((Yes, Normandy, Stonehenge, Loch Leglean and Hibernia))
"I don't identify myself that way. Maris of Tremere is sufficient for anyone to know who I am. But I am my pater's filia. Xenophon is a name we don't discuss. You may call him Apollodorus, in my presence. He can retain the name he died with." Maris says through gritted teeth.
"Yes, your pater's filia, blah, blah, blah. Rego, indeed. At least your pater's machinations were well disguised to make others think things were their idea, or at least offered an equitable trade." Without skipping a beat and acting as if Maris isn't even there, "My amicus does not wish to include anymore in this discussion than is necessary, but it is necessary, and she has acceded to my view. So, I would ask that the token be given, and then only Tranquillina remains. Tranquillina can then determine whether she wants to share what she learns here with others. She can maintain the illusion that she has kept the secrets she is required to keep. I could go into more, but, honestly it's complicated, and it took me 18 years to figure out what I can shortcut for you." Maris is looking at Tria the whole time, but she appears to have relaxed a bit, and at a couple of points is nodding.
Korvin looks back and forth to each woman for a bit. Then he opens his book and makes a mark and then closes the book. Welcome to Mons Electi and please try not to blow up the place.
He hands Maris the casting token.
Good night ladies.
With a slight bow he leaves.
"Thank you Korvin," Tria says on Maris's behalf as he provides the token. When he departs, she immediately pivots the conversation to Tranquillina's direction, "Do you trust that you are among friends?" Maris seems composed, almost relieved to be the one that isn't talking, but she is paying very careful attention to everything.
((Stylishly done!))
Tranquillina takes a long look at Maris, not angrily but frankly. "I suspect that Maris has no particular reason to count me among her fast friends. And from my part, this is a woman who cast a spell upon me, unbidden, not five years ago." She pauses briefly, hopefully long enough to see Maris squirm even a tiny bit. "Yet I am not blind to the fact that Maris and her sodales at Le Maison are allies of our council, and I would deem it thus even if you were not here." She turns to Tria to finish her response, the significance of the usage of "amicus" not lost upon her. "With your words of approval, I am content to treat this as a conversation between friends, with the mutual trust that implies."
"Well, she is her pater's filia. How aware are you of Xen Tria interrupts herself, "of Apollodorus's work? Maris and I have been amica for a long time. And as I said it's taken me 18 years to learn how to interact with her. When confronted, or surprised she attempts to control her environment. She is extremely good at that. Maris and Apollodorus's first filius, whom I will not mention but will suggest you talk to Alexei about him, are" she pauses again, trying to find the right word, "exemplars of their primary Art."
((Order of Hermes Lore roll to see if Tranquillina knows who Apollodurus's first filius is: Int 3 + Order of Hermes Lore (Hermetic lineages) 2 + stress die 0 (no botch) = sucky 5.))
Tranquillina looks to the side as she combs through her memory. "Other than his in-depth research of House Guernicus, of course, we know that Apollodorus was extremely proficient in transportation magic; he seems even to have made a breakthrough related to the Mercere Portals. And there is the, ah, Aegis of the Soldier's Hearth," she continues, glancing at Maris. "As well, some powerful Mentem rituals that provide magical enhancement to memory, speech, apprehension.... And warding magic. We still do not well understand much of his work - and that counts only what is not lost to us."
Tranquillina has no idea who Xenophon's first filius is.
"Well, what was left in Apollodorus's sactum was left there by him, recreated from memory. Many of his other treasures are still retained by House Tremere. We know of the book, Maris was with him during part of the time he was writing it. So, you can play games all you like and gloss over what his true skill is, or you can come out with it. I'm not playing games, I am not operating any intrigues here, I'm trying to cut through them and do some plain speaking. Apollodorus was a master of Rego, the likes of which the Order has never seen. And everyone he taught bears some mark of that teaching, and also is extremely and uncommonly gifted with Rego magics. Think about the magnitude of the effect that was required to hold you still, Tranquillina, but beyond the first principles of the effect, but the amount of penetration required. Couple that with the fact that Maris's Hermetic gift is not flawless in nature, but Gentle." ((You need to backtrack through and figure out what the overall effect level was that froze Tranquillina in place.))
