Torros ex Jerbiton

A few things to keep in mind for the background story.

There's nothing preventing your characer from having been born in an area where Low German is spoken, but having spent his apprenticeship elsewhere. Anywhere, in fact, even somewhere that was very warm temperature-wise. Apprentice-trading certainly exists, or your pater/mater may have been travelling when you were found.

The reason you proposed initially for coming to northern Germany is a bit shakier. I think that northern Germany is actually a bit more temperate than southern Germany is, because of the mountains in the South vs the sea in the North. (Feel free to correct me if my assumption is incorrect. I have not researched this.)

But don't worry overmuch about why you'd end up in Helgeland. I will arrange for something, provided that your magus had some rationale for leaving established covenants. 8)

One thing that makes me hesitate on this spell as you designed it...

How did Torros come to know this spell? His lab total isn't quite good enough that he would have been able to invent it quickly during apprenticeship. And it is doubtful that his pater/mater would have been able to teach this, as it would simply have not been his/her specialty. So who taught it to Torros? It is just a little too conveniently designed to say that there was a lab text conveniently available for him to learn it. Your background should have something to explain this, or the spell should be slightly modified so that it is less conveniently designed(1). Another possibility is that he did invent it from scratch, but had to experiment to achieve it, meaning it probably would also have some quirks in it(2).

Give it some thought. :wink:


(1) For example, perhaps it uses T:Ind instead of T:Part, meaning that it cannot create ice in a larger body of water, only on a container full of water.
(2) The ice is of an unusual color or has a strong scent (based on his Wizard Sigil perhaps), or is of an unusual/irregular shape. Or something else (not necessarily detrimental, but not beneficial in any case).

The frozen Ice Block
I also thought about to have it on Ind first. But I don´t like the need to fil a large body of water b4 it can be frozen. Second challenge would be to get the Ice out of the container (without destroying the container). I really like that opportunity to trap someone (Ok it will be extremely unlikely to get in a situation where that would be necessary and possible. Or if I´m on a boat, on a sinking boat, I can use this to create a raft.

I understand your Point and if possible I would assume I had to develop it. :bulb:
It could be my journeyman's piece at the end of apprenticeship. To save time I had decided to experiment. As a result there is a side effect.
What do you think if we say the Ice is full of holes like a Swiss-style cheese. :question:

So I have to search for Some part suitable to work on. Additionally the holes might decrease the change to trap someone / something completely. And make it a bit easier to break free. :mrgreen:

We can also decide to make the size and amount of holes depending on a dice roll

Made some adjustements at Torros:
Changes:
Changed Corpus to 0.
Free Expression was the free House virtue, selected additional virtue inventive genius
Corpus 0 (0), Latin (Hermetic usage instead of academic usage),
Sigil added, Ability German changed to Low German.
The frozen Ice block has a quirk now

Looks good.

Now for the really interesting part: background!

I will be really interested in that part, as this is where I will see the kind of stories I can spin up for you, and why he will be interested in eventually joining the covenant.

The boy who would later became Torros was called Peter he grewd up in the north germany as son of a goat herder. As strange thinks start to happen in the presence of the child Peter was given to a traveling noble men called Jorgus. Jorgus was a Magus from the house Jerbiton. He found that peter was gifted and took him as an apprentice and named him Torros. Torros had the gentle gift but also problems with the Art of Intellego. Also he could only learn the arts as long as enough of stuff from that art was close to him.
Finally as his lesson in the magical arts came to aquam it came out that this was something hi is puissant. Later in his apprenticeship he discovered that Invention comes easy to him.
He managed it to invent a new spell: “ The artworkof Ice”.
For two satisfying winters he used his new spell to produce beautiful Statues made from Ice. During this time he also discovered that he seems to have a good immunity against could, letting him work for hours in freezing cold winter air without any problems. All his work was melting in the sun of the following spring.

Beside his activity in the mundane art he managed it to finalize his apprenticeship successfully. His journeyman's piece was the invention of a second new spell “The frozen Ice Block”.

