The original build is several posts up in the thread. I am just doing final formatting etc. for inclusion in the Vorsutus thread. It is Nithyn's build to play as the companion tier familiar of Vorsutus. To my understanding it is built against a Might 15 base, modified by size/inferiorities, but I'll let him speak for himself regarding the design.
Yup yup!
So he's a raven, which felt fitting for our Norse friend. And yeah, I had the bulk of this posted about a week or so ago just to solicit feedback from folks. But I was feeling lazy and asked Vort to do the formatting for me, hence the post.
And yeah, Might 15 base, +4 due to his size, and then the -4 due to the inferiorities. Wanted to keep him right at 15 as that's what I had seen some other folks spitballing for their familiars.
I find the labelling of the Area Lores a bit strange. Tribunals are political entities of the Order of Hermes, not really geographical areas. Would a magical animal be concerned with that? Maybe something a bit closer to geographical areas would be more likely? I understand that the point is to give it a familiarity with regiones covering a very wide area. But are these well-defined areas from its viewpoint?
BTW, why is it so interested in regiones? What was its goals before it became a familiar? Was it interested in humans in any way? If not, than why was it able to talk? If it was, then why doesn't it have some sort of social skills? 
(I'm assuming those are its stats before it is bound as a familiar.)
The bird as I described it in my background was responsible for sneaking/breaking into the regione containing the Cult Temple of Cumae and eating (undefined but implied, a lot) their vis. In general I see that as something it has done quite a bit of before becoming a familiar. It has Regio Network, InVi sight, and ReAn(Vi) teleport especially to facilitate this sort of ability to ingress/egress magical places. And yes the intent was to give it lore covering the areas that it knows, especially as regards Regiones.
My intent with the "Tribunal" labelling is just using it as the geographic area, roughly. (I took the xp allocated in general to area lores in the original build and specifically allocated them, which is ... more or less the total of my involvement with the build beyond giving discussing a concept with Nithyn) I mean ... over time I won't say I wouldn't like it to build up area lores that are also genuinely hermetic as well as geographic and would prefer xp spent now not be wasted in later duplication. But it isn't a hard facet of the build by any means. If you would prefer I could change them to something else? Is there a functional difference in your opinion? Would you recommend alternatives you would find valid?
I think before becoming a familiar I see it as operating very much as the aforementioned magical thief/vis eater, and compulsively spying and studying people/things. Especially magical things, but not only magical things. I think it both travelled a lot/widely, studying people/things, and stole/ate a lot of vis to grow and prevent degradation etc. Mentally I have it categorized as a bird descended from a flock sacred to Apollo kept by the ancient Cults in Italy. Possibly the Temple at Cumae, but possibly from somewhere else. I certainly haven't specified anything. I've kind of syncretized it with concepts of ravens being sacred to Apollo and to Odin, and blended the ideas together a bit in in my conception. So I have a mental image of the sacred oracle/psychopomp bird flying out to be the eyes/ears of Apollo/Odin (ahem, perhaps someone a bit less illustrious than those). (Described a bit in previous posts.)
The build aspects beyond that I'll leave to the designer/player!
If the rest of the Troupe is in agreement on this point (that we are making Igor Rastvan from Roznov is the senior priest of the Cult of Mercury in the Rhine) then that would give Vorsutus, and thus the Covenant, a contact in Roznov re: Tribunal Sponsorship.
I'll update the sponsorship tracker.
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Sounds good to me. Also, having a more senior magus give him the occasional task, to help the Cult, would be a nice way to give him stories. More stories.
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As an aside, don't forget that we're showing up at the covenant in the summer, so you should advance through Spring. Not sure what your travel plans were mind you, but hey, figured I'd mention it.
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I thought of some possibilities, but couldn't find ones that would cover such a wide territory, since the three tribunals combined cover a large swath of medieval Europe.
Which may actually be a possibility. Consolidate them all into a single Area Lore: Europe with a score of 5, with a specialty in magical regiones.
One of the issues with covering wide territories with an Aera Lore is that the knowledge ends up much more shallow. If Skepsi was mostly focused on the regiones, there might be a way around that -- define it as Area Lore: European Magical Sites (regiones). That would provide much more depth of knowledge of such sites, while leaving things mundane in the region out. Would make sense for the character, I think.
What do you think?
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As the chap playing the character, I think it's a great solution. How about you Vort?
Not only do I like it, I think it is probably substantively more effective for the intended purpose in the build. I'll edit it into the sheet/build momentarily.
