Aeric - there is a supplement called "The Mysteries (Revised Edition) that deals with Mystery Cults 
Do we want to detail the coventnat with some virtues and flaws from "Covenants", or more be adaptable to things? Some of thef laws could maybe help us determine the problems for each timeblock.
Last time Tellus designed a Criamon, who delved into some Mysteries. We didn’t invent our own Scripts of paths.
I don’t think we did [Edit: Boons, NOT “ Boobs “] and Hooks last time, but decided on some possible challenges for the first periods and later on invented some more.
I have a vague idea of an Animal magus using birds as messengers, servants, and spies
I was thinking of a "Rote"/Hermetic Arithmetic magus, who might do a Mystery Cult with the Divine/Dominion/The Templars - just bugs that no kind of magic except the Holy Magic Virtue confers no minusses from Dominion Aura. But I guess it could be a researchable Major breakthrough (maybe, unless it is impossible).
Also would it be a Major breakthrough to integrate a Power spell guideline into Hermetic theory? Or impossible? I would lean towards Major, because it is already present in Holy Magic, and it is an amalgam of Hermetic and Divine IMHO.
Look up LoH p.15f True Understanding of the Realms, and the way to research it. LoH contains a small saga to that purpose.
Cheers
The original edition was here.
3 years since we finished chatting about it and actually started! Anyway, we didn't develop rules for advancing mysteries. The best solution for this is to suggest the rules if you were the alpha SG for a saga, and outline what you believe is sensible and won't wreck your beloved saga. Everyone else can make suggestions based on their experience, and we can develop something that others can use as inspiration.
Mystery cults probably should be mysterious with their progression being uncertain and requiring strange tasks from their initiates.
For Holy cults - it's probably easier to either use the Pilgrimage mechanic from The Church, suggest what you're trying to achieve and then have the other contributors suggest how many seasons they think it takes based on your current skills;
or to use contemplative mysticism (good news - in the Levant joining a Crusade is very easy. Bad news - you'll really need to work hard at not being found out by Quaesitors).
Actually, using contemplative mysticism is probably quite easy if your character is really pious. Use the Major personality flaw Pious, and have a +6 Pious personality trait. Use the points gained from the Major flaw to buy the Major Virtue of a holy Method at character creation, and buy a holy Power.
Further Minor holy powers and supernatural abilities (like sense holy/unholy, premonitions) require a Path total of 15 (The Church, page 22). Your Path Target is your Path Total - score in Personality Trait Pious - so you only need 9 points.
9 points can be gained from one year on a Crusade; or a season preaching to heretics, pagans or infidels; or one season teaching and spreading the gospel (+3) and undertaking a minor pilgrimage (+6) - all of these are easily found within the Levant, it's the not getting killed doing it that's the hard part. Alternatively, nine seasons of serving the poor or in personal devotion to a saint could do the trick.
Thanks Darkwing, I will look into it, though I like the idea of a Gnostic Mystery Cult more than a direct "Church-attuned" individual.
Thanks One Shot, I will chec it out!
As an alternative to help you working in Divine auras, how about Entreat the Divine powers and Natural Magician as used by Learned Magicians (HMRE, P82 7& 83) and attempt to integrate it with Hermetic magic? Entreat the Powers requires a good knowledge of Dominion Lore, and Natural Magician a good level of Philosophiae - however these are probably quite doable.
Ooh, I'm now tempted to see how far I can push a Philosophiae-loving wizard.
Would an integration of a Learned Magician Virtue, demand that I first gain access to it through an initiation script and THEN integrate it via a breakthrough?
I dunno, maybe your magus could possess said Learned Magician virtue from an Ex Miscellanea tradition? Maybe that’s possible?
About the covenant, should we try and pinpoint where it is?
Is there anything canon (or vaguely so) about what area the Levant covers?
Anything east of the empire of Nicea and south of the Caucasus basically... so the majority of Modern day Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Sinai, Egypt, even into Iraq/Saudi arabia, though I personally think we should keep it within one of the crusader states.
ArM5 page 200-201 shows a huge gap between Thebes and the Levant so a good deal of modern Turkey is outside the Order.
Southern border I eyeball at around Acre and the eastern border seems to reach maybe Damascus. But Jerusalem is outside the Levant’s south-eastern borders.
I was thinking of finding a place near a large body of water, to allow for an Aquam magus even though we’re in desert lands. I mentioned the Sea of Galilea earlier. That’s in the north end of the Levant.
Natural Magician explicitly doesn't require you to be a Learned Magician - "With the exception of Mythic Alchemy, Mythic Hermetic, and Natural Magician, the list of virtues below is only suitable for learned magician characters or characters from a related magical tradition". (HM:RE pg 80). Doesn't help with Entreat the Powers, of course.
I agree an Ex-Miscellanea tradition based off the Learned Magicians is also possible.
Expanding on my character idea a bit more...
I'm thinking of a magus who was originally from the Suhhar's lands (probably Bedouin), but got rescued by a Redcap after his local Sahir got a bit "infernal-jinn happy". Then trained by House Tremere as an Assessor as part of a previous Primus' initiative to recruit natives for better infiltration (AtD pg 29). Believes that the Suhhar's tolerance for using infernal spirits is inevitably going to lead to the corruption of the entire organisation sooner or later, with horrible consequences.
Statwise, he'll be Gently Gifted and have the Persona Virtue, and will be spending time pretending to be ungifted and getting initiated into the Suhhar the hard way (and getting horribly flawed in the process, but he'll find that out also the hard way).
Hermetic magic wise, Mentem and Vim focussed, and interested in spells to defeat Solomonic magic (e.g. thinking about how the Creo Vim spells to supply false information can be made to interact with Solomonic Astrology) either designed by himself or in partnership with a more research focussed maga if anyone is playing one.
That could be my Pralixian magus, although I didn’t though to make him hyper-focused in research. But your character could give me a very good excuse to develop spells designed to counterspell and protect against Order of Suleiman magic.
Are initiation scripts that I created for Adelbert (who was the immediate precursor to the first Annulus Connectens).
I'm happy with that.
This looks like a fun bandwagon I'd like to jump on. My current saga is excellent, but moving at a pace that suggests year 15 might not be reached, let alone year 75!
My current concept would be:
A Jerbiton magus with a magical focus in "Reflection". I think this is a minor magical focus, but happy to make it major if others think differently: it cuts across several forms (including parts of aquam, ignem, imaginem, and perhaps even MuVi mirror of opposition) but within each seems quite specific and limited. This seems roughly equivalent in scope to the canonical minor magical focus in 'self-transformation', to me.
A few factors attracting such a magus to the Levant could be: crusade-related Jerbiton mundane/clerical connections; access to Arabic texts on optics; bright desert light to reflect (and mirages to investigate!).
I undertand. The idea is to propose an initiatory script and suppose that the time and the sacrifices are enough. And that you find a suitable cult willing to admit and teach the desired mysteries.
I have caught a glimpse of the advancement of a familiar. How did you handle that? Have I read 10px per year? I suppose that I am doing wrong giving my player’s familiars 30 px per year.