Valentin Belyea of Mercere

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Et Postestatum Magnam...
1

Valentin of Mercer
Birth place: Troo near Vendrome
Apprentice Covenant: Durenmar
Parens: Xavier of House Mercere
1 trial from your Gauntlet: He had to deliver news of his successful gauntleting to the Dormus magna in Harco from his covenant of Fengheld without using magic (aside from Parma Magica). He was somewhat poorly equipped for the journey and had to charm and bribe his way across the country. He is now certain that sired seven bastards along the way, he is on the lookout for magical potential in the children due to the hermetic significance of the number.

"[size=150]Valentine of Mercere[/size]
Age: 25
[size=120]Characteristics:[/size]* Intelligence (INT): +3

  • Perception (PER): -2
  • Strength (STR): -1
  • Stamina (STA): +0
  • Presence (PRE): -1
  • Communication (COM): +3
  • Dexterity (DEX): +0
  • Quickness (QIK): +0
    [size=120]Arts:[/size]
  • Techniques: [list][*] Creo: 13
  • Intellego: 1
  • Muto: 1
  • Perdo: 1
  • Rego: 1
    [/:m]
    [    ] Forms: * Animal: 5
  • Aquam: 1
  • Aurum: 1
  • Corpus: 5
  • Herbem: 1
  • Ignum: 5
  • Imaginum: 3
  • Mentum: 5
  • Terram: 5
  • Vim: 5
    [/:m][/list:u][size=120]Abilities:[/size] Artes Liberales: 1 (Arcane Texts)
  • Athletics: 2 i[/i]
  • Awareness: 2 i[/i]
  • Carouse: 2 i[/i]
  • Charm: 4 i[/i]
  • Concentration: 1 i[/i]
  • Finesse: 1 i[/i]
  • French: 5 (Academic Texts)
  • Guile: 1 i[/i]
  • Latin: 4 (Arcane Texts)
  • Magic Theory: 3 (Similar Spells)
  • Music: 1 i[/i]
  • Parma Magica: 1 i[/i]
  • Teaching: 2 i[/i]
    Virtues: * The Gift (Special,Hermetic)
  • Puissant Creo (Minor,Hermetic, House)
  • Major Magical Focus (Improving People) (Major,Hermetic)
  • Affinity With Creo (Minor,Hermetic)
  • Good Teacher (Minor,General)
  • Free Study (Minor,Hermetic)
  • Personal Vis Source (Minor,Hermetic) He knows of a tree where the first bud in the spring and the last leaf to fall in the autumn both contain a pawn of Creo vis
  • Inventive Genius (Minor,Hermetic)
  • Venus’ Blessing (Minor,General)
  • Inspirational (Minor,General)

Flaws: * Lecherous (Major ,Personality) Mercers are encouraged to have many children so that some of them may be Gifted

  • Ambitious (Minor,Personality) Making his school the greatest in Europe
  • Dependent (Major,Story) His many bastards and the mothers
  • Difficult Spontaneous Magic (Minor,Hermetic)
  • Incompatible Arts (Pe Co) (Minor,Hermetic) He is very good at improving people, ripping them apart just doesn't make sense to him.
  • Fragile Constitution (Minor,General)
    "

ReCo5 Wither Assailant (Reskinned Palsied Hands)
ReCo5 Curse of the Unruly Tongue
ReCo15 Endurance of the Berserkers (Dia variant)
ReCo15 Blink Stride (50 pace personal Teleport)
CrCo10 Bind Wounds
PeVi15 Unraveling the Fabric Everything (Wind of mundane silence on Unravelling the fabric's chassis)
PeVi15 Demon's Eternal Oblivion
CrCo20 Chirurgeon's Healing Touch
CrIg20 Pilum of Fire
120 Spells Total 120

So the far reaching magnum opus plan for him is to create a University with more of a practical bent than the others at the time. Focusing on vocational skills rather than the arts (or the Arts). Early on I'll use the school to directly benefit the covenant. Eventually I want to export professionals to all over Europe. Obviously, as a Mercer, Redcaps will be welcome.

Magically he is focused on improving people. He should very quickly get all of the stat bonus spells and can act as the Covenant's longevity specialist.

2

So, I really like the idea of a school and I originally went with Jerbiton as a default choice because of their close association with mundanes. But I really find them quite dull and if an interest in mundanes is all I'm going for then any magus could have an interest.

Anyone have thoughts on why other houses might start a school?

I came up with:
A Mercer, he wants to set it up with the intention of allowing Redcaps to study there as well as total mundanes. The effectiveness of the school grows with the number of people you have pushing the bounds of training after all.
A Criamon, this would make it a very odd school. But magic doesn't set us above our fellow man and educating them should bring them closer to Harmony. That sounds right.

I'm thinking I'll make a switch to Mercer since it keeps the school accessible and supports the enchanting focus I was thinking of.

Since it didn't catch in the main thread. Major Magical Focus Enchanting is probably too broad? Anyone have an idea on how to narrow it to fit?

3

Hi! It is definitely too broad. It would cover all Hermetic magic as applied to creating items? I might not understand what you mean by enchanting. Also, I believe it’s explicitly prohibited somewhere to have a focus on Lab activities, but I might be misremembering. Your particular focus may aid you in lab activities, though. Busy right now, but I’ll try and see if I can suggest something later.

