03 Character Creation

Creating a character for Apprentices is about defining who they are and how they will survive the gruelling, cutthroat environment of the Cyorian Academy.

What is a Mage?

Before you build your character, you need to understand what it means to be a mage in the world of Ersetu.

The Gift

Not everyone can use magic. The ability to sense, draw upon, and shape mana is an innate biological trait, you either have it or you don't. Roughly one in every twenty people is born with a mana reservoir large enough to cast even the simplest spell. Of those, only a fraction ever receive the rigorous training required to become a true mage. Your character is one of those rare few who both possesses the gift and has secured a place at the most prestigious academy on the continent.

Mages in Society

The role of mages in Eldemar has changed dramatically in recent decades.

• The Old World: For millennia, magic was the exclusive weapon of the Noble Houses. Techniques were jealously guarded bloodline secrets, and a single trained battlemage could rout an entire regiment of mundane soldiers. Mages were the aristocracy, and the aristocracy were mages. Non-magical commoners viewed them with a volatile mix of awe, fear, and resentment.
• The Fall: The Splinter Wars shattered this paradigm. Cheap, mass-produced firearms proved that a peasant with a rifle could kill an archmage with a well-placed shot. The Weeping that followed, a devastating magical plague, annihilated entire noble bloodlines. The old magical elite was broken almost overnight.
• The New World: Desperate for fresh mages to fill their decimated ranks, governments like Eldemar established massive, state-funded Academies that actively recruit talented commoners. Magic is being democratized. Your character is a product of this new era, possibly the first mage in their entire family line, sitting in a classroom next to the spoiled heir of a dying Noble House.

Archmages

Above ordinary mages, there exist rare individuals known as Archmages: mages who have achieved mastery in multiple fields of magic to such a degree that they can rival or surpass dedicated specialists in each one. Most mages spend their entire lives mastering a single school; an Archmage has done it several times over. There is no formal institution that grants this title. It is earned purely through reputation, when even accomplished mages acknowledge that someone has transcended the boundaries of specialization. Your character is, needless to say, very far from this level.

How Do People See Mages?

The answer depends entirely on who you ask:

Career Paths for a Mage

The Academy doesn't just teach you magic, it certifies you for a profession. Upon graduation, common career paths include:

• Government Mage: Employed directly by the Crown for civil engineering, military service, law enforcement, or bureaucratic spellwork (e.g. maintaining city wards). Stable pay, mandatory loyalty oaths.
• Guild Specialist: Joining a merchant or crafter guild as a specialist, enchanting goods, refining alchemical products, or providing medical magic. Lucrative but competitive.
• Dungeon Delver: Venturing into the Dungeon beneath Cyoria (and others) to harvest magical materials, slay dangerous creatures, and retrieve ancient artifacts. Extremely dangerous, extremely profitable.
• Private Tutor / Researcher: Serving a Noble House as a personal mage or pursuing independent arcane research. High status, but you are at the mercy of your patron's politics.
• Freelance / Mercenary: Operating independently. The riskiest path, but the most free. Many end up hired by Splinter States or private interests for dangerous jobs.

The Dangers

Being a mage is not glamorous. It is dangerous:

• Mana Burn: Push your body beyond its limits and your own mana will tear you apart from the inside.
• Soul Integrity: The soul is not invincible. Overuse of certain magics, exposure to powerful curses, or tampering with forces beyond your understanding can permanently scar it.
• Sanity: The things you will see in the Dungeon, the horrors you will face, and the moral compromises you may be forced to make all take a psychological toll. Mages who lose too much of themselves become "Hollows", empty shells.
• Politics: The Noble Houses, the Church, the military, and the criminal underworld all want a piece of you. Staying neutral is nearly impossible.

Follow these steps to build your Academy student.

Step 1: Background

Your background defines where your character came from before arriving at the Cyorian Academy. It shapes your social standing, your connections, and the skills you bring to the table. Choose one background from the list below.

Each background provides:

• Flavour — a narrative hook that informs your roleplaying
• Starting Bonus — a concrete mechanical benefit applied during character creation
• Connection — a narrative resource: a person, organisation, or access you can leverage during play

Available Backgrounds

Click any background name for full details, roleplay hooks, and flavour text.

