I got an invitation from Marko to hang out with him during "The Alabaster Lioness", and got struck by One Heck Of An Idea (tm) for a character. The question would be how to stat him out.
JL, how do you feel about Mythic Companions? The character would work best as that, although I can make him a regular Companion instead.
Can you be more specific? The theory is that Mythic Companions should be chosen if not playing a magus. And while jebrick plays and advances Jacques, he's a really minor character. The story is me giving Marko what he wants, a story of high adventure, rather than one of plots, intrigues and politics. So if it's to be a companion to Roberto, and expects to see action more or less when Roberto sees actions, I'd rather he be a standard companion.
The character is a Jewish rabbi, a Kabbalist. Quite possibly a hunter of demons, although I'm still working on that aspect, since I want to make sure there is no conflict with Jewish law. He would be joining forces with Roberto en route for this particular adventure. He is not intended to be a full-time companion for Roberto, and will not even necessarily come back to Mons Electi after the adventure -- depends on how he and Roberto get along and whether there would be space for him at Mons Electi.
You realize that I was raised up on the tale of the 300 and similar stories. Not just by my grandfather, but even my mother and grandmother. And supposedly the phrase was used by the Greeks during WWII in response to Hitler's demand that the surrender. Mousilinni failed to take Greece, so Hitler was forced to detour into Greece for a month or so. The Greeks lost, but the month delay caused the Nazi's to get trapped in the Russian winter.
See, the Greeks lost because they lacked the finest warrior of their blood; John Maimonis, my grandfather. Born a US citizen of Greek immigrants to Chicago, he joined the service at age 18 and was sent to the Pacific, where he defeated entire platoons single handedly. He once threw a grenade that killed fifty people. Then it exploded.
Well, I knew you were of Greek heritage and the phrase is Greek...
But I was channeling Cumhachd when I said that. If you or Tranquillina delivered a WW declaration, that is the response both would receive.
Oh, no-no. You have it backwards.
Tranquilla is within her full legal rights to appropriate said apprentice. Crumble-hatch would have to go through Roberto to get at Tranquilla in revenge.
But then there is the question of Tranquilla's unethical actions herself. It is best Roberto be kept unaware of her scrying violation. Don't play the Tytalus game, it will lead to self-destructive behavior.
No, I don't have it backwards at all. There are multiple layers to this problem.
The first issue is that Tranquillina can't claim Loys until after his Arts have been opened. I think it's entirely reasonable that interrupting Opening of the Arts is probably A Very Bad Thing, and just isn't done. But let's assume that it is possible to claim an apprentice in the middle of the season of Opening Arts. Tranquillina has four Arts below 5. So she would inflict Deficiencies in those Arts. That's a low crime x 4. You don't think Cumhachd would turn that around and "sue" to regain custody of the apprentice? Of course, that goes into the next problem, the legal challenges.
Then there is the legal problem. Mons Electi doesn't trust the legal system, and, to be particularly frank, they (Mons Electi) don't (doesn't) want them messing around this close to Mons Electi affairs. Do you, as a player want this? Cumhachd is aware of all of these problems, probably including Tranquilina's deficiencies.
I agree that Tranquilina shouldn't play Cumhachd's game, it's rigged against her. But maybe that's the point. 
Besides, let's say Tranquillina DOES take Loys back. Let's say Cumhachd decides NOT to challenge. What Tranquillina then has is an apprentice who thinks she's using him as a pawn, who is confirmed in that belief every time she has to switch her schedule around because she didn't plan for an apprentice, whose infatuation for her has been twisted into hatred by Cumhachd, and who thinks Cumhachd hung the moon. How, exactly, is this EVER going to end well???
I'm trying real hard not to get into this debate OOC because it is a good debate IC
Jump right in! The water's fine. 
I think if we're going to do this fully IC, we need to have a clear understanding of the OOC framework we're operating under.
I may have pulled some shenanigans in poaching Loys from Tranquillina, arbitrarily deciding he's Gifted, but it fits that she would never have bothered checking, based on where she is in her progression and how she's treated him. Of course, that makes the story so very interesting and fun.
But which pool? OOC or IC?
I edited my post a bit, while you were replying.
Both!
The end game will be on how Gerg wants to play Tranquilla. If she is impulsive and acting out in anger then she can grab Loys back and damm the consequences. Or she can wait and talk to a lot of people before acting. I guess it depends on how much Cumhachd drives the character. While Korvin is aware of some of the tension, he is not going to call a council meeting because people can not get along with Tytalus. That is not to say that anyone else can not call the meeting and pound fists on the table.
While Roberto can do what he wants with a WW, I would guess he would not have the support of many, if any in ME. While that would not bother Roberto as he is reckless and confident, I think it would have a bad effect in-game as there may/will be hard feelings both OOC and IC. To quote Obi-wan, we want to avoid imperial entanglements.
Tranquillina is probably rational enough to realize that taking Loys over before his Arts are fully opened would do him quite a bit of harm, thanks to her deficiencies in a few Forms. (At least I hope she's rational enough.... She's going to have a week to cool off while she fixed the Arcane Connection to her.) Probably that evaluation is somewhat guided by her player's desire to avoid those specific problems.
Yes, it depends on Tranquillina, primariy, and Stultus to some extent. They intertwined their back story, so they are both involved, but this is primarily Tranquillina's story. And Roberto, in my opinion, has effectively taken himself out of action from this story by the following.
So, does Crumble-hatch's taking Loys as an apprentice (whenever Roberto actually finds out) rise to that level? IMO, no. There's no code violation there. And he can urge Tranquillina to gank him back, but that's best handled in a scene between he and Tranquillina, not Roberto and Crumble-hatch (can you tell I like that nickname?). So, until she does something that endangers Mons Electi, there's nothing that Roberto can really act on. She wants an Aegis over her area, but she's inviting the magi to participate, and paying for it with her own vis, she's actually enhancing security on the site while she's there. Eventually she's going to do something else, but that won't be perceived as an attack, by any stretch of the imagination, though it might be provocative.
So. Realized at about 3am this morning that Fiona is going to have to totally rework her schedule for Winter 1228 and Spring and Summer 1229, since she's about to drop a buttload of vis. Which means she'll not be opening the Godemiche or enchanting any items, which means she won't be needing that vis (for that, anyway), which means she should have enough in back-pay to cover the cost of the opening, the enchantment, and Petronius's fees. I think. I'll run the numbers in a couple of minutes to be sure.
I am being misunderstood again.
Roberto would not declare a WW. If Tranquilla's actions enrage Crumble-hatch so much that she declares WW on her, Roberto would stand in as champion (or counter declare, whichever works).
And still, I (the player) suggest not playing the Tytalus game. Let the boy go. Screw the whole thing, cut your losses, and cut the b*tch out of your life entirely.
So I agree, it has yet not risen to the level where Roberto's hand is forced into action. But he is ready in case it does.
That got a huge belly laugh out of me. I think it should be clear that she has no intention of ever declaring Wizard War. She loves Eskil.
This had me very confused when I read this, because at first I thought you meant this best Fry face.
No, it's the Futurama Fry. Something of a popular meme, and one I've used here before.
