Treading water and floating are not the main purpose of swimming. They are one of many purposes. They're not even significant enough to qualify for the Olympics, and they won't let you accomplish any of the things people do with swimming for jobs, like pearl diving.
I'd swear I've seen It but i can't find It right now so maybe that's my memory and I've see It elsewhere.
I consider "Staying afloat" to be a perfectly valid specialty to Swim. I don't have a problem with "Not drowning", which is essentially the same.
@VanSilke It seems a bit strange to have both Infamous Master and Skilled Parens. Not impossible in some circumstances, mind you, but a Bonisagus would need to have done something very bad to become infamous. Something more dramatic than just having his apprentice focus on MuVi almost to the exclusion of anything else.
Infamous Master is often used when your master turned out to be a diabolist, molested faeries, or some other major Hermetic crime (or at least under serious suspicion of having commited such crime). I don't see anything in your background that reflects that.
Meddler could explain why Angela doesn't like you. Perhaps you interfered in her studies in some fashion? What is her area of research and magic specialties? If she's your Enemy, she will occupy a large place in stories. So you need to do some of the work on that. 
Why would Homer's snatching of Basilus anger Antonio's that much, since you don't have Gentle Gift? Is he also part of your Enemies flaw?
Where did you apprenticeship take place? In the Rhine Tribunal? If so, which covenant? If it's not a covenant that is described in GotF, you'll need some more details.
Thanks for the feedback. It will take a little longer than a day to get the issues in Basil's backstory sorted, but I'll update you on that the moment I finish the new parts, hopefully with more detail on those problematic elements.
Child name Ermengarda
Name chosen at Gauntlet : Morrigan maga Trianomae.
Born from a non gifted Folk Witch named Elena she spends most of his childhood with her mother outside of a village not too far from Montferrand. Her mother was considered a wise one by the community, they came to her to heal their animals or when something supposedly magical happened. She could also transform into a Black Bird and that's probably the reason why Ermengarda’s magic is aligned with animals and crows in particular (Minor Magical Focus : Corvidae ; Affinity with animal)
She was 4 when she began to exhibit effects of her gift, but without the usual social stigma associated with It (gentle Gift). She was brought before the Coven leader : an old women with a body twisted by warping. She was the hope of the coven. It didn't last long. The Coven was under surveillance by Alyssa (my mater a maga trianoma) a gentle gifted child was too valuable to pass. The Old Witch had a vision of her abducting the girl. Unwilling to combat a magi of the Order of Hermes, She and the member of her Coven cursed the girl for their own protection. Ermengarda willingly accepted a geas : If she ever harms a Folk Witch she would suffer the consequences. (Prohibition : Harming Folk Witches) When Alyssa arrived Ermengarda was waiting, alone.
Corresponding skills :
| Childhood | Occitan | provençal | 5 | free |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area Lore county of Toulouse | legends | 1 | 5 | |
| Charm | being witty | 2 | 15 | |
| Folk keen | detecting lies | 2 | 15 | |
| Awareness | alterness | 1 | 5 | |
| Guile | authority | 1 | 5 | |
The child was too young to begin his apprenticeship, but she was brought to the covenant of Jardin nevertheless. For the next 5 years, she had an easy life and was quite a leader when it came to inventing my ways to mess around. She divided her time between hanging around with the grogs children when her mater was staying at the covenant, working in her lab, and traveling with her when she was visiting nobles to whom she was well connected. Alyssa wanted her to feel at ease in high society and what politics was like as young as possible(free puissant intrigue). Joia of House Jerbiton, the covenant leader is posing as chatelaine and is a patroness of troubadour who were very frequently visiting the covenant. Joia is vain and wants to create a new garden of Love.
