After asking around and being pointed in the direction of Gregorius and Castra Nova he will watch and when he appears to be free Wishbone will approach him asking "I understand you allow magi to stay at your covenant? I need a new home now I am gauntleted, so what say you? Oh, I suppose I should have said first, I am Wishbone of Flambau of the founders school"
Gregorius looks slightly bemused at Wishbone' name, but nonetheless smiles pleasantly. "Good to meet you, sodalis. Our covenant was founded by the tribunal with the purpose of hosting visitors, so you are most welcome to stay with us - although I must warn you of - " he pauses, and looks at Wishbone slightly amusedly "or, as a Flambeau of the founder, possibly entice you with - the fact that it is unlikely to be the safest of locations. A previous covenant at our location was destroyed by magically backed raiders, and the same tribe recently held one of our magi captive until we could rescue her."
"Ah - I should introduce you to the local villagers warriors, then. They have agreed to fight alongside us, subject to certain conditions, but I had been wondering how to integrate them given I cannot myself ride at all." He pauses, then looks at her hopefully. "I don't suppose you have the Gentle Gift?"
While all of this is going on, Timaios is kept busy fetching refreshments for magi who are interviewing the prospective apprentices. He hands wine or beer out, as requested, but also pays keen attention to the putative apprentices themselves. While he is obviously too young to take on such duty at this time, he seems interested in the process.
Asena replies: "I wish I had the full Gentle gift. But I am blessed insofar as God's lesser creatures do not view me with suspicion. And I can make it possible for you to learn how to ride. Magic can override the instincts of a horse, so it will accept any Gifted person."
The orders enemies are my enemies and I look forward to meeting them on the field of battle. Castra Nova indeed seems the right place for me. comes Wishbones reply.
The Redcap organising the process laughs slightly when Timaios suggests this. "I know the guardians must have seemed terribly old and important what you went through this as before your own apprenticeship, but they were much the same age as you are now: at their first or second tribunal. Come on now - we've got servants who can do such work - you'll be far more useful doing what only magi can do."
Timaios inclines his head to the Redcap and says, "I'll trust your experience in this regard. Is there anything in particular that I should know... ?"
There are notes on each of the children," the Redcap advises Timaeus. "You'll have your own copy but I advise you to familiarise yourself with them before the magi arrive."
"As far as the process goes; any polites with no shards can interview the children, and give them one or more token. At the start of the tribunal, each child then announces in front of the tribunal which magus out of the ones that have offered them tokens they have chosen as their master. Magi Bonisagi can sidestep this process and just take a child, although it's polite for them to give a child a token or so anyway."
"Your key job is to make sure the children can make their own choices without due influence. The key part of this is covering the children with your Parma whenever they're in contact with the magi, so that their Gifts don't scare them off; however, occasionally people try funny business with Mentem spells and the like. That's a low crime, but magi can get quite competitive sometimes - you should make sure you or one of your fellow guardians are with the children whenever they're around a magus, and watch out for Familiars sneaking in. That said, they are allowed to cast spells on the children to discover their capabilities - as long as it's along the lines of "Does this child have any physical defects" or "Do they actually have the Gift, or just a Magical Air?" He grimaces slightly as he says that last one. "Nothing inclining them to look favourably upon the magus or outright mind-control, or even what would be an effective bribe."
"You'll also need to deal with the children themselves. Unfortunately putting a dozen Gifted children in a building together in a state of nervous tension doesn't always go smoothly, and there aren't enough of you to keep them all covered with your Parma at all times."
Gregorius shakes his head. "That's actually not my main problem - I have the Gentle Gift myself. I'm trained as a scout, and it's useful for moving inconspicuously. My big problem is time - I simply don't have enough of it right now to spend a year learning how to ride competently. My House's doctrine tends to frown on mounts, as well - it's too easy to kill someone's mount out from under them at a critical time, unless it has magic resistance of its own,and extending your Parma over it is going to weaken your own protection.
"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.