Ah, at 12 cubic paces that's edging into +2 size, though +1 size may do, especially since such stones are not usually perfect rectangular prisms. I definitely won't have anything to start. I was thinking about being able to fly a boat, but that would be a ways off. And I'm looking at shrinking stuff, but probably not over a Base Individual.
I can still switch to the beekeeping Mercere - I am pretty sure that I can make the bee topic sufficiently Irish. That way I can stay away from mentem completely (and leave it to callen and bessoni). It wouldn't hurt to have a corpus capable magus.
I've also explained the virtues in my character's thread and would love to get a feedback on whether the learned orr the lusty bard is the better concept.
Honestly, arts overlapping is fine. After all, two people can both have the same art and do wildly different things. That, and it's not like we're all one big adventuring party and going off to do things together. So I see no reason to change concepts?
And I do believe @Vortigern was looking to go in on Corpus given his focus on Human Health, no?
Will take a look later for sure!
As I see discussions around this occurring, just a few notes (for some) and reminders (for others) on Leah's background:
-The senior hoplite that brought Leah into that group is a Tytalus magus.
-The member of Leah's Sept to whom she is most closely connected is a Cirulus Ruber maga, and she was essentially an apprentice at Circulus Ruber (though I recall there are siginficant differences in the way that Bjornaer are taught and tested)
-Leah's mother is a Coill Tri witch who still lives in Connacht
-Leah personally has strong feelings about Connacht (the place of her birth) but will certainly enforce the agreement made with them (as befitting her profession)
-This may not be common knowledge, but she plans to look for an apprentice from Connacht during the 1221 Tribunal (not written in stone, certainly).
Again, apologies for the slow import of stuff for this character. My workload (for my real-life job) is heavy today/tomorrow and then I'm traveling again. I'll try to set aside some time when I can to give everyone more background. But I'm visiting family that I generally get to see only once or twice a year through mid-July, which is going to take priority on my time/attention.
Along the lines of being hoplites, we have no years out of gauntlet, correct?
As it well should! No worries at all friend, we've got a lot of work to do before we get things rolling, so don't stress it in the slightest.
For everyone's sanity and ease of character creation, no. That said, there can and will certainly be times where we say, okay, we've moving forward six month, or even a year.
Thanks. I just wanted to make sure since it was there before but it wasn't a house rule that had been dropped.
Yes, no Post Gauntlet time. Purely to simplify character creation and get us all out of the gate and going quickly. One hopes. (But this is Ars Magica...)
Although I like the idea of the parens not having the right spells for the apprentice, I'm now wondering if I like how things look as a result. I'm going to mess around and see if I can start more wood-focused. I'll see if I can manage transporting the cathach.
Oh, an old question I should ask again. Pagan isn't a question, but I've been going back and forth on being in the Cult of Mercury. As before, I'm interested in Adaptive Casting and Stalwart Casting. If they're not generally available, I'll definitely go with the Cult of Mercury. Before it was said they were generally available. I'm fine either way, but I figured I should ask again: are they generally available? Thanks.
I think I have a greater appreciation for different factions having select magical knowledge these days. So part of me leans towards embracing the differences. And ... I also tend to like Cult of Mercury anyway, so perhaps there is bias there. (Rafael is frowning I'm sure.)
On the one hand the more common everything is the more the distinctions between the factions/cults in the magical world become at best semantic. On the other ... the Cult of Mercury as described has the vast majority of all spell mastery abilities that are even described in the game. So ... I really do see both sides here.
I'm curious how people feel about this one?
I can go either way, but I've got skin in the game.
Personally, I like keeping some of the Mastery options tied to the cult. Ceremonial Casting has already been stated to be known much more broadly, so I like that one out. Adaptive Casting was originally automatic for everyone (this can be seen in books before HoH:TL), and only became something when the actual option was written; that means everyone else suddenly got more restricted with it, which I don't like, so I prefer Adaptive Casting being generally available. Meanwhile, there are very few non-Mercurian options that are ever worth taking with Rituals, so I like to move a few others out, specifically Lab Mastery and Stalwart Casting. With those four broadly out and the rest (Disguised Casting, Learn from Mistakes) only in the cult, it make the cult not so necessary for so many builds while still having some special hidden stuff.
I for one highly dislike locking mastery abilities behind cult memberships. So I'm with @callen on this one.
What about harnessed casting. It can be very useful for shapeshifting spells?
Thank you for pointing this out callen! I think the prior version had up to five post-apprenticeship years. On the plus side I know what my near term plans are. On the minus side, I need to do a bunch of math. Spreadsheets to the rescue!
Ya, I figured there is no way we're close to being Hoplites yet. 
Why very useful? Hermetic magic allows you to end shapeshifting spells already. I may be missing something.
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Haha. I have nothing against them, as long I'm not the one running the game. I just don't love them enough to do them justice when I'm behind the screen.
I like mastery abilities behind cults/groups, finding it a shame that we don't have more exemples of that (from the top of my head I can only recall the Cult of Mercury and Acute Sense from House Guernicus). But I don't want to rain in anyone's parade, and I'm not going to design my character around cults or mastery options either way, so my opinion shouldn't hold much weight.
I also generally dislike Stalwart Casting because it's a mastery that completely mitigates the risk of casting a spell (no more botch, no more fatigue lost). It's a mater of game design. But again, not going to impact me, so my personal opinion should be of limited influence.
Yes, very much so callen. In the original history I devised, Leah was very much a hoplite-in-training (hoplite hopeful? I like that alliteration better) at this point in her life. The reference to math has to do with a lot of things, as the Bjornaer have a Gathering of Twelve Years cycle that also comes into play. The most recent Gathering of Twelve Years took place in 1215. This means that Bjornaer would have considered her full maga at that point, but Hermetic Law would not (at least that's my understanding of everything - everyone can please feel free to point out any flaws in my understanding). This actually works out okay, as it would mean that Leah probably would have settled down in Circulus Ruber in 1215. Other magi (outside Bjornaer) in that covenant would have continued to treat her as an apprentice.
You still roll to cast though, unless I'm entirely misremembering it? It's just about helping mitigate fatigue loss. So you can still botch away.
But point taken.
Honestly, I'm not particularly in love with most of them myself. But when initiations are almost entirely locked behind them, and initiations are a major method of character advancement...
This actually gets back to a discussion that @Vortigern and I have had many times of the years about how the non-Mystery Cult houses really get the short end of the stick. For example, the various Flambeau combat schools can and should have their own initiation scripts etc. But I digress?