A few points:<br/><br/>1) I'll disagree on the "Tremere have to be/should be mystical" comment.  First by pointing to the clanbook (Explorer concept has no Thaum, nor does the Politico concept; both are pretty practically minded).  Second by bringing up an old Tremere primogen I used to play who never bothered with Thaum and mystical stuff.  He was a completely practical politico with nearly all of his disciplines focused in Dominate, a little in Auspex, and a ton of points in various Influences (in fact, his network of contacts, allies, influences, and such was larger and more far reaching than that of the Nossie primogen).<br/><br/>2) Regarding "not going along with the system", there are various ways to do this.  The wrong way (which I agree the character in question is probably following) gets a Tremere neonate killed.  The right way either a) goes unnoticed or b) makes one valuable enough to the clan that they overlook it.  But that takes subtlety and lots of it.  :)