I was under the impression that we were just going to go with the boxed labs, so to speak, with no modifications done to them until we do them in-game. Or am I wrong in this assumption?
I did a sketch of a library manager / head teacher companion (virtues, skills, no flaws or personality). I would be happy to send that to you (post, PM, email) as I would like to stick with my merchant. You could then adjust as you see fit (or discard).
https://www.itia.ntua.gr/ahw/work/72/ describes the aqueduct as running 6.5 km from cistern to castle, and the cistern at 10 km from the spring, 16 km should be about 10 miles, which would put the covenant a bit further up in the mountains than what your map shows... in fact far beyond the Romonos, which it is certainly in the Romanos area from other sources- though if you 'ascend' the mountain behind Romanos (from the perspective of Patras, this puts the distance at 7.5 miles, which could certainly account for 10 miles of aqueduct plus some river... so we would be several miles from Patras itself, not right on the border.
I'm looking at roughly E21 deg 52 min, N38 deg 13 min
Ah, right up on that big mountain east of Patras. I see now.
Well, consider that the map is of modern Patras, with a population of 200,000. That number would have been significantly lower in 1200.
Consider Corinth, which is described as having a population of 10,000 at the time...
Still, you are right that even at 10 miles from the coast, the spring would be at least twice as far as Romanos.
Boxed labs were an option, up to the individual magus.
As for various covenfolk, they can always be put in as redshirts if you are wanting to make them but not own them. That includes headmasters, teachers, etc. Though realistically we only need one teacher for a standard medieval school of this type.
A failed apprentice autocrat could be useful, or maybe someone with the appropriate skills and simply unaffected by the gift...
I was wondering how to have a companion unaffected by the gift. I could not find that virtue.
I notice that the house rules seem to include allowance for greater increase in book quality from skill of workers. Can you summarize the effect?
I know I'm a bit late to comment on this, but when seeing the result of this...
(Trogdor, this comment is not targeted at you and your magus specifically. It just so happens that yours was the first magus to be advanced using those parameters.)
Let me just say that I find the combined level-quality of the widely available summae to be unrealistically high for post-Gauntlet advancement. I could accept one or two Arts being available to that level in a given covenant. But having anything and everything you want at that level is beyond belief.
The way things are being described, an Exceptional book like the one we purchased for our covenant will have very little value. When L20Q11 summae are commonly available (to the point that any Art can be studied from them), very few will seek out that L22Q13 summa. After all, it doesn't give much more xp than a few 'average' Q11 tractatus for the 3 seasons it give above what the 'common' L20Q11 summa can give. So why bother?
Furthermore, that level of availability in books will lead to very powerful magi shortly out of apprenticeship. For example, for the last 7-year period of Trogdor's magus advancement, that magus gained 206 xp and learned 225 levels of spells. That's twice as much (60 points per year) as the standard advancement from the core book (p.32).
With those parameters, there would be very few magi interested in forming a new covenant, with the resulting loss of resources availability that comes with it. And if all covenants have so many books, what's the point of having a covenant dedicating to copying books? No one will need them.
Sorry for the rant... but I had to say this.
No offense taken.
Consider, however, that Orien has Book Learner, which gives him extra xp for studying from books. If he spends half his time reading books (not unreasonable for someone with that Virtue), then he gains an extra 723 = 42 xp from that Virtue alone, which accounts for nearly half of the so-called excess xp.
Beyond that, all I can say is that different campaigns have different power levels. This one just happens to be on the higher end. I enjoy playing in games of differing power levels. Sometimes it's a bare-bones power level game where the characters are just out of gauntlet and have to scrape for every advantage; sometimes it's a campaign where advancement comes a little easier, but the challenges come from elsewhere. Those are my thoughts on the matter.
Maybe, or maybe not. I can certainly see a situation in which a magus would have every reason to want to start a new covenant, namely the ability to start on top and be one of the people in the power structure. I've been in several games where I'm the newcomer magus. And it can be difficult sometimes to see the established characters being the masters of the covenant, while as a newbie I'm stuck in a lesser position. Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with that. But I could definitely see a young or middle-aged magus deciding that it was taking too long to climb the ladder in an established covenant and wanting to strike out to form a new covenant with them in a position of power from the start.
