Tayma Zamzam

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Ad Astera per Aspera
1

Current Sheet

Name: Tayma Zamzam
Type: Magical Human; Companion, High Power
Might: 2 (Co)
Confidence: 0
Essential Trait: Vengful+3
Personality Traits: Desire+3, Wrath+3,
Qualities: Natural Appearance, Improved Abilities5, Greater Power, Personal Power, Improved Soak5 , Major Virtue2, Minor Virtue3, No Fatigue
Inferiorities: Minor Flaw, Reduced Might13
Characteristics: Str+2 Dex+0, Sta+2, Qik+0, Pre+5, Com+4, Int+1, Per-2
Reputations: Returned Wrong+4, Abandoned Family+2
Virtues: Venus's Blessing, Death Prophecy, Great Communication1, Greater Presence2, Educated, Good Teacher, Gentlewoman.
Virtues from Qualities: Improved Characteristics3, Immunity (Magical Might Loss), Immunity Cold
Flaws: Black Sheep, Wrath (Minor), Low Self-Esteem, Infamous, Small-Frame, Compulsion (Seeks Sex)
Flaws from Inferiorities: Disfigured

Abilities:
Italian 5 (Academic Usage)
Latin 4 (Academic Usage)
Artes Liberales 2 (Writing Systems)
Arabic 3 (Academic Usage)
Teaching 3 (Children)
Etiquette 3 (Courtship)
Brawl 2 (Kicking(
Guile 2 (Men)
Intrigue 3 (Nobility)
Charm 4 (Men)
Athletics 3 (Climbing)
Church Lore 2 (politics)
Theology: Catholic 1 (Sins)
Music 3 (Signing)
Finesse 1 (Teleporting)
Area Lore: Malta 1 (Caves)
Magic Lore 0 (1) (The Dead)

Appearance:
Looking at Tayma gives the sense of a marred masterpiece. She's horribly scarred. Slashes across her face, her arms, her neck, her back and legs if those aren't covered. But ignoring the scars one can see she was once beautiful. Lithe, yet still strong long dark hair offsetting her pale skin. A flawless face if you discount the puckered lines of scar. Eyes of pale, striking blue.

Powers
Greater Power (45 levels, 5 left over)
Deathly Chill
Points 0, Init+0, Ig
R: Touch, D: Mom T: Part
Cold radiates from Tayma, a distance of a little over a pace, forming frost and turning the air deathly freezing. Anyone caught in the area takes +10 damage from the cold. At the Storyguide's option warm clothing may provide a bonus to soak.
Base 10 Touch+1, Size+2 Part+1, Cost-3

Personal Power 25 levels, uses 5 leftover from the Greater Power)
Death Walks Behind
Points 0, Init+0, Co
R: Per D: Mom T: Ind
Tayma moves to a location she can see within 50 paces. Transport is instant and intervening barriers don't matter so long as Tayma can see the endpoint.
Base 15 -2 Cost, 1 Mastery Level, Fast Casting

2

Sheet at start

Name: Tayma Zamzam
Type: Magical Human; Companion, High Power
Might: 2 (Co)
Confidence: 0
Essential Trait: Vengful+3
Personality Traits: Desire+3, Wrath+3,
Qualities: Natural Appearance, Improved Abilities5, Greater Power, Personal Power, Improved Soak5 , Major Virtue2, Minor Virtue3, No Fatigue
Inferiorities: Minor Flaw, Reduced Might13
Characteristics: Str+2 Dex+0, Sta+2, Qik+0, Pre+5, Com+4, Int+1, Per-2
Reputations: Returned Wrong+4, Abandoned Family+2
Virtues: Venus's Blessing, Death Prophecy, Great Communication1, Greater Presence2, Educated, Good Teacher, Gentlewoman.
Virtues from Qualities: Improved Characteristics3, Immunity (Magical Might Loss), Immunity Cold
Flaws: Black Sheep, Wrath (Minor), Low Self-Esteem, Infamous, Small-Frame, Compulsion (Seeks Sex)
Flaws from Inferiorities: Disfigured

Abilities:
Italian 5 (Academic Usage)
Latin 4 (Academic Usage)
Artes Liberales 2 (Writing Systems)
Arabic 3 (Academic Usage)
Teaching 3 (Children)
Etiquette 3 (Courtship)
Brawl 2 (Kicking)
Guile 2 (Men)
Intrigue 3 (Nobility)
Charm 4 (Men)
Athletics 3 (Climbing)
Church Lore 2 (politics)
Theology: Catholic 1 (Sins)
Music 3 (Signing)

Appearance:
Looking at Tayma gives the sense of a marred masterpiece. She's horribly scarred. Slashes across her face, her arms, her neck, her back and legs if those aren't covered. But ignoring the scars one can see she was once beautiful. Lithe, yet still strong long dark hair offsetting her pale skin. A flawless face if you discount the puckered lines of scar. Eyes of pale, striking blue.

