Senatus Populusque Romanus - Demigods in Ancient Rome.

We have people who engage in both of Rome's finest traditions: The military, and backstabbing.

Though the Romans often combined both

"Except for their military, backstabbing, strange cults, orgies, eccentric execution methods, mass slavery and spectatorial deathmatches, what have the Romans ever done to us?"

"Nothing!"

Sorry, needed the Monty Python out of my system before the game started.

edited 24th Apr '14 10:09:01 AM by Fauxlosophe

Alright, I got rid of the ball lightning thing.

Does this make my character accepted?

I have no further objections, no.

Same with Felix. So that's two more Romans. Could do with some more Carthage.

edited 24th Apr '14 10:41:21 AM by math792d

Interested. Working on a Son of Mars

• Name: Melissa Kitrinos
• Parent: Aristaeus
• Calling: A merchant, specifically an apothecary. People in need of medical help are always a good source of income. Claiming that her ever-youthful appearance is the product of this-or-that rare and expensive tonic rather than her parentage and magic made her quite a pretty penny from the nobility. Having bees ruin the wares of competitors helped with creating monopolies on certain prescriptions.
• Backstory (There wasn't a spot for this in the sheet, but screw it, I'mma make one): Growing up in the city of Saguntum with her merchant mother, she didn't know who her father was for quite a long time, until she was at least in her early twenties. After which... she didn't tell anyone. Being a demigod might seem glamorous, but she saw how that always worked out. Better to play it safe, lie low, stack up a lot of gold. And then after nearly a decade of carefully establishing herself so that she was only a couple of years from bleeding the city dry and adding it all to her own coffer, the Siege of Saguntum just had to happen. At first it was easy enough "finding" a honeycomb that she could sell at exorbitant prices, though after several months when the siege was starting to break peoples' wills, she figured it was just about time to try taking matters into her own hands. She snook out letter via bee to Hannibal, offering to use her powers to tell him about the conditions and locations of defenders in exchange for getting to keep everything she owned after they won, as well as offering a peaceful solution to the citizens to avoid bloodshed. And maybe keeping a little bit of what her neighbors owned. Soon enough, Hannibal takes the city, and it looked like things were going to be pretty good since Hannibal offered to let everyone in the city walk away, which would be a peaceful solution where everyone wins (and she gets richer). Then the residents declined Hannibal's offer and sabotaged the town's wealth and possessions out of spite, which included breaking into her place and wrecking all of her shit.... She knew then that she'd make Rome suffer for their inability to provide a business-friendly environment.
• Appearance: She's a woman of roughly 1.8 meters, amber eyes, perpetually-alabaster skin, thick red lips, long, and smooth black hair that flows to just under her shoulder blades. Her hair has a yellow streak along the right side. She always wears rather pricey-looking clothing, always with a yellow-and-black color scheme.
• Personality: Greedy. She wants the same things most rulers want - wealth, fortune, women, power, gold, more wealth, funny animals from foreign nations in cages, a day of the year (or all of them) in her honor, and the like. Carthage? Rome? She hates Rome, sure, but once Carthage comes out winning, then she can get herself set up with a nice little duchy.
• Hamartia: Greed, mang. If she winds up getting her hands on some crucial piece of information that could end the war, Hannibal might need to give her control of a city before she lets him know.
• Powers: Bees. All of the bees. She can magically conjure a few hives' worth of bees, wasps, and hornets to her, can command and talk to them and see through their eyes, can likewise command any ones that she encounters, including those that opponents might choose to throw at her via catapult. She can magically alter bees so that they may spit out healing honey onto her or her allies (Haha, the Nectar of the Gods. Get it? GET IT?). With great effort, she can summon a bee that has a small amount of ambrosia, which she uses to give herself an ever-youth appearance and good health. While being a demigod means she's still far more powerful than the commoner rabble, compared to other demigods the only non-magical area where she stands out is that she possesses excellent agility.
• Abilities: Barter, Apothecary skills and education, literacy.
• Equipment: She likes to travel light, and doesn't carry anything with her. She also has a dozen camp followers who are marching along with the army, responsible for the six ox-carts carrying her things - four carts of luggage (dresses, fine dried meats, jars of various delicacies, etc.), one cart with a luxurious tent, and one cart of apothecary supplies. She doesn't walk like some peasant infantryman, of course, and has a fine white horse that does that for her.

edited 25th Apr '14 12:14:59 AM by nman

Bees. My God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1GadTfGFvU

Bullet bees are eating your flesh!