Corresponding skills :
| Later life | Etiquette | nobles | 2 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Concentration | observing people and places | 1 | 5 | |
| Intrigue | alliances | 2+2 | 15 | |
| Leadership | inspiration | 2 | 15 | |
| Brawl | dodge | 1 | 5 | |
| Athletics | running | 1 | 5 | |
| Code of Hermes | mundane relation | 1 | 5 | |
| Awareness +1 | Alertness | 2 | 10 |
After her arts were opened, she discovered what working means. Alyssa was patient but determined. Her mater discovered that she could cancel her spells at will (harnessed magic) but She had a hard time with Perdo (Deficient Perdo). It was a sort of mental block, the idea of destroying anything seemed quite repulsive. She wasn't really interested in Creo either but to a lesser extent. She accepted and loved the world and was rather inclined to bend it to her need just for a little while rather than create anything ex nihilo. This limitation in Muto, being only temporary, seemed only natural to her and opened a word of careless experimentation. (Affinity with Muto ; carefree.)
When her Mater was teaching her, one to one, She was focusing on the boring stuff that Morrigan wouldn't do on her own : Vim, Magic theories and the few spells she felt were really needed for her to be efficient as a Trianoma. During the other seasons, when Morrigan wasn't helping her in the labs, Alyssa made sure she always had a summa or a lab text on the things she liked the most. Morrigan spent most of her free days practicing animal. Because shouting and shaking her hands in front of her wasn't really helping with his interaction with animals, with Alyssa's encouragement, She slowly learnt how to cast spell without gesture and with a soft voice. (Quiet magic ; Subtle magic.)
In the last year of his apprenticeship, Joia's attempt to create the garden of Love worked, more than anyone expected and It turned the Magical aura of the covenant into a Faerie aura. That brought dissention inside the covenant and proved very detrimental to Morrigan's well being. She doesn't know if the change in the aura caused the issue of just revealed she's very sensible to Faerie magic (susceptibility to faerie magic).
Initially she planned to stay at least a few years at the covenant after her gauntlet, but when the aura of Jardin changed, she finished her last season of training at some friends castle. Morrigan had to asks some favors from Tandaline of Bonisagus to find another covenant to welcome Her on a short notice. As she was the one to discover the site of the new covenant to be founded She shared this information but because the other applicants were already selected she had to spend resources to make additional rooms to fit an additionnal Maga. (hope this works with the covenant description and the new rooms)
As custom with Trianoma magus, the gauntlet consists of a Journey, that usually takes at least a season. So the trip to Durenmar from Jardin near Montauban was the gauntlet. When she arrived, a message was sent to her mater using the spell "haunt of the living ghost" with the arcane connection she was carrying, Alyssa teleported to Durenmar and the ceremony occurred. She swore the Oath in presence of Alyssa, Tandaline and the local Quaesitor and was taught parma magica at Durenmar.
Corresponding skills :
| Apprenticeship | Latin | hermetic usage | 4 | 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magic theory | animal | 5 | 75 | |
| Artes liberales | astrology | 1 | 5 | |
| Parma magica | mentem | 1 | 5 | |
| profession scribe | copying | 1 | 5 | |
| penetration | vim | 1 | 5 | |
| finesse | mind reading | 1 | 5 |
I'm still doing minor changes to spells, art distribution etc.. but I'm almost done.
@Bitter Looking good! 
Sorry, took a couple days:
The enemies were never found. She saw the ones Honoratus fought from a distance, so her parens has seen them through a distance by probing her memories. But even refreshing those memories, she couldn't make out facial features. It seemed like Honoratus killed some of them, but the bodies must have been taken away. When she returned there with her parens, evidence had been destroyed. With Honoratus's skill at Parma Magica, it seemed likely his opponents had an arcane connection to him. Getting that arcane connection implies some sort of access to the Order, and knowing evidence needed to be destroyed implies some sort of understanding of the Order, but neither mean a member of the Order must have been involved.
While these enemies may not know exactly who she is nor exactly what she knows, now that she is a maga in her own right she can start snooping, and she must. That they were at least somewhat aware of her and that she'll be snooping will put a target on her.
Alternatively, I can look at Flaws outside of Enemies and similar. He could have been killed, and no Enemies resulted from it, just her Drive. There were other Story Flaws and the like I was looking at. Maybe that would be easier. It still gives her plenty of motivation to do things aligned with our covenant goals, but it avoids this extra difficulty.
