Serapis Character Sheet

Story seeds

Character Questions

• What is his most guilty secret?
  
• What is he most afraid of?
  
• If he were an animal, what animal would it be?
  
• What does he know about his birth family?
  
• Has he ever killed a person? How did it happen?
  
• Which of the cardinal sins does he tend towards (see RoP:I p21)?
  
• Where does he keep his vis?

Latent Magical Ability

Serapis’ Latent Magical Ability when it manifests should have some connection to the myth of Orpheus. Enchanting Music would be the obvious choice. But given that his gift has been tuned to Hermetic magic, Performance Magic (Music) would also be appropriate. Or a music based Lesser Power or Personal Power (RoP:M) might work.

Mythic Echoes.

Serapis’ connection to his ancestor is not positive, it is embodied by the flaws Heroic Personality and Driven. Serapis is fated and compelled to relive the key elements of Orpheus’ story.
Several elements of Orpheus’ epic tales are already covered by Serapis bio, but the two biggest events are yet to be told.
- Serapis will go on a journey but the journey home will take much longer than the journey outward (The Argonautica)
- Serapis will bring his dead wife back to life (Orpheus’ descent into the Underworld)
Neither of these were ultimately a positive outcome for Orpheus - will Serapis’ retelling end the same way? Or will he overcome fate and succeed where Orpheus failed?

The Unborn Child.

Justine was pregnant when she died - her unvirtuous life has consigned her to a Purgatory.
Even though her spirit in Purgatory should be reachable by Hermetic magic, Serapis is unable to call her spirit back from the dead because her spirit and that of the child are bound together - to call one back he must call them both. To do this, he will need an arcane connection to the child.
Maybe the troupe can come up with an interesting story which enables Serapis to get this arcane connection.
Otherwise, there will be a journey home to southern Italy for some light grave robbing. Note, calling up a spirit with Hermetic magic is a level 40 ReMe spell - Serapis cannot achieve yet. but he may find an alternative means to call up her spirit…

Hyperborea.

Ancient tales tell of Hyperborea, the Land Beyond the North Wind. Visited in ancient times by several of the Greek heroes - Theseus, Perseus and seen by the crew of the Argo - is a place of unparalleled magic and mystery.
The Hyperboreans were known for their mysterious ways and their strange magic. Records from antiquity tell of their fabled ability of flight and instantaneous travel, their power to project their spirit, visit the spirit world, transform into birds, and perform powerful underworld magic.
One tale tells of a Hyperborean who summoned powerful spirits and ghosts, reanimated corpses, and called down the moon, while others recount that the Hyperborean Aristeas returned to life after seven years of death and lived for hundreds of years.
One of the reasons that Serapis will travel north is to search for fabled Hyperborea, and to recover the ancient priests lost knowledge of spirit magic / necromancy. Mechanically, I would like to represent this with the systems described under Canaanite Necromancy in Ancient Magic (AG0284).

Orpheus’ descent into the Underworld.

The OoH believes the old gods were faeries. if this is true, then it is likely that the Hades visited by Orpheus was actually a faerie regio. It follows that the ‘wife’ he brought back was also a faerie playing the role - not really his wife at all. (The part of the story where Orpheus ‘looked back’ is a metaphor for him realising it was not real - the glamour broke and his wife’s faerie body returned to the matter it was created from).
Perhaps Serapis finds an entrance to the Underworld (Hel) and quests into the depths to bring back his wife. Will he realise it is all a faerie lie? Or will he live happily believing he has succeeded?

Disciples of the Worm

Serapis first encountered the Disciples of the Worm in 1216. Since then, they have maintained contact with him, grooming him as a potential member. In their correspondence, they have been slowly revealing the basic lore of their organisation, although Serapis does not yet realise what is happening. That will change when one of the disciples visits Lubeck to formally invite him into their organisation.

Serapis Advancement Log

1222
Spring. Reads Magic Theory (L5Q12, New Omnibus after Bonisagus) +12XP, increases to 4
Summer.
Autumn.
Winter.

1221
Spring. Adv XP. Order of Hermes Lore +5XP.
Summer. Serapis studies Rego, increase to 7. (L17Q14, The Kingly Art by Etimarian ex Tremere).
Autumn. Serapis studies Rego, increase to 8. (L17Q14, The Kingly Art by Etimarian ex Tremere).
Winter. Serapis learns Whispers Through The Black Gate from a library text. He works at night to mitigate the Dominion penalty. Lab total = 19 (In 5*2 + Co 6 + MT 4 + Nocturnal 2 - Aura 3) vs InCo15.

