"Well, then, we shall be glad to have you," smiles Gregorius.
The street rat can be quietly stubborn - he won't argue with you or defy you to your face, but sometimes he quietly goes away and ignores what you said.
Eosphoros sighs slightly when Viola says she wants to talk to all of the apprentices, but brings you through to another room and starts to give you a summary of the process.
"I'll be bringing the children through covered by my Parma so they're not scared off by your Gift. If you're interested in taking a child as your apprentice, give them one or more tokens. At the start of the tribunal, each child will choose a master or mistress from amongst those that gave them tokens."
"There are a few rules governing the interviews. In particular, whilst you're allowed to cast spells to measure children's capabilities, it's forbidden to cast anything to influence a child's choice. All spells should be cast with the Technique and Form clearly apparent."
Once he's answered any questions Viola has, he goes away, and shortly reappears with the first of the children. Some of Viola's interviews go more smoothly than others - in particular, she finds that several of the children don't have enough Latin to carry out a conversation smoothly, so her own lack of greek means she is reliant of Eosphoros to translate.
The Doctor's Child
He appears to be around 10, and speaks Latin competently, as well as being able to read and write. He enjoys his lessons, although apparently he found his father's profession a bit "icky" - reading about humoral theory fine, clearing up after sick patients less so. The fae he doesn't have much direct experience with - most of his knowledge is of the sort of nursery terror parents threaten disobedient children with - but he wasn't naughty enough for them to come for him.
The Street Rat
Viola can't seen any obvious markings of his goblin ancestry on him - indeed, there is nothing particularly distinguising about his appearence at all, as far as Viola can tell. He sits quietly without fidgeting whilst Viola speaks with him (although he often has to look to Eosphoros for a translation whenever Viola uses unusual words or speaks too quickly), and when he moves there's a neatness and economy to his movements. Viola suspects he could be quite good at tasks requiring delicacy of touch - although art isn't something he's had much exposure to to in the past. He does like coming up with new little sleight of hand routines, though, and shows one off to Viola.
The Nereid's Daughter
By contrast, the marks of her mother are clearly visible on her - Viola realises after a few minutes that the flowers in her hair are actually growing there rather than merely a garland. Viola thinks she'd be quite pretty if she was more vivacious, but her perpetually closed-in expression detracts from this considerably. She doesn't speak any Latin, so Viola is entirely reliant upon Eosphoros to translate - but from what she can tell, her attitudes to the fae almost entirely revolve around her mother, which is a distressing topic to her. Distressing enough, in fact, that her hair starts to thrash violently about, apparently at random, until she manages to regain control over it. Overall, Viola's left confused as to whether she never wants to see her mother again, wants to hunt her down and punish her for what she did, or hunt her down and steal her veil so she can go back to being her mother again.
The Cycladian Boy
There's something slightly odd about the way he's built, although Viola struggles a little to work out exactly what it is. It's not any type of strong faerie blood she's familiar with. Eventually she thinks she's cracked it, at least in part - his flesh isn't deforming to pressure to quite the extent she'd expect.
He seems to be fascinated by the sea - Viola's questions about fae rapidly turn into a conversation about sea monsters, and whilst his academic reports indicate that he'll work solidly enough whilst indoors, it's clear he really wants to be outside, by or on the sea. Viola can't detect any particular creative talent in him, although she thinks he'd try his best if that was what he was asked for.
The Smyrnan
He's a lively, slender boy, who uses the interview to ask Viola several questions about her own magic and what she'd be training him to do as his mistress. He's interested in the fae - and magical beings - and angels and saints - and sort of in demons, but not too interested, obviously, because that never ends well. He enjoys finding things out, and then putting the pieces together to make new things - whether that's by reading them in a book, by talking to them or going out and finding them out himself he's not too fussed.
The Nun
She's in her teens, and her shadow appears to be deeper than it should be. She speaks Latin passably well, but is clearly nervous throughout the interview. She's used to quiet contemplation and work indoors, but doesn't have any creative talents that Viola can detect.
She's not actually a nun, being too young to have taken her vows; however, she had been living in the nunnery with the intention of taking them when she grew up - partly to escape the increasing tide of ghosts who were troubling her, but also out of genuine devotion. She's troubled by pagan dead, who she wants to help - but fears that they have squandered the chance they had in life now, and the only place she can move them on to is hell. She knows she needs help, and is hoping that by the grace of god, one of the magi here can provide it.
The fae are outside her area of concern, really, except in so much as it is possible they make up some of the ghosts troubling her.
