Yes, I wanted Wilhelm along (if only because he's a companion, and companions ought to go adventuring).
Since the timeline in the original chapter got murky very quickly, here is my proposal:
Viscaria and Isen stumble out of the portal, and run into Wilhelm, who was building his new hut. Viscaria, seeing Wilhelm to be familiar with wizardry, casts "Comprehend the Peasant's Speech" (Base 5: Understand meaning behind noise, +1 Concentration, Personal/Ind = 10, In 14 + Me 6 + handwaved math /2 = > 10), finds out that not only has Wilhelm worked with the local magi before, but that he still hasn't been paid for services rendered.
So, Viscaria conjures a new domicile for him (75 minutes worth of work), and then invites him to join us the next morning.
I'm not much interested à priori by running stories about these, but he'd want it to be dealt with.
Note that, in a few seasons, Viscaria and/or Isen could rebuild the wall easily
I tend to disagree somewhat.
My last year in High School, I had an average of 3,5/20 in english. And I was cheating, or it'd have been worse.
Then, I began to read comics, with a dictionnary by my side. For almost every word. It was awful, but I loved comics.
And then, it got better, and rather quickly.
So it must also depend on the language, and the method used.
Still, you began with some exposure to the language and then found something to push you to learn more. If you hadn't had any exposure to English, I'm sure learning English would have been much harder. My high school German teacher liked to joke that English was primarily German vocabulary put into French syntax. I'm sure that isn't quite true, but has some basis in truth. My point is that you had something to draw on to learn English, you weren't starting from scratch. Additionally, English and French have common alphabets. Greek and Latin do not. So I think a scholar is necessary, especially considering the paradigm. I'm not saying it's impossible, but the characters aren't exactly immersed in Greek culture, so the deck is stacked against them. I'm thinking a tutor is necessary.
I agree with JL on this. With ancient Greek we are looking at a different alphabet as well as a new language. I'm sure there are teachers for it as scholars are reading and translating Plato and Socrates in this age.
Propensity for Gifted children from Gifted parents. There's some precedent for this, specifically with respect to House Mercere, but it's Gifted population is tiny.
I've often thought, as can be evidence by Ra'am that if a magus has an opportunity early enough to have children, that there should be little reason for them not to be Gifted. I'm thinking that magi don't generally make an effort to procreate, as they have to mess with a child for 10+ years to get them ready to be an apprentice. They have other fish to fry, books to read, and they don't want any ankle biters ruining their stuff.
I think that it's not a bad idea to have the Gift run in families, even granted that magi tend to not have kids nearly as often as mortals do. Possibly run it as a recessive gene? (and I say that knowing that the biochemist in the group is going to smack me down so hard for pretending I know what I'm talking about )
Cygna, for example: magi run diagonally in her family. Her uncle Mikhail is a magus, and his uncle Nicolai is/was a magus, also.
So, yeah, I'd be prone to say that magi who have kids are more likely to pass along the gift than those who don't have it. If a magus and a maga get their freak on, or a magus and someone with Latent Magical Ability, then having a Gifted child is almost a sure thing. Someone with the Gift and someone without...maybe a 1:1 or 1:2, while two muggles, maybe 1:1000. Just pulling numbers out of my bum, but something along that line.
Total non sequitur. But a song just came up on my playlist that I think would be perfect for Ulrich's theme song. TISM, Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me.
BTW, mostly on the same page as peregrine about the gift, although it is not assured (even a couple of magi may have a normal child, although I'd say it's only about 25% risk), and may also come from other events, not unlike Faerie Blood. Say, if a child in conceived by 100% mundanes in the magic realm, he will probably have the gift nonetheless. If it's by magi, he will, for sure!
I want to close down all the stories, including the unstarted Race for the Penant in a month. I'm going to be away in mid-late June for a long weekend, and will not be chasing stories during that time. I'd prefer to have them all wrapped up with a nice bow, and allow you guys the opportunity to progress forward a few(2-4, up to negotiation) years actually sinking your teeth into long range plans and seeing some results from those plans. By the end of June, I will have spent about 6 months on one year, which is the longest I've spent on a year so far in this saga. It's far too long for my liking, but I can't just close it down, without resolving some of the things are necessary before we can do a jump forward. There are all kinds of opportunities for vignettes during those years, and almost all can be done without my involvement.
1222 was a big year for Mons Electi. Originally planned for this to happen in 1228, but such is life.
Don't know if anyone else is on the Berklist, but someone posted a pretty neat website that can calculate travel time (and expense) between Roman cities, using Roman roads, rivers, coastal travel, etc. Pretty neat, and it should be fairly easy to figure out how long it takes to get somewhere.
For example, Autun (Augustodunum) to Toledo (Toletum ), in March, takes 30 days and cover 1,804 kilometers.
I dislike the idea of magic being a genetic trait. On the other hand, there's so much magic around magi that it makes sense that it would influence a child's development.
I also dislike the idea that all magical talent exhibits during youth. I think that latent magical potential requires an Event to surface, and that the touch of Magic, Fae, etc should be ephemeral and not easily understood.
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