All my material I wrote over the weekend. I see some of it may be eclipsed by stuff you guys did, so let be catch up and get up to speed 
Florenzo of Jerbiton
Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Com +2, Pre +1, Str -1, Sta +0, Dex +1, Quik -1
Size: 0
Age: 50 (b. 1170, ap. 1185 (15) gt. 1200 (30)
Decrepitude: 0
Warping: 0 (0)
Confidence: 1 (3)
Virtues: +0 Hermetic Magus, +3 Gentle Gift, +1 Educated, +1 Good Teacher, +1 Privileged Upbringing, +1 Puissant Profession-Scribe, +1 Skilled Parens, +1 Social Contacts-Hermetic Librarians, +1 Well Traveled
Flaws: -3 Ambitious, -3 Weak Spontaneous Magic, -1 Busybody, -1 Heir (of Carlus of Jerbiton), -1 Mentor (old Carlus of Barcelona), -1 Obsessed (with books),
Personality Traits: Brave +1, Nosy +1, Loyal +2, Bibliophile +2, Ambitious +3
Reputations: Strong Writer 2 (Hermetic), Respected Scholar 1 (local-Spanish scholars)
Combat:
Dodge:
Grapple/Fistfight:
Knife:
Soak: +
Fatigue: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, ko
Wounds: -1 Lt (1-5), -3 Med (6-10), -5 Hvy (11-15), Incap (16-20), Dead (21+)
Linguistics Summary: N Langue D'Oc 5 (Catalonia), Arabic 4 (Andalusia), Greek 4 (classical), Latin 5 (academic); Artes Liberales 4 (rhetoric), Latin, Greek, & Arabic Alphabets
Abilities: Arabic 4 (Andalusia), Artes Liberales 4 (rhetoric), Charm 3 (being witty), Civil & Cannon Law 2 (usages of Barcelona), Concentration 3 (study), Etiquette 4 (Hermetic), Finesse 5 (grace), Folk Ken 3 (scholars), Code of Hermes 2 (Barcelona), Guile 3 (clever trickery), Iberia Area Lore 3 (Aragon/Catalonia), Intrigue 4 (gossip), Latin 5 (academic), Leadership 2 (inspiration), Magic Lore 3 (regiones), Magic Theory 6 (inventing spells), Medicine 2 (apothecary), Order of Hermes Lore 4 (activities of Jerbiton magi), Parma Magica 5 (Mentem), Penetration 2 (Intellego), Philosophiae 3 (natural philosophy), Profession-Scribe 4+2 (composition), Greek 4 (classical), Spanish* 5 (Catalonia), Teaching 3 (academic abilities)
Arts: 11+
Cr 9, In 10, Mu 5, Pe 5, Re 9,
An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 10, He 5,
Ig 5, Im 5, Me 10, Te 5, Vi 5
Twilight: 2 (15), from 15 years of Longevity
Magic Sigil: Letters
Symbolic Sigil: A quill
Equipment: stuff
Encumbrance: 0
Spells Known:
ReAn5 Binding the Mundane Codex
ReAn10 Sooth the Ferocious Bear
ReAn10 Hide To Parchment
InAq5 Test of Fastness and Fading
InAq5 Touch of the Pearls
MuAn15 The Plunder of Twenty Geese
PeAn3 The ScribeââŹâ˘s Touch
InCo5 The PhysicianââŹâ˘s Eye
MuCo15 Disguise of the New Visage
PeCo5 Touch of the Goose Feather
MuHe5 Pass of the Unyielding Portal
ReHe10 Repel the Wooden Shafts
CrIg3 Moonbeam
CrIg15 The Welcome Addition of False Sunlight
MuIm5 Taste of the Spices and Herbs
CrMe10 Words of Unbroken Silence
ImMe15 Perception of the Conflicting Motive
MuMe4 Recollection of Memories Never Quite Lives
ReTe5 Unseen Arm
Lab texts (other than spells):
CrCo20 Longevity Ritual
Background: Florenzo is the youngest of the three sons of Rodrigo, and the only one to inherit his Gentle Gift. His parens was an elder member of the covenant named Louis (now passed). Florenzo has studied at Cordoba, Bologna, and other universities. He began his academic education first, and did not begin his Hermetic studies until he was 15. He was gauntleted at 30. He has studied in Cordova, Barcelona, and Bologna. His obsession with books has been a great boon to the covenant of Andorra. He is a new member of Barcelona Covenant now and is also a member of the Quill of the Eye League based there, a Jerbiton league dedicated to the literary arts.