True, the new Spring covenant would be in a worse position than an established covenant, that will change in the course of time. New vis sources will be found (especially in Thebes), books will be traded for, and the magi will generally improve in skill. Soon enough, the covenant will be a Summer covenant with a respectable vis supply and a solid library. Remember, magi think in terms of decades, not in terms of years. If it takes a full Tribunal to move from Spring to Summer, so what? The magus likely has ten more Tribunals ahead of him. And now that he's started his own covenant, he's one of the founders and thus in a position of respect and authority.
Consider as well, a 40 year-old magus in an Autumn covenant. Let's say he has on the order of 80 years of study ahead of him. He might look at his covenant and decide that it will decline into Winter long before then. And rather than spend his latter years in a fading Winter covenant, he might look forward to spending those years in a thriving Summer, or even early Autumn, covenant. And the way to ensure that is to start in a Spring covenant when he's 40.
truly exceptional workers (such as Andrew is with woodworking) can make items of exceptional quality which give bonuses above +1.
The optional rule in covenants makes book quality com+virtue bonuses+3+1 for a skilled scribe+1 for a skilled illuminator+1 for a skilled bookbinder. The rules in city and guild describe how craftsman can make objects of exceptional quality which give bonuses to their use. A book of exceptional quality (in manufacture) will have bonuses to it's use, as described by it's quality score.
So for example if a scribe with scribe ability 9, dex 3 and either assitants or workshop bonus of +3 were to copy our very precious book, then hand it off to a competent illuminator and bookbinder, the copy would be level 22 quality 16.
this stacks with exceptional illuminators, bookbinders, and resonant materials.
For what it's worth, the xp I counted was from the raw source quality, so it did not take into account any of the xp-boosting virtues.
As for the craftsmen bonuses, I cannot help but wince at the potential abuse. I think I've it clear that I disagree with interpretation that it can provide additional bonuses for the labs. I think the same for books. Why would I understand the content better because "oh wow the binding is fabulous"? Simply makes no sense to me.
My umderstanding was that it would not be a high-power saga. I was fine with 150 build points for the covenant. But the rules for craftsmen, the book qualities available, and others details lead me to understand that it will be a very high-power saga.
I am considering bowing out. 
I'm very sorry to hear that. As I say, there are challenges to be found in every saga. Just because the magi may be a bit more experienced and such does not necessarily mean that the going will be easy. I'm sure there will be challenges enough for us all, no matter how the magi end up. And one nice thing about Ars Magica is that there seems to be a place for everyone. By that I mean that even if there are differing levels of ability, there generally seems to be story enough for all.
I do hope you decide to stay.
Ok, I'm a bit confused on something. I was under the assumption that our Magi were just out of Gauntlet, yet the previous conversation has someone earning a ridiculous amount of XP by doing...what, exactly? And why is he (from what I gather) the only one that is able to do this?
Sorry, but I'm a stickler when it comes to balance and fair play, and I want to make sure I didn't miss anything.
I think you did miss something. silveroak never said that the magi must be just out of gauntlet. In fact, he expressed surprise that everyone was making a magus fresh out of gauntlet. My understanding is that everyone can advance some if they want (using the rules that silveroak has set out in many of his posts of late - there are too many for me to cite them all).
That having been said, there is nothing that requires that all magi be pegged at exactly the same power level. I'm in one game that's very satisfying in which there are vastly different power levels floating around. It just happens that different challenges face different characters.
In my own case, I've been playing a bunch of young pups lately, and wanted to give a try with a more experienced magus. Not that there's anything wrong with playing the younger magi. But like any other diet, too much of the same thing can get stale after a while.
It's not the experienced vs young magi that's bothering me. It's how quickly the divide grows, resulting in such a power level that a magus a few decades out of gauntlet can level a city or an army without even breaking a sweat. And I am not talking about a magus focused on that.
As an example, your own magus accumulated in 7 years twice the amount of power (xp and spell levels) that an apprentice receives during his whole apprenticeship. That means his learning has accelerated 4-fold. To me, it stretches credibility and breaks the setting.
Sorry to have to be the dissenting voice.
im actually of a mind with arthur on the ...rediculously large amount of power in those summae. I mean its neat and all but by god why would you need the rest of us to make things without forking out the effort to get 40 in arts and the like. I mean...did we found this place by rolling the libraries of a bunch of arch magi...cause goddamn.
Although it's not our new covenant that has the library (it would be Aegaea), it still looks ridiculously overpowered IMHO.