((Note that the player isn't glossing anything over here! 
although maybe Tranquillina was. Let's try to puzzle this out:
Hold a body motionless, ReCo Base 5. Diameter +1, Ind. Range: has to be Sight, since Maris didn't say anything, so +3 - that's level 25. Should I assume fast-cast from the description of events? - what are the odds that she would know a sight-range version of this spell formulaically, mastered for fast cast? Let's assume just that for now: formulaic spell, mastered for fast-cast, even a second level of mastery for Still perhaps. So she needs Re + Co + 10 say (Sta + mastery + die) of around 25 + 10 (fast cast) + 10 (no words) = 45, plus - holy spells, I just realized that Tranq's magic resistance for Corpus is huge! - I guess 15 - 3 + 27 = 39. So she needs Re + Co around 75 at least (don't even want to think about what she's need if it were sponted!). Unless there's a magical focus involved ... which would be fitting for the character - controlling people?))
((But now, how is this all related to Maris having the Gentle Gift...? ... Is Parma involved?))
Tranquillina searches her mind furiously for the answer Tria is looking for.
"Magic that has focused potency when controlling other people?" she ventures.
"Or ... the ability to bypass Parma Magica with spells, or to have resistance to magic suppressed by the targets of the spell?" She takes an involuntary step back away from Maris as she says this.
"She is an examplar of her Art, Tranquillina. Your resistance wasn't suppressed or bypassed, it was overcome. Magical foci and potency are rare among House Tremere. What is the name of Apollodorus's book? What kind of unbounded knowledge would be necessary to create a book of that breadth of knowledge of Rego, and imparts so much knowledge so easily?"
((The spell Maris cast on Tranquillina all those years ago is formulaic, and, if it helps it is mastered for fast casting only.))
Tria lets that sink in on Tranquillina, "Now place that same power in the hands of an apprentice, who doesn't know he has it, a young man coming into manhood, and dangle things in front of him. Self-control is not a hallmark of teenage boys, Tranquillina. You're very lucky you weren't actively trying to seduce him, or my other steps had mitigate the effects of your seduction."
"Yes yes, it is clear that Apollodorus was a peerless master of control. And from everything Isen and Jacques have said about his book, it too is unparalleled: only a true wizard of Rego could have scribed it."
"Why would you refrain from teaching an apprentice about ..." Tranquillina slows to a halt as Tria's words impact her. She paces slowly, once across the quarters and back again. "Ulrich ... has a power connected with Apollodorus, and Rego? As does Maris?" She frowns, looking back and forth between them. "Ra'am said something dangerous had been done to Ulrich ... what is it? Was it Apollodorus's doing, during that brief part of his apprenticeship? Or was it you? ... you said you had mitigated - oh caochan, I did not try to seduce the boy!"
When Tranquillina finally gets it, "Yes, Apollodorus did something to him. Whether he did exactly what was done to Maris or Iapetus is unclear. Apollodorus was able to mitigate some effects for Maris, so we hope he was able to do something the same for Ulrich. We have already confirmed that something was done to Ulrich. We are unclear about the full effects."
"A chance look a certain way, a flash of bosom. It's easy to seduce without intending to. He once copped a feel from me! He had an overactive imagination, probably on the order of Korvin's hunger. I took steps to blunt that. Rather Maris took steps to control him, and I took steps to blunt that. "
Tranquillina wills herself to look both of them in the eye in turn. "It would help me to know, begging your pardon, exactly what Apollodorus did to Maris. And how he was able to mitigate it. And, what steps Maris took to control Ulrich, and how exactly you involved yourself, Tria."
((Trying the memory machine again: does Tranquillina know the name Iapetus? Int 3 + OoH Lore 1 + stress die 7 = 11.))
Iapetus was the previous Exarch of Stonehenge...