Emericus ex Bonisagus filus Occultes
Characteristics: Int +4, Per +1, Pre 0, Com +1, Str 0, Sta +1, Dex -1, Qik -1
Size: 0
Age: 25 (25), Height: 5'6'', Weight: 158 lbs, Gender: Male
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues The Gift, Elemental Magic, Cautious Sorcerer (Bonus: Three fewer botch dice casting spells or in lab), Book Learner (Book Quality: +3), Good Teacher, Affinity with Muto, Inventive Genius (Invent Lab Totals: +3), Great Intelligence × 1, Hermetic Magus, Affinity with Magic Theory, Puissant Magic Theory*
Flaws: Unimaginative Learner (Studying from Raw Vis: 3), Driven (incorporate Elemental Refining into MT), Blatant Gift (Interactions: -6 with normals), Covenant Upbringing, Favors (Magus in Rhine), Motion Sickness
Combat:
Dodge: Init: 1, Attack , Defense 1, Damage
Fist: Init: 1, Attack 1, Defense 1, Damage +0
Kick: Init: 2, Attack 1, Defense 2, Damage +3
Soak: +1
Fatigue levels: OK, 0, 1, 3, 5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: 1 (1 5), 3 (6 10), 5 (11 15), Incapacitated (16 20), Dead (21+)
Abilities: German 5, Area Lore: Central Germany 2, Athletics 1, Awareness 1, Survival 2, Swim 1, Scribe 3, Folk Ken 2 (magi), Magic Lore 1 (magical traditions), Concentration 1 (reading), Charm 2 (being witty), Bargain 1, Magic Theory 4+2, Code of Hermes 1 (tribunal procedures), Parma Magica 1 (Ignem), Latin 4, Artes Liberales 2 (geometry), Philosophiae 1
Arts: Cr 4, In 2, Mu 7, Pe 4, Re 4, An 0, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 3, He 1, Ig 5, Im 1, Me 1, Te 5, Vi 3
Equipment:
Encumbrance: 0 (0)
Spells Known:
Lungs of the Fish (MuAq(Au) 20) +13
Lamp Without Flame (CrIg 10) +10
Supple Iron and Rigid Rope (MuTe 10) +13
Jupiter's Resounding Blow (CrAu 10) +10
Rain of Stones (MuAu(Te) 20) +13
Ward Against Rain (ReAu 10) +10
Show of the Flames and Smoke (MuIg 10) +13
The Earth's Carbuncle (Re(Mu)Te 15) +10
Rock of Viscid Clay (MuTe 15) +13
Ortwinus was the 3rd child of a scribe working for the Covenant of Fenghild. His father often traveled to Durenmar and Ortwinus often traveled with him. He is known for throwing up on cart rides so he walked or ran when traveling. He began learning to be a scribe when he was seven but was claimed by Occultes ex Bonisagus at the age of 10. Occultes showed Emericus the various Hedge magic traditions that he was researching. The young apprentice took on the challenge and has pushed for the Elementalist Hedge traditions to be incorporated into Magic theory.
I look forward to seeing what you do with Elemental Magic. I think it's one of the coolest Virtues, but I've had so much trouble having it be more worthwhile than just adding a little more to Muto (e.g. Puissant), a Minor Magical Focus, etc.
Also, it looks like your dashes disappeared. You've got 4 too many points in Characteristics, probably because "1" is actually "-1." This is clearly seen in Wound Penalties. I'm not sure about Combat because I haven't calculated, but probably there, too.
Dashes are back now.
The favor I think will be the Librarian at Durenmar. I'll dig his name up
A focus was tricky for what he is trying to do. Could be changing elements?
I would expect that would end up as a Major Magical Focus since that would pretty much cover most of MuAq, MuAu, and MuIg as well as much of MuTe. It might also cover some ReFo, such as freezing water with ReAq.
