I thought there was discussion on this long ago, but my search-fu is inadequate.
A mage has an apprentice, but hypothetically the parens goes into Temporary Twilight long enough the the Apprentice does not get instruction in the previous 4 Seasons.
What happens to be apprentice?
Another mage may claim the apprentice.
I suspected as much. I assume that there isn't a priority system that certain magi with relationships to the parens get first "dibs".
What happens when the original parens comes back from Temporary Twilight (say less than a year)?
Does the transition period between one parens and the next count against 15 years of apprenticeship? Does the new parens know where to pick up teaching?
Would the new parens have to teach immediately, or is there up to 3 Seasons grace?
This could be an explanation for Weak Parens.
Taken to extremes:
Annie the exceptional apprentice of Magus Firstus, has Firstus go into Temporary Twilight for a couple of Seasons just before her Season of instruction.
Secondus claims Annie, but after a couple a Seasons in the lab Tertius of Bonisagus hears about her talents and claims her.
Tertius has been bad-mouthing Redcaps saying they are not real magi, so redcap Quartius declares Wizard War, and to everyone's surprise wins (Tertius had basically ignored them). Quartius claims the apprentice Annie and seeks to sell her to a Gifted mage.
Quintus of Flambeau is offended by Quartius' win, and claims Annie after turning Quartius into BBQ.
Sextus of Tremere decides to defend the honour of all Recaps with Certamen over "deficiencies in Declaring Wizard War" and wins Annie.
As a political move Sextus forces Septimus of Jerbiton into adopting normal Gifted Annie.
Bandits kidnap Annie, but Octavius of Bjornaer plucks her to safety.
Terrified by the talking beast, Annie flees into a Faerie forest, promptly getting lost for 3 days and nights, until found by Nona of Merinita.
Coming out of the forest discover 3 years have passed, and Nona hands the lost apprentice to Decimus of Guernicus for his judgement.
Firstus is always a step or two behind while looking for his apprentice.
Sounds like an apprentice took more than one greater story flaws.
Better question- if an apprentice goes into twilight for over a year, how does that effect the 15 years until they are expected to make gauntlet, or the need for them to have a season of training per year?
The 15 years is just a convention, not a hard rule. And it should be 15 years of training, not merely having 15 years pass.
It is the master who is required to give their apprentice at least one season per year of instruction, so if the apprentice is in twilight then the master could get into trouble.
But, unless the apprentice already has a high Warping Score or somehow get a very large number of warping points all at once, they are very unlikely to spend as much as a year in Twilight.
Change warping to wandering in a faerie forest
If said parens failed to provide the yearly season of instruction, he has forfeited the apprentice for good. Otherwise, the apprentice is still his.
I would say that, just as you can't really claim an apprentice until you've started opening his Arts, you can't really claim an apprentice forfeited by some other magus until you start providing instruction. However, if you are instead awarded the apprentice (e.g. by the Tribunal), then you only need to provide 1 season/year of instruction, with the exact terms being specified as part of the award (I'd say by default you can wait up to 3 seasons to begin).
I disagree. It seems to me that the one-season-per-year rule applies per year experienced by the apprentice. Anything else is simultaneously open to abuse (e.g. in time-contracted areas) and potentially impossible (e.g. in time-dilated ones). As subjective time essentially stops for someone in Twilight, the period spent by an apprentice in Twilight simply should not count at all (just like the single night the apprentice spends in a faerie glade should count as a single night when he re-emerges to find 100 years have passed).
I think, if I was a quaesitor and I heard of an apprentice in twilight for a year, I wouldn't be debating whether that prolongs his apprenticeship or whether the parens failed the apprentice by not teaching while in twilight, but whether I should bring a case to the tribunal about an apprentice having a high enough warping score that a year in twilight is possible and see whether new jurisprudence comes out of that.
The apprentice don't need a high Warping Score to spend a year in Twilight - a very large number of botch dice can cause it too.
Doing something stupid like trying to cast a high-level ritual inside a cathedral could do it.
Granted, it should be the master's duty to make sure the apprentice isn't quite that stupid, but perhaps there was a good reason for it.
If you have a warping score of 0-2, going into twilight for a year is akin to winning the lottery, and is only possible in the most extreme of circumstances. So I'd feel pretty confident there's a story behind and that the initial story I envisionned, that of a magi who warped his apprentice to level 5-7 is the most plausible story. But hey, if I find out that the story is actually an apprentice left to play with 10 pawns of vis in St. Peter's Basilica, the investigation won't have been a waste of time either way. Maybe I have two charges to press for the price of one!
As far as I know there's no prohibition against Warping your apprentice as much as you want, as long as you're solid on the one season's training per year that is required of you. Heck, there's probably magi of Tytalus who do it already. (assuming you're not destroying their Gift through the Warping, or somesuch.)
The real risk is the bad reputation you'll get with your sodales... and what your former apprentice will do in revenge once they finally get through their Gauntlet. But a Quaesitor bringing a case at Tribunal because a master was cruel to their apprentice? Would be laughed down, voted down, and probably reassigned to some sort of administrative position in Novgorod. House Tytalus, at the least, would bury any such charges immediately (probably joined by Tremere, Verditius, and others).
We know that giving your apprentice Deficient Art deliberately is a Minor Crime. Anmd giving him more than one might be a Major Crime. Giving your apprentice a high Warping score is likely to also be a Minor Crime, and after his Gauntlet, he might press charges of Deprivation, since his Parens deliberately reduced his life expectancy. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it if such a charge is brought up.
certainly not in Criamon.