Powers
Greater Power (45 levels, 5 left over)
Deathly Chill
Points 0, Init+0, Ig
R: Touch, D: Mom T: Part
Cold radiates from Tayma, a distance of a little over a pace, forming frost and turning the air deathly freezing. Anyone caught in the area takes +10 damage from the cold. At the Storyguide's option warm clothing may provide a bonus to soak.
Base 10 Touch+1, Size+2 Part+1, Cost-3

Personal Power 25 levels, uses 5 leftover from the Greater Power)
Death Walks Behind
Points 0, Init+0, Co
R: Per D: Mom T: Ind
Tayma moves to a location she can see within 50 paces. Transport is instant and intervening barriers don't matter so long as Tayma can see the endpoint.
Base 15 -2 Cost, 1 Mastery Level, Fast Casting

3

Story:
She's a noble's daughter. Her family fell on hard times, and they never were very important in the first place. She is the eldest daughter and there were no surviving sons. She was slightly famous because at her Baptism an Angel appeared and made a proclamation. She would be sent into God's hands by an immortal beast, a foul demon, an avenging angel, a wondrous Faerie or the powers of a mighty wizard. No dying to banal bandits or death in childbirth for her. Technically, it was always "sent into God's hands" instead of "death", but everyone took it as dying. Cool right? Oh and the Angel named her. Don't let an angel do that, they are terrible at picking names.

Fast forward eighteen years. Her family had finally found a solution to their downward spiral! She would marry a "merchant prince", not an actual prince of course, but very, very rich. He wanted to marry into nobility and Tayma was set to inherit. Tayma was a bit miffed at having to marry an old dude, but this Jonathan character turned out to be surprisingly young. Older than her, but not by much. Plus he was charming, superficially at least.

They got married. The problems started almost immediately. Jonathan seemed... reluctant to perform his "Husbandly duties", at least as much as Tayma wanted. Some of Jonathan's deals were less than completely on the level. Probably legal, but embarrassing if they came to light. They fought. Tayma thought he wasn't acting properly. They were both good at flying off the handle. Jonathan almost hit her, but a comment from Tayma about how that would be the most contact they had all week... eventually Jonathan and Tayma had both had enough. Tayma said if he didn't start "acting like a husband" she would accuse Jonathan of "lying with men". Jonathan panicked and murdered her, stabbed her to death.

There was some suspicion cast at Jonathan, but that whole proclamation by the angel shut that down pretty quickly. Jonathan wasn't a demon or dragon. Of course, he DID kill her, which meant "sent into God's hands" didn't mean death. Tayma's soul and spirit did not pass on. The angel didn't bless her, but had given a warning. Some underlying mechinism of reality would not permit her soul to pass on. The contradiction resolved itself returning Tayma to a sort of life and spiting her forth from the earth. Now pale and scarred, cold but moving, Tayma was angry. She wants Jonathan dead. He was the killer. He didn't send her into "God's hands".

4

Other stuff will go here.

5

I think this fits everything, or at least I didn't find anything wrong with the maths, but a second pair of eyes would be really helpful.

6

The first problem is this: from ROP:M on p. 32 "all supernatural humans also have a monstrous appearance... it is supernatural in some obvious way" which seems to destroy the entire concept for this character...

7

That's what the Natural Appearance major quality is for. Page 39 of RoP Magic. But yeah, without that the concept won't work at all.

8

where would this character have developed the magical ceremony ability?

