So, one of the fundamental economies in Ars Magica is that you sell time to buy XP (power). Later on with Longevity potions you can also buy time by acquiring Warping (effectively trading gains in Decrepitude for Warping instead).
Now one of the most efficient ways of spending time is studying high quality Summas and Tractacus' - especially for the first 20 odd years. Trouble is acquiring copies of them - which can be done by scribing a copy from a friendly Covenant, but again you are spending time to do so.
Now one of the things that seems to be legal in the rules is that you can outsource your scribing needs to a Grog or NPC scribe (or team of scribes if you can find them) - all they need is good language skills and some basic training in Magic Theory. Now the thing that worries me here is firstly that it seems to be a bit of a whole shortcut around the old "Time for power" economy, as wealth is trivially easy for most Magi to acquire, so its basically getting power for free.
Secondly, would the Order of Hermes, paranoid about protecting its magical secrets from outsiders, ever allow non-Magi scribes to copy their books on the Arts or Magic Theory? What would happen if the scribe comprehended and remembered some of their secrets? Wouldnt they then be security risks going forward, needing to be eliminated?
So, do you allow Magi in your games to outsource their magical scribing and copying?
SJE