Step 2: Attributes

Your character has 4 categories of Attributes: Magical, Mental, Social, and Physical.

• Base Value: Every Attribute starts at 1 dot for free (representing average human baseline).
• Maximum: No Attribute can start higher than 3 dots. (You can increase them to 4 or 5 during enrollment using Study Points).
• The Points: You have 4 Points to distribute among your Magical attributes. For your Mental, Physical, and Social categories, you use an array of [9, 7, 5] points. Choose one category to receive 9 points, one to receive 7, and one to receive 5. (1 point = +1 dot).
• (Note: Specialisations cannot be chosen at creation. You must earn them through roleplay after reaching 3 dots in enrollment).

Step 3: School Proficiency (Magic Schools)

As an Academy student, you have some basic training in magic. Each of the 8 Core Magic Schools has its own School Proficiency that represents your ability to cast spells from that school. Your dot rating in a school determines the highest tier of spell you can attempt to cast from it.

• Base Value: Every school's School Proficiency starts at 0 dots (untrained). A rating of 0 means you have no practical ability in that school.
• The Points: You have 2 Points to distribute across the 8 Core Schools (or support fields like Alchemy). Each point spent raises one school's School Proficiency by 1 dot.
• Maximum: No school can start higher than 3 dots.
• Spells (Powers): For every dot you place in a school's School Proficiency, you may select exactly one Spell from that school. The Tier of the spell cannot exceed your dot rating in that school. (Therefore, your character will learn exactly 2 spells at creation, one for each dot placed).
• Total Spells: There is no hard cap on the total number of spells your character can learn over the course of the campaign. You are only limited by the time and effort you spend studying, attending classes, and practicing.
• Restricted/Forbidden Magic: You cannot put starting points into Specializations (such as Mind Magic, Blood Magic, Necromancy, etc.) unless you establish the prerequisites during character creation (such as purchasing specific Merits in Step 4).

Step 4: Merits & Flaws

Merits are special advantages, while Flaws are permanent drawbacks.

• Starting: You start with 0 Points for Merits.
• The Trade: You may take up to 4 Points worth of Flaws. For every point of Flaws you take, you gain 1 Point to spend on a Merit.
• Example: You take "Physical Frailty" (-2) and "Social Outcast" (-1). You now have 3 Points to purchase "Soul Anchor" (3).

Step 5: Academy Enrollment

You must establish your bureaucratic record at the Cyorian Academy. This dictates your resources.

1. Choose 1 Mentor Professor: Look at the Weekly Schedule or class lists. Pick exactly 1 Professor. They are your official mentor and are available to you during the Afternoon time slots.
2. (Optional) Pre-plan Majors: You don't need to lock these in permanently (because you can change them on the first day of the semester), but jot down which 2 Majors you plan to take first.

Step 6: Derived Stats & Finishing Touches

Calculate your fixed derived stats:

1. Mana Capacity: (Willpower + Calculation) x 5. This is your maximum mana pool.
2. Physical Health (The Body State): You have a track of 7 Boxes representing your body's physical integrity. As you take damage, you mark off boxes from top to bottom. Specific boxes impose dice penalties on all rolls:
   • Bruised (0)
   • Hurt (-1)
   • Injured (-1)
   • Wounded (-2)
   • Mauled (-2)
   • Crippled (-5)
   • Incapacitated (Unconscious/Dying)
     (Note: The Physical Frailty flaw reduces this track by removing the top boxes).
3. Mind Defense (Passive): Willpower + Highest of (Divination or Abjuration).
4. Soul Integrity: 10 Boxes.
5. Sanity: 10 Boxes.
6. Ongoing Spell Limit: Equal to your Calculation rating. This is the absolute maximum number of "Sustained" or "Ongoing" spells you can have active at the exact same time. If you cast another ongoing spell while at your limit, the oldest active spell immediately drops.
7. Mastered Spells: You may designate a number of your known spells up to Memory × 2 as Mastered (costing 0 SP during character creation). Mastered spells cost 1 less Mana (minimum 1), can be cast silently without hand gestures, and can be used as instant reactions. Specify them on your sheet.