Lily Character Sheet
From Ars Magica
Contents |
Characteristics
Intelligence 0
Perception -2 (near-sighted)
Strength +2 (well-toned)
Stamina +1 (conditioned)
Presence +1 (noble)
Communication +1 (well-spoken)
Dexterity +3 (nimble)
Quickness +1 (spry)
Statistics
Age: 19
Warping: 5 (divine)
Decrepitude: 0
Virtues & Flaws
Virtues
- Landed Noble (major, social)
- Wealthy (major, general)
- Privileged Upbringing (minor, general)
- Well-Travelled (minor, general)
- Unaging (minor, supernatural)
- Improved Characteristics (minor, general)
Flaws
- Raised from the Dead (major, story, supernatural)
- Flaw from warping: Visions (minor, supernatural)
- Flaw from warping: Visions (minor, supernatural)
- Lost Love (minor, personality)
- Oath of Fealty: English crown (major, story, required)
- Compassionate (major, personality)
Personality Traits
Compassionate +3
Circumspect +1
Strong-willed +2
Abilities
General:
Speak Middle English: 5
Speak Norman French: 5
Did you pay points for the second language?
Area Lore (Shropshire): 2 (15)
Awareness (alertness): 2 (15)
Charm (quick wit): 2 (15)
Etiquette (nobility): 2 (15)
Folk Ken (common folk): 3 (30)
Hunt (tracking): 2 (15)
Leadership (inspiration): 2 (15)
Living Language: Welsh (conversational): 3 (30)
Ride (speed): 1 (5)
Academic:
Artes Liberales (grammar): 3 (30)
Civil and Canon Law (church): 1 (5)
Common Law (local laws): 2 (15)
Dead Language: Aramaic (academic): 3 (30)
Dead Language: Latin (academic): 5 (75)
Theology (history): 2 (15)
Martial:
Bow (English longbow): 4 (50)
Single Weapon (longsword and shield): 4 (50)
Combat Information
Burden=9, Encumbrance=1
Armor: Partial chainmail suit; Soak=7
English Longbow: Init: -3, Atk: +12, Dfn: +6, Dmg: +10
Longsword and heater shield: Init: +2, Atk: +12, Dfn: +9, Dmg: +8
Approval Notes
This character is not approved. For approval, this character:
- needs to produce a fantastic justification for possessing Aramaic, and must explain how she over-came the gender problems associated with women and learning.
> Hard to overcome gender bias among academia without the Wealthy virtue. Her learning was to have been seen to by privately hired teachers. I've a book on women in medieval Europe which says that education among the nobility was not so uncommon as we tend to believe; there's a private letter from an English duke where he's writing to someone he's hiring to teach his 8 or 9 year old daughter, as early as the 11th century. Women were not taught in universities, but it was not unheard of for wealthy nobles to educate their daughters; it was uncommon though, as educating women (even nobles) had very little benefit at very high cost. As for Aramaic, it seemed that would be the academic language of choice among the clergy who tend to dote on her. On second thought, though, that would probably be Greek, as IIRC most of the New Testament was originally scribed in Greek. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations it seems Aramaic would probably have a lot of Semitic stigma associated with it, so a medieval Christ-fearing Christian would probably be focused more on Greek texts. Boo. Anyway, I wasn't married to the idea of Aramaic (besides the word being fun to say out loud), I just wanted a secondary language to reflect that her academic tutelage has been focused on the church. Being restored to life after being quite dead for more than a day is no small miracle, and a year or so later, were she to say "Hey, I'd like to make this sizable donation to Holy Mother Church; think you could send me a tutor?" that would be a-ok with HMC. The reaction would be that, while it's unseemly for the times, Our Father Who Art In Heaven clearly has some plan for her, and they would really prefer that whenever the time comes 'round for whatever that is, she's as inclined towards the church as possible. So long as she remains discreet about being educated, they're willing to accomodate her odd requests. When you control what someone knows, you have enormous power over them (yet another reason for Lily to become quite fond of the magi, and for that to cause conflict with the church); the clergy's feelings for her should be about 50/50 between genuine respect and their desire to have influence over her. This could be slanted more towards the genuine respect if you're less cynical about the church than I am. (I grew up in Catholic school as a "precocious" child, and having had no small amount of "friendly debates" with priests over the natures of worship, sin, and forgiveness.) Her education would be, of course, facilitated in no small part by the Wealth virtue, as she'd be giving generously to the Church to "prove" her gratefulness.
