Constantine Rajavadi

Character in “The Animancer” Campaign

Created by Bastian

First Dan Magus Constantine Rajavadi (a.k.a. Dean)

Magic has been practiced on Aqualon for thousands of years and influences the fate of its people to this day. Still, for the longest time, the average person did not get to see much magic - unless Aqualon was at war - as mages were uncommon and would not use their power in front of commoners without good reason. Several hundred years ago, this changed when the invention of spell ink ushered in a new era in which everyone, magus or not, was able to perform magic by means of of magic engines made with the technology of spell ink mandalas. More portable mandalas were also developed in the form of spell scrolls, which would, however, burn up when used. Additionally, the production of both magic engines and spell scrolls was and is still limited by the mandala having to be created by a magus capable of performing the required spell.
Within this thesis I will focus on negating both of these issues. With a heat-resistant paper able to withstand the combustion effect of spell scrolls, a multi-use spell scroll should be possible. Also, since I - as a pupil of the Monastery of Five Paths - am a magus capable of performing all types of (elemental) magic, I should be able to create any kind of (elemental) spell ink mandala. In conclusion, the goal of this thesis is combining these two approaches to create an atlas of spell ink mandalas, which would give anyone holding it the ability to use a vast array of different magics whenever needed.
— Constantine Rajavadi in 'Creating an Atlas of Spell Ink Mandalas', Introduction

Personal History

Early years

Constantine is born in 1552 GE as the son of Santosh Rajavadi and Amanda Haverkamp on the island of Saresham, part of the Nyingma Island Group. His father leaves often and for long times, so he is mostly raised by his mother alone (see Social / Family Ties).

Age 5 (1557 GE)

Constantine is sent to the Monastery of Five Paths on Nyingma for education by his mother, who pays the monks for their services using the money his father brings on his rare visits or, once it's used up, by weaving monk garbs for the monastery. Constantine visits home fortnightly during this time at the monastery and is discovered to be a bright young boy, although a regular trouble maker among the kids.

Age 10 (1562 GE)

Constantine's father leaves for the last time. Around the same time, his talent for wind magic starts surfacing and the monks assign his master, Waazir Mandalik, to him. His meditation and magic training begins soon after.

Age 12 (1564 GE)

Constantine destroys a greenhouse with his wind magic during a contest of power with the other students.

Age 16 (1568 GE)

During the next years, similar incidents lead to him almost being expelled from the monastery even though his results are excellent. His master Waazik, seeing potential in him, advocates for a last chance and sits down with Constantine and his mother to get things sorted out. After a harsh scolding, Constantine promises to improve and manages to avoid major incidents in the following years.

Age 18 (1570 GE)

Even though he still has trouble with meditation at times, Constantine requests a Graduation Feddey from the monks as other students are already having theirs. After suffering his continued pestering for several months, Waazik decides to allow the Feddey even though he thinks Constantine will fail, hoping that such a failure will be a valuable lesson to him. He attempts and consequently fails the Feddey shortly after (see Mental / Failures & Embarrassment). Later that year, Constantine is sent to the Rickard Leeuw Magistorium in Aerialis to gain perspective and at least consider to pursue other venues of education. The monks, working together with his mother who has relatives in Aerialis, manage to broker two exchange semesters for Constantine, taking in a student from Aerialis themselves.

Age 19 (1571 GE)

During his exchange semesters, he has some issues to conform to the stricter rules of the Magistorium but manages the courses well. In the context of a number of trial courses, he comes into contact with spell ink mandalas and their creation and shows great interest. Eventually, he starts painting similar mandalas with conventional paint as a meditation technique.

Age 20 (1572 GE)

Soon after his return from Aerialis, Constantine is able to perform the meditation required for a fast reattunement of elements using the mundane mandala painting he picked up as focus. A bit later, he retakes his Graduation Feddey and succeeds, becoming an official First Dan Magus of the Monastery of Five Paths and receiving from his mother as presents a keepsake pocket watch of his father's and a hand-made, silken robe. As his first project, he wishes to learn more about spell ink mandalas and returns to Aerialis a few months after his Feddey to continue his studies at the Magistorium with a focus on spell ink mandalas and, financing him during this time, work part-time at a mandala painter's shop.

Age 23 (1574 GE)

Constantine finishes his studies at the Magistorium, having attained the academic rank of Inspicator. During these years in Aerialis, he gained a lot of knowledge about and some hands-on experience with spell ink mandalas. He has the idea of creating a book of spell ink mandalas, which he calls Atlas Incantamentorum Atramenti, to make magic of any type easily accessible (see Introduction). He returns to Nyingma to present this idea to the masters. Over the next 3 years, Constantine researches and prepares several prototypes for the heat-resistant paper required for using a spell ink mandala several times. In preparation for more frequent travels to the Middle Lands, he also acquires a license as a Stand-In Loan Ferry of the Hank & Jordan & Tenzer Corporation.

