Lady Maria Tostado
Public Identity: A mysterious mage, the Lagunita Court representative from the Tower of the Magi
Concept: A competent but much more sociable than average mage who, due to not spending all her time
studying like most of the other mages, has joined Lady Nancy in her revolutionary objectives.
Generation: Intermediate
Drinking Score: 0.1
Combat Rating: 4
Command Rating: 1
Major Secrets:
In secret from and defiance of the Archmage and most of the magi, you are trying to bring about a
world where magic will be far more powerful and reign supreme.
On Nancy’s order, you assassinated Prince Mike, so that he could be replaced by someone better
inclined to the magi and more likely to attack Holy Mirrielees.
Goals:
Help Nancy bring about the elimination of Mir by destroying the temple at Holy Mirrielees
Help Nancy rebuild the Ancient Tower of the Magi in the middle of the Quadrangle Wasteland at
sunset on the first of April
Find love
Relationships
You and Nancy are good friends.
The Empress is also secretly working with you, for ideological agreement.
Sarah is working with you because once you succeed, you or Nancy will be able to do magic
powerful enough to break the sleeping curse on her (see Other Knowledge).
Background: Once, a very long time ago, you were an ordinary commoner girl in Sterling. You had poor
but loving parents and a wonderful older sister, Julie, who always looked out for you. But you were
very clever, and curious, and adventurous, and often did not stay where you were told. One day, in the
spirit of fun, you ran away from chores and played a harmless prank on a mysterious traveler staying in
the city. He caught you, turned out to be a mage, and immediately recognized your magical potential.
Without further ado, he ordered you to return with him to the Tower of the Magi to be trained. You’d
heard the stories, and went with him.
Like most of the other mages in the Tower, you studied and learned and forgot about your life
before. But you didn’t entirely want to leave the normal world behind, so when the old mage
ambassador to Lagunita wanted to retire, you volunteered for the position.
Other Knowledge:
Two years ago, Sarah was poisoned by some sort of thorn in Lagunita battlefield and became very
ill. After weeks of illness, she finally recovered, but the malady lingered in the form of an effect
that forces her to sleep during the hours of daylight. All manner of doctors were called to try to
fix her, but no solution was found. She since became Imperial Spymaster. This illness is a secret
in the imperial family, but you know about it because you were one of the people they tried to get
to heal her.
Once, a very long ago, mages were much more powerful than they are now. The ancient magi had
a great tower in the middle of the Quadrangle Wasteland and are something of a cultural legend
among mages.
The ancient magi created artifacts that could allow anyone to do magic, not just the highly trained.
That, and many other techniques, have been lost. However, in obscure hidden areas all over the
world, there are cryptic puzzles that lead to such artifacts that convey on their user incredible
abilities.
Metaphysics:
Magic is done by manipulating the forces of the world. Mir is the god whose presence extends to
the world. Where the presence of Mir collects, it takes over the forces, and makes magic weaker
there. For this reason, magic everywhere is actually much weaker than it otherwise would be due
to the existence of Mir. Additionally, magic is simply impossible to do in holy places and upon
holy or blessed people.
Mir is a force from beyond this world, not just of it. The seat of Mir’s power is the Temple at
Holy Mirrielees, it is his connection to the world. Therefore, physical destruction of the temple
will sever Mir’s connection to earth and withdraw all his influence. At that time, magic
everywhere will be much stronger, on the power scale of Mir himself.
Note that because magic cannot be used on holy land, and Mirrielees is an entire country that is
blessed, the temple can only be destroyed with a normal army, conquering the city, containing the
madly pious population, and tearing it down.
The first of April, called the Day of Folly, is a time of great magical potency in the world. It is
said to be the day when Mir rests and so withdraws most of his presence from the ley lines (though
not, of course, the holy places and people). This year’s Day of Folly will see magic at a strength
that that only occurs every thousand years, peaking at sunset.
The best places to do magic are at ley lines, which are accumulations of the world’s power not
entirely overridden by Mir. See “Guide To Doing Magic” handout for details.
The Quadrangle Wasteland is a great accumulation of ley lines. A long time ago, the much more
powerful ancient mages had a great tower in the center, designed to access all the lines. After
some magical catastrophe, the tower fell with them. Therein ensued several hundred years of a
dark age for magic. Eventually, a group of much weaker, experimental mages found each other
and built the new Tower of the Magi at the edge of the wasteland, for they were more cautious,
wanted access to all that power, but was afraid to be too close to it.
Magic is weaker these days than it was so long ago, because the strength and unity of the Stanford
Empire in Mir’s name grows his hold on the world. On the day that the entire world is Mirist and
all ground is holy, magic will disappear altogether.
Nancy has discovered additionally through private research details of the construction of the great
tower, and could replicate it. Destroying the temple and rebuilding the tower will bring forth a
new great age for magic, a world ruled by the possibilities behind human will and intellect.