Glaugust 25 - GLoG Class: Academian
Stefano Ussi. Portrait of Niccolo Machiavelli. 1894.
When evening comes, I return home and enter my study; on the threshold I take off my workday clothes, covered with mud and dirt, and put on the garments of court and palace. Fitted out appropriately, I step inside the venerable courts of the ancients, where, solicitously received by them, I nourish myself on that food that alone is mine and for which I was born, where I am unashamed to converse with them and to question them about the motives for their actions, and they, in their humanity, answer me. And for four hours at a time I feel no boredom, I forget all my troubles, I do not dread poverty, and I am not terrified by death. I absorb myself into them completely.
A late entry for Loch's "bespoke single-level Cloak-and-Sword class" bandwagon. EDIT: Check out Phlox's post for a list of other participants.
Academian Wizard
Start with: Fur-trimmed robes, an exquisite writing set, a modest studiolo furnished with 1d6 - 1d4 (min 1) tomes of classical poetry, history, and rhetoric (see below).
Prosopopeia: With an hour of quiet reading, you may commune with the spirit of a book's author (living or dead), conjuring them into your academe. They know the subject of their book implicitly and are enthusiastic to discuss them.
If the spirit holds Esprit* for you, you can ask them to accompany you as an Eidolon. They are invisible to others and will only speak with you in private, but can apply force as a firm shove. As they leave your line of sight, they gradually fade back into antiquity over the course of 1d4 + 1 rounds.
* Here I recontextualize Loch's original Esprit mechanic. In this case, Esprit represents yearning admiration, intense fascination, or obsessive rivalry.
Inventio: You can take Esprit from your Eidolon to produce a magical effect appropriate to their sphere of scholarship. Negotiate with the GM and choose two:
- The effect lasts more than an instant.
- The effect targets an area.
- The effect deals d6 ego damage (nonlethal and undetectable except by other wizards).
- The effect has no unintended side effects.
Dispositio: You are an expert at the organization of arguments (but sadly not of your personal affairs). As long as you can detect something, you can detect and identify all of its discrete parts.
Elocutio: You are a keen observer of people, their desires, and their peccadillos. When you allude to someone's indiscretions they must stop and attend to whatever you say or do next. With a minute's preparation, you can adjust your attire and mannerisms to better fit the expectations of those you have spent time with previously.
Memoria: You remember (with appetite) the name of every book you've ever heard referenced in a letter, lecture, or footnote. When you enter another scholar's studiolo, name a book related to their interests. On heads, its there waiting for you. On tails, they have it on their person or have lent it to their patron.
Pronuntiatio: When you hold forth on a subject for an hour, you may add or subtract d6 from the listener's next roll pertaining to that subject. If you share the insight of your Eidolon, roll 2d6 instead and add or subtract the greater.
The Classics
To create a classic work of literature, roll for a title scheme, then roll for subjects to fill in the X and Y. Additionally, roll for an author and the books perception amongst scholars (both positive and negative).
| d6 | Title Scheme |
|---|---|
| 1 | On X |
| 2 | In Praise of X |
| 3 | Antique X |
| 4 | Against X, Y |
| 5 | Nights of X and Y |
| 6 | X and Y: Fragments |
| d12 | Author | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maro | Agriculture |
| 2 | Doria of Lack | Astronomy |
| 3 | Livius Phocis | Medicine |
| 4 | Aurelia Varro | Geometry |
| 5 | Cassian | Navigation |
| 6 | Severian Poli | Love |
| 7 | Helena Myrtea | Warfare |
| 8 | Antigonus the Lesser | Ethics |
| 9 | Anselmo | Zoology |
| 10 | Marcellus Dracon | Law |
| 11 | Gaius Morventius | Botany |
| 12 | Antigonus the Greater | Music |
| d12 | Perception (+) | Perception (-) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Treasured as a model of clarity and wisdom. | Suspected of harboring dangerous pagan ideas. |
| 2 | Celebrated for blending moral instruction with elegant style. | Criticized for excessive ornament over substance. |
| 3 | Praised for preserving ancient knowledge otherwise lost. | Accused of moral laxity and indecent examples. |
| 4 | Held in awe as near prophetic in its insights. | Believed to contain errors by contemporary natural philosophers. |
| 5 | Admired for its harmony between reason and faith. | Condemned for contradicting scripture. |
| 6 | Seen as cornerstone text for the educated gentleman. | Considered too obscure for the introductory reader. |
| 7 | Revered for its ability to inspire virtuous conduct. | Alleged to encourage vanity in the reader. |
| 8 | Consulted as an authority in disputes of pedagogy. | Said to promote dangerous political notions and affiliations. |
| 9 | Respected for the author's firsthand experience. | Mocked for rustic or provincial style. |
| 10 | Esteemed for its beauty of language. | Thought to rely too heavily on hearsay. |
| 11 | Regarded as stylish to quote humorous anecdotes from. | Marginalized as the work of a dilettante. |
| 12 | Notable for applying its subject to a military context. | Riddled with exaggerations and embellishments. |
Design Notes
Since first reading Cloak-and-Sword, I've been captivated by the academe. The idea is only briefly mentioned in a sidebar - an ideal gathering of scholars that certain wizards are able to contact. You can see how the idea relates to the Familiars and Servitors found in the original casters. With the recent bandwagon, I figured it was a good time to dig in.
Casters are tricky in the context of Cloak-and-Sword. Since the game lacks formal advancement, all features need to be operative from the get go. Scholarship (as captured here) is thus more about a posture than the pure acquisition of knowledge. Be in good relation with your texts and you can get a sort of back and forth going that produces magical results.
I've left a lot to the GM here in terms of adjudicating the Academe Wizard's invented spells. I'd consult Appendix M for a list of possible effects if you are stumped, but for the most part, work with the players to establish what the canon for your game will be. What effects can "music" produce is a subject of inquiry for both the character in the fiction and the players at the table.
Credit where credit is due, I've pulled much from "Here I Gather All the Friends: Machiavelli and the Emergence of the Private Study" by Andrew Hui, a text I often return to.