Daughter, Elementalists 3
Daughter, Chemists 2
Son, Cabalist 3
Alchemist, Fire 1
Your name is Elendra Sartor and you are a mage. Like others of your kind, you see the world in a different way. The curse takes each one differently, some hearing the threads of magic as notes, others smelling them as scents. You saw them are bright colours overlaying the world. You were the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Praetor Sartor, who raised you alone from your birth and allowed you a life of comparative luxury despite your disability. Unfortunately for you, your father died recently in a fire, possibly of alchemical origin. You are suspicious of the fire, as your brother Waedor is a keen alchemist himself and most likely refuses to accept that one of his mistakes might have killed your father.
Waedor inherited the estate and the company. Your brother never much liked you for your disability, often calling you a 'freak' and 'synnie'. With your father gone, he seized the opportunity to send you off to study under an independent Elementalist as his apprentice (being unwilling to pay the full fees for the Elementalist Academy). This does get you out of the mandatory military service that comes with being an Elementalist, but your new master is nowhere near as well equipped.
It has been a month since you arrived at your master Beligus Darnor's tower. Loosely a tower - it's only three stories high if you include the attic, which is where you sleep. Darnor, like most Elementalists who do not sign on for a military commission after the mandatory service, makes a living as an enchanter. Darnor isn't rich by a long shot despite his position and your brother left you no money - all of your 'allowance' goes towards Darnor's fees. Darnor isn't a particularly good tutor either - mostly he forgets you're here or asks you to do menial jobs. The good news is that you have full access to his library and rather plain laboratory (a.k.a. the kitchen). Maybe more access than he should give you - some of his textbooks are giving you the impression that Darnor is dealing with much darker arts than Elementalism.
It's late June, and Darnor has left on business for a month without more notice than a quickly scribbled letter on the kitchen table. Typical. He has left you twenty marks in petty cash for food and the full run of the 'tower', and expects you to have learned some basic spells in all four Elements by the time he comes back. Until then, you're on your own.
You consult your cheap and cheerful Primer on MAGERY!
Greetings Ordinary Citizen!
So you weren't born with the ability to see the secret world beyond our own? Too bad, but here's the basics in layman's terms.
The Elemental Threads
The Veil behind our world reflects our own. As things happen in the physical realm, the Veil changes to fit. Mages, by virtue of being able to see what they are doing, can alter the Veil as easily as they can walk and use their hands. Doing so with skill is a different matter. The Veil is composed of many threads of many different kinds, loosely corresponding to the physical laws and functions of the world. By drawing upon those threads, Mages may weave them into spells that impact the physical world. Although there are hundreds of thread types, they loosely correlate into five groups. Threads within these groups can be transmuted into different types of the same group, but not from one group to another.
Fire threads correlate to heat, light and alchemical reactions.
Water threads correspond to moisture, stability and the states of matter.
Earth threads correspond to rigidity and flexibility and are used in the creation of arcane constructs.
Air threads correspond to movement, air and renewal.
Psyche threads are not true individual threads, but composed of combinations of the other four threads and are typically fragile. They consist of patterns often found in life and are a subject of interest to the College of Chemists. It is possible that the Church's 'miracles' may affect these threads.
Summoning is the act of summoning threads out of the environment. This is easier when one has a concentrated source of an element - Fire threads are easier to draw in bright light or from a flame.
Transmutation is the act of transmuting one thread type into another of the same class. For example, one can change generic Fire threads into Light threads, Light threads into Heat threads, but not Heat threads into Moisture threads.
Weaving is the act of taking threads and creating arcane constructs on the Veil. An example of a very simple construct is a lattice of Earth threads that are resistant to the effects of the Ebb and can protect other constructs concealed behind. Such lattices can also block or contain threads.
Finally, the Ebb is the reason that arcane constructs and spells do not last forever. The Veil is in constant motion, returning to a ground state. The Temples of the Church preach that this is the Veil returning to the perfect state set out by the true God (though Colleges disagree on which God that is), but whatever the cause unless constructs are protected (e.g. by being concealed within a stable object such as a crystal, or protected by lattice constructs against the Ebb) they will sooner or later degrade and the threads will return to the Veil.
Pretty standard stuff. So what will you do now?
Wearing:
- Loose White Dress of ORDINARY!
- Sensible Brown Shoes of ORDINARY!
- Summer Hat of SHADE!
Inventory:
- Notebook of MAGERY!
Reagants:
- sandstone pebble x 3
- candle x 3
- tinderbox & taper
- waterskin
- small brass bell
- slender pine wand
- Primer on MAGERY!
Cash:
- 20 marks
Arcane Tools:
- None Yet Created
Knowledge:
- Primary Discipline: Elementalism
- Secondary Disciplines: Not Yet Researched
- Spells: None Known
- Inventions: None developed
Skills:
Thread Summoning = 0 ranks
Weaving = 0 ranks
Transmutation = 0 ranks
Health:
- No wounds
- No drugs in system
- Well fed, well-hydrated
Date: 21st June, 1486
Negligible FameMild Neurosis
Author
Topic: Woman of MAGERY! (Read 2937 times)