| Name | Race | Gender | Career Class | Alignment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ernst Berne | Human | Male | Academic | Neutral | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Age | Height | Weight | Hair | Eyes | Description | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 25 | 5'6" | 115lbs | Brown | Hazel | Long straight hair, medium build, small scar on chin. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current Career | Career Path | Career Exits | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Illusionist Level 1 | Wizards Apprentice, Wizard Level 1, Illusionist Level 1 | Illusionist Level 2, Wizard Level 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Skills | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Acute Hearing, Ambidextrous, Arcane Language-Magick(Wizardly), Arcane Language-Magick(Illusionist), Read/Write, Scroll Lore, Secret Language-Classical, Rune Lore, Magic Sense, Identify Plants, Evaluate, Cast Spells-Petty Magic, Cast Spells-Battle Magic Level 1, Cast Spells-Illusionist Level 1, History(Empire), Theology(Gods of the Old World) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Description
Ernst Berne is determined young man. Short and slightly overweight many people
mistake his quiet demeanour and friendly outgoing personality as a sign of a frivolous
young sop. He is however blessed with a mental strength that more than makes up for
his rather week physical condition, while not unhealthy Ernst would not be the first
choice of anyone who needed a helping hand in a fight.
What Ernst is in fact, is an apprentice to a very powerful magician, and of this he is very proud, after all it is not everyone who can impress the master magician Helmut Gotterundammerung into accepting to train and coach them in the ways of the wielders of true power. Although every one agrees that his father's healthy funding of his pursuits helped to sway the mages decision, no-one disputes that Ernst is well on the way to becoming a powerful mage in his own right.
Ernst is cool and collected with an inner strength that has served him well in the pursuit of mastery of magick, however this was not always the case, up until his 16th birthday Ernst was brash and boisterous, used to getting his own way and disrespectful of others he considered beneath himself. The one event that changed all of his egotistical ways was something that only a few people actually know about.
During his birthday celebrations (traditionally the night before his birthday) Ernst was involved in a seedy barroom brawl in the less reputable part of Nuln. During the ensuing fight he was set upon by a large ugly looking patron of the inn. Waking up in the back street Ernst was shaken by the fact that he could not remember the fight, his drinking companions had dragged him from the inn after seeing him being knocked unconscious and bottled by the thug he faced. Fortunately when the thug had smashed the bottle it had broken on the neck of the bottle and his jawbone saved Ernst from a short life. There is still a small semicircular scar on the underside of his chin and to this day Ernst has not intentionally insulted anyone no matter what background he or she comes from. This patience above all is the one thing that sets Ernst apart from his fellow apprentices who hunger after power so much that they may fall into the trap of selfishness and evil.
Background
Both my parents are still alive and working. My mother is now a Justice of the Peace
and presides over civil matters in the courts of Nuln. My father stills keeps his hand in
on the running of the family business, although my older brother Max now runs the
day to day affairs of the transportation and storage business that has become a very
profitable going concern since the days of it being a one man band my father started
all those years ago.
I split my time between my family and my master, most of my time at home is spent sleeping or eating. No-one tends to notice me that much except for my younger sister Martina who always seems to know when I will be arriving, not surprising really as she has the gift of second sight and has been hailed as a seer by the religious community, although her ability appears to be limited to forecasting the weather in the next eight days and to the location of family and close friends.
My older sister Illse is a cleric of Sigmar and spends most of her time at the temple, or making pilgrimages to other holy places of the great god of the empire. I personally follow the god Morr, not in his aspect as the god of death but rather as god of dreams and illusions. It is my firm ambition to become a powerful magician wielding the amazing energies of the illusionist school, but at the moment I have only mastered a few of the easier and simpler spells.
My younger brother Wilhem is the black sheep of the family and has been sent of to an asylum in disgrace after being caught by Max stealing money from the business to fund his addiction to drugs.
My master's name is Helmut Gotterundammerung one of the most powerful mages in the city of Nuln. His guidance and skill at teaching is without doubt the single greatest thing that convinced my father to fund my quest to master the powers of magick. An old man, my master has spent much of his life researching spells and the components of spells, with a view to creating new and more versatile uses for magick. Set in his ways he finds my attitude to magick refreshing and innovative, but he still complains that I should dress more like a mage rather than the simple tunic, breeches, soft shoes and overcoat of a wealthy townsman.
My year before begining the campaign
The past year has been hectic I took up the study of magick as a means to gain
power, respect and as a way to avoid the drudgery of working in the family business,
but it appears that my life is still full of endless monotony as my master instructs me
in the finer points of wizardry.
I achieved the full title of Master of magick on the third Konistag in Jahrdrung. However this was as Master Helmut stated merely my first step in the direction he had agreed to take me, that of Master of illusions. My studies have not been confined to the theory and practice of magic this past year, but also to areas I had thought were not important, such as the study and classification of plants, the markings of runes and their properties, and also to the value of base metals and gems, not to mention fine art and workmanship.
Master Helmut has also cultivated in me an appreciation of the history of the Empire and of its religion and we often discuss the relevant merits of the clerics and the temples that they govern in the names of the gods.
It was shortly after my mastery of the spell that allows me the power of flight that master Helmut called me into his study, nervous as I was (for he had never allowed anyone in his personal study before) I entered to find that to my surprise he was wearing sturdy travelling clothes and a wide brimmed hat. My master explained as he dragged me into the street that now I have attained the first level of power that I would need to find my staff "For how shall a man know that he faces a mage if he cannot see that you carry a staff". It was for this reason that I spent two days running around the Reikwald Forest in search of a tree of the right essence from which to take my staff. I now am the proud owner of a staff (although of what use it will be remains to be seen) and also some of the most terrifying nightmares I care to remember.
I have learnt the necessary control methods now that will allow me to cast the spells of illusion, but until I can work out the spells my master has allowed me access to, I will be restricted to the spells I have already learnt. Master Helmut has given me some books to study for my next step on the road to Master of Illusions. These books describe the theory and practice of the mystic arts of meditation and hypnotism, and although I cannot see the reason behind learning these skills, I shall do so as I have yet to be misled by my master who seems to be a font of knowledge and wisdom.
I have been assigned exercises to do and have been instructed by my master that I need to build up my physical strength, to this end he has arranged for one of the city's militia instructors to train me in the basics of combat although I fear I shall never be any good with a sword I feel confident that there is a good reason for the regime of torture I now undergo for two hours each morning in the cold mist of a Vorhexen dawn.
Letters
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This page © Greg Aldridge, 10 February 2001
