Maelia

Born Adeline, Maelia was born in the south of England to a prosperous family, but was treated like a bastard due to being born Gifted. Rumours of an otherwise functional and warm family spurning their youngest child for no clear reason came to the attention of a magus who was travelling through, Eridanus of Flambeau, who took her in as an apprentice at the Normandy Covenant of Lapis Crudus.

There she was given a typical apprenticeship, with one notable exception; due to the anger of the faerie Candidus, people could only leave or enter the regio in which Lapis Crudus resided if another of equal station were to enter. Maelia was brought in to facilitate another apprentice – close to his gauntlet – leaving, and was trapped within for the vast majority of her life.

She eventually got out, however, though the most unorthodox of means; she was killed in a lab accident made by her sodales, Mnemon of Tytalus – who was ironically experimenting to discover a way to escape the covenant. No longer classifying as a person as per Candidus’ rules, she was taken out of the covenant for burial. Some days later, she startled awake, rattled but for some reason alive once more.

Refusing to return to confinement in Lapis Crudus, she sought to begin anew by researching undead at Requies Aeterna. There she was visited by Garus of Flambeau, who inducted her to the Milites and requested she go to Ungulus, to watch over the mages formerly of Sagehollow - both to ensure that they were being overseen by the Ungulus magi and that they were not being unduly mistreated.

Description
Born: 1167 Age: 27 (apparent age 29) Height: 5'5" Weight: 99lbs Build: Very skinny Nationality: English

Warping Score: 1

Maelia is a quiet but intense woman, which combined with her deathly features is often found intimidating. She speaks with a refined and sonorous voice, and when sitting or standing is so still that there’s little indication that she’s living at all.

She does not suffer fools or bullies lightly, and even to her sodales often comes across as being rather aloof. The fact that her rare attempts to make jokes are often too dry, dark or simply unfunny to be understood does not help this impression.

Due to her unnerving appearance, Maelia often travelled with a spell running to make it more anodyne. This has recently become rather more difficult, as exposure to direct sunlight will remove such illusions. She has instead taken to wearing deeply hood clothes for such an eventuality.

Notable Features: She has unnaturally pale skin and gaunt features, and she wears heavy makeup around her eyes. She has massive scars across her body from the lab accident, and her hair has been dishevelled ever since.

Downtime: Maelia spends much of her time in her lab, though at night she sometimes gets bored and goes for night-time walks. She silences herself so as not to disturb anyone, though this scares the hell out of anyone who happens to encounter her. She also enjoys reading recreationally, but guards her books jealously.

Fun Fact: As a quirk of her condition, her skin and breath is naturally cool, and she has a very dulled sense of taste unless she consciously thinks about the food or drink that she’s consuming.

Greatest Fear: Never finding her purpose - whatever reason was behind her return to life.

Religion: Maelia is a Christian, though she avoids attending mass due to not wanting to disturb the congregation (or indeed, the priest). She has no idea why God saw fit to bring her back when so many better and more powerful people were left to their final rest, though she finds such thoughts daunting and thus avoids thinking about it too much, focusing on whatever lay before her.

When Drunk: Since dying, Maelia finds it very difficult to get drunk. Seeing as she never much liked the taste anyway, she generally doesn’t bother. When she does, she gets quite philosophical, and then morose, and then collects herself and usually goes for a walk.

Pet Peeve: Bullies; anyone who uses their power over those weaker than them, as if their possession of it justifies its use in such ways.

Embarrassing Secrets: She has a guilty pleasure of romantic and erotic literature. She’s also come to quietly enjoy unnerving or scaring others.

Reputations
House Acclaim (Flambeau) 1 Rose from the Dead (Hermetic) 4

Characteristics
Strength (When Pinned) -1 Stamina (Tirelessness) +4 Dexterity (Poise) +0 Quickness (Fast Casting) +1 Intelligence (Niche Hermetic Lore) +2 Perception (People Casting Spells) +1 Presence (Scaring People) +1 Communication (Refined Vocabulary) -1

Virtues

 * Cyclic Magic (Night)
 * Flawless MagicM
 * Great Stamina
 * Greater Immunity: SleepM 1
 * Hermetic MagusFree
 * Improved Characteristics
 * Life Boost
 * Puissant PerdoFree
 * The GiftFree

1''As a quirk of being laid to rest “permanently”, Maelia now cannot sleep. This grants her an extra season of free time per year, though it has also brought with it the Age Quickly flaw as she uses up her life energy much more rapidly.''

Flaws

 * Age QuicklyM 2
 * Chronic Visage (Lesser Malediction)3
 * Miles
 * One Foot in the Grave4
 * Raised from the DeadM 5
 * Rebellious
 * The Evil Eye

2Maelia’s rapid aging only began after she was Raised from the Dead, and therefore she aged normally up to the age of 26.

3Any spells or magical effects that alter Maelia’s physical appearance are automatically dispelled by contact with direct sunlight – completely overcast weather, or wearing a deep hood, is enough to prevent this, though of course the latter is likely to garner suspicion on a clear day.

