Keenan Meadows began his training as a wizard at the age of twelve. His teacher was the great wizard, Master Bartholomew. Bartholomew was not only wise, but he was kind and gentle with the young mageling. The relationship between the two was as close as any father and son, even though they were not truly related.
Master Bartholomew was surprised at how much potential his young apprentice had. He knew that, under the right circumstances, Keenan could easily become the most powerful wizard that had ever lived on either Cygma or Loyalia. The problem was Keenan was living and being trained on the world of Loyalia, which � though it is strong in psychic strength � is weak in magic. There are few spirits to act as conduits for mages to use. Because of this, few Loyalian wizard ever reach their true potential.
After fifteen years of training, Bartholomew realized that his young charge knew all the magic he could teach him and moved on to other studies. He began teaching Keenan about the stars and other worlds, about plants and nature and about the magical and mythical creatures that could be found on Loyalia and Cygma.
One day, while giving a lesson on medicinal plants, tragedy struck. A Wizard Tree attacked Keenan and Bartholomew. Wizard Trees are evil magic trees that not only have the ability to move around on their own, but bear great animosity toward wizards. This particular tree was enslaved by an evil and powerful mage, who wanted to turn Keenan (that is, he wanted to make Keenan evil).
The tree killed Master Bartholomew before he could complete the spell that would make his apprentice a master and safe from harm by the evil mage. Once Bartholomew was dead, the evil mage had the tree free Keenan. In return for letting Keenan live, he made the young wizard accompany him to the Dark Castle � the base of all the evil mages.
Little did the dark one know, but by killing Bartholomew, he had also freed Keenan from his previous restraints. Unknown to anyone, Keenan received a familiar spirit on that day. A spirit in the form of a small brown rabbit with piercing blue eyes � a spirit named Bartholomew. Not even Keenan recognizes who the spirit truly is. For in that last desperate moment when Master Bartholomew was dying, the wise old wizard realized that he had to protect his ward. To do so, he chose to return to life as a spirit � one bound to his young apprentice.
Using his familiar, Keenan was capable of reaching his full potential � although he cannot achieve mastery until he finds someone to teach him one thing and then tap his hat. There was one effect that not even Bartholomew planned on. Because Keenan is a contact wizard (his hands need to come together at least once during a spell in order for it to work), having a familiar made it possible for him to make a code between himself and Bartholomew.
Rather than having to do a long complicated incantation, along with the usual somatic component all contact wizards are bound to, Keenan can perform a brief movement � a prearranged signal to Bartholomew that he is doing a specific spell. One example of this is a spell Keenan uses frequently. When Keenan feels endangered by something, he will begin chafing his hands. If he claps directly afterward, he immediately teleports to the last place he teleported from - no matter what spell he used to teleport from that place. This gives him a chance to escape without the cause of the danger even realizing he is preparing a spell. |