Development
For this character, I am demonstrating how to cheep out. I am just taking the easy way and developing him 40 xpââŹâ˘s per year, minus a number of seasons for Lab activities and etceteras. I am spending xpââŹâ˘s first, and doing lab work last. So, for 20 years development, taking a season out at year 5 to make a longevity potion, and then taking out 19 more seasons at the end to do stuff, that makes 15 years x 40xp for a total of 600. Plus 45 for early childhood, 10 years x 15xps (=150) for age until apprenticeship, +240 for base apprenticeship, +210 for his various Virtues; equals a Grand Total of 1245 experience points. For starting Arts and Spells, I made sure I could take any combination at 15, and CrCo at 20 so I could do a longevity potion. My first 150 levels of spells were all level 15 or less (Int +2, Aura 3+, Magic theory 4, All Techniques 5, All Forms 1, Corpus 6). I then spent the rest of the experience, then applied nineteen seasons in the lab as follows (I took 2xp per season exposure in Magic Theory or an appropriate Art each season)
ReAn5 Disguise of the Putrid Aroma
ReAn20 Binding the Hermetic Codex
InAu15 Whispering Winds
InAu20 SailorââŹâ˘s Foretaste for Morrow
CrCo10 Bind Wound
CrCo20r The ChirurgeonââŹâ˘s Gentle Touch
The Severed Limb Made Whole
InCo10 Revealed Flaws of Mortal Flesh
InCo20 The Inexorable Search
InCo30 The Eyes of the Sage
ReCo5 Curse of the Unruly Tongue
ReCo5 Spasm of the Uncontrolled Hand
ReCo20 Incantation of Paralyzation
ReCo30 Seven League Stride
CrHe20 The Apple That Etches
CrHe25 Red Ribbons of Restriction
CrIg20 Pilium of Fire
InIm5 Prying Eyes
InIm20 Ear for the Distant Voice
CrMe20 Memory of the Distant Dream
InMe10 Sight of the Transparent Motive
InMe20 Posing the Silent Question
InMe5 Sense the State of Mind
InMe25 Thoughts Within Babble
InMe30 Peering Into the Mortal Mind
[i]MuTe20 Ink of the Noblest Metals[i]
InVi5 Scales of the Magical Weight
InVi5 Sense the Nature of Vis
InVi15 The Invisible Eye Revealed
I am going for a Winter (ice) mage with links to shapeshifting, mark, not as a wolf rider amazon The magical wolf is a friend of mine, not my magical pet. 
I will try to flesh Marcellus (yeah, he is back to be a man) this week and post a version 1.0 of him online.
Cheers,
Xavi
Transvestite works two ways, he can be a she that wants to be a he 
People have been asking me about vis. Some say it is too much to have on hand, and others say it isn't enough to have made their stuff. My new idea is this. Everyone has the vis needed for their seasonal projects (items, familiars, etc). Then, once game play begins, your on-hand amount equals 5 + (# of years short of 20 you developed). I still want an incentive to encourage people to not use the full 20.
I was thinking more along 12-15 years past apprenticeship, so that suits me. A rock of vis on hand (probably mixed arts) sounds good 
Xavi
I was thinking more along 12-15 years past apprenticeship, so that suits me. A rock of vis on hand (probably mixed arts) sounds good
Xavi
Yes, that's it. Like, Evil Faerie Lord
And ok for the village. My mater was Kyra of Verditius, I have some idea but will flesh her out a lot later.
