Design Notes

In these are the design notes for Gorianus, I will try to explain why I picked the various Virtues, Flaws and Abilities for the character, and how each fits into the character concept.

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Concept

My initial concept was that of a blacksmith, infusing magic into objects that he forges. Pushing this a little more, a smith that would be completely immune to fire and heat seemed just appropriately mythic to me.

I've been reading a lot of the books on Recluce, by L.E. Modesitt, which I like a lot. Infusing order, travelling around and reinforcing it in people, plants and objects all strike an affinity of mine. So I drew a lot of inspiration there for my character. The idea of reinforcing people's health, instead of outright healing, was kinda nice. So I set out looking at the sourcebook for things that would be appropriate for such a magus.

In parallel to that, it seemed that the saga would take place in Novgorod, so I began researching the area. Poland seemed like a good entry point, allowing the character to come from close to where the covenant would be set up, but not too close. A quick search got me some interesting information (such as the fact that Poland was a Christian kingdom at the time) and myths (including one about the dragon).

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Virtues and Flaws

Let's begin with the particularities that the character inherited from his father at birth. First, there is the Greater Immunity: Fire and Heat, which is explained in the background. One of Gorzislaw's ancestor was exposed to the blood of the dragon Smok Wawelski, a nice piece of Polish myth that I decided fit perfectly in the character's story when I read about it. This virtue was the defining part of the character's youth, so I played with it when writing the background. Linked to this is also the Tough virtue, which I had removed from the first published draft of the character but that I added back for the final draft, when I could find the points to do so.

During his childhood, the character also picked up the basis for his Affinity and Puissant blacksmithing. These were strengthened and burtured during his apprenticeship under Brictius, who made sure to preserve them even though he could not integrate blacksmithing directly into his tradition. The Humble and Carefree personality flaws were also part of his childhood development.

When his Gift blossomed under Brictius' tutelage, it only made sense for it to be a Gentle Gift, since the tradition emphasized sustaining life. Gorzislaw's gift may have developped differently had his pater been from a different House or tradition.

The tradition also made much sense when putting together Craft Magic, Minor Magical Focus (sustaining life) and Deficient Technique (Perdo). I started detailing the tradition before I got my hands on Societates, and it didn't quite fit with the Rustic Magus template there. An initial draft of the tradition used Subtle Magic instead of the magical focus, but once I got the full text of the virtue it was obvious that it wasn't necessary. Still, I kept Quiet Magic as a virtue for the character, as my vision of a smith mumbling as he works over his craft was just too powerful in my mind.

I was torn between taking Compassionate or Dependent, as his protectiveness of children (particularly orphans) could have expressed itself either way. I decided on Dependent because the character felt more like a protector than someone who would never fight and lose sleep over hurting someone that deserved it.

Rigid Magic was added because I wanted to avoid the traditional role of the healer. His tradition is geared at sustaining and nurturing life, not healing, and this can be done without raw vis. It also fit that as a magus Ex Miscellanea, his understanding of Hermetic Magic would be somewhat flawed. Stockade Parma Magica is also along the same lines, a weakness in Hermetic theory. I got rid of Weird Magic and Weak Magic (from the first draft), which were just picked to fill in the number of flaw points. Having the flaw Hedge Wizard was almost a given for an Ex Miscellanae.

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Abilities

Obviously, blacksmithing would be a central ability for the character, so he needed a solid base there. On the other hand, I didn't want to optimize it, so I decided that his pater had been unable to initially integrate this craft into the tradition. So instead of having a huge score in a single craft, I built him with the potential to become great blacksmith but also gave him a second craft, the one that Brictius used to teach him about the tradition. Also, the idea that most of his work was for farmers and other ordinary folk appealed to me and fit with the concept.

I would have liked to take Latin at a slightly lower level, but he needed a 4 to be able to learn from Hermetic books. Since I already expected him to spend less time in the lab, I didn't want to also cripple him by making it impossible to learn from books. I've also kept Magic Theory low at 3. When I finally got the full text for Craft Magic, it made even more sense that his Craft score be better than his grasp of Hermetic theory.

Finally, decent scores in Folk Ken and Guile made sense. Guile because he spent his childhood hiding his immunity to fire, and later pretending to be just an ordinary smith. Folk Ken because helping people meant getting to know them.

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Magical Arts and Spells

Creo was obviously going to be the main magical art for the character, but I wanted him to be able to infuse a variety of effects into his craftings, so it made sense to spread things around a bit. Life are covered by Animal, Corpus and Herbam, so he got basic scores there. Smithing is a mix of Terram and Ignem. Vim is always good, and a little of Rego and Muto felt appropriate. Perdo is anatema. The rest leave him relatively indifferent for now, Imaginem particularly so.

Spells needed to be there for sustaining life, for defense, and for usefulness when travelling. Life spells were Bind Wound and Purification of the Festering Wound -- I decided to start only with the human-related ones, but animal versions and some plant-related strengthening are a priority.

Combat got the lion's share, because there is no way you can rely on spontaneous in combat when you're not powerful. So Doublet of Impenetrable Silk for defense, Pilum of Fire for pure offense. Hands of Grasping Earth, Heat of the Searing Forge and Trap of Entwining Vines are non-deadly combat spells, and but the last 2 have potential non-combat applications.

Utility spells for a travelling wizard rounded this out, with Cloak of the Duck’s Feathers for comfort on the road, whilt Scales of the Magical Weight and Sense the Nature of Vis were no-brainers since he started out with low investigative magical power. So he can cast them routinely without worrying about fatigue.