Umberto
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Umberto of Mercere
Umberto is a Mercere Magus, brought up in a covenant in Lombardy, the gifted child of a redcap and can follow his parentage through his mother back to the founder (There is nothing particularly special about this, otherwise by tradition he'd have been presented to House Bonisagus). He does not know his father.
His world view has been shaped by the covenant but being of House Mercere means that he isn't so naive to the ways of the mundane world as those brought up in covenants affiliated to other houses. Umberto is very easy going and the coventant staff endeared themselves to him. Gifted children in the line of Mercere being rare, he was given the best education and taught the ways of the house in preparation for his apprenticeship. During his apprenticeship he has travelled around northern Italy, and completed the last two years of his apprenticeship in Piedmont at the House Domus Magna.
He passed the gauntlet six months ago and became a member of Milvi Antiquiti, since then he has gone travelling again on a personal pilgrimage to Alexandria. Although the journey would be quicker by sea he has chosen to go by land, doing the work of a redcap on the way.
The Gift
Umberto is a Muto specialist and has been schooled in the tradition of Mutantes Magic. He does not seem to have the same degree of skill in Creo as many of his house have, and is also deficient in Perdo.
He has learnt little of the specifics of the Forms, his parens choosing to give him a solid grounding with the Techniques first. But he has some small skill in Corpus and Vim.
Writings
Umberto is a prolific writer, and has a growing number of correspondances and has aspirations of producing publishing other written works. Each letter he sends is first penned as a quick draft. Once it is complete and any alterations made he writes the letter carefully in a tidy rotunda. The drafts he keeps along with the replies to his letters as a full record of the correspondance.
Downloads
Characteristics
Born 1192, Age (1218) = 26
| Characteristic | Description | Value | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | Int | +3 | 6 | |
| Perception | Per | 0 | 0 | |
| Presence | Pre | +1 | 1 | |
| Communication | Com | +1 | 1 | |
| Strength | Str | -1 | -1 | |
| Stamina | Sta | +1 | +1 | |
| Dexterity | Dex | 0 | 0 | |
| Quickness | Qik | -1 | -1 | |
| Total | +7 |
Virtues
- The Gift
- Free, Special
- You have the ability to work magic.
- Hermetic Magus
- Free, Social Standing
- You are a member of the Order of Hermes. All magi must take this as their Social Status, and only magi can take it.
- Mutantum Magic
- Free, Hermetic
- You are descended from the Mutantum lineage, and can thus invent formulaic spells and magic items that take advantage of Boosting, Harnessing and Tethering. You may also take the Tamed Magic virtue, and half of your starting spells may be “tamed” versions of common spells. Most characters with Mutantum Magic belong to House Mercere and consider themselves Mutantes, and all of them must be descended by blood from the Founder or one of his ancestors.
- Gentle Gift
- Major, Hermetic
- Unlike other magi, whose Magical nature disturbs normal people and animals, your gift is subtle and quiet. You don’t suffer the usual penalties when interacting with people and animals.
- Strong Faerie Blood
- Major, Supernatural
- The blood of the fey is strong in you. Perhaps one of your parents was actually a faerie, or maybe you were conceived or born in a place of great faerie power. This ancestry grants you several abilities.
- First, you have natural longevity. You start making ageing rolls at the age of fifty, rather than the normal 35, and get a -3 to Ageing rolls, cumulative with other bonuses.
- Second, you have Second Sight (see page 48) at no cost, and you can see normally in darkness or semi-darkness, such as in deep woods or at night. Your eyes look mostly normal, but are an unusual and vivid colour.
- Third, you may learn Faerie Lore during character creation.
- Finally you get the benefits of a particular type of fey heritage, as give in the Virtue Faerie Blood (AM5, page 42). Your specific fey heritage is clearly visible. Choose one physical quirk, such as small horns, literally blue blood, or eyes without irises and pupils, appropriate to the faeries from which you are descended.
- You may not have both Faerie Blood and Strong Faerie Blood. This is a Supernatural Virtue, and you cannot lose it when being trained as a magus (see AM5, page 106). If your master cannot preserve the ability, you cannot be trained.
- Satyr Blood: The satyrs are notoriously lecherous. You get a +1 bonus to Communication and Presence totals when dealing with sexually compatible characters.
- Privileged Upbringing
- Minor, General
- You grew up in an environment where you had access to teachers and free time for study. You have an additional 50 experience points, which may be spent on General, Academic, or Martial Abilities. You may not however buy Academic, or Martial Abilities with your normal pool of experience points unless you have another Virtue or Flaw permitting that. The most common reason for this Virtue is that your family was wealthy while you were a child, but if you are wealthy now, you should take the Wealthy Virtue.
