Artal Character Sheet

Character Questions

• What is his most guilty secret? The destruction of the Ignem book in Crinthera.

• What is he most afraid of? Loss of control. He feels like one day, losing control, he might destroy everyone and everything around him.

• If he were an animal, what animal would it be? Easy, an Eagle, wait, he already is…

• What does he know about his birth family? He barely remembers them, having been taken at a young age to be an apprentice.

• Has he ever killed a person? How did it happen? He killed the werewolf.

• Which of the cardinal sins does he tend towards (see RoP:I p21)? Wrath.

• Where does he keep his vis? On his person. He doesn’t have a lab yet, so he prefers to keep his meager belongings on his person. It gives him a greater freedom to move around.

Covenant Upbringing.

Artal’s native language puts this in the Catalonia region of NE Spain.
you were raised in a large, old covenant that has little contact with the outside world.
- What was his covenant like?
- What was especially strange compared to the normal world?
- What does he find especially confusing about the outside world as a result of his sheltered upbringing?

Born in Catalonia, he was picked up at a young age by a Bjornaer named Philippa, a horse-heartbeast Herbam Maga, who took him in to Crinthera, to teach him, when he was a child of 6 yo, where he stayed 3 years before formal apprenticeship, so he could get acclimated. It was a strange place, where one encountered many animals, as Magi there changed into their heartbeasts with nary a thought, and nudity wasn’t considered that strange, at least till one could get one’s clothes in order, though nobody seemed to take a great haste to do it. And where magi usually stayed in Animal forms, if they didn’t have to teach or scold an apprentice. This need to always cover one’s body is especially perplexing, as already evidenced.

Apprenticeship

Apprenticed 1205, age 9.

The Sleeping Years. It is usual for a catulus to be trained by a sept. But sometimes the master is not part of a sept. This period of apprenticeship ends with the Ritual of Twelve Years.

I haven’t thought about a sept.

Gathering of Twelve Years 1215, age 19.

Artal’s Heartbeast is awoken. He is fully inducted into the house and clan.
But the Code requires him to be given 15 years of training, so although he has a full voice within the House, he is still considered an apprentice by the Order.

Apprenticeship complete 1220, age 24.

Artal has finished the 15 years of apprenticeship. He must now present himself to his chosen Tribunal to be acknowledged.

As the Rhine Tribunal is the only one he knows, as since Crinthera is the main location of the Ilfetu, and where many rituals are conducted, he opted to stay there. It’s also why a part of him is scared of being thrown out of Occulus.

Infamous Master

Who?
Was he(?) the only Bjornaer at the Covenant, or was he part of a sept?
Why is he infamous?
Is the infamy justified?

Phillipa also has a destructive side, and was infamous about it, and some Magi joked, never within her hearshot, that she should have had a mule as a heartbeats instead of a horse.

Fire!

Is Artal’s affinity with fire learned from his master?
Or has it come from somewhere else?

He was fascinated by fire from the moment he learned about magic. Philippa didn’t encourage it, but she wasn’t gonna stomp on his affinity as it manifested (pun intended).

Iltefu

Of all the Bjornaer magi, there were only 6 members of Clan Iltefu - now there are 7.
Clan initiation must come after the Ritual of Twelve Years, so it is likely that his facility with Bjornaer Lore was learned from his Infamous Master.
But it could also be that this was a natural talent and once this facility with House Lore was noticed, he was reassigned away from his Infamous Master to a respected member of Clan Iltefu, for the later part of his apprenticeship.

Philippa isn’t an Ilfetu, but yes, once his natural talent for House lore manifested, he was inducted, and the one who inducted him regrets it, due to his volatile nature. But then again, there were omens about him, though it’s unclear whether he’d cause more harm than good.

[Clan Ilfetu’s initiations give the Divination, Second Sight and Visions Virtues/Flaw]

[Philippa is Clan Sirnas]

Some more thoughts.

I am struggling to reconcile the Infamous Master & Covenant Upbringing with the Traditional Bjornaer apprenticeship - which Artal would have had if he was brought to Crintera this early.

Normally, before ‘graduating’ at the Ritual of Twelve Years, a Bjornaer cub would be passed between the magi of the Sept, learning from each of them, travelling extensively and probably spending time at many different covenants. The singular Parens and isolated Covenant upbringing does not fit with this.
And if Artal was raised at Crintera, the Catalonia elements seem irrelevant - they have no impact on the character as an adult.

If I can suggest a slightly different story..?

Born in Catalonia, Artal’s gift manifest early. He was abducted by Philipa, while just a toddler, and taken to her covenant isolated in the Pyrenees.
Although she did her best to raise him in the Bjornaer manner, she was bitter for being shunned by the house, and took her anger out on the boy. Her mistreatment of the boy created a fury in him that would burn for many years.
A quirk of the magic aura at the covenant meant that all dead animal flesh was invisible, aside from making it difficult to eat a nice steak dinner, this meant that much of the material used to make clothes was invisible - in the warm summer months, many of the covenants’ residents just didn’t bother wearing clothes at all. This has obviously affected Artal’s perception of what is ‘normal’. Eventually, it was time for Philippa to take the boy to Crintera to take part in the Ritual of Twelve Years. It was here that his potential was recognised and he was taken for training in the customs of clan Iltefu by Livingston, filius of Ardea.

Why is Philippa Infamous? She could be a Ignem expert and in her youth had associated with a cabal of spanish Flambeau, who were later Marched for diabolism (The Iberia book was WhitWolf 3rd edition - you literally could move without tripping over a diabolist). Although Philippa was not involved with them anymore, her previous association ruined her reputation. (and gives a similar rep to Artal by association).

The childhood Area Lore doesn’t seem to fit with a Covenant Upbringing (and is basically useless in the game). Maybe move the points into Climb - as a child, when his anger overwhelmed him, Artal would climb the peaks surrounding the Covenant, wishing he could just fly away like the birds…