A Battery of Queries

[Mourn]

Hello there! Lovely site, and I'm looking forward to getting to grips with my character, but I have a number of questions before I get cracking.

In brief, my character Mourn (Formerly Jakob Stillwater) is a physician/healer turned would-be warrior due to the rather traumatic event of losing his family in a fire, which was caused by a group of unsavoury types that blamed him for their crony not surviving, despite doing his best to save him. He attempts to pull his family from the flames, but is unsuccessful and suffers fairly severe burns to the face and up to his forearms before his neighbour manages to pull him to safety. Having lost everything he values, he turns to the sword and intends to see if he can't get some good old fashioned revenge. Trite, I know, but it appeals to me. I'll make it interesting in practice, I swear!

Question time. Apologies in advance for the sheer number of them, but I am loathe to dive in unprepared.

1) Due to his career as a physician/healer (Which would be the correct term?), Jakob would naturally possess quite acute knowledge of the human anatomy. Would this be shown as the lore Human Anatomy, or would it be a skill? I've seen it primarily done as the former, but there are some Character Sheets that do the latter.

2a) I'm toying with the idea of Jakob having had, and subsequently lost, a mark of Rak'keli. It fits with his life as a healer, and the poetry of it being taken from him when he turns his back on the oath in order to exact vengeance is too pleasing to pass up. Would this disappear only when he refuses to heal someone when he is able? Or is the intent of injuring someone severely/killing them sufficient for Rak'keli to revoke it?

2b) It mentions that Rak'keli is fairly liberal in granting her Gnosis, and it establishes in the Starting Package that there are a number of Gnosis that you need not provide a story for in order to receive them as a part of the Starting Package. Does hers qualify, or is a story necessary? If it is, what are some common reasons for her to grant it? Is merely dedicating oneself to healing others sufficient?

2c) The mark, I have read, tends to appear on the face. Due to the fact that Jakob/Mourn will have quite a lot of damage to his face from the fire, how will that affect the mark if it is present?

3) What city would it be recommended for Jakob to begin in, given the recent events described above? Somewhere that someone could set fire to a home and get away with it believably. As well, somewhere that he could learn to be a physician to respectable levels. I was considering Syliras, but I'm not sure it would be feasible considering how on top of things the Knights seem to be.

4) Are there any particularly 'bad' groups in Mizahar that would fit the bill of setting a physician's home and family alight merely because he couldn't save one of their ilk? I could just have them be a group of ruffians, but if there are any established factions for him to set himself against in the long term, that would be marvelous.

5) He intends to stay around where he is long enough to train in the various skills he'll need before he departs, and I intend to use an NPC of some sort to provide the instruction. Would it be permissible to create my own, and if so, to what level would they be able to train his skills to? If not, would Jakob have to pay the established NPCs for training? It would be fairly long term, as he isn't going to rush off half-cocked. He'll want to be as good as he can be before he departs.

6) Where would he be able to procure a mask, and for how much? He'll want to cover up the ruin that is his face and I'm not entirely sure how common they would be. The simple black leather mask is listed under larceny, but I'm thinking something more along the lines of the mask in my avatar, possibly metal enameled in white so it is quite sturdy.

7) What skills would you recommend he have, as a career physician? Medicine, Herbalism, Philtering and Poison are a given, but I may be missing others. He'll have a talent for it as well as having been trained from a young age, and practicing for a number of years. I imagine I'll have to do a number of Flashbacks to raise the respective skills to an appropriate level. Would Expert be fitting?

8) I intend to have him commission a sword forged for his use, that has his wedding band forged into it/incorporated into it somehow. First and foremost, are wedding bands a thing in Mizahar? Secondly, does having a weapon/armour forged specifically for you cost the same as on the price list? The only difference would be that he would request it be blackened, which is evidently as result of just applying beeswax to it during the forging process.

9) I've run out of questions, though I'll likely think of others and kick myself for not thinking of them now. So, any comments, suggestions or ideas before I cement the character?

Thank you for your time!

[Serta]

1. Lore would fit best, as knowing the human anatomy is part of the healing skill, just as knowing animals antonyms is part of the animal husbandry skill.
2.a Not sure about that one...
2.b You can usually get a healing gnosis st birth, (sometimes if there is a huge amount of people getting them and not using them the mods won't allow it) but you still have to apply for it in the help thread so that it can be included in your Storyteller Secrets.
3. I'd suggest Sunberth, no laws and heaps of fun! You could definitely get away with setting a house on fire. A business as a healer might be a bit harder but I'm sure you could find a way, there's plenty of loan sharks willing to give you a hand... With interest.
4. Bandits in general? There are some gangs in Sunberth that would do it for sure.
5. So long as you go through the DS in the city you choose I'm sure you'd have no problem creating a stationary NPC. As to what level they could train him to, I'm not sure. If you were to make a NPC that's job was to actually train people you would have to pay. However it's perfectly possible for you character to learn himself, train with another PC or learn through exposure.
6. Not sure. You can always start with it already, or as his heirloom, which values up to 50 GM. You could definitely get a fancy mask out of that without having to worry about the exact cost. As long as its not solid gold or something that would obviously value over 50 GM.
7. Expert would be great! Master even better obviously. The skills you listed are about it, you could always add gardening so that he can grow his own herbs and stuff but he can also get those through foraging.
8. Not sure about that one either.