And I might work on marie's hands, given enough incentive ^^
I'm slowly develloping the character. Little time these days, I worked a lot.
Thing is, I know what I want him to be, but no idea if I can get there Especially as I try to round him up somewhat.
In order to ease things up for me and do faster work, I'm using a standard 40XP/year.
And i'll try to post my items here for approval as I devellop them
loooooooooooooooooooooool
Love all this.
Kinda tired here, I'm having some difficulties to understand 
I really have a hard time with this.
The bear strikes me 10 times, I'm ok, even if I strike at the magus besides him, strike a tree...
The moment I make a move towards the bear, I lose it? And what if someone pushes me towards it?
If the bear hugs me, I am personnally and physically engaged!
And then, resistance wards. If they follow the same rules, what's the interest of having +10 to soak vs metal when you could be invulnerable to it (Asides from being the kind of moron I am 
)?
If these aren't dissipated, they are of clear interest for all Ramius magi (and much more logical IMO). If they aren't, these'll just have magic items casting an absolute ward 1/round.
What are the guidelines for resitance wards in other forms than ignem?
I'd say same base = +5 soak if they don't dissipate, one magintude less if they do?
Oh, and my first item. It was based on the Unseen Porter:
I upped the base to 5 to affect metal (base 3 is earth only), and added these required casting requisites (thus, they don't add to the level) to be able to affect Herbam, Animal, and Corpus.
Then, range touch (+1), concentration (+1), final level 15
The items maintains concentration (+5)
Penetration 6 (+3), just for lifting those weak magical thingies.
And here we have the mighty gauntlet of strength!
This allow me to... lift things I'm holding in my hand as if having +5 strength.
Cosmetically, it means I can lift my greatsword with only one hand (the one with the gauntlet), although this is not really usefull in battle (I'll need to use the 2 hands anyway). This is just for showing up, mostly.
I can also lift about anything (as long as it isn't too heavy), which lets me seize a man by the throat and lift it with one hand (always loved this 
).
This DOES NOT makes my strength +5 for damage, lifting... as these depend from the whole body, although it might be usefull to strangle someone.
Addressing the above points:
- He didn't take a longevity potion. The virtue Strong Faerie Blood grants a bonus to the aging roll. Based off this passage in ArM5 pg 169: "A character under the influence of a Longevity Ritual should roll on the table no matter what his age, but treats all rolls of 10 or more as rolls of 9 until he reaches the age of 35. His apparent age may be younger than his actual age, but he is at no risk of actually aging before any other character. At the player's and storyguide's discretion, this may also apply to characters with modifiers to the aging roll from other sources.
This makes sense seeing as the lifespan of a longer living being would mean they enter different stages in life at different times. I floated this by Mark prior to posting. If it's felt that the character should age at the same rate has normal except lives longer I'll make the change. Personally i'm of the mind that not everyone looks their age. People that live in difficult conditions will certainly appear to age faster. For example, farmers tend to have weathered faces from exposure to the sun and wind, rice farmers will tend to also have crooked backs from constant kneeling and the humidity in rice fields, etc. As opposed to someone that lives a healthier or luxurious lifestyle will appear haler.
As far as Warping goes, I'm still a newbie when it comes to 5th edition (this is my second character made in the system. The bulk of my experience is in 4th edition). From what I read in the warping section of the rulebook, warping accumulates when 1) living in an aura of 6+, 2) being affected by a mystical effect not personalized for you, 3) being constantly under the effect of a mystical effect, 4) botching a roll on a mystical ability.
The coven is a lvl 5 aura so 1) was out. 2) Didn't fit with what was stated. 3) I wasn't sure if this took into account living in a lower than 6 level aura because it stated in the aura section that below 6 there wasn't any effect. Furthermore, while a longevity potion did fall in this category, a familiar didn't and I wasn't sure if a talisman would be considered closer to a longevity ritual or to a familiar.
If I'm mistaken I'll go back an dmake the appropriate changes.
