I don't think we can just move the magi's birthdates. As I understand it, Theban magi only exit apprenticeship at Tribunal meetings, which was at the end of 1219.
Last Tribunal meeting was at the end of 1221. That's clear from TSE's various dates, and is in sync with the dates from most other Tribunals.
I had not seen that clearly stated. Sorry. In that case, then yes, adjusting the character's birthday is the simple and obvious answer. Consider it done for all three of my folks.
For the activities thread, can one learn an art or a skill from a book without a library? If so, is there any problem with my studying our nice Rego summae?
You mean without a laboratory? If so then yes, studying from a book is not a lab activity and can be done anywhere.
I just noticed that Romanos the Autocrat has no Leadership skill. Can that be right? He has some kick-ass Profession skills, and the Natural Leader virtue. But no Leadership.
I'm moving my discussion of longevity rituals from the covenant design thread to the general discussion and table talk thread as being more appropriate.
So, I was wondering, when does Christophoros want his longevity ritual designed? What with having to set up two labs (his own and the guest lab), and having to spend a season every year with his apprentice, Orion's schedule is starting to fill up.
As for the school how much classical greek is taught and at what lvl? coughs Omphalos is better suited for publishing for the entirety of the order currently and less so for thebes.
I am not sure where the discussion of crafting impact on labs ended up for our saga.
Assuming we are generally going with small increments, but are going with the large safety impact for our woodworker, I have a related question.
What MuTe magnitude and what Finess target would I need to improve the glass, metal, and ceramic lab tools to give a +1 for good equipment to our labs? it would seem that I probably would need to recast periodically to improve replacement parts, etc.
My assumption is that the Spell itself would be fairly simple (base +1 for touch +1 for group, net 5?)
And that I would need a finesse total of 12 (equivalent of 9 crafting for the bonus, and +3 for doing it with finesse rather than actual crafting.)
I am assuming that there is no finesse penalty for time because I am just reshaping an existing implement, not crafting from raw materials.
Of course, I could be thoroughly confused.
Hmmm...need to figure what Agapitus is actually going to do this year...any suggestions?
Also, how do you all think Iosif should find the covenant?
I should think that the obvious answer is that he had a premonition that he should come to the mountain.
Well, not totally sure what exactly Iosif should do with the rest of his time, but I'll figure it out later.
Well, he's already 42, so he'd think that he needs one fairly soon. He believes that his arthitis is a result of aging (it isn't). So even though the rest of his health is good, he doesn't want to wait more than necessary. And it was promised to him as part of his deal to teach in the school, so postponing it too much would make him feel slighted.
Mechanically, he doesn't really need it quickly, because of the Unaging virtue. But he doesn't know that! 
As for the setting up of 2 labs (his own and the guest one), there's probably no great hurry in setting up the guest lab. Unless we want to share it until we've all had to time to have our own built. There doesn't seem to be too much demand for it, though, so this might be left up for later. I'm also assuming that performing a LR for Christophoros would constitute covenant service, and that the covenant would be willing to reimburse Orion for the vis being used (9 pawns).
Well, since he has a normal Gift, his presence would be disruptive to a normal class. He'd be better off trying to get private schooling or attend the private class along given by Christophoros for Gregorius and Anastasia (which would lower the SQ to 15). Or, if he wants truly private tutoring, arrange for ono-on-one teaching from either Christophoros (SQ21) or some of the covenant's other good teachers -- the best being Liberius (SQ 18) and Agapitus (SQ 12).
Covenants (p.122) has rules for using spell to assist in the lab. They're not based on Finesse. Non-ritual spells either add 1 to the lab's Warping, or reduces Safety by 1. The benefit are otherwise the same as those of an magic item; they can provide the equivalent of a virtue (such as Magical Lighting), or improve the lab's Characteristics or Specializations. Every 10 levels of effect can improve Specialization by 1 point. Every 20 levels can improve a Characteristic by 1 point. You choose how to allocate the effect levels, provided it makes sense for the effect being used.
So a MuTe effect to improve the strength of the labware could give +1 Safety for a level 20 effect. If it's from a non-ritual spell cast regularly, then that would also give either +1 Warping or -1 Safety. A magic item would be a better choice.
Thanks Arthur. I had managed to miss the warping note on using spells that way. Will do enchantments for myself later. If I read it right, enchanted items don't have the restriction against effecting the art they are based on?
Well, we wouldn't want to make him feel slighted, would we? 
Really it was just a matter of whether he needed it in 1223 or if he could wait until 1224. These early years are pretty busy. It's probably doable in 1223, but I just wanted to make sure.
I thought the idea was to share the guest lab while our own were being built. Besides, Orion needs a lab to open up Anastasia's Arts, and he's looking into the possibility of getting a custom lab made (which may take longer). So I figured it was best to get the guest lab done straight off. Then, if Maximillian needs a lab before his is done, he can use it too. 
That was my hope as well. (Though I doubt Orion will be hurting for covenant services this Tribunal.
Actually as I understood it Anastasia is gently gifted and will be taking the regular class in the spring...
I'm good either way.
I think he is talking about using craft magic to make regular tools of quality, which is different from using magic to enhance the lab, and would not cause warping as the tools would be normal. To make enough tools for one lab for a normal craftsman would take a season of work, to get the +1 would require a workshop total of 12, gives a base of 15, +6 for a season's work (or cast 3 times at +3, or 78 times at 15), so either 78 castings with finesse 15, 3 castings at finesse 18, or one casting with finesse 21. Note also that if the second two options are being used the target will need to be group.
*77 castings is a 91 day season where the craftsman does not work sundays.
Well, he mentioned MuTe, which I think is outside the scope of craft magic...
It's a matter of how high a SQ the regular school would give. As I mentioned in the Covenant Design Discussion thread:
The recap what I've written before, I don't think that Christophoros should be the only teacher for the school. With one season per year, he simply cannot provide enough manpower to teach a dozen student during most of the year long on a variety of subjects. I think the school should have 2 other regular teachers, who would provide a lower SQ.
I'm still hoping for a clear statement of how many teachers (aside from Christophoros), support staff and students the school might have. We've had some discussions about that, but I don't feel this have been resolved yet.
Here's the situation as I see it:
- We're setting ourselves up as a school.
- We have bought the school as a flaw, not a virtue
- We have not spent any build points to get any specialist teachers
- We have one companion who can teach (Christopheros)
- Christopheros is wealthy, so he only needs to work (i.e., teach at the school) one season per year.
- Christopheros is teaching during the spring of 1222
- No one is teaching anything during the summer, autumn, or winter of 1222
Now, I can see where silveroak is coming from. We didn't buy the school as a source of income, and we didn't buy any teacher specialists. As a result, we shouldn't get teachers for free. Of course, that means according to the covenant set-up rules, we're a school with one teacher who only has to teach for a single semester each year. Three-quarters of the year, our classrooms are empty.
So, I can see Arthur's point as well. Unless we want to have our magi spend valuable seasons teaching, we need to get more teachers.
However, the only solution I can think of going forward is for someone to spend their time looking for new teachers. Now, that can't be Christopheros (probably the best qualified to do so) because if he takes the time to do it, then no one is teaching at our school.
silveroak, what would it take to hire new teachers? Is that a full season of work, or can it be done in less?