1220
Spring. ADV XP. 15XP - Posing the Silent Question (Mastery 1, Multi-cast) +5XP, Magic Theory +5XP, Second Sight +5XP.
Summer. Practice Code of Hermes +3XP. ¹
Autumn. Reads Artes Liberales (De inventione, Priscian) +10XP ¹
Winter. Reads Magic Theory (L5Q12, New omnibus after Bonisagus) +8XP. ¹

Correspondence

Serapis has been involved in an ongoing correspondence circle with a number of magi since his apprenticeship. Although he is not yet aware of this, all of the magi he correspponds with are Disciples of the Worm - through correspondence, they are assessing/grooming Serapis as a potential member.
While the subject matter varies, the consistent thread running through all of the letters is the topic of necromancy.

• 1220: Disciples of the Worm Lore, Magic Theory, Mentem, Theology
  
• 1221: Philosophiae, Magic Theory, Area Lore (Holstein (Haunted Locations)), Corpus
  
• 1221: Mentem,

Biographical history

• Spring 1185: Cotrone, a town on the southern coast of the Italian peninsular, part of the Kingdom of Sicily. Marcos is born into a wealthy family of silk merchants.
• Winter 1194: Marcos’ parents both die from a plague. Orphaned, he is taken in as a ward by his uncle.
  His uncle is a bad businessman and he and his wife like to enjoy life a bit too much - the couple spends too much money on luxuries, taking loans on the business to fuel their sybaritic lifestyle. Over the next few years they run the business into the ground.
  The conditions of his fostering (privileged upbringing) require Marcos’ uncle to ensure that Marcos receives a good education at the municipal school, which was originally founded by Pythagoras as a continuation of his semicircle.
• Summer 1201: Marcos reaches adulthood. He takes ownership of what is left of his family business and sells it to a competitor. Leaving his uncle and aunt destitute, he travels to Salerno to join the University to study Medicine.
• Spring 1203: Marcos meets Justine, a princess who is studying music with a private tutor in Salerno. Marcos learns to play the lute so he can spend time with her. They fall in love and are married just over a month later.
• Spring 1204: Tragedy strikes when a pregnant Justine is bitten by a snake and dies.
  
• Winter 1204: Heartbroken, Marcos’ studies turn dark. Patching together lore from occult tomes, he attempts a ritual to bring Justine back from death.
  It fails… badly. But the ritual was not without power and it marks him; granting him the ability to see ghosts but also, occasionally, drawing their attention (Second Sight & Lesser Malediction).
• Spring 1205: Marcos becomes obsessed, driven with the need to bring his wife back from death. Undeterred by his previous failure, Marcos delves deeper into dark and forgotten lore. His sinister studies draw the attention of a cabal of Mathematicii, lurking in the shadows of the university. They approached Marcos and ask him to join their cabal.
  However, the Mathematicii were themselves being watched. Carles Severel, a Guernicus magus of Schola Medica Salernitana (an independent covenant also ensconced within the halls of the university), became aware of the gifted young man through watching the Mathematicii. He also approached Marcos and offered him apprenticeship in ‘real magic’. Marcos challenged the Guernicus Magus to prove that his magic was stronger. The Guernicus duelled each of the Mathematicii in turn and easily defeated them.
  Marcos agreed to join the Guernicus as apprentice once his studies with the university were complete.
• Summer 1205: Marcos completes his Baccalaureate and is apprenticed into House Guernicus of the Order of Hermes, and joins the Schola Medica Salernitana.
• Summer 1214: Rhine Tribunal of 1353 AA. Crintera continue their political attacks against their neighbour. While there is no evidence that Oculus Septentrionalis is deliberately interfering with the mundanes, they argue that the mere proximity of the covenant to the townsfolk endangers the order. Surprisingly, this position is supported by Waddenzee and the tribunal vote narrowly supports the motion. The tribunal rules that there is no evidence to require an investigation but because of the potential risk, a request will be made to House Guernicus to monitor the interaction of Oculus Septentrionalis.
• Winter 1214: Marcos skill with mentem magics grows and his facility with spirit magic develops (Deft Form & Affinity with Art).
  
