Friday 23 January 2015

Photius Ventaris III

By Sarah M.
We imagine he looks
 something like this
A pompus sounding human NPC who nobody seems to notice most of the time.

Description
Born into the noble house of Ventaris some forty to forty-five years before the start of the story . Photius was educated in a wide range of classical, political and combative arts from the age of seven as befitted a nobleman of the era.
Photius Ventaris III is a man whose precise skills are not yet known to the party however he claims to be a scholar set on recording current events for future posterity, suggesting that he has the bard character class with either perform skill oratory or profession scribe.

Despite being willing to travel into certain danger with his chosen subjects of study, he appears to be carrying no apparent weapon, suggesting some great magical skill, or a well hidden and exotic weapon that is unrecognizable to the player characters and just about anyone else. (I am partial to a mini flail or bladed chain that can attach to a quill or pen, thus turning his scholarly tools into deadly weapons*)
*not sure how this works out in terms of rules. If this sort of weapon can be created it would be really interesting to see, particularly if photius is actually forced to use it. If not, a bard/monk multiclass model will probably work best for this character as he can then be formidable without suddenly having to say that he was equipped with weapons and armour all along.
Bio
It soon became apparent however that young Photius was a devoted scholar and applied to the prestigious Blue academy at the age of eighteen (18) to further his studies in history, religion and the arts both fine and arcane. Photius’s performance throughout his academy days earned him the attention of the then royal historian and official scribe Horatio corvastian, who mentored Photius after his graduation until Horatio’s own retirement, after which Photius himself took over the position.
Some evidence in the form of frequent letters home suggests that he was the tutor of the current Lord Ashbury, although his sheltered life may have left him extremely gullible as willingly takes on the active duty of legitimising the prophesies of an oracle and can be talked into holding invisible, intangiable objects and injesting potentially harmful materials. However this may also be due to a certain awkwardness with or inability to understand people of different backgrounds due to a lack of experience outside of academia or the courts of the nobility.