Aidan Tregarde - Rosicrucian Stage Magician

Aidan grew up in a suburb of San Tobal, California. His father was an engineer for the California Highway Department, and his mother was a teacher at the local high school.

Aidan was an intelligent child, with more than his share of curiousity. He loved to read, and evinced a great love of learning at a very early age. His parents were delighted with their precocious son, and did their best to nurture his gifts as best they could. Their efforts paid off handsomely---Aidan did very well in school, and easily got into the accelerated classes once he hit junior high.

However, doing well in school didn't help him with making friends. The fact that he was slender, shy, and not into athletics didn't help matters. Though he was well-liked by his teachers, most of the other students didn't pay much attention to the shy boy who spent most of his time with his head buried in a book. For much of his school career, he was often lonely, and so he lost himself in tales of the fantastic. He especially liked stories about magic and great magicians, and often found himself wondering what it would be like if magic were real.

When he was thirteen, his parents took him to a Renaissance Faire. One of the performers there was a stage magician, and his show utterly fascinated Aidan. He spent the next three hours after the show talking to the man, who was so pleased by the youth's adulation that he showed him a few simple sleight-of-hand tricks. Aidan was thrilled. He spent the rest of the day practicing the tricks he had been shown, and the next day, he checked every book he could find on stage magic out of the local library.

Aidan spent the next few years honing his skills, and by his junior year of high school he was good enough to perform at his younger cousins' birthday parties. The audiences loved it, and Aidan felt his shyness evaporating as he performed. By the time he entered college, he was earning extra money as a magician to supplement his job as a bookstore clerk.

It was during college that he was introduced to the Rosicrucians through one of his professors. The knowledge that magic was real was almost too good to be true, and he threw himself into his studies of the Arts with enthusiasm. He learned quickly, and started supplementing his shows with various bits of True Magick (cleverly disguised as stage tricks, of course). Though some of the more traditional (he'd prefer the word "hidebound") members of the Shrine look askance at this, Aidan sees no harm in it; after all, he's hiding in plain sight.

By the time he graduated from college, Aidan's performances were good enough to net him a few stints as the entertainment at a number of special events in the area (it's amazing what a little True Magick disguised as special effects can do), as well as a small number of nightclubs. The shows are still not that frequent, though, so he's also a clerk at a small bookstore near the University of California at San Tobal, where he's just started graduate school this term.

Aidan lives with another Rosicrucian, a Lesser Gifted named Anthony Li. The two of them get along quite well, and often work Magick together with a few friends of theirs (two Wicce and a Solitaire at present; the latter, a Shinto priestess named Rei, is also Aidan's girlfriend).

Description: Aidan is of average height and slender build. He's quite good-looking, with thick black hair, fine features, and eyes of a vivid shade of turquoise blue. When performing, he dons the traditional tuxedo of a stage magician, often topping it off with a black silk top hat; occasionally he'll go so far as to add a black satin opera cape to the ensemble. In his off hours, he prefers the jeans and T-shirts typical to young men his age.

Aidan's Character Sheet

Attributes

Life Points: 22
Endurance Points: 26
Speed: 12
Essence Points: 50

Channeling level: 3 (increased with Experience points; originally 2)

Qualities: The Gift; Attractiveness (2 levels); Essence channeling (2 levels)

Drawbacks: Honorable (1 level); Resources (1 level)

Metaphysics: Lesser Illusions 4, Insight 3, Shielding 5; Increased Essence (30 points; bought with Metaphysics points)

Skills: Acrobatics 1, Escapism 4, Acting 2, Dodge 3, Lockpicking 4, Rituals (Rosicrucian) 3, Stage Magic 4, hand weapon (foil) 1, Myth and Legend (classical) 4

Equipment: (Everyday) Casual clothes, book bag, textbooks and school supplies, lockpicks, business cards
(when performing) Stage outfit (tuxedo, top hat and cape), various magic trick paraphernalia, lockpicks