Age 26 (1577 GE)

Constantine travels to the Middle Lands and over the next 3 years through the five cities, working at and learning from different mandala painters. At his first stop, Aquaris, he tests out his first paper prototype, burning himself in the process (see Mental / Failures & Embarrassments and Physical / Identifying Features). Soon after, he completes the tests for all his paper prototypes. Not a single one was able to withstand multiple uses even though they held up against normal fire very well. During his time working at painter shops in the five cities, he keeps watch for any materials that might be suited for his plan.

Age 27 (1578 GE)

While working with a lightning mandala painter in Fulgrath, Constantine makes contact with a merchant of Miyako Fluxum, the moving city. He happens to know of a substance that would fit his purpose and sells Constantine a single sheet for a high price. Searching for methods to obtain more of this material, Constantine comes across the universal transmutation furnaces in Fulgrath and learns that they'd be able to reproduce it. In order to pay the tremendous fee for this, Constantine stays for about a year in Fulgrath, working as a magus and mandala painter's assistant. With his newly acquired sheets of heat-resistant paper, he starts to create different spell ink mandalas to start his atlas.

Age 29 (1580 GE)

Constantine returns to Nyingma and presents his results to his master. Over the next 35 years, Constantine travels several times through all the five cities of the Middle Lands in order to "complete" his atlas or produce additional paper in Fulgrath.

Age 38 (1589 GE)

After about 10 years of work, Constantine finishes his thesis on the Atlas Incantamentorum Atramenti. He still views the atlas, which is a spiral bound book for easy adding and removing of pages, as incomplete and continues to travel to the Middle Lands to further augment it. Still, after his thesis is complete, he starts to stay in Nyingma for longer periods of time during which he works towards earning one of the five names.

Age 60 (1612 GE)

Starting in 1612, Constantine tries to make deals to export spell ink with different mandala painters but is always refused and relegated to the MLMRC, which regulates the use of spell ink. They, however, refuse any proposals of allowing spell ink to be transported to the Monastery of Five Paths, even for research purposes.

Age 64 (1616 GE)

Constantine decides, after acquiring more paper in Fulgrath, to start working on a second atlas specifically geared to Ferrys of the HJT, hoping that with more financial backing, he might be able to convince the MLMRC. He calls it Atlas Incantamentorum Atramenti Porthmei (or AIAP).

Age 68 (1620 GE, current day)

Constantine's AIAP is complete and he is returning from his last travel to the Middle Lands.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Constantine is a fairly tall person at 1.92m (6'3'') and has a lanky body. He is quite agile, but not very strong since most of the physical work at the monastery is rendered obsolete by magic.

Body Features

He has a fairly light skin tone, but with a tinge of brown as a result of his Nyingma-Aerialis heritage. He has short, scraggly, black hair.

Facial Features

He has a very angular face with an elongated shape and clearly defined cheek bones. His eyebrows are fairly bushy and thick. For facial hair, he wears a goatee with a short mustache.

Identifying Characteristics

He has a burn mark on his left forearm, which he received during his first test of a heat-resistant paper material. Turns out that it wasn't that heat-resistant after all.
During the incident, he held a double page of paper with a spell ink mandala on his left arm and hand. As he used the mandala, the page combusted and he received a burn shaped like the mandala. He tends to keep it concealed under his robe or clothes when around unfamiliar people.

Physical quirks

Constantine is right-handed. He usually holds a very upright posture and tends to overpronounce his movements a little bit.

Special abilities

He is a First Dan Magus of all five elements, able to switch his elemental attunement within a full day of meditation. Otherwise, he is quite skilled in wind magic, more so than in other types of magic, even to the point of casting minor spells without any apparent sign.

Apparel & Accessories

He usually wears simple monk garbs as is traditional at the Monastery of Five Paths. When going on travels, he is often cloaked a long, dark blue, silken robe with a hood. He almost always wears long-sleeved clothes to be able to hide his burn mark.

Specialized Equipment

He has created his Atlas Incantamentorum Atramenti, a tome containing a collection of spell ink mandalas and accompanying remarks, which he always has on his body wherever he goes. It is made out of several sheets of special, heat-resistant paper Constantine first received from a merchant of Miyako Fluxum and later produced using a universal transmutation furnace. The book is spiral bound so he can easily add in new spell ink mandalas at appropriate places.

