I was curious what all of you would do with Sebastian in Against the Dark (the caretaker of the Scholomance). For those of you unfamiliar with him, here are some salient details:
(A) Looks like a man in his 40s with no distinguishing characteristics
(B) Hundreds of years old and unaging appearance
(C) Intellego spells do not reveal a Magic score
(D) Enjoys teaching and is very knowledgeable in philosophy, liberal arts, dead languages and forgotten lore
(E) Name similarity with a local dragon-king
(F) May or may not be able to use some magic; the book doesn't say one way or another
What would you make his background and how does he avoid Intellego spells? For the Intellego part, I can think of Invisibility to Magic (as per the Heroic Virtue), a personal power that constantly does a Perdo Vim effect on Intellego or something similar, or maybe he just doesn't have a Might score. How would you handle it?
Huh...Intellego spells don't reveal a Might Score. I missed that one.
I got a couple things in mind. You pointed out Hero's Invisibility to Magic as one potential solution. Another idea might be that when you're talking with Sebastian, you are not in fact interacting with the real Sebastian, but a proxy. There are several ways to do this by Hermetic Magic, as a way to avoid the penalty of the Gift.
An illusion that moves at the discretion of it's maker. Perhaps it affects the sense of touch as well, making it appear to be solid. If we're dealing with Faerie the Glamour illusion could easily explain this.
A temporarily created body in Sebastian's liking, controlled through mental commands. Hermetic magic can do this by creating a temporary corpse.
Daimons can replicate a feat above by creating a physical vessel for their aspects, who is to say some non-Hermetic magic cannot perfectly replicate this creation of a proxy. Scholomance after all is in possession of a greatest library on Hedge Magics in the Order.
With that in mind I wouldn't rule out the possibility that he is in fact a magical being of some sorts, if not the Dragon King that is mentioned.
Alternatively he could also be, and hear me out...a Devil Child. Ordinarily they have very short lives, but since they are still able to possess Maleficia and aren't affected by warping at all, they have a potential to live for a very, very long time. An Infernal Might Score could explain why Intellego Spells do not work.
Here's a few ideas I'd appreciate opinions on
A) Sebastian is the Dragon King or a close relative thereof. Pro: Ties into a lot of the setting Con: This is the most obvious choice
B) Sebastian is a fey. The question now becomes what role (but that could just be mysterious caregiver).
C) Sebastian is a Devil Child who bound a dangerous demon of deception into himself.
D) Due to its proximity to Thebes, perhaps Sebastian is a Daimon of Prometheus (who would have been freed by Heracles) Prometheus was both renowned as being a trickster and a teacher. This would also tie into the Thebean tribunal.
E) Maybe Sebastian is a Transformed Magic Human who had served as a caretaker for Tremere.
What do you think about the possibilities? Which one seems more interesting than another? As a player, which one would be the most interesting for you?
Imo the Aspect of Prometheus and the Devil Child are the most interesting options, although since this is in Transylvannia rather then Thebes I think more credence should be given to local stories.
The Devil Child approach, imo, fits the best for a couple reasons. First and foremost being the stories surrounding Scholamance, with the "Devil" in it's story actually being Sebastian. The second reason is that Tremere are already gathering infernal artifacts for safekeeping...or so they say. Having an ally with keen understanding of the Infernal could be a potent tool in combating it, and Scholamance is already dedicated to gathering esoteric knowledge, among other things. Personally this story would be most interesting if Sebastian were a genuine ally to the House. How that partnership might look like is up to you ofc.
The Dragon King / king's relative approach also works locally due to dragons' association with the Scholamance in local folklore.
For a Devil Child, who would it be? The legendary Scholomance may have a connection to King Solomon so a possibility for this would be to make King Solomon a devil child who works against the Infernal (or a transformed magic human) and who bound Asmodeus into himself with Binding. That would eliminate both Warping and Aging and give a reason why the scholars just let him be (they don't want to risk letting Asmodeus free). I'd prefer someone more Dacian or Thracian but I'm not sure who.
I agree but I'm not going to run the Dragon War for the first saga. I was also considering the possibility of Orpheus as Thracian and with the Gate to the Underworld (if I make it such or a potential option).