- Book Learner
- Minor, General
- You have a talent for comprehending the writings of others. When studying from books treat them as if they were three Quality levels higher than they actually are.
- Good Teacher
- Minor, General
- You can explain new concepts and skills with great facility. Add three to the Quality of any books that you write, and five to the Study Total of anyone who studies with you.
- Puissant Muto
- Minor, Hermetic
- You have a +3 bonus to all totals which include one Art. This means all totals in which the score of the Art is part of the total. It does not apply to Study Totals. You may take this Virtue twice, for two different Arts. If a spell has requisites, include the bonus from Puissant Art with that Art when calculating which Art is higher. If the Puissant Art is higher, the bonus does not apply to the requisite.
Flaws
- Chaotic Magic
- Major, Hermetic
- Your magic is very wild. When you cast a spontaneous spell, you must specify a desired level of effect. If you fall short of or exceed the target by more than one level, the spell still works, but the effects are beyond your control – the storyguide decides the results. The level of the effect includes any levels you assign to Penetration.
- Weird Magic
- Minor, Hermetic
- Your control over magic is somewhat loose, perhaps due to Twilight effects or idiosyncratic training. Roll one extra botch die when you botch on stressed spell casting roll, apart from your other botch dice. Botches from this die should be strange or bizarre rather than dangerous, and if the Weird Magic botch occurs along with a regular botch, the results could be truly spectacular.
- Suseptability to Divine Power
- Minor, Hermetic
- You are especially sensitive to the Dominion and suffer twice the normal penalties (such as spellcasting modifiers and botch rolls) to your magic when in a divine aura.
- Pagan
- Major, Story
- You do not follow the teachings of the Church, and have never been baptised. This tends to upset those in authority in Mythic Europe and frighten common people who learn of it. You do not observe Christian holidays, and you try to avoid churchmen and the Dominion. You cannot pretend to go along with society, however because you believe that it would displease your gods and incur their wrath – you might suffer grave supernatural consequences if you take Communion or appear to worship gods other than your own. You may begin with Magic Lore or Faerie Lore, depending on the specifics of your faith.
- Lecherous
- Minor, Personality
- You seek sexual contact with as many people as possible. Note that you need not be any good at seduction, skill here merely changes the kinds of problems you encounter.
- Covenant Upbringing
- Minor, Personality
- You were raised in a large, old covenant that has little contact with the outside world. You might have some very strange religious beliefs, and you certainly find medieval social and political structures very odd. You may take Latin and Order of Hermes Lore at character creation. While Latin cannot be your native language, you may speak a language closely related to Latin that is spoken only at your home covenant.
Abilities
General
- Area Lore: Egypt, Nile Delta 1 (5) (Ancient sites)
- Area Lore: Latin Empire 1 (7) (Established Redcap routes)
- Area Lore: Lesser Armenia 1 (7) (Established Redcap routes)
- Area Lore: Lombardy 1 (5) (Established Redcap routes)
- Armenian 2 (24)
- Athletics 1 (5) (Grace)
- Awareness 1 (5) (Alertness)
- Concentration 2 (15) (Casting spells)
- Italian 5 (0) (Poetry)
- Charm 3 (30)
- Folk Ken 1 (5) (The opposite sex)
- Guile 1 (5)
- Profession: Scribe 1 (5) (Copying books)
- Survival 1 (5) (Mountains)
Academic
- Artes Liberales 2 (15) (Geometry)
- Latin 5 (75) (Hermetic terms)
- Philosophiae 2 (15) (Ritual magic)
Martial
Arcane
- Code of Hermes 1 (5) (Peripheral Code)
- Faerie Lore 1 (5) (Faerie forests)
- Finesse 1 (5) (Terram)
- Magic Theory 4 (56) (Enchanting items)
- Order of Hermes Lore 1 (5) (History of House Mecere)
- Parma Magica 2 (15) (Corpus)
- Penetration 1 (5) (Muto)
Supernatural
- Second Sight 1 (0) (Invisible things)
Arts
Techniques
Forms
- Animal 0
- Aquam 0
- Auram 0
- Corpus 7 (28)
- Herbam 0
- Ignem 0
- Imaginem 0
- Mentem 0
- Terram 5 (15)
- Vim 6 (21)
Spells
Maximum spell magnitude = technique + form + intelligence + magic theory + 3
- Bind Wound
- CrCo 10, AM5 page 129
- R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind (Harnessed)
- This spell binds the target's wounds, so that he can undertake any activity without the risk of worsening the wounds. He still suffers from the would penalties, however, and cannot heal naturally while under the influence of this spell.
