Donverto Von Torini
Magus Donverto Oliverti Von Torini (a.k.a. Father of Technomagia)
Donverto Oliverti Von Torini was an accomplished economist and wizard. He is often considered as the father of technomagia, which he was a fierce advocate of during his later years and during his tenure in the Conclave of Magi. Claims brought to light after his death have resulted in an Imperial Decree.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Early Childhood
Donverto was born in 1417 as the third child of Bernino and Gwernin Von Torini who where living in Briga at the time since Bernino's was tasked with opening a new branch of the family's banking firm.
Growing up in a banking family, Donverto was exposed to the economic scene in a very young age and took a liking to it. By the age of 12 he was already conducting minor trade deals and loans in his father's name, often with relative success.
Magical Education
Donverto's magical talent manifested in the relatively late age of 15. During a business meeting he accidentally set the freshly signed contract on fire, burning it to a crisp.
shortly after the incident he was sent to Vintia, where he would be closer to his family's estate. His grandfather, Hilverio Von Torini, enrolled him with the local conclave's branch to study and expand on his magical talents.
While already fairly educated, Donverto grasp of the magical talents proved to be lacking. He would often struggle with simple tasks related to conjuration and evocation, but obtained a fairly good understanding on enchanting and divination.
Despite his accomplishments, Donverto was often viewed as jealous and often even hostile peer by his colleagues. He would mock the works of fellow peers, back his claims with shoddy statistics, and was even caught defecating another student's thesis. The last case nearly got him excommunicated from the magical community, if not for the immense influence his parents wield in the city.
While going through his fifth year in the conclave he came across a group belonging to the Fellowship of The Ponderer. The group invited him to join them in one of their debate nights. Eager to prove his worth he agreed and began his preparations. Much to his surprise, instead of the vocal, highly competitive debates of the Conclave, he found a group of scholars using math and logic to express themselves, even when debating on matters of magical origins. This method captivated him, and he began to attend these debates more frequently.
He graduated after 7 years in the Conclave and received the title of Magus at the age of 22. He decided to remain in Vintia and purchased a house close in the Harbor District
Adult Life
Though his 20's Donverto continued to participate in various events of the Fellowship, and eventually began teaching mathematics and statistics in their schools. His family tried to pressure him into returning to Briga and help with the family business, but his grandfather insisted he remained in Vintia.
In 1447, following his grandfather's passing a few years prior, his father finally managed to convince him to join the company as an analyst, but only after promising he would also build a school for him to operate during his free time.
The school quickly became a fully fledged magical laboratory, and was promptly closed to the public. Doverto spent most of his time inside, working on several projects, and would publish two books, one about divination and another on taxes. Both books were received poorly, the magical community was quick to tear holes in his theories, rendering years of work useless.
His second book laid out several interesting concepts regarding to tax collections and distributions, but was immediately dismissed as wishful thinking by most experts. Alongside the two big publications, Donverto also released 18 volumes of somewhat incomplete enchanting diagrams, schematics and any other piece he thought he would be able to sell.
His father, already at wit's end by the negligence of his responsibilities, became enraged when he found out his son wasted the family funds on fanciful writings, and inaccurate ones at that. He had his son fired for his job as an analyst and proceed to cut his funding to Donverto's workshop.
First steps into Technomagia
Desperate to continue his research, Donverto opened his workshop to the public, hoping to attract others who would aid (and fund) his research. He was heavily scrutinized by the vintian magical community and found it difficult to find investors for his research, most of which were related to esoteric fields of divination or arbitrary economic paradigms.
In 1451, he was approached by, Lorenzo Arbertiri, a young artificer from vintia who claimed to be a members of the Fellowship as well. Arbertiri was drawn to visit Donverto's workshop after stumbling upon one of his incomplete enchantment diagrams of a two-way scrying device. According to Arbertiri, attaching a rechargeable power source, such as a Flask of Epilepsy would allow the device to work with greater efficiency, but while he could prepare the case, he lacked the necessary tools and knowledge to produce the lightning itself. The two began working, despite no funding available to them, recycling most of Arbertiri's gear in the process.
Two months later, Donverto published another manuscript, explaining in great details the inner mechanics of a device that would allow two users to scry on one another by using a combination of both magical and non-magical components. While scientific gizmos were used in magical applications before, and the device itself being of simple functionality, never before have a mage and a scientist collaborated in such a way to complete a project.
In the following year, Donverto began writing a book, theorizing the use cases of science withing the academic magical society. Word of their work reached Vintia, where they were offered funding from both the Fellowship and the Conclave, who found their work useful and even limit breaking.
With his new funding, came a demand to Donverto to open his workshop to the public, at least to those of academic repute. While reluctant at first, claiming this would hurt his delicate work relations with Arbertiri, the decision proved beneficial.
