Theandric Saga OOC

[Yair]

Characters At The Scene

Magi: Titus [MummyKitty], Valeria [Nzld]
Companions: Volkmar [Nzld] (out of village), Malloc [Strahd]
Militant Grogs: Lukas the Hunter [Strahd].
Covenfolk: Matthius the Brewer [MummyKitty], Pavel the Shapeshifter [Kajamba Lion], Puck the Goblin-Blooded (out of village)
NPCs: None.

You control your own Magus and Companion at all times (assuming they are at the scene), and may control any grog or covenfolk with the the following exceptions:

• Matthius the Brewer is controlled only by MummyKitty.
• Lukas the Hunter, controlled only by Strahd.
• Pavel the Shapeshifter, controlled by Kajamba Lion for this scene.

Feel free to assume NPC reactions in your posts, and even to presume trivial PC reactions, to speed up the gameplay.

 

[Yair]

A brief note on pagan deities

In ArM5, faeries arise from human belief. The more the tale is told, the more faith people have in it, the more it comes to life. Pagan deities are typically powerful faeries that come into being from the belief of the pagans. Note that they have a very real existence, and may not fade as belief in them does.

Your characters have encountered the Black Stag, a companion of a powerful pagan deity (the Horned God, Veles) and hence apparently a being on par with, say, the Archangel Michael. This is misleading.
Your characters encountered *a* manifestation of the Black Stag, not *the* Black Stag. It is borne out of local belief (past or present) and tales of the god Veles and his minions, and carries a weight and might commensurate with such local (and thus, limited) belief. It may still be immensly powerful, or may be fairly weak, depending on many factors, but it is not as powerful as its stature of a companion to a chief deity would imply.
Similarly, if you should chance to meet Veles himself you probably won't be meeting the true pagan god, but rather a local manifestation of him. A good measure of the might is where he resides. The true pagan god, in his full might, resides in Arcadia. Lesser spirits reside in lesser Faerie auras. For example, a "black stag" found in a level 1 faerie aura will likely be but a poor shadow of the true beast, with little if any might and power.
All manifestations are linked in a sense. It is possible for the Veles of one place to know of the dealings of another, and in a sense all are a reflection of the Veles that resides in Arcadia. Nevertheless, each is a seperate entity and acts independently and often in ignorance of the others' doings.

Not all pagan deities are faeries. Pagans worship several creatures of Magical might, including (in times past) Mercury/Hermes, or even dragons. These are rarer, but perhaps of greater interest to Hermetic magi.
Other pagan deities are Infernal in origin. These are rather rare, to the best knowledge of the Order, although one should note it is impossible to tell the difference between a powerful faerie and devil (as devils can fool Intellego magic).

 

[Yair]

1.Can i cast a spontenous divine spell to uncover the secret if this is "The" stag or if this "a" stag.

Not quite.
You CAN cast a spell to determine whether the creature is a Divine creature, that is whether it is aligned with the Divine supernatural realm. But being a pagan deity's minion that's highly unlikely (he will be a creature of Faerie Might, most likely). You can also use your Sense Holiness & Unholiness ability to sense this; it shows you that it doesn't appear to be either a demon or an angel.
You can also cast a spontanous spell to try to discern the creature's Might. This isn't particularly easy for you, see "Weakl Spontanous Magic" on your character sheet (explained on the last page). I'll work out this spell and see if you can manage it this evening.
Your strength lies in your Formulaic spells; you're good at them. Of these, Panic of the Elephant's Mouse seems the only applicable one; you are all but certain to successfully cast it but will need some luck on the dice to penetrate the stag's magic resistance (assuming he has a weak magic resistance; MR of 15+ is beyond you).

2. Can you list the companios and grogs in the OOC thread so I can pickup a favor one to role play, maximum ... just invent one.

Will do; see above, I've edited one of the empty places to always list the current party at the scene.

3.maybe you should email Olive and tell him to join, try to recruit another one

Olive hasn't been around ENWorld for a while now. Considering his high post rate and count, I assume he has some real-life or connectivity issues preventing him from participating at this point. For now, I'll NPC him mildly until the situation is better cleared out.
As for recruiting another... I'll resurrect the recruitment thread, but I have little hope.

 

[MummyKitty]

In ArM5, faeries arise from human belief. The more the tale is told, the more faith people have in it, the more it comes to life. Pagan deities are typically powerful faeries that come into being from the belief of the pagans. Note that they have a very real existence, and may not fade as belief in them does.

