Savant

 

Although the line between savant, shaman, witch and wise woman is exceedingly blurry even at the best of times, savants are known for their scholarly mien and methods of teaching, rather than any practical differences in their knowledge. Both a witch and a savant can heal wounds, but the savant’s methods may be a bit more scientific — or at least alchemical — and the witch’s more likely to involve summoning up a healing spirit and brewing some herbal tea. Savants are formally trained in thaumaturgy — they attended one of the rare (but not unknown) universities or schools that teach it or apprenticed to a master thaumaturge to be taught his secrets. Usually, the first half-decade of an apprenticeship involves learning many secrets indeed — how to clean floors, chase away vermin, muck out cesspits and cook. With a good teacher, these lessons involve carefully hidden lessons —how to maintain a steady mind, patience, controlling the temperature on an uncertain stove (vital for proper alchemical heating) and preparing for a task ahead of time. With a poor master, it merely involves developing many muscles in places the apprentice did not have them before and an improved tolerance for beatings. Life in a university involves much the same, although more honest scholarship is usually involved, and the make-work usually involves dusting and reorganizing library shelves, cataloging rare (or just unusual) artifacts and hauling laundry from place to place.

In time, even the worst of masters begins to teach the apprentice real secrets of thaumaturgy. Fundamental lessons in summoning — and sending back what you’ve summoned, as well as keeping it away from you — are followed by classes in beginning alchemy and enchantment, interspersed with additional training in academics. In some schools, these can be followed with martial-arts classes or other physical activity. In others, simply more backbreaking labor follows (players with younger character concepts should never have to justify higher than average Physical Attributes simply because the character is of a scholarly bent).

But savants are not merely sorcerers. They are the civilized people’s equivalent of a shaman, jack-of-all-trades keepers of knowledge and lore in a world that can no longer support the vast infrastructures of communication and necessities needed to maintain knowledge specialists. The savant is the doctor or scientist to the paramedic or technician of the scavenger lord. Savants stand between nations and the gods, work the wonders that the population around them has forgotten how to operate and maintain and, alone or in council, advise rulers on subjects as diverse as social policy, agricultural methods and military science.

In the Realm, Savants are seen as something of a nuisance. With its orientation toward combat, hunting, politics and agrarian stability, the Scarlet Dynasty and its patrician imitators tend to see savants as keepers of ancient devils, as likely to rend society apart as to benefit its members. Savants there are kept to minor roles, educating patricians and operating their weather machines out of sight of the superstitious populace.

But in the Threshold, matters are different. There, without reliable access to the power of the Exalted, the savants are often the mightiest and most educated members of a society. Into their hands are thrust the responsibility of mediating with the gods, educating the ignorant and preserving the ever-diminishing heritage of the First Age. Even among hardened outlaws, savants are more likely to be held captive and made to work wonders than killed.

Abilities: Nearly any academic Ability can be important to a savant — Medicine, Linguistics and Lore are all common. Craft Abilities are nearly omnipresent amongst enchanters, and savants who stay with a university will typically pick up some Bureaucracy and Socialize as well. While physical Abilities are not emphasized, neither are they uncommon — the reedy supercilious savant who can recite long-dead poems, but can’t fight his way out of a wet sack exists, but he is by no means the only kind of savant.

Backgrounds: A thaumaturge trained by a master will nearly always have a Patron and may have Allies (his patron’s friends, other students, etc.). Resources is quite common — it takes money to support research, and an alchemist or enchanter can always make money. University-based savants often have Reputation, Influence and Backing, and any master thaumaturge can have Henchmen or Followers — if nothing else, they may have students and servants. A well-traveled thaumaturge may have Contacts or even Spies.

Concepts: University professor, independent teacher, wandering journeyman thaumaturge, specialist thaumaturge (enchanter, alchemist, etc.), researching thaumaturge

 

 

It plainly shows

here in Mela’s

Evocations of Truth

that the proper

alignment for these

sigils is…