Also, before we go any further let me ask the other players- is this a character who would be welcome at the covenant? The Sahir are the not-quite-sworn-enemies of the order, and in Malta there is no pressing need to get along with them, Tayma here would be the only Sahir in Malta and probably seen as more of a foreigner than the magi and their caravan. The primary reason the character has for wanting to avoid other Sahir and presumably join the caravan is one she cannot reveal... and there would be a strong suspicion that she was there to steal the secrets of parma magica. In short the character feels like something I would expect most magi to kill on sight instead of welcome into their covenant. If the other players do not see it this way however, I will proceed.

9

I wasn't thinking full-fledged "welcome into the covenant", but a contact for the covenant in the village. Supplier of labware as well. Possibly even a source of writings or teachings if anyone wants to try integration. Its not like she wants to join the Order, just defuse a war and possibly (very long term goal) integrate the groups.

She is neither aware of Parma nor able to use it. I'm not sure how she would even know magic resistance is wide spread among the Order, and there's a good number of ways to get magic resistance she would be aware of which aren't Parma. (Wait, why did I give her Order of Herme's lore again? Let me fix that...)

Anyway other people what say you?

10

There is no war in Malta to defuse...

11

I'm fine either way, I don'T have those books and am not conversant with t6he history between sahirs and the order.

12

Malta not having actual fighting makes it an ideal place to do that. Many of the other sahirs consider themselves at war. (At least if I've understood TCTC) Actual conflict areas are terrible places for friendly chats. The point is to defuse any potential war before it blows up between the two groups at large. Just having peaceful contact is a huge first step towards peaceful relations. I wasn't counting on there being some epic conflict that is about to break out and needs to be urgently stopped, but just the basics of having a way to talk to each other.

13

I don't mind the character if this is what you want to play, but silveroak raise a lot of good point.

Maybe you can rework it in a slighlty different concept: what if instead of being a magical sahir, the character was actually a local jinn, trying to forge ties with the new magi living in Malta to get whatever the jinns usually want. I think it would solve a lot of issue that silveroak had with the powers, and the jinn could actually have the same goals as the character, without being as suspicious to the Order of Hermes, and would keep the sahir/arabic magic theme.

14

That could certainly work. Silveroak what do you think? +1 Jinn population?

15

Certainly. Though the background might need a little finessing depenindg on a number of factors (like if the Jinn is tied to a location, and if so for how long it has been there...)

16

I have an idea: I'm sure the covenant needs to either replace a craftsmen or find someone they can buy from. Pick one of those crafts, add Faerie Magic and you have a companion either connected to the covenant, or living in the covenant.

I also have a second idea, this one focused on getting the character in quickly and dramatically. A reverent of a sort. Got stabbed a lot but it didn't fit with her prophecy of death ordained by the Titans. So she returns to life as a being of magic and promptly accuses her murder. Preferably in the middle of her funeral.

17

When you say add faerie magic, I can think of a few possibilities, especially as it connects to craftspeople- could you explain which you are referring to?

18

Derp. Faerie Wizardry. Nothing to do with magic.

19

Having gotten no comments here is the character sheet for the craftswoman. Main advantage over the reverent is its simple mechanics wise. The reverent OTOH, could get into the game a lot quicker. Instant commotion if she revives at her funeral.

Type: Companion
Age: 17
Warping: 0
Personality Traits: Lecherous+3, Keeps Oaths+2, Honest+2,
Sympathy Traits: Woman+2, Honest People+1, Liars-0, Adulterers-3, Blades-1,
Characteristics: Str+1 Sta-0 Qik-3 Dex+2, Pre+3, Per +2, Int-2 Com+2
Virtues: Enchantment, Weal, Woe, Grant, Faerie Blood (Godkin), Ceremony, Ware, Faerie Background (Honest People+0, Liars-0), Careful with Enchantment, Craftswoman
Flaws: Faerie Antipathy (Major), Low-Self Esteem, Motion Sickness, Small-Frame, Faerie Antipathy (Minor), Lecherous (Minor)

Abilities:
Arabic: 5
Brawl: 2
Italian: 2
Area Lore: Malta 2
Craft: Stone (Engraving) 5
Enchantment 4
Ceremony 3
Weal 1
Woe 1
Grant 1
Faerie Lore 1 (Invoking Sympathy)
Leadership 2 (Invoking Faerie Sympathy)

XP spending on sympathy traits
Woman+2 (10 xp)
Honest People+1 (5xp)

20

[strike]At first glance[/strike]this looks good, do we have a name? Are we keeping Tayma Zamzam?
How do we want to integrate this character into the caravan?