Shortly after his apprenticeship was finished the elder Jerbintons told him to leave because the number of Magi in their covenant is strictly limited. Jorgus gave him some Silver two Grogs and all his best wishes. The two grogs named Hans and Franz are one Guard (Hans) and one personal Servant (Franz).
So Torros started his new live as a Journeyman, a free Journeyman. He starts to travel North, because he had heard in some Stories that far away in the North there is an island that always covered in Ice (In these story Iceland was described). Everlasting Ice, Ice that can be formed to artworks, everlasting artworks made by Torros the great artist.

By the time traveling North he learned that his silver will not last forever and he has to take care for his Grogs too. Both tend to feel chilly and get ill as soon as weather gets bad. Torros himself missed a constant shelter and didn´t like the ongoing long term travel.
He visited some other Covenants but they asked for vis in case he wanted to stay longer.
Due to his weakness in Intellego he didn’t found Vis on his journey and Jorgus didn´t gave him some. Slowly he realized this could become a problem.

Torros changed his plan slightly. Instead of searching for the everlasting Ice he will try to find a covenant that will accept him as a member. Maybe a newly founded Covenant will have some use for him? Due to his gentle Gift he could deal with the mundane people around such a newly founded covenant. After some time his membership should gives him the resources of building an iced chamber filled with his artworks.

Could you elaborate on his background? Right now most of it is simply paraphrasing his stats. I was hoping for a bit more personal history, relations with various people, the covenant he came from, and information about his pater.

Right now, if I remove the bits that pertains to his stats, I am left with:

  • Son of a goat herder
  • Was given (just like that?) to a travelling nobleman who turned out to be a Jerbiton magus
  • He spent 2 winters using a spell he invented to produce ice statues (meaning he invented it at least 3 years before completing his apprenticeship?), but they melted in the sun of spring
  • When he was Gauntleted, he was told to leave his pater's covenant because they had a limit on how many magi (why?)
  • He is looking for a place where he can make more ice statues, ideally where they wouldn't melt come spring

So I am left with more questions than answers, such as:

  • What was his life like when he was an apprentice? Where did his pater live, in what conditions? In a city? In a remote covenant?
  • What was his pater like? Aside from being (passing of as?) a nobleman? Is he actually of noble blood? If so, what is relationship/stance regarding mundane nobility? What are his interests?
  • It is highly unusual for an apprentice to be given access to a lab to develop his own spells. How come Torros invented 2 spells on his own? Would he have had the stats to invent those spells at the time he did? House Jerbiton don't really focus on magical aptitude to determine whether their apprentice passes his Gauntlet, so the concept of inventing a spell as a "journeyman piece" doesn't really fits.

This is where your character becomes alive. So it's worth spending some more time on this. I'm sure you can do better! :wink:

I will need some time to think about the requested details.

Valnastium is the Domus Magna of house Jerbiton. It’s a secluded Valley in the grater alps. A description of Valnastium is in HoH Societates.

He had to leave Valnastium because the elder magi felt a lack in their resources and didn´t want share their vis harvest with the younger magi. Also the actual political course of house Jerbiton states the members should to embrace urban live HoH Societates P53. If all young Magi feel comfortable in their Covenant they wouldn´t leave. To give them some motivation the elder members of Valnastium might have decided to kick most of the younger magi out.
His live as an apprentice and the role of his pater will need some more details. I will describe that in the next days.

Biggest challenge will be to explain why he could develop 2 spells on his own! Due to his virtue Inventive genius the stats shouldn’t be the problem. But the Lab needed could be a problem.
Maybe he used the lab of his Pater in his absence? Possibly without permission!

Another Idea would be that he found both spells as Lab Text.
“Shackles of the Frozen Ice” is well known in house Flambeau. The frozen Ice block has just another duration.
Artwork of Ice is designed to produce a piece of art. Spells like that should be well known in house Jerbiton.

I had missed the fact that he was apprenticed in Valnastium -- the only mention to it is the Area Lore in his stats. Still, some more information about his apprenticeship would be a welcome addition, above and beyond what is described in HoH:S. For example, was he fostered with another magus? If he was, where and with whom, and hos did it affect his Outlook on life and his House? Did he join an itinerarium? If so, which places did he visited and again, how did it affect him?