"Even now, Maris can't tell you until you know. I have to tell you. He has a method for teaching that instills much more information into the student than they can possibly comprehend at one time. It goes beyond learning something as an apprentice, and then being reminded of that fact many years later. It's as if he puts all or a vast part of his knowledge directly into the person. Maris, on her own, from first principles and without the aid of a Form, could effortlessly cast any 2nd magnitude Rego spell."
As if released from some hidden compulsion, "We suspect that the old man had much more power than he hinted at publicly. He experimented with Rego vis as young Assessor. Trying to study from it. He was out in the field, in Constantinople working for House Tremere, but couldn't take a book with him, so he took some Rego vis to study. He spent 7 years in Twilight, only a few years out of apprenticeship. When he came out...he was carefully observed, but the old man was cagey and never let on the full extent of his experience. That power...well, he wanted to control his time in service to the House, and there was a tendency to abuse his gifts early on, so I think he hid the full extent of them, a lesson the House has learned with respect to me and ...Iapetus" she says his name with some apparent distaste. "Anyway, Apollodorus learned what he learned about House Guernicus, because he liked to pick up stories, and the fact that his pater's pater claimed to have been at Magvillus when the Diedne representative was ritually murdered to assure their defeat."
Edit: Maris's comments were meant to seem like a damn gushing. Did I pull it off? 
((Exactly like someone who had been holding her bladder on a 6-hour car ride and finally got to use the bathroom 
))
"Such a manner of conveying knowledge sounds like it would be a great boon to the Order," Tranquillina murmurs, "... but clearly it has not been so in this case." For the first time she looks at Maris with some sympathy; Tranquillina knows what it's like to be transformed by magic outside one's control. "What ended up happening with Iapetus? And, by the way," she turns back to Tria, "how is this connected to Maris's gentle Gift?"
((The Flawless/Gentle was meant to convey that Maris absorbed the penalties for subtle and still casting, in full. It's officially a red herring, now. I'm just going to ignore it, since there's nothing else there. The spell Maris used on Tranquillina all those years ago was mastered for fast casting, but she absorbed the penalties otherwise, in addition to the penalties for fast casting. There are plenty of other questions to cull from Maris's stream of consciousness.))
"Iapetus is a very odd person, even for a Magus. He was a victim of the curse of the lycanthrope. So, he has shepherded a couple of apprentices that are the same. And he had an unusual fancy for another Tremere magus, Luna, who was afflicted with the curse, but not his apprentice. He hoped to overcome the sterility problem related to longevity rituals and he and Luna would have hoards of werewolves as their progeny." She shudders at the thought.
"What Apollodorus did to his apprentices doesn't seem to be replicated down his lineage. Maris can't transfer her knowledge of Rego. That is, perhaps, a good thing, for Rose." Tria adds for Maris.
"I know we have still to go through many of the writings that Apollodorus left in his sanctum," Tranquillina admits, running one hand through her hair. "And anything I know about their contents is secondhand ... and who knows how complete those holdings are. What did Apollodorus teach you about the events at Magvillus during the Schism War? and about House Guernicus?" Scratching her head, she adds, "I know next to nothing about Constantinople, nor our Order's presence there."
"We know much, and I don't have a similar compulsion holding me to not speak about the Guernicus corruption. It is very difficult to get people to believe it, of course. It is entirely reasonable that House Guernicus is involved in all the problems of the House, they are the judges of the Order, so their involvement doesn't seem suspicious, but they are involved as much in the before as the after. Quaesitors outside of House Guernicus do exist, but they are kept well away from the true secrets of the House. There is an outer circle and an inner circle ruling the House. That inner circle is legitimized by the outer circle, but the inner circle runs everything. They assign Quaesitores to posts, even to cases, passing their directives through the Outer council. The Tremere do not have a Quaesitor, and haven't for the last 30 years. After Xenophon was attacked and went into hiding, and the Tremere Quaesitor passed into Twilight it was deemed too risky to submit a Tremere to the House."
