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.
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.
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."
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.
You are correct. Looks like I added a second point of Confidence between 1226 and 1228. The only thing I can figure out is that I went to add a Confidence Point, and increased the wrong total. Looking back at old posts, it looks like over the past couple of years, she's gained 2 Confidence points, and spent 1 (to convince Gregorius to hire whatshisname, so she should have 19 (not counting the 5 that she's spent this season).
[Did she spend a Confidence Point in assessing Symeon?]
This is difficult: if she's won over Chryse, I'm not sure she needs to give her a second token, since she's kind of a hot mess. I would think the fact that she hasn't yet had a chance to learn Latin/Greek or Artes Liberales would make her less desirable.
If one token is enough for Chryse, that means Viola could take a flyer on Symeon, but then what happens if she gets both? I can see people finding that irritating, esp. for a Latin-speaking maga with questionable communications skills. But would the tribunal really award two apprentices to one maga, or would winning one apprentice disqualify a maga from competing from others?
And aside from the mommy issues, does Viola have any other insight into Chryse's personality, esp. on the issues of creativity or her potential as a student?
Yes. Viola's not so much unable to tell what he's thinking, as aware that he's not sure yet.
You can end up with two apprentices.
Viola doesn't really have a good feel for her creative potential - she's clearly not the sort of person who tries to channel their misery into Art, but that hardly rules out her having some talent once she's more relaxed. She doesn't seem massively dextrous or well spoken, (she''s not notably bad at those things either, but probably not great-artist level). Inventive Genius...hard to tell, really. Viola could possibly teach that, depending on how many other Hermetic virtues she had and whether she was prepared to inflict flaws to make the new virtue take easier.
As far as her potential as a student goes otherwise...given her ancestry, it wouldn't surprise Viola if she were good at Herbam in some fashion, although that's not guaranteed. The loss of control of hair is slightly worrying; Turbulances in children her age are pretty common, but it could also be an indication that she's especially prone to them. That's something she'd grow out of eventually, but would probably correlate with an increased risk of Twilight Prone if steps weren't taken to prevent it.
If Catella heard the inaudible thing, she gives no sign of it. Instead she turns to the impatiently waiting Guillermo, and says:
"Guillermo, my apprentice has the blood of your Founder. I believe it would be in her best interests to be trained in your House; will you therefore accept her from me as your apprentice?"
Timaios makes an additional note. "If anyone asks, I know to whom to direct them. Good fortune to you all," he says as he makes a note of the change of circumstances.
"Will you be wanting to interview any of the other prospective apprentices?"
Wouldn't Aquam be a strong possibility for the child of a sea nymph?
So here's Viola's calculus: Chryse is appealing, and almost certainly available, but she's a wild card; perhaps most importantly, Viola is concerned that another Merinita might lead her down a dangerous path. Symeon may or may not choose to follow Viola, but his personality and aptitudes seems very much what Viola is looking for, and there's a decent chance he has some talent at poetry. He might also possess faerie blood or the equivalent--in fact, Viola is wondering if the responsible parties are completely sure that he's human, given the circumstances under which he was found.
"The magic you'll learn as an apprentice is important. You also need to remember that you'll spend 14 years with your master--and your master can do almost anything with you. Training an apprentice is a lot of work, and I don't understand why someone would give up all that lab and study time to spend on someone they only abuse. You should choose an apprentice because you want to help the apprentice become a good magus. But, a lot of magi abuse apprentices anyway. Each magus you talk to, watch how he or she treats the shield grogs and servants, and other people who can't blast her to bits if they get angry."
That would be the logical approach:
Arts Liberales 3 + 1 (specialization in logic) -2 Com + stress die 8 + Confidence Point 3 = 13
[strike]"Not right now, but thank-you, Timaios," responds Catella. She goes to leave with the rest of the party, the small girl following behind her new parens.[/strike]
[Edit: I'm going to retcon this in a future post.]
No - magi have privacy for the interviews (or "interviews"). Timaios knows, and the Redcaps doing the administration will know. Presumably at least a few people will notice that the girl isn't one of those presented at the tribunal later or notice them together on Delos, but without knowing the details.