Name:  Viola of Merinita                    Gender:  Female

Player:  Scott Orr                                Age:  45 1/2  (appears 32)

Covenant:  Nova Castra                     Year of Birth: 1184

Saga:  Base Camp                              Current Year: 1230

Character Type:  Maga                        Size: -1             

Confidence:  1 (16)

Decrepitude:  0

Warping:  2 (20)

 

Description:  Pale skin, bright violet eyes, very thin but not short, an eerie beauty. Her hair changes with the seasons, deepening from the palest blonde at the beginning of spring to a rich, pure gold at harvest time, then shading through a strawberry blonde to bright red and finally auburn, which fades quickly to white as the leaves fall.

 

Background:  Daughter of a human and a faerie lord, raised after the age of three in her father's court. Her affinity with violets derives from the flowers that grow in her father's land and in the regio connecting it with the mundane world. Her pater, in Stonehenge Tribunal, is Salignus.

 

In 1204, Viola passed her gauntlet, and, seeking to be independent from her pater, wandered down a random faerie trod, turning up on the southern slope of the Crimean mountains.  She soon met another newly gauntled maga, Auriane of Flambeau, and they were joined by other young magi fleeing from a pair of senior magi in Constantinople whom they’d witnessed in a very blatant attempt to interfere with the mundane attack on the city during the 4th Crusade.  The covenant joined Thebes Tribunal and, with no other covenants for miles around, had plenty of vis.  In addition, a couple of its magi began to research the magic cult of a nearby group of monks, who were capable of creating magic regiones within Divine auras.

 

Soon after the covenant was founded, Viola came into possession of a pair of animate faerie wine casks that produce faerie-aspected wine each autumn (they were actually a gift to her musician companion, Matthias).  The Art of the vis depends on what she’s thinking about at the time:  it can be two pawns of Muto, four pawns of Imaginem, or six pawns of Herbam.  Drinking the wine produces mild hallucinations.

 

In 1207, in order to prevent possible violence and/or a serious Hermetic legal incident, Viola adopted as an apprentice a wandering priest, Theodolphus, who visited the covenant—and who, before taking up the cloth, had been apprenticed for three years to a diabolist, and then “lost” by the proper authorities when the diabolist was killed.  From 1208 to 1219 she spent one season a year completing his training…badly—her ability to teach was laughable, but the Code says one season a year.  She let him spend a lot of time in the library, and the fact that his Arts had already been opened means that she was able to train him despite lacking training herself in many Arts.  Theodolphus was gauntleted in 1219, and embarked on a career as an itinerant magus in Thebes and Novgorod Tribunals, exchanging lab assistance for hospitality, and gently proselytizing the inhabitants of the covenants he visits.

 

Much of Viola’s service to the covenant of Haunted Springs consisted either of vis hunts, to various locations in Crimea and elsewhere along the northern coast of the Black Sea, and dealing with the local faeries, both the benign ones in the regio in the surrounding woods and a darker group inhabiting a regio on the nearby coast.  Viola dealt competently with the former band, despite the occasional interference of troublemaking outsider satyrs.  The coastal faeries committed a singular act of violence in the covenant’s environs in 1205, apparently pursuing one of their own, and then launched an attack on the covenant itself in 1210.  Viola used trickery to foil this attack, and then counterattacked, penetrating the lower two levels of the faeries’ regio, enough to neutralize them as an immediate threat.  She finally was able to defeat the fae conclusively in 1217, penetrating to the highest level of the regio by entering a cave accessible only by swimming underwater from a coastal grotto.  In the cave, she confronted the lady of the regio, and, aided by some critical information her butterfly familiar, Constantine, obtained through eavesdropping, discovered the lady’s vulnerability to wind, and subdued her by using a spontaneous spell to channel wind into the cave.  Taking advantage of the faerie’s weakened state, Viola made what she hopes will be a lasting bargain between the regio and the covenant.