NO NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEES!

x5 The horse-sized bee is a little excessive. Otherwise approved.

Poor Nman is beeside himself with remorse. It's the rejections like these that really sting.

edited 25th Apr '14 12:14:58 AM by Fauxlosophe

Axed that bit. We coo, homeslice?

Once my internet is back up, I can add you to the list. Also, good luck getting land out of Hannibal :P

So, since a whole lot of people are still drafting characters and I'm a bit of a history geek, I thought I'd explain a bit about the Roman Army in the time of the Punic Wars.

I imagine most people, when imagining a Roman soldier, will imagine a Roman Legionnaire.◊ However, the implementation of a standardized, professional army didn't happen until 107 BC, in a process known as the Marian Reforms.

Before then, for most of the Republic's lifetime, soldiers were drafted into the army for the duration of a single campaign, and consisted, by and large, of a citizen militia that was divided by wealth and previous military experience. This was known as the manipular system because the army was divided into maniples, each consisting of 120 men.

Roman armies at the time were divided into one of five categories: velites,◊ hastati,◊ principes,◊ triarii◊, and finally the equites.◊

The velites had the poorest equipment and acted primarily as skirmishers. Hastati were the first line of attack, principes the second, and the triarii were the last, and were kept at half-strength. A common saying in Rome was 'going to the triarii,' meaning to perform an act of desperation. The equites were primarily nobility, and their service was the beginning of their political career. Their primary role was to tide down the enemy cavalry to ensure the Roman infantry was not flanked, and then to chase down skirmishers and routing enemies. They were not expected to carry the day, though. That was the infantry's job.

Typically, a manipular Legion would consist of 1200 velites, 1200 hastati, 1200 principes, 600 triarii, and 300 equites, divided into maniples of 120 men which would each be commanded by a centurion. Above the centurions were the military tribunes, six of whom were attached to every Legion, and above these was the commander of the army, whose title would vary, though they were commonly known as praetors.

The exception was a consular army. A consular army was, as the title would imply, commanded by a consul, and it would consist of two Roman Legions and two Allied Legions (called 'Alae.) Before the Social War in 98 BC, only people born within the region of Rome were considered Roman citizens - other Italian people, like the Samnites, were not considered citizens, but were still called upon to recruit soldiers for the Republic. The consul would have overall command, but each Legion would be lead by a praetor.

Next time: Politics. And more war.

Name: Laelia

Parent: Apollo

Calling: Mystic

Appearance: Laelia has a long tangle of blonde hair she rarely bothers to wash, light but tan skin that speaks of long days at gardening or other manual labor, and is of a fair middling height. Though she dresses only as her meager class standing allows- barely a step above rags- she is an avid collector of feathers, beads, clay charms, and other earthy or hand crafted adornments. She has a loose dress of red that’s shredded hem goes just past her calves, and similarly shredded bell style sleeves that almost reach the tips of her fingers- she wears this for “formal” occasions and when receiving visitors. She is almost never seen without a shawl or wrapping of some kind.