Hope this helped!

[Kyo]

1.) I defer to Serta on this one.

2a.) Healing says specifically that

[Rak'keli's] only demand in return for granting a gnosis mark is that the recipient swears an oath to never turn their back on the opportunity to heal that which is damaged. That healing must be offered freely to both friend and enemy alike. It is a serious oath and one that, if broken, can result in a gnosis mark turning negative or the loss of the mark completely.

I feel like Mourn purposefully turning his back on the opportunity to "heal that which is damaged" "both friend and enemy alike" by swearing revenge upon those who hurt his family might be enough to shatter his oath and cause a reversing or removal. If I had to guess, it would not be reversed (made negative), because he acts out of feelings of justice and grief and hurt which he may not be able to control (or so I assume). But, if you wanted a more definite opinion, when you query the Help Desk for your gnosis to be granted, ask there.

2b.) I think you would need a story, though it could likely be simple. Rak'keli likes those who are marked to take an oath of service, as previously mentioned. She also expects those with her gnosis to be confident in their healing ability, with a will to use her mark and not just waste it, or never use it, or be too timid/unsure to put it to use.

As far as I know, the only gnosis given at birth (and not requiring a story/explanation) are from Myri to her Myrians and from Avalis to the Konti.
EDIT: Just read that Zulrav marks most of his Stormwardens at birth, too. However, most PC's receive Zulrav's gnosis later in life, after having proven themselves to him.

If you write up a gnosis request for the Help Desk and are denied, you will likely be given advice on how to improve your story, if it is lacking in any detail.

2c.) The lore says you CAN have it on the face, or another place not easily concealed (where that would be I don't know... maybe hands or neck?). Not that it's explicitly necessary. If you want, you could put it somewhere else. If not... the gnosis page says

Gnosis Marks are permanent. Only the deity that grants them (or curses with them) can remove them. Likewise wounds, or even a limb being hacked off that bears a mark will not affect the 'marked' person. The mark will show through the scarring, or appear on another part of a persons body after a limb is lost.

3.) Sunberth was my first thought, as well. I'm not too familiar with all the cities, but I do know that Sunberth is lawless. Gangs do as they wish, for the most part.

I can't say, however, that Sunberth is a good representation of the medical community. This place seems to be it for established clinics/doctors, and it's not a very promising prospect.

However, perhaps you could see about an NPC to help with training, as you mentioned for your other skills. There's also the ability to work with other players (perhaps send out a request from the Matchmakers forum?). And flashbacks are a common way to earn extra skill points.

4.) Yep. The gangs in Sunberth, which are listed in its linkmap, if I'm not mistaken. And many players simply make up gangs/robbers/slavers/whatever to suit their backstory needs.

5.) Serta answered this already, but just be aware of the process it takes to make an NPC, and make sure to read the lore page. Any important NPC's created to aid in the development of your character will likely have to be supported financially by you (or so I believe...?), which could be pretty expensive if you need a lot of them. That being said, stationary NPC's would likely be a better fit for you, as they have a higher allotted number of skill points (50, rather than 30 for companion NPC's).

Contact your DS with any questions, once you decide on a city.

6.) I defer to Serta's answer, unless you've already planned for some other heirloom.

7.) I suppose it depends on your character. Would knowing a bit of dentistry be helpful? Maybe massage? Or persuasion/intimidation, to help with bedside manner/unruly customers? There are any number of skills that might be helpful for a healer to possess. Take a look at the skill list for ideas.

8.) Here's a link to the lore page on marriage. I believe it mentions that most people don't exchange jewelry upon marriage, though some races might. I quick-scanned the human page to see if it mentions wedding bands (because your PC is human), but I don't think I spotted anything. Perhaps they would exchange rings if his wife was of a race that appreciated that sort of thing.

Concerning your sword, I don't believe that there would be a difference in price, considering that the price list is made to accommodate certain variations in items (like the material the sword is made of, the type of weapon, etc). Alterations would likely have to be paid for, however, such as your blackening (you may have to pay for the beeswax used, or the extra step in labor). This isn't my area of expertise, however, so feel free to ignore me if I turn out to be incorrect!

9.) An idea (related to your 8th question). As the marriage page says, your character would have had a unique Chevas mark when he and his wife exchanged vows. Rather than the wedding band idea, you could have an image of the Chevas stamped/branded into the metal of your sword somewhere (say, on the pommel), or, adversely, the Lacun mark that would have replaced the Chevas when Mourn's wife was killed in the fire.