Campaign Title: Light of Andorra
System: Ars Magica, Fifth Edition
Setting: Iberia, in Andorra, last of the Spanish Marches.
Players Wanted: I need at least three players. Flambeau are encouraged, but all Houses are welcome
Posting Rate: 2 to 4 times a week
Combat Rules: There are three ways to handle combat, and we can mix them up. One is the Analytical approach, looking at the numbers and determining the probable outcome. Second is a narrative approach. Good narratives, within the realm of what is possible for the character, can be used to describe your combat actions. But I also enjoy good old fashioned stomp ‘em up dice rolling. We can perhaps use an Instant Messenger for selected skirmishes.
Dice Rules: A lot of dice rolling will have to be handwaved or using the honor system. There are various web services that generate and record random dice rolls as well. I am flexible and open to suggestions.
Advancement Rules: pretty standard. The library is most exceptional, and I hand out more generous rewards for Adventure experience that normal RAW (I use a 5/10/15 xp scale for minor, moderate, and major adventures).
Special Rules: Mostly RAW and current cannon. I will be drawing on past cannon for story ideas and additional material, and I have a special rule concerning Wards. Beings with Might based resistance have the Weak Magic Resistance flaw when faced with a Ward that matches both their Realm and Form.
Deadline: one month, and everyone is to develop themselves up to around 10 to 20 years post gauntlet.
Campaign Description: In disputed jurisdiction, the Covenant of Andorra embodies the traditions of both the Iberian and Provencal Tribunals, yet maintains a neutral uncommitted stance between the two. Founded many centuries ago during the early years of the Order, the covenant nearly faded off into winter. But just over a century ago they were rediscovered and revitalized by a societas of Flambeau magi known as the Knights of Seneca, who were on the trail of the Legend of the Lumina (the supposed lost blood descendant of Flambeau the Founder). Now, in the heart of Second Summer, Andorra must answer the questions of it’s past and face the decisions for the future.
But most of Andorra’s members have little interest in such serious topics. For the most part, they are concerned with adventure. In the immediate area, it is known that there is a dragon obsessed with arcane knowledge, a giant angry with grief, and cave full of evil spirits and a fallen temple to Mari, the Chthonic goddess of the Basque Shamans of old. Plus, the covenant has exact knowledge of how to locate the Ruins of old Val-Negra.
Yes, plentiful resources and endless sources of adventure abound, plenty to profit the individual magus. But what is the fate of tiny Andorra, the principality and the covenant named after it? In the face of all these distractions and dangers, do the magi have what it takes to maintain the identity, individually, and independence of their covenant?
Aaargh!
I'd like to play it, but, having already 2 sagas on my hands, I think I'll pass, let the place to sagaless players, especially as I fear my comitment might suffer because of 3 different sagas.
Good luck to you and your players , I'm sure it'll be fun. Enjoy yourselves! 
(And ask boxer, he might be very happy to have a chance to play)
I am extremely intrigued. Count me in, if you’ll have me!
I would love to play a Flambeau, although my knowledge of that House is more or less limited to what’s in HoH:S.
Then you are exactly the sort of fella I seek to enlighten!
I think Societates is awesome. I will not be contradicting anything there, merely expanding upon it while retrofitting my old landmarks. I will prepare a short little diddy to catch you up to speed, and send it to you.
This saga will be primarilly about adventure and character. You do not need to be a historian or politician at all.
And Fixer, if you want to participate as a side character and do cameo bits, that would be cool too and not such a demand on your time.
And Boxer is most definitely invited!
Arrrghhhh. Four sagas on my hands, must resist... noooo.... can't resist.... must resist. Arrrgh if I only had more time.... Droools over new game....
This is only two for me. It also means that I want to hand the SG reins over in the Novus Mane game! Jebrick is cooking up something cool 
And as with Fixer, cameo spots are totally an option for anyone.
Sure Ill play but Ill need to discuss character issues with you to decide what of two possible characters to play.
I'll join - honestly, I'll be posting more in the future than I am now.
I would like to join the game. I'm relatively free and able to post 4-5 times a week.
awesome! You guys are in also. Feel free to kick around ideas. I am waiting on someone, and then I'll request a slot 
Here is some bacground
Okay, one theme in this saga is the concept, consistent in both new and old editions, that Flambeau did not record much of anything at all about his personal history. Societates gives several possibilities as to the Founders final fate. The view presented in Societates is indeed the prominent view, but it is not the only view. Zoroastrian Flambeau believe the Founder has become a living spirit of eternal flame. There is a Flambeau magus in Stonehenge that insists the Founder was actually English, and retired to an English monastery. Zealous followers insist he was murdered in an ambush by his enemies; Detractors say that he was killed in his blind quest for revenge.
The Covenant of Andorra welcomes magi of all Houses and the Knights of Seneca embraces all of its fellow Flambeau magi. Though they keep a distinct body of lore, individual members have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude towards it. It is all allegory and metaphor to them.
