Recently I watched the movie Seventh Son. When creating a mage for my new Rhine saga, I decided to use the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son concept for a Gentle Gifted Jerbiton who would focus on his family and continue the trend of having seven sons in the hopes that they too would have the Gift. He would work for a breakthrough in Hermetic Theory in Fertility Magic to pass on the Gift to the rest of his family. I was very happy with this UNIQUE concept until while reading up on Fertility magic I came across ... Aurulentus in Magi of Hermes!
Our characters were almost duplicates with both having Creo, Corpus affinites, Minor Magical Focus (Fertility), Driven, Weak Magic Resistance and they both even had German as their native language! So much for my unique idea.
At first I was going to scrap my character and start again but then I decided to roll with the idea that our characters were related due to the similarities and revamped the character and I was very happy the final result. I get a kick out of tying canon sources together into new extrapolations so if that is not your thing then this probably won't be that fascinating to read.
Revised character concept is that Coll is a distant cousin to Aurulentus but instead of being the seventh son of a seventh son for 5 generations, Coll is Aelxander's first son's first son's first son's first son's seventh son's seventh son. This makes Coll the seventh son of a seventh son of the seventh generation of Alexander. By being the eldest son's instead of the seventh son's descendants over 4 generations, Coll is 2 generations beyond Aurulentus.
This is important because of the prophecy of Alexander that states that the seventh generation seventh son of a seventh son would be able to reshape magic. The accepted interpretation is that the prophecy refers to seven continuous generations of seventh sons of seven sons however there is a possible interpretation that any seventh son of a seventh son of the seventh generation might fulfill the prophecy requirements, which Coll qualifies as.
========
In picking the version of Aurulentus, I went with the +15 years from Gauntlet version since that is prior to his fertile longevity potion breakthrough which by canon should not exist in 1220. The goal is to have Aurulentus being a larger than life star while Coll is the overshadowed schemer always in the background so having Aurulentus slightly older than Coll helps keep him more powerful while still being a relative peer to compete against.
Aurulentus's native language of High German (Alemannisch), his father also being his parens and an abnormally young gauntlet age of 20 would indicate a Durenmar birth and upbringing (based upon a quick google search of Alemannisch map). Dankmar being the other covenant in the area which did not seem appropriate. There are a few undefined magi slots in Durenmar so that works out.
This leads to some interesting research interactions in Durenmar which suggest a larger plot. Susanna, mater of Petrus Virilis, is obsessed with fertility and Gift research so she is presumably trying for a breakthrough in Fertility Magic as per Ancient Magic. Given that research is being directed by Prima Murion and that she despises integration of non-Hermetic magic then one can assume that Susanna is pursuing Original Research. The Alexander bloodline would make a good source of Insight for such research.
Given that Susanna final twilights sometime in 121X, she has presumably made some progress towards her obsessive fertility breakthrough. The easiest canon solution would be to use the 4 fertility spells and 3 fertility items in Ancient Magic page 56, which is consistent with the general premise that spells in source books eventually become standard across the order. Picking a lab text for one of these effects for the 1221 folio seems appropriate. Potion of Creation being the obvious choice that would likely have the biggest effect on the Order, as magi can consistently produce offspring.
Petrus Virilis's ability to procreate Gifted offspring which is considered an ability
that "is too important to House Bonisagus to be lost" combining with his nearing longevity potion age ties in well with Aurulentus's ongoing breakthrough research into a fertile longevity potion.
Philippus Niger's twilight scar that only male children are born in an area where he has lived more than a year makes Durenmar the ideal place for Aurulentus and his father before him to live since it makes having 7 sons much easier.
Putting it all together we have a rough sequence of events of Aurulentus's father coming to Durenmar to take advantage of Philippus Niger's twilight scar so that he can father 7 sons. Susanna using Aurulentus's bloodline as Insight for fertility research producing the potion of creation. Aurulentus using the potion of creation combined with Philippus Niger's twilight scar to easily father 7 sons. Aurulentus researching fertile longevity potions that will keep himself and Petrus Virilis fertile to spawn many more Gifted children. To a conspiracy theorist this looks like a conspiracy by House Bonisagus to create many apprentices and rapidly increase their House size, not to mention to fulfill the Alexander prophecy that will supposedly bring about a mage who wil reshape magic.
Make Xavier of House Mercere a member and probable leader of The Cult of Heroes, who are also looking for a spell that would create the Gift and their rituals of characteristic boosting and suddenly the apprentices all become legendary intelligence and perfect human specimens.
Enter the conspiracy theorists of House Tremere. Starting with the auspicious family reputation, House Tremere researches the potential rival and uncovers the Alexander prophecy of a mage who will reshape magic. House Tremere intends to ensure any such mage is a member of their House.
The first attempt was to claim Altus, son of Alboin as a Tremere apprentice at the extreme young age of 5 before Alboin had opened his sons Arts. Alboin manages to thwart the plot by starting the process before the Tremere can make their claim. This attempt becomes infamous though and causes other biological parents to open the Arts of their gifted offspring, and even those who find promising children they fear may be stolen, at age 5 instead of the normal age 7 (see Aurulentus of Jerbiton, Larinda of Ex Miscellanea, Beechleaf of Merinita all of which gauntlet at 20 years old).
The second attempt by Tremere involved a potential loophole in the prophesy which they believe could be interpreted to mean any seventh son of a seventh son of the seventh generation of Alexander might fulfill the prophecy requirements. Tracking down the line of successive first born sons of Alexander, House Tremere recruits the 5th generation successive first born son as a covenfolk member at the Roznov covenant.
Using the non-hermetic magic of Igor Rastvan of Ex Miscellanea, priest of Radegast, a god of fertility and plenty of slave girls the 5th generation Alexander descendant has 7 sons. The process is repeated with the seventh son and as a result Coll is born the seventh son of a seventh son of the seventh generation of Alexander.
Coll has not lived up to the high expectations of someone who is prophesied to reshape magic. Coll is a competent but not spectacular mage however he suffers from a low presence. Coll's Mythic Blood which should have given him a magical focus in fertility was ruined by Tremere training and replaced with a magical focus in certamen.
At his gauntlet, Coll is just an average Tremere magus with no particular reputation, unlike his esteemed distant cousin, but Coll is ambitious, ruthless and determined to be the prophesied one in the end. Coll believes that unlocking the secrets of Fertility Magic and being able to mass produce gifted offspring will be the way that he will reshape magic. Not being a particularly inventive genius, Coll intends to learn all the fertility magic insights researched by Hose Bonisagus thus far and then seek ancient artifacts that he can integrate with Hermetic magic instead of original research. Coll's plan is supported by his Tremere superiors thus far, at a minimum they need to know how far House Bonisagus has progressed so far in their research since the congregation of so many fertility specialists in Durenmar makes it appear that a big breakthrough may be imminent.
Lurking in the background is the influence of Radegast and the fertility rituals used to spawn Coll. Is there a darker plan afoot?
If you made it this far, I hope this was an interesting read. I'd love to hear any feedback, especially potential improvements, on the concept.