Polyglot doesn't work with dead languages as written, so it's of no use with latin.
-Ben.
To whet the appetites and pique the curiosity of those of you wondering if you should try Sub Rosa, we've spun up a preview of issue #11. We'll also be doing previews of the previous issues (that we can) and post links for folks to check out!
You can download issue #11's preview here.
-Ben.
... and so doesn't penalize you with respect to needing a 4 to read in latin, neh?
Sort of his point.
sorry as I had read his comment, I thought he was thinking polyglot would provide a bonus for Latin. The eastern half of the Mediterranean does use Greek for recordkeeping, and the Muslim world uses Arabic, and so his comment confused me, as if he was considering it a living language.
-Ben.
It took me a couple of tries too, before it made sense 
A Virtue is consistent with other books. Take a look at Unusually Fecund in RoP:F.
Sorry, I was being sarcastic: "Latin is the universal academic language, nobody serious writes in a living language." And you just proved this wrong, drats! 
Can you give me a page number for that? I can't find it.
In any event, I can see an argument for either sterility or automatic conception being a Virtue or a Flaw, depending on the character.
Example: A wanderer who appreciates the ladies, and is equipped to get away with it because there's no chance of him leaving a bastard in his wake. Is his sterility a Virtue or a Flaw? Likewise, what if every woman he sleeps with becomes pregnant? Virtue or Flaw?
Consider a Redcap who gets pregnant any time she has sex.
-Albert
RoP: F, page 114, inset box, Example Lesser Benedictions.
Generally speaking, in the medieval mindset, getting pregnant a lot is a good thing and being sterile is cause for a bad reputation at the very least. Heck, it's justifiable cause for getting a marriage annulled IIRC.
Really, virtues and flaws are about the benefits you want your character to have and the stories you want your character to be involved in. If you want to have lots of kids as a benefit, you take a virtue that says your character is fertile: Lesser Benediction Unusually Fecund. If you want to tell stories about your character's inability to produce an heir, you take a flaw: Lesser Malediction Infertile. If you want to tell stories about your character's army of bastards or host of children, you take a story flaw.
To use your examples, a player who wants to be involved in stories about his wanderer character who leaves a lot of bastards in his wake should take Curse of Venus or Dark Secret. A wanderer with an eye for the ladies but who doesn't want to have stories about his illegitimate offspring should just forgo any associated virtues or flaws and write it in as a personality trait. A player whose Redcap who gets pregnant every time she has sex might have Dependents. She would also have a host of potential apprentices from her own bloodline, a huge plus for a house that prefers to train it's own kin. A Redcap who gets pregnant every time she has sex, and doesn't want to, takes the Continence personality flaw and simply doesn't have sex (unless she wants a baby).
Er, that's Altimate. As in, "re-written by a guy named Albert who thinks he's being clever".
-Albert
Y'know, that's one of those things I have a fairly hard time wrapping my mind around. Virtues and Flaws where the intended emergent result is what defines the cost, rather than creating a condition and then finding out what's going to emerge from that condition during play.
-Albert
I know just what you mean, though it's one of the things I like most about Ars Magica. Flaws aren't necessarily bad things but rather things that define the kind of story you want your character to be involved in. In my saga I'm actively trying to rename them as "Hooks" and stop using the term "flaws" altogether. It hasn't quite caught on, but I keep trying. 
I'm not entirely comfortable with it - at least not . . .
Hmmm . . .
Okay, here's an idea:
#1: Hooks
Hooks exist to facilitate, complicate, or enrich stories. Hooks can be positive or negative, but the one thing they don't do - at least, not on purpose - is resolve stories.
#2: Fates
Fates are things that are gonna happen. They are the "intended emergent result" category. Like Hooks, Fates can be positive or negative. You can't wiggle out of them(unless you can somehow lift them), but you may be able to entertain the others at the table with your futile attempts. Or you can roll with it.
#3: Conditions
Conditions are packages of positive and negative stuff that support a specific theme. Essentially, the theme is something that sets you apart, the negative stuff is what you have to cope with as a result of the theme, and the positive stuff is how you've adapted to cope. Alternately, the negative stuff could be a side-effect of something that would normally be considered positive.
#4: Advantages
Straight-up classic bonuses. You pays your points, you gets your bennies.
#5: Flaws
Straight-up classic penalties. You (try to) munchkin your mins, you gets your points.
I'd also like better rules for developing Virtues and getting rid of Flaws, but that's outside the scope of this.
-Albert
Sorry, it flew right over my head.
We've gotten two reviews, but that last free issue of Sub Rosa #12 is still floating out there for anyone who wants to get it with a review of SR#11. 
-Ben.