Mental characteristics

Gender Identity

Male

Sexuality

Straight

Education

Basic Education at the Monastery of the Five Paths including reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and history.
Graduated as First Dan Magus of the Monastery of the Five Paths.
Inspicator at the Rickard Leeuw Magistorium of Aerialis.
Certified Stand-In Loan Ferry of the Hank & Jordan & Tenzer Corporation

Accomplishments & Achievements

Constantine is quite proud of what he has achieved in his career so far. His most valued accomplishment is the completion of his thesis on the Atlas Incantamentorum Atramenti, his spell ink atlas. It took him a great many years of research and arduous work, encompassing long travels, extensive studies on various materials, working in mandala painter shops across the Middle Lands and other tasks, to finish it. He would now love to create more atlases for mages and, at some point, non-mages to ease their lives.
Of course both his Graduation Feddey and his accompanying rank as First Dan Magus are quite important to him as well. He also values his title as Inspicator at the Rickard Leeuw Magistorium.
Currently, he is working towards establishing negotiations with the MLMRC about allowing the export of spell ink to the Monastery of Five Paths.

Failures & Embarrassments

When he was still fairly young and after requesting a Graduation Feddey and talking his master into allowing it, Constantine failed it spectacularly as he was too excited to concentrate and meditate properly, resulting in him being unable to change elements even once. As a consequence of this and the fact that he was often times too energetic, he was sent to Aerialis for two exchange semesters at the Rickard Leeuw Magistorium to see the world and gain some perspective. A year after that, he would finally undertake his Graduation Feddey again.

When testing a prototype for heat-resistant paper for the first time with an actual spell ink mandala, Constantine was overly confident and held it on his left hand and arm. Sadly, the paper, which had been tested to be quite resistant to flames, could not take the energy set free by the mandala and combusted, leaving his arm with a burn mark shaped like a part of this mandala. Constantine sees this as an embarrassment and tries to hide it, especially around strangers, as it documents his failure to handle magic properly.

Intellectual Characteristics

Constantine is a gifted scholar and as a result of his studies has high logical and linguistic capabilities. Additionally, he is a decent artist, although he more often paints mandalas than he draws actual pictures. However, he is not musically inclined and has issues navigating if he lacks a map, compass or other tools. Constantine is not particularly interested in philosophy, but after a few drinks, that tends to change and he will happily discuss (for example) what lies beyond the Great Clockwork.

Morality & Philosophy

Constantine sees himself as "just your average decent person". He'll likely not go out of his way to help someone unless asked for a trifle or someone is in immediate danger. Still, he doesn't approve of oppression and violence.
In the grand picture, he focuses his research efforts on improving the life of the general populace by trying to make different magics readily available in form of spell ink atlases, putting lofty goals above a hands-on approach to bettering the world.

As a way of life, he thinks that one should strive for knowledge and enlightenment, which - in his case - goes hand in hand with magic. He values learning highly and respects educated individuals. He also acknowledges other less common skills a person might possess, for example a helmsman's ability to steer his ship.

Taboos

Constantine will avoid killing unless absolutely necessary and torture is out of the question.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Immediate goal:

Expanding his atlas of spell ink mandalas

Long-term goals:

Achieve a higher Dan
Arrange a deal with the mages of the Middle Lands (specifically the MLMRC) to allow spell ink to be exported to the Monastery of Five Paths.
Make magic widely accessible to anyone by popularization of atlases.
Find out whether his father lives and if so, meet him.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Constantine is an excellent debater and very apt at both logic and arithmetic. He is also decent at creating drawings and painting mandalas. Regarding magic, he most associates with wind magic and - although he can handle the other elements quite well - controls it the best. In fact, he is able to use it for minor tasks without bystanders noticing at all.

Constantine has issues with spacial recognition - he tends to get lost unless he has a map to refer to. This has led to him generally having a local map and compass on him at all times. His sense for musical rhythm is abysmal and his dancing is consequently more alike to flailing than anything else.

Likes & Dislikes

Likes:

Mandalas
Commanding Conquerors
Showing off magic
Interesting debates

Dislikes:

The Church of Pure Souls
Uneducated people who think they're smart
Violence
Dancing

Virtues & Personality perks

While he might be somewhat naive in his research goals, he is also very tenacious in pursuing them, working for years and undertaking long journeys in order to gain required knowledge. He is very energetic when he has a clear task at hand and can focus his entire being on it. Also, he is generally very knowledgeable due to his studies.