When I tried it, I basically went that route with a single elemental Form and tried to keep it limited within that Form. One I chose was "transmuted air," with "air" there meaning air rather than any gas or rain or cloud or similar. It only worked on turning air into other things, turning other things into air, air that had been turned into other things, and other things that had been turned into air. That was still broad enough I could do a lot with it, but reduced to significantly less than all of MuAu so it could cover MuFo(Au) stuff as well as affecting the stuff after being transmuted.
Andrus filius Murion p58
It is an interesting political mess when you read about Occultes, Andrus and Murion in GotF. Appearently, Occultes has restricted access to the library because of his studies into hedge magic traditions ( but he has memorized or read the books that he needed to). Murion would like to get rid of Occultes but can't because of the group he is with. I think Occultes is going to try for Archmagus soon as people want him as primus over Murion.
With regards to Homer I figured he could have a reputation of ruining apprentices, giving them Deficiencies, warping them on purpose, frequently overspecializing them and so on. In the case of Basilus it would be cultivating his condition that develops into Chaotic Magic, maybe even ruining an apprentice's Gift at one point. He skirts the Code, but everyone knows what he's up to.
In this case, it's less about something terrible, and more a general reputation of producing sub-par magi, and as such, having no expectation of his test subjects. If this explanation is inadequate for Infamous Master, I'll remove IM and replace it with another Hermetic Flaw to reflect this intentional twisting.
Looking through the book, I figured Homer, Angela and her mater could be from Triamore, but I'm not sure what other covenant would be more appropriate. I didn't expect Antonio to serve any role in Basilus' story other than an initial master who happened to pick the kid up from the street (I'll give Basilus a couple more mundane years as suggested).
I'll keep you updated on other aspects of his backstory later on. In the meantime I'll wait for feedback on those points
ArM p.55, Infamous Master: Your master was a diabolist, bumbler, fool, widely despised, or held in contempt for some other reason. Most magi expect little better from you. Even if you've done nothing wrong, you are treated as though you don't deserve to be a member of the Order.
Having a master with a history of mistreating apprentices would probably result in you being treated with pity more than anything else. It's also not a reason for most magi to consider you unworthy to be a member of the Order.
Thank you, I'll replace IM with some other Flaw and leave Homer's antics as just backstory. I have high hopes for other parts.
As for the rest:
BACKSTORY
Young Friderich was a son to a small merchant family, but as a second son, he was spared the graces of privileged upbringing. Instead, the kid took a liking to wandering the streets of Frankfurt even at a young age. Over time as the boy grew, it led to a healthy number of fights, which he couldn't win due to his frail body. His parents would diffuse these issues time and time again, and didn't forget to scold the confrontational brat. Friderich stayed this way until seven years of age, still a child, when things started to change. The streets became more dangerous, the fights more often caused by others' reaction to the kid rather than him causing trouble, even his parents ended up turning him away. Who would've known how his life would go if not for a chance encounter with Antonio ex Jerbiton, a gentle man who showed the kid compassion, and his first master.
Friderich's apprenticeship under the Jerbiton was short-lived, lasting only the first few years - when it was time to learn a few Arts properly, to everyone's surprise, Friderich exhibited incredible potential in a particular mixture of Technique and Form, and yet a chaotic, unpredictable method of working magic, something Antonio attempted to correct. Eventually the word of Friderich's curious case reached the ears of Homer ex Bonisagus - an old researcher infamous for his unreasonable experiments who took great interest in young talents and other curiosities. Exercising his right to request an apprentice, Homer took young Friderich from begrudged Antonio, despite the latter's pleads. Being a weaker magus, Antonio could only relinquish his apprentice.
Friderich's stay at Homer's covenant was longer and more fruitful in events. It was then that he met soon-to-be Angela ex Bonisagus, a female apprentice of another researcher, a few years ahead of him. She was the greatest friend and enemy to Friderich in that period - a playmate, someone to open a heart to, a kind personality to spend time with. And yet, their relationship developed into a tense rivalry. Angela envied Friderich for the privilege of being taken apprentice by Homer (overall more skilled than Angela's master at the time, and known for his picky attitude when choosing apprentices) while Friderich envied Angela for having a normal apprenticeship, rounded knowledge and open mind while he himself felt experimented upon, as Homer proceeded to focus his teachings around Muto Vim and prepared the boy for a lifetime of commitment, something that broadly talented Angela tried to mimic. At a certain point, Frederich began prying into Angela's apprenticeship, leading to various antics that - despite his best intent - would land both of them in hot water. This meddling ranged from minor, to very serious, like insisting on cheating and disturbing her lab activities.