The possibilities you list regarding his personalized spells have potential. Either, or both, could be used. What's also interesting is how this came to be, and what were the cost and conséquences to this?

I hope I'm not asking for too much. But as I mentioned, these are the elements that will make your character unique and real, rather than just a bunch of stats.

Sorry for my late reply! :confused:
I was on a business trip and the Internet access was difficult.
I will try to add more details for the background tomorrow.

No worry. I don't expect instant answers, or even answers every day. :smiley:

If finishing your character takes one more day, one more week or even one more month, it is all the same to me. We'll simply introduce him when we are ready to do so.

In fact, I'll probably run you through a prelude story, like I did with Joel's magus. That helps both me and the player understand what the character is (and is not) capable of.

Torros grew up beeing all the time of apprenticeship in Valnastium. In the city around the Villa of Jerbiton, Jorgos had a veritable house.

The noble society with its high ideals fascinated him from the Moment he arrived in age of 6.
All the beautiful statuarys around, the arcitectual beauty, the halls filled with colorful artwork and the music….
His Pater was a born Nobleman and as a Member of the Order he is still wealthy (maybe even more wealthy than the rest of its family). However Torros had to face aristocratic pride and arrogance all the time of his life in Valnastium. Manny people around saw in the low birth of Torros a shame, and they had their ways to let him feel this. Jorogs is a patron of many artists. And some of them are of aristocratic birth. These people sometimes saw Torros as a rival.

It took Torros some time to find the motive behind their disgust. Beside of understanding their behavior he felt hurt and misunderstood many times.

This background resulted in a strong dislike of arrogance and stupid pride in the personality of Torros. By the time Toros became aware of his own strengths and (partly) weaknesses.

To his Pater Jorgos he always had a good relationship. Even today Torros is still looking up to him. Jorgos didn’t care too much about Jorgos. He knows the young men and magus had to go his own way.

His pater wanted to send him on an itinerartium but fortune had other plans with the jung man.

In the late years of his apprenticeship Torros felt in love with another apprentice named Belatice. Belatrice was a beautiful young woman playing a huge harp. She saws Torros as a friend, and Torros was to shy to speak about his real feelings.

Torros pater Jorgus was planning to travel to Constantinople and would take Torros and some other apprentices with him. Torros was very happy to hear that Belatrice was one of the others to join the itinerartium. To Torros misfortune there was also another young magus named Abel who had an eye on Belatrice. Abel enjoyed the art of intrigue and found it necessary to get rid of Torros to have success to seduce Belatice. He managed it to let all people around believe that Torros would have stolen a book from the library. As punishment Torros had to stay in Valnastium and copy the book he borrowed.
Jorgos was convinced Torros was innocent but couldn´t proof it. So he agreed to the punishment but gave Torros an already finished copy of the book, secretly of course.

Torros had to stay in Valnastium but he also won two free seasons. He needed some times to come over the painful feeling of losing his love.

After some time of feeling bad he started to learn/develop his own Spells.

Option 1 : He learned both from a lab text he found in the library

Option 2 : He developed one Spell in the Lab of his Pater and the other Spell will be replaced by a standard spell. This is because he cannot develop a level 20 Spell in one season!

I must admit that in places I have some difficulties understanding your post. So forgive me if I reformulate it based on what I understand. Let me know if I can some parts of it wrong.

So, Torros spent all of his apprenticeship in Valnastium, never travelling out? I'm assuming that what you posted previously (being the son of a goat herder from Northern Germany) still applies?

Many of the magi of House Jerbiton living at Valnastium looked down on Torros because of his common ancestry (born a goat herder)? Despite his master being from a noble family and sponsoring many artists?

If they looked down on him, why would they have considered him a rival? Perhaps more as not worthy of being apprenticed to Jorgos, but a rival?

This is not reflected by any of his Flaws?

I don't understand "Jorgos didn't care too much about Jorgos." Do you mean his pater is not selfish?

Note that with Mentem magic, it would have been very easy to determine that the other apprentice was lying. Perhaps instead Abel taunted Torros about his peasant background (and how he was unfit to even speak with Beatrice), and Torros responded by hitting Abel. (Even though by that time Torros would have been over 20 years old...)

