To discuss the creation of all of Houlio's characters (magus, companion, grogs, familiar, apprentices). This includes the concept, drafts, background, advancement, lab work, etc.
Final versions of the characters will have their own topic.
My magus will take up the Explorer role. I am currently planning on making a character focused on Rego, Mentem, and Imaginem. I generally like to spread my arts around a pretty good deal however, so I will usually tend away from being hyper-specialized. I am tending towards either a Tytalus from Normandy who is really into the promise of all the vis here or a Trianoma from the Rhine who is interested in trying to make sure that conditions here don't spiral out of control and cause issues for the Order as a whole.
How do people find Minor Focus: Spirits? I figure it would be the half of the necromancy major focus that deals with mentem.
It's Major one (per Societates about spiritual Tytali). Ghosts is minor, tho.
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Major Magical Focus with Spirits (HoH:S p.95)
Minor Magical Focus with Ghosts (HoH:MC p.37)
Minor Magical Focus with Spirits/ghosts (HoH:S p.115)
Minor Magical Focus with Commanding spirits (LoH p.49)
Minor Magical Focus with Spirit magic (LoH p.49)
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Spirits aren't always ghosts...so its probably at least as broad as necromancy.
Cool, I'll stick with ghosts then.
Just look at the Spirits section of RoP:M and you will see many types of spirits:
- Airy spirits (florae and fauna, spirits of the elements, genii loci)
- Named Spirits (Theoi, Astra Planeta, Daimons)
- Primal Spirits
- Ghosts
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Daimons are spirits too.
Yes, they are a sub-type of Named Spirits. 
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Ok, I have an idea for a potential Tytalus character. I am thinking of having a character with Weak Parens to represent having ended their apprenticeship early, as per HoH: Societates 83. I was going to pair it with Tormented Master as my character's story flaw as per below. Would it be possible to only have my character go through like 10 years of his apprenticeship? Here's a rough outline of my idea for his backstory below:
He would be born in Brittany with Second Sight alongside his Gift. Early on, there are stories about a boy who can see his dead relatives. Tytalus A will follow up on these rumors, determine that the boy does in fact have the Gift, and offer to sponsor the boy at a nearby cathedral school. This cathedral school has actually been set up by House Tytalus to prepare potential apprentices. The boy's parents readily agree, and the boy spends 4 years learning Latin, Artes Liberales and Athletics as per the usual methods used by House Tytalus.
Near the very end of his studies though, Tytalus B, the rival of A, suddenly moves in, kidnaps the boy, and opens his arts, legally making him Tytalus B's apprentice. Naturally this angers Tytalus A very much, who waits for 10 years before they have an opportunity to catch the apprentice when Tytalus B is out. Tytalus A offers to give the gauntlet to the apprentice early, and they publically lose to the apprentice. Tytalus A proclaims the apprentice to be a full member of the house.
Tytalus B definitely does not recognize this as valid, and they are on the lookout for their former apprentice. Tytalus A is happy to make their rival waste valuable time and resources, and should the new magus manage to actually maintain his independence, then he'll have shown to be a true member of the house anyways.
That does not seem to comform to the Tytalus Gauntlet procedure described on HoH:S p.83, but a few paragraphs before the section you mention.
During a Eristic moot (meaning before other Tytalus magi), "The apprentice passes his Gauntlet if he can make his master accept him as an equal."
This would seem to preclude an apprentice being Gauntleted early without his master's consent. Tytalus A kidnapped the the legal apprentice of Tytalus B (thus he is guilty of theft since an apprentice is property) and has no standing as the apprentice's master before a moot.
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If it's a short apprenticeship you want, murdering your master is wholly accepted by the house. (And instant gauntlet)
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What if Tytalus A disguised himself as Tytalus B and lost on purpose and publically?
B is embarrassed to admit he was duped so keeps it to himself but is privately operating against his previous apprentice...either out of genuine enmity or to force him to prove he deserved to be gauntleted.
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Could I work it out where Tytalus B enters a protracted Twilight, Tytalus A decides to "finish up the apprenticeship", gets maybe a few seasons of lab work, and then intentionally allow the apprentice to pass their gauntlet early?
That's hilarious and beautiful.
I think if I went with this, I'd rather have his parens have faked their own death to avoid punishment. I like the idea of playing a character who kind of knows that he's been over-promoted. I also would like to have some sort of convoluted plot involved.
Currently playing a Tytalus in another game, who murdered her Parens, and instantly passed her gauntlet after 10years apprenticeship, so that would be the easiest way to pass early...
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Possible twist: Someone else murdered his master, but he took credit for it and was Gauntleted early as a result. This is now a Dark Secret, as he fears they'll revoke his status if they realize he lied, or otherwise force him to prove he is a worthy Tytalus (which he has doubts about).
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I might just go full steam ahead and make him a Titanoi then if I go with Arthur's idea, and maybe his parens was killed by something in a summoning went awry. I don't really want to play a character who murdered someone as a child, but I think it would be really fun to play someone who pretended to do so.
If I traded up into a Major Focus in Spirits as the Titanoi description in the Tytalus section of HoH; Societates reads, would we find it acceptable to introduce the extra mystery cult rules down the line for Hermetic Theurgy?