For Bonisagus, try to limit the lab rat. I am guessing we will have to go outside of our labs to investigate somethings 
I've got two magus concepts ready. One of them is a lab rat hyper-focused on pushing the theory. The other is a wholesome magus who just wants to do good.
I do hope either of them will work well in the saga.
[edit] the lab rat has the advantage of being driven to do his goal, which can be adjusted so he goes out of his own volition to help when the goals align. The wholesome magus would still go, but a bit more reactively.
I'm fine with playing Bonisagus - you don't have to be an absolute lab rat to enjoy being a hermetic specialist. The house also contains experts at holding the order together, Trianoma style. If we use HoH:TL for inspiration rather than rules, being a Seeker who loves chasing up sites of mystery would be compatible with investigation.
Under the given set up, a Bonisagus who was apprenticed to one of the order's few remaining experts on the fae (after Merinita disappears, there's a lot less to learn from!) or a researcher who is looking for breakthroughs in the limits of vis or more efficient vis usage would meet the setting head-on while being completely on brief for a Bonisagus.
If all you really want is to blow things up with magic, then play a Bonisagus who wants to research efficient methods of Hermetic warfare - this house really works for anything.
I'm hearing a strong vote for Bonisagus. Is it settled?
If so, let us move on to location. Which Tribunal? And what kind of surrounding area (urban, trade route, isolated)? This will have a big impact on the kind of stories you would like to have, whenever they are not directly related to your overarching investigation.
Iām also leaning towards Bonisagus too so let's settle it .Concepts I have in mind are probably rather Trianoma or Seeker like (without the virtue 
) so no lab rat here.
I have a preference for tribunals with 5th edition books because they're the on I know 
Just remember that I will treat Tribunal books the same way as I do the HoH books -- as inspiration mostly.
Rhine might work well for a few reasons:
- The domus magna of House Merinita could mean immediate investigation stuff.
- House Bonisagus is strong there, so it makes a lot of sense for there to be a bunch of Bonisagus apprentices finishing their gauntlets.
- The domus magna of House Merinita isn't claiming its vis sources any more, so House Bonisagus might want to claim them.
- The tribunal is known for its stuck-to-the-old-ways magi, which creates that difference between them and our youthful covenant.
- Edit: It's not so much on the periphery that traveling to other Tribunals is as difficult, since we may want to investigate all over the place. By comparison, the Levant isn't really near much of any other tribunal.
I'm completely clueless in relation to Tribunals, so I'll let you decide without me. I just know I'd like it to be somewhat medium difficulty, where the covenant is some distance away from civilization but not so far to be a major inconvenience.
[edit1] and not too rigorous on the peripheral code.
I recommend sharing what specialties in Arts we are thinking about so we cover a wide swath as possible.
The Merinita vanished 20 years ago. You can expect most of their vis sources to have been claimed already, considering the scarcity of new sources. Still, there may be one or two that were forgotten.
Most of the area, however, is described as being rather uncivilized and deep in faerie woods. This may mean a heavy accent on survival and wilderness stories in the early years of the saga, with difficulties in getting more civlized supplies (like lab equipment). Is that the kind of stories you are looking for?
EDIT: Perhaps a location some distance from the former Irencillia covenant would provide a less rugged environment. For example, something on the north shore of the Danube would technically locate you in the Rhine, and it is a decent trade route so access to fancy goods would be reasonably be good.
I'm envisioning the following right now: 3 primary Arts of Intellego, Rego, and Vim. Secondary Arts would probably be Animal and Herbam. Caring about magic in nature, so able to communicate with nature and investigate magic there despite not having the Gentle Gift.
Ya, I didn't really mean right where Irencillia had been so much as just in the same tribunal to make the loss felt more immediately.
The heavy research nut was meant to be exclusively MuVi, the other character concept was as generalist as possible (4's in Techniques and 3's in all Forms)
I understand. With a focus at least partly put on solving the mystery of Merinita disappearance, it seems natural to locate near the former location of the Domus Magnus. But this was certainly not the only Merinita covenant that vanished. Oleron in Normandy comes to mind. Several other covenants were literally gutted when their Merinita sodales disappeared. Thebes was hit particularly hard.
In fact, when I think about it, the opportunity to "reclaim" vis sources from the covenants that vanished or were destroyed may be one of the reasons so few magi want to delve into the Merinita mystery. If they were to come back, they would want those vis sources back...
Thebes and Rhine are both fine with me. Thebes is probably my favorite tribunal.
Scotland had some powerful Merinita covenants.
to me, make a choice on either in the mix ( Rhine) or more frontier. i am not advocating for the Rhine just pointing out that we would have less freedom closer to the center than at the frontier but we also have much less support.
I can go either direction on tribunals, really. There are interesting aspects to different ones, but I don't really favor one over another. I can see good reasons for either Scotland or Greece.
I played an IRL saga settled in Scotland a few years ago so I can live without the book I guess.
I'd rather avoid tribunals that are 4th edition, because I only have the physical copy of those books. So it makes it harder for me to look things up when I'm not at home.
The Tribunal books that I have in electronic format are:
- Guardians of the Forests - The Rhine Tribunal
- The Lion And The Lily - The Normandy Tribunal
- The Sundered Eagle - The Theban Tribunal
- Against the Dark - The Transylvanian Tribunal
- Faith & Flame - The Provence Tribunal