Nonsense. Overloaded the thread on one thing, maybe, but you didn't derail it. You guys' discussion has been interesting to read, at least.
My only complaint about your position, JL, is your initial premise that there will only be time constraints around Rituals in contrived or unusual circumstances. Not for the fact that this is technically false, but by the fact that that's usually what stories are for. Routines, no matter how fantastic, are usually covered off-screen; the events and situations that get screen time are mostly the ones that, in the wider scheme, would seem contrived or be highly unusual. Not all of them, mind, but probably the majority.
My bigger complaint would honestly be that Ritual casting doesn't add more to your roll
Mundane Scribes being able to copy books on the arts does it for me.
It makes Scribal Hospitality (whereby a mage goes to another covenant and copies their books) nonsensical; just send a scribe. It makes it hard to explain why the order isn't flooded in books, and it removes one of the possible uses for an apprentice (making it more likely that apprentices in play will massively out-match those created post-apprenticeship, even without adventures).
I like the idea that copying a book requires you to understand the topic (having at least 1xp in it). Apprentices will therefore find that much of their apprenticeship is copying books, and books will remain a valuable commodity in the order.
I've always required a scribe to have Magic Theory to copy an arts book accurately... Otherwise those "those little marks are just ink blots, right? Oh well, I don't need to copy those." or similar thoughts go through the mind of the scribe and suddenly the quality drops through the floor or the level of the book is nerfed or potentially dangerous errors creep in to the text.
The covenant who supplied the scribe gets a poor Hermetic reputation and a lot of very confused magi starting at books, scratching their heads.
Then you just need to spend 1 season letting your mundane scribe read any summa or tractatus on Magic Theory, and get to the same place. It's a very cheap investment (1 season of the scribe reading) if you consider the massive time saving of having non-magi copying books.
Which is kingreaper's point. It's a cheap investment of time on the part of a scribe, not even a magus, that eases reproduction of books on Hermetic Arts. Other books discuss scribal hospitality, but no such thing should exist, really. I can envision a covenant jealousy guarding a new weighty text of high quality and inviting people to come read it, but making copies?
The scribe dilemna is also one of those bits of old edition's legacy which does not stand a reality check.
Either Hermetic books inherently magical, thus cannot be handle by people without the gift, then they are rare (and the situation is probable worse than the current background proposes), or they are mundane.
If they are mundane and considering the resources a covenant can have access through magic and such, the first skill craftsman a covenant will have is a scribe. They will offer protection to him and his family, provide for food, provide "health insurance" and overall offer a excellent quality of life compare to the rest of the world.
The scribe might even never have to deal directly with magi if gift is an issue.
All in all, there are no reason why every covenant could not be able to afford at least one skilled scribe should they choose to.
It means that at least Tractactus of good quality (10 or above - and I am being reasonably conservative) should be abundant (then we go back to the discussion of what is the maximum level of an Art in the Order).
Summae might requires a wider range of craftsmen, still it should be possible for every covenant past the initial spring/harder time to have a "publishing" service. With a few Craft Magic items, good to very good quality material can be produced (velum, ink, bindings) with limited resources.
Consequences of such situation means that:
more books available: more selection
. more selection: higher quality books become more prevalent
L5Q15 Summae should be available for every Arts, and L6Q21 relatively frequent.
. Faster inital eduction, higher quality material: overall younger, more powerful mages. Soon singularity point would be reached - L dimension will open in every covenant library (oops, I am getting side-tracked).
And it is only covering the Arts part. Considering spells and overall skills of magus, they should be able to access almost any famous library in Europe, thus copying even the rarest mundane book with some ease.
The Order's library should be sight to be seen.
IMHO considering books on magical subjects entirely mundane waters down the mythic feel for the magical arts. it would make no sense that books on arcane subjects are relatively rare.
Consider Durenmar as described in GotF. Acces to this fabled library is possible if submitting a text, but if you can't write something worthwhile you can also volunteer for scribal duty. Duranmar is noted to have a perpetual backlog of books and lab texts needing to be copies to send to magi paying for this with vis. If scribing was entirely mundane a covenant like Durenmar would be the first to hire two dozen scribes. Even if they had to train the frst ones themselves, and even if they all needed a single season of reading or being taught Magic Theory.
I like it best if magic is so fickle an art (not science) that mundane scribes would mistake small parts of the writing as mistakes and potetially create useless or even worse corrputed and dangerous copies. I like it if books are kept valuable by magi needing to do tihs dudgery themselves. This is (one of the reasons) why you have apprentices! This is one of the reasons why Failed Apprentices are valuable as arcaen scribes (as well as lab assistants)
- L dimension will open in every covenant library (oops, I am getting side-tracked).