I believe we have five players + SG, counting JesseHeinig.
no problem then. A typical covenant is 4 to 8 I believe.
I'm away for the weekend starting any minute now. So I won't be able to answer any questions until Monday.
I'm fine with Cat joining
I say welcome, Cat, as well.
Jesse, I hope you will continue on this adventure with us, but understand your frustration as well. I think the solution is to present some solutions that preserve the character concept.
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I've always disliked the idea of Tremere as a sinister monolithic force waiting to whack the PCs for whatever reason. The Tremere are amongst the most fervent supporters of growth in the Order and have a vested interest in seeing a project such as Atlantis succeed. So let's posit that they do know about the project for whatever reason and your character is their pledge to success. There is no need for reports or spying because House Tremere, i.e. you, are already present and ready to take action to ensure the success of the project.
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The House is either less aware or entirely unaware of the project because none Magnus has not yet announced his attentions to the order, and has not attempted to recruit an Tremere. When Magnus approaches you, he asks for a pledge of secrecy before telling you what the conversation is about, allowing a caveat that you will not be bound if the conversation threatens your House or breaks the Code. You agree, are recruited, and agree to hold this secret until it is announced to the Order as a whole, on the principal that it is better to have an observer in place than to be completely in the dark.
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Combination of 1 & 2 - You are ordered by the House to join the Atlantis expedition, but your superiors understand Magnus is rightfully suspicious of outsiders. You have specific orders to obey Magnus as you would your Tremere superior for the span of a Tribunal (7 years). After that period you will report back and re-evaluate. At this time either you will be extended for another seven years or asked to return to Coeris.
Does anyone have objections or modifications to any of the above?
I'd say a modification to number 2- he is approached on the grounds of secrecy, is asked to keep it from his house until an order wide announcement is made, but negotiates that he 1) be allowed to tell his superior that he is involved in "something big" prior to this and 2) be allowed to tell his house 1 year prior to a general order wide announcement (and be allowed to tell his superior that this is part of the deal.
Its possible Tremere is supporting the entire project. Creating and settling a new island? Possibly integrating some old magic if Atlantis was a real thing? I'm sure the Tremere would love to be able to do that. They would probably be willing to fund the project for access to the lab texts for spells/items used in the project and reports on how its doing. Trogdor would have to be willing, but it would exchange one hook (no vis) for another (House Tremere).
No don't do that!
If they were asked they probably would, but it would seem they weren't...
I'd like to make it the PCs choice as to whether to accept the Tremere help that would certainly be offered, rather than forcing it upon them. That's why I was having things start at an early stage. If the troupe wants to accept Tremere aid, I'm fine with that. I just wanted to give everyone the choice.
Meliai would like to keep the number of people involved down, so everyone can actually know each other instead of dealing with a large organization.
On a personal level I'd prefer not to accept the direction and help of the Tremere because I want the troupe to ultimately have control of the project.
What about the Jerbiton? This seems like a reasonable character.
So, as I've mentioned a couple of times now, my goal is to build a cooperative character who is fully invested in the project. The idea that the character has conflicting loyalties is a personal issue -- this is not a case of a character who twirls a moustache and makes plans for how to betray the covenant.
I try to cleave to the description of House Tremere as presented in True Lineages, though my viewpoint may be slightly skewed (http://www.amazon.com/Clanbook-Tremere-Vampire-The-Masquerade/dp/1565042549).
In general terms, the way I see House Tremere, they are a very cautious and insular group that spends a lot of time making sure they are prepared for crisis situations. As noted in True Lineages, they are structured much like an army, and they save up resources in times of peace so that they will have them available in times of war. Between the Schism War, the breaking of Tremere, and the abandonment of Aita/Hades/Pluto, they are very cautious about other power groups that are not part of the House, and especially cautious about projects that could have ramifications for the Order or society as a whole. Given this mindset I would consider them naturally interested in the goings-on of an Atlantis project. While House Tytalus would likely be belligerent about it, Tremere -- I believe -- would be more likely to see this as a resource that should be carefully managed. Tremere the Founder wanted to dominate the Order; while the House no longer carries that ambition, they do (according to True Lineages, again) push for more clarification in legal rulings and use certamen to resolve disputes in a favorable way. To my mind, this means that House Tremere would be involved in trying to oversee a project like this that potentially has a very large scope. This doesn't necessarily mean that they are hostile or that they would try to wrest control away from the covenant, but they surely would not be so blase as to simply say "Raised Atlantis and rebuilt it? Sure, whatevs."
