Welcome. Put your character here.
Zeno of Criamon
Zeno has been strongly influenced by the recent suicide of his parens, who grew increasingly depressed with a what he concluded to be an unresolvable pursuit of the enigma. Zeno in reaction has decided that the only true solution to the enigma is not to search for the solution. He has instead decided to devote his life to good works. When he hears a story about an injustice, and he wants to go investigate it and if possible, right the wrong. He feels this is the ultimate purpose of wielding so much magical power.
The suicide of his parens has given him a bad reputation: the megalomaniacs common in the Order perceived it as a slight. And this perception has rubbed off on Zeno as well. Ironically, he's still on more-or-less friendly terms with many in the very eclectic and cerebral House Criamon; some of its members secretly pondering whether suicide could contain some aspect to resolving the enigma.
Zeno's lack of control of magic and twilight problems could be caused by his attitude to the fruitlessness of pursuing the enigma. As a result he uses magic sparingly, feeling it should be used only in the pursuit of greater causes, not just for mere selfish advancement.
Zeno expects his unorthodox approach to the enigma may result in his being invited to find another Hermetic House to join in the near future, or not. He isn't about to initiate that process, being content to let sleeping dogs lie.
As a hobby, Zeno has collected and studied rune stones since he was a small child in Friesland.
Virtues: Gorgiastic, Apt Student, Clear Thinker, The Enigma, Gentle Gift, Good Teacher, Secondary Insight.
Flaws: Visions, Compassionate, Careless Sorcerer, Noncombatant, Unpredictable Magic, Infamous Master, Deleterious Circumstances, Twilight Prone.
Characteristics: Int +2, Per 0, Pre +1, Com +2, Str 0, Sta 0, Dex +1, Qik -1
Size: 0
Age: 20 (20)
Decrepitude: 0 (0)
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Combat:
Dodging: Init +1, Attack n/a, Defense +1,
Damage n/a
Soak: +2
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5
(11–15), Incapacitated (16–20)
Abilities:
15 Artes Liberales 2 (rhetoric),
50 Latin 4 (Grammar)
15 Runic 2 (Frisia)
15 Teaching 2 (The Enigma)
5 Civil and Cannon Law 1 (loop-holes),
5 Concentration 1 (spell casting),
50 Enigmatic Wisdom 4 (teaching),
15 Magic Theory 2 (Vim),
5 Order of Hermes Lore 1 (Inter-house Relations)
5 Parma Magica 1 (Mentem)
C: Frisian 5 (obscene riddles),
C: Stealth 3 (forests)
C: Awareness 2 (being watched)
Arts: (45xp total)
Cr 2, In 2, Mu 2, Pe 2, Re 2;
An 2, Aq 2, Au 2, Co 2, He 2, Ig 2, Im 2, Me 2, Te 2, Vi 2
Twilight Scars: None (yet)
Equipment: Small collection of ancient rune stones.
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Spells Known:
DISGUISE OF THE PUTRID AROMA
TOUCH OF THE PEARLS
AIR’S GHOSTLY FORM
BIND WOUND
SIGHT OF THE TRUE FORM
RISE OF THE FEATHERY BODY
HUNT FOR THE WILD HERB
PROBE NATURE’S HIDDEN LORE
PASS THE UNYIELDING PORTAL
HEAT OF THE SEARING FORGE
TALES OF THE ASHES
PRYING EYES
LAMP WITHOUT FLAME
WIZARD’S SIDESTEP
SIGHT OF THE TRANSPARENT MOTIVE
PROBE FOR RUNE STONES
EYES OF THE EONS
WIZARD'S COMMUNION (2)
Sigil: A few bars of distant, melancholy music.
Creation notes:
Shy Childhood Template: Awareness 2, Frisian 5, Stealth 3
Experience points: 15 x 15 = 225
Zeno's birth name was Gerrit. His family and some in his village were only nominally converted to Christianity, being descended from the viking stock that settled on one of the isolated Frisian islands a century before. Gerrit's father concerned himself with secretly preserving the old ways: he could read and write the old Runic script, and preserved a variety of tattered old books and scrolls, wood and stone carved inscriptions, and knew where in the region the hidden larger stone runic monuments of their ancestors could still be uncovered.
Gerrit already knew the Runic alphabet when militant Christians from the mainland landed on his island, weapons in hand, looking to stamp out rumored vestiges of paganism after a severe North Sea storm. Much of his village was burned, his parents murdered, and the collection of Runic works destroyed. Gerrit was able to pick up and cling to some slate fragments containing Runic script during the carnage before he was swept up by the mob.
Put into a church orphanage, Gerrit's ability to sound out Runic words at such a young age disturbed the nuns greatly, and rumors spread that he was somehow "touched", bringing him to the attention of agents of the Order, who eventually arranged for him to be adopted by his Hermetic parens take a new name, and begin a new life. Over the years he has collected more examples of the old runes, and has searched out teachers to help him further study the antiquated Frisian grammar and now forgotten vocabulary words on some of the old documents and inscriptions he has encountered. He has also continued to keep his distance from (and maintains a critical eye to) the Church.
Zeno is unusually tall, thin, and blond, and dresses modestly, preferring to pass unnoticed when travelling. Rejecting violence, Zeno prefers to avoid physical confrontations and much prefers subterfuge to defuse potentially violent situations.