Basically, their legend says that Flambeau was killed in a final battle, resulting from peace negotiations gone tragically wrong because of misunderstanding. The Senecans claim that the magus that founded their societas, a Schism War veteran named Delendos, was actually one of the seven champions that fought alongside Flambeau that day, and was the only one who survived that battle. Finally, their legend claims that the true purpose of the Knights of Seneca is to watch over the Lumina, the supposed bloodline descendants of Flambeau. However, they have lost track of whoever this person or persons might be.
In reality, this grail like quest for the Lumina is nothing more than an excuse for adventure. Some say that the Knights of Seneca are nothing more than a band of reformed Reconquista magi, who reinvented their legend when they made peace. The sahirs that they have an alliance with say that there is a deeper meaning to it all.
But that’s not all Andorra is about. In fact, House Mercere has come to dominate affairs. The covenant is a Mercere House, and serves as a Redcap retreat and a repository for certain resources. They also use it as a center of training or Mercere magi, especially of the Cult of Mercury. There is also an estranged Verditius lineage found only here (which any player may choose to play). In fact, the legacy of all Houses can be found in the history and tradition of Andorra.
Sweat covering his brow, Marcellus surveyed the buildings from atop his mount. Andorra was there. Beautiful, as always.
"Yes, I also think it is good to be home again, Regulus. Walk me down to the gate, will you please?"
With that final sentence, the wounded Flambeau finally collapsed over the neck of his mount and companion after a two day ride and rode unconscious to the gate of Light. To the door of home. A trickle of blood followed the fast, feral steps of his mount.
I am in And oh, I am bringing a magical companion/familiar in case you didn't guess 
Marcellus happens to be a plain ol' standard down to earth flambeau with a wanderlust. One of those guys that risks his life without a real need for it just for the thrill of a good challenge, if you know what I mean. You should, since now it is canon; it used to be only an extremely cool article in durenmar.de by Lucy Hewitt IIRC, but now it is in societates.
Xavi
PS: Regulus might require a player to play him if it ends up being a familiar
Sweeeeet! This is gonna be awesome! The Wanderlust adventurer type is a perfect fit for what I am seeking. I am treating Societates as 100% cannon. Old stuff only gets retrofitted where space allows. My whole concept of House Flambeau matches Andrew's vision exactly; brave, heroic, epic adventure, and the sagas to share over a bottle of wine or a tankard of ale.
BTW: What kind of library and vis resources (I assume mundane resources will be as needed) we can expect to have on hand when developing our characters?
Xavi
Hum... I think I'll create a character, then.
I had this concept, I'll see if I can make it work for 5th Ed
As a rule of thumb, go season by season. Assume you have an average source quality of 10 every season (for a total of 40 xp a year). This will allow you to figure special development Virtues & Flaws in. Also assume that you wom't get to use the same virtue more than twice a year.
Mind you, this is just an average. Sometimes the source quality is only 5, sometimes it can be as high as 15. If you would rather, I do have a full library that I am revising. Give me a week and it should be done.
Develop yourself to an age of 10 to 20 years post gauntlet. The amount of vis you have to work with is, say, 10 pawns; plus an additional 4 pawns for every year short of the full 20 that you develop yourself. So, for example, you develop to 16 years post gauntlet, you have 26 pawns of vis to play with at first (10 + (4 x 4).
As a further note, keeping in the spirit of troupe style play, all of my creations are flexible. I have stats for the covenant, but I am willing to switch up some of the boons & hooks and negotiate a play contract we all enjoy. I will post an aridged covenant write up tomorrow
On average, how many seasons should we lose to a mystery initiation? I'd say 2, one in service to the cult, the other gaining the mystery (even for those initiations who don't require a lost season), but you may have other preferences.
40 XPs per year is a lot, that's great
Wonderful. I'll be very busy for the next four days or so, but I'll start crunching some numbers soon. As I understand it, our options for character creation are either:
A) "Extremely Detailed Character Creation" as described on in the sidebar of ArM5 p.33, using the library you're working on and the vis resources you've listed above, possibly with information about available lab space and the like forthcoming.
B) A variant of "detailed character creation" using the rules described above - different XP allotments, accounting for vis, and accounting for virtues that affect learning (Book Learner etc).
The first is my preference, though it could take longer because I'm even more liable than usual to make accounting errors.
More questions forthcoming. I'm considering an idea for a character that I may PM you about soon.
Sometimes it only takes one season, but even if it is two, you still get exposure or adventure experience for the season you performed service to the cult. And I am not going to be really sticky about what you can and can't do. At the most, I will make you write something to explain your history.
I will burn midnight oil and finish that library as quick as I can
As far as history goes, use as little or as much as you like. For example, if you want to include the events of Las Navas de Tolosa in your background, great! If you don't know or don't care, don't worry about it. The covenant is situated in such a way that you can be as isolated from or as participatory in the outside world as you desire.
You might have been a member of Andorra all along, you may have just joined, or maybe you joined a few years ago. The choice is yours.
One final note, if you want to have been a member of the Knights of Seneca since Gauntlet, you should choose the Strong Parens Virtue and the Mentor Flaw. If you want to have joined them at a later point, no new virtue or flaw is needed. If you could care less, then don't even worry about it.
I have a friend who joined the Slieve League game that never got started. He might be interested to join too. His sn is ginolard in case he decides to post his own interest in the near future.