[CHARACTER] The History of Hubertus of Jerbiton

[DJCT]

[To be edited - @MichaelCule tell me if this is what you have intended!]
[Edit 1 - expanded a bit and virtues and flaws added; Next to do apprenticeship]

Hubertus of Jerbiton’s early years

Hubertus was born the last son of a Norman noble family (Virtue, minor - gentleman)(Virtue, minor - social contacts - nobility) from [surrounding area, Yorkshire presumably].

With no title coming his way, the church was his intended destination until the fateful day when it became clear that Hubertus was fascinated with, and drawn unerringly to, the concept of magic. It was the start of what was to prove a not always healthy relationship (Flaw, major - magic addiction).

Despite this, Hubertus retained an ability to talk to anyone about anything (Virtue, major - gentle gift) and has used this throughout his life to have a handle on what is going on (Virtue, minor - gossip (free with Jerbiton)).

A forward boy (Flaw, major - overconfident), frustrated at his inferiority to his older brothers (Flaw, minor - driven (to show his family his true worth)), Hubertus studied Latin and rhetoric (Virtue, minor - Educated) at a very young age with tutors who ended up soon after teaching at the newly created University of Cambridge. This attitude and education gave him a kickstart when his family finally decided what to do with him at the age of ten - Warden Edward of Milton, Schola Pythagoransis, indented him to an apprenticeship. Through it all he has retained an ambition for the paths that he never took - Divine or Temporal - (Flaw, minor - ambitious) - seemingly always undercut by his need to feel magic in all that he does.

[MichaelCule]

This is fine and allows us all to offer suggestions.

Schola Pythagoransis is the covenant at Cambridge and it is mostly a Jerbiton institution: three out of five of the magi there are Jerbitons. One is quite young so I would suggest either the Warden Edward of Milton (a very old magus who has trained five apprentices and is a noted exorcist) or his first filius Astrolabe who is not quite as old and is noted as a natural philosopher and a critic of Aristotelean physics. (I’m with him there!)

I’ll figure out which local family has the honour of your membership when you decide how tangled up in them you want to be.

[DJCT]

If possible, my answer to entanglements is yes, quite! But that depends on others choices of course! As I hope the character background is showing, Hubertus cant quite let his family go in the way that is expected of Magi. He doesn’t really want the power - that would get in the way of him working with magic, the thing he really loves - but he wants to show those who know him that he is at the top and not the bottom of the pecking order, and more importantly he wants them to acknowledge this!

[MichaelCule]

In the immediate area I can see two possible families to be related to.

The first would be the (as yet to be named) Lord of Pickering who (in return for certain considerations and long term favours) created the Lordship of Wilton and gave it to Julia of Jerbiton’s designated puppet.

The second would be the historical (and much more important) family of the lord of Helmsley Robert de Ros. He’s a fascinating, if in some ways deplorable character, one of the Barons who forced King John to sign Magna Carta and married when still a child to a Scottish widow fifteen years older than him. From that union one of his descendants will have claim to the Scottish throne in the next generation.

[DJCT]

Cool - given I am literally Scottish let’s go for the latter!

[DJCT]

I think I have done what i can with Hubertus to date. Character sheet with thanks to @PlotDevice

Let me know any notes.

Hubertus

[MichaelCule]

OK. I was coming here to post this incomplete family tree for the De Ros family. So let me do that anyway and then I can go and read what you have.

[MichaelCule]

I’ve loaded the character as is into Metacreator and it’s mostly fine with the machine’s standards.

Only two problems. One is that the program (and if I’m recalling it correctly the rules) only allow a character one social status at a time. You’re a Hermetic Magus: you can’t be a gentleman as well. Your family links are represented by your Social Contacts.

This would allow you to take another Minor Virtue or lose a Minor Flaw.

And the other problem is that I’ve managed to enter 510 out of 530 build points. I am not sure how I’ve done that… It may be a problem with the Educated points… But if I haven’t used them up I would have still more points to spend… Ummm mutter. I’ll take another look see in the morning.

