This is an in-universe writeup for one of my own OCs, intended to provide a snapshot of this character just prior to the bulk of events I've written him into so far. (The author of the report is another OC, as is another key person named therein.)
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A chara,
On the day I write this, the subject of this summary, Seonac O'Conaill, will have reached his eighteenth birthday. While it may seem to be a defining event when living through it, I hope that one day he may look back on this snapshot at some later date, and reflect positively on how far he will have come since then.
Seonac was born in the Rotunda Hospital on the 14th of September 1987, to Niall and Sadhbh O'Conaill. Unbeknownst to his parents, who were not part of a magus lineage, Seonac possessed latent thaumaturgic potential; yet this untapped seam lay almost completely dormant at first. Though I have no direct evidence to verify this, I tend to believe that the first stumbling embers of his potential began to flicker in and out of his subconscious from as young as 14, his first true awakening was to take place upon his sixteenth birthday.
In Seonac's case, by far the most prominent, and thus far defining, aspect of this process saw him manifest a relatively rare phenomenon; telepathy. This gift, or curse depending on one's viewpoint, is relatively little understood compared to more traditional forms of thaumaturgy; at least, in the manner it seems to have emerged in Seonac's mind. Unfortunately, with no forewarning or experience in dealing with such matters in his own family, or among those who first attempted to diagnose his condition in the wake of this traumatic event, Seonac found it difficult to adjust to a cacophany of voices which may or may not have been real.
Eventually, his file first found itself upon my desk, at which point I soon discovered his more-than-mundane nature. I was able to contact another magus-telepath based over in London (the Nova Scotian Michael Mackenzie, who was working alongside Lord El-Melloi II at the time) and together make "first contact" of sorts with Seonac. Fortunately, the young magus decided to take up the mantle of responsibility unwittingly placed upon him, which was, technically speaking, no less than the onset of a brand new sorcerous lineage.
However, while Mr. Mackenzie's mental training was able to help Seonac gain a greater sense of control over the filter he could place around his mind, one substantial mystery soon presented itself. In terms of raw numbers, Seonac's latent sorcerous potential and prana reserves are substantial; indeed, his innate alignments approach Average One levels of diversity. Despite this, his reservoir of prana remains untapped; he has so far been unable to cast even introductory low-level spells, to say nothing of the kind of sorcerous manifestations which magi of his age from a more established family could accomplish with even half of his raw potential. (His mental abilities seem to lie apart from this source, though how this is so remains unclear.) As an interim measure, I have provided him with a limited number of wards and amulets I fashioned using my own Atlas heritage; not least one designed to hide his true potential from would-be predators. Even so, I fear that unless some means of allowing him access to his built-in font of abilities is found, he may risk becoming dangerously exposed at a critical moment.
On a personal level, Seonac's character is defined in part by his living with Asperger Syndrome (which I was able to diagnose personally); though not by as much as he might tend to believe at times. On the one hand, the "folk physics" aspect of his mind is very sharp, when operating under ideal conditions; he is an excellent student of history, can pick up new concepts quickly (at least on a theoretical level) and possesses a knack for lateral thinking at his best. On the other hand, his "folk psychology" aspect can be more problematic; he can be uncomfortable gauging body language (not least eye contact), can be prone to using a hundred words to describe a concept when only twenty will do, and can have trouble dealing with less... rational aspects of human nature. Still, while there will be a shade of this dichotomy with him for the remainder of his life, I am confident that as he matures and develops into the kind of man I believe he can become, he will master the means by which he can make the most of his gifts, learn to tackle the issues he is able to do something about, and to accept those he can't as part of the checks and balances of life itself.
Is mise,
Bláthnaid Ní hAodha, Baile Átha Cliath, 14 Meán Fómhair 2005.
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Seonac is an Irish version of Jonathan, in case you were wondering.
