Apprentices Chapter Three: Infantia: Birth to Age 7
See Also
- The Ars Magica Reference Document
- The Apprentices Open Content page
- The Apprentices product page on this wiki
Chapter Three: Infantia: Birth to Age 7
She urged all that was possible to divert me from marriage — that it was a bond always fatal to a philosopher; that the cries of children and the cares of a family were utterly inconsistent with the tranquility and application which study require.
— Peter Abelard, Letter to Philintus
Why did people have children in the 13th century? To extend a family name or inheritance, to increase the pool of personal labor, to guarantee a caregiver for one's waning years, or as a natural consequence of the bliss of copulation? Perhaps this and more, but planned or unplanned, prepared or unprepared, people regularly had children. Historically, the 13th century experienced a slight population growth.
The First Years
Even the tale of how an infant enters the world of Mythic Europe has story potential.
Birth and Blessing
A number of rituals and practices surround the birth of a new baby, all of which are designed to mitigate the inherent risks of childbirth and the first years of life.
CHILDBEARING
Childbearing is difficult and potentially dangerous for both mother and child. To determine whether childbirth is successful, treat the delivering mother as if she had a Medium Wound. Make a Wound Recovery roll every two hours, and the baby is born once this imaginary wound reaches an "unwounded" state. Every time the wound worsens, the baby loses a Fatigue level. If the baby loses five Fatigue levels, it dies.
If the mother dies during delivery, the baby surely will too unless a surgeon is on hand to perform a Caesarian delivery. A midwife or physician adds her Profession: Midwife or Medicine score to the recovery roll. (These rules are repeated from Art & Academe, page 63.)
Several precautionary measures are available for expectant mothers: holy relics, superstitious folklore charms, and even Hermetic magic. If a religious artifact or relic has Faith Points, each Faith point can be used like a Confidence point to add +3 to a die roll. Creo Corpus spells add the same bonus to this roll as they do to normal Recovery Rolls.
BIRTH APPARITIONS
Important people's births are sometimes accompanied by visions and apparitions, which herald the person's future significance. In Mythic Europe, birth apparitions are not uncommon. Any character with Virtues or Flaws attached to a specific realm may be born with an accompanying apparition, appropriate to the strength of their Virtues or Flaws. Apparitions take many forms: angels heralding the birth with trumpets, devils prancing in a circle in the air, faerie lords observing the birth, or magic animals sniffing the newborn. Apparitions appear at the moment of birth, seemingly called from their native realm, and remain for a few minutes at most. Most have a Might Score of 5, if the child has a Minor Supernatural Virtue or Flaw, or 10 for a Major Virtue or Flaw, and rarely have magical powers. However, if the character has a Flaw that includes a supernatural attachment (Plagued by Supernatural Entity, Supernatural Nuisance, etc.), that creature will appear as the birth apparition.
Most magi know of birth apparitions, and have various opinions about them. Some ignore them, while others prepare to trap them and use them for their own designs. An Aegis of the Hearth spell may prevent a birth apparition from appearing, if it can protect the covenant from the creature's Might.
RELIGIOUS RITES FOR NEW BABIES
In Christian lands, the child must be baptized soon after birth. The Church requires that each child has three sponsors, two male and one female for a boy, and the reverse for a girl. Each sponsor is called a "godfather" or "godmother", and together they are called "godsibs." Parents cannot stand in as godsibs, but the priest or midwife can in case of emergency. Most Hermetic magi were baptized, and this sacrament does not hinder or influence the possibility of a child's emerging Gift. However, baptism cancels any supernatural effect not associated with the Divine realm that may be affecting the child at the time of baptism. Baptism also drives out any possessing spirits, although it doesn't prevent those spirits from coming back.
Jewish and Muslim children have similar practices. After birth, a Jewish mother remains sexually removed from the father for 7 days, if the child is male, and 14 days if the child is female. Eight days after birth, a boy receives his name during his ritual circumcision, the brit milah, and a girl is named after the two-week separation between mother and father. Muslim babies undergo a ritual purification immediately after birth. A few hairs are sacrificed and someone whispers the adhan, the call to prayer, in the baby's ear. Both the Jewish naming ceremony and the Islamic purification ritual have the same divine effect as a Christian baptism: all non-divine supernatural effects are canceled and possessing spirits are driven from the child. Like baptism, these ceremonies do not hinder or influence a child's Gift.
