Tasirol Lightfellow
by Ohad ShahamMaster of Alternation at the Great School of Magic
Alchemist of the First Circle
Member of the Scholars' Fraternity
AC 1016
"Nothing is quite what it seems, and if it iiis- well, there is nooo reason to keep it that way!"
I. Appearance
Tasirol looks like a tall and skinny man in his late 50s. He is actually nearing seventy but uses magic to stay a bit younger, like so many other wizards in Glantri. He has a very light complexion and supports an impressive grey moustache but no beard.
Tasirol is often seen carrying a heavy wood and leather case with a relative ease (it has been magically reduced in weight). He wears a schoolmaster's robes usually grey or brown in colour. Normally he wears a small grey cap and holds a small plane looking wand that he waves in erratic directions as he speaks.
Tasirol uses short words but on occasion stretches them over long periods of time. His students are usually amused when that happens.
II. History
The Lightfellow family hails from Fenswick and has long been allies of the Merryweather aeromancers. Tasirol's father Derillyn was in his teens when the family Gated to Mystara and settled with his wife Ves in a small village east of Fenswick called East Gorgonshime, serving as the village leader. The Lightfellows have always been mediocre wizards and have never master Aeromancy or weather magic. When Tasirol was about 12 his master in wizardry informed his father that Tasirol was very talented and might have a chance at the Great School of Magic. Derillyn used his connections with the Merryweathers to get Tasirol into the GSoM and to skip the most basic training. Tasirol was a very good student and was the contemporary of John Beaumarys-Moorkroft and Jaggar von Drachenfels.
After graduating Tasirol got a job at the great school as an assistant laboratory administrator to Thierry-Marie de Forêt. Through his work he became acquainted with the Secret Craft of Alchemy and joined it's first circle. He tried to advance further in the craft's ranks but was toppled by the Averoignian members of the higher circles. Tasirol has used the fact that his job permits him full board and usage of all facilities while requiring only a few hours of actual work Thierry-Marie liked to do everything herself), to study and research his favourite school of spells- Alternations.
Tasirol was amazed by the sheer number of such spells and made it a personal goal to learn as many as he possibly could. After 30 years of arduous research, he was content with the number of spells he new and figured out there are no more major transmutation spells in the world he did not know of (this is of course not true. There are the spells of 8th and 9th power which Tasirol cannot cast and there are many spells not found in the libraries of the GSoM but elsewhere on Mystara). In the summer of 1004AC he marched into master Etienne's and demanded the position of master of Alternation. Etienne's gave a short "d'accord" and Tasirol found himself standing in front of a door leading to his new office. Tasirol did not realise this until later but a few days prior to this amazingly short interview Étienne has fired the previous master of Alternation, his brother Charles. The new teacher was never the less convinced that Grand Master d'Ambreville has him in very high regard as to dismiss his own brother in his favour. So master Lightfellow began in his new career with a few changes to the curriculum. He insisted in the addition of more class hours for the different arts of transmutation and split the school of Alternations into three departments, each led by a "master" (making himself the "High Master of Alternation").
In 1008 Tasirol researched a new spell that he cast on himself, this powerful spell allows Tasirol to sleep for only 4 hour a day and still be able to function at top performance and remember all his spells (this spell does have its drawbacks, see below). In the last decade he has made life impossible for the students of the Great School having them memorizing and practicing so much for his classes that in order to keep a decent grade they will have to put less effort in all other fields of magic. Tasirol has achieved a reverse effect to his efforts; the number of pupils wanting to specialize in transmutation (each on of the three departments) has dwindled to one or two of each school year.
That is not the last of Tasirol's problems. About seven years ago he began seeing things that are not really there. Weird elephant like creatures have been blinking in and out of frame in the corner of his eyes. The phenomenon became more and more common as the years past but in last few months he discovered something about his delusions. Others could see them too!
One of the schools custodial personal has been with him in a hallway in one of his episodes and caught a glimpse of the creature, describing it as the most horrible thing he has ever seen (and he has been around in the Alphatian War). Tasirol is now sure that he is not mad and the phenomenon is just part of the high magic concentrations around the school. This is not quite true.
III. Personality
Currently Tasirol has no other concern apart from his teaching position. The problem is his whole life is directed at just one field of magic and he gives it all of his waking hours-, which is almost all of them! He demands others to work according to his timetable that is almost impossible and is basically a very hard person to get along with. Tasirol is not unfair but is upset when the students and faculty don't share in his enthusiasm. Tasirol is not at all aware that there is something wrong with his speech sometimes, but many students have commented (rudely) that he stretches some words very long. As he result he tries to make all his words very short. The result is 'staccato' like sentences with an occasional long sound, which is plain weird.