4

Yes, a focus on lab activity is explicitly forbidden, I just read that. I could to a focus on enhancing the mind (since I am a teacher) it would probably cover most of the enchanted devices I make, I actually suggested the exact same thing to ironboundtome for his strategy Criamon...

Would that still be a major? It is basically half of one art (arguably it covers animal too, but always with a mentem requisite).

Edit: Enhancing Humans, might work? It is like half of Co and Me, seems comparable to necromancy... I have a major budgeted in my virtues, go big or go home right!?

5

I could see it working well for a Bonisagus, a Flambeau, or a Tremere, depending on what you're doing with the school. For instance, for a Flambeau it would probably be focused on training shield grogs well. I could see a Bonisagus training people in Latin, classical studies, Magic Theory, Profession: Scribe, Profession: Illuminator, and the like to supply the Order with people who can copy books well, improve labs, maybe do some experimental philosophy (not in this game's rules), or write some books themselves.

Well, you already caught the lab activity bit violating the explicit rule on foci.

Enhancing people can certainly work well. It would hit a large portion of Corpus and Mentem, but far under half of each. It would totally leave out PeCo and PeMe, of course. InCo and InMe probably wouldn't fit. Lots of ReCo and ReMe isn't enhancement, but a little probably is. And healing probably wouldn't fit. A lot of non-healing Creo would fit, as would tons of the Muto stuff. Estimating 1.5 Techniques there, I (although it's up to Ghost) would allow you to make a slightly broader statement about enhancement, such as people and animals. I think people, animals, and plants might get too broad. But if you specify the enhancement as not just any useful changes (e.g. is growing wings on a person an enhancement or not?) but increases in what was already there, I would think you could include plants, too. If you do a restricted "enhancement" and only people, you might be able to squeeze it into a Minor Magical Focus, but the restriction would probably have to be pretty tight to squeeze small enough if it covers Corpus and Mentem. Hopefully that rambling paragraph was helpful.

Edit: If you are doing stat-boosting rituals, three things. One, consider Mercurian Magic. Two, consider some Spell Mastery (a score of 1 is enough). Three, my character might well be willing to assist in the lab since it would fit the Major Personality Trait, which would override the social norms. The goal is to become the greatest Hermetic warrior ever, beyond even Flambeau, and improving Perception, Strength, Stamina, Quickness, and maybe others would help a lot.

6

Ya, maybe straight healing wouldn't but healing check bonus probably would, and so would longevity rituals and the stat rituals.

If I could get it to cover animals then I'm be able to fit buffing my familiar (maybe not binding it) into the mix.

I was saying enhance as positive alteration. Perdo and Intellego would be right out, 99% of Rego and exactly 50% of Muto would be out, the actual creation parts of Creo would be out. But it would cover two forms.

7

If I were the storyguide, I'd say that...

...improving the mind is a minor focus (all those CrMe rituals, plus other spells that help you focus or remember).
...improving the body is another minor focus.
...improving people is a major focus (that combines the two minor foci).

You can always focus on men or women, of course (textbook major focus).

8

Agreed. +1 for the assist.

9

Ok then I'll go with improving people. Should handle a lot of what I want to focus on.

Do Longevity rituals count?

10

My character in Presidium Orae has a Major Magical Focus in "Improving human function" that covers healing, longevity and creo mentem/corpus characteristic improvement. It may be worth considering and testing it's reasonableness with your troop.

11

While technically it would depend upon how you worded the focus, I'd allow that. Longevity Rituals are, as far as I can tell, a way to improve the life of someone who is getting older.

12

Ok....

If the litteral wording is "Improving People" then where do we stand?

13

We're talking a Major focus, and not a Minor one? I think I'm ok with Improving People as a wording. I think. We are talking primarily MuCo, right?

14

CrCo Guidlines lvl30+ "Increase characteristics" and some MuCo
plus the mentem stuff, which is similar

I guess

15

MuCo, MuMe, CrCo, CrMe not all the applications of those. I would think the ReCo Berserker spell would fit also.

Other question was if Longevity fell under that and if unnatural changes like giving a person wings would fit.

I would think instilling personality traits would not fall into it, no matter how beneficial they are (Studious for example).

16

Going by the example major foci in the book on page 45, that's too broad even for a major focus. Corpus, for example, states men OR women. Even Necromancy states Corpus and Mentem but only as applied to the bodies and spirits of dead people. I mean, I guess we could go with the opposite of Necromancy to apply Corpus and Mentem as applied to the living?

As far as the longevity spell, I answered that already.

17

It's not all of any of the TeFo combinations listed, it's similar to necromancy in that way a bit.

Really looking at MuCo, None of the animal transformations would count, adding soak should count, changing appearance I guess would work if I made them objectively prettier but disguises I don't think would count, Granting minor abilities counts, Changes in major unnatural ways... up to you (size change would probably be lumped in with this).

That was why I was asking if that exact wording worked. But good to know, that is a good thing to have in your pocket as part of a focus.

18

Wasn't one of the rules that your parens had to be a canon magus from Lion and Lily?

If so, I have a problem since no gifted mercers are mentioned in the book.

19

There isn’t an ExMisc in the L&L book either so I was going to have my Magus arrive from another covenant and become a resident. I hope that as long as we have a book ref for a Master that it’s ok?

20

Yes there is.
Viviana of House Ex Miscellanea
Page 78

Also
The King of the Beggars
Page 84 but he is a real piece of work from what I understand.

And the entire covenant of Requies Aeterna (just 2 magi)