Illegitimate and Orphaned Children
Some children are born out of wedlock, either from an unmarried mother or a union that the Church considers inappropriate (such as cousins). Such a child is called a "bastard," "bast," "horcop" (meaning "whore head"), or "leir-child" (meaning "child of the lair or lying"). In most societies, mother and child have a negative reputation in their community. The child cannot inherit or own property, unless legally recognized by the father. Sometimes bastards are convenient. Because bastards cannot inherit property, noble fathers view their illegitimate sons as loyal warriors who cannot interfere with their recognized heirs. This is successful to a degree, but easily leads to entanglements and succession struggles. Illegitimate urban children are raised in hospitals, the medieval equivalent of orphanages, where free hospitality is offered to the poor and indigent. Some are abandoned, left at crossroads or on church porches. If the mother hopes someone will find and raise the child, she leaves a small packet of salt with the child.
Early Childhood
Raising children is seen as woman's work in the 13th century. Noble and wealthy women have a female staff to help raise the children, and nurses, wet nurses, and rockers women hired to rock the cradle are common jobs. A peasant woman fills all these roles herself, as well as doing her other household chores. Childhoods are surprising similar for people within the same ethnic and socio-economic group.
An infant is usually walking within four or five seasons. Once mobile, children invariably begin playing, a necessary activity for them to develop into well-adjusted, capable adults. The most common type of play is mimicking adults, copying adult behavior and activities as best as a child is able. Toys are always popular, as are dolls, called "poppets." It is very common for an infant to form a lasting attachment to a favorite toy and continue playing with it into his childhood years.
Once they are more adept physically, games like ball games, athletic events, and throwing games are extremely popular with boys and girls. Well-to-do children also play games that strengthen their mental capabilities: chess, backgammon, and dice.
Companion: Noble Child
Characteristics: Int +1, Per –1, Pre 0, Com –3, Str +1, Sta +2, Dex +3, Qik +2 (–4 Characteristic modifier due to age)
Size: –2
Age: 6 (6)
Confidence Score: 1 (5)
Virtues and Flaws: Son of Landed Noble; Death Prophecy; Inherited Great Dexterity, Inherited Skinchanger, Improved Characteristics (x2); Feud, Know-It-All (major); Ability Block (Academic), Poor Hearing, Poor Student, Reckless
Personality Traits: Know-It-All +3, Reckless +3, Brave +2
Combat:
Dodge: Init –2, Attack n/a, Defense +0, Damage n/a
Kick: Init –3, Attack +2, Defense +0, Damage +0
Kick, Mounted: Init –3, Attack +4, Defense +2, Damage +0
Soak: –2
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–3), –3 (4–6), –5 (7–9), Incapacitated (10–12), Dead (13+)
Abilities: Athletics 2 (running), Brawl 2 (kick), Native Language 5 (courtly terms), Ride 2 (galloping), Swim 2 (diving)
Equipment: Good clothes
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Appearance: The noble's son is a richly clad, clean scrubbed boy of average height and weight. He has a devilish look in his eye, a hint at the trouble to come.
The noble's son is a handful. It was prophesied at birth that he would die by fire, and he has led a reckless life. He has learned to ride from his father's grooms and is a proficient horseman. The character has two inherited Virtues, Skinchanger and Great Dexterity, that will manifest in the future.
This character also uses the Athletic Childhood given earlier as a starting base.
Born with The Gift
The Gift may or may not be inheritable, and each troupe must to determine for themselves the likelihood of Gifted parents birthing a Gifted baby. Ars Magica Fifth Edition makes no definitive statement either way, but the implied default setting is that The Gift is completely random. If heredity influences the matter then a Gifted parent increases the likelihood of having a Gifted matically produce Gifted offspring, reduce the Ease Factor to 6. While it will be easier to find a Gifted child in this case, it might be harder for a magus to claim them for his apprentice, since the child's parent is quite likely a magus as well (see "Blood Rights" in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, page 53).
Hermetic magi have been known to procreate, in the hopes that their offspring will be Gifted. As of 1220, no sound Hermetic theory exists to explain why some children have The Gift and others don't, and the evidence of Gifted mothers and fathers birthing Gifted children is spotty. There are exceptions. Several of Aurulentus of House Jerbiton's forefathers have been Gifted (Magi of Hermes, page 15), and Petrus Virilis, a Bonisagus magus living at Durenmar, is the exception, and all of his offspring have been Gifted (Guardians of the Forest: The Rhine Tribunal, page 59). Other magi could be interested in producing Gifted children, quite possibly one of the magus characters in your saga.