Your characters have encountered the Black Stag, a companion of a powerful pagan deity (the Horned God, Veles) and hence apparently a being on par with, say, the Archangel Michael. This is misleading.
Your characters encountered *a* manifestation of the Black Stag, not *the* Black Stag. It is borne out of local belief (past or present) and tales of the god Veles and his minions, and carries a weight and might commensurate with such local (and thus, limited) belief. It may still be immensly powerful, or may be fairly weak, depending on many factors, but it is not as powerful as its stature of a companion to a chief deity would imply.
Similarly, if you should chance to meet Veles himself you probably won't be meeting the true pagan god, but rather a local manifestation of him. A good measure of the might is where he resides. The true pagan god, in his full might, resides in Arcadia. Lesser spirits reside in lesser Faerie auras. For example, a "black stag" found in a level 1 faerie aura will likely be but a poor shadow of the true beast, with little if any might and power.
All manifestations are linked in a sense. It is possible for the Veles of one place to know of the dealings of another, and in a sense all are a reflection of the Veles that resides in Arcadia. Nevertheless, each is a seperate entity and acts independently and often in ignorance of the others' doings.

Not all pagan deities are faeries. Pagans worship several creatures of Magical might, including (in times past) Mercury/Hermes, or even dragons. These are rarer, but perhaps of greater interest to Hermetic magi.
Other pagan deities are Infernal in origin. These are rather rare, to the best knowledge of the Order, although one should note it is impossible to tell the difference between a powerful faerie and devil (as devils can fool Intellego magic).

Yair, thanks for the summary of how the stag and faerie / pagan gods work. I tried to have Titus's actions and words reflect an imperfect understanding of this (well, because that is what I had myself!), when he called it a minion of the faerie god, etc. In reality, what he guessed given the beast's huge size and obvious supernatural properties, was that this was some kind of spirit of the forest, perhaps an avatar of a god or one of the god's servants-- he may not have been sure it was Cernunnus at all, of course. But, as you say, it's real enough so hopefully it doesn't decide to have an extra dinner tonight!

 

[Yair]

Gasparius is able to cast up to level 4 Intellego Vim spells [in the covenant's +4 aura], which means he is just able to perceive whether the Stag is an immensly powerful Faerie [see the spell below]. He isn't able to determine its strength generally [see the second spell below].
If you decide to use the [first] spell, read the spoiler below. Either way, post so I'll know what's up.

Percieve the Faerie of Might InVi 4
R: Sight, D: Mom, T: Ind
You are able to sense the Faerie Might of the target to within one magnitude, but only if it is of “godly” power (Faerie Might 50 or more). Generally, the spell does not need to penetrate the creature’s Magic Resistance to detect it but the SG may rule otherwise for specific creatures if he feels their nature would protect them from the magic (for example, a faerie doppleganger taking the form of another character).
(Design: Base 1, +3 Sight)

Percieve the Might of the Faerie InVi 20
R: Sight, D: Mom, T: Ind
You are able to sense the Faerie Might of the target to within one magnitude. Generally, the spell does not need to penetrate the creature’s Magic Resistance to detect it but the SG may rule otherwise for specific creatures if he feels their nature would protect them from the magic (for example, a faerie doppleganger taking the form of another character).
(Design: Base 5, +3 Sight)

[sblock]The stag does not appear to be a faerie of such stupendous Might; it might still be a less powerful faerie or a being of another realm.[/sblock]

I'll be making the next post tomorrow, I hope to see your response before then.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

You ment Gorgamesh in the last post, not Gasparius

You can also cast a spontanous spell to try to discern the creature's Might. This isn't particularly easy for you, see "Weakl Spontanous Magic" on your character sheet (explained on the last page). I'll work out this spell and see if you can manage it this evening.

EDIT: - Yair those spell you wrought up there ment for me ? If not I'll update my post

 

[MummyKitty]

Actually, I was trying to call out to our wayward Gasparius... sorry, I should have been clearer.... shall I edit the post? Thanks Strahd!

 

[Yair]

You ment Gorgamesh in the last post, not Gasparius

EDIT: - Yair those spell you wrought up there ment for me ? If not I'll update my post

Arrg, yes, I meant Gorgamesh. Sorry.

 

[MummyKitty]

Titus is officially trying to talk the stag to death.

 

[Yair]

Our newest member, Nzld, has susggested a maga character with sexual overtones. Suffice it to say she is known as "the whore of Durenmar" (Roy, she is kinda like Shir's Charlotte). Would that be a problem to anyone?
She also has some knowledge of medicine and healing spells, so could come in handy under the circumstances.
If no one has any objections, I suggest we allow the character to arrive shortly, just before or during the magi's meeting.

Also, MummyKitty, your grog Matthius has some Pomeranian lore to contribute; I'll email it to you tonight or tomorrow.