("The Heat of the Forge")
filius Aestus Animae, of House Savacion
apprenticed 380; mage 398; gauntletted 398

Whitestone: 380-385
Hermit: 385-390
Whitestone: 390-

A fire-specialized Plenilunial Elementalist of Covenant Whitestone. Rabidly partisan and fanatically loyal to Pantera, the Dux of his Gens.

Apprenticed by the Plenilunial Elementalist Aestus Animae at Covenant Whitestone in 380. He accompanied his master on the hunt for Vertagus' killer from 385 to 390, where he became passionately devoted to the hunt's leader Meles and to Meles' and Vertagus' apprentice, Pantera. He was a witness to Siccoculus' death in 390, after which he was taken first to Hart's Desire, and then back to Whitestone, where he aided his master in working on the restoration of the covenant. Aestus had always been a slow and deliberate learner who did not deal well with distractions: both the rogue hunt and the restoration of Whitestone proved disruptive to his education, and he was not declared mage until 398. He was formally recognized by the House at the gauntlet later that year, where he and Siccoculus' nephew Boccaccio gave rein to the intense and not-altogether-friendly rivarly which had characterized their relationship on the rogue hunt.

The decaying and claustrophobic Covenant Whitestone was really not to Aestus Fornax's taste, and he had originally planned on eventually moving elsewhere. In 404, however, his dying parens Aestus Animae made him promise that he would remain at Whitestone and ensure its continued survival. Aestus has remained true to his vow, although he has also interpreted it to allow him quite a bit of leeway in terms of extended absences from the covenant. From 404 to 410, he took part in a number of Picardian campaigns sponsored by the magi of Leo Compulsus, on one of which in 410 he found his first apprentice.

Like his parens, Aestus Fornax developed a close working relationship with one of the Chalycidican Primaries. While Aestus Animae had worked closely with the Primary of Air, however, Aestus Fornax's rapport was with the Primary of Fire. Also like his parens, he may have taken his specialization a bit too far: from 414 to 416, he actually attempted to take the Fire Primary as his familiar, a singularly foolish project from which he was lucky to emerge alive.

An fanatically partisan supporter of Pantera's bid for the position of First Sword of House Savacion, and deeply suspicious of the motives and integrity of many of Leo Compulsus' more conservative members, Aestus Fornax recognized no Leo Compulsan edict as valid unless he felt certain that it had been endorsed by Pantera. In 421, when he first learned that Perfidius had been murdered and her filia Tenellus declared rogue, he was highly dubious about the legitimacy of the hunt which had been called, as he and the other elementalists had never received any definitive word from Pantera about the matter and were therefore uncertain as to whether or not the declaration of Tenellus as rogue had actually come from a full consensus of the Leo Compulsan magi. Nonetheless, he did leave Whitestone to join the hunt in 421, accompanied by Circumsessor of Manu Tenere, and was present for Tenellus' trial at Covenant Isrillion later that year. Meles' murder by diabolic agency at Isrillion changed Aestus' feelings about the hunt completely: he now became convinced that Pantera's faction was being deliberately targetted by diabolists and was determined to find the people responsible. From Isrillion, he moved on to Leo Compulsus, where he steadfastly refused to countenance all suggestions of Pantera's culpability, instead loudly and persistently accusing the leaders of the conservative factions of Leo Compulsus of diabolic conspiracy.

To the surprise of many, evidence did in fact emerge to support Aestus' accusations; the conservative Compulsan Javert was found guilty of conspiracy and diabolism at the end of the year. When Javert requested to be permitted to face his accuser in an open duel, Aestus was more than happy to oblige him. Immediately after killing Javert in combat, he swore to Pantera that he would recover her filia Iphigenia, who had gone missing and was believed to be a captive of the Last Hope conspirators, and set out at once for the Skulstorren.

Over the next year, as the hunt for Oscularis progressed, Aestus and Boccaccio frequently ran into conflicts, as both of them seemed determined to try to play the role Meles had played during the first rogue hunt. Their attempts to out-macho each other had a rather deleterious effect on the peasantry of the Lake District and the Skulstorren.

In 422, after his brother Canis Rufus was killed in a diabolic attack, Aestus took Canis Rufus' orphaned student Viridunculus under his wing. He presented Viridunculus to the House in Canis Rufus' stead at the gauntlet of 423. At the House restructure of 424, he became a member of the newly-formed Gens Meles, under Pantera's leadership, and returned to Whitestone later that year.

His first student has just been declared mage this year.

Students:

• Aestus Solis, from 410 to 425

Genealogy:

• The Triatalan Lines: Descendants of Aculeus through Aestus Animae