Need to rework the Virtues. No more than 5 points of minor virtues.
And the Latin...he needs a virtue that would allow that. None of your virtues seem to fit, but I'll have to reference those later.
Although, I really like him otherwise.
Ah right, yes - my mistake. Will do tonight.
I think maybe "covenant upbringing" makes that available to him, but I'll check.
Thanks muchly!
I think you want custos. It also opens up martial abilities.
House rule? The sidebar on Virtues and Flaws Rules and Guidelines (p. 39) simply says "You may take up to 10 points of Flaws, and an equal number of Virtues." The next bullet point says "You may not have more than 5 Minor Flaws." Maybe this is what you were thinking of?
Although he still has seven Minor Flaws, so...um..yeah.
Covenant Upbringing lets you take Latin and Order of Hermes Lore at character creation.
I do too...but I do see I need to bring out Ol' Red right quick 
Ability Block means you're totally unable to learn a certain class of Abilities for some reason. Severely dyslexic would be...a portion of Artes Liberales?
By the way: Hibernia is Ireland. Scotland was either Scotland or Alba (Gaelic: Rìoghachd na h-Alba , "Kingdom of Scotland").
I'm really liking the talking starling...it just seems so...fitting somehow. So mythic. Does the name "Ceallach" mean anything, or is it just a cool-sounding Gaelic name?
Age 23. I'm assuming that he's going to hook up (no pun intended) with Fiona as she's on her way to the new covenant? And therefore has not had time to get accustomed to her Gift? (I'm assuming that he does, and had planned an intro scene in my Prelude...got almost two pages written while at the hospital today)
D'oh, you're right, it's minor flaws. This is good. Like I said, I was operating from memory.
But, his background is such that he wasn't brought up in the covenant. Something's not working together here...
For the ability block, I'd say it precludes any academic ability.
Yup, erm, sorry folks - a few mistakes in this one - mocked up the character too quickly.
No problems - I'll change the minor flaws.
One thing: I wonder whether it might be possible to get a special SG ruling to allow Ivor to take "pessimistic" as a major, rather than minor, personality flaw?
The case for this rules-wise: there are plenty of legal Major personality flaws in the book that are very similar - "optimistic" springs to mind. If you can be "Optimistic" enough to count as major, you should be able to be "Pessimistic" enough, surely!
The case for this story-wise: I was totally going to play the pessimistic to the hilt anyway. I thought that, with Iosephus being so cheery, it would be fun to play Ivor as someone absolutely convinced of the inevitability of his, and everyone's, eventual failure.
I understand if taking this as a major flaw isn't going to be possible - it isn't in the rules, after all.
Right you are - this is a leftover from when I thought he had been cursed to serve Fiona's old covenant, rather than the giant clan. I'll change it and take the Custos virtue instead - this will give him access to Latin, as well as giving him the status he really needs as personal bodyguard to one of the magi.
I'll probably ditch one of the "improved characteristics" virtues to pay for it.
Thanks folks!
Caellach means "bright-headed" in Gaelic, a handy website has informed me. Obviously, I'm envisioning the starling with a nice brightly coloured head. It also means "strife", which is less appropriate. But no doubt he'll get into trouble at some point to prove his name right...
Ahah woops! Foolish mistake. Will change.
I should have been more specific. I was envisioning this working to preclude him from learning any academic ability - except Dead Language, for spoken language only (i.e. so he can learn to talk Latin, to speak to the magi). This is as per the example in the book, which lists precisely these abilities - all the Academic Abilities, except Dead Language.
It would also mean that he would be unable to learn to read, even in living languages, including his native language. My thought was that he can puzzle out iconography (maps, symbols on shop signs, etc) and numbers, and large, common words like "TAVERN" on a sign, and so on; but anything beyond that is incomprehensible to him. Of course, this isn't terribly abnormal, given that almost everyone is illiterate - but still, it means he can never learn to remedy this.
Whatever you like - I don''t want to make you redo your two pages! For the record, I was envisioning that he was quite familiar with the Gift in general, having been raised by a hedge-witch, and having done much business with covenants over the years, on behalf of the giants. As for being used to Fiona's Gift, specifically, enough to ignore the reaction penalties - I was initially thinking that they had spent a fair bit of time together before - just not so intensely as they will from now on. After all, he does work for her mentor, so they might easily have seen one another a lot, if that's how we want to play it. But they could easily be meeting for the first time too. So this is just another way of saying: either way makes sense, so whatever works for you is fine by me.
Technically you have to spend 15 years with a gifted magus to get used to their specific gift. But in this case you've been ordered and your curse compels you to do it. You don't have to like it
Don't worry...I've only just gotten her to where she quit her old covenant...she still has to finish packing and be on her way yet (when I get on a roll, the words just flow, sometimes)
And then there are times where characters in your stories fight you. Apollodorus has started down that path with me. I'd intended for him to be a bit different than my host character in the face to face version of this game I'd originally planned. Then he started arguing with me a bit.
I'll start working Alexei's arrival, I still need to have my companion, so I'll basically say he's off on his own at the moment and can hop in as necessary. Sound good?
He might catch up during the thread. Companions don't typically take quite as much to work up as a Magus...
Thats what I figured, it shouldn't be an issue.
I introduced a possible Grog in the latest post of Alexei's prelude. He could become a regular perhaps in other preludes. His name is Henri (last name undecided) that could perhaps be Apollodorus's steward and a native guide to the lands if someone wants to design him.
Woops, that was meant to go in the Covenant discussion thread, but oh well.
Are there any companion characters that were created by the players that left and used in the game? For story consistency sake I would be willing to take over those companions instead of introducing a new one. Otherwise if a new companion is needed, which mage wants one and what are the guidelines for the type of companion that you are looking for?
As for Methuselah, he will likely claim Ulrich as his apprentice/companion when he arrives since the apprentice was abandoned by his master. Given Methuselah's superb teaching skills, Ulrich is going to turn into quite the mage when he passes his gauntlet! 
I'm sending Ivor back to Scotland.
As to whether Ulrich is your apprentice, again that's a player to player decision.
"I concede to Bonisagus the right to take my apprentice if he should find my apprentice valuable to him in his studies."
I think it might be interesting to play Methusaleh's apprentice. And it might be interesting to see how Methusaleh reconciles his specialties to Ulrich's (vastly different) fields.
Trying to follow up on Johnathon's encouragement for companion matching in another thread for us newbs.
Can we have a quick rundown of which magi have companions already built that need to be taken over, or companion foil slots still open for creation? I think Ivor was up for grabs, but I wasn't sure how much he had already been played/wondering what else was out there.
Feel free to disregard that earlier request. It is too unwieldy.
More evidence that I shouldn't post when I'm tired...
Ivor is up for grabs, and he can be tweaked a bit to fit a new player. He is essentially unplayed.
As far as the request that companions partner with a magi, I'm rescinding that restriction.