Tasirol believes that everything can be changed and that a wizard with a sharp mind and hard work can accomplish anything and therefore wizards are the most powerful things in the universe. They change and control the world as they see fit. When students argue that some things are preordained and absolute Tasirol usually throws a fit, calls the student "blasphemer", "Ethengarian Priest" and other nasty names than calms down and shows the class a demonstration of spells that usually makes its point. "Nothing is determined, nothing is fiiiixed. Not the colour of the sky, nooot the light of the sun, not the depth of the sea!"
IV. Web of Intrigue
Master Lightfellow has very little dealings outside of the Great School. He has no real friends but has a good professional relationship with Tobol the Laboratory administrator and Bertok Garn master of Necromancy. To his dismay he is greatly opposed by the two teachers he respects the most-Mistress Rhogene Zelipieti and Mistress Marachesia Philipe. The later believes that her school of magic -Conjuration is the most important field of magic and that the extra school hours should be hers, while the mistress of Abjuration does not approve of Lightfellows changes to the old ways of the school. He thinks of Tobol Vlardostk a personal friend and has a healthy working relations with that timid man. Tobol's inferiority complex works well with Tasirol's feelings of importance.
Tasirol is the unofficial and self-appointed assistant and stand in for Grand Master Harald. The old Master does not approve of such an appointment and has a hard time persuading the other masters of not favouring anyone. Prince Harald makes an effort not to be seen with the high master of Alternation. When confronted on the subject Tasirol usually gives out a comment like "If grand master Étienne were here everything was different. He used to understand wheeeere I'm coming from!" Tasirol counts on Étienne remaining 'persona non exista'.
Tasirol joined the Scholars' Fraternity early after graduation and enjoys all the benefits of being part of this large concentration of experts. From the Fraternity has appointed three teachers and gave them the title of masters. They are in charge of the different departments of Alternation magic as envisioned by "high master" Lightfellow:
$Andrianna McFute (transmuter 10, NG) is the master of "Classic Transmutation"- the science of changing one material, object or creature into another. (Stone to flesh, shapechange and so on).
$Roberto Jetistigno (transmuter 9, LE) is the master of "Empowerment"- the field of changing the attributes, condition or ability of a person creature or object. (Enlarge, Fly).
$Alexandria Fargo (transmuter 12, CN) is charge of the fields of "Metamagic and Telekinetic Dweomers". Unknown to no one but herself, Alexandria is a disguised Areana from Herath and she has escaped to Glantri after a near fatal incident of mistaken identity. Her Areana name is Alestesyss. She is a great tool for introducing new and strange spells and feats into a campaign.
V. Statistics & Style of Magic
13th-level transmuter, Alchemist of the 1st Circle.
Str 8 Int 19 Wis 12 Dex 13 Con 6 Cha 9, AL LN.
Languages: Thyatian (Glantrian dialect), Flaemish, Elvish (Erewan dialect), Fen, Draconian.
Weapon Proficiencies: none
Skills: alchemy, ancient history (Known World), local history (Glantri), spellcraft, geography (Glantri), herbalism, teaching (+2), Zoology (+2).
Tasirol is as committed as he can be to his own specialized field of magic and rarely carries any spells that are not from the school of transmutation. Because of the vast variety of spells that are available to him he is never caught unprepared. Tasirol casts so many spells every day that he hasn't noticed that some of them do not work properly. He will probably find this out in the future.
In the rare chance of a combat situation (Tasirol has never fought a wizards dual in his life), he will most likely use magic to gain a better position (preferably in another plane of existence) or change himself into a more formidable opponent. Later spells will be used to destroy the opponent (blood to dust) or turning the opponent into a benign creature for handing to the law enforcers.
The wand that is sometimes seen in Tasirol's right hand is a rechargeable wand of light that has 100 charges when fully charged. This particular wand allows light to be produced in every colour and is sometimes used for audience effect.
"Who could believe a teacher could work so hard! But I just adore the way he talks, very...original." (-Tereis Haaskinz mistress of astronomy and sister to prince Harald)
Spells:
Sleepless Nights- Pausless Days
This spell has basically the same effect as "Decrease the Wasted Time" a spell for Pieter-Eeuwke Vandehaar by Giovanni Porpora (see this spell's description for details). It was researched independently from the young noble though. It has one disadvantage in comparison to Pieter's version though.
In addition to the malfunctioning of spells and the quirks and tics, a caster who uses this spell for long years starts to experience REAL nightmares. Creatures from the nightmare dimension start appearing for short times in the vicinity of the caster. If the caster continues to use this spells, a nightmare creature could break through the rift in the dimensions and attack the caster. This has never happened as of yet.