 

In 1206 and 1207, respectively, she also conducted a pair of extended expeditions to retrieve the bones and mantle of a distant faerie relative slain in Arcadia, and to deal with concerns of the local faeries, who demanded the return of a magical herb stolen (unbeknowngst to them) by a rival group.

 

In 1214, Viola traveled home to England to locate a magical purple emperor butterfly to serve as a familiar.  She named him “Constantine”, and bound him in 1215.

 

During this trip, she also spoke with her pater, Salignus, for the first time since her gauntlet.  In 1213, prompted by his gift of a book, Viola had initiated herself into the first mystery of the Bright Ones Merinita cult, Arcadian Travel.  She was initiated into two additional mysteries, Animae Magic in 1216, by her pater, and Potent Spontaneous Magic in 1218, by the elusive Newyn.

 

Viola decided to leave Haunted Springs in 1219.  Nothing in particular drove that decision, really, other than a desire to live somewhere new.  She picked the secluded covenant of Andorra because of its impressive library and its still unspoiled surrounding wilderness.  Alas, despite discovering a lost lab there in a faerie regio outside the covenant walls, and improving it to an impressive standard, Viola decided to leave Andorra only five years after her arrival in 1220, prompted by the annoying antics of a new covenantmate, Titus of Flambeau.  She left behind long-time shield grogs Edward and Astrid, as Andorra proved a comfortable and healthy home for them and their six children, but she brought with her the covenant’s original, 400-year-old cat (who had also crossed Titus) and the most precocious of her many kittens.

 

She headed east again, using Arcadian Travel to move herself and her little band to a covenant in Thebes that possessed a particularly good summa on Parma Magica, the weakest point of Viola’s art.  In exchange for initiating its Merinita member, Calliope, into the Bright Ones, she was allowed to reside at the covenant and study the Parma Magica summa for three seasons.  In the meantime, hearing of the imminent formation of Nova Castra in a region of untamed wilderness, she eagerly volunteered to help lead the new covenant.

 

 

CHARACTERISTICS

 

Intelligence:  +4 (Precocious)                         Perception:  +2 (Curious)

Communication:  -2 (Incomprehensible)         Presence:  +3 (Eerily beautiful)

Strength:  -3 (Insubstantial)                            Stamina:  +2 (Resilient)

Dexterity:   0                                                   Quickness:  +1 (Agile)

 

 

VIRTUES AND FLAWS

 

Free Virtues

            The Gift

            Hermetic Maga

            Faerie Magic

 

Major Virtues

            Strong Faerie Blood

                        Sidhe Beauty (+1 Presence, Eerie Beauty)

                        Natural Longevity (aging rolls start at 50 at -3)

                        Faerie Eyes (see in dark, Second Sight, strange eye color)

                        Access to Faerie Lore

            Innate Spontaneous Magic (divide non-fatiguing sponts by 2)

            Life-linked Spontaneous Magic (can spend one Fatigue for +5 to spell level)

 

Minor Virtues

            Book Learner (+3 to book Study Totals)

            Free Expression (+3 to rolls for new works of art)

            Great Intelligence (+1 to Intelligence)

            Inventive Genius (+3/+6 to Lab Totals for new creations)

            Personal Vis Source (faerie wine casks)

            Study Bonus (+2 to Art book and vis Study Totals)

            True Friend (Constantine)

 

Major Flaws

            Favors (to faeries in father’s family)

            Study Requirement

 

Minor Flaws

            Driven (saving nature from the advance of man)

            Exciting Experimentation

            Faerie Upbringing

            Loose Magic

            Small Frame (-1 to Size, 4-point wound increments)

            Weird Magic (special “botch” die)

 

Mysteries (Bright Ones)

            Arcadian

                        Arcadian Travel

                                    Arcadian Travel (travel between regiones)

                                    Overconfident (Minor)

                                    Arcane Connection to a tree outside a faerie regio in the Crimea

                        Animae Magic

                                    Animae Magic (create faeries)

                                    Faerie Friend

                        Potent Spontaneous Magic

                                    Potent Spotaneous Magic (Focus in sponts with fatigue)

