This is probably written down somewhere, but I can't seem to find it.
If an apprentice is Opened to the Arts, and still has the Latent Magic Ability virtue, does either the apprentice or his parens realise the virtue is there? Can you tell if your Gift is not fully Opened?
Does it show up under InVi, or in some other way?
The Minor General Virtue Latent Magic Ability, and also Inherited Virtues & Flaws from Apprentices p.10f, can manifest before or after Opening the Gift. If you start play as a magus and the Latent Magic Ability still did not manifest,
As Virtue bestowing an option to the player during play, Latent Magic Ability covers many different cases: tmk there are no hard rules to in-game detect its presence in a character, that work in all of them.
Cheers
As Latent Magic Ability is triggered at the Storyguide's whim, it's entirely up to the SG whether a latent magic ability would show up as a faint magical trace (detectable in a similar manner to the Gift, so a spell like the ones in Apprentices should work) or if it's too faint for Hermetic magic and only non-Hermetic powers of magical oracles can detect it.
If the Latent Magic Ability hasn't manifested at all, it may not even count as a penalty to opening the Arts so you and your master may be none the wiser until one day something strange occurs, and it turns out you have extra powers. The purpose of this virtue is to tell stories where new powers manifest unexpectedly, and for seemingly mundane grogs and companions to make a transition to being more magical.
And that new power should be a minor virtue?
Not necessarily. It could easily correspond to a Supernatural Ability normally conferred by a Major Virtue -- say, Entrancement or Shapeshifter. The balancing factor is that the troupe (or storyguide) controls the emergence of the latent ability.
In some sense, I think that in retrospect Latent Magical Ability would have been better represented as a Minor Story Flaw. Something that generates stories, but that is generally advantageous to the character. Somewhat like Visions.
Hi,
Oh, I like this!
This could be a minor or major story flaw. The minor version would come with something, but also a real problem. The major version would just come with problems ("Excellent! We have found the perfect specimen for our experiment!") But either version provides a good excuse for initiations ("Sure, we have tortured you. But you could never have achieved these powers without passing through the pangs of rebirth and now you see that it has all been worth it. Um, right?") or other kinds of mystical character development.
Anyway,
Ken
This is completely off-topic, but I just had an epiphany on how Initiation ordeals are supposed to work.
I don't know if you are familiar with the graphic novel "V for Vendetta" by Alan Moore, but there is a section where the terrified primary character Evie (from whose viewpoint is the GN mostly written) is imprisoned by the corrupt state and tormented with the knowledge of her approaching execution, taking solace from the secret scribbled biography of another prisoner. By the end, when the guard comes to announce it is time for her to be executed, she has changed so that she is prepared to (live and) die for a principal, and the (fake) guard tells her "Then you have no fear anymore. You're completely free".
That was an initiation ordeal using (psychological) torture.
Exactly!
Potentially with a twist though. An initiation is directed by the mystagogue. Might there be latent magical abilities which are released through an undirected, possibly accidental, ordeal?
Hi,
Exactly!
She was initiated into his cult. He even had a script.
I like to view the entirety of Mythic Europe through the lens of initiation. An apprenticeship? It's an initiation. You don't simply gain xps, but learn the secrets of smithing, acquiring this melange of technical skill, superstition (which might not be superstition), lore, indoctrination, etiquette and other abilities that are not easy to disentangle, and that are not simply learned like a modern trade school elective.
Anyway,
Ken
Hi,
There might.
There might even be initiation scripts one can unwittingly follow without a mystagogue at all. I'd make sure not to foist flaws on players who would rather have something else. But if you survive the test of swords and are accepted by Fireslayer, slay the dragon and marry the princess, then you do have an edgy new friend, a new social status, great wealth, and get all the problems and enemies that you deserve as Heir.
Anyway,
Ken