It is unlikely that a player will play a newborn character and more likely that the players' characters will interact with a Gifted baby. Most of the time this isn't any different to interacting with a mundane baby, although low level Turbulences (see later) might frequently occur. As mentioned, curious supernatural agents may become involved.
Apprentice: Foundling Child
Characteristics: Int +3, Per 0, Pre +1, Com +2, Str 0, Sta +1, Dex –2, Qik –1 (–4 Characteristic modifier due to age)
Size: –2
Age: 7 (7)
Confidence Score: 1 (3)
Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Orphan; Inherited Flexible Formulaic Magic; Book Learner, Puissant Latin, Sense Holiness and Unholiness; Blatant Gift, Plagued by Supernatural Entity
Personality Traits: Outspoken +3, Brave +1, Devoted +1
Combat:
Dodge: Init –5, Attack n/a, Defense –4, Damage n/a
Soak: –3
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–3), –3 (4–6), –5 (7–9), Incapacitated (10–12), Dead (13+)
Abilities: Artes Liberales 1 (psalms), Brawl 1 (dodge), Charm 2 (clergy), Church Lore 2 (religious holidays), Folk Ken 2 (clergy), Guile 2 (lying to superiors), Latin 1 (church usage), Native Language 5 (Bible quotes), Sense Holiness and Unholiness 1 (good)
Equipment: Homespun tunic and wool leggings.
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Appearance: The foundling looks like an ordinary child wearing simple, clean clothing. While he isn't particularly ugly, many folks think he is due to the child's Blatant Gift.
The foundling was deposited on the priest's doorstep mere days after his birth. The kindly priest raised the boy, despite the child's Blatant Gift, viewing it as an act of Christian charity. Because of the foundling's adoptive father's profession, the character is allowed to put starting experience points in Artes Liberales and Latin.
The foundling has a knack for books and reading, making him an ideal future apprentice. As of yet, he hasn't been noticed by the Order of Hermes.
The foundling used the Social Childhood as a starting base. He has an Inherited Hermetic Virtue, which means that Flexible Formulaic Magic will materialize sometime during apprenticeship. Further, it supposes that the character will eventually be found and trained by a magus. The character can still learn other Hermetic Virtues (see the next chapter), but does not have to use that system for acquiring the preselected Inherited Virtue.
Gifted Babies
The Gift is not always present at birth (see later), but if it is present than the Gifted infant has a much rougher time than its mundane peers. The negative social influence of The Gift permeates every relationship in life, both intimate and incidental. Long-term association can override these negative social reactions, but that does not guarantee loving parents. A mother might love her Gifted baby, or she might be immediately repulsed by the newborn. Babies with the Blatant Gift are often destroyed or abandoned. Even babies with the regular Gift can be seen as a curse, and grudgingly raised from Christian charity rather than parental affection. It all depends on your players and how they see their character's background. A Gifted child abandoned two hours after birth and raised by a group of magical wolves is just as viable as a Gifted child who is loved and protected by his mother and father.
The Gift Revealed
Sometimes The Gift is subtle and difficult to detect. An infant with the Gentle Gift might never be noticed, while a newborn with the Blatant Gift might be instantly and correctly cataloged. The Gift reveals itself in several unpredictable ways. Sometimes it is evident at birth, other times it is triggered by puberty or an early traumatic event. It can also linger in a child well into adulthood. The sooner The Gift appears, the earlier a child can be discovered and begin her Hermetic training. The most difficult days of a Gifted child's life are those between the time her Gift manifests and the time she is accepted into apprenticeship by an Hermetic magus.
The negative social consequences of The Gift accompany its emergence. As soon as a child's Gift presents itself, she suddenly finds herself shunned by her peers and village members. Even loving and dutiful parents can be affected, as The Gift pushes them away from the magical child. Friends depart and life becomes lonely and fraught with suspicious looks, secret accusations, and sometimes open hostility. While the Church forbids abandoning children, some Gifted children are still left in the wilderness to fend forthemselves, and abandonment is an especially large risk for a Gifted infant.
