Ok, I will be blunt here.
I do not like initiations. Well, not exactly correct. I actually do like them, but an I do not like initiation into other magical traditions and supernatural abilities being considered something along the lines of a grocery shopping list. And this is how I feel about the characters being put forward.
Getting an initiation into a.magical tradition is a life changing event. Something that even changes your Essential Nature, not something you pick by the wayside. And not something everybody should be doing. Otherwise it loses its mysticism to become mundane.
Don't know.
I am hesitant of banning initiations into new abilities in the saga, but I wouldnlike you all to consider your characters and why they deserve to be initiated. Are you building characters that you do not like perhaps? I have never had a character get initiated or gain new virtues (except social ones for mundane entanglement and flaws for serious injuries) in 20 years of playing ars Magica and the supernatural characters were fine. If this is not the case with the characters you are creating let's talk about it, but initiations and new virtues will not be conceded lightly.
Hope this makes sense, since it has been bothering me for the past few days. Wilhelm's comment that it will initiate mechanica easily by summoning Heron of Alexandria forced the post, but the is was already in my mind before. For the record, I see necromancers getting information from dead people. Lores, secrets. Not initiations.