Ariel

Ariel
Default Spellbooks
Default Retorts	Charismatic

Ariel is one of the 14 Wizards featured in Master of Magic. By default, she has 10 Spellbooks at her disposal, as well as the Charismatic Retort.

Ariel is a priestess in the academic arm of the High Men's Holy See charged with high-stakes leadership tasks on behalf of Life. Even races that cannot appreciate human beauty are transfixed by her genuine, selfless love. Ariel really cares.

Ariel dreams of victory for her faith and the Life Realm. One might speculate that this would improve the situation on Arcanus and Myrror. But as mortals only rise to their full potential in adversity, not peace, the new terms of existence emerging from such a victory are actually a complete and total mystery.

Playing as Ariel

Ariel's portrait may be selected for a Custom Wizard when starting a New Game at any difficulty setting above Intro. Selecting either the default Wizard or her portrait prevents her from being encountered as an opposing Wizard.

Played on her default spec, Ariel faces early challenges to exploration, conquest, and enlarging her  Power Base. Life lends itself well to enchanting the low-tier units of a militaristic race early on, though Ariel has the option of sitting tight, throwing Just Cause, and stockpiling  Gold to capitalize on her Charisma instead. With 10 ranks, Ariel has eventual access to all spells in the domain. If she works patiently through the initial challenges, her problems are over. Her end-stage Town Enchantments, Unit Enchantments, and Champions are unstoppable in human hands.

Ariel as an Opponent

If not chosen, Ariel may appear randomly among the computer-controlled opponent Wizards. Their finalized Spellbook and Retort picks strongly influence these Wizards' die rolls for AI Personality and Objective. Ariel's typical traits are predicted below.

Ariel	Personality		Objective
	Peaceful	50%	Perfectionist	40%
	Lawful	20%	Theurgist	30%
	Aggressive	20%	Militarist	20%
	Ruthless	10%	Expansionist	10%
	Chaotic	0%
	Maniacal	0%

Higher difficulties subject a Wizard's default spec to increasingly arbitrary adjustments, including exposure to random realms and skills. Ariel's Life ranks nearly always remain a dominant influence on her AI Personality even after these adjustments, though any randomly-picked Retorts at high difficulty settings can sway her to roll something unexpected. At the Impossible setting, be prepared for anything.

Starting Spells

At the start of the game, a non-customized Ariel knows all Common Life spells except for Bless (respectively True Light in case of the unofficial 1.40 Insecticide patch). A randomly generated opposing Ariel may end up with 11 Life Spellbooks. In this case she will know all 10 Common spells and also the Uncommon spells Resurrection and Unicorns as well as the Rare spell Angel (respectively Dispel Evil, Prayer and Incarnation in case of the unofficial 1.40 Insecticide patch). For other book combinations see the Wizard article.

Starting Spells depending on Master of Magic Version
official patch 1.31			unofficial patch 1.40
Heroism Guardian Spirit Holy Armor Just Cause Healing	Holy Weapon Star Fires Endurane True Light			Just Cause Heroism Holy Weapon Healing Holy Armor	Star Fires Guardian Spirit Endurance Bless