[DJCT]

Thanks - on the social status was unaware there was a restriction. I have removed the gentleman and also the ambitious flaw, which i now note broke a rule of taking more than 2 personality flaws (and seemed a bit too on the nose anyway)

I have noticed 5 xp missing and added in 1 point of awareness. Unsure where the rest are - Education gives 50xp to be used in Arts Liberales and Latin.

Also - am i OK with the languages - they would seem appropriate to me but dont wish to cause unnecessary communications difficulties.

[DJCT]

I will very happily be a son of Alice and de Percy. Love the shield, I am sure that the local peasants have a laugh at Willy of the the Six Bollocks … When no one is looking of course …

[MichaelCule]

Well, that gives us a bit of character backstory to be decided on, doesn’t it. As the only (as far as we know) son of that marriage, why aren’t you in line for the family titles and what have you?

Options include:

Your family gave you up once your Gift started to manifest itself.

You were snatched from your family by your Master.

You are actually a girl. (Requires name change…)

Or is there something you prefer?

I adjusted your character to use up the Educated points properly and it seems to have settled down after I noticed that the Overconfidence was Major. (Just handing your old GM chances to abuse you!)

Here’s the character as it looks on Metacreator:

. Hubertus
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Pre 0, Com +2, Str 2, Sta +2, Dex 0, Qik 0
Size: 0
Age: 25 (25), Height: 168 cm, Weight: 72 kg, Gender: Male
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: The Gift, Gentle Gift, Social Contacts (Local Nobility), Intuition, Minor Magical Focus (changing memories), Hermetic Magus, Educated (50/50)*, Gossip, Magic Addiction, Driven (To Show Family he is the best son), Overconfident
Combat:
Dodge: Init: +0, Attack , Defense +0, Damage
Fist: Init: +0, Attack +0, Defense +0, Damage 2
Kick: Init: 1, Attack +0, Defense 1, Damage +1
Soak: +2
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, 1, 3, 5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: 1 (1 5), 3 (6 10), 5 (11 15), Incapacitated (16 20), Dead (21+)
Abilities: Norman French 5, Area Lore: Yorkshire 2, Charm 2, Concentration 1, Etiquette 1, Folk Ken 1, Guile 1, Intrigue 1, Leadership 1, English 2, Ride 1, Latin 5, Artes Liberales 3 (rhetoric), Awareness 1, Civil and Canon Law 1, Theology 1, Code of Hermes 1, Dominion Lore 2, Magic Theory 3, Parma Magica 1, Penetration 3 (Mentem), Bows 1
Arts: Cr 0, Cr 1, In 5, Mu 5, Pe 1, Re 5, Co 5, Im 5, Me 7, Vi 5, In 0, Mu 0, Pe 0, Re 0, An 0, Aq 0, Au 0, Co 0, He 0, Ig 0, Im 0, Me 0, Te 0, Vi 0
Equipment:
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Spells Known:
Eyes of the Cat (MuCo(An) 5) +7
Curse of the Unruly Tongue (ReCo 5) +12
Prying Eyes (InIm 5) +12
Disguise of the Transformed Image (MuIm 15) +12
Aura of Rightful Authority (ReMe 20) +14
Aura of Ennobled Presence (MuIm 10) +12
Perception of the Conflicting Motives (InMe 15) +14
Confusion of the Numbed Will (ReMe 15) +14
Trust of Childlike Faith (PeMe 10) +10
Loss of But a Moment’s Memory (PeMe 15) +10
Tip of the Tongue (PeMe 5) +10

[DJCT]

Thanks for this - character stats all good!

As to reasons for not inheriting, while drawn to the ‘he’s a girl’ idea, reading back what I wrote I think it may be more about the Gift. Not that it produces the same revulsion (I took the Gentle Gift virtue) but that the overconfidence and magic addiction asserted itself early, and caused embarrassment. This was why educators were drafted in early, and why the family were happy when this turned into ‘adoption’ by Schola Pythagoras. It made a problem go away, with the hope that other children would fill the gap. This obviously did not happen, but Hubertus has just Gauntleted and returned to Yorkshire, perhaps with a point to prove, and with a family with a lot of questions as to his intentions.

If this works for you then that is great!

[MichaelCule]

That’s fine! How your mother (who I think is still living) will react is one issue and just what your sisters have been told is another.

Humm, soap opera…