Thats what I though - infact I though the founding of the covenant was normally done with a supernatural entity and an oath/charter.
I don't think that's a requirement that the patron have an inherent connection to the covenant site, although it might be preferable from the tribunal's point of view - they just have to be at the site of the covenant. Neither Covek, the familiar white wolf patron of Gigas nor the aforementioned ghost at Moero's Garden have any inherent connection to the site, and arguably neither do some of the other patrons (such as Xylintes' magical spirit trapped in an "icon").
That seems such a loose rule as to have no real effect. Hey, what about our new friend Zethos? He oozes respectability.
Scott
Living at the covenant doesn't seem that loose a condition - you should hopefully be able to find or acquire something, but not just anything will do. There's also the issue that most covenants are going to want something impressive.
Zethos should fulfil the requirements, although Gregorius would prefer the cat - she's magic rather than faerie, and hasn't already made one attempt to institute pagan worship at the covenant.
I'm guessing that Zethos will go over better with the tribunal, and I'm also guessing that Gregorius knows that--and he's not supposed to be the one who annoys people for fun.
Scott
Gregorius doesn't annoy people for fun, or even deliberately - it's just a consequence of him sincerely believing that the Tremere way is the right way, and the world would be a much better place if everyone else thought like they do.
Exactly. Does he think people are more likely to do things the Tremere way if we present the cat at our patron?
Scott
Gregorius isn't approaching this decision from the point of view of the opinion of the rest of the tribunal (although it's worth remembering that the local Tremere House covenant has its leader's familiar as its patron - Gregorius didn't get that idea from nowhere). Rather, he's more concerned with the good of the covenant itself, and specifically that Zethos is going to use any increase in authority to have another go at imposing what the faerie thinks is proper on the covenant - which includes the worship of the greek gods.
We'll make clear that to Zethos that he's a stand-in. And Viola trusts him not to do anything untoward a lot more than the trusts the cat.
Scott
Gregorius might consider Zethos if Viola agrees to put her weight behind preventing him doing anything pagan.
That's a pretty broad restriction, and not un-akin to demanding that rain not do anything wet.
I don't imagine Zethos is going to do much of anything at all, other than serve as a figurehead.
Scott
OK, I'm having a look at the covenant's finances right now.
First off, is there any reason for me to keep updating build points? I think my own OCD is the only reason I was doing it in the first place.
At any rate, either of our two major income sources is, by itself, large enough to pay our current expenses. That means that we can afford to keep devoting the quarry until rebuilding, at least until the middle of 1229. (If the toys came online sooner, we could go even longer, but I hesitate to have that story take place before our skip-forward date of Autumn 1230.)
Scott
Helps you keep track of payouts from the Hidden Resources boons? Other than that, probably not really.
Suggest a tighter version that Viola would be happier to agree to?
What exactly is Gregorius trying to avoid? Zethos hasn't been attempting to set up a new temple or start regular rituals or the like, has he?
Scott
Well, there was this incident...
That was very naughty of him. Viola will prevail upon Zethos, with some degree of sincerity, to keep any such actions to the bare minimum.
Scott
For reference, this was her previous reaction:
Hence Gregorius wanting to get her to agree to actually treat it as a problem.
Hence the "bare minimum".
There is no way Gregorius is going to get Viola to take this as seriously as he does, but she'll at least pay lip service. The issue, from Viola's perspective, is that, regardless of what Zethos may want to do, it's very unlikely that any of the covenant's mortal inhabitants will enthusiastically adopt paganism. If there are signs this is actually occurring, she'll be more concerned.
Scott
Gregorius doesn't really expect Viola to take it as seriously as she "should" - she doesn't have the legacy of the Tremere to teach her. He'll be content with reasonably convincing lip-service.
He's less sure about the covenfolk than she is - after all, many of them come from other Theban covenants previously, and who knows what funny stuff those get up to (when they're not performing blatently pagan rites at tribunal). That said, it's more of a general caution than a targeted concern.
We can work on resolving the tribunal meeting in a couple of weeks (during which time I can also handle the map updates)--over the next week, I've got a big proposal due, and that's taking up a lot of my time.
What should we do about Viola's Theban history? In the original story (which predates Sundered Eagle's publication by more than a decade), she claimed an apprentice in a way that could never happen in Thebes, or even ArM5 canon: he had gotten "misplaced" when his original master marched, and his Arts hkad been opened and he'd learned the Parma Magica (this was ArM4). Viola claimed him as her own apprentice in order to prevent her covenantmate from killing him under the "Join or Die" directive (ignoring the "Join or" part). The part about his already knowing Parma we can ignore, but I don't see how the rest of it can be made to fit within the Theban apprenticeship system. I suppose Viola might have received shards for the incident, though, given the circumstances, she might also have received a Decree of Contrition for the incident (her main motive was preventing the unnecessary death of a potential Hermetic magus).
She might also have earned some tokens along the way, especially in the aftermath of an incident during the 1204 siege of Constantinople, when she helped thwart an attempt by a pair of local magi to intervene on the side of the city. That being said, there's no room in her advancement log for the work required to neutralize shards with tokens.
Scott