Vices & Personality flaws

Constantine is very confident in his own abilities and sometimes overestimates himself. Due to that and also to him valuing education highly, he tends to seem arrogant and cocky towards unimposing strangers or people he doesn't particularly respect, even though he often doesn't mean to be. On top of that, his confidence leads to him being inclined to show off his own abilities, particularly his magic and atlas, even when laying low might have been better.
Apart from that, he is prone to being starry-eyed regarding his research goals, grossly underestimating its potential for abuse.
Additionally, Constantine is quickly angered by ignorant people that don't understand (or don't want to) his arguments or philosophies.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Due to his travels into the Middle Lands and the fact that his mother originally lived in Aerialis, Constantine has a number of contacts across the Middle Lands in addition to the locals of the islands around Nyingma:

The various masters and acolytes of the Monastery of Five Paths.
The local silk farmers and traders on Saresham.
A few select magisters at the Rickard Leeuw Magistorium in Aerialis.
His uncle, Friedrich Haverkamp, in Aerialis.
Several mandala painters across the Five Cities of the Middle Lands
Several branch offices of the Hank & Jordan & Tenzer Corporation along the Corsic Ocean (especially Nyingma, but also Rastrowel, Graanshoof and others)

He has an especially close relationship to his direct master at the monastery, Waazir Mandalik, an old monk now in his late 150s, who he knows since childhood and sees as a sort of father figure since his own father was usually absent.
During his travels, he has come across the Church of Pure Souls and, even though he dislikes them, he has so far not encountered trouble with them.

Family Ties

Father: Santosh Rajavadi
Mother: Amanda Haverkamp

Constantine's father was officially a silk trader working from Saresham and selling his silks to customers all over the Seventeen Yonder Islands, the Rusty Shore and even the Great Land. In truth, however, this was only a cover for his smuggling activities for a local drug cartel.
One day, he received a more special mission: he was supposed to travel to the Yamato Kingdom to "smuggle" information about moth dust collecting techniques of the imperially licensed moth hunters and the Black Market as well as the dust purification techniques to create the drug "moth dust". As cover-up, he would sell silks in Aerialis along the way and learn about the Yamtonian silk farming techniques. In Aerialis, however, he fell in love with a woman, Amanda Haverkamp, and took her with him to Saresham where Constantine was born soon after.
Santosh tried to get out of the drug cartel's dealings, but they wouldn't let him, so he had to leave often for long trips across the ocean. Still, he kept most of his dealings secret from his family so as to not get them involved as well - Amanda only knew that he was working for a drug cartel. Meanwhile he left his wife and son behind, often only returning for a few days and leaving some money. Amanda worked in the local silk farms to cover the rest of the expenses and had Constantine visit the Monastery for education at an early age.
When Constantine was around 10 years old, his father left for yet another trip but never returned. After his successful Graduation Feddey, his mother gave him a pocket watch left by his father.

Religious Views

As a monk of the Monastery of Five Paths, Constantine follows their belief in the Scriptures of Yilik: achieving enlightenment by understanding and opening all the inner gates.
He acknowledges the Middlish traditions of keeping shrines to the different ur-souls, but does not see them as something to worship. For him, the Great Clockwork stands above all else.
The Church of Pure Souls clashes fundamentally with his beliefs and he cannot agree with most of their doctrine. As a monk gaining enlightenment through magic he can't understand their aversion to it. He also sees magic as a way to improve lives and thinks it should be made widely available, not suppressed. Additionally, he doesn't share their dislike of blighters; for him these are simply pitiable souls beyond his help.

Hobbies & Pets

Constantine likes to paint mandalas in order to focus himself and as a meditation technique. He also has a thing for drawing and often times spends a free afternoon drawing a motive he finds appealing. Apart from that, he is an avid Commanding Conquerors player.

Speech

He tends to use "big" or "complicated" words or speech patterns when trying to impress or fob off someone or when generally showing off. When presenting his magic, he might shift into a deeper, booming voice for added effect.

Wealth & Financial state

Constantine doesn't have a lot of possessions - as a monk of the Monastery of Five Paths, he doesn't need much. His only belongings are his independence-colored (a shade of dark blue), silken robe, which was made by his mother as a gift for his Graduation Feddey, his Atlas (including a stack of heat-resistant paper), a prototype for said paper, and a keep-sake watch from his father.
Still, whenever he needs money, he can fairly easily sell his skills in magic to traders, farmers and alike. That is usually the case when he plans another trip to the Middle Lands and needs some starting funds. During his journey, he hires himself out as a Stand-In Loan Ferry for the parts over water and as a traveling magus on land. Once arrived, he often finances his research and experiments with spell ink by working at a local mandala painter.

View Character Profile

Honorary & Occupational Titles

First Dan Magus of the Monastery of Five Paths
Inspicator at the Rickard Leeuw Magistorium

Birthplace

Saresham, Nyingma

Year of Birth
1552 GE (current age 68 years)

Children

Current Residence

Monastery of Five Paths, Nyingma

Gender