Agree, especially since Writing is Com-based (I would think painting would be along the same lines).
Okay, that part's easy then.
I still have not found any rules for character generation. How many years post-gauntlet should he be? Which system of PG advancement should I use?
Glancing at the HoH:MC, I also find the Arcardian Mysteries leading to Becoming to fit the concept of "Muse of Books," though my experience thus far with PbPs is that it's unlikely the campaign would get that far into the future. But I think adding this sort of Merinita to the saga should fit well. Now I just need to figure out how to get all these pieces to fit together...
Do it as a merinita, yes!
It good from time to time to try something new, and (no offense intended), all your characters that I've seen so far tend to be pretty similar (that is, verditius terram magic 
), which is one reason why I like the fact that you choose Terram as a deficient form. This character is a cool concept, I'm of the idea that doing it as something clearly different from your previous ones will help you avoid falling into old habits.
And despite your lack of affection for Folk Mysteries, I can't help but feel that Story Magic might be especially appropriate for him to develop (although it must be quite difficult to put into play).
I also feels that allowing stats outside the +/- 3 range in this way without the appropriate v/f isn't very fair (for or against the player-s). It should be bound to +/-3 IMO.
Between 4 and 8 years. Advancement is season by season, and your source qualities will depend on where your character has been for those PG years.
Well, I don't know that playing a merintia will be all that different from playing a lab-rat who wants to be a Merinita. 
The reason you've seen so many incarnations of Viscaria is that I still have yet to play her at either end of where I'd like to be. Phoenix 1.0 was too short-lived. Phoenix 2.0, she basically turned into an NPC for spreading disinformation and tangents. Ad Fons was the original design, but that game is VERY slow moving, to the point where in the year that I've been playing Tyrion in that campaign, I still haven't even figured out if I have a lab or not. Bibricate should be fun, paced well enough for Viscaria to finally get lab time. I've also just offered to play another version of her in Curse of the Rhine Gorge, which is the sort of setting she was first envisioned in -- a "turn this dirt into a covenant" game.
On the other hand, if you've been following Base Camp, I'm playing a Tytalus there whose is a cross between Hiems, The Crocodile Hunter, and Bruce Banner.
I tend to find that Freud would have a lot to say about my character designs. Viscaria is a free-wheeling, easy-loving girl focused on laying down roots, establishing permanence and protecting what's hers. Note that I made her shortly after the end of a relationship where I almost moved from Chicago to B.F.Nowhere for a girl. Patrick in Base Camp was designed while I was kicking myself for being so relationship-focused that I'd been missing submission deadlines. Now I'm making a character who wants to expand the bounds of established capability -- which gets me thinking that I should try learning some new techniques or experiment with my imagery more. And...hey, what do you know? It looks like that's exactly what's been happening. When did I start making gorram Grunge Art?
If this was a tabletop game, then I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I fear that doing it via PbP when the rules are so nebulous could cause a lot of delays.
Basically, what's going to happen is this: I'm going to make him a Merinita, probably give him Faerie Raised Magic so that he can spend even less time in the lab. Depending on how far I can advance him, I'll probably have him pick up either the advanced familiar binding or Arcadian Travel. If the Folk Magic mysteries become available during play (ie, after I've got some practice playing with the rules I understand for Merinita), then he'll take it.
Now that I've established he's a Merinita, and since the only tribunal book I have is GotF, I'm tempted to say Irencilla. I'll take any suggestions for locales, though. I'd prefer to use something established from your world.
(Lost the link to Arya's page on naming)
At-Gauntlet Version.
Luminus de Libris fillius ____ doctrinae Merinita ab Macedonia
[color=green]"...and then, children, do you know what that giant did?"