The Wise-woman's Boy
He already appears to have a good basic grounding on faeries (and also magical creatures) from his mother, largely focussed upon the sort of creatures that tend to interact with greek villages. He knows how to remain on good terms with a stoicheion and how to identify dangerous plane trees and ward against the vengeance of their kalotyche. Viola thinks he views this as part of his "job", however; he has no particular passion towards the fae.
His work with his mother has involved more practical on-the-job training than sit-down lessons, although he doesn't seem averse to the latter.
Gregorius, when questioned, isn't terribly helpful; he knows the Tremere Exarch has a tendency to train apprentices more or less constantly, and also that he has a reputation for taking otherwise unwanted apprentices (even on occasion when he already had another one), but beyond that he doesn't know the magi of the tribunal much better than Viola does.
Timaios nods and absorbs the Redcap's directions. "I understand," he says. "I'll do my best to keep the children protected and make sure that their best interests are observed in the apprenticeship process."
He takes the opportunity to introduce himself to each of the children individually, and seems to be reasonably well-spoken and comforting while doing so.
"I'm here to make sure that your introductions go well, and to protect you from anyone trying to do bad things to you," he notes to the children. "If someone tries to use magic on you, or hurt you, or offers to give you gifts in exchange for saying what you tell them, you need to let me know. It's against our laws for someone to say that they will pay you or give you something special in exchange for telling us that you want to be their apprentice - and it can get people into trouble, so make sure to let me know if anyone does that. I'll try to make sure that you find people to help teach you."
[Is that the (modified) system we agreed on?]
Oh...and I don't think we ever decided how many tokens Viola has.
Scott
Then we don't have to do that--Viola is mostly just trying to be polite.
What do you mean, "back to being her mother again"?
I think it's between the Nereid's daughter and the Smyrnan, though I'm not sure how many tokens Viola has. and therefore whether a backup is possible.
I don't think she's a suitable apprentice for Viola, but Viola passes the name of her filius, Theodolphus, to the girl, and suggests that, as a priest, he might be able to provide her counsel on the competing obligations of faith and Hermetic magic. Viola also promises to send Theodolphus the girl's way, once she's apprenticed. (Would Theodolphus be at the tribunal? Heck, he might even be looking for an apprentice....)
Scott
The modifications we were discussing were largely to do with the distribution after the the apprentice has declared their choice of master of the tokens from potential masters between the apprentice and the original finder. I was glossing over it deliberately in that post (as it's not immediately important to Timeaus, and I couldn't remember what we'd decided without searching for it).
Going back and rereading (approx from here: an Ars Magica Index ?), we never completely firmed it down, but I think something like:
- The apprentice gets the number of tokens the master they chose offered.
- The finder gets a number of tokens equal to the highest bid from a master not chosen by the apprentice, subject to a minimum of one.
That's not exactly your original proposal (as there were a few issues pointed out with it), but incorporates the idea of rewarding finders more for better apprentices. It does leave outstanding the question of under what circumstances the bidding magi get their tokens back - presumably not if they were successful, but do they if "their" tokens get allocated to the finder? Saying they don't feels like it's going to be doubly nasty to the bidding magi - you just lost out on the apprentice and you lose your tokens, but saying they do feels like it opens to the door to collusion between the finder and bidders ("Say, Horribilis of Tytalus, why don't you bid 20 tokens on that apprentice you were terrorising whilst we were waiting for the Redcap to come and pick her up after I found her. There's no way she's going to pick you, and I'll give you some of the tokens!") I suppose one way to "lessen" the pain of the first option is to decide you always lost the tokens you bid, so it doesn't smart extra when you just lost out, but I'm not sure if that's an improvement.
I think we decided two.
On the subject of tokens you need to decide how many Wishbone has as a Politis of the tribunal by virtue of being trained here.
If I understand hermetic law correctly, apprentices are possessions of their masters. They can't earn tokens (except for their masters).
I agree apprentices can't earn tokens during apprenticeship but can they do keep the tokens they are those given by their parens on selection.
Timaeus finds his Gentle Gift helps him a lot - the children aren't terrified of him specifically - but they all know the rest of their lives are going to be determined by the next few days. Some are trying to be on their best behaviour, but others are rather less so. One child, Ioannes, complains to Timaeus that another, Leo, "did that thing with his eyes, and told me I had to say I wanted to be a Tytalus magus". The notes on Leo do say he has Entrancement, although it doesn't sound like it was particularly successful in this case...
Timeaus has just finished dealing with that (how does he do so?), when Eosphoros pops his head in and tells him that he's needed - a new group of magi have just come in, and he's still dealing with another maga.