Personality: Laelia is a sweet girl- raised the daughter of a freedwoman from Greece, whose owner had mysteriously let her go after she became with child, granting her a small stipend while she got on her feet. Lia is kind hearted and generous- aware of her good fortune in life and her blessings she is quick to share with others and give freely if she feels they are in need. She has a certain degree of airy dreaming about her that makes her seem slow at times or even absent minded, her attention is easily stolen by curiosities as her natural inclination to seek out Signs from the Gods leads her to pay more attention to her surroundings at times then the people in them- trying to get her attention often results in strange remarks or conversations as she relates what she was doing but not why to the other person (i.e “Oh, I was simply counting the number of bricks in the wall which more three marks or less” or “I was simply counting the number of beats between cricket chirps is all”).

Hamartia: Though deeply kind and compassionate, Laelia has a overwhelming drive for vengeance when she feels wronged. T Hough not easy to do, to draw her wrath is to bring the wrath of Tartarus down on your head- she pursues vengeance blindly and without mercy often negligent of those she hurts in the process. She is particularly fond of poetic justice and paying onto evil evil in kind- unafraid to stoop to dark depths, maybe even as dark as those she would punish, to satisfy her anger.

Powers: Laelia possess, after her father’s nature, a gift for clairvoyance, divination and prophecy. A skilled Argur Lia can read the patterns of birds, ants, and other creatures to determine coming natural events like storms and crop seasons, and can read the entrails of animals to learn more about specific destinies or seek the answers to questions. She has a set of four carved tile runes that when thrown up in the air and caught can reveal answers to Yes/No questions. Finally Lia’s gift for Prophecy means that she receives visions and images of vivid detail. They are monstrously painful to experience and occasionally cryptic and vague, but they always speak the truth. She can trigger this visions through physical contact with objects and people on occasion or through focus, but more often they come unbidden and at terrible times. The worst have knocked unconscious- once for three days- while the most mild only cause her to into violent convulsions and seizure for a few seconds.

Abilities: In addition to being a mystic, Lia is also a medicine woman of great esteem in the slums of Rome. She has extensive knowledge of herbs and remedies that allow her to mend and heal. Though another one of her father’s domain’s, there is nothing supernatural about Lia’s ability to tend wounds (yet). Her advanced knowledge of these things extends to poisons as well. When she must fight, Lia prefers thrown knives tipped with a deadly poison known as Bloodshade.

Equipment: Lia posses her set of runes that she never leaves home without, a single ritual knife from which beads and clay charms dangle from the hilt, as well as thinner more wicked throwing knives hidden about her person. She also never leaves home without her heavy woven belt laden with herb and medicine (and poison) pouches.

edited 26th Apr '14 4:53:10 AM by LMage

Um, Runes were traditionally a Nordic thing [infact it's named after the Nordic alphabet]. Cleromancy, or just regular dice used for prophecy, were used in Rome and I think Greece.

Also one thing we may want to add to our sheets is Side: Greeks in particular served both the Romans and Carthaginians. Not Yet Recruited might be an option for those who don't want to start out with a clear side.

edited 26th Apr '14 11:30:07 AM by Fauxlosophe

As for the first part it's not exactly set in stone- but I was given to understand through primarily used in Nordic traditions Runes where prevalent in a lot of spiritual faiths and not exactly exclusive to them, and Rome being the great melting pot of the Ancient world would be the place if any to run into such traditions.

And Lia is firmly on the Roman side- her mother was Greek but she was born in Rome itself and it a citizen. For what it's worth though she's more a Neutral Good-ish force, and considers her main loyalty to be to those she looks after in the Roman slums, and to her father Apollo.

I'm not sure about the rune thing either. Besides that (which just needs to be clarified,) accepted.

I did some looking up and Tali was a popular game with Romans and Greeks that was occaisionally used in temples and fortune telling. It ressembled knucklebones in some ways and apparently various dicerolls were named after various Gods, with the best being Venus [6,4,3,1].

edited 26th Apr '14 2:07:00 PM by Fauxlosophe

• Name: Arishat of Astarte

• Side: Carthage

• Parent: Astarte

• Calling: Warrior Priestess

• Appearance: Arishat, being born the child of a Goddess of beauty and fertility is in one word, stunning. She walks on a toned body which bears with equal ease strength, grace and femininity at her 27 years of age. Her skin is lightly tanned, her hair long and silky, dark as midnight. Her eyes are of an unnatural shade of gold, further giving testament to her Divine parentage. She stands tall at 5'9 feet tall, with long legs and a graceful build. As for clothes, she's as comfortable wearing nothing at all as she is the jewelry of her people, robes or the military wear of a man. However, her most outstanding attribute are a pair of horns on either side of her head, marking her connection to her mother, Astarte.

