I don't remember a name, but try a search for "mason". Make him grog-level, unless you actually want to play him, yourself, as your companion.
Scott
Did you guys see that Salutor had started a new thread for the grog story? Playing that out would probably be more fun that debating character stats. 
Scott
Yup all over it, I just have strange sleeping patterns at the moment.
Nope, I had indeed entirely missed it - will post tomorrow, going to bed hours ago.
Which of the Companion class characters in the Companion thread are still at the covenant? There are a lot present.
As characters who are played, just the cats (mine) and Alcimus (Salutor's)--and the latter is really not so much a companion as a familiar-in-waiting. The other characters never even got into a story, though Miklos is still present (and, if someone wants a companion without having to create on on his own, he's free for anyone to pick up).
Scott
EDIT: I'm going through right now and marking the status of magus and companion characters.
(& an actually related comment!...)
Been working my way through the recent threads, to get the backstory to the Grog adventure and catch-up in general...
Snork! 
Touche! Once again, players out-clever themselves with their characters once again! 
So - if I were to create a Companion (trivial compared to working up a mage w/ tali & familiar), what sort of role(s) need filling?
Do we need an actual jack-of-all-trades Turb Captain cum Autocrat, someone who can both run the mundane details of the covenant and lead a party of grogs to Tana in their spare time? (Or at least ~claims~ that they can?)
Or... something else?
Also - I'm guessing my mage will show up first as a guest of the covenant, and then (perhaps?) slowly earn their place as full member?
We already have a turb captain who was created as a companion. You could take him over, or you could generate a character of your own. An autocrat would be fine, or for that matter anyone else who could deal with the mundanes, though a very experienced autocrat wouldn't be very likely, given the way the covenant was set up.
Your magus will be at least the third guest, after Patrick, Fray, and possibly others, but yes, having a plan (IC or OOC) to work towards membership would be fine.
Scott
Awkwardly vague on this, and that's hurting my ability to make fully constructive suggestions - which threads should I read to catch up on these details?
I've read in the Covenant thread that...
o There had been covenant here, but it vanished after ~3 years.
o That was ~18 yeas ago.
o The Tribunal suggested this site (but how the PC's are/were involved in that I'm not sure)
...and that's about it.
I also think that possibly(?) "some" of the previous covenfolk survived to become covenfolk of this coven? If so - I don't know how.
I'm drafting a companion now, which is why I wanted to know how many of those others were still present.
edit - I was thinking of a musician too. does that fit well?
The tribunal picked the site, based on the scouting reports of Redcaps. It's the only obvious site in the area, because of the aura, which is why both the old covenant and the new one have used it.
The background in the Covenant thread is probably your best bet; it repeats some of what's found in the first story, "The Journey to Nowhere". If you really wanted gritty details, you could go through the early posts in the "Covenant Development" thread, but the main detail not found in the "Covenant" background is the fact that the convenant's covenfolk (just like its supplies, vis, and money) were donated by the rest of the Theban Tribunal. While these donations made things easier on the new covenant's magi, at the same time, it's a reason that some of the covenfolk may not be entirely top-notch.
Incidentally, foo, we apparently missed the tribunal of 1227. I expect the magi would have sent Tasia, and maybe Gregorius. If there's a desire to play it out, it might be a convenient way to introduce new magi.
Scott
Sure. The covenant doesn't have a pressing need for any sort of specialist or anything. Yes, having someone who can deal with the mundanes would be useful, but that's pretty broad, and not even strictly necessary.
Scott
As a Spring covenant, that could be an IC oversight - esp if most of the magi were from out-of-Tribunal and simply didn't stop to think this might be a Tribunal year for this Tribunal (they are not all in synch). A little hard to believe, but not impossible in the confusion/excitement of the new projects/etc.
It could also explain what happened to the ex-PC's, and/or just be an "off-camera" explanation for how the new magi get tied in. Something truly unexpected (and perhaps untoward?) occurred, known or unknown - possibly on the road, possibly a botch, possibly politically - and... they were never heard from again...(?)
I'd be up for playing out (some part of) the Tribunal (and am expecting to have the time to sit down and finish the first draft of my mage before the weekend), but doing (most of?) it off-camera may be more practical, and better serve the ongoing plotlines - or no?
We could just declare the tribunal to be due in a different year in our continuity? I think there was a passing reference to it having been 5 years since the previous tribunal in the first post of the game, but other than that the timing of the tribunal hasn't been at all relevant.
I think all magi new to Thebes would have had to present themselves to the tribunal to get recognised as a polites (i.e. citizen).
We've got this to an extent in the set-up of the covenant - it's explicitly founded to be a temporary base of operations for guests,who'll come here for a while, do what they've come to do and then move on. Permanent members are a bit harder, of course, but that's mainly an issue for Tasia at the moment.
That first post was what brought it to mind--it says 1227.
If everyone is supposed to be there, we could just say they popped in--it's not like it's a long journey, and a tribunal doesn't last very long. Viola might even have combined the tribunal with her trip to Aegea. Viola, though, was in this tribunal before, and only spent a few years away (if that matters).
Exactly.
Scott
The rules for this are set out in the covenant charter, but basically the member magi are those who were there at the beginning, or voted in after three year's residence as a guest, and the guest magi are everyone else. As the covenant's onlt been in existence for a couple of years, this means in practice that the only member magi are Viola and Gregorius (plus Tasia if she reappears).
I want Fray to trade Vis and also trade spells. How is that handled in this saga?
He has Corpus vis that I which to swap/trade if the bargain price is ok, and I also have a written out spell that I hope to trade for other spells.
To be honest, my original instinct was to have the SG do all the rolling, because PC's may not be aware of a botch, but everyone else was doing it this way, and, really, it makes things go faster. However, if an SG wants to do the rolling for specific situations where it's obvious the consequences of a botch would be hidden (Lore rolls, for exampe), that's OK.
Scott
Just post what you want to trade and what you're looking for. I still have to deal with Gregorius', too, though I'm getting close to catching up with all the paperwork (I still need to do the expenses, and update my own characters, and create that frigging Faerie Friend I've been putting off for, literally years).
Scott
A question / seeking troupe advice on familiars - I'm exceedingly interested in finding and binding a familiar but the Muto based suggestion I've seen is a Butterfly. I think perhaps a Chameleon lizard might be viable too. I'm drawing a blank on what other creature are so mutable.
I think the creature should reflect the magi's choice of arts and also their personality. Fray is certainly Muto, with Corpus, Animal, and then Herbam and Terram. His personality is meant to be Just, Patient, and Curious.
Have you seen any other creatures might be appropriate? Are the mythic hybrid creatures out of bounds? Meaning chimera, and other creatures that combine many animals?
ps. I've looked through the 3,4,5e bestiary books too. Saw a Sep which was a magical snake which changed colour.