I was wondering when other magi from other sagas started looking for a familiar. The magus I play in my current game found one about 20 years out of gauntlet. Is this normal? Early? Late? If your magus isn't going to look for one, ever (and she is not a bjornear), may I inquire as to the reasoning why?
With just about all the Houses now, each magus has such great stuff to focus on beyond the regular familiar and talisman that I find that these things can get left by the wayside.
In our current saga started with characters a few years out of gauntlet and I think only one of us took the opportunity to grab a familiar and get that nugget out of the way.
As for me, I'm playing a Verditius so my actions are currently focused on getting on with his first initiation into the House Mysteries, so the familiar will have to wait.
And then of course there's the dichotomy between player and character. I know I'd like my Verditius to have a small dragon-y kind of creature for a familiar. It fits with the fairly high fantasy feel we're going for with this saga. But, my character would currently shudder at the thought of having a brute like that in his sanctum. I mean, what would you do with it?!?
So I have to wait to get some initiation done, attend to other aims, then have an epiphany story were he realises he wants a dragon and then actually go off and have the familiar-finding story. That's a lot of stuff to get through in a weekly game shared with three other players.
Well that depends on what powers your dragon-y kind of creature came equipped with. If it had the typical dragon ability to transform into a human/humanoid form then your magus and his dragon would just have to agree that whilst in the sanctum/lab/covenant house proper, the beast would have to assume an environmentally friendly and useful form.
Just like you might tell your children, "save the roughhousing for outside!" 
Depends. One of my players wanted to get a familiar in the first season of gameplay. Others look at it as long term objectives. Now that you can reforge the cords it is less of an issue, but ion previous campaigns no magus took one before he was 60+ years old.
We disregard quite a few of the extra rules in the supplements as a general fact; we prefer simplicity and find the system already allows plenty of costumisation with new rules included in each supplement. That means that for us a familiar is one of the Big Projects in the horizon 
And we enjoy it. Some of the most memorable "character discussions" have been discussions BETWEEN FAMILIARS during council meetings. And the familiars weren't always arguing in favour of their master's opinion!
Cheers,
Xavi
It's usually one of the first things my characters do. I like the imagery. My current character took Magical Animal Companion for a story flaw and bound it in one of the first seasons.
In 1 of the sagas I play my magus had a major quest for his familiar 10 years after his gauntlet, retrieving the egg of a drake, and seeing her hatched. Appearing with the rather powerful drake at his side helped convince other magi that he belonged in the ranks of the masters 5 years later. In that saga only one other magus has a familiar, and he had said famliar from before the saga started. (We are now 16 year out)
The other saga hasn't seen any familiars bound, but is only 6 years out.