Winterwolf, the shainti will have elder arts starting at 10level+. He will have mastered the lesser magiks (aka the dessi's powers) at level 10-.
The progression will go something like this imo:
level 1-2 elder art each level
level 3 staff
level 4-5 elder art each level
level 6 something else
level 7-8 elder art each level
level 9 something else
level10 last lesser elder art ( 7 in total)
level 11- 12 greater magik elder art each level
level 13...etc etc
Obviously they wil have other features as well, but nothing we really can say anything about at this time. I am pretty sure the shianti will not have the fates blessing re-roll x/day ability. He will be, however, able to cause the tip of his staff to burst into light, as was stated months ago by august and matt sprange. And hopefully evocation elder art will have a few more things added to it.
And yep, few will want to play dessi after this. Its thus up to the narrator; the shianti sorc's are supposed to be rare (as per the core book, even dessi magicians number less than 400 in number). But its a VERY small price to pay IMO, in order to finally have a complete grey star like class, the only thing I thought was missing from one of the best rpg books in the market.
I personally am going to give the magician of dessi a vakeros battlemagic spell every 4 levels, thus 5 spells at level 20. This simulates the fact the magii teach the vakeros (aka ordinary ppl of dessi) their lore and spells. Since the vakeros will be detailed in the book, along with their spells, it should be easy to do. And by only giving 5 spells, it does not really take away much from the vakeros warrior, who will also be able to fight with a sword, and probably have some warrior abilitites of his own.
The end result will be the shianti sorc will be a master of elder arts; and the magician of dessi will know the lesser magiks, have the wizards staff, and have vakeros spells making him more versatile than the shianti sorc.
Also, we will finally be able to generate the Elder Magii of Dessi now (aka rimoah, etc) I always thought they start of as Magicians of dessi, and then after level 20 start getting the greater elder arts, along with the remaining Vakeros spells.
Go august and mongoose!