The lax rules of the Vintian Imperium in regard to magical activity and the proximity to the local ivory academy caused his workshop in Briga to become a spot of pilgrimage for those who wished to expand their horizons into new fields. It was frequently visited by some of the brightest and eccentric minds on the continent, giving birth to some of the most the most ambitious projects ever undertaken. Important discoveries such as the discovery of rotational junctions and even the construction of the observatory of Mirag began as proof of concepts in Donverto's workshop.
Later Years
Following the success of his workshop, Donverto was extended an offer to take the role of Master of Divination in the Vintian branch of the Conclave, which he took. During his tenure he perfected his research and greatly expanded on several aspect of magical assistance in scientific and even economical fields.
in 1462, the same year his father passed away, he published another economy book, titled 'The Economy of Magic'. The book's condescending, sometime even demeaning tone, was the subject of much controversy. It didn't help that Donverto took well established principles in the wizarding community, such as the abstract limitations of healing, teleportation and conjuration, and tore them to shreds one by one. Despite, and some would say due to, these factors the book became an immediate success.
While before he would be quick to retort to baseless assumptions and accusations, this time Donverto stuck to hard evidence. The book now included testimonials and quotes from financial experts, artificers, architects and many more professionals from outside of the wizarding community. In the first half of his book, Donverto introduced new concepts for approaching problems of scale in magical applications and broke down his process of productive collaboration between mages and scientists.
The second part dealt mostly with economics, notably trade. Donverto applies some of his methods into established trade principles, showing that even with the high expenses of teleportation, a merchant can still turn profit. He demonstrated case studies such the use of the mending cantrip to address production issues, or the use of conjuration to solve supply chain choke points. Donverto described his method as 'technomagia', merging both science and magic into the same category.
After the publication of Economy of Magic Donverto's mother moved back to Vintia, while his older brother took over the branch in Briga. He began to study the teachings of the Fifth Dogma, and even became an advocate of the Mortalis Permisima, demanding his mortal right not to be resurrected after his death.
Death & Controversy
In the 5th of Midsum, 1468, during renovations to the family estate in Vintia, Doverto was struck in the head by a rotten wooden beem that fell from one of the balconies. He was killed on the spot, and his body was cremated in accordance to the Mortalis Permisima. He was granted the title of Magus postmortem by the Conclave for his achievements.
In 1471 Arbertiri arrived in Vintia and presented a claim on Donverto's work to the Justicia Di Imperiali . Arbertiti demanded Donverto's titles and recognition to be nullified, under the claims Donverto stole his work while the two were working together in Briga and later published it without his knowledge or consent.
The case sparked a debate in many circles of the Imperium's society. The academic scene in particular was in flux, with old colleagues and rivals, citing Donverto's behavior as a young student, demanding the titles be taken. Others have testified they experience nothing but professionalism and good etiquette while visiting his shop.
Even outside of the academia the case was controversial. This was the first time someone was requested to be trialed postmortem while also under the protection of the Mortalis Permisima. A special congress of Mortalitasi was appointed to discuss the case, but without much success, due to outside pressures. Eventually the case was closed by an Imperial Decree decree made by Mathela Von Vestiri, then Queen of Vintia who grew tired of nobles discussing the case in her court.
Legacy
Donverto's Workshop is considered as one of Briga's heritage sites and is owned and maintained by House Von Torini. The building still serves as a meeting place for academic circles, but has become much more exclusive, with visitors raging from FCBD directors to military experts and prolific wizards.
Current Date: 2nd of Latsum, 1572
Species
Ethnicity
Other Ethnicities/Cultures
Life
1417 AC
1468 AC
51 years old
Circumstances of Death
Died in a crane accident during the construction of his mansion.
Birthplace
Place of Death
Family
Children
Gender
Male
Belief/Deity
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations
Wow, I love how in-depth this is! Great work. Donverto seems like a truly fascinating individual, and quite a bit controversial in his world! I find the fact that they can revive someone after death, and that there are people who would rather just die and be left alone quite interesting, but also true to life in many instances. :D
Puked this one out in a few hours to make sure I have a base for the now fused together Technomagia category. Might have gone a little overboard but I never though magic and science should be opposing forces. Alas, most of our players probably won't see this as he's been dead for over a century. As for the whole death and resurrection thing, I'm kind of expanding and restructuring it right now to make it more fleshed out. It's also somewhat inspired by Altered Carbon. The trial is a reference to something that actually happened in real life. BTW, if you have your own take on things feel free to drop a link! Seeing how other approach certain topics is always my favorite pass time when WA does a challenge. Anyhow, back to work! :)