Vitalis is a masked human sorcerer of an ancient lineage tied to Talia Cristalia and Vala Cristalis, able to fly and change shape. He calls himself Vitali Cristalia or Vitalis Cristallis.
| Type | Character (sorcerer) |
| Spanish entry | Vitalis — hijo de Thalia Cristalia y Taylor, el Hechicero del Río Blackwater |
Description
On arriving somewhere he lowers an iron mask that covers his whole face. He is about 1.70 meters, in his twenties or about thirty, brown-skinned, with deep honey-amber eyes, a color “rare in humans”. The whole lobe of his right ear is missing (some say he “has no ear”), and he bears a scar and tattoos. He wears a heavy tunic and “quite good, firm” boots.
Around his neck hang three emblems: a mirror on his chest; a star-like symbol missing its central gem; and a silver necklace with a triangle within a circle, the sacred sign of worship of the Empyrean entities.
He carries a staff, a curved scimitar-like dagger (driven into the table to hold down long scrolls when he studies), a belt knife, gold, gems and a leather bag of papyri. A scaled bar with a pig’s head has been seen behind him.
Powers and abilities
- Shapeshifting: he has a female form, which he breaks when ascending.
- Flight: he has been seen holding at sixty feet, a pillar of the fight.
- He conjures fire, fights the walking dead, and has ridden a triceratops.
- Lotus form, in his own words: “When I’m in lotus form I don’t spend the materials or verbals, nothing. The magic comes out.”
Lineage
“He has a lineage that even predates some of the stories of Bala, and who knows if not earlier.” The legend of Talia Cristalia passes through his parents. Of Vala Cristalis it is said that Vitalis “is a part”. His father guards an important object called only “the ball”, which the company seeks.
Companions
His raven is known to all and lives in the aviary. He joined the company as “a man who showed up as a barman carrying peppers and spices”. He has saved lives in combat. After breaking his female form, his flight took him toward the tower.
Conflicting accounts
- Hair: shaved at the sides, “2 or 3 centimeters, half brown, half reddish”; or black, wavy and thick, growing back. All agree it is short.
- Tunic: black with gold on the bones and sleeves; blue, “like sorcery”; or white, in a comparison that never settled which man was Vitalis.
- Surname: Cristalia or Cristallis.
- True form: one record calls the female form his default; his usual form is male.
Open questions
- What “the ball” kept by his father is.
- What being “a part” of Vala Cristalis means: heir, component, aspect or incarnation.
- Why the star’s central gem is missing (torn out, spent or never set).
- What the scaled pig-headed bar is, and whether it is his.
- The name of the art by which he flies and shifts; how the lotus form looks; what shifting costs.