- Typically, you place your hands on the target and pass them over his wounds, which magically seal themselves and stop bleeding.
- Purification of the Festering Wound
- CrCo 20, AM5 page 129
- R: Touch, D: Moon, T: Ind
- The target gains a +9 bonus to Recovery rolls to recover from injuries or diseases, as long as he has been under the influence of this spell for the whole of the recovery interval. The recovery interval is counted from the time that the spell is cast; any previous time is ignored.
- Disguise of the New Visage
- MuCo 15, AM5 page 131
- R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Part (Harnessed)
- The target's facial features are transformed to any approximately human configuration you choose.
- The Tireless Flight
- ReCo 20, TL page 102
- R: Touch, D: Conc, T: Ind (Boosted, Harnessed, Tethered)
- The target feels no fatigue for the duration of the spell, allowing her to endure a long journey without rest or sleep. She may also ignore hunger and thirst, and if she is injured she does not feel the pain. Practically speaking, she may ignore all Fatigue and wound penalties. However, this effect only masks the feeling, it doesn't actually replenish her energy, so she still must actually eat and drink to avoid starving to death, and if she pushes herself too hard she may cause herself serious injury (Fatigue levels past Unconscious become Light wounds).
- The spell is tethered so that the target can control the effect, allowing her to stop concentration when she has reached her destination and has time to recover. It is also boosted so that the duration may be extended to as much as a month if necessary, and harnessed so that the target can still cancel it at will.
- The Call to Slumber
- ReMe 10, AM5 page 151
- R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Ind
- The target becomes sleepy and falls asleep within a few moments.
- Wizard’s Communion
- MuVi 20, AM5 page 160
- R: Voice, D: Mom, T: Group
- This spell lets magi combine their power to cast spells. The group of magi work together to cast a specified spell through the unified power of the Communion. Only one extra magus may join the Communion for each 5 levels of the specified spell being cast. One of the magi in the group must also know the specified spell.
- All the magi in the gathering who know Wizard's Communion add the level at which they know it to get the effective level of the Wizard's Communion. This combined total must be at least twice the level of the specified spell being cast.
- One magus must roll for success as if casting the specified spell himself. However, the target number for the spellcasting roll is the spell's level divided by the number of magi participating in the Communion. So if five magi participate to cast a 50th level spell, the caster would have to successfully cast a 10th level spell – with all the relevant requisites, of course. This method of casting adds one botch die per magus participating. If the spell botches, all participants gain Warping Points and thus must check for Twilight.
- Communion is a remnant of Mercurian rituals, so spontaneous spells may not be cast by this means, and it does not perfectly fit into the guidelines of Hermetic theory.
- Gift of the Bear’s Fortitude
- MuCo 25, AM5 page 131
- R: Per, D: Sun, T: Ind
- Your flesh becomes resistant to physical damage. You get +3 to your Soak. Your flesh is tough and insensitive; any rolls that involve a sensitive touch (such as for picking a lock) are at -1.
Development
| Season | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1214 Autumn / Winter | During his travels from Italy to Egypt Umberto picked up knowledge of Redcap routes along the way. he journey was broken at the Levant by the tribunal gathering there.
At the tribunal he met Ruth of Bonisagus and Pariah of Criamon, of The Pyramids covenant, and travelled the final stage of the journey with them. During his stay with the pair he copied some early hieroglyphic texts that they were studying. |
|
| 1215 Spring | Travel | While travelling...
|
| 1215 Summer | Refit of temporary laboratory (effective season 2) | Exposure Magic Theory 2 |
| 1215 Autumn | Taught Armenian by T'Ovma | Armenian (16) |
| 1215 Winter | Studied Rituals, and the Art of Vim | (24, capped at 11) |
| 1216 Spring | Studied Controlling the Flow | Rego Exp 20 |
| 1216 Summer |
| Exposure Magic Theory 2 |
| 1216 Autumn | Taught Armenian by T'Ovma(16) | Armenian (19) |
| 1216 Winter | Study Musings into the Transformative Arts | Muto Exp 15 |
| 1217 Spring | Fitting laboratory | Exposure Magic Theory 2 |
| 1217 Summer | Fitting laboratory | Exposure Magic Theory 2 |
See Also
Sanctum of Umberto, Hratchouhi