• Personality: Arishat was born the child of a Goddess, a fact that has marked every facet of her life. She's a proud woman with strong convictions and character, one who places equal measure into both life and death. Cocky, sure of herself and something of a tease at times. She puts a great deal of care and thought into excellence, specially when it comes to physical matters, however, despite not being her suit she recognizes the value and puts thought into the matters of the mind as well. She is not shy by any meaning of the word and her presence tends to be hard to ignore. Despite her great bouts of energy, she can settle down and enjoy the good things in life such as good food and rest. Being raised in a temple of a Goddess of Sexuality and taught how to eventually become a sacred prostitute, she's quite liberal and fiery when it comes to matters of the flesh. She delights in life and so far has bore seven daughters and two sons, all of which she loves fervently. She has given all of them all the attention she could, though given her duties there have been times when her sisters of the temple have had to step up and help take care of them.

• Hamartia: Pride and Wrath. Whoever raises her ire will be quite hard pressed to gain her forgiveness and her honor and importance should never be insulted. On a more physical side, the horns which are her link to her mother are an important part of her power and if cut entirely, it will take away some of her powers and debilitate her until they grow back.

• Powers:
  • Warrior: Demigods naturally are stronger than their mortal peers, however, Arishat had the strength, grace and instincts of the daughter of a Goddess of War. She's made to be a top of the line fighter.

  • Lover: The other side of her heritage, Arishat as a daughter of the Goddess of Beauty and Fertility was gifted with a stunning appearance, charisma and a strong presence which may affect members of the opposite sex.

  • Horns of Astarte: The link of Arishat with her mother and the source of her Demigod might. The horns are strong and resilient and are charged with the essence of life, heightening the rate at which she naturally heals and warding her from illness. They have power over health and fertility and have ensured the ease of all her births so far. Their shavings or part of the horns also bestow its powers, so if someone where to drink a broth with shavings of the horn within, they will enjoy greater health and virility for a short while, or if a powder made of dust from Arishat horns is scattered over a field it will make for a good crop. Arishat can shave herself a small amount of her horns without suffering ill effects, however, more dramatic cuts will start to impair her own health and strength.

  • Sacred Animals: A minor power, Arishat has an affinity with the sacred animals of her mother, the lion, the horse and the dove. While she can't communicate with them, they are much tamer around her presence and with enough effort, they can obey simple commands.

• Abilities: Arishat has cultivated a particular set of skills her entire life. She has trained in fighting near all of her life, honing her body to the utmost of her abilities. She has also been trained in the sexual arts necessary to act as a sacred prostitute in the temple of her mother, relishing in her sexuality, beauty and honoring life with her rites and prayers. Of course, besides such rites she is also highly knowledgeable of all aspects of rite and religion of her pantheon and can act as a priestess to any of its numerous Gods. She knows how to read and write, dance, play the lyre and paint.

• Equipment: Arishat is one who is not too attached to any particular items. She always carries some manner of arms with herself, even if only a single dagger. She tends to wear at least some manner of jewelry which honors the name of her mother and dresses depending on the occasion. When it comes to battle, she dresses either in the armor and clothes of a man or for duels on which she's quite confident, quite lightly if at all. For arms, she favors the spear, twin swords or sword and a light, oval shield. She's also adept at shooting with a bow.

So that's 3-4-2 Carthaginians, Romans and Wild, pending the acceptance of the pervious two.

Plus Caratacos is so awesome, he should count for two, so we're even.

