Apprentice Auction

A perhaps derogatory term sometimes employed to describe the communal method of locating and assigning apprentices in the Theban Tribunal described in The Sundered Eagle 32. Apprentices when located are surrendered to the Tribunal for education and preparation by the Treasury Council, then during the next Tribunal interested magi not possessing any shards (unless House Bonisagus who automatically have the right) may interview the potential apprentices and bid tokens for them. The highest bid secures the apprentice, who gets to keep the tokens for when they become a polites.