If I remember correctly the (our) plan was to have taken a portal from the Roman Tribunal (likely Harco) to Durenmar, and then settle in there for a moment before making our way to Tugurium.
I think I'll allocate that as follows.
Vorsutus: +13xp in Ancient Greek (Com 2 + Teaching 5 + 3 + 3 bonus)
Skepsi: +14xp in Artes Liberales (Com 2 + Teaching 5 + Specialty + 3 + 3 bonus)
To reflect, generally speaking, either reading (possibly for Vorsutus) or hiring a solid teacher for them both for the season for them both. Meanwhile both will have tried to get basically familiar with the Covenant itself while there, though primarily occupied with their other projects. Vorsutus in particular may have attempted to make contact with Phillipus Niger if possible, or someone else from the Ash Guild if not, to make an initial foray at building a connection towards joining the Gild.
I haven't gone through to check this. I caught that there was an error but wasn't confident it was the only one. The chronology is off in that it doesn't line up with exactly when our characters are coming into the game because I based it on the starting year of the saga and not the current year of the saga (my mistake) and then also timed the siege of Constantinople I thought correctly ... so shifting the years wasn't an easy fix. I think. But I could be wrong. I haven't really dug in to try and figure out how to fix that.
There is nothing that prevents the characters from showing up in Spring. Or whatever season you prefer. We could even retcon them arriving earlier. So no need to account for an extra season "waiting" somewhere before arriving.
It's not as if all magi passed their Gauntlet at exactly the end of winter. That can happen throughout the year.
I would prefer that Alba arrive at Tugurium in spring, for example 
PD: in which year exactly Clusius sent the letters to search magis? 1205?
He started sending out an initial wave of letters in early 1204. He may have sent a second wave at any time after that.
Your character may have been late in their awareness of them, or took some time to decide that the offer was interesting, or reacted to a later wave of letters. Or you may have exchanged several rounds of letters during those 2 years.
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We were kinda doing that whole fighting for our lives bit during early 1204, so it makes sense for them to get the later round of letters.
Belisarius is going to end up in Durenmar a touch ahead of you, but other than that, yeah, we're all good on that front.
I'm... not sure I'm following you. Isn't it just a matter of rewritting this
to this?
1202 - Year 8 Post Gauntlet
1203 - Year 9 Post Gauntlet
1204 - Year 10 Post Gauntlet
1205 - Year 11 Post Gauntlet (Partial)
But that's a minor issue. I raised it just to make sure we were all in the same page regarding the date of Vorsutus arrival at Rhine/Tugurium.
Regarding Year 11, how is Vorsutus arranging a SQ 15 for Classical Greek and another SQ 15 for Artes Liberales? Also, did he spend any vis at all to go from Harco to Durenmar by Portal (it wasn't mentioned)?
Regarding Ash gild, since you are going to stay at least one season in Durenmar, it's also an opportunity to get acquainted with Phillipus Niger. =]
I am not sure that it is as easy as that because some events in the specific years may be specifically/accurately time even though the overall sequence is off. But regardless I think the general flow of his narrative and entry is still clear.
I figure he hired instructors for them both while waiting for Belisarius to be ready to depart there. The 15 was the nominal average per season over the overall yearly rate. As for portal usage, I presume he would have ICly spent vis there, but I didn't think that was meaningful to track prior to entering play. It is really just narrative about how he arrives in the area.
That is certainly the plan. I wish Skepsi didn't need to learn to read as I'd like to have him spend some time familiarizing himself with Durenmar itself! 8P
But then, the narrative advance does need to be justified, doesn't it? Suppose Vorsutus don't want (or can't) pay for using the portals. This means either a long and dangerous journey through the Alps or a long and dangerous journey by sea. Either of them likely to deny him the study season.
15 is not quite the nominal average, we have been through this discussion already. 45xp is the total yearly allowance, but not w/o taking into account "real life" demands or razoability. For example, Durenmar holds the largest known library. In this case, would Durenmar even have an available teacher instead of simply saying "we have a book on that" (and requesting Vorsutus to contribute/pay for access)? And wouldn't hiring the teacher, if available, be in the same order of price as consulting the library (if no, why not)? For Artes Liberales yes, they might have someone to teach... but again, not necessarily available at the moment, neither necessarily at a reasonable price.
Note that I'm not trying to impose something like "you can't find a teacher in Durenmar because they have books". I'm trying to frame and contextualize the narrative justifications and implications of whatever Vorsutus does while in Durenmar.
I think a question regarding teacher SQ and availability was recently asked by... someone. But I'm failing to locate it at the moment. I'll keep looking.
Here:
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