Last updated: Autumn 1218 (late)
Iosif Ersvorshovic, born in 1190 to a relatively young widow living in a small village in the very north of Russia, near the Finnish border. The village was small, and not sufficiently significant to have a name, and Iosif's father was not his mother's dead husband (who had been dead for over a year).
While his mother never spoke much about his father, he believes that it was likely a weather-shamen who accompanied the Finns on a raid. His given name (Ersvorshovic translates roughly as 'son of the god of weather') supports this. While Iosif knows that his mother was in awe of his father, he is not sure if she consented to his conception, nor does he know anything else about the man - nor, for that matter, care greatly.
Iosif was not the best of children to have in a remote village - of light build, and with little coordination, he wasn't of any great use to the village. He was a deep thinker, to an extent nobody there appreciated, and got many an opportunity to practice it, assigned to long periods of watching flocks, and passes - his keen sight, and physical tenacity making him somewhat useful in this role.
Despite the harsh weather, and general difficulty of life in the frozen north, Iosif survived and prospered - his talent for getting caught out in the worst blizzards imaginable, and coming cheerfully back, a couple of days later - made him something of a legend within the village.
So much so, in fact, that someone mentioned it in the presence of a distinguished traveller, making his way south (where had he come from?), who had been forced to stop in this particular village by an unexpected storm.
Intrigued, the guest - Magus Hernis ex Tytalus - sought out the boy the next morning and (after a 10 minute conversation, and a small demonstration of Auram) took him on as his Apprentice. A brief farewell to his mother, and Iosif left with his parens.
Within an hour of arriving at Three Lakes covenant, Iosif was first called an "insignificant bastard from the back end of nowhere". Iosif had no direct response (it was, after all, a perfectly fair description), but decided then that he would do something about it. Hernis responded to his apprentice's new-found determination with a contemptuous snort, and "Prove it." so Iosif did.
His rapid and monomaniacal determintion to be more than "insignificant", combined with a considerable natural talent for Auram magic (presumably inherited) soon lead to the mundane children of the covenant regarding him as far too dangerous a target for their games. Long before this, Iosif had stopped caring what they thought of him, he had a new group to convince: Magi.
To a great extent, this battle is still ongoing - Iosif knows he has a formidable natural talent, and would make a very dangerous opponent - but he has seen the sort of respect magi get by throwing magic around, and believes that it is best reserved for Flambeaux, who believe that large-scale destruction is the best end to any argument. Similarly, he has seen how political power does nothing but make a joke out of the one obsessed with it, while proving no use in most situations - house Tremere being the prime example. Finally, there was scholarly prestiege, the province of house Bonisagus - which amounted to nothing more than hot air, while they are producing something useful.
By comparison, the philosiphy of house Tytalus - be master of all forms of conflict, servant of none, suited him well. In his defence, it should be noted that Hernis had taken care to foster this attitude, since about the second time Iosif had bested a bully to the extend of the other fleeing him on sight. To this end, Iosif is trying to make himself into an immaculatly proper member of the order - such that his birth is never considered by others. He would like to be known as a good friend, and a very very bad enemy - and tries to prove himself both, although his love of conflict (and winning) may occasionally occlude this intention.
Persistant whispers of Hernis' involvement in the diabolic regularly reach Iosif, to these he is careful to issue a polite denial, and a very serious refution of his own involvement in such..
Physically, Iosif is fairly short, and lightly built, he had short dark hair, is always clean-shaven, has light blue eyes, and a fairly neutral face. He typically wears plain blue-gray robes of very high quality, and fairly traditional design. He carries a good dagger, and a fairly minimal selection of spell components on his belt. His clothing and manner can be described as refined, but subtly so.His sigil is a wave of icy air washing away from him, and he does not feel the cold this far south - being used to far worse.
Iosif has recently proved himself to be both competent and reliable, his superiority with Auram unquestioned, and his performance on the battlefield disturbingly efficient.
While it isn't possible for someone to be as good as he thinks he is, he is certainly trying - he rather enjoyed a crushing victory at the emergency Tribunal, although it probably earned him a special place in the hearts of the Pripet magi. This isn't worrying him.
He also has reasonable talent with Animal, although he isn't seeing fit to exploit this at the moment, but is instead concentrating on the Art of Vim, for reasons you aren't entirely sure of. His magical toolkit at present would do a Bonisagus proud, after a rather profitable trip to Three Lakes. He does occasonally express an interest in shapechanging, although why is not clear.
Iosif never seems to suffer ill effects from his own spells (Yeremy may argue with this one, but Iosif will simply note that one should not tangle with magical protection without adequet defences, so clearly the mistake was not his). It is also noticable that he is capable of throwing an awful lot of effort behind a spell, when he feels it is necessary - whether this is just a consequence of his arrogance overcoming natural inhibitions (there for ones own safty), or something more, isn't clear.
What the other magi think of Iosif is possibly another question, but so far none have seen fit to say it to his face. He is, of course, quite confident that he could handle any such challenge.
Finally, Iosif rather enjoys weather most find terribly inclement, but will refrain from it if asked nicely.