When do we start?

edited 26th Apr '14 9:44:41 PM by Fauxlosophe

We still have a signup. Would be a little rude to not at least look at that character. Even so the Carthago-Roman balance is something to consider.

Accepted.

Either way, I believe I promised a bit of Roman politics, so let's talk about the Senate.

Now, the Senate is not the only political branch in Rome, but it was one of the most significant, particularly because the Senate was presided over by the two most powerful men in the Republic: the consuls.

The office of Consul changed a lot, both during the Republic and after the Republic, but in the Republic era, two consuls were elected each year. In peace time, they had extensive legislative, administrative and judicial powers, and served as the final word on matters of state. In times of war, they served as the Republic's generals. Since the Romans held military glory in the highest regard, this was not that unusual - a consul would likely have been elected on the basis of his military prowess.

Originally, only patricians were thought to be eligible for consulship, but by the time of the Second Punic War, one consul was elected by the plebians (everyone who wasn't a patricians,) and one was elected by the patrician classes. The two would have veto over the other in everything except military command, where they would alternate between overall command each day.

In times of dire need, if the gridlocks of Roman politics could not be afforded, a dictator would be appointed for a year, who would wield complete executive, legislative, civil and military powers alone, uncontested, with no checks by the Senate or the people of Rome. And after a year, the dictator would willingly surrender this power and go back to whatever office he held before becoming dictator. And surprisingly, this actually worked until the waning days of the Republic in the first century BC.

The consuls in 218 BC will become fairly important to the story. The first is a patrician general named Publius Cornelius Scipio, from the Scipione branch of the Cornelii family. The other was Tiberius Sempronious Longus. The two were both integral to the Punic War, but for very different reasons. We'll get to that when the game itself starts, though.

edited 27th Apr '14 2:40:31 AM by math792d

• Name: Dynamene Felicis
• Parent: Neptune
• Calling: Dynamene was born from a union of her mother, a slave aboard a merchant ship, and Neptune, who had been impressed by her skill in handling ships. Unfortunately, Dynamene's mothers master was a cruel one, and Dynamene was given no slack, used as an ancilla and concubine. Wishing desperately to be free but terrified of being caught if she ran away, Dynamene was given the strength to rebel when, on her 17th birthday, she was visited by her father and informed about her heritage as a daughter of one of the Gods.

Upon discovering this aspect of herself, Dynamene learned how to use and manipulate her powers until, after half a year, she collaborated with her fellow slaves to cause an uprising aboard the ship. The slaves outnumbering the merchants, and Dynamene's powers giving them an edge, the slaves successfully rebelled, ruthlessly killing their masters. Then, one their blood thirst was over, the slaves bickered among themselves over the rapidly depleting resources aboard the ship. Dynamene was the one who unified them, and took over as captain, before solving their problem of resources by resorting to piracy.

After several years of success in the piracy business, due mostly to Dynamene's divine heritage, the crew of former slaves grew lax on security, their egos boosted by their considerable success. This proved their downfall when they were tricked and ambushed by the Romans. Playing her last ploy so as to not be executed, Dynamene expressed her abilities to the Romans. Through this, Dynamene secured the safety of her crewmates who hadn't already been killed and their status as liberti, provided that they aided the Romans in the war against Carthrage.

