my would-be parens had to take up a sudden errand, my Verditius master grabbed me. It was a bad apprenticeship, and I want to be far away from him. he is and was a terrible person, (Tormenting Master)
Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults mentioned that the Verditius secret of Automata is somewhat known within the Order, and I'd like to have that.
If this is acceptable, I'll post a character sheet and such in the forums.
I've been doing RPG's for many years, so I'm not a total noob, although I'm sure I won't have the most optimized character.
It's likely that any Verditius within Transylvania who took an apprentice that was supposed to go to a Tremere would be kicked out of the Tribunal and all support withdrawn. So, it's entirely possible that the stealing happened, it's not something that's going to leave you very well connected to other Tremere players' backstories.
Come to the forum, and make a post in the HR and CD forum to discuss your concept with other players. I'm not the sole arbiter of what works, any player can comment on any other player's character.
If yes, I would like to join the game as a Mercere magus.
House Mercere is a house devoted to the propagation of messages, knowledge, and goods among the order. However, since decay hit the order, people are less keen on receiving us. Even though no one knows precisely whether mundanes carry the germs of contagion with them, our sodales without the gift have been rejected just like magi. Because our house is the lifeblood of the order, it suffers from these events moreso than anyone else in the order. However, it is also true that House Mercere probably resisted better than other houses. Since most of us are without gift, they are able to stay connected, and the large trading network that was the pride of the order is now partially used to trade with mundanes, in order to provide for the redcaps and those who serve them. It may be viewed as interfering with the mundanes, but who could blame it, when the order leaves them without their traditional job ?
For those of us with the gift, however, things are a little bit more complicated. Of course, for me, things are not that bad : I've always been a traveler, as you would guess. I never stayed in my lab more than it was necessary, because the best way to know what my redcap sodales need is to follow them in their journey. Therefore, leaving early, going far and staying long won't bother me much. And who knows, maybe the solution to our problem is on the road ?
We do have a Merceris Magus already. Since we're fairly deep into the development, and characters have been built by the other players, I'd check with him to see if it's OK. I don't, as an SG have a problem with another Merceris, but it's somewhat unusual, as there's less than 20 of them in the Order, and two together means that 10% of the Merceris magi are in one spot. Does that make sense? Do you have another House in mind?
After reading more on the campaign and other players, I would like to try another character : Hilbert ex Bonisagus.
Some people may say that lights are sometimes out up there, but Hilbert is a man with a simple idea. He's convinced that powerful magic can be done with simple spells, simply by combining them. So far, he's managed to provoke both amazement among theorists and laughter among pragmatic magi of his house, such as casting two spells that are undistinguishable from casting only one spell, or casting a spell usually targeted, but without a target. His friends say that his understanding of magic theory is amazing. His enemies point out that the only spell he's been known to actually use was to light a candle.
But they're all oblivious to the potential great breakthrough. Back when he completed his gauntlet, he could swear it was just 20 years away, and it's been almost 20 years ago...
(this character revolves around the idea of creating spells which are shells for other spells. The character will need some fleshing out, to see what may be allowed and what may not, as pushing this concept too far may be a little broken... Since the character will probably have the practicallity of a wet sponge, it will be up to the covenant's members to build applications of his theories.)
Having covenant members build upon your character's work is likely to lead to frustration, because magi have their own interests. Heck, even as an SG, I can only rarely convince players to go in the direction I'd like them to go.
My general advice for players is to design a character who does something well, on his own. A character who can stand alone (well, grogs and companions might be present) and do something well is going to be more enjoyable. If you're going to have a lot of research that you want to hand out to the other players, you will end up waiting until the other players have enough time to read your research and implement your theories. In a PbP game, where pacing is a challenge, introducing something that takes a long time to develop is going to add to frustration.
Having a plan for where you want a character to go is great, but the other piece of character design here is that you should have something that your character does well now, to give you something to do while the other stuff builds.
Go ahead and make a thread in the game forum. Reserve the first three posts. The first post will be the character in play, the second post at gauntlet and the third post is his development and advancement history.
