I've drafted the Autocrat's stats below. Chime in with opinions/options please.
Well, it's your character. What do you want to do? That was just a suggestion: if you think you'll come up with something, you can leave it blank for now.
Scott
Thoughts on Phocus:
- Grogs shouldn't have Major flaws or Story flaws - Black Sheep is both.
- I'm a bit worried he's going to up and leave us...Especially as a lot of magi are not especially virtuous people.
- The Profession: Autocrat score seems a bit low - I'd expect it to be more around the 5-6 level. Granted his backstory implies he's relatively new at this, but I'd prefer a competent Autocrat.
- Did you actively want him to be a carpenter? We already have a separate carpenter, so he doesn't need to be. Removing it would provide him with the xp to boost Autocrat up a bit.
- Alternatively, you could age him a bit - 33 is quite young, although again I can see where you're coming from with the backstory.
(Edit - crosspost - agree w/ the above, and expand on it.)
Personally, my first opinion is that we should allocate the Covenant Autocrat as a "specialist", not a grog (but that's without really having followed the CovGen process, so it might be far too late). The Charter says the Council "...may, also at its discretion, allow any such autocrat to vote in the Covenant Council", which would ~seem~ to potentially make them a "major character" (and hence not "grog" material), but I suppose that greatly depends on who he (ultimately) is and how he's to be played.
Beyond that, I would have built him very differently, starting with a different set of pre-conceptions about who he was, what his role is, and what skills would have convinced the Order that he would make a good Autocrat. ymmv.
I'm not sure this background fits with the practical expectations for a "Covenant Autocrat". (Also see last section)
I have no feel for the "ethos" of this Covenant, but I know that ~some~ Covenants look to their Autocrat to make sure the books not only balance but that their mundane budget and coffers grow over time. And also to help smooth over any "magical indiscretions" with the locals. Both would fall into the "duties" of an Autocrat, year after year.
More, most magi would hardly be expected to express their gratitude to his hard work, so not sure any mundane would feel particularly "appreciated" by Magi. Worse, with so many magi with The Gift, they are far more likely to (at least initially) mistrust them, resent them, be creeped out by them - but not exactly an emotionally rewarding change of pace.
In short, it would take an unusual mundane to move directly into an Autocrat role for a Covenant and feel that was the correct career move. 
Taking a Story Flaw seems like a cheat to me for any NPC, especially a Major one, since it will "never" be brought into the Saga. Y Ymmv, but I'd rather see something that would directly affect how he's played. "non-combative" jumps to mind,m along with a Personality flaw and something else to help better define him as a character.
2 points that are important to me:
- Altho' nothing in the rules prohibits this, "professionals" of this time rarely branched out beyond their one practiced trade*. Cross-training is far more an exclusively modern concept. At these times, there were few "builders", largely because their crafts were learned in separate and distinct Guilds, and the Guilds were specialized (and even within one family, the father's craft would be the family craft, if not for tradition and early training then just for the (necessary!) contacts he would provide). There were Carpenters, and there were Masons, but never the twain should meet.
(* And even that is a generous interpretation - in reality, a so-called "carpenter" might be a Framer (for houses), or a Joiner (making furniture and drawers, etc), a Cartwright (but not the wheels, which would be a Wheelwright), a Cooper (barrel/bucket-maker), a Timberer (large construction pieces), etc etc - and sometimes even more specialized than that - the tools and skills to make a great bucket do not make a great barrel. RP games have to ignore this awkward reality for sake of playability.)
It's a modern concept, and a convenient RP trope, but inappropriate here imo. A Covenant wants a Mason and they want a Carpenter - and we should hire them both.
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More importantly for this discussion - why is our autocrat a builder and not an organizer of such craftsmen? His job is not to do the work himself, nor even personally oversee such workmen or the quality of their work, but to arrange and hire all services as the Covenant needs them. (Also see last section)
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(Not as important) Engineering 3... Assuming there is the medieval equivalent, this could possibly be a "hands-on" understanding, but amateurish if not backed up by a little more Artes Liberales - reliable math and geometry ftw.
If he's not an important character, I suppose we can just remark "Autocrat 3" and forget the details - that does work for unimportant NPC's just fine. (altho' see below)
However, if we intend to ever play him, or roll other Abilities on or off camera, he is poorly equipped to do his job (altho' he could build us a new barn if that's what we needed).
An autocrat is THE man - the go-to guy, the "the buck stops here" position, all-powerful and all-controlling - or should be. His job description is simple - "Make sure it all works!" It may not be his fault, but it's always his responsibility!
His forte is people skills - constantly assessing, motivating, overseeing, monitoring them. He approves all new hires (altho' often with advice re their skills and qualifications) and is responsible for all personnel. He is the intermediary between the magi and those "grogs" that the magi never talk to, but also is the first person (mundane) outsiders interact with, for most any reason.
As such, I would think...
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lose the Crafts - utterly unnecessary. Also an odd background for an Autocrat, and to explain how he got his approp skill set.