• Appearance: Tall and thin, with hints of muscle, long, lush blonde hair, and piercing sea-green eyes, and a steel, defiant expression on her face most times. Her clothing is typically practical, but good-looking, Dynamene typically having the best pick from the ships she plunders. She also adorns her clothing with any jewels she has in her possession. She occasionally uses make-up, when necessary to make herself that much more presentable..
• Personality: One of the main reasons Dynamene disliked being a slave was her personality. An independent, freethinking, rebellious girl, who had a deep loathing of authority (unless she was the authority)and rules, and, amusingly, a fiery nature Dynamene's job did not suit her in any way. Her snarkiness and sarcasm also grated upon her masters and mistresses nerves, as did her, in some cases blatant, while in others subtle, disobedience towards them from a very young age. That did not change with time, and she is exactly the same, if not worse, with a penchant for landing herself in trouble.
• Hamartia: Dynamene tends to think in the short-term, rather than the long-term, resulting in her having a hedonistic streak. Furthermore, she has no thought for consequences, doing whats best for her at the moment and choosing to deal with her actions later, where she relies on her powers.
• Powers: Due to her fathers domain being water, Dynamene is capable of hydrokinesis and can survive perfectly well in water, being able to swim extremely well, breathe underwater, and being able to go as far down as she likes, without any fear of being crushed by the pressure. Another perk of Dynamene's parentage is her ability to telepathically communicate with sea life and horses, who have respect for her, as a daughter of Neptune.
• Abilities: Due to being brought up as an ancilla, Dynamene is proficient in housework skills, namely cleaning, cooking, applying make-up and dressing up, as well as having a good eye for fashion, which her mistress was especially interested in. She can also appear appealing rather easily, having to be presentable when used as a concubine. Being born and bred aboard a ship also means that Dynamene is adept at handling a ship on all of it's levels. She can also fish reasonably well without using her powers, and is proficient in using tridents, spears, short swords and knives.
• Equipment: Again, fairly self-explanatory.

For people intrested in playing on Carthage's side, this looks pretty neat.

• Name: Mago Barca ; “Mago the Humbled”

• Side: Carthage.

• Parent: Eshmun …Gods work in mysterious ways, and apparently the Apotheosis process restores the expected organ well enough.

• Calling: (Formerly) Elephantry of African Elephant Contingent, “The People’s Army” ; Healer

• Background: Distant cousin of the Carthaginian General, and son of the god of healing, Eshmun, it proves difficult to deduce which aspect of his ancestry induces such meteoric rise in the career of young Mago. Granted the right to rides atop the mighty African Elephant and spearheading the assault that would break through the walls of Saguntum, Mago was infused with a sense of invulnerability not uncommon amongst the young and foolish, especially ones atop such a mighty beast. Charging at the forefront with reckless courage, Mago overextended his charge and, comes the retreat, finds himself on a hill, cut off from his unit, surrounded on all sides by the angered citizens of Saguntum. Though surrounded by a hundred thousand fighting and dying men, the chaos of the skirmish, the wails of his driver – skewed atop hundreds of crudely built pikes-, the roars of flames, the whistling of arrows – Mago only have ears for one, horrible, sound- the slow, agonizing death of his elephant companion, Iber. As iron, steel, and copper bites into the once proud beast, Mago stands atop her in stupefied fright, praying at first to be delivered from his dire situation by his deific progeny, then only for a swift dead, an escape from the vocal torment that is Iber’s death throes. In a cruel twist, it is only during her last – most terrible – wail that an arrow caught Mago in the throat and sends him tumbling down – into a small cave, under a rock outcroppings. Whether due to coincidence, divine miracle or the last acts of loyalty from his beloved steed, Iber would finally be laid low at the cave’s entrance, shielding Mago for the rest of the siege.

• Three days later, Mago would reunite with the Carthaginian army a changed man. No more was the foolhardy, yet affable, Mago who would lit up the rooms with hearty laugh and bawdy jokes, no more was the courageous young man whose inspired – if foolish and suicidal- charge would play a non-negligible part in bolstering the depleted morale of the vanguard. Replacing him was a white-haired man, youthful feature marred by a stare that extends a thousand yard, whose walks with a bowed head and speaks of penance. Mago the Young, Mago the Brave, Mago the Fool was no more- now stands only the penitent, soft-spoken healer Mago the Humbled.

• Appearance: A young man in the prime of his life, his board shoulders and chiseled features seems -diminished- by his intentionally lowly stance. With hair wisdom-white and a haunted look in his gray eyes, few would believes he is nary a year past two dozen winters.

