Civilized Bjornaer (Template)
This template represents a modern Bjornaer magus, fully engaged in the Order's scholarly culture while still connected to his House's ancient mysteries.
In cat form:
Remember that when transforming between shapes, all wounds are retained at their severity, but wound penalties may differ. Statistics of cat shape were determined using the Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults rules. |
Customization Notes
This Civilized Bjornaer has channeled his Heartbeast mystery into an extreme affinity with Animal and animals. Virtues and flaws related to Hermetic magic and animals are the core of this build, but others may be changed without unduly affecting the character.
Like all templats, you still need to choose the Native Language of the character, as well as his wizard's sigil, background, and name. When doing so, choose an Area Lore region representing his late childhood (age 6-10), before his apprenticeship begun.
We have chosen the allocation of +2 to Communication to allow the character to produce works of fine Quality, to emphasize his scholarly nature. His intelligence is kept at +3, which is common for magi, so as not to make him intellectually inferior. Strengh is low as cats have low strength.
We have chosen the cat heartbeast - an aloof and meddlesome magical cat - and a magical focus in domesticated animals, to emphasize the character's cultured nature. This can be easily changed to a noble-breed dog, a stallion (both noble animals), or to a wild animal (which is more usual for and respected in the House). A good heartbeast may be a guardian or leader, like a stag or mountain lion, and a corresponding magical focus (like mountain animals, or grazing animals). A dove also fits the urban theme. You may also link the urban nature to a more wild animal; for example, claiming descent from the Capitoline Wolf of Rome (in which case, you may want to consider replacing a virtue with Mythic Blood).
The Major Flaw Difficult Longevity Ritual represents the fact that the character's dominant animal nature interferes with this Corpus magic. It can be replaced with any other Major Flaw.
The character's two Personality Flaws can likewise be easily replaced. As written, the character's deep bond with animals also causes him to be oversensitive to their maltreatment. His cat-personality manifests in an overriding compulsion to meddle in the lives of those in his "domain".
The flaw Missing Ear was chosen to provide a characterizing feature for his heartbeast shape. The missing ear is part of his Essential Nature, and should thus transfer through to whatever shape he takes. It can be easily replaced with another Flaw, however.
The Animal Companion (cat) virtue seems suitable, but can be easily replaced with a Magical Animal Companion if desired.
An affinity and puissance with Animal marks him as an expert in Animal-magic, and Inoffensive to Animals allows him to interact with them well. Dropping it would mean that the character is focused on animals, yet find they fear and despise him - an interesting roleplaying option you may wish to explore. Quiet and subtle magic allow him to cast his spells in heartbeast shape, which is vital. Book Learner emphasizes his Hermetic, scholarly nature.
Further Customization Notes
You may wish to consider adopting a Ways of the Land (Town) virtue, to better emphasize the character's potency in urban settings.
If you have access to the Realms of Power: Magic supplement or the Ars Magica Definitive Edition, consider taking Unbound Tongue instead of Quiet and Subtle Magic. Voice of the Town may serve as a more powerful version of Ways of the Town. Grant Puissance in (Ability) is also an option, in particular scholarly Abilities like Profession: Scribe. This supplement also includes extensive notes on lineages of magical cats, that should prove very useful; consider taking a Magical Animal Companion (instead of Animal Companion) using one of the lineages it describes.
Roleplaying and Gaming Notes
While you should be flexible and let the character grow as the saga unfolds, it is perhaps advisable to begin with some vision of what you want your character to pursue, at least initially. One direction for roleplaying this character is as a thoroughly Hermetic magus with an interest in Animal. He would essentially be a Bonisagus researcher, except that he'll belong to House Bjornaer, and will focus on improving his Art and publishing and trading books on it. He will pay little heed to his House's mystery cult, and remain in low circles. In this option, most of the design choices made above will add color to the character and be used to get him embroiled in stories that, more often than not, drug him away from his research. Note that if you do choose this option, you can only expect to reach true mastery of the Art at old age, which would require a lengthy saga and would mean that your Difficult Longevity Ritual would be very problematic. This can be a springboard to start the saga with, however, and let the story drive your character in other directions.
Another way to play this template is to emphasize his mystical affinity with magical cats. You could, for example, have him try to out-manipulate two feline dynasties (see Realms of Power: Magic) vying for control of Paris, while simultaneously deepening your mystical connection to your cat Inner Heartbeast (see Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults). You may need extra effort to convince your House-mates that you are worthy of being initiated into the House's mysteries, due to your unusual heart-beast.
You may alternatively focus on your revulsion at animal suffering, and work to manipulate the farms in your local area to ease their plight. You may even set up magical farms, that will have great magical yields. While this may not sound glamorous, such developments can have far ramifications for the Order and even all of Mythic Europe, and can easily bring a lot of opportunities to meddle in the affairs of mundane nobles and in Hermetic politics.
Your suite of spells at character generation is very limited. You would need to quickly develop spells that allow you to deal with non-Animal circumstances, such as social interactions or general combat spells. You would also probably want to develop spells that will help you communicate with and understand animals better, and perhaps grow or even heal them.
Regarding effective combat spells - note that while summoning animals (Creo Animal with a Rego requisite) can be a very effective way to defeat many enemies, or for spying, summoned creatures have limitations, especially when it comes to facing supernatural foes that have Magic Resistance. You would probably want to develop effective spells to directly combat Animal opponents. Against Corpus or other opponents, however, you are at a disadvantage and may need to invest in improving your other Forms (as well as your Techniques) to round up your combat capabilties.
You may also want to consider purchasing items to allow you to increase your flexibility and bredth of power - from an invisibility ring to a wand firing pilums of fire.
A problem for all Bjornaer magi is that the talisman is not transformed along with the magus when he takes his heartbast shape. You may want to enchant a talisman that you can summon to yourself at will, or that changes form, or else to find a means to initiate the Inscription on the Soul mystery from The Mysteries Revised Edition.