                                    Deleterious Circumstances, Iron (halves casting totals vs. target)

                                    Minor Malediction (discomfort from iron)

 

 

ABILITIES

 

Ability                                     Specialty                     Score               XP

 

Black Sea Lore                        northern coast             1                      10

Centrum (covenant) Lore        people                          1                      5

Haunted Springs (cov.) Lore  faerie regio                  1                      5

Mercia Lore                             faerie sites                   1                      5

Violet Regio Lore                   manor house                1                      5

Awareness                               alertness                      1                      5

Bargain                                    faeries                          2                      15

Brawl                                      dodging                       1                      5

Concentration                         spells                           2                      15

Craft (Illumination)                 nature subjects            2                      15

Etiquette                                 faeries                          1                      5

Folk Ken                                 peasants                       1                      5

Intrigue                                   plotting                        1                      10

Leadership                              intimidation                 1                      5

English                                    Mercian                       5                      75

Gothic                                     Crimean                       1                      5

Merinita Lore                          initiating P.S.M.          3                      31

Order of Hermes Lore            House Merinita          1                      10

Swim                                       underwater maneuv.   1                      5

Teaching                                  apprentices                  3                      36

 

Artes Liberales                        logic                            3                      43

Latin                                        Hermetic usage          4                      50

Philosophiae                            moral philosophy         2                      23

 

Faerie Lore                              faerie lords                  4                      72

Faerie Magic                           Arcadian Travel          2                      24

Finesse                                    precision                      3                      35

Magic Theory                          enchanting items        8                      212

Parma Magica                         Mentem                       5                      92

Penetration                              Rego                            1                      5

 

Second Sight                           regiones                       2                      16

 

 

PERSONALITY TRAITS

 

Altruistic +2

Honorable +3

Independent +3

Machiavellian +1

Trusting +1

Vengeful +3

 

 

REPUTATIONS

 

Bizarre:  3 (35) (Hermetic)

 

 

COMBAT

 

Weapon                       Init.     Atk.    Dfn.     Dam.   Str.      Load

 

Dodge                         1          n/a       3          n/a       n/a       0

Fist                              1          1          2          -3         n/a       0

Kick                            0          1          1          0          n/a       0

 

Armor:  None

Soak:  2

 

Fatigue Levels:  Fresh / Winded / Weary (-1) / Tired (-3) / Dazed (-5) / Unconscious

 

 

EQUIPMENT

 

Total Load:  0                         Burden:  0

Encumbrance:  0

 

Talisman:  Quill

Material:  goose quill (stripped of barbs) filled with mercury (small size)

            Opened:  12 pawns (6 used)

            Attunements:  +5 Muto

Enchantments

                        Perpetually Sharp (MuAn19) (constant effect)

                        Smooth-flowing Ink (+1 to Craft skill) (ReAq8) (constant effect)

Phantom slate (aid to communication, +3 to lab Teaching specialization) (InMe[MuIm]30) (Momentary effect, unlimited uses)

 

Faerie Wine Casks

            These animate wine casks were given to one of Viola’s companions by the lord of the faerie vineyard in Haunted Springs.  While unable to talk, the casks are friendly, and attached to their owner, often following her around as she moves about her living space or lab.  They produce a quantity of wine every year; if drunk, this wine produces mild hallucinations, but its main value lies in its vis:  depending on the desires of their owner, the casks produce either two pawns of Muto vis, four pawns of Imaginem, or six pawns of Herbam, any of which is faerie-tainted.

 

Books

Viator of Merinita, The Long, Meandering Path.  Summa on Merinita Lore (L3, Q11) and Self-initiation script for Arcadian Travel (Ease 18, Bonus +14)

Initiation Script for Animae Magic (Ease 21, Bonus +11)

Initiation Script for Potent Spontaneous Magic (Ease 21, Bonus +12)

 

 

MAGIC ARTS

 

Technique        Score               XP      

 

Creo                8                      39

Intellego          8                      38       

Muto               12                    80

Perdo               5                      15

Rego                9                      51       

 

Form                Score               XP

 

Animal            8                      38

Aquam            5                      15

Auram             5                      15

Corpus             7                      30

Herbam           6                      26

Ignem              5                      15

Imaginem        8                      36

Mentem           6                      24

Terram             5                      15

Vim                 8                      38

 

 

WIZARD'S SIGIL

 

All spells include a manifestation of violets--the flowers, the scent, or the color.

