Xene of Thessaloniki

Alright, Xene is ready to go to Tribunal.

I have begun reading the Church supplement, and would like Xene to start using the devotion points. Begin with assigning point from her pious personality trait, and then she will receive 5 devotional points for each miracle she has successfully invoked, obviously assigned to the saint she invoked the miracle through...

Alright.

Re: Saints/Devotion - With the Major Pious flaw/Pious +6 I receive 6 saints at 0 and 6 devotion pts (dp) to spread among them.

  • St. Demitrius 1 (Patron of Thessaloniki & Soldiers, among other things that would likely not be celebrated in the city of Thessaloniki, uses 5dp)
  • The Virgin Mary 0 (1dp) (The devotion section keeps mentioning "some aspect of the Virgin Mary" but I'm not sure where to find those or what that means exactly)
  • St. Cyprian 1 (Patron Saint of sorcerers, 5dp gained from successfully invoking a miracle of the Saint)
  • St. Athanasia 1 (Saint venerated at Monastery of Feminine Peace, not a Patron Saint, 5dp from successfully invoking a miracle of the saint)

The last two I'm at a loss at the moment but wanted to also ask something and need to post in Bentalone.

Xene has a at least couple "childhood" specialties that I was wondering if I could swap those out. When I play, I normally only allow changing specialities at the point when folks increase an ability (and rarely in certain narrative cases which these seem to fit), not sure how you work it.
Athletics (tag) doesn't make a lot of sense for a full grown woman so was thinking of changing Tag to run... which seems about the same.
Charm (sweet child), similarly though I'm not quite sure about a similar specialty that applies as an adult. This one may be moot as I have been slowly improving Charm when I can.

generally the specialty changes when the ability improves. I will allow running in place of tag, though the idea admittedly is amusing of someone being so long since they exercised that tag is where their specialty still lies...
as you said you have improved charm...

I've put xp into charm but I don't believe I've hit the next level yet. If that counts, cool, if not, I can probably justify xp into charm after the Tribunal so that can wait. I was thinking of changing the specialty into "invoking saints" as that is how I've mostly been using it on-screen which, unlike tag->running, it's not "kinda the same thing."

go ahead and wait until after the tribunal...

Iustina will put her 8 xp from Tribunal into Parma Magica (5xp) and Charm (3xp). Assuming that it alright. I forgot to put exposure xp into Parma over the seasons leading up to the Tribunal.

Updating Iustina and realized I never added the Devotion thing. The above was what I discussed before but I'm still at something of a loss with the other two but here are the possibilities I thought of:

  • Mary Magdalene 0
  • St. Justina 0

I'm not sure how St. Justina might differ from St. Cyprian or whether they are a "package" in a sense. Also, not completely sure if Mary Magdalene is acceptable though it seems like any of the apostles are so I would assume Mary M. would be acceptable too.

They would not be a package, Justina would be a "weaker" saint, often in Cyprian's shadow, but focused more on defense against hostile magics where Cyprian is about the redemption of mages.
Mary is definitely a possibility.

Re: Will Xene/Iustina join a Holy Society? -
I haven't made a decision. If I were to join one it would likely be the Society of Cyprian and Justina (TSE p133) but I was also interested in seeing if she could follow the Monistic Mysticism from The Church (p23). The largest issue with that I see is whether she can "switch" to Divine Gloom rather than suffering Twilight. So far she has not suffered twilight and once that happens I feel she would definitely be "locked in" to twilight.

how twilight works with holy magic is something you would need to discuss with holy magi, because it is not something you would have learned about to date.

Perfectly acceptable answer though this was more an OOC question based on routes I, as a player, have thought about taking my character. If it is definitely impossible to switch my form of warping to Divine Gloom then Monistic Mysticism is out as a path. I would be fine with exploring that in game.

A related issue on the topic is I'm not actually sure whether the forms of mysticism are allowed in this game or whether they are exclusive with joining a Holy Tradition or Society. Again, I'm fine with exploring that in game just putting feelers out as to whether these are definite "dead ends" or, like Breakthrough research, you're taking a "It may lead to something unexpected" route.

Here is the relevant paragraph from RoP:D p63:

Characters who possess both Hermetic arts (or hedge magic) and Miraculous Abilities (such as Purity or Holy Magic) suffer only one form of unique Warping in their lifetime, which is decided in negotiation between sto-ryguide and player as to what form is most appropriate. Characters with only True Faith or a Divine virtue merely experience “generic” Warping, as Ars Magica 5th Edition, page 167. Hermetic magi with True Faith experience Twilight.

Yes, I did read that. There are two aspects to this: 1) in story this can result in a lot of inconsistent results that would make it difficult for magi to track the results, and 2) out of story, you do not yet have Holy Magic or a tradition, and may experience twilight before that happens, rendering the conversation moot. Otherwise we will discuss the possibilities depending in part on how the path towards those goals progresses qualitatively...
anything may lead to something unexpected

Well these questions did come up by being asked if I was planning to have Iustina/Xene join a Holy Tradition/Society...

:wink:

I don't know if I should go back and figure it out now if not but I was under the impression that the study qualities you listed for Xene included her Apt Student virtue where appropriate but reading the most recent posts in Ionas's thread I am now unsure of that understanding I previously had and I can't find it discussed anywhere with the obvious search terms I used.

Never mind. Just found where it was discussed that Apt Pupil was included.