Leaving the children in the care of one of the other guardians, he follows Eosphoros to where three magi are waiting.
The first he probably recognises anyway (Int + OoH vs EF 6), but in any case introduces himself as Leontius of Mercere. If he makes the roll, Timaeus knows he's the current logothete (basically, chief administrator for the tribunal). With him is another polites who introduces herself as Catella of Bonisagus (Int + OoH vs EF 9), and a third apparently from outside the tribunal named Guillermo of Mercere (Int + OoH vs EF 15). This last magus says brusquely "We're here for Rosanna".
Timaeus recognises the name as that of the daughter of the Redcap.
Behaving like her mother should, rather than trying to murder her.
Two tokens, so she could give them one each - but that does increase the risk of not ending up with either of them. Or, come to that, of accidentally ending up with two apprentices.
How does she respond to the Smyrnan's questions to her?
Make a Pre + Charm roll for how Viola comes across to each of the two apprentices, and also a Per + Folk Ken roll for how she thinks they're responding to her. You can of course spend confidence points if you want to.
Edit to add: According to Viola's history, Theodolphus was gauntletted only 9 years ago, in 1219. That seems a bit early to be taking an apprentice himself, unless doing so was something he was very focussed upon.
Yeah, I searched for a few minutes but couldn't find it. Thank you for digging it out.
I'm good with losing bidders getting their tokens back, and the finders being paid by the Tribunal (presumably through newly created "fiat tokens"). If the bidding mage are required to give the tokens to the apprentices (or to their keepers), and not get them back until the apprentices are assigned, that restricts the ability to make frivolous bids. There are a lot of things in Hermetic society that are (more or less purposely) left open to abuse, with the only real (if highly political) check being a Hermetic trial. That being said, one simple way to limit the attractiveness of the ploy you describe is to make the pay equal to the lesser of the winning magus's bid and the highest alternative bid.
That one I did find--specifically, a "couple". Two should work, unless multi-token bids are the norm.
Scott
I'm not sure exactly how it works, but the canon states that apprentices do get tokens out of the deal. Whether they can earn new ones we can discuss if it becomes important, but I'm willing to bet that one rule of the Tribunal is that masters can't take those tokens from their apprentices.
Scott
Viola can't see where that isn't gonna end badly. She's actually a bit concerned that some faerie-entranced Merinita master is going to encourage this idiotic line of action.
True. Let's see how things proceed. (Mind you, the story potential of trying to manage two very different apprentices at once is hilarious.)
[Will Viola get in trouble for using the quill? She'll only use it if she's certain it's considered kosher.]
"I don't like surprises. Faeries are full of surprises, but only because we don't know them well--we're far more surprising to them than they are to us, and we have to take advantage of that. My magic is flexible; it's not the most powerful, but I can do what I want when I want, in a way that only a handful of other magi can. However, I'm also very careful, because, as a magus, it's your own magic that will kill you in the end. Anything you can do in the safety of the laboratory, where you control everything around you, is far likelier to succeed that casting spells out in the world."
I'm not sure if Charm is Viola's most natural approach--she's probably more likely to try logic (her specialization in Artes Liberales). Her pre-roll total in Charm (which she lacks) is going to be 0 +3 = 3; for using logic, it would probably be 3 + 1 for specialization -2 Com, for a 2; either or both might potentially benefit from the quill, which is why I asked about its legality. Mind you, she's smart enough to know she's charismatic (or at least pretty), and she'll probably try the Charm approach first, but if it's not working, she'll switch to logic--and she'll burn all the Confidence points she can (2 per roll on the Charm and Artes Liberales rolls, which would potentially total to 8 for both children), because this is about as important as things will ever get.
So an initial roll for the Nereid's daughter:
3 + stress die 9 + Confidence 6 = 18, plus maybe something for the quill
Folk Ken:
Folk Ken 1 +2 Per + stress die 5 = 8
(I assume neither of these children qualifies as a peasant--if either does, that's a +1 for specialization.)
Charm for the Smyrnan:
3 + stress die 4 + Confidence 6 = 13 (with, again, a possible bonus for the quill)
Folk Ken:
Folk Ken 1 +2 Per + stress die 2 = 5 (if that's not high enough to be useful, she'll spend a Confidence Point or two here, too).
Probably. It's been so long since I thought about the question that I wasn't sure how old magi normally are before taking apprentices. Viola claimed Theodolphus very early in her career, but she only got away with that because she didn't have to open his Arts.