Story Seed: Fetch the Baby
One of the covenant's magi hears of a child whom she suspects is Gifted, based on reports of spontaneous fires igniting in the child's presence. The village is day's walk distant so she sends a group of grogs, the player characters, on a simple mission: retrieve the newborn. Upon arrival, the baby has incinerated its parent's hut and angered the villagers, who are on the verge of burning the baby and its parents as witches. Even if the grogs can save the family and convince them to bring the baby to the covenant, the return journey is anything but easy. Small fires continue to ignite and draw the irate attention of the valley's faerie folk, who strike back at the travelers. Meanwhile an Infernal hawk follows the party, hoping to snatch the baby away while the grogs are not paying attention. Can the players return from such a "simple" mission?
Story Seed: An Introductory Adventure
The largest town in the area is having a holiday, and folks from near and far attend. Hundreds of children have come, including the player characters. Each player should have a six or sevenyear-old infant character. One or two players should have Gifted infants, although their Gift has not revealed itself yet. During the festivities, a game of football commences in a nearby field, and the children begin kicking an inflated pig's bladder around. As the game builds in excitement, one of the Gifted children undergoes her first Turbulence, which is an especially visual display that interrupts the game. The generated fear that surges through the crowd forces the second (and other) Gifted character to have a Turbulence, at which point fear runs rampant.
The Gifted children find themselves in the center of a quickly gathering crowd. Some of the townsfolk scream that the children are witches or demons and should be slain. United in their escape, the children run for their lives, gathering their loyal friends (the other player characters). Separated from their parents and barely escaping the frenzied crowd, the characters catch their breath while hiding in a nearby forest or back inside the town.
One of the characters has heard of a wise woman who lives nearby, and convinces his fellows that she might be able to help them. This woman is actually a Gifted witch, envious of the power wielded by the magi of a nearby covenant. With nowhere else to turn, they children head to the witch despite their mistrust of her. She offers to help the children, but this is (naturally) a ruse. While she eventually leads the characters to the covenant, she first befriends them, so they can then unknowingly act as spies for her. If she is advanced enough in her Hedge Arts, she might wish to take one of the children as her own apprentice.
Turbulence
Many infants are emotionally volatile, having outbursts and temper tantrums over the smallest things. This otherwise normal behavior can lead to complications for a Gifted child, given his inherent magical ability. Intense emotional displays, or situations of heightened stress, can lead to unwanted and uncontrollable magical displays. A temper tantrum could cause a nearby book to ignite; a sudden scare might cause a rain cloud to form and burst in a room; or a bully's attack could result in the assailant being propelled through the air in the opposite direction. Hermetic magi refer to these displays as Turbulences (Latin turbula, plural turbulae): a child's uncontrolled Gift lashing out and affecting the child or other nearby targets.
Incurring a Turbulence
Whenever a Gifted character botches a stressful activity that includes magic, he runs the risk of incurring a Turbulence. "That includes magic" can be taken literally or loosely. The troupe should decide how tightly they want to adhere to this rule, and whether the storyguide has a free hand in deciding when a child should check to incur a Turbulence. Some storyguides might decide that being in a supernatural aura or regio is enough to warrant a Turbulence check, while others might insist that the botch result from an activity using a Supernatural Ability. Discuss this with your troupe so that you all know when a Turbulence check will be made. The troupe must also decide if incurring a Turbulence replaces the botch, or is in addition to whatever else might happens due to the botched roll. For younger characters, it is suggested that a Turbulence replace the botch, so as not to slow down the game.
To see if a character incurs a Turbulence the player rolls the character's Intelligence + a stress die + Aura against the storyguide's roll of a stress die (no botch). Turbulences are a magic power; use the Realms Interaction Table (ArM5, page 183) to determine the value of the aura interaction. If the player rolls higher than the storyguide, the character incurs a Turbulence. If the player rolls less than or equal to the storyguide's roll, the character does not incur a Turbulence.
Age is also an important factor. If the player's roll is less than or equal to the character's age, a Turbulence does not happen. To incur a Turbulence, the player must roll higher than the storyguide and higher than the character's age.
INCURRING A TURBULENCE: Intelligence + stress die + Aura vs. Higher of stress die (no botch) and character's age
Exempli Gratia: Erik's seven year old character, Eleanor, uses her Supernatural Ability: Magic Sensitivity to see if a rock she found is magical. Erik botches the roll and must roll to incur a Turbulence. Eleanor Intelligence is +3, modified to –1 due to age. She is standing in a Magic Aura of 2. Erik rolls a stress die (9) + Intelligence (– 1) + Aura (2) for a total of 10. The storyguide's stress die roll is 6. Erik's roll is higher than the storyguide's roll and higher than Eleanor's age, so Eleanor incurs a Turbulence.