 

 

GRIMOIRE

 

InAn20 The Counsel of Animals (CT +16)

R:  Touch, D:  Conc, T:  Ind

Allows speech with the target animal.

(Base 10, +1 Touch, +1 Conc)

 

InHe25 Converse with Plants and Trees (CT +14)

R:  Touch, D:  Conc, T:  Ind

Allows speech with the target plant.

(Base 15, +1 Touch, +1 Conc)

 

CrMe15 The Wise Fool (CT +16)

R:  Eye, D:  Sun, T:  Ind

Plants an absurd thought in the target’s mind. The more absurd the notion, the easier it is to convince them they are wrong. However, they continue believing this foolishness until someone or something challenges it.

(Base 4, +1 Eye, +1 Sun)

 

MuIm20 Image Phantom (CT +22)

R:  Touch, D:  Sun, T:  Ind

Complete changes the image of one thing for all senses save touch.

(Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Sun)

 

MuTe(Aq)20 Eye of the Wizard’s Swamp (CT +19)

R:  Sight, D:  Sun, T:  Part

Turns 10 cubic paces of earth into quicksand.

(Base 3, +2 Voice, +2 Sun, +1 Part, requisite necessary for effect)

 

InVi20 Piercing the Faerie Veil (CT +13)

R:  Per, D:  Conc, T:  Vision

Potency +1 (violet sapphire)

Allows sight between levels of a regio.

(Base 3, +1 Conc, +4 Vision)

 

ReVi40 Aegis of the Hearth (CT +22)

R: Touch, D: Year, T: Bound, Ritual

Protects the covenant’s grounds from supernatural intruders.

 

 

CERTAMEN

 

School:  Gladiator

Familiarity:  Bone-biting

 

 

VIS

 

Intellego:  4 pawns

Muto: 11 pawns (8 of which faerie-tainted)

Rego:  2 pawns

 

Animal:  6 pawns

Herbam:  12 pawns (faerie-tainted)

Imaginem:  11 pawns (faerie-tainted)

Mentem:  5 pawns

Terram:  1 pawn

Vim:  10 pawns

 

 

FAMILIAR

 

Constantine

 

Species:  Purple Emperor butterfly

 

Season:  Spring

Decrepitude:  N/A (Immortal)

 

Size:  -12

Magic Might:  8 (Animal)

 

Intelligence:  +1          Perception:  +1

Communication:  +3   Presence:  +4

Strength:  -25              Stamina:  0

Dexterity:   +3             Quickness:  9

 

Virtues:  Magic Animal; Essential Virtue (competitive), Great Presence, True Friend (Viola), Unaffected by the Gift

 

Flaws:  Carefree, Magical Friend, Proud

 

Qualities:  Accomplished Flyer, Camouflage (+3 to hide when not moving)

 

Magic Qualities:  Improved Powers, Improved Defense (x2), Lesser Power (x2), Personal Power, Minor Virtue:  Arcane Lore, Minor Virtue:  Improved Characteristics, Minor Virtue:  Luck, Minor Virtue:  Second Sight

 

Magic Inferiorities:  Reduced Might (x7), Susceptible to Deprivation

 

Personality Traits:  Purple Emperor +3*, Carefree +3*, Competitive +3*, Curious +3, Gregarious +3, Proud +3*

 

 

Ability                                     Specialty                     Score               XP

 

Athletics                                  flying                           5                      83

Awareness                               alertness                      4                      50

Brawl                                      dodging                       2                      15

Folk Ken                                 townsfolk                    1                      5

Order of Hermes Lore            House Merinita           1                      5