• Personality: Haunted. Mago is presently a healer by trade, confronted with the full horror of war, he has been terribly scathed by it. Garbed in empathy, wisdom, and reserved nature, he now wanders both the camps of the warhost and refugees. Buried deep within the furnaces of his heart, however, burns an anguished sorrow and the dying ember of the virtuous heroic spirit. However will the flames of war strokes his heart, he does not know.

• Hamartia: Mago was a passionate man. Laughed more, cried more, hated more, loved more, killed more -lived more- than most other people. An inspiring figure with a vibrant heart - and, so, a vulnerable one. Following recent developments, Mago have steeled and stilled his heart, quieted its callings. In a way, not unlike a domesticated beast- tamed, a props, a device rather than an actor. Thoughtless, now thoughtful. Glorious, now timid. Reckless, now reserved. And yet, such things may merely be a suppression- and it remains to be seen, whether it is a permanent one.

• Powers:
  • Healer - While previously suppressed, manifesting as a supernatural prowess of regeneration that could, given time, return him from the brink of death, the taming of Mago's glorious spirit now lets the healer aspect of his father shines much more brightly. Passive uses of this power decrease loss suffered in battle as the injured are stabilized and bleeding stanched. Active uses revitalized the target with life, increasing regeneration at an incredible rate- if it is plausible within nature, Mago can causes it to happen at a greatly accelerated rate. Minor injuries are healed in seconds, broken bones set in minutes, and grave injuries healed in hours. As a side effect of his penitent nature, however, Mago's own regeneration will only starts when he nears death. Perhaps his full power may manifest itself, should he ever comes to term with his guilt, yet retain his hard won wisdom?
  • Protector of Domains- Mago is protected by his father's protector aspect, which manifest itself as an unnaturally hard, iron-like skin. Also, he can keep portals from opening or closing, which is kind of a nifty party tricks.
  • Lord of Serpents- Theoretically possible to extract and neutralize most natural poisons and diseases. Similarly, may -possibly- commands serpents and those that crawls. As this aspect proves largely incompatible with Mago both pre- and post- changes, he can do neither. That said, monsters of a serpentine nature will not attack him unprovoked and he is largely immune to intoxication and the resultant hangover.
  • Dominion over Spirits - Owing to his father's close ties to the realm of spirits, Mago can see and interact with spirits as he would any mortal. Despite the name, he is merely afforded a certain respect by the dead- he cannot exert any particular authority over them.
    • Callings (Iber) - A miracle that borders the realm of gods, the inviolable bond of man and beast that allows the impossible, borne of the patience of one who would wait forever and loyalty of one who would journey eternally that would allow their reunion (and also nepotism). Despite the overtly grandiose introduction, this power manifest in quite an impressive display. By blowing into Iber's tusk with his last breath, Mago can summon his beloved steed from the netherworld. Heralded by a terrible roar and quaking ground, the spiritual form of Iber manifests to be ridden once more into battle by her master. Incidentally, Iber can only remains materialized in the mortal world for one encounter per battle, after which she must returns. Theoretically, if Mago forms a bond so close-knit with another person or beast, perhaps he can summon them from the death, as well?

• Abilities: Despite his foolhardiness, Mago was previously part of the noble house of the Barcid dynasty and thus trained extensively in the arts of war, and Elephantry especially. While not particularly devout, Mago is also quite knowledgeable about the divinity that governs both Carthage and his dread enemies, the Roman. He is also gaining skills in the healing arts at a steady rate.

• Equipment: Wearing a simple robe fashioned in an almost priestly fashion, Mago carries with him a curled, gnarly staff that seems to coil around itself in a serpentine fashion. Affixed atop the staff is one of Iber's sharpened tusk, allowing Mago to uses it as a spear, through he loathe to dirties his prized possession with the blood of the undeserving. He also carries her other tusk, this one fashioned in the form of a trumpet.

edited 27th Apr '14 1:01:57 PM by PBlades