Controlling Turbulences
If a Turbulence occurs, the character tries to control it. This is similar to adult magi controlling Temporary Twilight. The player rolls an Stamina + stress die against the character's Warping Score + stress die. If the first roll is greater than the second, the character controls the Turbulence. If the first roll is less than or equal to the second roll, the character fails to control the Turbulence.
CONTROLLING A TURBULENCE: Stamina + stress die vs. Warping Score + stress die
If the character controls the Turbulence, the player can determine the magical effects, with final approval from the storyguide. If the character fails to control the Turbulence, the storyguide selects the magical effect. Controlled Turbulence can help, or at least not harm, the character and his surroundings. Uncontrolled Turbulences are wild outpourings of uncontainable magic, and can be dangerous.
Exempli Gratia, continued: After incurring a Turbulence Eleanor, attempt to control it. Erik rolls Eleanor's Stamina (modified by age to –1) + a stress die (4) for a total of 3. The storyguide rolls Eleanor's Warping Score (0) + stress die (9) for a total of 9. Eleanor does not control the Turbulence.
A Turbulence usually manifests as a low magnitude magical effect, although more powerful effects are possible. The magnitude of the effect is the difference between the two rolls for controlling the Turbulence, divided by two. Use the totals already rolled.
CONTROLLED TURBULENCE MAGNITUDE: Stamina + stress die total – Warping Score + stress die total/2
UNCONTROLLED TURBULENCE MAGNITUDE: Warping Score + stress die total – Stamina + stress die total/2
Effects of Turbulence
Turbulences can manifest as any combination of Technique and Form, sometimes influenced by the character's Virtues and Flaws, but not always. If the character has an Affinity or Puissant Art, that Art is a good choice. However, the storyguide may choose any Art combination she likes. Despite Bonisagus' achievements, magic is not scientific and cannot be absolutely controlled. The only predictable fact of magic is that it is unpredictable.
To facilitate play, the storyguide or player or both could pre-determine the typical effects resulting from a character's Turbulences. Having a series of effects for several magnitudes is handy.
Exempli Gratia, continued: Eleanor could not control her Turbulence. The rolled Warping score total was 9, minus the rolled Stamina total of 3 is 6, divided in half is 3, for a third magnitude effect (level 15). Eleanor has a history of crying, so Erik and his storyguide decide that tears powerfully gush from Eleanor's eyes until sunset, a level 15 Creo Aquam effect (base 5, +2 Sun).
By itself, a Turbulence isn't be able to affect something with Magic Resistance. Essentially, all of the magical energy necessary for the effect is used to create the effect, with nothing extra to push through a target's Magic Resistance. In game terms, it would be similar to a magus' casting total equaling the spell level. If the character has the Penetration Arcane Ability, however, then a Turbulence has Penetration, equal to the character's score in the Ability. Sympathetic magic can increase this penetration by adding a sympathetic multiplier to the character's Penetration score (ArM5, page 84).
TURBULENCE PENETRATION: Penetration Ability times (1 + sympathetic multiplier)
A clever child might want to use the magical energy of Turbulences in his favor. A Gifted character can try to force a Turbulence whenever he wishes. The player must spend a Confidence point, at which point he checks to incur a Turbulence, as per the earlier rules. If the player beats the storyguide's roll, the character has a Turbulence. To recapitulate: to succeed, the player's roll must be higher than the storyguide's roll and higher than the character's age. If the player manages to force a Turbulence, he must still control it by succeeding with a Controlling Turbulence roll. A player can always spend additional Confidence points to modify these rolls.
Turbulence episodes get fewer and further between as the character grows older. Random episodes are infrequent and it becomes more difficult for a character to force a Turbulence. Mechanically, the Incurring a Turbulence roll gets more difficult as the character ages. At some point, you should decide to stop rolling. If the troupe wishes, players can still make Incurring Turbulence rolls for a Gifted character on a magical botch, although at this point "magical botch" should be interpreted literally, i.e., when botching an a Supernatural Ability or other magic roll.
You'll need to decide how this affects your game in play. You won't be rolling for Turbulences when time is passing in the background, so it ultimately won't matter when going season-to-season. If an adventure happens in the covenant, a Gifted character won't be able to do much magically without an invitation token, which would logically be the character's first order of business before continuing the adventure. Players don't need to actively avoid Turbulences, and should view them as a fun consequence of playing an emotional, untrained child.
