More on Jorina of Criamon
Dec. 16th, 2022 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreLet's go through her Characteristics, Abilities, and initial spells.
Characteristics. Ars Magica uses a loose -3 to +3 scale, although scores off that range are pretty common, but this is where we start.
Strength: -1
Stamina: 0
Dexterity: -1
Quickness: -2
Intelligence: +3
Perception: +2
Presence: 0
Communication: +2
That beating in the kitchen of the monastery so long ago still shows in Jorina's slowness to react. She can also be a touch fumble-fingered at times. On the other side, she's very smart, perceptive, and good at communicating (once you get past her speech issues.)
Generating Abilities (AM's name for skills) is done in three stages.
First is Early Childhood. I used the Mischievous Childhood template, although Crapsack Childhood better describes her life. All abilities come with a specialization, which is treated as one skill level higher.
Brawl: 2 (dodge)
Guile: 2 (lying to authority)
Native Language: 5 (Frisian)
Stealth: 2 (sneak)
Then comes later childhood, where you have a bit more latitude.
Folk Ken: 2 (clergy)
Awareness: 3 (alertness)
Living Language: (French)
At 10, a strange group visited the monastery and was forced to stay in one of the outbuildings. Since everyone hated her, Jorina was sent to serve them. Their leader, a terrifying man with leather-brown skin and his hair wrapped in a big cloth bundle seemed very interested in Jorina. The abbess told Jorina that the man had bought her and that she was no longer welcome. The leader introduced himself as Eutychus of Criamon and said that he was a Sorceror and that Jorina had the power to be a sorcerer as well. So began 15 years of apprenticeship.
Enigmatic Wisdom: 2
Latin: 4 (writing)
Magic Theory: 2
Parma Magica: 1 (Ignem)
Concentration: 2 (spells)
Penetration: 1 (Mentum)
Artes Liberales: 1 (logic)
Code of Hermes: 1
Finesse: 1 (Mentum)
Profession: 2 (scribe)
So much to learn! Parma Magica and Magic Theory are the two great discoveries made by Bonisagus the Founder in the 8th century. His unified theory of magic allowed magi from different traditions to share and learn spells from each other, and Parma Magica not only protects a magus from hostile spells but calms the negative feelings The Gift cause in all living things. Ignem (fire) and Mentum (mind) are two of the magical forms. Speaking of which. . . Jorina's scores in the Techniques of Magic are:
Creo (I create) 4
Intellego (I perceive) 6
Muto (I change) 4
Perdo (I destroy) 4
Rego (I control) 4
And in the Forms:
Animal (non-human animals) 1
Aquam (water) 2
Auram (air) 3
Corpus (the human body) 2
Herbam (plants) 0
Ignem (fire) 0 [and she's not good with this form at all]
Imaginem Sensation and illusion) 5
Mentum (mind) 5 [Jorina is skilled with mind magic]
Terram (earth) 1
Vim (raw magical power) 5
Having a zero in a Technique or Form doesn't mean you can't perform those spells, you just haven't spent a lot of time learning the basic theory around them.
She also learned a nice set of starting spells. I'll explain what spells do if asked. Each spell has the Technique and Form listed at the end. I'm not bothering with the spell levels here unless asked.
Wizard's Sidestep Re/Im
True Sight of Air In/Au
Calm the Motion of the Heart Pe/Me
Jupiter's Resounding Blow Cr/Au
The Call to Slumber Re/Me
Moonbeam Cr/Ig
Comfort of the Drenched Traveler Pe/Aq (it dries the target's body and clothing. Useful!)
The Intuition of the Forest In/He
Aura of Ennobled Presence Mu/Im
Words of the Unbroken Silence Cr/Me
Confusion of the Numbed Will Re/Me
A nice start. Jorina has passed her Gauntlet, is 25, and while I could start her now, I'm going to run her year-by-year to build her up, gain magic goodies and a familiar, and even have her perform her longevity spell research. It's not uncommon for AM mages to start the game well into their sixties, appear to be in their early 40s, and be quite powerful.
One thing I do need is her Wizard's Sigil. Every magus has one, it's a personal touch, often created by the subconscious, that acts as a fingerprint. In the saga I played in so long ago, my magus was of House Bjornaer, and his heartbeast was a large raven. All his spells invoked ravens. If he cast Rain of Stones, the stones would be black and make little croaking sounds when they hit. His Wizard's Sidestep had him dissolve into a mass of ink black bird shapes that would reform where he stepped to. So I'm going to have to think about this.