Voting Sigil - A golden quill
Casting Sigil - vivid saturation
Virtues
The Gift, Hermetic Magus. Faerie Magic
3 Gentle Gift, hermetic major
3 Faerie-Raised Magic, hermetic
Spend Exposure, Adventure, Practice XP on spells
T+F++Int+MT => SpLvl-10, Costs Magnitude+4 XP
Spell Improv - +Mag(SimSpell) to Spont CT
1 Book Learner, general
1 Good Teacher, general
1 Inventive Genius, hermetic
1 Free Expression, general
Flaws
1 Faerie Upbringing, personality
3 Favors (brother of the 9 muses, Like Close Family Ties, only supernatural), story
3 Study Requirement, hermetic
1 Higher Purpose, personality
1 Weakness: Books, minor
1 Deficient Form: Terram, hermetic
Personality Traits : Illustrative +2, Brave +3, Inquisitive +2, Fickle +1
Characteristics: (invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3335248/)
Int +4 Per +3 Age: 22
Pre +3 Com +4 Size: 0
Str +0 Sta +2 Confidence: 1
Dex -3 Qik -2 Afflictions: None
Abilities 0-point skills are ones I mean to pick up post-apprenticeship
AL Greece 2 (vistas)
Athletics 1 (climb)
Awareness 1 (search)
Charm 1 (children)
Craft: Painting 3 (illumination)
N Lang: Greek 5 (stories)
Latin 4 (written)
Artes Liberales 2 (ceremony)
Art of Memory 3 (images)
Philosophae 0
Faerie Magic 0
Merinita Lore 0
Magic Theory 3 (spells)
Parma Magica 1 (mentem)
Penetration 0
Arts
Creo 8
Intellego 7.1
Muto
Perdo
Rego 5
Animal
Auram
Aquam
Corpus
Herbam
Ignem
Imaginem 5
Mentem 5
Terram
Vim
Spells:
Invisible Sling of Vilano +7
ReTe 10 Touch, Mom, Ind
+5 Dmg, 20 paces
Invisible Bolt of Vilano +7
ReTe 15
+10 dmg, 20 paces
Fae Phantasm of the Talking Head (mod) +15
CrIm 10 ROAD, Diam, Ind
Prying Eyes +14
InIm 5 Touch, Conc, Room
Wizard’s Sidestep +12
ReIm 10 Per, Sun, Ind
Fae Illusion of the Shifted Image + 12
ReIm 10 ROAD, Sun, Ind
By His Works + 15
CrMe 5 Per, Conc, Ind (HoH:TL73)
Refreshes specific memory
Heart of the Lion +15
CrMe 15, Eye Sun Ind (HoH:S 37)
Makes target Brace+3
Memory of the Distant Dream +15
CrMe 20 Eye, Sun, Ind
Posing the Silent Question +14
InMe 20 Eye, Mom, Ind
Updated!
Still seeking input on a covenant of apprenticeship, unless people are fine with Irencilla.
Rough outline of Luminus's post-gauntlet activities, subject to SG approval:
PG1 - Learn Parma, Penetration, Finesse, CoH
PG2 - Learn Faerie Magic, Merinita Lore, Intellego, Rego
PG3 - Vim, Magic Theory, Regio InVi spells
PG4 - Learn Craft;Painting, Arcadian Travel, related stuff
PG5-8: fulfill any requirements for...
PG8 - Initiate into Flexible Formulaic Magic
Remarks and suggestions:
- Might very well be wrong, but isn't Faerie-Raised Magic a mystery virtue?
- As a merinita, your Faerie Magic score is 1, not 0
- Don't know if it is efficient, but maybe Touched by Faerie could be useful for you.
- Inspirationnal might be a great virtue for this character, probably more appropriate than Book Learner.
- Sanguine Humor Blessing might be awesome, too. I don't remember if it is applicable to what you seek, though, but you should definitely give it a look.
- Same thing goes for Faerie Sympathies. It might be quite interesting for you to develop some.
- Have you considered a Magical Focus? Potent Magic might be even more appropriate, with its assortiment of required items.
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I don't see how it could be. The virtue is about growing up with faerie magic so constantly in your life that you learn to think about magic like a fae. It's listed as a Major Hermetic Virtue, in the virtue section, and not in the mystery section.
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Noted. Thanks.
3 From City &Guild? Touched by (Realm) is trumped by Faerie Magic in this case. All it does is align you with that realm.
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Hrm...no, I want him to be the opposite of that. He's supposed to be one of the mystical voyeurs of the world, destined to watch great events unfold. He documents the world as it happens, not influences it (at least, in his mind. He can't write the histories if he doesn't win, though this is far too modern a realization for him to ever have).