• Spring 1216 onwards: As part of his apprenticeship, Marcos travels extensively with his Parens and spends the last year of his apprenticeship at Magvillus.
  During these travels that Marcos meets magi who, unknown to him, are Disciples of the Worm. The begin corresponding with Marcos, encouraging his studies into spirit magic, providing advice and help.
• Spring 1219: Marcos passes his Gauntlet at Magvillus and takes the name Serapis, after the Graeco-Egyptian deity of death and rebirth.
  The newly gauntleted magus is appointed to the Rhine tribunal, to monitor the involvement of Oculus Septentrionalis in mundane affairs and report to the Rhine Tribunal gathering of 1221.
• Spring 1219: Serapis packs his meagre belongings and the supplies given to him in payment for his appointment. He sets off northwards to Harco, from where he travels to Durenmar via the Mercere portals.
  
• Summer 1219: Durenmar. Serapis presents himself to Caecilius of Bonisagus - the Senior Quaesitor of the Tribunal - and presents the letter from Magvillus, Caecilius confirms his appointment to Oculus Septentrionalis. Serapis spends the season studying the peripheral code of the Rhine.
• Autumn 1219: His journey to Lubeck was without incident, although he did have a strange dream…

To avoid bandits, Serapis is forced to stray from the road and becomes lost. Unable to find the path, Serapis resigns himself to death - soon he will be with his wife again, although not the way he wanted. But he realises that he is not alone. An oversized raven calls to him from a tree. At first, the raven speaks in the guttural barbarian speech of the northmen but switches to a more civilised tongue as soon as it realises the man does not understand. The raven offers to show Serapis the way out of the forest, for a price…
The raven flies at his face, pecking and clawing at his eyes. To Serapis, it felt like his eyes were being plucked from his head - the pain was excruciating. But once the pain cleared, Serapis found that the path that would lead him out of the forest was plain to see.

• Winter 1219: Serapis, settles in Lubeck. He rents a small house and sets up shop as a physician. He uses magic to create a good reputation within Lubeck as a ‘trustworthy’ physician.
  Serapis does not announce himself to the Magi of the covenant yet, he wants to make contact with the redcap first, but he missed his opportunity and shortly after his arrival, Boris went away on business.
• Spring 1220: It looks like Boris won’t be returning for months. Serapis can’t wait for Boris to return, and it would be impolite to hide from the magi of the covenant. So he determines he must make contact with the magi of the Covenant soon…

Other background details

Orpheus

Serapis is a descendant of the Orpheus of legend. Orpheus was one of the Argonauts. After retrieving the Golden Fleece, the Argo’s voyage home was not as easy as the voyage out. They braved many dangers but also enjoyed the ‘local cuisine’ (if you know what I mean, nudge-nudge, wink-wink) at many ports. One of the ports at which the Argo stopped on the long voyage home was Cotrone.

Many of the events in Serapis’ life parallel those of his ancestor:

• Both orphaned young.
• His wife was killed by a snake. As was Euridice.
• The names of their wives: Euridice means ‘wide justice’ in old Greek. Justine is from the Latin for ‘Justice’.
• Both driven to bring their dead wives back from death.
• Orpheus is credited with giving Medicine to mankind. Serapis studied Medicine at Salerno.
• Orpheus was a seer; he practiced the magical arts.

Pythagoras

Cotrone is also connected to Pythagoras. While Pythagoras is most famous for his arithmetic, he was also a mystic philosopher. Some magi, notably members of house Criamon and the Fraternity of Samos (named for the place of Pythagoras birth) believe he may have been Gifted.

Serapis (deity)

Serapis is a Graeco-Egyptian deity of the late Ptolemaic era. Combining aspects of Osiris, Apis and Dionysis - he is a god of the underworld but also a god of resurrection. Statues of Serapis bear a strong resemblance to Hades.

Footnotes

1. Throughout 1220, he is also engaged in Quaesitorial duties for this year (for which he will be paid by the Tribunal), but this will affect his studies, so he only gains 2/3 of each seasonal XP award (already calculated in figures above).