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Profession: Autocrat 3: "3" is not particularly competent. "5" is (iirc) the start of something like "professional-level" ability, so he's still pretty far off the mark. So we have an amateur autocrat - meh, could be worse, but could be better. Not every Covenant gets what they want, but this is still actually less than we need.
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Pump his "people skills" - Leadership (4) & Folk Ken (3) are adequate (if only that?), but the rest need boosting imo. (Note - some are "optional", depending on his personality/description.) If that puts him into Aging-roll land, that's fine - there's a reason elders are more respected and relied upon for this type of role.
o Awareness - He doesn't have to be Sherlock Holmes, but he should have an eye for the finer points of what's going on around him. (Unless he is a bumbler - not impossible.)
o Bargain - As the man with the purse strings, I'd feel better if he knew the value of a hyperpyron.
o Charm - optional - things would go better if the servants liked him than if they did not.
o Etiquette - he's the mundane face-man of the Covenant. Better know how to play that role.
o Guile - Optional BUT consider the previous situation, having to front for the covenant. (Also, how much of the Order does he know?) An autocrat without Guile might as well have the "Indiscreet" Flaw if he's ever pressured in the slightest.
o Intrigue - optional. Depends on the character, but a household of servants can be a mini-drama in itself. Intrigue could(?) make his job easier.
...&...
o Artes Liberales - so nice if he could read both Latin and Greek (and his math was more reliable). Might be too much to ask realistically, depending.
o LatIn 4 - too much? Latin 2 = "Basic Conversation", and then "Haltingly Functional" in his specialty ("autocrat vocabulary"). (Or possibly(?) 3, which puts his specialty @ non-technical "conversational".) So 2 (or 3?) might be more approp for any who is not a career student. He doesn't need to study from books, he doesn't need to "converse" with the magi (unless/until he's on the Council) - he has a job.
o Theology - he's an educated man, is he (not) at all religious? The ignorant kneel and pray when they're told to - the educated can read, and the religious among those can discuss the Bible to some small degree (if only from what they've heard/learned, bibles being a rare commodity to access for personal reading). (Note - Eastern Orthodox!)
...&...
o Org Lore: OoH - optional. How much "in the loop" is he?
o Org Lore: Covenant: Maybe this is redundant, but it should be huge.
o Area Lore: Covenant: Again, most Troupes take this for granted. osmv.
o Area Lore: Local. Optional, but handy. Esp if he specializes in "persons of influence" or something sim. MUCH more important than "Greece" (and far more likely, unless he's particularly well-traveled).
o Code of Hermes - 1 point. Optional. He would have picked this up if he was "in the loop", and/or had sat on the Council, etc. "Our Order largely prohibits us from doing that..." - that sort of thing.
...&...
And then fluff skills, which round out the character - Swimming, Riding & Survival ("on the road"), Music, Craft: X (hobby/childhood), etc. Something to color him up, ~IF~ we want him colorful.
Cuchulainshound: I largely agree with a lot of your points, but do have a few of counterpoints:
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The autocrat has already been established to be a mason in play, so that pretty much needs to stay.
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My understanding is that the difference between "specialist" and "grog" is pretty much that grogs have a character sheet whereas specialists don't - if we're statting him up, he's therefore automatically going to stop being a specialist (although could become a companion rather than a grog - that relies on someone wanting to play him, though).
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The covenant's only been in existence a couple of years, which will sharply limit how high he could plausibly have got his lore in it.
Actually, I misremembered the section on Grogs and Flaws (p 17) - it simply is a cheat! 
Grogs cannot take Major Flaws, nor any Story Flaw.
Check, can do.
Does he need it at a truly capable level, or would "3" be enough (esp w/ some additional skills in support - see below)
My understanding was in the number of Virtues they could take, and which then fed into their overall "qualifications" and capability. (My sagas would not go the full +/-10, but just +/-6 made a big diff.) But that could also be echoes of 3rd ed Covenants creeping in. 
But if that's the only diff, that's fine by me.
Age of the Organization would only limit the depth of the lore, not how exhaustive someone's knowledge of it could be. It also includes geography, personnel, etc - not just "history". He should know the personnel cold, far more than just by face and name, and have walked the entire grounds more than anyone short of a few servants. Imo.
Here's my re-vision of IBT's autocrat, keeping most of the description but rewriting some parts:
And by my count that's 390/390 spent, so a young 31 yrs old, ample room to make him a bit older if anyone feels anything's been missed or if you wanted to bump Masonry up a bit more, etc.
And if we want someone MUCH more competent, we can just throw a decade at him, do the Aging rolls, and have a real autocrat - if one who is then starting to be in need of a Longevity Potion.
As a 30-year-old, he also needs a family - with positive Com and Pre, he should have one. or an explanation for why he doesn't.
Yes, agreed about the Black Sheep. Maybe find one or more Personality Flaws that express his motives for working with magi?