- can be the noble for one, possibly two local manors, neither of which can be Stretton. At this time, Church Stretton is a Royal Manor.
> Just pick them then, please? Also, I believe this is incorrect, as Stretton would have been in the Earldom of Shrewsbury, and Robert de Belleme was stripped of title for treason a few decades prior to gameplay. Most of the area was split into fiefdoms that the crown sorta threw around for the next couple hundred years.
- can't own any libraries for meta-game reasons. Can own an illuminated 'book of hours', and also an unilluminated copy of the Bible, both in latin.
> That's fine.
- Needs to lose the Wealthy Virtue. This won't be a problem, skillwise, as you already recieve 100 extra points from Priviliged Upbringing and Well-traveled. Possessing Wealthy increases your estates, servants, soldiers, etcetera, far beyond what is good for this saga. I don't want Lilly outranking pretty much every noble she is ever likely to meet.
> Skillwise, that *is* a problem, as it removes 70 points of skills; no small amount of re-allocation. I pose that Lily would _not_ outrank the majority of nobles she'd encounter with the Wealth virtue, by the very nature of being female. The plan was that she is very popular among the commonfolk, loved among the clergy, entertains some leeway from her superiors due in no small part to her popularity with the church, but as far as her peers go, she's nothing until/unless she gets married. That's why she hides away from them. And again, as far as estates and soldiers come into gameplay, it's intended that she's given primary control over whatever manors she owns to the royally-appointed seneschals, and I am more than happy to cede that any soldiers loyal to her are tied up defending their own castles. Lily would not be going off to march into war unless she's explicitly ordered to, which wouldn't happen anyway because no one would follow a chick into a battlefield. Yeah yeah, they followed Jeanne d'Arc but that was two hundred years later, and even she was treated with disrespect as a mere figurehead until she proved herself a competent military commander (which Lily is not). As I see it, should Lily be Wealthy, that means she basically has the ability to pay for the instruction she wants, can afford to host feasts and festivals for the commonfolk, and she's not tied to her manors as far as running things goes. Wealth allows her three seasons a year to do what she wants; to me, that's huge. Playing a noble companion that can't ever go anywhere because they're tied up taking care of their own lands, well, that'd suck. As far as servants go, they're off doing their jobs; she should never have with her more than perhaps two ladies-in-waiting and a bodyguard.
Please do not assume the worst of my intentions. I'm not choosing Wealth as some manner of being uber-munchkin powerful. I want Wealth so that the character can have the leeway to learn what she wants, better the standard of living for the commonfolk, and have the freedom to adventure however much she wants. I don't want to call on the king for tea or lead vast armies into battle. There's quite enough fighting going on at our doorstep that whatever warriors owe allegiance to her are quite busy holding down the fort, and she's more than happy to let them keep doing that, because it frees her up to muck about playing with books and sharp objects.
- Her languages look a bit dodgy - it appears that she may not have paid for English 5 (only one free language at 5), and her Latin is way too high for a non-magi noble-woman.
> She's supposed to have been a bookworm (that's why she has poor Perception). The English+Norman 5 were based on Michael de Verteuil's post to Berklist; he says lower nobility of England would be natively bilingual in the two, because their wetnurses would be common English folk but their families speak Norman French. If you disagree that's fine, I only added Norman on there after I read his post; I don't care too much about Norman, as she's to interact with the smallfolk far more frequently than the nobility.
- Craft (tapestry) doesn't seem to feature anywhere... :P
> Grrr. Well, can she knit instead? :)
- I'm investigating the gender issues, but they could be quite severe for someone of her class, compared with, say, the grogs...
> Yes. She should have very little respect from her peers; other nobles should be polite, kind insofar as they're trying to convince her to marry them or their sons, but otherwise disdainful. She should be viewed by other nobles as being a bit of a willful child, and honestly, she pretty much is. She's more concerned with her own fun, and she doesn't realize yet that in order to really protect the people she cares about so much, she *needs* to go out and find a good husband who she might be able to convince to act in their interest. Possible adventures I was anticipating would be scenarios in which she would become painfully aware of just how horribly the commonfolk are being treated by the royal armies marching through on their way to and from Wales; she tries to fix the situation but is utterly stymied, rinse-lather-repeat until she wises up and resigns herself to having to marry some soft-hearted chump. Then going off to seek out said soft-hearted chump. Hilarity ensues.
- I'll need to reassess the character once you have made changes.
