for development discussion of the aforementioned character
My thoughts are this:
-I think an old (35 past gauntlet) researcher could also be the administrator, if they were a Tremere and had the right skills. I'm not sure what those would be, though, other than leadership, and being passably good at Certamen (necessary for Tremere politics moreso than for administration).
-Just in broad terms, thinking about the period of advancement; if during that time she earned her stripes by achieving a broadly useful breakthrough; would that not then give her the political capital to help her make her pet project a House project? One idea I had was that she taught at the Scholomance for a few years (as suggested sometimes happens when Tremere magi are getting ready to take an apprentice), and worked with the folk witch there to develop the Subtle Opening
In terms of proof of concept, my main idea is that she's managed to bring a magic dragon to heel, and slay an infernal one; which proves that her methods work. (Which we can get into the details of later if the broad concept will fly.)
In terms of being able to transform elder magi into dragons, that's her ongoing work, that she probably won't present until she's actually started making discernible progress.
breakthroughs during character creation are not allowed, they are a strictly story event.
the other aspect of this character that is a potential issue is the age, which would ultimately depend on when they started apprenticeship as well as how far past guantlet they were- the "meat" of the overall game begins in 1220 the tribunal opens in 1207, which is clearly a better situation than the opening of previous tribunals. Normally I would be concerned about the character not being overly settled by 1220, but with Tremere you can be involved at nearly any age, they don't exactly have a cushy retirement plan, so for this character concept the age would not be an issue.
Having worked at scholomance is fine but it does not change the paramaters of character creation.
I was planning on going to the end of the researcher range, 35. Though if that's too old to also be administrator then maybe younger.
What kind of achievement would be enough for her to have earned the right to lead such a project?
Which kind of achievement? The breakthroughs in character creation that are not allowed?
Like I have stated elsewhere, the biggest thing will be for the Tremere leadership to be convinced that you are 1) capable of leading the project and 2) will operate it in the best interest of the Tremere in general. Pursuing your own breakthrough is fine, directing resources to try and get house resources into your pet project that have not been approved for your pet project would not be. If the Tremere believe your project would benefit the house then that would certainly count in your favor once the other conditions are met, but given that your project might threaten the pax draconis it isn't likely that it will receive support.
If it's not a project the house would back due to the pax draconis, then it probably doesn't work at all. The idea was to do it for the house, not on her own.
If the house would rather preserve the Pax Draconis than take a shot at gaining dominion over them, the character doesn't make sense and I will go back to the drawing board. If she would be in actual defiance of the House doctrine that's not the character I had in mind or want to play.
It wouldn't be in violation of house doctrine, it would be a concern to balance against the potential gains. At best they will turn a blind eye to it in hopes you come up with something but willing to sacrifice you to keep the peace if necessary.
I think I'm going to change my focus somewhat; she will be developing techniques for combat against powerful magical creatures; not so much research-focused. (and submitting her as the Tremere director - at gauntlet first, of course).
Are the Tremere biased against magi with magic blood that makes it difficult for them to be around normal mundanes? ie Dragon Blood but the type from ROP:M that gives draconic characteristic like wings and horns? Or would I have to take the version from Against the Dark anyway?
If the character is orriginally from outside the tribunal they can take the regular version of mythic blood. The Tremere are not biased against such mag but they are pragmatic and such a character will tend to be kept away from mundanes with exceptions for places like scholomance.
Which works fine in a secretive research Oppidae, right?
yes