- Partial Metal Reinforced armor has a load of 2 (ArM 5th p176). Cross referencing the load vs burden table on page 178, a total load of 2 would give a burden of 1. He has a strength score of +1. So Strength (1) minus burden (1) = 0. Unless I missed something, I believe my math came out right.
Thanks!
I'm open to making changes or make another character altogether if it better fits the needs of the saga. It really depends on what you have in mind.
An effect designed for the character in question doesn't inflict Warping, normally--Longevity potions are special.
However...all magi are supposed to get 2 points of Warping per year after gauntlet during Detailed Character Creation. Perhaps this doesn't apply during Extremely Complicated Character Generation, but if it doesn't, you're basically on your honor to throw in a few botches that produced Warping points (and so it's probably easier just to take the 2 points a year).
This applies to Florenzo, too, Mark!
Scott
A potential virtue that Boxer suggested for my character was "Ways of the Winter". Like ways of the woods, but for the winter season. The "problem" is that it is a major virtue and I do not want to invest so heavily in such a virtue even if I like the concept.
So, my question would be if I could take this as a MINOR virtue providing +1 to all rolls OUTDOORS (no fancy +1 lab work bonus) during winter instead of the +4 that the major virtue provides.
If not accepted, I will take ciclic magic (winter) instead.
Cheers,
Xavi
YEARGHHHH!!!!!
THE HORROR!! THE HORROR!!!
Reading this after receiving Jarkman's quite good text about the languages of Iberia is quite opuzzling, to tell the truth....
besides, the "*" is not explained anywhere. Just FYI 
Xavi
Mark, I have to say that I found the wards thingy much more complicated to grasp than the (IMO faulty but consistent with the mechanics of the game) official rules.
What was the need to invent a term like "blanket ward"? Movable wards needing to penetrate still sound weird to me.
Circle wards are OK. No penetration = good.
Xavi
PS: Salvatore in Catalan/Occitan would be Salvador (with an S), in case the "X" is a mistake. I am not sure about that.
Strictly it should be Occitan 5 (Catalan) and Arabic (Andalusian) for us pedants, Xavi... 
I think the * refers to the fact that referring to Iberian Romance in period as "Spanish" is incredibly anachronistic. In period, my understanding is that a character would say that they speak "Latin" (ie. a vulgar corrupted form of Latin that becomes known to later scholars as "Romance"), from eg. "from Catalonia" (Catalan), from "Aragon" (Aragonese) etc. It may be left over from an old draft I sent Marko a while abck before this Saga started.
Let's stick to using "Spanish" for most of Iberia including Spanish (Aragonese) for Aragon but using Occitan (Catalan) for Andorra and Catalonia - referring to everything as "Western/Eastern Iberian Romance" is a bit tedious, eh?
Given Florenzo's background/affiliation, I think it's perfectly reasonable he speaks Latin (for magi), Occitan Catalan) (for mundanes), Arabic (for trade) and Greek (for those Theban types and just because he's a Jerbiton). Artes Liberales 4 covers the three necessary alphabets easily.
IN place of Greek, Italian may be more useful if he hearkens from Literatus in the Rome Tribunal but IIRC they all speak Latin there and Italian languages are beyond my brief...
Cheers,
Lachie
aka "Markoko's Silver Hammer" apparently...
He would be speaking OCCITAN not Spanish. Those are different languages even in this time period. I have texts in those languages from that time period and thy look distinctly different.
The text you sent me about the difference in languages is much better than this.
Xavi
Whoops!
(embarassing)
Should be Occitan 5 (Catalan) - giving an equivalent score in Aragonese of 4 (ie a virtual basic Spanish score of 3 - Spanish 3 (Aragonese)...)
Tired, must go back to writing paper now.
Other comments still hold.
I've fixed this above, sorry Xavi!
Cheers,
Lachie
Ummmm.... Whoever it was that suggested that, my friend, it wasnt me.
Did I do it wrong? Ahhhh!!! What was I supposed to do? * indicates Native language. Okay, I will fix it laters