One of the HR we have is that everyone gains that automatically, just by living in a location, at 1 point per season, up to lvl 3. For the local language, you gain immersion (regardless of other XP sources) at 2 points/season, up to lvl 3.
I also stress lore, but demanding too many shades and variations can be a huge XP sink. What I do & require is hand out a score of 2 in your Native Area Lore for free, then expect a score of at least 1 in OoH Lore at Gauntlet plus spending at least 1xp per year on it if developed further thereafter. Covenant Lore is more like a tightly focused Area Lore. You might take that, but unless there is something superspecialsecret about the place, I suggest the wider focus of Tribunal Lore (as Tribunals are the Hermetic way of dividing geography). Mundanes focus on their county or kingdom. At the top of the scale, something I always suggest yet rarely gets chosen, is Mythic Europe Lore. And then there is Cult Lore and House Lore and ad infinitem.
So I mainly just worry about the native Area Lore and Order of Hermes Lore.
Well, that longhanded method you describe is not everyone's cup of tea, and would certainly turn off new players to Ars, IMO.
Yes. Hence the quick-and-dirty "Eh, just take an extra 36 Language Immersion points in Latin and 40 Correspondence points in AL/Philosophae/Parma/MT. It's technically within the rules anyway."
I can certainly see most characters having little knowledge of or interaction with the Tribunal at large, or most peasants having scant knowledge of their kingdom. So I'm more inclined to accept Covenant Lore, Village Lore, Valley Lore, or so on.
Certainly. I would suggest that any character start with a Native Area Lore for their immediate region (such as a parish), and specialize in a specific small part of that (a village or a covenant). As you explore the wise world, you can tack on other regions (a sink), or expanded regions (a kingdom/tribunal).
For House Lore, I consider that best suited as a specialization of Order of Hermes Lore. Cult Lore of a House is not the same as lore concerning history of an organization, in my mind anyway.
You could probably get more PC's to take Hermetic Lore if you presented it as an Organization Lore (which it technically is, I believe) - which means that technically it could be used to integrate Mystery Cult Initiation scripts. (Just read about the "cult that isn't a cult" in Legends of Hermes.)
EDIT - or the Covenent Lore abilities if they had something similar: some Mystery Cult expert who has gone and set up the Covneent Lore ability (which is covered in Grogs, I think), as the basis for an Initiation.
That might well be true of peasants, but there seems little reason why covenfolk and magi couldn't know quite a bit, if you wanted them to. It doesn't have to be via direct experience, as even a lowly stay-at-home covenant servant could plausibly be quite well informed about the Tribunal via conversations with visiting grogs and Redcaps.
It's also important to discuss with the troupe/storyguide the value of such Abilities. If the Village Lore Ability is going to be of little value in the saga, then it is better to tell the player that, rather than have them discover in play that they have accidentally wasted lots of XP (they may want to waste it anyway, but better a conscious decision than not).
I'm pretty sure this is why our Troupe, before I joined, decided to just give away the first few levels for free via exposure. For folks like teamsters and delivery personnel - yeah, they actively seek to put points in this, because it's their JOB to know where things are. But for most folks, its just flavor text on the character sheet.
So,
Especially for novices, my advice is to pick a concept and optimize, so that it works extremely well. Go for that signature spell with a casting total of 70, or the layered spont virtues, or the Big Bad Bjornaer Bear, or the social monkey or lab rat or whatever. Don't just make the concept work, cherry pick those virtues and flaws to make it shine. If it feels munchkin, you're doing it right, not wrong.
Then bask in your Awesome Magical Power, and play that legendary wizard.
In general, your character should be able to:
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Handle a combat situation
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Get the hell out of or into Dodge
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Do something useful out of combat
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Have a schtick (which is why generalists are harder)
When in doubt, choose a TeFo, take Puissant and Affinity for both Te and Fo, grab a Focus and Strong Parens, and dump lots of xp into that TeFo to the exclusion of all other Techniques and Forms. You'll be very good at 30% of all Hermetic Magic, and will excel at your schtick. (For example, a huge CrIg lets you win with fire and CrAu with winds or lighting, but also lets you heal. ReCo is nice too. Many possibilities. And you're already set up for a great familiar.)
There are a few good ways to create a generalist. The easiest is to take LLSM (supported by Mythic Stamina (spontaneous magic), Cautious Magic, and perhaps being a bear for more fatigue). But a Formulaic approach (Flawless Magic, Strong Parens, Mastered Spells, Baccalaureate, and a toolbox of useful spells) is a bit less general but ultimately more powerful... and more difficult. Diedne Magic is a trap.
Anyway,
Ken
My spell recommendations are almost exactly as described above, although they were first recommended to me for a HERO Champions character build:
Offense
Defense
Travel
Sense
Utility
I read this and it reminded me of my (now old) post on Chargen for the Boggled.
Interesting to see that the "top down" approach worked so well - nice group of recruits, clearly. GL!
[i](@ All - Hey! Back from a long hiatus. Don't know how much I'll be online, but more than "not at all".
And special thanks to the Admin for not deleting my inactive account in the recent anti-spam purge! 
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Tip 1: Always pick Flaws before Virtues.
For the new player, and so long as the Flaw isn't being chosen as what "defines" the character (and sometimes even then), I would disagree 100%.
More often than not a new player will pick something without understanding how it will work in-game. "He'll be Blatant Gifted and Tainted with Evil!" or "Oooh - a Leper! Cool!" or "Addicted to Magic! Perfect for a Flambeau!" or "Major Personality X (Hah - that'll be easy to work around...)" - Maybe so, but not always for a new player.