Here's a quick compilation of the books that were used by Trogdor's magus:
- Creo: L15Q15 Summa, L18Q12 Summa, L20Q11 Summa
- Intellego: L8Q18 Summa, L10Q18 Summa
- Muto: L10Q18 Summa, L15Q15 Summa, L18Q12 Summa
- Perdo: L10Q18 Summa, L15Q15 Summa
- Rego: L15Q15 Summa, L18Q12 Summa, L20Q11 Summa
- Animal: L8Q18 Summa, L10Q18 Summa, L15Q15 Summa
- Aquam: L10Q18 Summa, L15Q15 Summa
- Auram: L8Q18 Summa
- Corpus: L8Q18 Summa, L10Q18 Summa, L15Q15 Summa
- Herbam: L8Q18 Summa, L10Q18 Summa, L15Q15 Summa
- Ignem: L8Q18 Summa, L10Q18 Summa
- Imaginem: L8Q18 Summa, L10Q18 Summa
- Mentem: L8Q18 Summa
- Terram: L10Q18 Summa, L15Q15 Summa
- Vim: L8Q18 Summa, L15Q15 Summa
- Concentration: L5Q18 Summa
- Faerie Lore: L5Q18 Summa
- Finesse: L5Q18 Summa, L7Q15 Summa
- House Merinita Lore: L8Q11 Summa
- Magic Lore: L5Q18 Summa
- Magic Theory: L8Q18 Summa
- Parma Magica: L8Q18 Summa
- Penetration: L8Q18 Summa
- Spell Mastery: Q12 Tractatus (Wizard's Leap), Q10 Tractatus (Hands of the Grasping Earth), Q12 Tractatus (Wizard's Sidestep)
Now, by the parameters provided for post-Gauntlet / pre-saga advancement, this is completely legit... And his is all from a single covenant. If one was to purchase a similar library using Covenant's build points, that library would cost over 1300 points. And that's not even counting the lab texts for spells.
It just doesn't make sense to me. That library is basically as good as Durenmar's -- but at Durenmar you risk the chance of a specific book not being accessible when you want it.
I won't go again into how few seasons spent on covenant services were needed to get access to that library. 
There are a few points here:
- the covenant he chose is reputed for it's fabulous library
- not all the books he read had to have come from that library- book exchanges, or a short travel to another covenant for a season to read one of their books is certainly a possibility, and given hat he was spending half his vis in gifts, not an unreasonable assumption.
I have already expressed earlier my belief in the potential for rapid growth and development both individually and of the covenant. That said I actually consider this a relatively reserved rate of advancement compared to once the game actually gets going and adventures bring in more experience and other potential resources like initiations.
That being said, I have stated from the beginning that this would be troop play, so if others share Arthur's reservations please speak up which correcting my assumptions is still relatively easy.
Actually, it is only described as 'surprisingly good", not 'fabulous':
That, to me, does not justify a library with multiple high-value summae forming a fast-track learning ladder in no less than 6 Arts (none of which are Aquam), as well as L8Q18 summae in Magic Theory, Parma Magica and Penetration (to name just a few). Just the Ability summae are worth 42 build points each and are beyond the maximum of L8Q14 (Covenants p.5).
Sure, some of those books could be studied at other covenants. But travelling to other covenants means time spent for said travel. Performing service for those covenants in exchange for the privilege of studying their best books. Since vis is so plentiful in Thebes, it is not really the currency for services. That would be tokens, or actual time spent providing services. I'm not seeing any of that here.
Rapid growth of a covenant is always relative. It also takes efforts from the magi (i.e. seasons spent on things other than simply studying). If this is what you consider a 'relatively reserved rate of improvement', then we have a serious problem of diverging expectations.
To quote your own announcement of the saga: "Advancement will follow standard ARsMagica advancement rules except for he prestige system described later." The standard advancement rules are 30 points per year (ArM5 p.32), spent on either xp or spell levels. What I'm seeing here is over double that rate. Essentially what I consider very quick and inflated advancement, with resources optimized to support exceedingly powerful magi.
Simply not to my taste. As I've mentioned before, this is one of the aspects that break the setting for me. I'm not calling it wrong, I'm just saying that's it's not what I expected. This is closer to what someone else called 'anime' power level.
If you like, I can make up my character using only the books from a "Powerful" covenant, as set forth on page 72 of ArM5.