Low Estate/Characters/Willem de Vos

Background

Willem has been reading everything he could get his hands on ever since he was old enough to start stealing fresh pages off the presses at his family's print shop. He grew up as the youngest of four children. Martin and Roeland, the two eldest brothers, are expected to take over the family business some day. Kathelyne chose to pursue her calling with the Church. But Willem's love was always for learning. Knowing that he would be terrible at manual labor and even worse at commerce, his parents saved up to send him to primary school. While there, he was so successful (for a commoner) that he attracted the attention of old Lord Ballegheer, who offered to pay for Willem's further education if Willem agreed to work for his son Gabriel afterward.

Now, Willem is studying magic semi-successfully at the local university. His habit of inadvertently missing lectures because he's too busy reading or doing his own independent research projects has earned him a questionable reputation with some of his instructors, but his they've never been able to fault him at examinations. He's also never quite gotten the hang of reliably producing the actual, tangible magical effects that he intends, but he has a remarkable knack for faking it: even without the proper materials and precise incantations, he's capable of producing quite credible (but wholly illusory) simulations of real magical effects. (However, it's only a matter of time before his instructors begin to catch on.)

When not busy studying, Willem can often be found performing magical and scientific experiments in one of the school's sub-basements, reading while walking through busy streets and marketplaces (and only very rarely bumping into people, fast-moving carriages or walls), or visiting his older sister, Sister Kathelyne, who helps to operate Sister Marianne's Home For Children Of Unknown Or Ill-Fated Parentage.

Appearance

Willem is average height and has a slender build, with sandy blond hair and light brown eyes. His manner of dress is ambiguous: the simple brown high-cuffed trousers of a printer or machinist, a poofy white shirt with pinned-up sleeves typical of a scholar, but also a flowing black cape of a style only worn by mystics and would-be magic-users.

Skills

• Great (+3): Academics, Reflexes
• Good (+2): Science, Athletics
• Fair (+1): Stealth, Community (Academia)
• Average (+0+: Nature, Resolve
• Untrained (-1): Brawn, Fingersmithery, Riding, Sailing, Weapons (All), Community (Other)

Aspects

Primary

Student Magician

Willem is a familiar figure at the University. He hasn't quite mastered the mystical arts just yet, but he's pretty good at illusions.

Possible techniques:

• What's That Behind You?: Produce an illusion of a small, furry animal scurrying just at the edge of someone's vision, automatically giving them a Distracted aspect (as per a maneuver) without the need for a roll.
• Feign Lightning: Can fire blasts from his hands intimidating all enemies in sight. They do no actual damage, of course, but they look very dangerous and threatening if you don't realize they're illusions.
• Move In Shadows: Create an aura of shadow and quiet around the affected person, providing a bonus to Stealth rolls performed in dark places.
• Magical Masque: Can craft a disguise for a person or object using magic, negating the need for any makeup, costumes, paint, etc. that would normally be required (but still requiring any roll that would otherwise be involved).

Walking Library

He's read more books than he can count, and he himself often forgets how much of them he can remember until he's reminded.

Possible techniques:

• I Haven't Had Time To Read That One Yet: When Willem fails a roll to remember a piece of information, he can still recall where that information might be found -- the title of a book containing it, the name of an expert to ask, etc.
• Text Whisperer: When encountering a book, manuscript, or other written material that he hasn't analyzed before, make an Academics roll to infer information about the text or its author by examining such things as the paper quality, handwriting, word choice and so on.
• Spontaneous Recall: When something arises that Willem is likely to have read about before, the GM will make a secret roll to see if he spontaneously remembers information relating to it. This does not prevent Willem from making a roll to intentionally try to recall this information if the secret roll fails.
• Foreign But Familiar: Make an Academics roll to get the gist of something that's written in a language related to one that he's familiar with, even if he doesn't know the language himself.

Secondary

Patron

Willem owes a great debt to the Ballegheer family for the opportunities they've provided him.

Doodler

Willem's mother originally taught him how to draw, how to practice calligraphy, and how to illustrate texts. More than once, he's caught himself absentmindedly adding margin illustrations to a manuscript he was engrossed in.

Sedatephobia

He grew up in the city, and has never been entirely comfortable with complete silence. Willem does his best thinking when surrounded by clamor and noise, such as machinery or crowds.