As always, suggestions and comments welcome.
Characteristics. Ars Magica uses a loose -3 to +3 scale, although scores off that range are pretty common, but this is where we start.
Strength: -1
Stamina: 0
Dexterity: -1
Quickness: -2
Intelligence: +3
Perception: +2
Presence: 0
Communication: +2
That beating in the kitchen of the monastery so long ago still shows in Jorina's slowness to react. She can also be a touch fumble-fingered at times. On the other side, she's very smart, perceptive, and good at communicating (once you get past her speech issues.)
Generating Abilities (AM's name for skills) is done in three stages.
First is Early Childhood. I used the Mischievous Childhood template, although Crapsack Childhood better describes her life. All abilities come with a specialization, which is treated as one skill level higher.
Brawl: 2 (dodge)
Guile: 2 (lying to authority)
Native Language: 5 (Frisian)
Stealth: 2 (sneak)
Then comes later childhood, where you have a bit more latitude.
Folk Ken: 2 (clergy)
Awareness: 3 (alertness)
Living Language: (French)
At 10, a strange group visited the monastery and was forced to stay in one of the outbuildings. Since everyone hated her, Jorina was sent to serve them. Their leader, a terrifying man with leather-brown skin and his hair wrapped in a big cloth bundle seemed very interested in Jorina. The abbess told Jorina that the man had bought her and that she was no longer welcome. The leader introduced himself as Eutychus of Criamon and said that he was a Sorceror and that Jorina had the power to be a sorcerer as well. So began 15 years of apprenticeship.
Enigmatic Wisdom: 2
Latin: 4 (writing)
Magic Theory: 2
Parma Magica: 1 (Ignem)
Concentration: 2 (spells)
Penetration: 1 (Mentum)
Artes Liberales: 1 (logic)
Code of Hermes: 1
Finesse: 1 (Mentum)
Profession: 2 (scribe)
So much to learn! Parma Magica and Magic Theory are the two great discoveries made by Bonisagus the Founder in the 8th century. His unified theory of magic allowed magi from different traditions to share and learn spells from each other, and Parma Magica not only protects a magus from hostile spells but calms the negative feelings The Gift cause in all living things. Ignem (fire) and Mentum (mind) are two of the magical forms. Speaking of which. . . Jorina's scores in the Techniques of Magic are:
Creo (I create) 4
Intellego (I perceive) 6
Muto (I change) 4
Perdo (I destroy) 4
Rego (I control) 4
And in the Forms:
Animal (non-human animals) 1
Aquam (water) 2
Auram (air) 3
Corpus (the human body) 2
Herbam (plants) 0
Ignem (fire) 0 [and she's not good with this form at all]
Imaginem Sensation and illusion) 5
Mentum (mind) 5 [Jorina is skilled with mind magic]
Terram (earth) 1
Vim (raw magical power) 5
Having a zero in a Technique or Form doesn't mean you can't perform those spells, you just haven't spent a lot of time learning the basic theory around them.
She also learned a nice set of starting spells. I'll explain what spells do if asked. Each spell has the Technique and Form listed at the end. I'm not bothering with the spell levels here unless asked.
Wizard's Sidestep Re/Im
True Sight of Air In/Au
Calm the Motion of the Heart Pe/Me
Jupiter's Resounding Blow Cr/Au
The Call to Slumber Re/Me
Moonbeam Cr/Ig
Comfort of the Drenched Traveler Pe/Aq (it dries the target's body and clothing. Useful!)
The Intuition of the Forest In/He
Aura of Ennobled Presence Mu/Im
Words of the Unbroken Silence Cr/Me
Confusion of the Numbed Will Re/Me
A nice start. Jorina has passed her Gauntlet, is 25, and while I could start her now, I'm going to run her year-by-year to build her up, gain magic goodies and a familiar, and even have her perform her longevity spell research. It's not uncommon for AM mages to start the game well into their sixties, appear to be in their early 40s, and be quite powerful.
One thing I do need is her Wizard's Sigil. Every magus has one, it's a personal touch, often created by the subconscious, that acts as a fingerprint. In the saga I played in so long ago, my magus was of House Bjornaer, and his heartbeast was a large raven. All his spells invoked ravens. If he cast Rain of Stones, the stones would be black and make little croaking sounds when they hit. His Wizard's Sidestep had him dissolve into a mass of ink black bird shapes that would reform where he stepped to. So I'm going to have to think about this.
As always, suggestions and comments welcome.