Turbulences and the Aegis of the Hearth
Because your saga probably takes place in an Hermetic covenant, you need to know how a Turbulence interacts with the covenant's Aegis of the Hearth. Essentially, treat the Turbulence like any other magical effect. If the child incurring the Turbulence participated in the Aegis of the Hearth spell, then the Turbulence is not hindered by the Aegis. If the child didn't participate in the Aegis, then the Turbulence is affected, and likely won't happen. Subtract half the level of the Aegis of the Hearth spell from the roll the player makes to incur a Turbulence. There is still a chance that the Turbulence happens, but it is very slim.
Magi debate whether apprentices who still suffer Turbulences should participate in the Aegis ritual. An apprentice must be able to work magic, and her regular practicing of low-level spells and spontaneous effects would be crippled by even the weakest Aegis. Learning an Art means that the student practices it during instruction, which necessitates the casting of low-level spontaneous spells. Some magi argue that an apprentice should be given an invitation token, like a visiting magus, which can be taken away at will, allowing only specific times during which the apprentice can cast spells and practice magic. At other times, when he doesn't have an invitation token, the apprentice can't practice magic and can't incur Turbulences.
Infant Characters and Stories
Playing an infant character is challenging. There are almost no roleplaying opportunities for babies, and only a few for toddlers and the very young. No one is going to ask the four year old to save the covenant from the invading Mongols!
Character Design Notes
Negative Characteristic and Size modifiers from age make an infant character extremely fragile. Because his Stamina is modified by age, his Soak is low, and his small Size means a smaller wound range. Any combat will likely prove fatal, and even a slight mishap could result in a Medium or Heavy wound. It is obvious that an infant should avoid combat, but because of a reduced Soak and narrow wound range, some players might (rightly) suggest that a player infant character should avoid any activity that could result in physical damage.
There are two options for dealing with infant characters who suffer damage. The first is to exchange wounds for Flaws, as suggested in Lords of Men, page 125. The Option: Mitigating Deadly Wounds allows a player to reduce a wound's severity if the character receives a new Flaw. A troupe could decide that accepting a Minor Flaw will reduce a wound one step, from Medium to Light for example, and a Major Flaw will reduce a wound three steps, from a Fatal wound to a Medium Wound. If the Flaw is accepted before one of the transitions of maturity, it can be exchanged for another Flaw as the child grows.
The second option is add the child character's age modifier penalty to any wound recovery roll that the character needs to make. Children are easily damaged, but they also quickly heal. This option allows for a severe wound but generally allows the character to recover from it rapidly. A fall from a tree might leave a severe wound, but hardly risks the child's life.
Despite the challenges, playing an infant allows a player to stumble through his early adventures while he explores Mythic Europe's society and culture. Gender roles and their associated rules can be abused and trampled, and adult characters usually laugh off social faux pas made by the child. Players can enjoy the looseness infancy offers. Their characters focus on play instead of work, and regularly disregard their responsibilities.
Infant Stories
Mythic Europe is a place of wonder. Civilization — either a village, castle, or covenant — offers a cornucopia of new and intriguing experiences for an infant. The wild land, the fields and forest beyond, are even more tantalizing, and the unknown adventures lying past those areas are even more enticing to an excitable child character. Everything is new, and little is familiar.
Lazy days of frolic rapidly pass like water down a stream. It won't be long before the infants are impressed into their parents' labor, so enjoy the sun! Use game sessions to highlight the parts of medieval society you find fascinating or especially entertaining. Let the children run wild at the market and steal an apple or two, and watch them flee when the local reeve and his Irish wolfhound appear.
Most stories involving infants will likely present them as storyguide characters, and include their parents or other adults. They are the objects of the adventure instead of the subjects, and are there to be watched, rescued, guarded, found, or removed. Infants are irascible and difficult to manage. They can compound a simple day's journey with difficulties and troubles. If your group includes an player's infant character, he doesn't have to have the spotlight for the entire night's session, and shifting emphasis to include other adult player characters is important. It is easy to let infant stories slip into silly escapades of bathroom humor and tangential ramblings, and while such a story might be enjoyable once or twice, it can quickly become annoying.
On the other hand, infant stories can involve many elements of a story aimed at older characters: narrow escapes, solving puzzles, identifying the culprit, and saving the day. Scale and threat level are important, and should be adjusted for younger characters. Instead of slinking through an enemy camp at night, perhaps a group of infants has to sneak past the kitchen staff.
