I'll have the summa in vim and the tractatus in rego and the wizard's communion at level 20 - it's true we won't be able to learn the communion any time soon, but that means it's equally tricky to invent it.
Can the copying penalty be offset to some degree by sponting month-long MuCo (or CrCo?) spells that increases hand-eye-coordination (base 2, moon +3)? It probably doesn't affect the outcome relative to other people's allowances, but in terms of story, I think Prochorus would do something like that if he noticed it worked.
Prochorus knows that Waddenzee were enemies of Oculus and would have mentioned that, but didn't care about them either way.
Japik might know part of that story with Prochorus and the pirates, and Prochorus will know about Japik's strong aversion towards Waddenzee since he was there when they saw the plundered village and found some evidence that pointed towards them.
A Comparative Exploration of the Four Realms and How They Interact With Our Arts by Occultes of Bonisagus (Vim Summa L11Q9*) -- * the original text's quality was 1 point higher.
A Pride of Lions by Stentorius of Tremere (Rego tractatus Q7).
Ritual Communion by Henri de Tours of Jerbiton (MuVi 20 lab text for the Sun variant of Wizard's Communion, effective level is 10).
2 pawns of Vim vis.
Well, it's not simply a matter of hand-eye coordination in the first place. No matter how good it is, not being able to work from a stable surface is a major pain when doing calligraphy. That means ink spills and a few blotches, losing track of one's position in the text, forgetting a word, etc. The general conditions of a ship's cabin also means that lighting is not as good as it could be, lack of space makes it more likely that pages would be mixed up.
Increasing hand-eye coordination means improving the Dexterity characteristic. That starts at Base 35...
It doesn't really affects the book you get at the end, it is more about color -- the summa is simply less pretty than the original.
Japik's magic animal companion, the otter remains to get stats. I haven't had time to look into it yet. I can stat up a mundane otter to start with. The description of the flaw says the smaller the animal the more intelligent, how would that translate to you in this saga?
Let's see, the otter (Size -3) is bigger than a ferret (size -5 by analogy with the polecat) or crow (size -4, but birds are always one size larger than their weight would suggest). Those magic animal companion are described as as intelligent as a human (presumably Intelligence +0). It is smaller than a wolf, which is described as very cunning (Cunning . Assuming you do go with the standard size for the otter, that would make it either as intelligent as a very stupid human or a young child (Intelligence -2 or -3) or exceptionally cunning (Cunning +4 or +5). At least that's what I would be aiming for. It depends if you would prefer to give it some access to intelligent abilities (understanding language, for starters) or make it very good at solving purely physical puzzles (opening jars, for instance).
Slightly larger than a cat, so you might take those stats [strike]and increase size by 1[/strike], then play around with the qualities to modify for something appropriate.
Cats look good to start out with. I would say a mundane otter has about the same Characteristics as those for a mundane cat.
As for Virtues and Flaws I'm unsure of Perfect balance for otters and they don't seem to be as Nocturnal as cats when googling for otters. Maybe exchanging them with Lightning reflexes and Carefree?
As for Qualities I don't have the full list here but they should definately have Amphibious. I'm not so sure about their ability to climb and jump.
Personality traits: Playful +4, Curious +2
Then as a Magic animal there will ben some additional changes which I'm not so familiar with. Are the rules for that in RoP:M? At least Cunning should be raised then or exchanged for Intelligence as Halancar suggests.
Certainly not well enough to get a quality about it. Thick Fur might be appropriate however. Possibly Crafty.
Yes, the rules are in RoP:M. You'll get a Might of (10 - Size), The Magical Animal free virtue, and 10 points of Magical Qualities. Don't forget to give it Unaffected by the Gift, unless you are Inoffensive to Animals: it's hard to imagine the otter becoming your friend otherwise. Well, unless the ST is still holding you to the rulebook, then you'll just have to fudge it, say that it is one of those magical animal that are not affected by the Gift (yes, the rulebook does mention them IIRC), and give it a couple of magical powers...
I think Crafty and Thick Fur works quite well for an otter. Good Jumper and Skilled Climber should be dropped though. They get Swim from Amphibic.
So Magic Might (10 - Size) means 13 for a size -3 animal then, more Might the smaller an animal is? I do have Inoffensive to animals so that would not have been a problem when they befriended each other. I will have a look in RoP:M when I get home tonight.
From Canaries are Dying itself, another saga from this very forum. He is way more powerful than what you are trying to achieve here (this one looks like a fairly powerful familiar), but the qualities and inferiorities and stats might be helpful
Not that far from what we have discussed apart from the magical qualities and inferiorities that we haven't come to yet. Blessing of Venus sounds very personality specific though so I doubt that would fit for a generic mundane otter.
Int +1 might be because it's a familiar, should probably be lower for this one.
Actually, the (10 - Size) for Might is the formula for familiars (ArM5 p.104). For magical animals, this depends on the power level of the saga and the role the creature is to play. Those rules are in RoP:M p.34.
From what I understand, your animal companion would be the equivalent of a grog, and I'd say our saga is of the low-medium power level. That would give a grog-level magical creature a Might of 3-5, and 5-10 for a companion-level creature.
So unless there are plans for one of the other players to take charge of the otter on a permanent basis, maximum Might would be 5.
EDIT: Just saw that the Magical Animal Companion flaw (ArM5 p.56) states that the animal has Magic Might of (10 - Size) as well. So we can go with that. But there is nothing preventing you from selecting a lower Might.
You want a story hook to be stronger? That means that the stories it will bring will also be stronger.... Carful with what you ask for, since we might get it :mrgreen:
Indeed. As it is a Story flaw, it will get into trouble that it cannot get out of be itself. The stronger the companion, the more trouble it gets into.
I was starting to design Quercu's talisman when I came across oak. Man, does it suck as a material Only +7 protection from storms. Almost any other kind of wood does better here. Damn. JUst venting some steam here
This reminds me: do we have house rules for how many pawns we can use in a season or are we going for the RAW? RAW is MT2. A lot of sagas I have seen go for MT3 (or higher), so I was wondering
You still have the general wood bonus (affect dead wood, affect living wood). And you can go for a shape bonus as well. And finally... you'll have to clear it with the ST, but see if your affinity with oak extends to enchanting it (as in, does it applies to any effect you enchant in it). If so, well, you're golden !
We are talking talisman here, so I am on a race to cram bonuses in it since I plan it to be a long term item. I have looked at the other woods in GotF, and none of them seems very nice, though, so I will keep the oak. I am not very sure I will ever use the storm-protection bonus, though. In any case, unless we have house rules I will not be able to open it up until I am at MT 6 (semi-precious stone component), so no rush. With MT*3 allowed I could open it at MT 4, so it would be much nearer the target number. In the meantime I might open a plain oak wand and see how it works out having a talisman without enchantments.
I'm used to going with RAW on this. So unless you can convince everyone to strongly support a House rule, plan on MT*2.
Affinity (focus) does not apply to these bonuses.
But as was mentioned, shape-based bonuses are a possibility. And making a composite talisman. If you get to enchant more than 3 or 4 bonuses into your talisman over the course of the saga, it will be a major achievement IMHO.
He is way more powerful than what you are trying to achieve here (this one looks like a fairly powerful familiar), but the qualities and inferiorities and stats might be helpful 
That means that the stories it will bring will also be stronger.... Carful with what you ask for, since we might get it :mrgreen:
Only +7 protection from storms. Almost any other kind of wood does better here. Damn. JUst venting some steam here 