Stealth                                     hide                             3                      31

Survival                                   woodlands                  3                      30

 

Faerie Lore                              wards                          1                      10

Finesse                        Imaginem                    3                      30

Magic Lore                              regiones                       1                      10

Magic Theory                          lab assistant                 6                      119

Penetration                              Mentem                       2                      15

 

Second Sight                           regiones                       3                      35

           

 

Powers

Courtship Dance (Personal), 1 point, Init +10 (CrIg[MuIm]15,  R:  Pers, D:  Performance, T:  Ind.; as Constantine flies his courtship dance [requiring a Dex + Athletics roll against an Ease Factor of 3], he emits showers of (harmless) colored sparks, and his own image flashes through brilliant colors, allowing him to describe patterns in the air with his flight; anyone nearby [that is, 10 paces or so] must tie Constantine’s Dex + Athletics roll with a Sta + Conc + 3 roll, or be distracted for a round (this effect lasts only one round), while those further away get a larger bonus to their rolls, proportional to distance; -1 Might, +3 Init; total 35)

Dream Guide (Lesser), 0 points, Init +6 (CrMe15, R: Eye, D:  Sun, T:  Ind.; after catching sight of Constantine before sleeping, the target follows the butterfly in his dreams, seeing through his eyes; -3 Might; total 30)

Hunter’s False Rival (Lesser), 1 points, Init +5 (as Image Phantom but T:  Part, D:  Diameter, MuIm20; -3 Might; total 35)

 

 

Weapon                       Init.     Atk.    Dfn.     Dam.   Str.      Load

Dodge                         9          n/a       16        n/a       n/a       0

 

Soak:  0

 

Fatigue Levels:  Fresh / Winded / Weary (-1) / Tired (-3) / Dazed (-5) / Unconscious

 

Wounds:  1 point per increment

 

 

Bonding Lab Total:  38

Golden Cord:  +3        Silver Cord:  0             Bronze Cord:  +1

 

Bond Enchantments

Mental Communication (w/complex thoughts) (CrMe15) (unlimited) (by Constantine to Viola)

                        C:  occasional air of distraction, V:  ears occasionally twitch like antennae

            Feet to Hands (MuAn26) (50/day, bond maintains concentration)

                        C:  independence, V:  hair has violet sheen at just the right angle

            Stupendous Size (MuAn26) (50/day, bond maintains concentration) (x10 size)

                        C:  ignores annoying people, V:  rustles garments while resting

Speech (MuAn30) (1/day, bond maintains concentration)

Minor Side Benefit:  Constantine has the ability to speak in a stage whisper that can only be heard by listeners in one direction.

                        C:  pauses randomly and occasionally fractures grammar,

                        V:  waves hands meaningfully in the air while talking, to describe patterns

Wings of Gossamer (MuCo[An]38) (6/day, bond maintains concentration) (turns Viola into a purple emperor butterfly - unfortunately, the female of the species is rather drab, but Viola's sigil nonetheless gives her wings a violet hue)

C:  undergoes seasonal color changes, V:  appetite stimulated by carcasses

 

 

Vis:  4 pawns Ignem, 3 pawns Imaginem

 

 

CORRESPONDENTS

 

Theoros of Bonisagus:  Theoros was gauntleted at the same time (spring of 1204) as Viola in the Stonehenge Tribunal.  They met when swearing the Oath, and struck up a friendship.  Theoros evidently finds it amusing to discuss Magic Theory with a nearly incomprehensible Merinita, and that topic has been the subject of most of their correspondence, though the two have also discussed a smattering of Arts.

 

Salignus of Merinita:  Salignus is Viola’s pater, a Merinita, Muto expert, and member of the Bright Ones.  They were estranged for some time, until Viola initiated herself into the Bright Ones at the beginning of 1213, using a book sent her by Salignus.  Since then, they’ve discussed Merinita Lore, Muto, Faerie Lore, and Faerie Magic.