4This has all the same effects as the Viaticarus flaw (see Grogs, page 85), but of course, Maelia actually did die – she just got back up again!

5''This is not a story flaw in the original sense; instead, the story stems from how other groups have responded to Maelia’s return from the grave. As she clearly bears what many believe to be an “evil” mien, few believe she was brought back by God. Some learned people wish to experiment on her to determine how her return was possible, and many common folk wish to see her killed once and for all as she is an “abomination”.''

Personality Traits
Brave +3 Forthright +1 Rebellious +3 Resolute +2

Languages
Artes Liberales 1: Latin
 * English 5
 * French 2
 * Latin 4

Abilities

 * Artes Liberales (Astrology) 1
 * Athletics (Grace) 2
 * Awareness (Spells) 2
 * Brawl (Dodging) 1
 * Charm (Mages) 1
 * Code of Hermes (Wizard’s War) 2
 * Concentration (Spells) 2
 * Etiquette (Magi) 1
 * Finesse (Fast Casting) 1
 * Folk Ken (Mages) 2
 * Guile (Bluffing) 2
 * Hunt (Humans) 1
 * Intrigue (Order of Hermes) 1
 * Language: English (Eloquence) 5
 * Language: French (Ile de France) 2
 * Language: Latin (Hermetic) 4
 * Leadership (Intimidation) 2
 * Magic Lore (Undead) 2
 * Magic Theory (Inventing Spells) 3
 * Order of Hermes Lore (People) 1
 * Parma Magica (Corpus) 1
 * Penetration (Perdo) 3
 * Stealth (In Darkness) 1

Combat
Soak: 4 (Stamina 4) ''+1 vs unarmed humans (Corpus 9), +1 vs fire and cold (Ignem 6), +1 vs metal weapons (Terram 5) Encumbrance: 0

Typical Equipment
Dagger and deeply hooded cloak.

Arts
Creo 6 Intel 3 Muto 2 Perdo 10+3 Rego 4

An 3 Aq 1 Au 1 Co 9 He 3 Ig 6 Im 4 Me 1 Te 5 Vim 4

Spells Known
Eyes of the Cat (Muto Corpus (Animal) 5) Casting Total: +17 Mastery: 1 (Quiet Casting) Range: Touch – Duration: Sun – Target: Individual You can see in near darkness.

Soft Tread of the Intruder’s Step (Perdo Imaginem 5) Casting Total: +22 Mastery: 1 (Quiet Casting) Range: Personal – Duration: Concentration – Target: Individual Makes the target incapable of producing sound.

Creation of a False Form (Muto Corpus 10) Casting Total: +17 Mastery: 1 (Quiet Casting) Range: Touch – Duration: Sun – Target: Individual The target’s physical features are transformed into any approximately human configuration you choose.

Pit of the Gaping Earth (Perdo Terram 15) Casting Total: +23 Mastery: 1 (Quiet Casting) Range: Voice – Duration: Momentary – Target: Individual ''The dirt in a circle six paces across recedes into the ground, leaving a pit nine feet deep. If the target area contains material other than dirt, that material is not affected.''

Pilum of Fire (Creo Ignem 20) Casting Total: +17 Mastery: 1 (Magic Resistance) Range: Voice – Duration: Momentary – Target: Individual A two foot, thick, spear-shaped jet of fire flies from your palms, doing +15 damage to the individual it hits.

Dust to Dust (Perdo Corpus 15) Casting Total: +27 Mastery: 1 (Multiple Casting) Range: Voice – Duration: Momentary – Target: Individual ''Turns a dead body or mindless undead to dust in two rounds. Doesn’t work on undead possessed by spirits.''

Blind the Insurgent Pack (Perdo Corpus 25) Casting Total: +27 Mastery: 1 (Still Casting) Range: Voice – Duration: Momentary – Target: Group ''Black, oily tears appear in the eyes of all individuals of the affected Group, burning and blurring their vision. With their eyesight blurred, and all sources of light reduced to unrecognizable sparkles, affected targets are considerably hindered while performing actions that depend on eyesight. They are subject to a –3 penalty to all rolls that involve sight (see Poor Eyesight Flaw, ArM5, page 58). If left to themselves, the victims’ blurred vision heals as a Light Wound.''

Fell the Towering Lout (Perdo Corpus 30) Casting Total: +27 Mastery: 1 (Penetration) Range: Voice – Duration: Momentary – Target: Individual Inflict an Incapacitating Wound on the target.

Wizarding Sigil
The area around Maelia becomes increasingly desaturated in colour, and shadows grow around her. When she uses Life Boost, she appears more corpse-like for each fatigue level she expends, before receding again to normal as she recovers.

Voting Sigil
A metal token engraved with a pentagram.

The Gift
Maelia’s Gift manifests feelings in others of discomfort and fear, even if they may be unable to put their finger on why. ... though usually, it doesn't take much imagination.