For new players, building what you want, and then fitting the Flaws into that (more or less) finished product, is far faster and easier to think about.
My advice would be "see what level of historical detail your SG is doing. See if you can match that, at least for your character."
Hence why in my saga, my character's family exists, is in fact minor local nobility, etc. It's taken a lot of wrangling to fit him into that, but it means I get a lot of cool minor things, like social contacts, without having to explain who they ALL are.
Another "One Tip:"
If you are not sure about how to connect with Mythic Europe, where to start creating a legendary character who truly belongs, take the Strong Faerie Blood virtue, choose a fairy (spelling deliberate) variety that appeals to you, and go from there.
Whereas Hermetic Magic (tm) is totally made up and not very medieval, fairies have that authentic medieval feel, even when they are from the Renaissance or later. You can choose a 'species' of faerie if you like, a Dwarf, Sidhe, Alfar, Leshy, Nymph, Brownie whatever, but you can also go with "faerie wizard" or "faerie knight" or "church faerie" or Rumpelstiltzkin or even (maybe) "one of Santa's helpers." Just about anything vaguely mythological works, and gets you started right. "It might not be true, but my family has a legend that we are descended from Merlin, who was half-faerie." "My father was a priest unable to resist a Nymph...." "I am a byblow of the Genie of the Lamp." "My mother was a princess from the Court of Winter, who ran off with a troubadour. (That's what she said, anyway.)" Lots of choices. You might have to work with your GM to choose an appropriate special bonus, though a +1 to an attribute or a positive Faerie Correspondence should always be reasonable.
This is also a great virtue for characters starting right after Gauntlet. Second Sight is nice, albeit a lesser minor virtue. The ability to see in the dark is nice, though definitely not worth a minor virtue for a magus (unless you are in a saga that is very, very strict about scrying...) You also get a special bonus that is usually just shy of a minor virtue (though Dwarves do better!) And you get a distinctive appearance. Why, then, the love? You start aging at 50 and have a +3 bonus for aging rolls. Again, a magus is not likely to care about a small aging bonus... but that's the wrong way to use the virtue. Instead, if you start your character 15 years older than he would have been, you get 225 points of pre-apprenticeship xp. You cannot use these xps freely, but you can use them to round out your character: Charm, Concentration (very useful for magi), Etiquette, Charm, Brawl, Second Sight, etc, and maybe a Faerie Correspondence. Then you can pour all of your apprenticeship points into Arts, Magic Theory and other necessary abilities for a magus, and still have a very well-rounded character. And if you choose a useful Faerie Correspondence (for which Strong Faerie Blood provides a nice +3 bonus), you can tap into some Real Power.
225xps, see in the dark, second sight, a minor virtue and a deep connection to Mythic Europe. All for 3 points.
One of my favorite virtues.
Too often I've seen Faerie blood taken just for the experience points. And you're highlighting that as a reason for taking the virtue...ugh.
Actual Faeries make great characters, and they don't stay dead, but be prepared to be a supporting (if entertaining) role.
Not faerie, just "Strong Fae Blood" - I would (almost) never recommend a player new to Ars to play an actual Faerie character.
While I agree 100% in principle, there will be a minority of players who just have no idea where to begin a character, not even to have a "starting concept" that they can wrap their head around and build from.
For these, a fae-based character may(?) be a good idea for several reasons. There are many in-genre examples, or semi-examples that a Mage can be built from. More, "fae" can be light or dark, artsy or nightmarish, elf or gnome or goblin, - something for every playstyle.
If nothing else, a "larger" character (i.e. more xp to start) allows the Player to sample a bit of everything without worrying too much about "making a terrible mistake" (which does concern some experienced RP'ers when starting a new system). Want a Mage with a starting score of 5 in Legerdemain, Swimming and Craft: Vintner? You got the points, knock yourself out and don't look back! Next character will be tighter, once they've played the game.
Lastly, if the Player is truly and incurably at a loss, a Fae mage is less painful for the SG than something else that may jump to their desperate mind, and it at least gets the ball rolling. This is a thread for "first timers", after all.
You can not cast MuVi magic on spontaneous magic. Greater talisman does not around this restriction (it lets you open up attunements automatically). Consummate talisman lets your talisman target your spells with muto vim (normally enchanted devices can only target other effects within the same device) but it doesn't allow you to target spontaneous magic. Names of power gets you bonuses on your spont casting rolls (and you could then use consummate talisman to get your talisman to do names of power). That doesn't seem like a practical plan for a magus who is starting out (wait a decade or more until I've initiated the relevant virtues and then become effective).
You can rego vim spontaneous magic but that can't get you muto vim style changes in spells it can only do things like maintain the demanding spell and opening the intangible tunnel... 
Oh, I see - you could make duration concentration spells last longer and open arcane tunnels at any ranges shorter than arcane connection. Then you could get by with all of your sponts at range touch and duration concentration, very often these would then be at much lower level than without the rego vim tools more within your abilities and hey the Rego Vim spells in your device don't have to be art specific.
(still tech 4 + form 4 + talisman attunement 3+ stamina 3)/5 = level 2.8 for your non-fatiguing spont spell. You need to exert yourself, even with fancy rego vim magic
I don't understand what this antimagic you're talking about is, do you mean using perdo vim to tear down magic resistance (you had mentioned Rego Vim not Perdo)?