As described elsewhere, each player brings one Magus and up to 9 other characters to the covenant. This may be as simple as "My Magus, and 3 shield grogs to be described later, one of whom is a companion."
Character sheets should go in their own thread, with grog-level characters described in a single thread which I'll create in a few minutes.
The covenant itself begins with Jaime Lannister, a heartbroken and crippled Flambeau, and a to-be-determined number of covenfolk. Covenfolk who are already in the coven are available to be Companions, but we probably don't have enough details about them yet. Notable among the allies of the covenant is a sword-wielding Demon Hunter.
Viscaria, a Verditus silversmith arrives with four dwarf-blooded and an ugly human woman. The dwarves include Loremaster Reyes, a silversmith, glassblower, and lapidary. The ugly human woman, Ursula, is obsessed with hammers, and will shortly become Viscaria's shield grog (hoping someday to be rewarded with a magic hammer). All six of them are recently escapees from a nearby dwarven mining prison. Or something.
In Stark ( 
) contrast ,
Serrano will arrive with a group of entertainers.
This is the same troupe that found him in the forest (as a feral child) and raised him.
To get around language problems , as there is little point having entertainers who need subtitles ,
some of them will be native speakers of Provencal.
Assuming that is the main language of the area.
Would like to take Dependent (page 53) for a Major Story Flaw.
Serrano learnt his Craft: Clothier with this troupe , not with a Guild.
The old woman who taught him is now Enfeebled (page 53)
and he wishes to look after her.
Willing to bargain for a longevity potion in her case , as his skills are not sufficient.
If there is a nearby Town that the Covenant trades with ,
Serrano will see if he can find a Journeyman Clothier to apprentice with , to eventually get Guild status.
He will probably be older than the actual Journeyman starting out in business.
Not expecting this to be a major arc , one season per year taken up working , rather than two ,
as he already has Craft Ability , but no Bargain or business acumen.
Another traveller with the troupe will be a Baccalaureus (page 90 , A&A) , from Paris ,
hoping to do his Magister in Artibus at Palencia (page 112 , A&A)
Aren't we in Iberia somewhere? (I was thinking Spain itself, down around Las Navas de Tolosa)
Yes, we are in Iberia. Specific location to be determined by players, or me if none of you choose.
Regardless, some of Serrano's troupe will be native speakers.
Players are welcome to change up their languages, if they were meant to be locally taught.
Berenguer will arrive (at the age of 37 [song there, somewhere]) with a Spanish swordsman, 3 shield grogs (an Arab, a Jew and (probably) a Frenchman of some sort), a language teacher (Occitan [Provencal], Spanish, Arabic), an Irish harper, a scribe, bookbinder and an illuminator. The last three will be useful in preparing excellent copies of his stories, poems and songs. Might try to squeeze in Free Expression, probably in place of Improved Characteristics.
I'll get to the character building in the next few days.
I propose that we allow an increase in the parma to 3.
Ivan
Cygna will arrive at...um...do we have a name yet? Anyway, she will arrive at the covenant with three men-at-arms, only one of whom will be staying (her shield grog, Terrence); the others will ensure that she is safely ensconced at Casa Nuevo, recover from their journey, and then return to England. She is freshly gauntleted, in the Winter of 1212, and would like to make a fresh start.
The companion I'll be making next time I have more than an hour or two off of work is Abdul al-Faisal, a humble merchant and trader who has worked with the covenant for several years. While not living at the covenant, I see him swinging by the covenant at least once a season, taking orders, delivering orders, and procuring items that he can sell or trade elsewhere.
Debating making other grog types (and whether or not Cygna would have brought anyone else with her). Guess it probably depends on how the covenant folk fared with the magi buying various farms at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.
Agreed.
For companions, I'm thinking of at least 3 types:
For grogs, I'll have
Okay, so I've had this character concept bugging the living daylights out of me for, like, a week and a half now. But it almost certainly has to be a Companion for it to work, and since I already have a Companion, I can't (or, actually, shouldn't, unless you guys are okay with me having two Companions). That, and I'm not entirely 100% sure that the core concept is legal under the RAW. I think it is, but I couldn't find anything answering the question in the forums, after slogging through 14 pages of "search for Failed Apprentice."
So, anyway, my idea is for a Failed Apprentice who only failed because her Master went and got himself gakked in the war during the season that he was Opening her Arts (gawd, that sounds like a really lame hermetic pick-up line).
My assumption is that, because he was unable to finish opening her arts, that pretty much ruined her gift as far as becoming a full-fledged maga with Arts scores. I would imagine that she would still have enough of the Gift to be of use in the lab, probably has Magical Air to simulate the social effects of the Gift (unless she'd be allowed to still have the Gift, I leave that open to either the troupe or whoever decides to play her).
What do y'all think?
What if her master was experimenting when opening the Arts for her
and got something like Special or Story event.
The master was possibly trying for a breakthrough and accumulating points.