I'm OK with his being inexperienced as an autocrat. It makes sense: he's basically a mason, but he helped out the autocrat at his old covenant, and so when they tribuanl was looking around for an autocrat, everyone figured he was the most expendable candidate. In fact, I think, given this covenant's situation, that he's more believable than the uber-qualified grog captain glassblower.
As for Carpentry, I think that one makes sense: a mason has to build scaffolding and the like, even if you don't consider the possibility of one person having do everything when you don't have teams of specialists.
Scott
There's a bit of lexical confusion here: the ArM rules use the term "grog" in two different ways. One usage refers to a specific type of covenfolk, the ones who do the fighting. The second usage refers to all covenfolk--there was some confusion in earlier editions about how widely the term "grog" applied, and ArM5 made the disinction between grogs and other covenfolk clear. However, the term "grog" (or occasionally "grog-level") is still used in the rules to refer to a specific power level. In terms of game mechanics, a companion is a major character not just because of role (though companions tend to have important roles), but, mostly importantly, because a single player creates and plays that character. Thus, a character can have the role of a grog, while still being companion-level, and a character can be a specialist and (if he or she is even statted out at all) be grog-level.
I agree that an autocrat fills a major role, even more so if he votes on the council. However, the determining factor is whether or not a player plays him exclusively. And of course, the magi don't have to let him vote--and that might be a good decision to make for a character who won't always be played by the same person, and therefore might have trouble maintaining a consistent position in council politics. That being said, a grog-level autocrat is going to be just about as competent as a companion-level autocrat--the only game-mechanical difference is fewer Virutes and Flaws.
Professionals of the time rarely used formal math or geometry, though I know there were exceptions. The main reason I could see for his having Artes Liberales is that he's supposed to be well-educated.
I was going to say that that would give us an autocrat and no mason, because we only bought two specialists with our Build Points. However, I just double-checked, and, like grogs, specialists that are statted out don't require Build Points. So yes, we could have both a mason and an autocrat. We could also have this mason/autocrat, and one other useful specialist we hadn't thought about before. Or make that two--someone already statted out the glassblower as well.
I do think his skills are a little narrow--it might be more believeable to take a point out of Masonry or Carpentry and broaden things a bit.
In the final analysis, though, ironboundtome volunteered to create this character, and it's his to do. As long as the character isn't illegal or unbelievable, he's got the final say, and I'd rather spend our time playing than picking his work apart 
.
Scott
The autocrat was established as the lead mason, and a skilled carpenter, and somebody who would not be leaving Cov grounds to handle "external" requests. He needs Latin, greek, local languages. He needs Area lore skills, which I don't think should be ignored because otherwise it is rorting the game (you have area lore skills by exposure at the very least!).
So we have a dual skilled craftsman, skilled autocrat, who also is very well educated, working at a newly established covenant, in the middle of nowhere. Why?
Blacksheep is an error, agreed. That was from when I started him as a Companion. Go ahead and write your own if you wish.
Both grogs and specialists can come with or without character sheets--the difference that a character sheet makes is not what a character's role is, or what that character is called, but whether or not the character costs Build Points.
Scott
Oops, let me correct myself: the glassblower wasn't paid for with Build Points, nor was the mason; rather, we bought a blacksmith, carpenter, and bookbinder.
Scott
Is there a target for the autocrat's Stonemason skill? Is that 2nd version in the ballpark?
It's whatever ironboundtome wants to make it, within reason. Keep in mind, though, that if the character is overly competent, there's probably some other reason his old covenant wanted to get rid of him, such as his being a troublemaker of some sort.
Scott
Ah, I thought it was more a group project - whatever works best.
The updated version by CH looks fine. Tis just a grog after all.
Well, with someone no one is going to play as a main character, there's no reason to put that much joint effort into it.
Scott
Then I get back to being confused what the practical distinction is in this saga between grog and "specialist", and why a covenant would buy the latter if they can just stat-out a "grog" to do the job.
(Also, I thought we wanted him statted so we ~could~ play him, if only as a grog, if/when he was needed or in Council. But I may have read that into the discussion.)
As I mentioned above, the distinction that's important here is not between grog and specialist, but between character sheet and no character sheet: if a character is statted out, there is NO cost in Build Points. Period. Grog, specialist, whatever. It's on pg. 72 of ArM5 (but note that the passage in question uses "grog" to mean "grog-level character, with a character sheet", rather than "covenant soldier"), and repeated in Covenants.
Likewise--though this is a bit of an extrapolation--we can take more than one grog per magus if we stat those grogs out.
It was Salutor who noted he needed to be statted, but I assume the reason was that we hadn't paid for him in Build Points. That being said, yes, as the autocrat, it makes sense for him to have a character sheet, because he'll be involved in stories at least occasionally.
Scott
Honestly, I think having the autocrat be inexperienced fits a little better, and we do need a good mason, but maybe you could take a couple of the other suggestions and change the Flaws?
Scott
I did? I don't think I meant to...But, stats are good.