(Wow, I forgot Theodolphus first master had been a diabolist--that makes putting him in contact with the nunnery girl especially a propros.)
Actually, Viola has something specific to say to the Nereid's daughter, too:
"My father is a faerie. He loves me very much, but he's not human, and humanity is a bond we can't share. Despite all the love between us, there's nothing I can ever do to change that....I understand how difficult it is to have a mother who's not human."
Scott
Timiaos' method of dealing with the potential apprentices' strife is circuitous but complete: He takes aside Leo and explains to him the gravity of this situation.
"Leo, you have a remarkable talent, one that none of the other students possess, and soon you will have many opportunities opened to you. A Hermetic mage can teach you do to more - to use the Gift of magic to change the world in startling ways. But all of that will be lost to you if you do not make a good impression. Trying to use your powers on other people here will shut those doors to you. Not just to be cruel: But because magic can be very dangerous, and a teacher does not want to teach a student who can't be trusted to be safe. Used incorrectly, magic can hurt others, hurt yourself, even kill you. So you need to be careful - do not use your special Gifts unless a magus specifically tells you to do so."
He rejoins the other children and adds, "Children, I am a member of House Guernicus, and a quaesitor - which means my job is to stop troublemakers. Kind of like a magic sheriff. Of course, as a magus, I know spells, too... including a spell that will let me know when you tell a lie. I am hoping that I will not need to use this magic at this Tribunal. I will answer questions and help you as best I can, but in return you need to be respectful of the magi here and do not use your special Gifts unless a magus asks you to show them. I know this is a very frightening place, but even the scariest of the magi here is under oath not to do terrible things to you. If you are frightened or you have questions, you may ask me or another magus for help as long as we are not in the middle of an important demonstration."
[Social rolls: Int + OoH + stress die = 2 + 1 + 0, reroll = 4, no botch. Glad to see that I'm starting the game with a possible botch. Quaesitor who doesn't recognize the logothete of his own Tribunal.]
[Int + OoH + stress = 2 + 1 + 6 = 9, recognizes Catella]
[Int + OoH + stress = 2 + 1 + 9 = 12, fail to recognize Guillermo]
Against all sense, Timaios does not recognize Leontius the logothete. He nods respectfully to Catella and in reply to Guillermo says, "Of course. Just a moment while I fetch the young lady and extend Parma to her."The tokens are only going to be out of play for a couple of days, so that doesn't feel like a major hardship - it restricts your ability to play the game with multiple apprentices at once, but that's about it.
I suppose we can say the last person who tried that got ostracised for it - the tribunal doesn't like people mucking around with its traditions.
Viola doesn't have self-confident, does she? I know she's got over-confident, but am I missing something?
The children both qualify as peasants. Viola think she's probably got the Nereid's daughter (let's call her Chryse) unless someone else really special (or a Bonisagus) comes along, but she's less sure about Symeon (or maybe she isn't, given her overconfidence).
Leo tries to look contrite, but ruins it a bit by muttering "It's not as though any Tytalus would ever have picked him anyway".
Timaios met Catella briefly when his parens wanted to borrow one of the mechnical devices she studies; she's stationed at the covenant of Alexandria, the tribunal's Mercere House.
Once Timaios has fetched Rosanna, Catella looks her over briefly, then says "Rosanna, I exercise my right as a maga Bonisagus to make you a formal offer of training in the Hermetic Arts". She gives the girl a few moments to nod, then says "Good. Follow me, then," nods to Timaios, and starts to leave the room.
At this point, Guillermo reaches out an arm and says "Aren't you going to..."
She frowns at him, and says sharply: "I had been planning to at least leave the building first."
Timaios says to Leo seriously, "You don't have to like him - there are plenty of magi I don't like. For the next few days you just need to avoid him. Once you are an apprentice you'll be on the road to becoming a full magus - and should you reach that goal, you'll have many, many more opportunities, so much that you won't need to worry about him. Unless you both wind up fostered at the same covenant it's unlikely that you'll spend much time around him anyway."
He also takes a little time to speak again with Ioannes.
"You did the right thing by coming to me," he tells the boy. "We can't have bullying here; you need to make your choices of your own free will. I'll keep an eye out for any further trouble. In the meantime, I'd recommend keeping your distance from Leo - he seems to be a hard lad."
Timaios raises an eyebrow slightly at the declaration of the right of Bonisagus, then says, "Of course, let me just make a note so that there are no questions later. You are well within the rights of Bonisagus, maga Catella." He fetches a parchment and pen to note the rather abrupt transaction, murmuring something inaudible about Helvennia.