 

Theodolphus of Merinita:  Theodolphus was taken as an apprentice by a Hermetic diabolist, and ended up lost (to the Order) in the aftermath of a March against his master.  He became a priest, and one day turned up at a pilgrimage site located at Viola’s old covenant, Haunted Springs, in the summer of 1207.  In order to prevent his death as the result of an overzealous pursuit of the “Join or Die” directive by covenantmate Morte, Viola claimed Theodolphus as an apprentice—with his Arts already opened, she had no trouble training him to gauntlet, though she did quickly improve her Arts to the apprentice-training requisite anyway.  Since being gauntleted in the Autumn of 1220, Theodolphus has wandered Thebes Tribunal as a preacher to Hermetic magi, and corresponded with Viola on Magic Theory and Faerie Magic.

 

Calliope of Merinita:  Calliope is a relatively young maga of the Thebes Tribunal.  After leaving Andorra, Viola stayed at Calliope’s covenant and studied Parma Magica in the library while Calliope initiated herself into the Bright Ones, and eventually inititated her into Potent Spontaneous Magic (like Viola, Calliope was born with Innate Spontaneous Magic).  Viola will begin her correspondence with Calliope in spring of 1226.

 

 

VIOLA’S LAB

 

(Virtues and Flaws described within the text are labeled in parentheses.)

 

When the party of magi tasked with establishing Nova Castra arrived at the site of ancient Tanais, Viola immediately noticed a faerie regio on the site of the ruined temple to Poseidon on the north side of the city’s central square.  At the mundane level, nothing was left of the temple but an altar within the foundations of the portico, before the entrance; a mosaic-tile basin three feet below ground level of what was once the temple’s main room periodically collects rainwater, from which Rego vis can be distilled.  However, those in the party with Second Sight perceived a massive pair of bronze doors (Grand Entrance), doubtless a fae reflection of the doors that had once stood at the temple’s entrance.  These doors formed the gateway to the regio.

 

By making a sacrificial feast of a horse, an animal sacred to Poseidon, Viola lured a number of faeries dressed as Greeks, who claimed to be the god’s children.  One of them led her through the bronze doors, now studded with three gems each, into the first level of the regio, where, down a short flight of stairs, the temple was still intact (Regio, but with no Size bonus until the upper level is incorporated into the lab).  An open roof (Defective Heating, but with no effect on Upkeep) allowed rain to fall into an ankle-deep pool in a mosaic-tiled basin, while the walls sported frescoes devoted to Poseidon, and, at the far end, a fountain in the form of a large statue of the god, from whose eyes flowed a waterfall.  Disturbingly, the room also featured a half dozen “statues” of people who had been turned to stone.  Viola would choose to establish her living quarters here.

 

Viola’s guide led her through the waterfall to pass down a staircase to an underground chamber, lit only by natural light from the open roof up the stairs. Channels down the stairs and along the walls carried water from the fountain above (Greater Feature and Greater Focus), though a faerie curse had reduced the flow to a trickle (only a +3 total specialization bonus until the curse can be lifted).  The room, which was a bit larger than a standard lab (Size +1) featured stone columns interspersed with an even greater number of stone statues than she had found upstairs (Lesser Feature), as well as a barred door and a large bas-relief of a seated couple, marred by the impression of what appeared to be a giant fist.  Behind the door lay a kitchen filled with a large number of sororocidal and cannibalistic blind crones, the Handmaidens of Poseidon, who passed the time cooking one another and fighting over three orbs that served as eyes.  These crones proved harmless, except to one another, so long as Viola resisted their importunings to enjoy a little home cooking. 

 

The bas-relief proved to be a regio boundary.  Leaving the company of the crones, Viola re-barred the door and followed the guide through the smashed portrait to enter the second regio level, a vast labyrinth formed of stalagmites under a dark, stormy, night sky.  Deep in the labyrinth lay a large room full of dozens more “statues”, evidently the lair of the guide’s mother, a Gorgon who had once been the nymph Halia.  The labyrinth also encompassed a stone-bricked courtyard centered around a stagnant pool from which rose a moss-covered altar (atop which lay chained yet another stone corpse—this one with an erect phallus); a single cloud in the otherwise clear sky above rained down upon the courtyard, yet not on the pool, and even the water that landed around the pool drained uphill, away from it.  Viola reasoned that this pool might provide a source of Perdo vis, a guess that proved to be a correct.