Grog: Blacksmith's Son
Characteristics: Int +1, Per –1, Pre –1, Com –1, Str +3, Sta +2, Dex +2, Qik –2 (–4 Characteristic modifier due to age)
Size: –2
Age: 7 (7)
Virtues and Flaws: Son of Craftsman; Intuition, Puissant Craft: Blacksmith, Magic Sensitivity; Bully, No Sense of Direction, Slow Reflexes
Personality Traits: Bully +3, Brave +2, Loyal +1
Combat:
Dodge: Init –6, Attack n/a, Defense –4, Damage n/a
Fist: Init –6, Attack +1, Defense –3, Damage –1
Soak: –2
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: –1 (1–3), –3 (4–6), –5 (7–9), Incapacitated (10–12), Dead (13+)
Abilities: Area Lore 1 (hidden places), Athletics 2 (running), Brawl 2 (fist), Charm 1 (mothers), Craft: Blacksmith 2 + 2 (small items), Folk Ken 1 (parents), Magic Sensitivity 1 (auras), Native Language 5 (rhyming slang), Swim 2 (ponds)
Equipment: Clothing similar to his father's: homespun shirt and trousers, leather apron.
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Appearance: A broad-shouldered boy with blue eyes and a gaptoothed sneer.
The blacksmith's son is a bully. He is stronger than his peers and knows it. He is not looking forward to a life spent as a blacksmith in the village, which might explain why he bullies the other children. His Magic Sensitivity inexplicably draws him toward magic regiones and auras, and his No Sense of Direction means that he invariably can't find his way home.
This character uses the Athletic Childhood as a starting base.
Children and Animals
Children have a natural inclination for animals, and even the ugliest, most obstinate mule can be an attractive focus of attention for a curious child. Animals are likewise curiously attracted to children and provide ample ideas for stories and adventures. A curious animal, such as a cat, wants to know what the child is doing; a skittish animal, like a horse, might want physical reassurance; a reckless animal, such as a hound, wants the child to come play with it; and an aggressive animal, like a bull, wants to assert its dominance over the child. Supernatural animals are also interested in infants, and such beasts are vastly more interesting than their mundane counterparts. Infants are tempting targets, especially when the parent or caregiver is otherwise distracted. Divine animals might want to offer a fast blessing, or merely enjoy the sweet smell of a breast-fed baby. Infernal animals likely want a quick snack. Faerie animals rarely miss an opportunity to interact with a child, and magic animals' curiosity is often piqued enough to investigate. Any animal with a Might score that lives in proximity to children may come calling.
STORY IDEAS
A visiting animal with Might naturally leads to a story. Most likely, your players' characters are adult caregivers rather than infants. Instead of being tempted or lured or kidnapped by a magical beast, the story might involve preventing such an event. While visual clues might indicate a beast's realm affiliation — a three-headed, firebreathing dog is probably Infernal — it is, more often than not, hard to tell a creature's realm affiliation without magic. Is that fox interested in helping the character's infant son, or eating it? A local superstition suggests leaving a newborn baby alone in a clearing overnight, in hopes that a faerie wolf will arrive to lick the infant and bequeath it supernatural powers. Will a covenant grog allow his wife to take their newborn and leave him overnight in the clearing? Perhaps the players' characters are other grogs who must prevent another grog from following his wife's advice.
Many supernatural animals, especially magic and faerie beasts, can talk. Children won't be left alone during the first years of infancy, but children who are four or five years old might be left in a safe place to play together. Agriculturally, many covenants are similar to small villages, and during the planting and harvesting seasons, older infants might be left to their own devices in one corner of the field where their parents are working. An innocuous beginning, skipping stones across a trickling stream while mother and father are threshing wheat, could suddenly turn sinister when a snake swims up to the children and asks them if they want to play. Older infants, those who are six and seven years old, would be helping their parents in this situation. Telling older infant characters to find the missing younger infants could lead to a spectacular adventure.
Many supernatural animals ape the roles of their mundane counterparts, all for some otherworldly scheme incomprehensible to humans. Characters might help a Divine animal work or a faerie animal find food. A curious character might wander to the next town for no known reason, only to find that an Infernal bull is terrorizing the local cows. Moral dilemmas, a staple of medieval and modern children tales, can be introduced by having an animal's desire conflict with a covenfolk's desire. A magical mouse wants to build a nest next to the hearth, but the cook continually chases the mouse away. The cook wants a clean kitchen and the mouse wants a warm warren; who do the children support?