If the character has the Gift , even untrained , then they should have a Magus slot.
Possibly the character has Hedge Arts/Rival Magic Arts that are undeveloped.
What about doing a Mythic Companion?
I don't think you can Experiment when Opening the Gift. The section on "Training your Apprentice" (AM5 p. 106) calls it "one of your seasons of teaching". Plus, on p. 107 is says you can experiment "when inventing a spell, creating any magical enchantment (device or familiar) or investigating an enchantment," which teaching is not.
Failed Apprentice apparently doesn't have the Gift (the way the Virtue is phrased leaves it open to some interpretation, according to other threads in the forum); they seem to have either lost the Gift entirely or had it either partially or fully destroyed.
Of course, I realized during lunch today that, the way I have her backstory figured, she'd have to be a child anyway, probably between eight and ten years old, if her Master was killed last year at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. No, I'm not obsessive in the least; why do you ask? 
Mythic Companion sounds familiar (at least, from 4th ed.). I'll have to look and see if I can find it in 5th ed somewhere.
eta: Found it. RoP: D, p. 66. And...um...holy Munchkinism, Batman! 21 Virtues and only 10 Flaws?!? um...yeah.
Anyhoo, if I were to create this character (whom I've already named Claudia, related to the Latin claudic/o -are to be defective, I would most likely just make her as a "normal" Companion, with the 10/10 Virtues/Flaws and start her at about 9 or 10 years of age, having started her apprentice at about 8 or 9, about a year ago.
Yeah, I'm probably over-thinking this.
Ok , so the Gift was the subject of an experiment on Claudia.
Maybe she had a twin with the Gift (or triplet/quadruplet/etc) and they can only use their magic when in proximity to each other.
That's not what I meant to say. Let me try this way:
Eight-year-old Claudia was apprenticed to, say, Pyroduck ex Flambeau in Spring of 1212. In Summer of 1212, he starts to Open her Arts (a Teaching experience with no math or numbers involved and no Lab work or Lab total involved, except for InVi to try to preserve any Supernatural Virtues she may have; it just happens). However, in July 1212 he gets the message about the incredibly humongous battle about to happen at Las Navas de Tolosa. Since Phoenix is (or was) more or less dedicated to peaceful coexistence between Christian and Muslim, he decides to go down and participate (his logic being that if he kicks enough ass on both sides of the line, they'll listen to what he's trying to tell them?). He goes down in flames and doesn't return to the covenant to finish opening up her arts. So, now (if my interpretation is correct), her Gift, while not totally destroyed, is damaged beyond repair. She can never learn Hermetic magic (and probably not any other kind, either), but she has enough of the Gift to creep people out (the Magical Air Flaw), can learn Magic Theory and be of use as a Lab Assistant.
"Wonder Maga Powers, Activate!" facepalm Oh, great...now I have another kewl character concept poinging round in my brainpan.
Unless there was some kind of accident , say a botch , then my understanding is that Arts are either opened or not.
Nothing to suggest that interupting the process is dangerous , e.g. being called away.
And that any other magus could simply complete the process or start over as the case may be.
But not being the SG it isnt my call on how it affects a character.
Its why i was suggesting a predisposition to non-hermetic Arts.
She could still learn Amazon Magic say , but not Hermetic Arts.
You having 2 companions: Well, why not. So long as you don't play the 2 of them at the same time, which can be cumbersome (just as playing both your magi and companion at the same time), I don't care much.
For your character, as far as I understand, you want a companion failed apprentice that can serve in the lab. It'll have to wait for amul and the imput of others, since it can be quite a boost to lab totals (giving you in effect a second "familiar") but why not? I'd do that like this: Failed Apprentice (goodbye hermetic magic), plus Latent Magical Ability (she still can serve in the lab).
As Ravenscroft says, there must have been some accident to impede it, though, and I'm not sure a simple interruption may suffice but that's details
I'd also suggest developing her more beyond that basic concept: How does she fare? Did she keep other magical (supernatural) abilities? What does she wants to do with her life?
I was actually thinking about coming up with her stats today or tomorrow when I get done with other projects, either as a grog or as a Companion, and posting for more feedback/approval.
And the whole Failed Companion/incomplete Opening the Arts thing...that seems to be kind of a grey area in the rules. I think I'll post it on the main forums and see what kind of feedback I get there as far as what (if any) consensus there is on whether that would work in the rules.
Back at home, watched my books:
So, failed apprentice is enough for you to serve as a lab assistant, you don't need anything else.
That's my understanding. And, since you can learn Academic and Arcane Abilities at creation, you can also learn Latin et cetera.
Yup
My understanding is that you can raise Parma to a maximum of 1 during your apprenticeship, and that post-apprenticeship XP may be spent in any reasonable fashion.
I don't haven't RoP:F or RoP:D, or Arts&Academe. Someone besides me will have to spot-check your math and power-gaming. If someone will, I don't object to these characters being in the game.