 

In the future, Viola may provide Magical Lighting.  Once the curse is lifted, she’ll extend the lab into the upper level of the regio, and it might be possible to train the Handmaidens as a horde, or at least let them out, making them Inhabitants.  Depending on how changing Halia’s story changes Halia and the regio, a Natural Environment might exist on the upper regio level, and Halia might become a Greater Guardian, or perhaps simply have her Lair within the lab.  The upper level of the regio would presumably also qualify as a Site of Legend.

 

 

Lab Stats:

 

Size:  +1 (1)

Refinement:  0

            Base Safety:  -1

General Quality:  +8

Upkeep:  +2

Safety:  +3

Warping:  +1

Health:  0

Aesthetics:  +5

Specializations:  +4 Items, +3 Teaching, +1 Mu, +1 Ig, +1 Me

 

Major Virtue:  Greater Feature (Running Water) (+2 Aesthetics , +1 Items)

Minor Virtue:  Lesser Feature (Petrified Men) (+1 Aesthetics, +1 Mu)

Free Virtues:  Familiar (+8 General Quality, +3 Safety), Flawless Equipment (+2 General Quality, +2 Upkeep, +2 Vis Extraction), Flawless Tools (+1 Upkeep, +2 Items),                                                                    Grand Entrance (+2 Aesthetics), Magic Item (Viola’s quill talisman; +3 Teaching), Magical Heating (-1 Upkeep, +1 Aesthetics, +1 Ig), Regio (+1 Warping), Servant (+1 Safety, +1 Aesthetics, +1 Me)

Free Flaw:  Impregnable (–2 Aesthetics)

Major Flaw:  Greater Focus (Running Water) (-2 General Quality, +2 Items)

 

Lab Enchantments

            Stove that provides Magical Heating to the lab and the rest of the temple in the lower level of the regio (CrIg24, R:  Touch, D:  Sun, T:  Structure, 2 uses/day, environmental trigger)

 

 

Innate Spontaneous Magic

 

Major Hermetic Virtue

            To qualify for this Virtue you must have an extremely strong faerie nature. Examples include Faerie Blood, substantial Warping from a Faerie source, being bound by a Faerie Familiar, or the Inner Mystery of Becoming. All script variations for this mystery have one or more of these as a prerequisite. This and other new Arcadian Mysteries are available to Faerie magi outside of this group as well. 

            This Mystery taps into the power inherit in your Faerie nature, allowing you to handle magic with greater fluidity.  When you cast a spontaneous spell without expending fatigue, you may choose to divide by five or by two.  If you choose to divide by five, you need not roll a stress die, and cannot botch, just as normal.  If you choose to divide by two, you must roll a stress die, and can botch.

 

 

Potent Spontaneous Magic

Major Hermetic Virtue

            This Inner Mystery is an extension of Innate Spontaneous Magic, and uses your Faerie nature to bring your Magical essence closer to the surface. The rationale is that you are mostly a faerie being that, because of your human blood, has the Gift of Magic. Other magi are humans who would otherwise be mundane if not for their magical Gift, just as you would be a full faerie if not for the dollop of human blood that allows you to have the Gift for Magic. It is the Mysteries of Faerie Magic allow you to harmonize the two forces, and for this reason this Mystery is incompatible with Becoming. You cannot be initiated into one if you already have been initiated into the other.

            Because your magic is brought even closer to the surface, you can get greater potency out of your Spontaneous Magic. This doesn’t work with Formulaic spells because the magic has to be quick and impulsive, and for the same reason it won’t work with Ceremonial Casting. Whenever you expend fatigue on casting a spontaneous spell, the lowest applicable Art is doubled before the whole total is divided by two.  You still roll a stress die, and may botch.