Gifted infants are often more curious and traditionally more intelligent than their playmates, and might purposefully look for supernatural animals, often leaving the safety of home to wander aimlessly in pursuit of the fantastic and incredible. A Gifted infant character wouldn't be the first to try to save a donkey from an oppressive master, ask a ravenous wolf to stop preying on a flock of sheep, of help a stranded blackbird find its way back to its nest. Supernatural animals may react to the Gift differently, although many do so in the same way as mundane humans. Mundane animals suffer the same negative social reaction to Gifted youths as mundane humans.
Story Seed: A Toddler's Tale
An infant character passes the day playing with a household item that her family values: perhaps the family's only ladle, her father's favorite shovel, or her mother's silver necklace. Summoned for supper, the child leaves it outside and doesn't remember leaving it behind until later, while lying in bed for the night. Fearful of the repercussions, the infant slips out of bed and dashes off to where she last saw the item. It is gone. Did faeries take it? Another child? Or did her father or mother pick it up, meaning a wake-up whipping is waiting? The child wakes his siblings, and perhaps sympathetic adults (a nanny or other covenfolk), and a midnight hunt for the item begins.
Story Seed: Who Stole the Baby?
A Gifted baby is stolen from her cradle in the night. The family's hue and cry brings the player characters (all grog-level villagers) in the morning, and the village elder charges the player characters with finding and returning the baby. The trail leads through the nearby woods and into the unknown hills. Is the culprit a troll intent on eating the child, an elf who forgot to leave a changeling replacement, a hedge wizard planning to sacrifice the child, or an Hermetic wizard who plans on raising and training the baby? And which fate is worse?
Story Seed: The Curious Cleric
In the 13th century, a clerk named Odo of Cheriton is wandering Mythic Europe, collecting stories about animals to use as examples of proper moral behavior in his sermons. Traveling mostly in the Normandy and Rhine tribunals, he has amassed quite a collection of tales, which he has added to medieval versions of some of Aesop's fables, perhaps the greatest teller of animal stories ever. The fables are brief, the animals can always talk and regularly exhibit types of human behavior, and the tale always ends representing a moral value.
Odo can be used in a variety of ways. He can come to the covenant because he has heard that a child living there has had adventures with animals. He can interview the child about these adventures, or use the child to lead him to interesting local animals. The magi will probably be suspicious of this curious cleric, doubting that he is just a simple collector of tales and believing that he has more secret designs. Conversely, he could come to preach against the child's interactions with animals, saying that only the ancients knew how to correctly interpret animal behavior and such present-day practices endanger the soul of the child, since Satan lays an easy snare for the young and innocent.
This also means that Aesop's Fables are popular in 1220, and that any number of those marvelous tales can be adapted into an adventure. These are a few examples, named after the fables they are taken from. Like medieval bestiaries, which in Mythic Europe describe magical animals (often Animals of Virtue), the animals in Aesop's Fables are also supernatural creatures.
THE FROGS AND THE BATTLE OF THE BULLS
A magical frog asks a child apprentice for help in stopping the nearby bulls from battling over control of their herd. The frog is worried that the losing bulls will invade his pond and destroy his habitat. The bulls are battling over one particular cow, a recent addition to the herd. Removing the cow will stop the battle but anger the herd's owner. The children can try to stop the battle or erect means to protect the frog's pond from the vanquished bovines.
THE WOLF, THE FOX, AND THE LION DIVIDING THE SPOILS
A wounded wolf comes to the children characters seeking justice. He and his companions, a fox and a lion, had agreed to go hunting together. He caught a large rat, the fox caught a goose, and the lion a scrawny crow. When it came time to divide the catches for dinner, the wolf suggested that each predator eat what he caught. The lion responded by striking the wolf. The fox then suggested that the lion take it all, and leave the other two leftovers. The lion agreed. The wolf slunk off, and now asks the characters to punish the sycophant fox and retrieve the large rat from the lion.
THE PEACOCK ELECTED KING OF THE BIRDS
A sparrow lands on the laboratory window sill and tells an apprentice a tale. The birds held a great congress, in which they elected the peacock as their king because of his beauty. A raven disagreed, asking if the peacock could protect the flock from attack using his beauty. The other birds overruled the raven, which flew off in a huff. The sparrow then saw the raven talking to an eagle, and he overheard the raven's plan, that the eagle attack the birds to prove that the raven was right and the peacock weak. Terrified of the attack, the sparrow asks the child for help.
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