Maris takes a deep breath followed by a long drink, "Have you heard of Fenicil's rituals? ((OoH: Lore check of 15)) "The Curse of Thoth is an ancient Mercurian Ritual, it is not Hermetic. The Primus of House Guernicus lead the ritual on the Diedne peace representative, the Tremere representative was present and involved in it as a witness, as we had started the war. The Diedne peace representative was ritually murdered just moments after sunset as part of the ritual. The ritual does something that makes wielding magic much more dangerous, and it lasts for a year. Within that year following the ritual, the Diedne were defeated utterly. I'm sure Apollodorus recreated his writings here, for the magi of Mons Electi. He was trying to get information about this out, beyond House Tremere, because he saw the House as being too weak to handle House Guernicus alone."
"If you go back and look at the history of this Tribunal...the unedited history before the Quaesitors took all mention of House Diedne from the records of the Order, Normandy was a combative Tribunal, and House Tremere and House Diedne were involved in many contested claims for covenant sites. There was a land war going on here, but it wasn't fought openly, it was fought at Tribunals. There were Tribunals every few months. And in every one, every single one, The Quaesitores found for house Diedne against House Tremere." Maris lets the implications of that sink in...
((Int 3 + OoH Lore 1 + stress die 6 = 10, not privy to this secret. Until now....))
"They murdered - a peace representative?!" Tranquillina is aghast. "Are you saying the entire Schism War could have been avoided by negotiation?"
At the history comment, Tranquillina is confused. "Hold on ... House Guernicus was originally biased in favor of Diedne, and against Tremere ... Tremere started the war against Diedne ... but Guernicus switched sides and contributed to the destruction of House Diedne?"
"Exactly so. They murdered the Diedne peace representative. There was an emergency Grand Tribunal convened, to determine which House would be declared an outlaw to the Order: Diedne or Tremere. The Ex misc Primus never showed, carrying all of the sigils of his House. House Diedne was just barely declared Outlaw, and the entire House was then Marched. I'm unclear on why the peace representative wasn't killed outright, some conditions of safe harbor or some such, but he was also not released. The members of House Guernicus petitioned to take him back to Magvillus for safekeeping. However much longer it took before it became concerning to House Guernicus that House Diedne might win, and might not even be overly weakened, they convened their council, and decided to ritually murder the Diedne, and curse the entire House. The Tremere represntative was invited to witness the ritual. It was thought that witnessing the ritual would bind House Tremere to House Guernicus, as well, but that part was in grave error."
"It is the great irony of the Schism, that the Diedne were only goaded into conflict based on the spate of precedents and decisions that House Guernicus had been in their favor. Indeed, even at the meeting which was to determine which House would be cast from the Order, House Guernicus found for House Diedne. It was only for the misfortune of not having the ex Misc Primus arrive that it might have ended differently, or not. Many ex Misc were not fans of the Diedne, so there is nothing certain, except that without those votes, House Tremere narrowly won the vote, and it isn't House Tremere that is called the renounced House."
"Even despite all that, this is history that we Tremere know, but many of the Order do not. Much of it was only preserved and retained by Apollodorus, when he was young and went to visit his grand pater, so to speak. Part of the incident related to his Twilight experience and the massive amount of Rego knowledge he acquired. But no one is privy to all the details of that meeting. But we will say that Apollodorus's scholarship, when investigated by other's very carefully and quietly has never proven wrong."
Tranquillina's frown deepens. "So House Guernicus, had sided themselves with Diedne and would have preferred that House Tremere be Marched. But, once the vote was taken, Guernicus was more than happy to push for the extermination of their allies?" She shakes her head sadly. "Somehow that just makes what they did all the worse.... - Do we know what happened to the Primus of House Ex Miscellanea?"
"So what are we to do, here in the present? We have a lot of information at our disposal, thanks to Apollodorus's research - not everything perhaps, but a lot. We have enemies, organized enemies in fact - but we also have supporters, others who know about Guernicus's machinations. We must be able to act, to preserve our own safety at the very least," she says, glancing at Tria with a worried expression, "not to mention expose the corrupting force within the Order."