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Characteristics: Int +3, Per +2, Str -1, Sta +1, Pre +2, Com +1, Dex +1, Qik -1
Size: -1
Age: 23 (23)
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: 2 (5)
Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Hermetic Maga; Gentle Gift, Ghostly Warder; Improved Characteristics (x2), Mastered Spells, Self-Confident, Well-Travelled; Plagued by Supernatural Entity, Weak Spontaneous Magic; Compulsion (Secrecy), Infamous Master, Small Frame, Temperate
Personality Traits: Cunning +3, Subtle +3, Patient +1
Reputations: Untrustworthy 3 (Hermetic Magi)
| Weapon/Attack | Init | Atk | Dfn | Dam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punch | -1 | +2 | 0 | -1 |
| Dodge | -1 | n/a | +1 | n/a |
| Dagger | 0 | +4 | 0 | +2 |
Soak: +1 (Stamina)
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1-4), -3 (5-8), -5 (9-12), Incapacitated (12-16), Dead (17+)
Abilities: Artes Liberales 1 (Ceremonial Magic), Awareness 1 (Hidden Danger), Brawl 1 (Dodging), Charm 2 (First Impressions), Concentration 1 (Spell Concentration), English 2 (Polite Greetings), Etiquette 2 (Table Manners), Folk Ken 2 (Hidden Motivations), Guile 1 (False Identities), Japanese 5 (Formal Expressions), Latin 3 (Hermetic Incantations), Magic Theory 3 (Rego), Parma Magica 1 (Mentem), Stealth 1 (Hide), Survival 1 (At Sea), Swim 1 (Underwater)
Arts: Cr 1, In 5, Mu 7, Pe 2, Re 8, An 0, Aq 0, Au 0, Co 0, He 0, Ig 0, Im 6, Me 8, Te 0, Vi 5
Twilight Scars: None
Equipment: Wizard's Robes
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Spells Known:
Description and Background:
Oriel's parents died when she was a small child, but she never felt the loss too much. She knew that they were never far away, for sometimes she would see them and hear them call out to her. Oriel's father had been the trusted steward of a Samurai, Ikeda Takamori, and the latter took her into his household to be the attendant and companion to his own children. Oriel was treated well and, amazingly, never got into trouble for being in places that she shouldn't have been. She used to think it was simply because she was very quiet, but now she knows better.
One day, when Oriel was nine years old, Ikeda-san was visited by a certain Lord Akuma, a mysterious daimyo that no one had ever heard of. It seems that their meeting did not go well, for that night Akuma returned with a force of huge, terrible creatures that destroyed the house and killed everyone inside. But before this happened Oriel had heard her father calling out to her, telling her to secretly follow Ikeda-san's adviser, Makoto, as he slipped away and headed for a small boat moored nearby. She crept on board and into the tiny cabin, only to discover that it was impossibly huge inside and that "Makoto" was really a strange foreign barbarian with pink skin, yellow hair and blue eyes - the magus Constantine. He was very surprised, as no one without the Gift could have seen him escape (he had been invisible), but he decided that all he could do was take Oriel with him in his magical ship. Later he began to suspect that the ship had meant him to find her, for he had little control over where it went most of the time and certainly had not planned on coming ashore on the coast of Nippon. He had disguised himself with magic before going to Ikeda-san and offering his services as a counsellor, and he had also strongly advised against an alliance with Lord Akuma, whom he suspected of harbouring sinister designs on Oriel's homeland. However, there was little that could be done until he had trained his new travelling companion in the strange Hermetic magic of his native land. And so Oriel travelled widely, learning much and seeing wondrous and strange lands, before the ship finally brought her to the cold, windswept shores of the distant west and the lord that Constantine had stolen it from.
Constantine has, of course, told Oriel that it is a tradition of his lineage, House Tytalus, to seek out conflict and learn from it. She is ready to fight if she needs to, but she prefers cunning and subtlety to confrontation. Oriel feels very conscious of being an outsider in strange lands, so she tries very hard not to draw attention to herself. If any fighting is to be done then it will be against the evil creatures that destroyed her home, and one day she is going to return to face them. Until then she knows that she must prepare herself so that she can fight and win.
Text copyright © Simon Foston 2005.