For this reason I try to always use positive-valued Personality Traits. I just choose the name appropriately. So I would rather take Lethargic +2 instead of Energetic -2, for example.
I see, thank you, that makes more sense now. I must have indeed misunderstood the personality traits. It's been corrected with only pluses now.
So now Basil's personality is Ambitious +3, Busybody +3, Competitive +2 and Christian +1 (although I'm thinking of dropping the last one). First two are from Flaws.
Appearance : She's a light brunette with curly hair, high cheeks and a slightly aquiline nose. Rather slender, she's been taught proper posture and It's dignified for the most part but somewhat stiff. Most of the time her face displays a mischievous glint in her eye and the flicker of a smile. She's well mannered and friendly most of the time. When she feels at ease, she doesn't always manage to refrains the urge to transform conversations into a game of wit.
I'm considering :
- Carefree +3 (due to minor flaw)
- Sociable +3
- Daring +2
- Crafty +1
Casting Sigil is chimera : The caster's shadow gains mixed animal features, the higher the magnitude the more obvious the change. It could be a mix of tail, horns, wings, snake tail...
@Bitter I think your maga is ready for her own topic for stats, background, etc. You can go ahead and create it.
Appearance: Unruly black hair, aquiline nose and grey eyes. Slightly stooped at the shoulders. A trait left over from his time working as a scribe. Tends to be quite but can ask a lot of questions when he gets interested in a problem.
Traits:
+2 Patient
+1 Curious
+2 Thoughtful
Casting Sigil: A circle divided into 4 quarters.
@jebrick I think Emericus is almost ready for his own topic as well. His stats are fine, but at the moment his background is a bit sketchy, particularly as to his Favors flaw. "Magi of Rhine" is too vague for me to use, so I'd like some more details, that will have to be integrated into his background. 
I just had not updated the name yet - Andrus ex Bonisagus. In charge of the Great Library. I picked him because there is some tension between him, Murion and Occultes so the political forces would make Emericus a good candidate to be moved out of Durenmar
That's a start. But since Favors is a Major Story flaw, I'll need something that is seriously fleshed out. What did Andrus do that make Emericus so much in debt to him? Why did he do it? What kind of stories may be generated by the repayment of such debts?
As I mentioned before, Story flaws are there for you to tell me what kind of stories you want your character to be drawn into, willingly or not. Since this is a character-driven saga, they play a major role in the stories being told.
I've been working on those few V&F more. I think I'm moving toward Mentor, tied to the background written above. Meanwhile, I've been looking more into "cold" and the idea of a late emergence of the Gift. I'm considering a Lesser Immunity to Cold to replace the not-loved Puissant Parma Magica. Would you consider that a Lesser Immunity?
Yes.
Cool... I know: bad pun. I couldn't resist.
Based on that, shifting Puissant Parma Magica to Lesser Immunity to Cold seems like a good move. You'll be happier without the Puissant Parma Magica. Meanwhile, that Lesser Immunity will tie in with the Focus.
My ideas surrounding the late appearance of the Gift is that she's got immense talent (Affinity with Perdo, Affinity with Vim, Cautious Sorceress) but she's also stuck in her ways. She can brute-force her way through things (Life Boost, Life-Linked Spontaneous Magic), but learning the careful skills is harder (Study Requirement, Unimaginative Learner). Meanwhile, she has a natural talent for cold (Lesser Immunity to Cold, Minor Magical Focus (Cold), Warped Magic - when she casts, everything nearby gets cold). The background is roughly as written above (The Gift, Hermetic Maga, Skilled Parens, Covenant Upbringing, Driven, Mentor).
You need to chill on the bad puns, 'cause you're on thin ice here. It might throw a cold on the troupe dynamics. Wouldn't want to freeze the saga with icy relationships between us. 
V&F combos described works for me!
You're worse than I am. 
Yay! Good. I just need to write the mentor into the background appropriately. Meanwhile, I'm going to leave some bits open-ended on the original Flambeau parens' death so you can choose to integrate them or not as you see fit. Without a direct Story Flaw attached to them, those little details become interesting flavor that might rile her up, but otherwise are non-essential.
@callen On the original Flambeau master, let's say that he had some Faerie Blood and was on good terms with a number of Merinita magi. That was before the House disappeared, and he was investigating the disappearance of his friends when he died. Was Honoratus' death related to the Merinita's mysterious disappearance? Or was it something else? Your maga doesn't know, but that gives her incentive to look into it, while also giving her a reason to be cautious about it.
Works for me. My plan on the mentor is a Flambeau amicus of her original parens. He knows she still has Flambeau tendencies and would be happy for her to switch houses. But mostly he would like his amicus's legacy to live on in a powerful School of Boreas maga, even if she isn't a Flambeau right now.
That sounds good!
Favors to Andrus ex Bonisagus: Because of his studies with Hedge Elemental Magic, Emericus was able to gain some access to the Restricted section that had books on these subjects. Andrus requires favors from Emericus if he wants to look at any books in that section. Occultes is the former Librarian and has given Emericus clues as to what to look for in the restricted section.
Yay! Do you want me to post everything to a character sheet thread? Right now I cannot make new threads, but I know there is a way to allow us to make those new threads.
I do not know how to give you that access. So I just created a topic for each magus. You should be able to post in those.
Just a reminder of how I would like to see the character topics organized:
- First post - Stats like characteristics, virtues, flaws, abilities, arts, spells, wizard sigil, etc.
- Second post - Background, physical appearance, etc.
- Further posts - description of new spells, enchantments, laboratory, familiar, etc.