According to HoH:S, "Leper magus" is a Major Hermetic Virtue for "House Tytalus only". And while it explicitly requires the Leprosy Flaw (and is lost if Leprosy is cured), it's only in the fluff about Tytalan Leper Magi that we read that they all have a focus in aging, wounds and such. I was wondering:
is there any reason why the same legacy could not be part of some other magical lineage, too (e.g. Ex Miscellanea)? Technically, this seems "forbidden" by the RAW, but...
is there any reason why a Tytalan Leper magus could not have a minor focus in something else? The mechanical description of the Virtue does not prohibit it.
The Leper Magus virtue is a result of a magical curse that can be traced back to Tytalus and Guerna.
While in theory some Ex Miscellanea lineage could have contracted a similar affliction, it does seem somewhat unlikely.
Since the text does not explain why all Leper Magi have a focus in disease, aging, or wounds or why they all specialize in Corpus magic, then we cannot say if they could pick some other focus.
Leprosy is a high prejudice affliction that cannot be cured in Mythic Europe. If for some reason a gifted leper was found prior to opening of its arts by a wandering magi, rather than that taint being a result of the apprenticeship, my assumption is that they would be refered to a Tytalus because no other magi will want to deal with the stigma (etc). Also, frankly, I'm reluctant to see ex Miscellanea lineages become excuses to replicate the tropes of other Houses under a different name because a mechanics change is desired.
My interpretation is that leprosy is such a strong curse that it probably warps the gift and forces any magical focus to be related to Corpus. The curse probably also obsesses the magi as well, to the point where a focus in another art is unlikely, because their condition is unescapable. Also, bear in mind that magical aptitudes tend to be the result of supernatural abilities that were warped by the mentor during the opening of the arts in a hermetic pattern that they can recognise, and that the apprentice has absolutely no say in the matter. This is especially true given how Tytalus magi are described to treat their apprentices. What are other options for Corpus-related focus? Men and women would be something completely useless considering their apprentice will always bear the stigma of his social condition usually preventing interaction with either. A focus on animated dead would probably violate the Hippian ethics of the mentor. A focus on fertility... I'll pass for obvious reasons. A focus on transformation would deal with the fundamental problem that leprosy is part of the magi's essential nature, and can't be easily discarded by muto spells. I also just don't see a leper associating very well with cult of heroes stat-increasing focus. So it boils down to - if you have a focus, it's corpus, and probably the only focus the mentor would allow are aging, wounds and disease - because they are the only focus that would be of value to the apprentice and fit with the mentor's outlook.
It should be noted that
a) Tytalus and Guorna were "leper magi"; but their focus was spirits/necromancy rather than corpus
b) There's no reason why a Tytalus leper magus could not have joined another societas, or even a mystery house.
Yeah, you're right on that, and if I had a player interested in playing a leper magi that joins the Titanoi, I would allow it. Bearing in mind that, it's probably legit as well for a mystery cult to inflict the loss of a magical focus as an ordeal part of the initiation of another focus. Still, I probably wouldn't allow it during the apprenticeship period, but that's me.
There is actually a reason why a leper magus could not have joined another house - that house would probably not allow a leper to join. There was a lot of superstition and fear about leprosy back in medieval times, and magi are no more immune to such fears than common people.
Careful. Guorna was perhaps a leper, but not a Hermetic maga. So she could not have had the Hermetic Virtue (HoH:S p.93f) Leper Magus: "the mystic legacy passed on from Tytalus to Hariste's line through the vector of leprosy".
I find this slightly misleading. Sure, Guorna was a non-Hermetic wizard, despite having had Hermetic training (HoH:S p.72). In fact, many of the founders themselves would probably qualify as non-Hermetic or "borderline" Hermetic -- Verditius allegedly never managed to cast a single spell, and many of his abilities are lost to the Order in 1220. But my basic point was that the mystical legacy of leprosy (specifically as a mystical legacy) did come to Tytalus from Guorna ("the fetid"), who was a leper (HoH:S p.71-72) without any "perhaps".
I would add that many "Hermetic" virtues are available to non-hermetic wizards with only minor, common sense modifications. Leper magus is certainly easy to "translate" for virtually any tradition that a) uses vis and b) can have some reasonable equivalent of Life Boost. Such would be the case, for example, for Goetic Sorcery.
You appear to mix up the complex (HoH:S p.93f) Hermetic Virtue Leper Magux being a "mystic legacy passed on from Tytalus to Hariste's line" with the way Tytalus has acquired leprosy before from Guorna's dying breath.
That said, in your saga you can allow modifications to the Virtue Leper Magus (see your OP for its definition) as you see fit.