Again, no trace of these events in his personality? (Personality Flaws or even just Personality Traits)

Second option seem the most likely. Note that if you change Artwork of Ice to make it D:Conc instead of Sun, it will only be level 15 and he can invent it in a single season. And if he knows a standard spell that turns water to ice, such as Breath of Winter (ReAq 15) or Bridge of Frost (ReAq 30) from ArM5 p.124, then this would give you a similar spell that give a bonus when inventing your "ice block" spell.

Yes!

They saw him as Rival for attention. More attention often means more money.

Anny Ideas? Hatred? Enemies?

Yes. Sorry for my bad description.

I Didn´t had the Mentem Magic in mind. If we go for the hitting Abel option we can select “Oversensitive” as a flaw. This can be the reason Abel managed it to goad Torros enough to get him starting a fight.

Here I need some assistance. I have no Idea how to create the requested connection.

I would prefer to keep the Artwork, and take one or two standard spells instead of the ice block.
I think it is possible that there was a supply of Ice in Valnastium. The winter Ice can be stored in caves where it smelts very slowly. Or there might be a glacier around. If there was enough Ice around Torros had no need in inventing the Ice block spell.

Bridge of frost is only possible if my focus applies to the Max Level = Tech+ Form+ Int+ MT +3.
Is it ok to apply the Focus in this case?

Enemies would be a possibility. It might replace one of your Major Hermetic flaws.

Another possibility, to reflect a "strong dislike", would be the Oversensitive minor flaw. Meaning that your magus find those who are arrogant and proud difficult to be around, and react negatively to them. This might cause him trouble with some of the senior magi, or nobles, during the saga. But as a minor personality flaw, this is mostly for role-playing purposes.

Many possibilities there. This could have resulted in the Lost Love minor personality flaw, if for example Beatrice ended up marrying someone else (or perhaps even dying during the Itinerarium) and this left Torros traumatized.

Another possibility, if this wasn't so much about Beatrice but rather about the machinations of Abel, this could be part of establishing the Oversensitive flaw. Or Abel could still be resentful of Torros over the incident (he could have been left with a scar marring his beautiful face), resulting in the Enemies flaw.

One last possibility, as simply a personality trait (not a flaw), might be something like "Prone to Anger" or "Violent". Reflecting the fact that, when provoked, he is prone to lashing out physically.

Indeed, the focus would fit perfectly with Bridge of Frost, as it transforms water into ice. I don't have a problem with him Learning a spell at the maximum of his capabilities with a standard spell. Lab texts of those would exist, or your pater may have taught it to Torros.

Here is my plan: :bulb:
The Frozen Ice Block and unraveling the Fabric of Imaginem will be replaced by Bridge of Frost.

Study requirement will be replaced by Enemies (Abel hates Torros because his nose was broken by him, and this is still visible. Not really obvious, but Abel feels very bad each time he looks in a mirror)

Personality trades:
Violent: If pushed/badly treated at some point he tends to physical aggression
Friendly: Most time in normal situations he tries to be friendly (more or less successful)
Careful: In the last few years he realized that he has an Enemy in Abel. After some Bad experience he becomes careful. Also he realizes that his violent personality can bring him in trouble. So he tries to prevent situations that can make him angry.

The Enemy Flaw has some Potential. In case this would lead to Wizards war in some years I would love to play this (Even if this might be the End of Torros) :smiling_imp:

In my opinion Torros should have some Information’s about his Enemie. (personality, remarkable Abilities and Arts, weak Abilities and Arts). Something is better than nothing. Don’t want to have too much.

What do you think?

Sound very good to me. Since Torros spent his apprenticeship in the same covenant as Abel, he probably knows quite a bit. Let me know what he knows and I'll work from there to develop the parts Torros doesn't know about.

Character is adjusted.
The knowledge about Abel will follow in the next Days.
Tomorrow I will have a long flight down to Australia. I will be on UTC +10 then.
It will take at least 3 days before I´m back on the board :frowning:

No problem.