In which Roberto, Selim, and Bashir travel to the covenant of Pyramids as a diplomatic envoy, hoping to forge an alliance and establish a forward base of operations for our upcoming expedition to the City of Brass. Other characters are invited to come along for the fun. This is a good hopping on point for new journeymen, and it should not interfere with any planned Lab Activities.
The story idea I have in mind is short and sweet and is not at all what you would expect based upon the title and stated premise. McGuffins sometimes have mysterious flavors 
So, who's up for the trip?
Antoni will the schrodinger's grog for now
Would Fleur be allowed to bring her book along (gain experience from reading while participating on the adventure and gaining confidence, perhaps, from that?
I'm not sure she is the best choice, but she certainly does want to prove herself to her new covenant, so if anyone asks or even offers an opinion contrary to Solomon's, she would be willing to go.
Yea, I could see Vocis going along with that ... Can I bring one of the covenant's precious books with me to Giza? Heck, the man's not happy about the idea of books going to Mallorca. Thankfully, Marko said that going to Giza should not interfere with our Lab activities for the month. So ewven if she goes, Fleur should be able to study. 
[hr][/hr]
As the Egyptian moonlight falls upon the desert sand, Bashir approaches Roberto. "Good evening effendi," he says. "I wonder if I might have a moment of your time. I know you've not been in the covenant very long, but I was hoping you might have some insight that could help me. You see, I understand that it's possible for some non-magi members of the covenant to receive a longevity ritual. I find myself getting to an age where I'm thinking I should look into that issue. I wonder if you might know what one has to do, or who one petitions, to be considered for such a thing."
[hr][/hr]
Hmm, Bashir didn't take a new virtue in his first cycle. Maybe this cycle he could acquire the virtue "Custos" with a corresponding flaw indicating his commitment to the covenant. Perhaps his help in this mission could get him part of the way there ...
You may be confusing chargen and ingame 
Can you only gain new Virtues during chragen?
Nope.
But during play, things are different. Some can be gained throught Twilight, Pelerinage, Initiation, travel through the Magic Realm, Infernal blessings... whereas some others aren't gained "per se" but are here nonetheless (say, reputations), or others can result from your actions (becoming a Landed Noble).
If Selim wants to become a Custos, it'll be through his actions only, and only if the covenant recognises him as such. He won't necessarily need to write down the virtue, nor does he especially need to balance it. In a way, in this particular instance, it's just a matter of the magi deciding to give him special status, with the other covenfolk recognising it.
I could see going as Adan - in case there is a chance to make copies of books (and he really wants to see Egypt), Fleur if there will be any need to set up healing support, or another Grog, perhaps Carlos Roberto's right hand man, though I question my knowledge of the character...
You could go as Petrus de Cunfin, Lucas's shield grog. 
I don't see him on the Wikki, do we have another grog repository?
I guess he's technically awaiting approval from Marko. My bad.
I'll play a generic Grog if that would help, if people will forgive any stumbles I make 
Isn't 'making things not go smooth' the primary reason for running a grog? 
I might be sending Miquel along as well for the ride. He speaks Arabic (even if not very well), and Arnau wants to have some impressions on the area before he gets there himself.
This is correct. Except that he should make note of being a Custos as a Social Status.
You would not be able to ride on ship with us, unless you disguise yourself and sneak aboard, in which case you will cause the ship to plummet to the bottom of the sea. Captain Johan is cursed. No one has tried to remedy this curse, nor have they tried magical means of circumventing it.
Carmen disagrees with Solomon, but she will not challenge him on it nor flout his authority.
Cidito the cat, on the other hand, is a mischief maker. And he talks to Felicia a bunch I am sure. Probably has her scent marked. And if he gets the idea that you have the idea then he will get an idea.
So Cidito asks Felicia "Does your hooman know how to teleport?"
Sorry, Trogdor's right - Vocis isn't letting our only Philosophiae summa make the trip to Giza, especially considering its quality. I also see that Fleur and Lucas have several seasons assigned to book study. Are they planning to spend those seasons in Andorra?
Btw, I want to let the new players know that I'm not trying to be a jerk with these library rules. They just make sense from Vocis's character perspective and the situation in the saga as a whole. They also impact one of my own characters (Pere), so I'm going to feel the pinch too. Besides, it could be worse - Marko occasionally mentions going back to the exclusive 'Master's Library' setup, in which the best books were reserved for Masters only. I'm resisting that until given a direct order from Marko or Carmen.
If I get time, I'll try to note on the library wiki page which books can or cannot be taken to the Balearics by journeymen. At the moment, I'm thinking all but the best tractatus will be allowed, as well as summae that have a 'duplicate' of comparable level/quality. Don't quote me on that though - I'm just brainstorming.
I would expect that will need to be discussed in the Master's Council if not the council of all Andorra mages. I dom't think Carmen has this kind of authority.
This problem was one reason that Lucas proposed that the library at Andorra be given two of his summae, but that the third summae be kept as a surety for whatever book he borrows. Then, in the unlikely event that something happened to the book he borrowed, his third summae would be forfeit, and the library would receive a comparable book in return for the one it lost. Not perfect, I know, but it seemed fair to me.
Might I also suggest a halfway solution that has the benefit of making no one entirely happy (the hallmark of a true compromise)? What if those stationed in the Balearics were allowed one season a year to study summae in Andorra? They'd still live in the Balearics, of course. But they'd be allowed to come to the Andorra library for eight hours a day to study the good summae. We could even arrange it so that the visits were spread out across the seasons so that no more than two journeymen were studying in Andorra during any given season. Better yet, allow six 'slots' per year of Balearic journeyman time studying in the Andorra library - two seasons of one journeyman in the library and two seasons of two journeymen in the library. That guarantees that at any given time there are at least four or five journeymen in the Balearics. And for 2/3 of the time there will be all six. Each journeyman would get one of those slots, but if they weren't using it, another journeyman could take it. That allows a little wiggle room for studying practices.
I'm also not sure how the covenant feels about lab texts being taken to the Balearics. That seems like a much lesser risk, since they could be replaced if anything happened to the originals. I know that Lucas would like to study some of those, so he could intersperse summae reading with lab text reading. It's also possible that journeymen might do work for the covenant copying lab texts for future sale, and then borrow those spare copies to study.
In the end, it seems like there should be room for a solution that at least partially satisfies everyone. And consider, it's in the best interests of the covenant to have its magi as well-trained as possible. We don't do the defense of Andorra or Sa Dragonera any good if we hobble the very people who are supposed to be defending them.
Again, that seems like shooting ourselves in the foot - intentionally gimping our magi so that they'll be less likely to be able to stand up to the threats they're going to face.