in each tribunal, each player may have 1 magus "free"
additional magi require the player to have a number of companions greater than the number of magi they have
for each "free" magus, players may create one "free" companion
to create additional companions they must have at least 3 more grogs than 3x the number of companions that they have.
grogs do not need to be actively played- they can be put in covenants in the same roles as specialists, to provide background skills or improve the covenant's economy
grogs which are played can become promoted to companions through play through a combination of gained signifigance and gaining virtues beyond the initial 3 minor virtues- both are necessary, simply gaining wealth through work is insufficient
companions may be raised to magi or magi equivalent through game mechanics- either having the gift, being opened, trained and passing the gauntlet or by gaining 2x the value in virtues hey have in flaws (and becoming a mythic companion)
whenever a character is retired they may be replaced with another character equal to their finishing level, regardless of the above rules.
The exception to the above rules are mages in the Theban tribunal, when they begin as apprentices being selected and are effectively in the magus category to begin with, despite being created with companion rules.
Ignoring for a moment any questions or confusion I might have on the number of non-magi required to earn a second or subsequent magus in any particular Tribunal, in Thebes they should start as Apprentices, at least for the next X number of years? Or you are just referring to these 4 characters. OtoH, if we want to design them as apprentices or pre-apprentices can we? (Ignoring for a moment that my primary magus is at the primary, pre-apprentice holding zone and may require some avoidance to navigate around roleplaying with myself.)
Ah, I think I see. For every extra magi we need an extra companion, and for every every extra companion we need to make three grogs.
So, right now, we have one apprentice and one companion (in the Theban Tribunal), but to make another companion we need to make three grogs. So it's just about ratios.
So if we make a second apprentice character in Thebes for the next tribunal do they have to enter the game immediately before the Tribunal, as these ones did? Or could we bring a gifted kid in a few years before the Tribunal and play out their time at Polyaigos?
To be honest, I likely would not do this because I already have a primary-type character at that covenant but the thought occurred to me and felt curious what the answer was.
they would primarily be I the background, which goes double if you have a character there, but you could make them at the current instead of future date. You might even get a choice of classes at some point.
To hopefully clarify:
there are multiple metagame "strategies" available
a) each magus has 3 grogs and one companion. these need not be in the same tribunal. aside from the first magus and companion (or first magus and companion per tribunal) the grogs need to be completed before the companions, which must be completed before the magus.
b) you can have one grog and companion per tribunal, and simply stop there
c) you can take grogs, made by yourself or other characters, or companions you have already made, and advance them to a higher status- if a character is retired (in story, not simply abandoned) or dies, they may be replaced by another character of the same rank they were at when they exited the game.
a and c may be combined, grogs and companions are counted for a and the time of creation, and for c at the time of departure. Thus if you make 3 grogs and a companion to get another magus, advance the 3 grogs to companion status, then all 4 companions die and you make 4 more replacement companions, you would also be entitled to 4 more magus characters.
I want to make a DON'T PANIC post here...
nobody is required to play more roles than they want. If you would prefer to play a single magus in a single tribunal, you are certainly welcome to. Hopefully more people will join the game to fill in more slots as the game expands into more tribunals and settings.
So you can build extras in any tribunal to get a second magus slot where you already have one; but the first companion and first 3 grogs in any tribunal don't count, is that right?
Also do you have a preference for which tribunals we build in?
you can build your grogs in any tribunal.
to build extra magi, beyond one per tribunal, you must have a total number of companions equal to 1+ the number of existing magi
to build a new companion (beyond the 1 per tribunal) you have to have 3x(1+number of companions)
you can only build grogs up to 3x(1+number of companions)
if a grog advances to a companion, this allows another slot to build a new grog (regardless of who advanced it) without reducing the number of grogs built for the tally of building new companions. Whoever advanced the grog counts the new companion for their totals both in terms of required grogs to build a new companion and required companions to build a new magus. If the advanced companion is retired (dies, etc) then it may be replaced by building a new companion regardless of grog count.
If anyone advances a character to magus level (mage or mythic companion) the character still counts for building prerequisits at the level it was built at, and if the character is removed from the game (death, final twilight, retirement, etc.) then a new magus character may be build to replace it regardless of the companion count.
Part of the point of this is that if there is a tribunal that you do not feel like making a magus for you can still build grogs and companions if you want to participate in those games, and use the total to build more mages where you have interest, while still creating incentive to people to develop and potentially advance these lower level characters.
Also if it has occurred to anyone, yes there is one glaring shortcut in this whole meta-game, it is intentional in that it fits the concepts that shortcut is supposed to embody. If you don't see it, I am not pointing it out, but it can definitely lead to some interesting plot twists.