In a mental coin flip of chance, by the end of this conditioning Friderich eventually grew to like the research and the longer he studied, the greater his drive to research became, something Homer wanted to see all along.
At the young age of 25, Friderich was gauntleted and became Basilus. His relationship with now accomplished Angela turned from healthy rivalry to becoming sworn enemies, and the battleground was a field of research. He stays in contact with his pater, and although he's not in training anymore, the young man still heavily relies on Homer's teachings, making him feel like it's them against the world that doesn't understand the importance of experimentation and exhaustive research.
NOTABLE CHARACTERS
Antonio ex Jerbiton
Age: 70 (45)
Compassionate +3, Generous +2, Christian +1
Basilus' former master who took the boy in, saving him from life on the streets - at first from pity, then to train the boy in Arts. He tried to oppose Homer's decision, as even though Basilus wasn't Gentle-Gifted, Antonio was aware of Homer's antics and didn't want the boy to just become another experiment. They maintained contact throughout Homer's apprenticeship.
Homer Bonisagi
Age: 120 (60)
Driven +6, Ambitious -+3, mad -2
Mad mix of traditionalist and dabbler, hell-bent on improving the Theory by experimenting to his heart's content. Frequently abuses his right to 'borrow' apprentices and turns them into his test subjects, and was nearly charged with a low crime for suspected intentionally imparted Deficiencies upon one of his students.
Angela Bonisagi
Age: 30(30)
Ambitious +3, Envious -2, Vengeful -2
Young woman driven to be the best in the field of research. Hates Basilus for his repeated attempts to meddle and dabble with her apprenticeship, which left her worse off almost every time - nearly to the point of an accident that nearly cost her a gauntlet. At the same time, she envied Basilus for having a powerful teacher, despite Homer's flaws.
She's a generalist leaning strongly toward Creo, Rego, Mentem and Vim. She primarily seeks to incorporate hedge traditions into Hermetic Theory but doesn't shy away from stealing research from someone else if it means getting acclaim. Her target is usually Basilus, as revenge for years of unwelcome meddling.
(I'll still have to decide on alma mater, but that'll be easier)
I think I'm doing the same with Enemies: dropping it and making Honoratus's death backstory. Then pieces can be interwoven or just ignored, whatever works best as SG plans things out.
Added a rundown of all cases of Basilus stoking up Angela's rage. Let me know which are out of place, and how else I could improve it
ENEMIES RUNDOWN
-
Tried to 'help' Angela by prying into her private affairs, and then confronting her about it.
-
Frequently 'borrowed' Angela's study materials without asking.
-
On two occasions copied Angela's research notes without asking.
-
Made Angela fail her first try at gauntlet because of a combination of stress, sleep deprivation and sub-par education due to stolen books.
-
Made Angela fail her second try due to Basilus' insistence on cheating, which had been uncovered mid-exam.
-
Continued to pry into her private magus life post-apprenticeship, at one point even entering her sanctum.
-
Recently gave it a rest, which gives Angela an opportunity to grow unhindered and enact revenge.
@VanSilke Many of these sound like malicious acts commited purposefully. They make your magus sound like a d!ck. If this was done by a magus sworn to the Oath against another, some would be considered Major Crimes.
These would probably earn you the Infamous flaw in Hermetic circles (or at least amongst House Bonisagus). If your master commited similar acts (though more subtly) against another magus, that would certainly justify the Infamous Master flaw.
That raises the question, however. Would the other members of the covenant accept you as their peer? Would they distrust you, fearing that you would steal their research? I don't mind that, but it is up to the troupe to decide. Or make up some reason why, despite his bad reputation, they would be in the same covenant.