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...and now I have some reading to do.
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Can't find this. Is it in HoH:MC?
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Yes, I'd really like a magical focus for Luminus, but Major Magical Focus is a Hermetic Major, and I couldn't decide what a good minor one would be. Potent Magic has never seemed useful to me.
- Twas serf's parma
- Idem. So it seems I got the name wrong. Some kind of virtue to craft wondrous items. Might be interesting for you, or not. Given your following answers, I guess not.
- Have you considered Visions and/or Premonitions?
- RoP: F. Serf's parma again, but it has all kind of uses (from charms to skill bonuses) in a given specialty. IIRC, it might be very appropriate for you.
- Hum... Something like "Assessing Great Events", applying to any Intellego effect with more than 1000 targets involved (like, Group *100 or Boundary, to watch a forest fire or the weather over a region or survey a forest) might be appropriate as a Major. For a minor, what about "Watching over the Crowds", like above but limited to Corpus, to use divination on armies, cities, camps, etc?
From these comments, it sounds like you have a much more interesting concept for my character than I did originally, Fix. I'm curious to hear what your understanding of my character concept is before I go tweaking any further.
loooooooool
I'm just following along based to what I understand from what you're telling me! If there are interesting ideas around, they ultimately come from you!
From what I understand, this is a character that, at the start, perceives important events around the world, chronicles them, passing them into legend, possibly depicting them into magical paintings, or using these to that end (like a painting of Europe that shows important events). This is a character that would be a great ally of faerie and would wield great influence here, for quite evident reasons.
A cross between Uatu the Watcher (from Marvel Comics) and Destiny of the Endless. He watches, he chronicles, he doesn't interfere... Does him?
So I'd say a mMF in "Watching over the Crowds" (1), a Faerie Sympathy in Crowds (3 or 1), maybe another in Stories, Sanguine Humor's Blessing (3) (Either coupled with an animal companion to be attuned to the natural world, or with a Mentor for recall/comprehend information), Premonitions (1), an Affinity in Intellego (1), minor Potent Magic in "Watching over the Crowds" (1), and Visions flaw.
IMO, potent magic can be really good and flavorful for you if you incorporate it into a painting (say, using ruby powder for color). Between the base +3 and the S&M bonus, you can easily have yet another +6 to your CT, which is quite good for a minor virtue.
If you later initiate Arcadian Travel (to Faerie, the land of stories! Go there, watch it, explore the various versions of a given story) and Story Magic (influence the events! Shape the future! Avoid the destiny you've foretold!), develop more Faerie Sympathies, you'll become quite the lord of stories
(I am waiting on Arya's input on the newest version of the character sheet, and Fixer's many excellent ideas, before I go back and edit a 3rd time.)
I still can't find Faerie Sympathies anywhere in my books.
After re-reading the Merinita stuff in HoHMC, I understand their application better. There's a really strong temptation to pick a mMF instead of Good Teacher, and just focus on illuminations. I want to pick up Arcadian Travel (and I would really like to pick up Flexible Formulaic Magic, but that might be a bit powerful) before entering play, SG willing.
Fixer makes some really excellent arguments, but they all sound like things that I'd like to happen in-play. Folk Mysteries should definitely happen in-game, for example.
It's in RoP: Faeries. in the last chapter, IIRC, the one about characters touched by Faerie.
Checking the ToC online... Found it! Page 100!
And yes, IMO, the last bits (arcadian travel, Story magic and additionnal sympathies) are suggestions for later, of course! 
For when you have multiple sympathies and wander faerie as one of its rightful lord. MWAH AH AH AH AH!!!!
Ah. Therein lies the problem. I don't have RoP:F. ~pout~
Can't promise anything, since it's quite long, but I'll try to post a resume of what you can do with it
I have the beta test Word doc for RoP:F but my common sense check doubts that those can be distributed after the beta test is over 
Faerie Sympathy is Rhodri's big shtick, so it's possible you may want to avoid too much overlap.
PDF copies are $15 from e23. I've purchased almsot all my Ars material as PDFs. I have them on a couple of computers at home, my work computer (via Dropbox) and my iPad (again via Dropbox to distribute then converted stored via the iBooks app). PDF search FTW.