The difficulty I'm having is that I'm being told that a character should be involved in the early phases of the project, but I have no way for a character to even know about the project (and thus be involved) without other players deciding "here is how we brought this magus in." During the early stages, I . . . guess? . . . the character who comes up with the idea of raising Atlantis would be looking around for other young magi who have some talent that would be useful, then secretly contacting those people and saying "Hey we need to focus our magical skills on the spells that we will need to do this thing," and spending several cycles doing so and hoping that the rest of the Order doesn't bother them. I don't think anyone is coming in as a super-mage at the start of the project, twenty or forty or whatever years ago; the magi refine their skills over the years working on the project. The obvious reason to do things that way is so you don't wind up contacting some powerful older magus and then being sad when that person winds up dominating the project. Under that model, it seems clear that you either (1) invite a Tremere into your covenant b/c that mage has useful skills and you can decide on your own spin for the project, or (2) you don't invite a Tremere, the House finds out about your project several years later, and you are sad because other mages are all nervous and upset that you're doing something this massive and you deliberately hid it from the Order. (The Order's history shows that when a covenant of mages undertakes a massive project and tries to hide it, it's usually Infernal, so this is generally a tough row to hoe.)
So that out of the way, I'm trying to build a character that would be interesting, useful, or talented in a way that would draw the attention of the Atlantis-raising group so that the character would be approached to join the project. Tremere would be controversial; everyone would have their own opinion, I'm sure, about whether it's good to invite a Tremere to the project or not. I picked Hermetic Architecture because it is a Mystery that seems to be immediately useful when you are talking about rebuilding a place (or just making your own buildings), especially one that probably has a ton of regia. Now according to some of the feedback I've gotten this is not useful and the character is not wanted, so that's fine, that's why I have alternative concepts. (Feedback in the form of "I don't like any of these characters" with no other suggestions is not useful, though.)
On to the Jerbiton. This character's super-strong Communication score makes for a natural diplomat and an amazing book-writer. I see this character as someone who is interested in the history and philosophy behind Atlantis, as well as the idea of building a new culture inspired by the notion of a great magical civilization founded upon high principles. I have a few alternative directions that the character could go (studying integration of certain other forms of magic, perhaps) that might be intriguing. Since there seems to be strong pushback against Tremere, this might be worth consideration, as it's a character that is much more easygoing and better at helping the covenant with its messaging, and one that comes without significant political liabilities.
I think the tremere sounds interesting and fun, and have no problem with it. The Jerbiton would be useful as well, so I just say pick whichever you prefer.
+1
I think part of what you are missing is that they were not recruited as young magi 42 years ago- the recruitment occurs in or after the 4th cycle, and halfway through that, so it's more like 17 years ago to even more recent. The magi are already accomplished magi by that point, and the recruitment was slow and quiet rather than brashly asking around to everyone who might be interested.
silveroak has it exactly right.
I get that, I was reading the other threads where people were talking about when they started their involvement in the project, I just think that any reasonably competent Hermetic magus who doesn't have a deficiency with Longevity formulae is still "young" at age 60 or 70. 
I shall be free of your cursed longevity rituals and young when I'm 100! By the power of the bronze chord, and by the power of healthy living I shall outlast you all! Pure and untainted![/Artemis]
Meliai doesn't even start aging rolls until she is 50 (strong faerie blood), but that is still a long ways from freshly gauntleted.
Since I need to have a connection who decides to "bring me in," who wants to have a tie that goes back to our characters' prior years? Could be because I visited another covenant, we became pen pals while doing early research, met at a Tribunal, whatevs.